**Solis Continent**

*Shiroki*

Shiroki was exhausted. He had never been so close to death as much as he is now. Sure, in his journeys, he encountered quite a few unreasonable and malicious spirits, some are even low evil spirits that provides him good combat experience once in a while but that was it. Any life and death situation occurred but in rare occasions. And Foul was always there by his side to ensure that he would not die a dog’s death.

His frequent battles forged him to his current level of strength, but compared to long lived veterans, he might be nothing but an ant. Not a man, but a boy who still stinks of his mother’s milk. Shiroki was forced to face the cruel reality that he was of no consequence to the eyes of great spirits before him. This fact builds huge frustration within him that without even remembering how it came to be, he had already collapsed there, on his belly, with his life hanging loose. Two great spirits looming over him, one with a cold and uninterested expression, the other with a huge and menacing grin on his face.

Presently, they are in the training zone. About 3 day’s casual walk from the Vier household. But with unimaginable speed, Vier and Amaterasu did not take even half a day to reach the zone. Battles, or in this case, sparring between two great spirits would result in enormous destruction if they use their full strength. Clearly they cannot afford to spar in the training courtyard of the household and moved to the training zone, a wild plane between a prairie and the borders of the northern forest.

(Just how did I ended up dragged in their ‘sparring session’? If I could call it one…” Shiroki grimaced as pain shot through his entire body. Ellen was spectating a little bit further away. Foul and Balamore as well as two other spirits of the Amaterasu household stood around her,

There is a look of concern on Ellen’s face as she looked at my sorry of a state, Sigh…

I had shown the worst of my sides these few days in the Vier household. Such an embarrassment! Ah, what will she think of me now? Will she stay away from me from now on? Am I not a good match for her? Am I too weak to protect her? No, these big shots are just too strong…right?

There is one thing for certain. I have to get Lord Vier to acknowledge me! But after all that transpired these few days, my hope had become non-existent! I want to scream!

Why did I need his acknowledgment, you ask? Because he is Ellen’s legal guardian! That’s right, after Ellen recounted the events that happened in the raid and the reason for it, revealing the former Spirit Lord hidden atrocities and connections to the Vier household, I had found out that they were blood-tied.

Yes. They are a big family. And that includes the Amaterasu household too! But such facts about the family relations between great spirit households were not widely disclosed as they did not intend to merge their household into one big clan!

Regardless, the fact of the case was like this:

A few thousand years ago, the former Spirit Lord was considered the strongest second to the Amaterasu Head, Riku with power level 562. The former Spirit Lord, Toriyoshi of the Garuda Household who ruled over the Yutah continent, the Amaterasu household lead by Riku, and the Vier household formerly lead by Vasiliki, were known to be inseparable comrades in arms.

Before they become the current head of their households, their forefathers, the previous generations treat each other with cold shoulders minding their respective territories. However, the small skirmishes and conflicts still prevails either with inside conspiracies within the household between elders and family members or with the upstart households that were newly formed, attempting to topple over the power hierarchy at the time, inducing chaos and conflicts everywhere.

The three youths met at a great clan gathering, its purpose was no other than to form good relationships, information gathering in regards to the condition and situation of the various clans, to probing and provocations among clan leaders who bore hostility and grudges among each other, while putting up a friendly front in public.

The three youth met, and forge good friendship, starting with a brawl. Yes, what better way to make friends than using your fists and beat each other up?

-to be continued.