'Anything' was not the same as 'everything'. That was the state Marvin was in. Gifted people who had 'every' affinity would get a reaction from all four containers of the device. But Marvin secretly using it would give him none at all. Every time he would think he was doing something wrong, or perhaps he wasn't ready yet since the school never looked into students' affinities, he wouldn't know whether a device outside was any different from the one they used at home.

But after those three were brought in, it turned out that the operation was exactly how he was initially told. He was doing nothing wrong. The amount and the way one needed to inject their own Natura inside the device was no different than how he had done. And yet there was no reaction.

He was devastated but never told anyone, not even Yukio who he got along with best. Slowly, one after another, he was being alienated from any new event that occurred involving his sister and the bunch. School life didn't make it any better since his occasionally erratic behavior didn't let him get friends. Teachers would also unironically compare him to his well behaved cousin. The comparisons themselves didn't bother him since he actually looked up to and longed to reach Hannah's stage, but it was their behaviour towards him. The eyes they shot. They reminded him of his past from back before he was taken into the mansion.

An isolated young boy who had no choice but to observe from the sidelines. But all of that had changed from that day.

Any, rather than every. Instead of being multicoloured, he was a blank slate. It is said that simply knowing which affinities one has would be a great aid towards imagining and cultivating one's foundation. Since one would know what to work with, it would become easier to filter out unnecessary and irrelevant training procedures.

But that was not the case for blank slates like him. While this constitution allowed him all the flexibility of choosing his first steps, it didn't provide a clear directive. Only someone with a clear vision and conviction would perhaps be able to take a proper first step. Someone like, say, Hannah's father. But for a mere thirteen year old, it would be a miracle for him to color himself.

And this was where Chipo had stepped in. She detected and acknowledged his unique trait and decided to drag him in despite his age. In one way, people would consider that a very irresponsible thing to do as an adult, but for Marvin, such an action probably saved him from the ever descending platform into the abyss.

Just like that, in merely almost a month, Marvin had gone from knowing nothing about his powers to being able to manipulate simple materials to a decent degree; at least for his age. Iron, aluminum, sand and some more.

"Those who trained to manipulate soil focused more on the general shape and structure of the material. But those who start off with pure materials can have a deeper understanding of the microscopic structure as well."

Was what she had said.

Pure materials that have a regular structure are less unpredictable in minute differences of behaviour in different regions of the material. As such, it would be easier for a user to tinker around with minute aspects of said material.

But of course Marvin couldn't stay put right there. It couldn't be helped that he didn't reach an expert level in controlling said materials. There was just too little time. His progress so far itself could be said to be revolutionary. It was just that, Marvin himself was not aware of the great feat he was achieving.

"Hmm, good. Now that that's done. We can move on to impure materials."

Things truly were progressing a little too fast. Marvin had reached about 20 percent of what could be considered what an "expert" was in the field. Not even a passing mark. That was because what Marvin could control, although decent, was not enough to be used in actual combat.

However, there was no other way. They had already basically reached the end of the line for their training time with pure materials. If Marvin did not learn how to handle impure materials, which is vastly more common and abundant than pure ones, then he'd be in a serious pinch.

"Since we don't have enough time, we won't be doing different materials, but different compositions of the same material. The fundamental idea is the same. Pure materials have a regular microscopic structure, but impure ones have added particles that disrupt that regularly. If you can grasp how those irregularities affect the general structure of the material, then no matter which material it is, you'd be able to deal with them. In other words, you won't be 'memorizing' the materials like you've been doing till now, but grasp the underlying 'concept'. Capiche?"

It was not common knowledge that everything was made up of tiny indivisible bits of matter. And those who were aware of it, did not know what exactly they were. But the idea that mixing different materials together at different compositions would change the overall behaviour of a material wasn't foreign. Otherwise, smithing, crafting and pharmacy wouldn't be possible.

However for a middle schooler like Marvin, this was actually high level knowledge. The only reason Marvin could have any idea at all about these things would be due to the large repository of books the Rose mansion had. The benefits of being a noble.

Even so, for a child to use basic ideas to go deep into understanding microscopic structural changes of various mixtures might've been too high level, and Chipo was aware of that. That didn't mean she would give up, though. Among all the Guardians, her responsibility was the most difficult, having required to raise a child from zero to General-fairing. Why take on such a risk? What made her so confident? Or was it simply being rash?

"Come here." She sat cross legged and beckoned him. "Since time is short I'll be guiding you through it more than before. We probably have around a week before the others give us a call, so you'll need the final remaining moments to practice on your own."

And yet, even after a perfectly normal and logical beckoning, Marvin didn't move. He hesitated to even look. That much was obvious. As someone who had been growing up in a 'proper' environment for so long, seeing Chipo cross-legged was nothing but obscene.

"Oh, come on! We've had this talk before! Stop being such a wuss and sit! You're wasting time! You do realize you've been the farthest behind amongst everyone, right? You've got a lot to catch up on!"

"No! A-a-at least find a tree or something to sit properly! You need to take care of yourself more since you're a woman!"

"Ugh!" She slapped a hand on the ground, and within a couple of seconds, Marvin's feet were enveloped by hard soil and dragged towards her, allowing her to grab a hold of the boy's collar and pull him down onto her lap.

Chipo paid no heed to the flushed face of Marvin and reached out for the box beside her and pulled out two objects.

"Take one in each hand and bring them close," she instructed.

Marvin quietly followed. He had heard what he was about to learn, but right now, his adolescent brain was being filled up with other thoughts… until Chipo made it worse.

"Hold them like this," a soft whisper tickled his ear, followed by his entire back feeling the gentle embrace of another body.

Chipo peeked her head over Marvin's left shoulder to take a look down at his palms. As she lowered her voice due to the distance, her arms wrapped around him and hands were placed directly underneath his own.

"Channel your Natura. I'll guide you." The contrasting soft voice coming out of this brash woman gave him goosebumps. But this wasn't bad, thought Marvin in his subconscious. Till date, there had only been two people who paid great attention to him like this. While he loved his cousin and deeply respected her, despite their closeness, there has always been a gap between them. In contrast, Chipo's brash nature actually turned out to be more comfortable to him. And just like that, a different feeling crept up within these past few days.

But Marvin was not the only one who entered their comfort zone.

Unfortunately, it could be said that Diavolo's progress was the slowest of all. His mind was a mess. Even under the guidance of Arashi, he had a hard time focusing on a particular thing. A simple command like "Do it correctly!" was not very helpful. While it was not like he didn't make any progress at all, it was simply that he was relatively worse off than the rest.

Putting them on a checklist, his tasks would be to increase his Raze control, have more intricate control over his Material, operate his weapon to a much higher degree of expertise and most of all, tapping into that latent power within him.

In her weakened state, Arashi had witnessed it all back in the island. She no longer had any doubt about what Suzume had told her. As such, wanting to awaken it was no longer a Diavolo-only wish. But like Diavolo himself, there were no leads.

Blood Burner, which had automatically returned to its former state, being completely good as new, had displayed a truly remarkable form. Under the heat of the moment, the weapon had truly become an extension of Diavolo's own body as its liquified state smoothly followed along his movements. If not anything else, Diavolo and Blood Burner's link had successfully deepened. Meaning, he was able to recall that feeling and was now able to control the weapon's movements without direct contact.

Was it knocked away from his hand 10 meters away? Simply reach out and will it to return, and it shall comply.

Afraid of throwing it inaccurately and having it wobble or stray away from the intended target? Will it to stay in a straight line.

Such simple commands successfully being under effect meant that their connection was undeniably deepened. And that was all thanks to Diavolo recalling how it felt back on the island.

However, such a feat still did not seem enough to bring out the latent power. No matter how much he attempted to remember the anger and sorrow he felt, it stayed put. Almost as if there was something forcefully holding it back.

As she also thought of possible solutions, Arashi prepared refreshments for a break. While Diavolo was in the middle of completing his final rep, she reached out and grabbed the safety pin attached to the corner of the cloth that wrapped the basket of meals, and sat there contemplating.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

"This should be good enough," muttered Diavolo, retracting Blood Burner back for the last time.

But as soon as his mind calmed down, it automatically drifted back to the emergency at hand. He still needed ways of tapping into the power. Just how much was he lagging back? How were his friends doing? Was he the only one who progressed the least? Such thoughts drifted about.

And it was then that an odd sound started to progressively get louder. A sound like sharp wind, but also like a stampede making its way closer, trampling on the ground.

"Hmm?" Confused, he turned towards the direction he thought it was coming from.

"Diiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaavvvvvvvvoloooooooooooo!!!!!!!"

"EH?! H-H-Hannah?!!! UGH!!!"

Before he could react on time, the petite girl charged right onto his body like an unperturbed missile, causing both of them to fall five meters away.

"Bueeehhh~~!!! I missed you so much!!! I wanted to see you so badly!!! Bueeehhh~~!!!"

Stunned and confused, Diavolo didn't know what to say. But seeing Hannah hugging him so tightly, the first thing he could reflexively spit out was, "H-h-hey! I-i-is this alright?!!! What about Shin?!!!"

"Don't care!!! I just want to get away from that demon!!!" she continued to cry.

"What? Demon? A-a-anyway, just calm down a second! Explain one after another!"

"Why don't you let her be for some time?" Arashi interjected. "Clearly something's up. Just let her do what she wants and she'll calm down on her own."

As such, despite the situation somewhat bothering him, Diavolo managed to stay still and caress her head like a little child. Even after she had calmed down, some tears were still remaining in the corner of her eyes. Regardless, she managed to explain the situation.

Turns out, she was simply subjected to very rigorous training without mercy. At first she could handle it after she had decided to steel herself, but soon after, without the comfort of her own home to recharge herself, she gave in. But that didn't mean Sheng Hu would go easy on her. In fact, normal training schemes would suggest it would only get tougher. She started to nag and complain but to no avail, Sheng Hu simply got stricter.

"Can you believe it, treating me like this?!!! That man is a demon! A devil!!!"

"Well that's a relief. I was wondering if he did something inappropriate," Arashi muttered.

"Eh?"

"Nevermind."

"I swear to god! He is never going to get a girl to like him!"

"You're not wrong about that one."

Amidst this conversation, the most perplexed was Diavolo. Unlike Arashi, who mainly only ever saw Hannah in public speeches and in her guise of the Rose heir, he was someone who saw her in a day to day basis. This childish behaviour he was currently witnessing, made Hannah look more like a normal girl than the proud and elegant Hannah Rose.

He couldn't help but smile warmly. Perhaps, this was the real Hannah once you strip away the weight of the responsibilities she bore. Although she would tirelessly train herself in the past too, the environment right now was completely different. She didn't have to wake up for school or return home to manage Rose affairs. Apart from the basic daily necessities, she only had to train. Even though she kept the reason for the training at the back of her mind, the circumstances compelled her to change, or rather, change back.

It was no wonder she didn't bother about what was appropriate when she hugged Diavolo. She was actually a very cheerful and playful person at heart. She wanted to be a lively person who treated her friends closely. But being of high status meant there were restrictions. Apart from Shin who she was beginning to grow feelings for, it wouldn't be right to be intimate with other men. However, with nothing holding her back anymore, she didn't have to act prim and proper and express herself according to what her heart desired.

"So… if you've been training so hard, you've of course improved a lot, right?"

"Hm? Oh, yes! Look here, now! Behold my magnificence! Ufufu!"

Taking a deep breath, she manipulated the wind to her will. Like gentle curtains, it wrapped around her, starting from her shoulder area, around her torso and waist, and down her legs and feet. Finally, once the speed reached a certain point, her body left the ground ascending around 30 cm up.

"You're flying?!"

"Well, more like, hovering. I don't think anybody can actually fly. It's too taxing. I needed to train my stamina and endurance, see. So this pseudo-flying training regime was given because of that. Now, I can manage to travel at 20 km/hr on level ground for more than half a day!"

"Whoa, that's pretty awesome!"

"Heehee! And it's not just that. Even hovering takes a lot of control and concentration since I need to properly balance myself and the speed of the wind. The fact that I can speak to you freely like this even while floating means I have really gotten better! Fuufuu~! Well? I'm great, aren't I!"

Diavolo couldn't help but giggle. "Haha! Yes, yes! I am amazed by the great Hannah! I really need to do my best to catch up!" He played along as such.

"So? After reaching this point, did you decide to move away from Sheng Hu?" Arashi asked.

"Oh no, I almost forgot! My next task was to go down and up the mountain while hovering! I got so engrossed after meeting you after so long, that I—!! Ahhh!!! He's definitely going to torture me for being late!!"

"Don't mind us, then. Just go on ahead."

"Right! Best of luck to you too! Let's talk again after it's all done!" She departed.

"It's the first time I saw her like this," Diavolo said after watching Hannah disappear at a distance.

"Oh? I assumed she was like this around you guys all the time? So she behaved like her position even amongst her friends, huh."

"It's probably because her responsibilities aren't shackling her down right now. Makes me relieved somewhat."

"I bet it does."

"Ah well. Guess I'll just get back to training."

"Before that, have a drink." She handed him a glass of orange juice she was holding the entire time.

"Thanks." He started chugging it down.

"You've pretty much reached a decent level at handling your weapon. Techniques are important, but in front of overwhelming strength, it might not amount to much."

"Yeah, that's why I need to find a way to use that power, right? But we're almost out of time." He returned the empty glass.

"How about you go punch that boulder over there?"

"Forcefully using strength again? Didn't we already try that?"

"Just go."

Diavolo shrugged. "Whatever you say, I guess."

There were a few things Diavolo had tried to replicate that feeling. Intense rage, forcefully straining himself, recalling the gate he saw and then some. But of course, to no avail. The only thing he managed to do was remember the feeling of being joined to his weapon, which was what he had been training for some time now. And yet, Arashi telling him to try punching a large rock seemed illogical to him.

Not expecting anything at all, he took a stance in front of it. He took a deep breath and channeled his Raze throughout his body as usual. But it was then that something odd happened.

"What the… something… is welling up inside me! What is this?! I… I can't control it! It's trying to come out! I need to… let it out!"

Attempting to mix and control it with his Raze, Diavolo channeled all of it into his fist and launched the strongest punch he could muster. And just for a brief moment, just for an instant, his eyes blinked red.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The front portion of the boulder was utterly shattered as deep cracks ran through it all the way to the other end. His fist still lodged into the crevice he created, Diavolo couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was definitely attempting a strong punch, but this was beyond what he had imagined to happen. Shocked, his mind was blank. If he was calm and rational at that moment, he would've easily noticed that strange yet familiar feeling that arose for a split second. He didn't know what happened, but that was not the case for the other person present in the scene.

"Just as I expected," Arashi muttered.