August 30, 2025

The finishing blow, followed by the ink trail, landed on a guy’s jaw. Wasted, he fell in the center of a large circular arena, and thousands of spectators roared with delight. The winner of the Six Color Olympics summer season was finally revealed—the name of Rebecca Mei would be mentioned in every conversation until a new series would kick off. The judge raised the hand of the girl, who was shining with happiness, and the crowd unleashed an avalanche of applause at the best mage of the tournament. The fangirls of her opponent, however, were squealing in indignation.

Niji saw the Olympics live for the first time—before that, she had only watched online broadcasts. The battle hadn’t been easy: Rebecca’s rival had been Jessifer Something Something Omnious—a psychopath with disheveled red hair and green eyes full of insanity. Brawls, both virtual and real, were the meaning of life for this isolated and unsociable gamer, and he was always giving it his all. Each of his battles was spectacular and fun to watch, as Jesse was one of the few mages among the Celestials who had chosen offense over defense. A good reaction, an incredible speed of healing and very powerful disorienting spells allowed him not only to survive the attacks of the Golden, but also to block her teleportation with outstanding precision. His feud with Rebecca had lasted for more than a year, and the number of matches won was approximately equal.

Healing assistants, dedicated to the Omnius family, began helping Jesse, and they were so efficient that he instantly forgot how he had been knocked out only half a minute before. He caught up with Rebecca when she descended from the arena to hug with her friends before the award ceremony. The mage had to stand on his tiptoes to hiss a few nasty words in her ear. She only showed him the middle finger in response.

“Ewww, Beckz!” Dammit shook his head, but it was obvious he didn’t disapprove of it in the slightest. “Everyone’s watching you right now. Nobody could hear what he’s said, but your gesture will be seen by millions.”

“Meme-ready,” Sunny giggled.

“I don’t give a shit. I have an image to maintain.”

“Hey, Sis, are drinks on the house today?” Dammit’s face beamed with expectation.

“The ‘Cat’ might have been seized by the fans already, so we’d better hide in the summer residence.”

“Yahoooooo!” Sunny was so excited that she tried to squeeze Dammit in her arms, but he playfully avoided her affection.

August 31, 2025

The last day of summer turned out to be extremely hot, and even at ten in the morning the sun was blazing mercilessly. In the courtyard of the mansion, Dasnor Hunt started his workout with methodical sword swings—a routine he never had a keen eye for and therefore wasn’t good enough at. And it was well-known how he hated not being good enough.

The mage trained barefoot, dressed only in light trousers which were black despite the heat, and his equipment was a wooden sword; a bokken. As he was practicing his lunges, Niji Murasaki emerged from her room on the balcony of the upper floor. She began watching over the Amber’s struggles, placing her elbows on the balustrade to support her head which seemed to weigh like a ton. Beckz’s victory party was terrific but a bit too intense, so the Elementalist was suffering from a mild hangover and decided it was a perfect time to meditate upon monotonous movements performed by a half-dressed man. Dasnor had a so-called athletic build—a body one could imagine upon hearing “a surfer” or “a lifeguard”: broad shoulders, long legs, a moderately muscular physique. Still, his look was a bit ruined by the typical “leave-me-alone-thank-you” expression on his face.

It was the first time Niji had actually seen his amplifier pushed to its fullest. Freyja called it her masterpiece, and it wasn’t an exaggeration. Most magical tattoos rarely exceeded the size of two matchboxes, but Dasnor’s upper back was fully taken by angel wings, its every feather detailed to an enviable extent, which most masters would not have enough patience to create. It looked gorgeous and suited his ability to surpass the force of gravity.

In the corner of her eye, Niji noticed Dammit crawling in her direction, but she didn’t turn to him. The healer was flaunting himself with a checkered court jester hat and a grayish blue T-shirt with a fake bloody inscription that read “Why So Serious.” When the offspring of the Omnious family approached her, instead of a greeting he declared, “You are looking at him 2.36 seconds longer than could be considered just an innocent interest.”

“You got it wrong.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. It’s just 1.8.”

“My bad, my bad!”

Dammit raised his hands to show he had surrendered, and they both laughed. Niji commented, “I wonder… will he ever stop being so hard on himself?”

“Huh, Grumpy is a hell of a workaholic. It’s his way to deal with issues, and he HAS seen some shit in his life. Seriously, no one should experience that.”

“Once I was told Fiber killed his wife… was it… his mother?”

“Not sure ‘kill’ is the right word here… Elveit had disappeared a couple of decades ago. People say different things. That she was jealous of Fiber because of Freyja, that he was jealous of her because of Satoru, an enchanter from PRISM. That she ran away with this guy after a scandal. That this mansion was almost brought down to pieces—heated arguments among mages never happen without a devastating spell or two… but, no matter, they were destined to break up anyway.”

“How so?”

“My, don’t you know the story? Ah well, yes, it is a total shame for PRISM, and the Omnious would burn you alive if you dare to mention it… jeez, don’t look at me like that, I’m just messing with you. They usually don’t go further than poking needles under your nails.”

“Soooooo—?”

“Alright, alright. It all started around thirty years ago when a young and ambitious Elveit Omnious, an Academy graduate and my… eh… third mother-in-law… or sister… aunt’s sister? Crap, whatever. Anyway, she fell head over heels in love with a Manipulator mage named Fiber Hunt. He neither finished his school nor the Academy—a total misfit, from society’s perspective. How they actually managed to get acquainted is one of the greatest mysteries in magic history. Anyway, Fiber was quick to get control of M.A.G.E. and initiated a bunch of… errrr... questionable social activities.”

“Like what? Riots?”

“Uh, you know, the organization at those troubled times was a bit… more radical. It was trendy to　overstress your liberalism in every way possible.”

Meanwhile, Dasnor continued with his training. He was a bit far from the balcony, so it was safe for the mages to talk, but his movements became more furious, and the teal stone medallion was bouncing on his chest. Niji suddenly remembered that the triangles on it formed a rune of dagaz, symbolizing the dawn of a new day.

“For better or for worse, his feelings with Elveit were mutual,” Dammit went on. “The situation became even more complicated when she became an important bigwig in PRISM. Their plan to get married looked like a reckless scheme: they announced that with their union they were planning to settle things between M.A.G.E., PRISM and the Omnious as well. Quite charming isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

“But real life doesn’t give a shit about any romantic endeavours. Fiber was owned by PRISM, so here is the result—we are obliged to contribute to the magical community. Eliminate Violets, hand in dangerous artifacts, smile at the cops’ faces… you know the drill.”

“I didn’t get what exactly happened between them, though.”

Dammit watched how the cat Shirokuro headed towards Dasnor, who finally allowed himself to have a break.

“Fuck if I know, Niji,” Dammit sighed. “Nobody likes to talk about that. Maybe he killed her. Maybe he didn’t. There was neither a body nor any proof of his guilt. Their alliance was a pain in PRISM’s ass because the Institution wanted to exterminate M.A.G.E. completely. The Omnious were enraged at the very thought that one of their kind was hanging out with trash. The whole thing was hushed up. A win-win for everyone. Apart from Grumpy, of course.”

Dasnor noticed the black and white cat who nudged him with its nose, so the mage bent and petted it.

“After all that… why did people stay on Fiber’s side?” Niji wondered.

“Why, there were some who had left. But I guess they were just scared that hell would break loose again. And it’s not a big problem to gather some outcasts in one place again. As I said, this story is not too widespread. All parties were truly unanimous for once. Irony runs deep here.”

“But you are aware of that, and you are still here…”

The mage girl glanced at Dammit incredulously, but he just spread his hands. “I told you, I don’t know for sure what had happened there. And shit, I don’t even want to. But it’s obvious to me that Fiber is a fine leader. Especially if you’re dead tired of living your life among fancy snobs and clinical idiots. Still, it is just one of the numerous backstage stories of my crazy family. They could provide ready-made scripts for a shitty soap opera with R rating for violence. I heard quite a lot when I was a kid. For example, once my uncle Lucius Mark Artemis the Second…”

“Hey, you there!” Dasnor shouted at them and scared the cat so much it ran away somewhere beyond the horizon. “Haven’t you got anything to do?”

“There’s something bothering me…” Dammit put on a mask of concern on his silly face. “I hate to break it to you, but your lats are kinda puny. You should train harder, otherwise it will still be me who gets all the girls... right, Niji?”

Dasnor stepped closer and threw his training sword at the healer as if it was a spear. Dammit dodged it with a loud laugh. The bokken hit the mansion wall and plopped down with a thud.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hit on Flare next time. I already have a love of my—”

“Excuse me. If I may...”

The familiar voice made Niji freeze.