What is this pressure...? It doesn't hurt but it overwhelms me... More importantly, how is this old man able to control all of the elements?

Kai's pupils contracted as his eyes were trembling at the sight of the elements around the old man.

"Unfortunately, I can only use primary elements. But you have potential to learn more, I can tell."

The old man held his chin and nodded while inspecting Kai. But the Kai right now didn't have any emotions of happiness and just felt annoyed that the old man could do something he couldn't. But from experience with his two lives, he knows that he shouldn't act on emotion and instead by his memories.

"M-my emotions are a little lacking right now but, if possible I'd like to take you up on your offer."

The old man narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, I see."

The elements calmed down and went back to their natural places, the flames dispersed, the water sunk into the dirt, the rocks reformed, and the wind stopped rampaging. The old man stood up and walked towards Kai then bit his thumb.

The old man then placed his thumb on Kai's forehead and made a small symbol. Then he proceeded to ask Kai to take off his shirt and show his chest and the old man wrote the same symbol but larger.

"[Seal]."

The blood symbols glowed and faded into Kai's body and he could feel warmth from his emotions.

"Ah, they're back."

Kai's blank expression broke.

"Your bloodline is very potent, it shouldn't even be on a human vessel like you... unless..."

The old man furrowed his brows but the expression disappeared as soon as it came.

"Well, I guess we should start in... three days, maybe?"

"Can't we start now?"

Kai tilted his head.

"No, for three days you'll be trying to control the elements. I expect your understanding of the elements to be much better during this span of time."

"...Alright."

Kai nodded after some hesitation.

"Also..."

The old man's eyes traveled to the pendant.

"May I take a look at that? You don't have to remove it from your neck."

Kai thought for a bit but agreed in the end. The old man reopened his thumb's wound and dripped blood on the back.

"[Seal: Reinforce]."

The symbol on the back of the pendant glowed and made itself clearer.

"A... seal?"

Kai looked at the symbol on the pack of the pendant and wondered about it.

"You placed a seal on my pendant?"

"No, it was there from the start."

With those words, the old man stood up and reminded Kai on what he should do before the old man left.

==========

The next day started and the final match for the triennial tournament is starting. The rows on each side of the arena were filled. The families of Akane, Inejiro, Ichiro, and Yoko were given special seating.

Kai's family sat near them and watched Yoko closely.

Akane chose to sit down near Akemi and Juro.

"...Akane, you should calm down."

Akane still had bandages on some parts of her body. This was also a prime example of advancement, there were bandages which aren't supposed to exist until the future. Kai wouldn't be surprised with things like this anymore as he had already spent eight years in Gaia and had his fair share of wounds during his childhood.

Right now, Akane was chewing on her nails.

"I can't... that man is just... too strong. I'm worried about Yoko."

Akemi placed her hand on Akane's head.

"I understand that you're worrying but rather than that, don't you think she'd appreciate it more if you were to cheer her on instead?"

Akane stopped biting her nails for a second and then placed her hands on her lap.

"...You're right."

She immediately stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Yoko, good luck!"

Yoko who was stretching inside the stage heard Akane's voice and looked to her direction. Their eyes met and they both nodded to each other.

Ichiro who was in front of Yoko unsheathed his great sword.

"Would you mind letting me ask a question before we start? You can choose not to answer though."

Yoko looked at him for a moment but the nodded her consent.

"What drives you to fight?"

It was pure interest, Ichiro was curious as to why Akane and Yoko were so adamant about fighting and winning.

Yoko hesitated for a moment but she answered nonetheless.

"...Have you ever heard of the incident in the mock tournament?"

"I have. Or more like, who hasn't?"

Yoko ignored his comment and continued.

"That day, the arena was separated in half. The other part vanished into thin air, it was a feat that couldn't be done even if you were E-class."

Yoko looked to the sky and visualized the previous events.

"That power was originally supposed to be directed towards me yet he altered it and destroyed the arena instead. Now you ask what drives me to fight, there's really only one answer to that..."

Yoko stopped her words and let their conversation end there. Ichiro dug no further even though she hadn't answered his question at all.

The head elder gave them a bunch of words of encouragement and told them to fight to their fullest or they'd regret it.

After those words, the match started.

Yoko immediately dashed forward.

"[Twin Shadow Assault]!"

"A move right off the bat?"

Ichiro raised his great sword to block Yoko's attack.

Yoko's daggers made multiple clanks as it collided with his great sword.

"Fly."

Ichiro used the blunt of the great sword to fling Yoko upwards. Yoko aimed her palm towards Ichiro.

"[Shadow Ball]!"

Yoko used the explosion of the [Shadow Ball] as camouflage and dove straight down. She landed on Ichiro's sword and tried to cut his wrists but failed when Ichiro used his great sword to fling Yoko backwards.

Yoko didn't stop her attacks and immediately jumped back in.

"So persistent! [Dark Breeze]!"

Dark wind sliced towards Yoko but was dodged as she took a side-step and continued on.

"[Dark Cut]!"

Ichiro sliced thrice and three blades of darkness from different directions sliced towards Yoko.

Yoko avoided two attacks but had to redirect the last one with her daggers which gave her quite a trouble seeing as that it was force from a weapon many times larger than hers daggers.

Yoko flipped thrice and sliced the air.

"[Dark Cut]."

A small blade of darkness headed for Ichiro but and used the edges of his great sword to slice it apart.

"Looks like you know of your weakness, you lack the capability to attack from a long range like your friend."

Ichiro spun once and sliced his sword.

"[Dark Breeze]."

He used the same tactic against Akane before, he gained more momentum to increase the power behind his attack.

Yoko dodged to the side but was grazed by the rampaging wind.

Yoko leaped forward and Ichiro met her movements with a horizontal swing of his great sword.

With Yoko being as nimble as she is, she twisted her body over the great sword and wounded Ichiro's arm.

"Tch."

Ichiro made a counterattack by using his elbow to hit Yoko who was on his side.

"Too slow!"

Yoko barely dodged his elbow and aimed a kick at his chin using his arm as leverage.

"Annoying!"

Ichiro had enough and leaned in to give her a head-butt.

But instead of his forehead meeting Yoko's, his neck was caught between her arms. Yoko then kept twisting her body and placed herself on his back then wrapped her legs around Ichiro's abdomen.

"Down."

Yoko held his neck in a choking position and tightened it.

Ichiro used his arms to remove Yoko's hands but his strength was leaving him by the second. A few moments pass as Ichiro fell to one knee with a thud.

"Sleep."

Yoko tightened her grip even more as she focused [Body Enhancement] on her arms.

Veins were showing on Ichiro's forehead and his face was turning into a different color. Yoko seemed to be struggling trying to keep his neck in her hold with the different in their physiques and bodily strength. If Ichiro wasn't caught by surprise, this definitely wouldn't be possible.

Like hell I'd be brought down by this!

Ichiro suddenly stood up and placed his arms over Yoko's back.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

With a roar, Ichiro pulled Yoko off from his back and slammed her in the ground in front of her. The sheer power behind his throw cracked the very floor that they were on.

Yoko was forced to spit out blood as she laid there. Ichiro was having trouble breathing and had both hands and knees on the floor.

The audience were all cheering but Yoko and Kai's family were worried. Ichiro and Akane's family took a different stance however; they were cheering for the tactics that each side used. Yoko used a prolonged attack to defeat Ichiro's sturdy defense and Ichiro countered that by his sheer power.

Yoko managed to get on her stomach and struggled to get on her knees.

Ichiro's breathing was stabilizing as he used mana to calm his air passages. Yoko suffered internal damage from the shock of being slammed on the floor but managed to recover.

Both of them stood up at the same time and sparks flew between the point their eyes met.

"...Let me tell you... the reason that drives me to fight and... to win."

It was evident in Yoko's voice that she had trouble breathing.

Yoko raised her arm to her eye height, she then swiped her hand over her face to cover her eyes.

Ichiro narrowed his eyes but Yoko's figure disappeared.

"Wha-?!"

Ichiro instantly swung his great sword forward but heard a whisper beside him.

"Like I said, too slow."

The voice was so calm that it was frightening. Ichiro flinched and looked around him but had to stop when he suddenly felt his vision go blank for an instant. Blood spurted out from various parts of his body and he fell to the floor.

"What...?"

He held himself up with his hand, Yoko appeared in front of him as if she had just faded into existence.

"How...?!"

He spat out a bit of blood and glared at Yoko who was looking down on him.

"The reason that drives me to fight are my friends, Akane, Kai, and Erina. They helped me. I was always alone because everyone called me a prodigy but those three, they knocked that title off of me as if it was child's play. Even now, I imitate my friend's moves. But right now..."

Yoko and Ichiro's eyes met.

"...I'm borrowing their power."

Her eyes were pitch black and the aura around her was the definition of darkness. It was the same event that happened when Kai had lost control.

"You... lost control on purpose?!"

Ichiro's voice was of disbelief but Yoko's words washed over them as if she wasn't involved at all. The nonchalance in her tone was like needles pricking on Ichiro's soul.

"That's right, so don't blame me if you're too weak to stand against my power."