When Allen heard Rory call Amelia a novice, he looked at her funnily. Even if she didn’t know much about anima, the fact that she became so strong with her limited knowledge proved that she was no novice.

‘She must’ve endured some gruesome training in her lifetime to reach this level.’

He thought to himself.

“Rory, my body is beaten up; can you fix it?”

Amelia approached Rory and said.

“I can’t fix it right away, so you’ll have stay like that for the duration of the tournament.”

Rory replied.

“I see. Well, my organs are fine and I don’t have any broken bones, so I can still continue.”

She replied and sat beside Rory and Allen.

If their bench wasn’t drawing enough attention before, it definitely was now. Both Rory and Amelia had shown impressive strength, although one fight was finished cleanly while the other was a straight up brawl.

Top that off with the fact that they were also sitting with the King’s Guard Sir Allen, they were definitely the star of the show.

“Rory, what is an Animus?”

Amelia asked after catching her breath.

“Animus is the personal anima technique developed by an anima master. Every anima master has at least one Animus in their Arsenal. Since it’s a personal technique it can’t easily be taught to someone else, hence its kinda unique.”

Rory answered without hesitation.

“So it’s like someone’s signature technique.”

“If you want to keep it simple, yes.”

“So there’s more to it?”

Amelia asked.

The two didn’t look at each other and kept the conversation going.

“Animus is like the projection of the user itself, in the form of a technique.”

Rory answered.

“Personality, Mindset, Ego, all these things are the main components in a person’s Animus.”

He pointed at Benson who was being taken away by a stretcher.

“His Animus, The Champ’s Last Stand is a projection of his will to never fall and push past his limits to achieve victory. It’s the projection of his desperation to always keep winning. You can say that it showed his simplemindedness and straightforwardness as well, since his ability was purely strength and didn’t have any tricks to it.”

Rory said.

“So you can determined a person’s personality and mindset from their Animus?”

Amelia asked.

“If you analyze it enough, yes.”

Allen was surprised by their convo, because it proved that Amelia didn’t have any knowledge of what an Animus was like Rory said.

“The fact that you defeated someone’s Animus without using one of your own is proof of your superiority compared to them.”

Rory added.

“What about his hands, they looked like they were made of iron. Was that an Animus too?”

Rory shook his head.

“That’s called Iron Fist.”

Allen was the one who answered. Amelia didn’t acknowledge his presence since he didn’t say anything to her first. She only looked at him when he spoke.

“You know, like when you strengthen your body to break concrete without getting hurt yourself? It’s an advance form of that.”

He explained.

“You fuse your anima with your skin and strengthened it over and over until the skin properties changed to match the hardness of iron, which will make it more durable and possess higher destructive abilities. That is Iron Skin. When you concentrate it only on your fists, it becomes Iron Fist.”

“It takes a considerably amount of anima control to obtain. Hence it’s a high level technique. Although, there’s a level higher called Diamond Skin.”

Rory added.

“So is there a difference between the two? I mean, is there a way to know when someone’s using their Animus?”

“Nope. You just have to figure out yourself.”

Rory answered.

“However, after a while you’ll be able to tell by instinct.”

“Then how do you develop an Animus?”

Amelia asked.

“It’s different for everyone, but basically you just need to picture a technique that represents you and everything about you, and then work towards making it a reality. It’s like trying to project yourself to the world.”

Rory answered.

“However, keep in mind that people aren’t that simple, so a person can create different animus from different aspects of themselves. Although those people are true masters. Also there’s no limit to what an Animus can do, as long as you’re creative and talented enough, you can create some truly innovative techniques.”

He added.

“Then, how many Animus do you have?”

Amelia asked after a while.

“Me?”

Rory smiled.

“I have 3. You’ve already seen one of them too.”

Amelia was shocked to hear that. She tried to figure out when he used one of his Animus in front of her, but she couldn’t figure it out.

That’s when Allen stood up.

“You’re leaving?”

Rory asked.

“I’ve already conveyed the message I wanted, and even got to see an amazing fight. I think I’ll be overstaying my welcome if they stayed any longer.”

Allen replied.

“I see. Then we’ll see you around.”

Allen nodded and said goodbye to the two before leaving.

“Alright, let’s head back so that I can treat your injuries.”

Rory stood up and said.

Amelia opened her mouth to say something.

“No, my Animus isn’t a healing type.”

But Rory answered her before she spoke.

“And no, it isn’t what I’m using to read people’s heart. This is a high level technique by itself. I’ll explain those when I think you’re ready.”

He answered and started to walk. Irritated, Amelia silently followed behind him.

The next day, the third day of the tournament began with the remaining 32 contestants. At this point, the ones who were being talked about the most was definitely Rory and Amelia, and for obvious reasons.

They once again shocked everyone when they both easily won their matches. Amelia won her match against a famous soldier, and with one hit too.

Because she was still not fully healed from her fight the day before, despite her getting treatment from Rory, she decided to end the fight immediately by using her strongest strike on the soldier. Anyone who watched the match knew that that soldier received lifetime injuries.

As for Rory, he faced the boss of the biggest gang in the the kingdom and defeated him with a slap to the face that robbed him of his consciousness. After he was declared the winner, his opponent’s lackeys charged on the stage to avenge their boss. The result was….well, not pretty.

Rory ignored them at first, but they kept coming at him. That’s when Amelia stepped in and tried to calm him and the men down. The men however didn’t heed her warning and attacked her, this was when she started breaking their arms and legs.

If she hadn’t, she was sure that Rory would’ve slaughtered them all, without batting an eye.

After they were dismantled by Amelia, the gang was locked up by the police who had wanted to lock them up for a long time now. It was like that that the third round came to an ended.

Back at their hotel room, Amelia was sitting in front of Rory, while he stood and looked at her from head to toe.

“Your injuries are healing faster than the average person, but if you encounter another tough opponent like Benson, then there’s a high chance of you being eliminated with your current injuries.”

He said.

“I should try to end my fight tomorrow as soon as possible as well?”

Amelia asked.

“That would be for the best.”

He stooped down in front her and looked into her eyes.

“……….”

Amelia said nothing and looked back into his eyes. After a while, he smiled.

“You’ve gotten stronger in the last couple days.”

He said.

“Really?”

Amelia looked at her arm as if checking her gains. Seeing that, Rory laughed.

“You might haven’t noticed because you’re comparing yourself to me, but in the months that you’ve been with me you’ve grown by leaps and bounds. If you had your current strength when you faced the knights of your country, then you wouldn’t have need my help.”

He said.

“You’ve doubled in strength.”

“I don’t really feel like I’ve gotten that much stronger though. I mean, just this country alone has so many people who can defeat me.”

Amelia said.

“The you of the past would’ve struggled in the first round and lost to benson in the second round in less than a minute.”

Rory said.

“Trust me, you’ve grown stronger.”

He smiled at her.

“You want to beat me in the finals right?”

Amelia nodded.

“It’s not that I have a grudge against you or anything. In fact, I owe you my life. It’s just that I wanted to know.”

She looked at him.

“I wanted to know just strong are you, and how far apart are we.”

Rory laughed.

“So you just wanted to test yourself?”

She nodded.

“Then there’s nothing wrong with that. It shows your desire to grow, and your will to become the best you can be.”

He placed his hand on her head.

“People like that are my favorite, because they are always fun to be around.”

He smiled at her.

“Since that’s the case, you’ll just have to force your way to finals. You don’t have to do it to win the bet, you just need to focus on yourself.”

“Wouldn’t that be selfish?”

“What’s wrong with being selfish?”

Rory asked back in return.

“Humans are naturally selfish. No matter what they say, they only do things that are beneficial to them. They give to the less fortunate to feel good about themselves. Of course, there are those who feel enjoyment from seeing others happiness, but in the end they do it for themselves and not the person. There is no one in this world that would do anything that would make them and the ones they care about unhappy, without a reason. They do the things they do only for themselves, it is just that their actions can result in happiness for others. So I say to be human is to be selfish, and to claim that one is not self is to claim that one is not human. So as a human accept selfishness because we all need it to be truly happy.”

“………..”

Amelia reflected on Rory’s words. She had some problem with them, but she couldn’t completely deny them. If she did, that would be hypocrisy. As such, she accepted them.

“Then if I wanted to selfishly beat you to pulp, it’s alright?”

She asked.

Rory nodded without hesitation.

“If you can do it, I don’t see why not.”

He smirked.

“But that’s only if you can though.”