The rain was a nuisance, heavy, and weighing down those few who were moving among it.

Jonathan found himself cursing even as he flew through the air, leaps assisted with his mastery of Wind causing him to move with such speed that his own students would struggle to see his movements… some five Star Sages would have had just as much trouble actually.

And as Jonathan dropped, dropping to the floor, the shadows suddenly stretched, pulling him into its cold embrace before spitting him out once more into the air, maintaining, and even occasionally increasing his momentum.

Jonathan had overtaken his students already, but the person he was chasing also had no more reason to slow down, no longer constrained by having to keep pace with weaker four Star Sages.

Still, Jonathan was clearly faster, as he noticed through his senses that the Rogue Sage was slowing down, clearly sensing Jonathan’s approach.

Jonathan skidded to a stop, the wet concrete leaving him tilting to such an extent that his gauntlet covered hands caused sparks from his impact, beyond the minute cracks.

“Damn, should have expected this… they were Academy students, weren’t they?” The Rogue Sage asked, his voice distorted much like the other Rogue Sages were, most likely so any of their number could take the place of that ‘executioner’.

“Finding a group of four Star Sages under the age of eighteen working together? Yeah, they’re students.” Jonathan answered and the Rogue Sage sighed, a hand coming up to scratch at the short blue hair revealed by the hood, another hand coming up to his hip… a nervous tic?

“That’s… bad luck for me and my group. We definitely can’t escape this.” Jonathan said nothing, knowing exactly what the worry of the Rogue Sage was.

Rogue Sages were criminals, they used their powers to rob, extort, and transport illegal goods and drugs, but at the same time, they were Sages.

Sages were united against other races, the Fae and the Mystic Beasts. Yes, Rogue Sages were horrible, but the Fae and Mystic Beasts alike would sooner paint all Sages under the same brush than let the Rogue Sages leave just because they weren’t involved with some of the crimes which hurt Fae, such as the slave trade.

The slave trade was outlawed and illegal for a very long time, but it wasn’t illegal if done to Fae until near the end of the Fae War, and some Rogue Sages still attacked them to kidnap their young for horrible, horrible reasons.

“I won’t say you’re wrong, that would be a lie… but it seems you know how this game of cops and robbers goes.” Jonathan said, holding out his arm, his chain-blade forming in his right hand, his gauntlets extending and almost growing until the covered all of his arms, his chest and back, as well as head and legs.

The Rogue Sage narrowed his eyes, not that Jonathan could tell with the mask, at the fact that Jonathan apparently had a fully mastered Clad, as a six Star Sage.

“Yeah… I know how this goes.” The Rogue Sage clicked their teeth after a moment, reaching for their cloak and vanishing it, most likely into their own storage Spell.

Like Jonathan, the Rogue Sage raised his hand, his weapon forming, a cutlass, and reaching to his left, he removed a pistol…

“Going all in on the pirate theme, aren’t you?” Jonathan asked, rotating his left wrist in preparation for the upcoming fight, the Rogue Sage chuckling as he began to vaguely shine blue… an Aura type Clad.

“The abilities of Sages typically follow ‘patterns’ of a sort. Going against the pattern typically does nothing but weaken the Sage after all. So I figure why not go all in?” The Rogue Sage said finally after having his laugh.

“Good point.” Jonathan admitted, squaring his shoulders and beginning to slowly circle the Rogue Sage.

“For the sake of clarity, care to share a name, or an alias?” Jonathan asked, clearly this opponent was one with manners after all.

“I wouldn’t mind being called Sparrow, but that might go into copyright territory?” Jonathan appreciated the joke, and he didn’t actually mind using the clearly fake name.

“I don’t mind… and you don’t know who I am?” Jonathan asked, just to be certain, Sparrow moving in the opposite direction to Jonathan, circling like Jonathan was.

“Oh don’t worry, I know who you are, Technician. There are few chain-sword wielders who have two Elements.” Jonathan blinked, mildly surprised that his opponent knew that term for him…

Yes, Jonathan had a title, it was only known by a few though… So Sparrow knowing his title, it meant Jonathan’s opponent had information on him while he had none on Sparrow.

It was the price of fame as a Sage in that sense, but Jonathan didn’t mind… He just had to win regardless.

Both didn’t speak beyond this, Jonathan hurling his blade at Sparrow, with Sparrow raising his cutlass to block, the pistol coming up and aiming for Jonathan’s chest.

That fight was going to be dangerous, but it wasn’t the only one going to start soon, with Kazuya running after one of the Rogue Sages.

The Rogue Sage in question seemed to be a Light Sage, moving ridiculously fast even with Kazuya reinforcing himself with Light as well, Kazuya was only capable of maintaining the current distance between the two…

The gap was unfortunately widened when Kazuya was blocked by something landing between him and his target.

Kazuya slowed down enough to see what it was, and was left wide eyed when the person leapt towards him, hands coming towards his shoulders.

Being grabbed, Kazuya then witnessed the person flip right over and around Kazuya, still maintaining a grip as they spun before locking their legs around Kazuya’s waist.

“Hey… Yummy one, keep running.” Kazuya heard the voice, breath brushing against his cheek as he maintained his speed, still very, very worried about the… girl? On his back.

Kazuya really was confused about this, and it was a first for him.

“Who are you?” Kazuya asked, feeling the power of the person on his back, knowing that they were a Sage, but not much more than that.

“Beel. I work with the people who tried to kidnap you last year.” Kazuya felt his blood chill at those words, knowing that if this person was trying to kill or kidnap him, they were in a good position to do so…

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to bite… you at least. Blakey doesn’t want me interfering.” The voice was a tad ‘girly’ so at least mentally Kazuya felt that female was a more appropriate term to use for the moment.

“So if you aren’t here to attack me, why are you here?” Kazuya asked, looking at the Rogue Sage in the distance while removing his bow from storage.

“See, Apostle doesn’t want any competition… they’re competition. Apostle also doesn’t want you dead.” That was a nice thing to know… at least he didn’t have to worry about getting killed.

“So you’re going to fight with me against that Rogue Sage?” Kazuya asked, just to be sure about things.

“Yep. I bet they taste interesting… Light Sages always taste like cotton candy…” the words sent a shiver down Kazuya’s spine, simply because he could tell, Beel was not ‘joking’ or trying to be coy, she meant what she said, as she said it.

“…That’s worrying.” Kazuya said as he launched an arrow, the arrow exploding the ground next to the Rogue Sage and surprising them enough to send a glance over to Kazuya.

“I eat people. I’m not going to hide that you know?” Again, Kazuya felt true worry realizing how close Beel’s face was to his neck…

“Hey, they’re going to get away.” Beel complained after a moment, watching Kazuya launch a few more arrows, their opponent deflecting the arrows with a shield, clearly a Clad.

“If someone hadn’t slowed me down, maybe I would have… Hey, hey, excuse me, it’s an emergency, do you think I could use your bike?” Kazuya complained, cutting himself off as he saw a man in robes standing next to a bike.

Not just any bike though, but a ‘Sage’ brand bike, one which went way faster than ones designed for normal humans, it actually took the power of the Sage riding it into consideration when it came to how fast it moved, moving faster for stronger Sages.

They were rare, experimental, and expensive, and Kazuya knew he was overstepping by asking for it, any Sage which could afford it had to be at least a five Star Sage…

“Oh? Go ahead, just bring it back in one piece.” The keys were tossed with a wave of the hand, Kazuya actually being surprised that he had actually been handed the keys, placing his bow back into his storage space.

“That Rogue Sage is getting away, best step on it.” The blonde monk walked away with a wave, heading vaguely towards Tony’s fight, leaving Kazuya wondering who the man was exactly.

“…That was scary.” Kazuya had even forgotten Beel on his back in his confusion, but sitting on the bike behind him was the cannibal Rogue Sage, reminding him of her presence.

“How so?” Kazuya asked, revving the bike and zooming off in the direction of the Rogue Sage.

“That was a King. Goku Adohira.” Kazuya very, very carefully, swerved and had to regain control over the very fast bike at those words.

Kazuya had spoken casually to a King. He had borrowed a King’s bike. If Kazuya broke the bike, his life was forfeit.

Goku Adohira wasn’t actually that petty, and didn’t mind the situation, but Kazuya had no way of knowing that.

So when Kazuya swerved past the Rogue Sage, cutting off his escape route, Kazuya held a hand up to keep the man from attacking.

“Wait, this bike belongs to a King!” Kazuya’s words had the man halt his attack, Kazuya and Beel getting off of the bike and moving it away.

“…Are you serious?” No doubt the man was correct in his wonder, there were only ten known Kings in the world, the person chasing him down just so happens to get help from one?

“Surprisingly yes… I didn’t know who it was when I asked for the bike…” Kazuya admitted, the Monochrome Spear appearing within his hands as he did so.

“That’s an absurd coincidence… and I remember you being alone when this chase started.” The man spoke, looking to Beel with confusion.

Moving her dark purple hair back, the rain letting the hair retain its ‘slicked’ back appearance, Beel smiled, revealing her sharp teeth.

“Oh I’m another Rogue Sage… but our two groups are kind of in competition.” Beel answered, spinning in place and raising her hands, a dark cape landing on her shoulders as she spun to a stop.

It was theatrical and silly, but a small fact about Sages was that the weirder a Sage was, well, they were probably strong enough that they could afford to be weird.

“So I’m going to help the yummy one here… be careful though.” The Rogue Sage suddenly jerked to the side, bringing his leg back as a circular chunk of the ground seemingly vanished, crunching noises coming from Beel’s jaws.

“If you’re too slow I’ll bite a chunk out of you.” Beel growled out, leaning forward and low to the ground, Kazuya looking worried even with her being on ‘his side’ in this fight.

“Well, I can say that’s the first time I’ve been threatened like that…” the Rogue Sage commented, raising his hand and summoning a great-sword into his hands, the sword shining… a Light Sage, it seemed.

“I have no quarrel with you, student. As for that one… well, I’ll be trying to kill them.” The Rogue Sage didn’t even try to hide his aim, raising the sword and swinging down, a blast of Light leaving his blade and rushing towards Beel, starting the fight.

Beel’s eyes widened as the blast approached, not out of shook but apparent glee, sliding out of the way of the blast, her cape getting caught in the blast…

And the material came out unscathed, leaving Kazuya wondering about that thing, it was clearly one of the Six Arts, possibly a part of her Clad from what it seemed… but he didn’t have more time to wonder on that, rushing forward and extending his spear towards the Rogue Sage.

The Rogue Sage raised his blade, pressing the flat of the sword against his own shoulder, using his weapon as a shield of sorts, Kazuya’s Monochrome Spear sliding off of the angled weapon.

“For a large weapon, you wield that thing with too much finesse.” Kazuya noted, stepping back from the counter-swing, the blade spinning to the optimal path and then lashing out after deflecting his attack, a burst of Darkness appearing in front of Kazuya’s face, swallowing the Light which was released from the end of the blade.

“And that weapon of yours does too much damage for such short contact.” The Rogue Sage responded, shifting his blade, the scratches on its side from where the Monochrome Spear touched it revealing the chainsaw-like nature of the spear.

“Hey, I’m also here.” Beel pouted, reaching up to her cape and removing it from her neck, swinging it at the Rogue Sage.

Seeing the danger, for Beel’s attacks were strange and dangerous, the Rogue Sage stepped back, a burst of Light sending him further back than what would be expected as Beel’s cape hit the floor.

The contact between the cape and floor let both of the other combatants know that Beel was to be kept away from, the cape flowing into the ground with no resistance, leaving behind a furrow within the ground as if it had been erased from existence.

“Hey! Stop moving, eating rocks and dirt sucks!” Beel shouted, and both Kazuya and the Rogue Sage paled at her words… not that anyone could see the effect of the words on the Rogue Sage, what with his mask.

“Rogue Sage… I’m going to call you Paladin, you fit the stereotype. Let’s agree to stay away from that.” Kazuya pointed out, ‘Paladin’ nodding in agreement.

Yes, Beel and Kazuya had arrived together, but Beel’s organization was after Kazuya as well. He didn’t trust her in the slightest. He knew this was closer to a three-way fight than one side against another.

“What, yummy one, how could you leave me for him?” Beel whined, her power at odds with her actions and words… then the whining stopped suddenly, her face dropping all frowns and smiles to just stare blankly at the two.

“No matter… I’ll just nibble a bit.” Beel spoke, her cape being fastened to her back once more, two gauntlets appearing on her hands, and then a helmet across her head, the helmet possessing an almost motorcycle helm like quality…

The issue with the helmet was that the lower jaw had mandibles, clicking together as they moved, spreading open to reveal sharp teeth in a manner that no human should ever possess, the mandibles interlocking to hide the teeth as Beel spoke.

“Die.” Beel dropped suddenly into the ground, and immediately Kazuya turned, stabbing his Monochrome Spear at his own shadow, meeting Beel’s gauntlet clad hand as she bounced back from the force of his attack.

Beel didn’t just stop there though, Kazuya twisted, jumping away as the ground at his fight was carved into, with his Elemental Sight, Kazuya finally saw what Beel was doing.

Her Essence, coloured dark and red, extended from her form without turning into her Element, instead taking the shape of a jaw, biting into things around her, her Essence growing minutely with every bite.

“Darkness… but with something more?” Kazuya noted, tossing his spear at Paladin, the Rogue Sage forced into stopping his advance, trying to attack Kazuya during his jump, the spear bouncing off the great-sword and vanishing.

It reappeared within Kazuya’s hands a moment after, a perk of Armaments, though not one often used, creating an Armament took much more energy than maintaining one, which was why it was rare to find a Sage that used the option of tossing away their Armament and creating it once more.

“Urgh, that spear is way too damaging…” Paladin complained, having actually been forced back slightly from the spear throw, the Rogue Sage shaking his hand slightly.

“And his weapon…” Kazuya continued his muttering, gaining understanding of his opponents as he fought them, swirling his spear and generating a wall of Earth which got eaten through by Beel’s strange power.

It was the first time the two Rogue Sages had seen Kazuya use an element in this fight, though Beel was aware of his nature as an Essence Sage, Paladin was still in the dark.

So Kazuya kicked what was left of his rock wall towards Beel, then turned towards Paladin, stabbing the Monochrome Spear into the ground, then flipping forward, the ground rising with the spear to form a massive hammer head made of stone, slamming into Paladin’s blade, sending the Paladin to his knee from the weight.

While the block of Earth was stopped by the blade, the actual point of the Monochrome Spear continued, slicing through the Earth and needing just a twist from Kazuya to pierce towards Paladin, a film of Light appearing, a barrier, to block the strike, but giving the Paladin space enough to drop the block of Earth and dodge backwards.

Kazuya was beginning to see the patterns…

Kazuya’s battle was beginning to pick up, and Jonathan was having an ‘interesting’ battle against the man who was tentatively going by ‘Sparrow’.

Jonathan swung his arm, his blade flying, attached to his arm by its chain, Sparrow’s gun aiming accurately and firing a jet of compressed Water at the blade, bouncing it off course and stabbing into the ground.

Sparrow sought to take advantage of this, going close to Jonathan and taking a swing at Jonathan’s stomach, Jonathan’s shield-gauntlet snapped to block, Sparrow’s blade pressed against the shield, and then Sparrow found himself falling backwards, the pressure from Jonathan suddenly growing too much.

Sparrow was slammed into the ground, Jonathan bouncing off of him as he revealed why the pressure suddenly grew, shortening his chain and pulling himself, leaving Sparrow between Jonathan and his blade.

Sparrow was only mildly hurt by the attack, Jonathan not having the right angle to properly use such an attack, but the Rogue Sage was definitely hurt, rolling from his prone position and swinging his arm, drawing on the rain around him to send a cutting stream of Water at Jonathan.

Little known fact, but when placed under enough pressure, and directed, water is fully capable of cutting through iron and other metal.

It was a very well-known fact by Sages though, especially Water Sages.

Jonathan’s feet sunk into his shadow, just enough for the jet cutter of Water to pass over his head, then popped back out of the shadow, pointing his blade forward as three spears of Wind were blasted out from the end of his blade.

Sparrow responded by stomping his foot, the Water pooling around his feet rising and forming a curtain in front of him, the spears of Wind impacting and blowing out sections of the curtain, but not actually touching Sparrow.

“A mastered Clad, a powerful and versatile Armament, and that skill with Spells… and to think, you haven’t even shown your Manifestation or Diversity yet.” Sparrow’s voice wasn’t modulated anymore, not after Jonathan had landed a solid kick to Sparrow’s jaw, cracking and breaking a portion of the mask.

“Anything else to add?” Jonathan asked, raising a brow behind his helmet, looking to his arm, bleeding from where one of those jet cutters grazed him, the armour at that point shredded from the force.

Jonathan’s Diversity, Healing, would have been well suited to fixing the issue, but doing so would also give away what Jonathan’s Diversity was.

Jonathan had built a reputation as the Technician, someone who had five of the Six Arts each at a high level of mastery despite his ‘low’ power… but no one really knew what his Diversity was.

Healing wasn’t a powerful Diversity as it was, the Light, Wood, and Water Elements each had their own healing methods… but that meant little to Jonathan.

Yes, the effects of Jonathan’s Diversity could be copied by certain Elements, but Darkness and Wind didn’t have healing methods in their arsenal, and trying to use a healing Spell through Darkness or Wind Elements would be like trying to power a car with a TV-remote battery… energy would be used, but what would really happen?

So using his Healing would give away his Diversity, so Jonathan let his opponent look at the injury without worry.

And even without healing himself, Jonathan was definitely faring better than Sparrow was.

“…I hate this.” Sparrow admitted, and Jonathan tilted his head, emoting without expression due to his helmet to express his confusion.

“This, the cops and robbers show that we’re putting on. Either I win and escape, prompting even stronger enemies, or you win and I get captured and put to work again…” Jonathan’s eyes narrowed behind his helmet, putting a thought aside to return to later.

“Not to mention that I can’t fully control the Water around here…” Sparrow raised a hand, his Aura moving along with it, Water clinging to his skin… but considering his strength, Jonathan knew that Sparrow should have been capable of much more, speed, control, it should have been better.

“The only reason I can think of… it feels like I’m being ‘allowed’ to use this much, instead of all that I can do.” Sparrow said, and Jonathan blinked for a moment… then felt a breeze flow against his injury, gently, tenderly…

“…” Jonathan knew that his wife wouldn’t interfere with his fights, she was much more powerful than he was, and could easily crush Sparrow as long as they were in the same city, but Rabia would never keep Jonathan from fighting his own fights.

So why had Rabia let him know she was watching… it was because Rabia wasn’t alone.

“Damn it.” Jonathan complained, focusing on spreading out his senses, and vaguely catching what Sparrow was alluding to.

It was huge, a vast dome of Water, difficult to notice and see unless one had the range, and with what little Jonathan could do, he could see that the rain was actually worse outside the dome…

And floating at the top, far, far above Jonathan and Sparrow, was a man who was no doubt Kai Lanakila.

“It seems the King of Water took note of our fight.” Jonathan admitted, Sparrow’s body shaking, in fear or anger, only he knew… and then Sparrow dropped to the floor, his Armament and Aura vanishing.

“Damn it… I didn’t even get a chance to summon my Manifestation… I give up. I’m not escaping if the King of Water is watching. Even if I won he’d just show up and deus-ex-machina your victory.” Sparrow admitted, and Jonathan agreed, walking closer and using a Spell to bind Sparrow.

“Ah, I see you’re done with your fight…” Jonathan looked up to the floating form of Kai Lanakila, the King of Water not holding his weapon or clothed in his armour, but still being imposing with his presence.

“Thanks to you it seems. Couldn’t you have let me have my fight?” Jonathan complained, he respected the Kings, yes, but he did not fear them like most other Sages did, due to knowing each of them personally.

“Ah… I would have, but Clara wants to talk to you.” Jonathan blinked, and sighed as his wound vanished, along with his Clad and Armament.

“Only after I check if my students are okay. I’ll be by in an hour. Rabia will guide me.” Jonathan explained, and Kai nodded in acceptance, Water rising from the wet ground and covering a still indignant Sparrow, carrying the Rogue Sage behind the King.

“…Deus ex machina is the most boring thing ever.” Jonathan complained, even if it was helpful, he didn’t want the help at this point…

Jonathan eventually just sighed, running a hand through his hair and walking away to where he knew he would find some of his students.

Jonathan didn’t know that all of his students weren’t done fighting though, Kazuya, Beel and Paladin still fighting, the fight now becoming more akin to a three way fight, with Paladin taking less of a cautionary stance.

In the opening of the fight, with Beel and Kazuya both attacking Paladin, he had taken a defensive stance, rarely attacking back, worrying that their sudden attacks on one another was just an act, but clearly Beel was serious… maybe not trying to kill Kazuya, but she was trying to defeat him.

A swing of his great-sword had Kazuya ducking onto the floor trying to sweep the Paladin’s legs out from under him, the Light Sage actually kicking back, their legs clashing, then separating as Beel tried to take a ‘bite’ out of both of them.

Kazuya and the Paladin both sent attacks towards Beel, a spike of Earth growing to pierce her side, and a wave of Light launched from the Paladin’s blade.

The first was eaten by a dark red flame, and the latter was swallowed by Beel’s shadow which rose from the ground, at this point the truth of her Element was revealed, being a Darkness-Fire dual Element Sage…

Beel’s ‘fire’ also had the unique ability to ‘recycle’ what it burnt away, either because of her mixture of Elements, or her Diversity, one or the other… a possible ‘which came first’ situation there actually.

Beel definitely had a Diversity though, Kazuya knew that the armour she had covering her head and arms was her Clad, and at this point he had found out that the cloak/cape that she had summoned was actually her Armament of all things… it worked to both restrain and eat away at her enemies, so despite how odd it seemed, it was a definite weapon.

So it could only be her Diversity creating the invisible force taking bites of things around her, the force only visible when focusing Essence into the eyes.

Beel had managed to stop both attacks, but didn’t attack, barely moved even, a weakness Kazuya and the Paladin both noted.

For her being a four Star Sage, Beel was really slow. She wasn’t weak, but even at a full sprint she matched the speed of a two Star Sage rather than a four Star like the other two fighters.

Kazuya wasn’t sure why, it could be a drawback from the eating thing, or her never needing to run, what with her ability to consume all attacks sent her way, but regardless of the reason, Beel was more akin to a walking ‘enter and die’ area.

It was an odd turn of events that lead to it being a fight between Kazuya and the Paladin, with Beel acting as a buffer and ‘arena trap’ for both…

The fight would be ending soon though, and both of the Rogue Sages could see it.

Kazuya was strong, the Essence Sage was only using Earth in this fight to try and trick Paladin into thinking he was an Earth Sage, yet he still had a much larger arsenal than what was currently being shown.

Kazuya’s Monochrome Spear did massive damage on contact if positioned correctly, his versatility was insane, actually using his weapon as a distraction to hit Paladin with martial arts, and worst of all was his sense of combat.

Nothing like ‘moving instinctually’ or anything like that, Kazuya’s ‘combat sense’ was more on figuring out his opponents from minimal clues, it was inductive reasoning at its finest.

Beel was slow, her defences were high, she must be used to standing still and tanking blows, she’s a defensive-counter fighter.

Bait out attacks from her and counter, Beel’s ability to ‘eat’ attacks sent her way probably couldn’t be used while attacking.

Kazuya’s mind worked like this, and even if he was wrong he would test it out, picking up good information and discarding worthless information to figure out his opponents.

It was beginning to get to the point where Kazuya would strike at Paladin or Beel just as their attacks were being released, dodging out of the way or raising a wall of Earth to protect himself from their attacks.

In a sense it was ‘pattern recognition’ for fighting, and out of all of Kazuya’s skills, it was the underlying backbone for all his fighting.

And so Kazuya realized he had figured out enough, swinging his Monochrome Spear with a flourish, both of the Rogue Sages tensing, recognizing that something was about to happen.

They weren’t ‘disappointed’ when Kazuya raised his left hand, the rain itself slowing, the Paladin going pale when he realized that Kazuya was using an Element other than Earth.

The rain suddenly shot off, tiny ‘bullets’ getting sent at both Sages, a wall of dark Fire rising like a dome to cover Beel, and a wall of Light to protect the Paladin.

Kazuya recognized Paladin as the weak-link, moving forward while controlling the Water around them, and then, as the shield of Light formed, Kazuya leapt into the air, focusing Lightning into his spear.

The Monochrome Spear sparked, the dark, ink like blade gaining the bright blue glow of electricity as the sparks flew, and then it hit the wall of Light, cracking it open with a loud shattering noise, the Paladin behind the shield barely reacting and raising his sword, swinging it at Kazuya.

Kazuya’s landing was done with a slide, the Monochrome Spear turning entirely black as he channelled Darkness into his weapon, swinging it behind the Paladin’s swing, pushing the Paladin off-balance and revealing the truth of the Paladin’s Armament, it was in fact a standard long-sword, not a great-sword.

The Paladin had been wreathing his weapon in Light to extend its cutting edge essentially, but the weapon lacked the weight of a great-sword, something which Kazuya noticed and decided to use to his advantage.

Paladin tried to recover from being forced into overextending, stepping backwards and swinging downwards with his blade to cut into Kazuya’s face, and was met with a smirk and a complete miss from his blade, not having even noticed that the Darkness channelled strike to the sword erased the Light covering…

Making the sword too short for Paladin’s reflex-fuelled strike to hit, the point a good ten centimetres shorter than where he was used to it being.

Kazuya’s spear lashed out, hitting, and piercing the Paladin’s wrists, both holding onto his sword as they were, and with a kick to the Paladin’s ankles, the Paladin was falling, and then found himself nailed into the ground by the Monochrome Spear, screaming in pain as his hands shook uncontrollably.

Kazuya drove the spear even further into the ground, frowning, not liking that he had to resort to such a tactic to take out his opponent, but he had little lee-way to not do so, turning to face Beel, still being harassed by the Water he had sent out.

“Ah poop. You got him.” Beel spoke from behind her curtain of Fire, Kazuya raising a hand in gesture that he would soon attack her as well…

“Enough of that kid. I’ll take her away.” Kazuya froze, recalling the voice and looking to a nearby alleyway, seeing the Fire Sage capable of creating portals that tried to kidnap Kazuya the year before.

“Blake! They didn’t let me bite them!” Beel complained, even as the rain all around them was ‘burnt’ away, Kazuya found the entire area becoming dry, despite the storm around them…

Right, this guy was defeated by Kazuya’s parents, but he was still a seven Star Sage… Kazuya kept still.

“That’s a good thing. Apostle doesn’t want us rocking the boat too much while he is in hiding.” Blake spoke, walking towards Beel, a portal of Fire opening behind her, the young Rogue Sage pouting even as she looked over to Kazuya.

“I’ll get a taste someday! Bye, have fun with that Light guy!” Beel called as she hopped backwards into the portal, the man known as Blake sighing as he looked over to Kazuya.

“We won’t attack you. Our first attack failed, and trying again would be… inadvisable.” Blake let Kazuya know even as he walked into the portal.

For good reason, none of the Grim Cult was going to go after Kazuya for the foreseeable future, despite having him as their main target.

With all the Kings gathering in Regalia, where Kazuya currently was, trying to kidnap him or fight him would be suicide, all while speaking to the boy Blake found himself being watched, if not by the shadows, then by the only Fire Sage allowed to fly about freely in Regalia.

Neither struck first, the King of Darkness not recognizing Blake because he had not been a part of the Apostle’s group when she had attacked him before, and Drake because despite having the speed necessary to interfere, he could see that the Rogue Sage was leaving.

Rather than fight and cause damages, letting him leave was better…

“So… you’re saying that was one of the Apostles men? I should have killed him.” Clara Salem spoke, opening her eyes and refocusing on the world around her, her eyes glancing over to the one person suspiciously missing from the Null Sons situation.

“Eh, it’s not entirely necessary, that particular one seems to be a coward from the Kazuya Pair’s report. The younger one would probably be dangerous in the future, but for now they aren’t too much of a threat.” Yusuf spoke, twirling a baton absently in one hand.

“I see… I don’t suppose that was enough for you to ignore your line of questioning?” Clara asked, and was met by a smirk and raised eyebrow from the younger Wind Sage.

“Not at all. So, King of Darkness, like I asked, how deeply involved are you in these Null Sons murders?” Yusuf asked, and Clara sighed.

Trust Rabia’s child to figure things out….