(Niko, 16)

"Niko?" Eli asks after stepping through the grey gate.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Why did Tiger Alpha just show up, open a gate, and tell me to come through it?" He asks, then looks around as he turns on his aural sheath, likely doing so because mine is active. "Why are we in the training fields?"

One thing that makes me happier than almost anything not related to Lina herself is Eli having grown much more comfortable with me. He now speaks with me much more casually than he did before, and is not hesitant to ask questions. My other people still hold their hesitations, but I consider even one of them having changed like this a victory.

"Jason must have thought I was serious," I answer, and he gives me a curious look. "I asked him if it was okay if I could come out here to train. I wanted to visit the exhibition with Lina, except that after showing up, I realized just how crowded it was, and you know how I am with crowds."

Very, very stressed and full of anxiety. I nearly fainted in under five minutes of being at the exhibition center, so I gave Lina a kiss and told her I would see her later. Then I called Jason through the comm plates and asked him about coming here.

"And so he had Tiger Alpha send me?" Eli asks.

"No," I shake my head. "Jason asked me if there was any thing I wanted while I was here, and I jokingly told him 'a friend'. I had meant him, as we usually train hard together here and I know he is feeling out of practice, but I am also aware that he is busy. It appears he both misunderstood me and thought I was serious. Regardless, I am happy to have someone else here, even if it was a surprise."

Though it also appears he may have relayed the message to Tiger Alpha in a less-than-clear way, if Tiger Alpha thought Eli had to come.

"Okay," he says. "Are we training together, then?"

"If you wish to," I say. "I know you prefer practicing healing magics over anything else. If you do not wish to train, then there is no need to. You may watch if you wish."

Eli nods, then picks a boulder and sits on it. I turn my attention back to the pillar of stone I had raised earlier, then focus my mind on the spell once more. Thankfully, I had not begun casting it, or I might have needed to restart due to stopping to speak with Eli.

From my memories, we focused on our strengths as the Magi. Nearly all of the magics I used were rooted in earth, curse, and shadow magics when I was Benjamin, even if I used other spells as well.

Despite knowing that we have less than a decade left in this world, before we return to our true selves, I still wish to progress my abilities in other areas. While I might have once been Benjamin of Decay, while I might truly be the Divine Gargoyle, I am currently Niko. Until I reach grey in magical power, that is who I am.

Yes, I have memories of being Benjamin, yes I know who I truly am, but they are not me. My mind is that of a mortal's for now. Unlike Jason, whose own mind is that of an old mortal and a Divine Beast.

We Magi held a conference without him last night. Alex made sure Jason was asleep before he contacted us and we gathered. Even if we are mortals in this life and hold loyalties to our own lands, there is an undeniable bond between us as Magi.

Even Alex had to admit that he felt it towards Jacob, even if he disliked him.

One thing the eleven of us agreed on was that we sensed Jason's depression hitting him. It was not difficult to determine the source of it, either. We each tried to imagine what it would be like to have nearly eight hundred years of experiences, yet the people who we had them with only had sixteen or seventeen.

Jason does not simply have memories. He remembers. He knows the bonds we shared in ancient times, knows the pain we felt. Our powerful leader is an all-rounder as well, and his magical advancement is far greater than any of us, far faster than any of us.

To him, he exists in an entirely different league of power, ability, and mind.

All of us began training in areas not our own upon thinking this, and last night, we revealed it to those who did not know. We male Magi also revealed to the female Magi about the training session we spent together. They laughed upon hearing the reason it happened, saying it was something Jason would do.

Jacob admitted he probably could have put off what he was doing to join us, but had not realized fully what Jason was asking because of how busy he was.

During our meeting last night, we discussed Jason's current state. I am the closest to reaching grey, and Adam is not far behind. We are the two most likely to catching up and beginning to regain our past lives as experiences in addition to memories.

All of us are going to do our best to catch up to Jason, and we believe we know why Jason grows much more rapidly than the rest of us, something Jason himself might not be aware of. Some of it comes from his bloodline, being a Delvarkari, but there are two factors which he has had in both lives which we have not.

The first is that he trains in all areas of magic heavily. We only train in all areas under him, and most of that is to assist us in grasping the basics of magic. Once we have the basics of spells and types of magic down, Jason tailors our training to our actual style.

The second is that, out of all of us, he is the only one who did not train nearly exclusively in magical and physical combat. All Magi can wield both, but only Jason and Nolan have been true experts.

If the body grows more powerful as the magic is trained, then does the magic grow more powerful as the body is trained? Does wielding all schools of magic as a focus rather than an individual one create a greater boost to magical power when training?

So today, I am training in spells that do not use earth, curse, or darkness magics. Usually, even if I use other spells, they have at least one of those mixed in. Only on a few rare occasions have I tried something else, such as when training against Adam.

I did an assessment of what schools of magic I use the most outside of the ones I possess the highest affinities for. None of them match Jason's overwhelming amounts, but there are still clear leaders.

The element I possess the weakest affinity for is force magic, so I decided that today, I will focus on training my force magic. There will be some other magics, such as what I used to raise the pillar of stone, but otherwise, my main focus is force magic.

Now that it is time to return to training, I focus on force magic, visualizing the spell I want to form, shaping it, and casting it. A bolt of blue force forms in front of me, then shoots across the field towards the wooden pillar, fifty feet away.

The bolt strikes into the pillar, which breaks apart, exploding backwards, upwards, and to the sides, chunks of stone flying out and creating a small cloud.

"By the way, Eli," I say. "We are not in the training fields, we are somewhere else. It is just difficult to tell the difference between them to most because the terrain is quite similar."

He nods as I shape another spell, then cast it, and the pillar of stone returns to its previous state, becoming even harder than before. I repeat this process over and over, adjusting my force bolt spell as I do.

Due to repeatedly casting a spell I have little affinity for and little experience with, I become mentally fatigued much more quickly than I would have if I had been casting something such as a stone spike.

Once I do, I sit beside Eli, who has a thoughtful look on his face. He had watched me intently the entire time I practice. Is he interested in branching out of holy magics for his own style of magician? Or was he simply lost in thought. I sometimes do that, resulting in me staring at Jason while he does something, only to notice it when he brings it to my attention or has a troll walk up to me. Right now, Eli has an expression on his face as he looks at my repaired pillar which I am sure I make when I lose myself into my own thoughts.

"Eli?" I ask after resting for a few minutes, and he looks away from the pillar and turns his gaze to me. "If I may ask, what is it you are thinking of?"

"The Magi," he answers. "All of you Magi are paired with someone whose element is opposite theirs when it comes to the four base elements, yes? Jason is fire, Alex is water. Kyra is water, Kayla is fire. Adam is fire, Elise is water. Jacob is earth, Tasha is air. You are earth, Lina is air. Connor is earth, Hailey is air. This is correct?"

"Yes," I nod.

"But," he says. "When it comes to full elements, some of the pairings make no sense. Jason is special and Alex is mind. Adam is energy, Elise is force. Okay, those don't exactly have opposites. Most of them don't. But for the base elements, they remain with who they are: Connor and Hailey are earth and air, Kyra and Kayla are water and fire."

"Yes," I nod.

"However," he says. "You are curse, and Lina is darkness. Jacob is light, and Tasha is holy. Rather than being opposite or unrelated, your pairings are the same branch. Things which work well together. I don't understand how those pairings came to be."

I mull it over for a few minutes, before doing my best to explain it.

"There are four," I say. "Who work with the element they are most affiliated with. There are four who work with the element which opposes them. There are four who work with an element that rests somewhere between those two aspects of alignment. It is divided into groups of four."

"But how were those pairings picked?" He asks. "It seems quite random, especially knowing that you Magi are the Divine Beasts, and those seem to be the actual pairings."

"It might seem that way," I say. "But the one we love the most is nothing more than how things worked out, no greater hand at work."

"The one you love the most?" He asks.

"Yes," I nod. "This more monogamous style of ours derives from our mortal forms."

"Wait," his eyes widen. "You mean that the twelve of you-as your true selves-you guys are more of a harem?"

"I would say," I say. "That we are more ancient entities who love each other greatly and sometimes produce children with each other. That is how the gods are born, after all. Though our method of reproduction is quite different, as the Divine Beasts often simply mixed our powers and essences together to create them."

I could probably tell him a little more about our true selves, which I remembered due to those runes, but Eli would likely not be able to fully comprehend it. When dealing with entities of divine proportions, some things may confuse and bewilder mortals in their ability to happen.

"Mixed your powers and essences?" Eli asks.

I think for a few moments, then come up with a way that should hopefully make it a little easier for him to understand.

"Yes," I nod, then hold up a hand. A faint mist begins to form in the air above it as I weave the appropriate spells. At the same time, a thin, nearly-invisible blue barrier of force magic forms around it. "Imagine the barrier as a person, and the mist as their essence."

I hold up my other hand, then create a second globe.

"Now there are two," I say, and he snorts. "We take a little essence from each…"

A small bit of mist drifts through each barrier, then mingles in the middle, forming into a ball as another barrier forms, this one surrounding it.

"And a god is born," I say. "Smaller, weaker, less powerful. Less significant. How powerful they are depends on how much of their essences the Divine Beasts used, as well as how many Divine Beasts created them. What they are a god of is partly determined by which Divine Beasts formed them. Jaklenai is a son of the Divine Leviathan, possibly also the Divine Water Elemental. Enamas, the god who wounded Jason, was formed by essence from the Divine Leviathan and the Divine Kraken. I believe that Enaveka might have formed from the Divine Leviathan and the Divine Phoenix."

"That is a huge difference," he says.

"Indeed," I nod. "It is the same as with mortal parents. A single man and woman might have ten children, but are all ten children the same? Each will have their strengths and weaknesses, their talents and shortcomings."

"I'm pretty sure," he says. "That there is a huge difference between mortals and gods, Niko."

"There is," I nod as I dismiss the spells. That was draining with my already-exhausted mental state. "But it is still the best example and comparison I can make to mortal terms. At least, that which I can think of at this moment. I have never had to explain this before."

"Okay," he thinks for a few moments. "Niko, why is it you seem to know more about your true natures than the other Magi? Shouldn't only Jason know stuff like this?"

I contemplate on what I should say in response. I could take Eli to the castle and show him directly, but I would not be able to show him those runes. They would obliterate him. It would be just as easy to explain things to him.

Not only that, but I am not certain I want to introduce him to my cult.

"When I was a Magus," I decide on an explanation. "I left behind something that returned a few memories that gave me awareness earlier than I should have received it. I have a few memories from my life as the Divine Gargoyle as a result. However, they have not integrated themselves back into me yet, so they are as the memories of Benjamin right now – just memories."

"I see," he says.

"I should return to training," I tell Eli. "Pushing myself before I have fully recovered is one way to help improve power level and affinity, as long as I do not overdo it."

"Good luck," he tells me, and I stand and return to my starting position, then begin practicing once more.

At my next rest, as I sit beside Eli, an idea comes to me.

"Wait here, I shall return soon" I tell him, then open a gate and enter Jason's property.

Gold and Koricel are roaming the field, and both approach me as soon as they see me. I open up my spatial storage and pull out a pair of apples, holding them out, one in each hand, to feed to the horses. After they eat, I turn and wait for Steven to appear, and when he does, I send out a blast of force magic. It slams into his grey barrier, and the dragon chuckles before flying off.

I usually use an element more familiar to me for the attack, but did using something different really amuse him that much?

Shaking my head to clear that thought from my mind, I pull out my comm plate and activate it. Jason does not answer at first, so I pet the two horses, murmuring softly to them, until Jason calls me back after a few minutes.

"Are you having fun?" He asks. "Sorry for not answering right away, I had to finish with my guest and go somewhere private."

"Yes," I tell him. "I am having fun, in a sense. I was wondering if I could borrow Gold and Koricel? I want to teach Eli how to ride a horse."

"Koricel is yours," he says. "You don't need to ask to borrow him, Niko. As for Gold, yes, he'll let you ride him, even if you haven't really done so since I gave you Koricel. Good luck, and remember the basics of my own lessons."

"I will," I tell him.

"If that's all, I'm returning to work," he says. "I don't want to leave my mamas alone so long."

"Good luck," I tell him, and we end the call.

I put my comm plate away, then take the horses to the stables and brush them down and saddle them up. Then, I open a gate back to the fields I left Eli in and lead the horses through it. His eyes widen when he sees the horses.

"Isn't that Jason's horse?" He asks. "I remember seeing him ride Gold within and outside of Varilsy a few times."

"Yes," I answer. "And this other horse is Koricel, one of Gold's sons. Jason has been giving me riding lessons in secret. Do you wish to give it a try? I can understand being nervous at first, but once you adjust to riding, it is quite fun."

"That's one of the things Jason has been teaching you?" He asks. "I mean, I know we suspected it, but he really has?"

"Yes," I nod. "I use Koricel for the most part, but Gold likely won't allow you to ride him as Jason is not introducing you, so you will use Koricel. He is quite friendly."

"Yes," Eli stands up, looking both excited and nervous. "I would love to learn how to ride a horse."

"Okay," I tell him. "I already saddled them so that we do not have to go through that process, that was part of why it took me so long. I can teach you how to properly saddle them some other time."

"Okay," he says. "So what do I need to do?"

For the next few minutes, I teach Eli how to properly mount a horse. It takes him a few tries to do it and not fall to the ground, and after that, I teach him the basic commands to move Koricel. I mount Gold, then lead Eli and Koricel around.

This is fun, being hanging out with Eli like this and seeing his face when it comes to riding a horse. Is that what I looked like to Jason when I first started riding?

(Alex, 17)

"Alex xan Amarxik?" A gruff voice asks.

My crew and I turn to face a Royal Guard who somehow managed to track me down inside the crowds of the exhibition hall.

"Yes?" I ain't missing my work, so I ain't sure why a Royal Guard would be necessary.

"Please come with me," he tells me, then glances at the crew. "Alone. You aren't in trouble, but as you've been helping the Royal Slayers, your assistance is required."

In other words, a really powerful ogre was spotted and they need help?

"Okay," I look at the crew. "I'll be back, but don't wait up if it takes long."

They nod, then I follow the Royal Guard out, and notice that several other Royal Guards are collecting people, some have a small group. Several of them seem built for weapons, while the rest are probably mages. Are they all Royal Slayers? What is going on?

The Royal Guard takes me to a covered wagon, where several others are loaded in as well. The one who fetched me sits at the front and faces the ten of us as the wagon begins to move.

"An hour ago," he says. "A horde of ogres and corrupted was spotted heading towards Varil City. We have stopped all traffic exiting the city to avoid a panic, and have asked all returning adventurers who have seen the horde to not say anything. Right now, we are gathering up all guards and Slayers within the city who are not necessary for its protection. We'll stop the horde outside the walls, and we need to have everyone gear up first."

"Why is there a student here?" One of the others asks.

"How large is the horde?" I ask. "Wasn't everything in quite a distance of here cleaned up after the ogre lord incident? It ain't make sense for one large enough to warrant a huge party of warriors and mages to get this close so soon after."

"Quite large," the Royal Guard shakes his head. "We aren't sure how the horde managed to draw this close without being noticed. We suspect that another ogre lord is present."

"How many of the Magi are being summoned?" I ask.

"To avoid a panic," he tells me. "Which will occur if we suddenly start summoning every powerful person within the city, we are only summoning guards and Slayers. When people ask, we are saying it's a training event for the guards supervised by the Slayers. Most guards never have practical combat experience."

A memory comes to me from around two years ago, when something happened in Varilar. Most of the off-duty guards were summoned outside of the city, and no one was allowed to leave. We were told it was a training event for the guards, to give them more combat experience than normal. Only after were we told that there had been a monster attack and they couldn't get reinforcements there in time.

"And after," I say. "That's when ya will tell people the truth, as there will be deaths."

"Yes," he nods.

"And the student?" The man from before asks. "He seems to know stuff, too. And I don't think I'd feel comfortable with a Magus around, even if a god says they're servants of the gods."

I let out a sharp laugh by accident, and he glares at me.

"Alex," the Royal Guard says. "Has assisted the Royal Slayers recently, as well as participated in patrols around Varilsy. His abilities are sufficient. He has taken down groups of ogres by himself, as well as combated against a wyvern during the training event between all students at the Royal Knight University and Royal Magic University and won on his own. It was an obvious choice to pick him out."

"Plus," one of the women here adds. "If I remember correctly, Alex is a member of the elite training group between the two universities run by Jason Jeshema, and is one of the rumored Magi."

"The King of Knowledge," I nod, and am given several stares of disbelief. "In terms of power when at full strength, I am in the upper half of the Magi."

I could also handle the horde myself, but also understand why they ain't having me do that. In order for me to deal with the horde alone, I'd have to reshape the landscape around Varilsy, and possibly damage the city's walls.

They ain't wanting to do that, and my dealing with the horde this close to Varilsy by myself risks me creating casualties among the innocents. That's likely another reason they aren't summoning as many powerful people as they can. Doing so increases chances of Varilsy itself being struck, even from a distance.

Plus, as he said, doing that would result in a panic. All it would take is one person to notice multiple high-power people being summoned for this 'training event' for the city's guards, and boom, a rumor of an attack begins, then spreads like a wildfire in a dry spring field. That ain't something they want to deal with while their guard count is reduced.

As it is, they'll likely have a few incidents occur because guard counts dropped, if they're pulling everyone they can without reducing the stability of the public day.

Further discussion is ended as we arrive at our location, a barracks where we're told to gear up. Some of the folks in the wagon were city guards, others, Royal Guards. Plus me. All of the Slayers live together and count themselves as always being on-duty, so it's doubtful they'd have needed to be summoned. They were probably already ready, even if they were just walking around.

I exit the wagon, and immediately hear someone calling my name. I turn and find Captain Enlin waving to me from a rather large group of people already in armor and robes. Royal Slayers, as I expected.

Departing from the group I came with, I approach the Royal Slayers.

Captain Enlin introduces me to the ones I don't know, and it seems like all of Varilsy's Royal Slayers are present. I guess today happened to be a stroke of fortune for this, if all of the local Royal Slayers were available.

"Now that introductions are out of the way," Captain Enlin looks at me. "Do you have armor?"

"Yes," I open up my spatial storage and pull out my armor and start pulling it on.

The Slayers all give me interested looks at it. My armor is a metallic grey of the moderate to dark coloration, and made of leather molded to fit me, but with some flexibility to it.

"Wyvern leather," Captain Enlin says. "Presumably from the universities' training session where several groups dealt with wyverns, yours included. I don't recognize the craftsmanship, where did you have it worked?"

"Niko," I say. "The Marran prince here, arranged for someone in Mar to craft it. They have a leatherworker or two who can work wyvern leather properly, and I wanted something light, flexible, and fluid. I'm more of a rogue-style warrior than knight-style, so heavier metal armor isn't my thing."

Even if my physical strength is above the average citizen's due to my magical power level, every ounce of added weight is extra weight which will feel heavier in a prolonged fight. Even a backpack with only a pound's worth of items will feel like fifty at the end of a three-hour walk through a forest. The more exhausted a body becomes, the heavier everything on it feels, regardless of strength.

"After having seen your style," one of the Slayers I worked with says. "I can understand that."

"I take it," I say. "That we'll be the ones focusing on the ogres themselves? Most of the guards will focus on the corrupted, with Royal Guards helping them and grouping up against ogres? How many are attacking?"

"You're correct," Captain Enlin tells me. "And we're estimating more than one ogres, and at least six times as many corrupted."

"This ain't enough fighting force," I say. "How far away are they?"

"They're coming out of the forest to the north," he answers. "So we're going to exit the northern gate and meet them in the fields. We'd prefer to fight them before they reach us, but with a force that large, attacking in a forest would be at our disadvantage."

That makes sense. We'd be more easily separated and split up, the trees interfering with most of the guards' attempts at fighting things. With the city guards ain't used to such an environment, nor such powerful opponents, it would only increase casualties.

"Gather up!" Captain Enlin calls to all of the Royal Slayers here, and we form a semi-circle around him. "This information is being spread to everyone, but there is an ogre which stands twenty-three feet in height. It's a clear sign of an ogre lord, and a powerful one. Were things no so close to Varilsy and several other things, including a few estates outside of it, we'd simply ask one of the Magi, such as Alex here, to deal with the situation on their own.

"Instead," he continues. "We'll be dealing with it ourselves. Our main target is the ogre lord and the ogres and corrupted which accompany him directly. They'll be the most powerful, from what we saw. They're currently walking towards Varilsy, or we wouldn't have time to gather these forces. We believe it's some sort of taunting on their part. This means the ogre lord may attempt to taunt us once we arrive. Ignore it. Make sure to use the enhancement techniques we have trained in recently."

"New enhancement techniques?" I ask.

"Yes," he nods. "Prince Jacob recently introduced it to us, exclusive to full Royal Slayers and certain elite members of the Royal Guard. It involves a layered approach to the enhancement techniques, allowing us to double up on them. This means we can become twice as fast, twice as strong, twice as resilient than with our normal enhancement spells. It will be necessary against such powerful monsters."

Prince Jacob does not possess the magical knowledge and skill necessary to deconstruct the Magus Layered Enhancement Technique down to only two layers. If he taught it to the Royal Guards and Royal Slayers, and in such a weakened form of it, then he spoke with Jason first, and Jason gave him what was necessary to break it down to this level.

I guess Jason wouldn't yield on going higher than two, and I ain't gonna blame him for that. This technique is powerful, and it creates a significant gap between people.

Captain Enlin finishes going over the battle plan, then loads us up into the wagons as the guards and Royal Guards, now in their own gear, supplied from the barracks here, load up into other wagons as well. It seems these barracks act as emergency storage as well.

"Alex," Captain Enlin says. "Do you have a powerful sword other than the two special ones?"

Technically, yes, but it ain't a sword I can just whip out and use. The icicle attack is pretty distinctive, and would make it clear that I really am the Leviathan, even if a god says otherwise. Though that might be interesting, seeing people scratch their heads, trying to figure out why a god would lie for me.

"No," I answer. "I'm saving up for an enchanted mithril sword, but until then, I'm stuck with normal enchanted swords."

A white dimensional space ring forms in the air in front of him, and he pulls out a mithril sword, which he hands over to me.

"You can use that for the fight," he tells me. "All Royal Slayers who wield swords use mithril, it cuts better than steel."

"Thank you, sir," I swap out my normal sword for this one, sending my normal one back into my spatial storage.

The rest of the ride out of the city is made in silence. This is going to be the toughest ogre lord I know of. It's four times my height, and likely several times as powerful. It's definitely more powerful than the one I fought before.

Without being able to not hold back, without being able to use my Sacred Sword and Magus Sword, this fight will be a lot tougher, too. That part sucks.

Hopefully, we can win this battle with few casualties.