A few minutes ago

"Alright, thanks for the info."

Kai still wearing a white mask and a blood red hood remove the whip of flame that was wrapped around the acting leader of the group.

"Now..."

Kai turned around.

"Hiii!"

One of the unconscious men woke up and made a very frightened noise.

"I won't give you as much pain as the last guy if you cooperate with me."

Kai used [Soul Aura] once more and focused it on the man that was crouching.

"I'm sure you don't want to end up like him so answer concisely, unambiguously, and precisely."

Uwaaaa this guy is so strict!

The man who was crouching was shivering. If he answered, he would be in trouble with the patriarch, and if he didn't answer, he'd probably die. But offending the patriarch is basically death as well.

"You've been awake for awhile but you faked sleeping so you wouldn't face the same torture as him. So first question, is what he said true?"

Kia's eyes glowed red. It increased the fierceness of the mask and Kai's aura felt like it multiplied tenfold to the man.

"Y-yes!"

Kai leaned in closer and brought out a sword from the pendant. It had a silver blade and a red hilt.

"Are you sure?"

Kai stabbed the sword beside the man's hand.

"Hiiii! No! He lied about one thing! We were employed by the patriarch and not an elder!"

Kai immediately withdrew the sword and turned around then began walking away.

I-I'm saved...!

That was the man's thoughts until...

"A magic circle..."

At the spot where Kai stabbed the ground, a magic circle had been placed. It became large enough to engulf the body of the man.

"No!"

A pillar of light shone and forced the man to close his eyes.

"Huh?"

The man opened his eyes and other than some minor burns from the [Flame Whip], he wasn't hurt at all.

Kai was up on the roof and made sure that the man couldn't see him.

"Alright, time to get back."

Kai leaped from roof to roof using [Soul Call] to search for the girls' location.

"There they are."

They were sitting on a bench beside a fountain.

He observed them for a bit after finding them.

"Oh, so that's how you met Kai? I wonder why we've never had this conversation before though..."

Yoko told Erina about the mock tournament and her befriending them after much persistence from Akane.

"Still, no matter how much I've heard about Kai running amok, it's still quite weir..."

Erina suddenly stopped and her eyes darted to the roof.

"Crap!"

Kai immediately ducked down.

"Hmmm~"

Erina removed her eyes from the roof and restarted her conversation with the two.

"That girl sure is perceptive!"

Kai snuck into an alley and removed his mask and cloak and hid them inside the pendant.

"I'm guessing I look the same as before."

Kai did last-second body checks like blood stains or smells. He was dealing with fire so it isn't weird for him to smell like smoke.

"I guess this is fine."

Kai walked out of the alley and made his way to the three.

"Yo."

Kai raised his hand and walked up to the three.

"Oh there you are, Kai!"

"You sure took awhile. What'd you do?"

I was interrogating some of the clan's spies and threatened them with flames after wiping them out. Like I could say that.

"Nothing. So, are you girls tired?"

Erina's eyes sharpened for an instant but it didn't escape Kai's eyes.

This is bad. She's really suspicious of me, I guess a duke's daughter is really different.

"We've already rested, shall we continue?"

Erina answered for the two.

"Nn."

"Yeah!"

The four of them strolled for a bit more showing Kai everything that had changed in the past few years while showing Erina around the clan. Akane and Yoko have strolled around the clan countless of times in the past few years as a form of relaxation after training.

"Many things have changed in the past three years have they?"

"Yeah, even the mock tournament was changed remember? But some guy just up and destroyed it again..."

Kai made a dry laugh.

And just then, Kai stopped once more.

I saw movement from those alleys, but I can't sense any souls there... what could those be?

"Hey, I have to go to the bathroom for a bit."

Akane looked at Kai and pointed behind her.

"Oh, the bathroom's over there..."

Kai turned around and jogged away. Akane looked on dumbfounded while Yoko was alternating between Kai's running figure and Akane's dumbstruck face. Meanwhile, Erina had a smile on her face.

"I have to go to the bathroom as well, let's hurry."

Erina took both of them to the bathroom that Akane was just pointing at.

Kai wore the cloak and mask from before and jumped up the rooftops to search for those shadows he had seen earlier.

"It was over... here!"

Kai found the alley and used [Shadow Assimilation]. He looked around but found nothing. He also used [Telekinesis] to move the objects around and found a single crystal of ice.

"Ice?"

The image of Erina immediately popped into his head.

Kai held the ice crystal and channeled his own ice attribute to see through it.

"Got you."

Kai activated [Soul Call] once more, there was someone directly behind him. He didn't hear the person come near at all.

"Turn around slowly and remove your mask and hood."

Kai raised his hands and was about to remove his hood. But just when it was about to go down, Kai immediately pulled it back and his hands ignited in flames.

It was [Flame Whip].

But just as he turned around and struck down with the [Flame Whip], it was extinguished.

"What?!"

Kai couldn't help but be shocked. He hadn't used all his power and it was meant to disable rather than to kill but to actually remove his flame easily...

He looked at the figure of the person that attacked him, the person had a small stature that was smaller than even Kai's, the person also had a mask and regular clothes on.

...

Those clothes are Erina's, is she an idiot? Why did she wear a mask but keep her clothes?

Kai stared at her clothes which elicited a chuckle from the person.

"I knew it, you're Kai. If you hadn't been looking at my clothes, I would've had to find out who you were but seeing as how you stared at me, it means you've seen my clothes before. But still, to actually manipulate flame..."

Erina removed her mask and had a smirk. Meanwhile, Kai sighed and removed his mask and hood.

"I knew it, you saw me before on the roof."

This girl is too clever. Hell, to actually deduce all that, it's as if she isn't eight at all.

"That's right. I actually didn't know it was you first but your words and excuses were very vague. And you also appeared a few minutes after I saw that figure. Of course I'd suspect you. Also, the things you sensed in the alleys are my ice marionettes."

Kai raised his brows.

"Marionette?"

"That's right, I can move ice remotely from a distance. It's a skill I learned from playing with ice for awhile. But enough about me, tell me... are you a dual attribute user or are you something more?"

Did she see me using my ice attribute? If she did, this'll be a lot more troublesome than it should be.

"Yeah, I can manipulate flames and darkness."

Erina's eyes sharpened.

"Hoho... then, how did you manipulate ice?"

Fuck.

"...What are you talking about?"

"We both know you won't be able to fool me. Also, did you know that since your first element is darkness, it's near impossible for you to have the fire attribute. You couldn't have gotten fire unless you had done a trial. It seems that your secondary element is something else but... it appears you've certainly used ice more than fire."

This woman is too perceptive.

Kai sighed as he finally gave up.

"Alright fine, I was born with dual attributes of darkness and ice but I had undertaken a trial to get fire."

Erina smiled.

"Good, was that too hard to say? I won't tell anyone so don't worry. But still, to be born with a secondary attribute rather than a primary is strange. It's even more impossible than being born with both darkness and light. Now, please explain to me why you're wearing that mask and hood inside your own clan."

Kai sat down.

I can't tell her everything seeing as her father is close to the patriarch but I can at least make up a story that would coincide with what has happened.

"I've caught the attention of an elder because of the clash with the head elder and I have been targeted. They sent people after me to inspect me and eliminate me if necessary."

I don't think they'd mind if I change up the story that much.

Meanwhile, Erina had different thoughts.

I don't think they could eliminate you unless they were all at the level of the patriarch though...

"I interrogated them so that they would know of my cloak and mask and also to find out who the one who sent them was. They now think that this cloak and mask is my protector instead of me simply because I used flames and not darkness. The clan also doesn't know I hold dual attributes."

Erina nodded multiple times.

"Do you need help? I can remove a simple elder from your clan without much trouble you know? I don't even need to care about the consequences like you do because my status is way higher than theirs."

"No no no, that isn't necessary. I'll deal with them myself..."

I wouldn't involve an innocent elder just to become a scapegoat...

"Well, you better not use that mask and cloak unless you want to show the enemies who you are. Right now, that demonic mask, blood red cloak, and your flames are the ones that they will watch out for."

The two of them left the alley and went back together after removing their respective disguises. But they forgot to separate and were questioned endlessly by Akane and Yoko.