‘’What in the world?! What’s with that blinding light?!’’ The king meddled in his chair, beginning to feel nervous in his certainty for success as he continued watching his follower’s tome’s projection, with it showing an empty, white haze. ‘’Those triplets are beginning to worry me. Being my second strongest offensive force, they’re getting rather sloppy with handling a few thieves. The again, that woman is the most worrisome,’’ he began rambling under his breath, noticing the door to his room open in a slow and loud creak. He raised his head, still looking down at the tome with his one eye as he witnessed his young daughter enter the room, politely closing the door behind herself. Parting her lips, the little girl filled with fear shook slightly, ‘’Father, um, may I please remain beside you for the time being?’’ ‘’Why would you ask that, Touka? Of course, come sit down next to your father,’’ he invited her with a soft smile, relieving her as she walked over to him, sitting in her father’s lap with a happy expression.

‘’I was told you sent the Seikuji triplets to protect the castle, father?’’ Touka asked as she looked down, noticing that the projection was showing nothing but a white cover. ‘’Yes, sending Sheya would be too much of waste on some thieves, dear, so they have to do this time…’’ He looked down, surprised as the white light began to fade away, revealing the aftermath of the weird scene. Sakuhi seemed unconscious, same as Clous, both of them lying next to each other, Clous having his tome open on top of his face, seemingly covering it like a pillow. Yohiro was standing on the side, shaken, and Hiona...was seemingly unmoveable, standing proudly like a powerful pillar, having closed her eyes to protect her eyes.

‘’Yohiro! You okay there?’’ Hiona asked him, realising he wanted to sit down but was strongly refusing to do so. ‘’A-a…’’ Yohiro shook his head, running forward, only stopping front of Clous, checking for his breathing, finding himself in relief as he felt it. ‘’Thank you, and i’m so sorry,’’ he said to the fox, embracing him in his arms. He felt guilty for some reason, he felt sad, he felt like Clous deserve, no, needed that the gentle caress. A tear fell from his eye onto Clous’ head as the tome fell down, hitting the ground and revealing a calm, sleeping face. ‘’You didn’t deserve it! I swear you didn’t…’’ He continued essentially speaking to himself, getting a mean look from Hiona. The boy picked Clous up in his arms, finding it heavy to carry him as he took him away, placing him next to Rosa, sitting him up against the wall.

‘’My brothe’ Sakuhi...got beaten…?’’ Hakuhi mumbled, not having had a problem with the light coming out of Yohiro’s gem thanks to his mask. ‘’...same with th’ fox.’’ ‘’Clous passed out after your brother; it was his victory…!’’ Yohiro told them, pointing his finger daringly as he stated, giving them an infuriated look. ‘’We understan’ that, littl’ one! That means we’re doin’ a third battle!’’ Hakuhi said almost boastfully, despite his still crippled muscles, pointing at the third Seikuji brother, causing him to stand up accordingly. ‘’Yeah, that’s how it’s gonna go.’’ Hiona added from her own side, looking at Yohiro, watching him walk back into the area where the past two fights took place, along with the third brother.

‘’...thank you for deciding to fight with me, precious child,’’ the man spoke from behind the mask in a quiet voice, bowing forward. ‘’L-likewise, thank you, but I can’t lose to you.’’ Hiona walked closed, wanting to have a perfect view of the fight. ‘’My name is Makuhi… I hereby promise to deliver you a satisfying fight, for my brothers and for your shameful teammates, as well as you yourself… If I do not, I shall slit my own belly, just like I have been taught…’’ He continued speaking, slightly shocking Yohiro with how much he actually talked for someone who didn’t even move a muscle up until that point.

‘’You don’t have t--’’ ‘’Before this bout begins, beautiful child of God, I shall reveal my fighting style, for being equal to your opponent is the perfect way to best them… My ability allows me to become impervious to any of this world’s forces if my body is not moving, therefore if I desired I could procrastinate this process until you all get caught b--’’ ‘’You can shut up, retard! Revealing your secrets will only make it easier to get killed. After all, we’re not here to spar,’’ Hiona yelled at him, finishing her words with harsh endings, silencing the quiet Makuhi. ‘’Then, I will also reveal my secret,’’ Yohiro told him, annoying Hiona, with her knowing full-well she couldn’t get annoyed at him, which made her even more annoyed, ‘’I’m talentless, don’t possess a tome of my own and I only have the basic understanding of physical combat, having been thought by the worst human being I have ever encountered, and...I will defeat you!’’ He explained the situation, giving it all to him straight, shocking both him, Hakuhi and Hiona.

‘’You are being honest when giving me, your enemy, this information, knowing well enough I have the strength to take your life, the most precious thing to any living thing in this world…?’’ Yohiro began rolling up his sleeves, not answering the question at first. ‘’It’s only fair that I choose to be honest with an opponent who revealed their ultimate technique to me, his enemy,’’ Yohiro retaliated, giving him a serious look. ‘’Yohiro...why are you suddenly trying to sound tough as if you truly believe you can kill that bastard…? Is it that damned piece of jewelry again?’’ Hiona thought as she sensed a ginormous feeling of fear coming from Yohiro, which didn’t show in his accurate to the training she gave him posture or his for once not shaking body. ‘’Master!’’ He shouted, not looking at her, ‘’I believe you deserve a big ‘kill yourself, please’ right now, right? Well, kill yourself, master. I honestly believe those words are too soft for someone like you, but I refrained from saying it all this time. You have my eternal hatred, from the top of my head to my toes…’’ He told her, causing a strong silence to fill the space, even the drops of water from the ceiling echoing in the sewer sounding like a pen falling off a desk as he took out a pair of fighting gloves from the back pocket of the ‘’shorts’’, which you’d confuse for full-length pants at first, putting them on one after the other.

‘’Yohiro, how could you...make me feel this light-headed at a time like this, you little candy-flavoured jerk!!’’ Hiona yelled girlishly as she blushed, her feet turning into mush as fell down, strongly confusing the two of their foes. ‘’Makuhi, sending us to deal with peopl’ this weir’... Let’ ask for more money,’’ Hakuhi told his brother, getting completely ignored. ‘’Yohiro, was it…? A human of your class has never stood before me. The honesty you have showed me almost makes me want to surrender, If I may be honest, but alas, this is a battle which I cannot throw up…’’ Makuhi readied his hands. ‘’I seem to lack the understanding needed to understand what you said, but that is not required for this interaction…!’’ Makuhi said as he stepped to the side, quickly pushing himself to the other with his foot, starting to alternate between the two sides quickly, with Yohiro unable to even maintain a consistent view of him.

‘’To try to keep track of what I do see and ignore the impossibilities for my weak body… That’s what you’re telling me, right?’’ Yohiro spoke to himself, looking down at the gem which began to shine again. ‘’Hmm, hmm…! Thank you, I’ll try it.’’ He muttered, putting his knuckles up in a stance clearly full of easily exploitable openings. Makuhi switched the movement of his soles, continuing with the same approach, but instead rapidly moving towards Yohiro, startling him as he hopped in a quick spin, landing his left leg in a readily raised defence from Yohiro, still pushing the meek boy to the side and into the wall. Makuhi didn’t loosen on the pressure, sweeping on the ground, with Yohiro jumping to dodge, getting the tip of his shoes caught, tripping him to the floor.

‘’There is certainly potential in those eyes of yours, but your body lacks in comparison, unable to keep up with them. That appears to be the flaw in your movements…’’ Makuhi stopped, staying still as he gave Yohiro a sort of tip, leaving him to nod as he mumbled out a ‘’Thank you!’’ Hiona knew he wouldn’t be able to land a hit or even dodge the attacks, but oh well, she had sunk deep in her own fantasy, rolling around in the water like some dog. ‘’I know I lack it; resolve, that is! I know I lack physical strength, I know I lack agileness, but I don’t want to let other people see my weaknesses, even if I can’t hide them myself!’’ He shouted at Makuhi in response, standing up and clenching his fists as he raised him.

He swung his fist recklessly to the side, leaving his chest open for attack as he landed it on Makuhi’s neck, realising his technique was in effect, neutralizing damage. He took the easy opportunity, punching the boy directly in the chest, widening his eyes as he changed the directory, sending him flying upwards, crashing him into the ceiling, finally getting Hiona’s attention as the dusk from the broken ceiling spread. As a few quick seconds passed, they realised that Yohiro wasn’t descending, causing for Makuhi to jump up, clearing up the dust, revealing Yohiro holding onto the small hole Clous had created in his own battle, letting go with certainty. ‘’Ah, I get it…’’ The masked man swep with his arm, watching in confusion as Yohiro leaned his body backwards, avoiding it. ‘’He’s in the air, so~~~’’ He spun, hitting Makuhi’s right cheek with the backhand side of his fist, causing him to gently step onto his feet in a moment of complete recovery, followed by Yohiro, who clumsily stepped down instead. ‘’It was impossible for you to dodge...haah…!’’ Yohiro raised his voice, already feeling exhausted as he held his hand over his chest in pain.

‘’Of course, that was obvious in and of itself, was it not?’’ Makuhi spoke once more, shocking Yohiro. ‘’It is easy to piece together the reason you were not falling, then followed by me exploiting your plan to get you down, in the end wasting less time. It was, however, a good idea...if it were to be used against a fighter below me level, that is…!’’ He placed his hands together and pointing them up like some knife held with both hands. “I have determined it: A body such as yours will easily faint at the loss of a certain amount of blood. That amount, however, I will have to guess… Believe me when I say, this hand placement can actually cut you, so proceed with caution…’’ Makuhi warned him as he began running towards him, reaching him faster than before and preparing the ‘’knife’’, crouching under him, with Yohiro just beginning to lower his head, catching a glimpse of the man moving his hands upwards.

‘’He’s trying to take me out bt making me lose blood! I can’t do anything here, can I-- Huh?!’’ Yohiro saw the shine of the gem increase again. ‘’A few millimeters?! Can I even do that at this point?! Then again, I’m talking to you, so what’s the point of asking questions at all?!’’ Yohiro gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move the best he could as the knife reached, shocking Hiona.

‘’I’m placing it all on you!’’