In a large gothic-esque room, a dark-haired man sat at a round table with several dark-haired men and women sharing the table with him. They were in an important discussion regarding a recent issue that had been brought to their attention. A woman spoke first.

"Lord Apollyon, as expected with travel opening between our world and the others, we have observed an unusual restlessness in the demon beasts."

Apollyon listened closely. With countless battles and countless lives lost, demonkind has fought the demon beasts for ages. Apollyon has ruled over his people since the beginning of their civilization and has led battle after battle against the monsters. Anytime they were mentioned in his war council he was sure to listen closely.

"In particular, the S-class beasts are stirring. Rifts are beginning to manifest around them. I speculate that this is from the beasts' magic, but more information is needed to confirm. We have also observed an increase in A-class appearances at the border."

The border she spoke of was along the western edge of Apollyon's domain. Their planet had only a single large continent stretching across much of the northern hemisphere. He and his people resided in the eastern half of the continent and the beasts occupied the west.

Apollyon had already informed his fellow heads of state of their constant battle with the demon beasts. "We've had cases of S-class beasts appearing in our domain before through use of a rift. Their rifts are single use as far as we've observed, but we must prepare for the possibility of a complete portal and them leading to one of the other worlds. I will call for a council with the other leaders to discuss this with them. Shalnara will accompany me." He glanced over to her.

"Of course, Lord Apollyon."

"General Velkrez will have authority in my absence. I want more recon particularly on the S-class movements. Any one of those appearing in one of the other worlds would be a disaster. They are not yet trained to deal with the beasts and the S-class beasts require teams to take down as it is. I'll be sure to remind the others of the importance of such training. Shalnara, please prepare a presentation. Nelkara, I entrust you with delivering the council summons."

"Yes, Lord Apollyon."

The demon beasts were classified based on their mana, ranking from E to S, with A-class and S-class being split into multiple stages. Apollyon was primarily concerned with those two classes, though one classification concerned him the most. "What of the SS-class?"

"The single known SS-class beast, codenamed Phantom, still slumbers. We have detected no other beasts within its domain since our last report." Phantom once laid siege to Apollyon's domain. It took Apollyon and the rest of Daemonheim’s top brass to fight the beast to a standstill. Like all the S-class beasts below it, Phantom had a humanoid form. Unlike those below it, that particular beast had a degree of intelligence. It retreated. Whatever it meant to accomplish, it must have decided that it was not worth the risk. After the battle, it returned to its domain and no other beast since has entered its domain.

"There's a shred of good news. Phantom's slumber is nothing short of a blessing."

"Begin!"

Kye and Liliana dashed at each other, drawing their blades and releasing their mana as they approached. They clashed with a thunderous sound, throwing up waves of light mana all around them. Like the match with Allison, the two girls moved fast enough that the younger onlookers had trouble following them. Aliana had no issues, being capable of such speeds herself. Zen was only four years old and Yami was only three. Kye, Liliana, and Aliana were all seven years old and had a few years of training under their belts. Zen was strong enough to wield a blade and trained as well, but the older trio had a full three years on him. Yami could pick up a blade but wasn't quite strong enough to swing it without mana to reinforce her body. She couldn't last very long yet, but she was at least able to do a little bit of training.

Allison sparred with the intent to train whoever faced her. She was quite powerful and had very few rivals to have an earnest match with. Kye and Liliana were the same age and were more closely matched, at least so long as Kye did not use her white mana. Allison expected Kye would become a strong rival for her in the future and eventually surpass her. After the incident when she was born Kye hadn’t displayed her aether again. Allison, James, and King Zen had begun to wonder if it was a fluke or a misunderstanding, but Layla had no doubts whatsoever. She held Kye briefly and was embraced by the powerful white aether.

Kye’s control of the three alignment manas had grown quite a bit, and she appeared to have invested the most time into light mana. Liliana specialized in light mana, so they sparred with that the most. It wasn’t hard to connect the dots there. Sparks of light flew as the two clashed again and again. Yami and Zen were watching in awe while Aliana observed quietly, yet intently. Nothing of either combatant escaped her eyes.

Aliana was a bit unusual in her own way. Like many royals, she had an affinity for many types of mana. Her affinities included all of the elemental manas, but only dark mana from the alignments. On top of that, she had a unique type of power that could erase her very presence to the point that not even Astarte Atlantis could sense her. Astarte, one of three of the Atlantis trio that governed Terra, was known for many things, one being her prominent ability in detection. Astraia Atlantis dubbed Aliana’s power as “shadow magic”, and soon Aliana was nicknamed “Shadow”. In general, Aliana’s ability allowed her to become intangible and invisible, though that didn’t really describe how powerful the ability could be.

Despite being only seven years old, Kye and Liliana were displaying power not expected from even a royal until their mid-teens. They clashed blades, they hurled magic blasts at each other, and played what was basically a game of tennis with a ball of light that Liliana eventually redirected into the sky where it exploded. King Zen soon joined the audience, and after a few more minutes he called the two combatants over to end their match.

“Greetings, Your Highness,” the two bowed in unison.

“That was quite the match. I daresay you’ll have no problems with the combat portion of the academy,” the King said.

“I will bring honor to the Akari Family during my time in the academy,” Kye replied.

“I have no doubt you will. But please try not to destroy the campus.” King Zen glanced around at the now damaged courtyard. “You two need a proper training facility that can withstand the crossfire. I assume that Aliana could do similar damage in training?”

“Yes, Your Highness, my sister is as strong as I am,” Liliana answered.

“I see. I’ll see about preparing such a facility. I have no doubt that Zen and Yami will require it as well, considering the examples they follow.”

“I won’t destroy anything!” the young Zen replied. “I can train without destroying everything. It’s just these girls that are destructive!”

The king let out a hearty laugh at his son trying to defend himself. The boy hadn’t realized he had just insulted so many girls at once. They were staring daggers at him. “You may want to choose your words more carefully, Son. Your sisters and cousins don’t seem happy about that comment!”

The boy looked around and was immediately assaulted by four soul piercing glares.

“I… uh…”

“Good luck, Son. I’ll see you at dinner!” King Zen vanished, leaving his son to fend for himself.