Cecil eyed his opponent through his visor. Then, hovering thirty feet above the ground in front of a black-haired young man flapped his skeletal wing to stay aloft.

“So he can fly.” Cecil said.

“Yes and no. Just takes power and experience. I just happen to have both.”

“I see. So he’s moments away from figuring out how to fly.”

“Yes.”

“Fine then. Let’s get this dance started.” Cecil fired a metal ball from a wand that appeared to come from his suit’s right shoulder.

Psycho countered by sending out a blade of wind to dismantle the attack.

Upon doing so, the ball burst into five discs that fell to the ground uselessly. Oddly enough, in a pentagram formation.

Psycho then flew forward, attempting to get the boy out of his comfort zone, which was clearly melee combat. Cecil didn’t seem to be the close combatant type after all.

A punch to Cecil’s face missed as the boy twisted to the side and used the momentum to send a kick into Psycho’s ribcage and sending him crashing into the tower. Leaving behind a crater.

“Beginner’s luck.” Psycho climbed out of the debris and recklessly charged back into the fray. A blade of wind mana extended from his left hand, as a spear of ice extended from his right.

Cecil fired a blue electrical blast out of his left hand and watched as Psycho dodged it easily.

Upon reaching Cecil, Psycho released a barrage of attacks aiming to mess with his opponent’s rhythm and create an opening.

A kick to Cecil’s head should have ended the fight, but it missed as the armored boy countered with a two-handed palm strike that let out a loud crackling sound as it passed.

The strike only grazed Psycho, and the shock meant to end the fight only slightly slowed his reaction speed.

Psycho screeched as the maneuver caught him off guard. Grabbing hold of Cecil’s shoulders, he slammed his forehead into his opponent’s nose to no avail. Cecil was hit, but Psycho hadn’t put enough power behind that attack to end the battle.

Cecil staggered a bit from the force but quickly regained his composure.

“How did you counter that? Someone like you shouldn’t know how to counter that maneuver.” Psycho threw a jab at Cecil’s solar plexus.

“Someone who can’t fight or someone not trained in your specific style of fighting.” Cecil redirected the jab by pushing it to the side and moved into the wide swing that would have hit him if he ducked or moved backward as wind mana extended the strike’s reach.

“Both,” Psycho said, evading a flying knee aimed at his jaw. Before spinning to the side to avoid the sharp kick that followed.

“You underestimate me. I was a master of Tae Bo at the age of 7. And learned a bit of Capoeira from uncle Sam.” Cecil rotated his metallic ankle before bringing it down.

“That makes no sense. What is this Tae Bo? And Isn’t Sam your cat?” Psycho floated backward in an attempt to assess his opponent’s technique.

“Then I was taught how to use that style from your sister Dwen…she was a brutal instructor.”

“Oh. I guess she would know this style. Why haven’t you talked to Kyrion about it, since it’s a family technique and he isn’t privy?”

“Quite simply, for the same reason, you haven’t tried to teach it to him.” Cecil stated as he fired a small ball of red energy that was easily dodged.

“He doesn’t need it. That style is built around killing. But, as he is now, killing would be inconvenient.” Psycho turned his head and rolled mid-air as the ball tracked him, firing small bolts of mana from behind.

“I see.” Cecil engaged at high speed, aiming to hit him head-on with a punch.

Psycho knocked the blow to the side and aimed for a blow to the throat.

Not having committed to the punch, Cecil used the momentum from the parry to spin as he fell right under the counter and brought a jet-powered kick to Psycho’s head.

Psycho fell hard to the ground, in between the pentagram. Gripping his head as black ichor flowed from the room.

“You have a lot of tricks. But I won’t lose. Not here and not now.” Psycho stated as he got to his feet. The liquid was pooling under him.

Cecil seemed to relax as his subsequent actions became unreadable. “Go on. Show me what you can do.”

“All life has a beginning and an end, my body is but….” Psycho started chanting, and the area became a bit darker. Clouds began to gather to blot out the moons.

“Yeah, not letting you finish that. Activate! 5 Point Prison!” Cecil chanted quickly, his hand pointed away from his body.

A barrier covered Psycho from five points in the ground. Trapping him in a place that seemed to quickly drain his mana. In moments the sky returned to its natural state.

“You. You are dangerous. A barrier powered by its occupant. I can’t get out easily and using my mana will only make it stronger. I have said it once and I’ll probably say it a few more times. You’re dangerous.” Psycho seemed to relax.

“I won’t tell you how it works. Don’t see a reason in doing so. You have been neutralized.”

“Do you really think that?” Psycho smirked as a crack formed on the barrier. The damage faded in seconds as it repaired itself using its occupants’ energy.

Cecil floated up thirty more feet just in case.

“You aren’t certain, a good sign. You know that there’s an inherent weakness.” Psycho exhaled, and the barrier grew stronger and stronger.

Mana flooded in faster than a practitioner should have been capable of doing while on a scale that would make experts shudder. Enforcing them until one of the devices seemed to crack.

“No…” Cecil fired another orb that shattered, shooting another 5-star prison around the first in an attempt to stop what would happen. Sadly he wasn’t fast enough.

Mana flooded the area in a highly dense cloud, and the magic began to run rampant in the small space as it flowed everywhere. Finally, the barrier cracked, and mana escaped the whole area erupting in a series of different colors as the escaped mana began to look for a place to go.

A storm of wild mana flooded the area, causing trees to grow, water to either freeze or boil, earth to rise, and rain to fall. The colors of everything in the storm’s area of influence began to shift, red to blue, blue to yellow, and yellow to red.

As quickly as everything had changed, it all vanished when a threshold was reached. All changes were erased, and the storm had faded. The trees had still grown, and the nearby landscape had been altered slightly, but nothing had been permanent.

When everything cleared, Psycho fell onto his stomach, unable to move as his arms and legs seemed to stop working. His head, however, looked up in irritation.

It was then Cecil noticed a blade of wind cut into his armor. A thin layer of blood trickled from his abdomen, and he fell to the ground. In moments the magic in his armor repaired the damage to his body before resealing itself. But the damage still happened, all that defense, and it was still broken through.

Two truths dawned on him. First, this was only a portion of what Kyrion could produce when he wasn’t holding himself back. The second truth was that he probably would have ended up dead in a serious fight.

Cecil, despite his nature, wasn’t scared when he flew off toward his lab. The next time he had to fight a monster like that, he’d be prepared. Although to get the most out of this situation, Cecil would need another mind with a vision of the future. And that meant it was time to wake up his hostage.

Psycho lay in the battlefield's remains, both arms starting to disintegrate due to over-channeling the mana in his vessel. All his artificial organs had stopped functioning as they hadn’t been created to handle that much. Hence, a handicap was placed on this vessel to keep him from going AWOL.

Kyrion wouldn’t willingly put his friends in danger. Not without a proper safety net. Not with someone as dangerous as him. And for a good reason. That storm had used all the mana in his body. 3 mid-expert-sized pools of mana. He, however, wasn’t going to let Cecil know how much was used. It would be nice to have an ally capable of restraining his absent-minded counterpart. Or maybe brother, if his hunch was correct, he couldn’t stay here much longer.

“I’m so cold.” Max thought as he lay chained up on the floor, his body still damp from his dip. He had only a towel to cover his modesty, and even then, he couldn’t move. The area he was in was dark, and he knew it was dark, but strangely enough, he could see just fine.

He saw Minah and the others run past him through the well-lit area. He’d have talked if not for the cloth gag preventing him from doing so.

“Sssso little Maxi, what will you do now that your friendsss have left you here. Will you try to essscape or will you wait for thisss all to end and sssomeone can find you?”

Max squirmed, which earned him a peck on his hands from Arthur, who seemed confused.

Max then began to try and command the owl to take off the gag. Unfortunately, this took a while, as indirect communication was flawed.

The owl somehow picked the lock on his cuffs, allowing him to take the gag off himself.

“That works. Good job Arthur.”

The owl preened.

“Looksss like we get to go two phassse two.”

Something bit Max on his ankle as he got to his feet before slithering away into a crack.

“What was that about?” Arthur said with a refined accent.

“Huh?” Max squinted as he steadied himself.

“I swear. It’s like you’re not even listening to me.” Arthur shook its feathery wings in irritation.

“Something bit me?” Max took a step forward and tripped as his leg wasn’t quite right.

“Master Max. What are you doing? We need to go. It isn’t safe here.” The owl started dragging him down the dark hall.

“When did you start talking?” Max stared at the owl with a tired expression.

The owl rotated its head 180 degrees. “I could always talk. You just don’t listen.”

“This is madness.” Max felt his ankle and winced.

“What’s mad is the fact that you aren’t trying too hard to escape.”

“In hindsight we should have come here to begin with.” Minah sighed.

“Yeah. But I never was the type to do side quests. Just run straight to the end in these situations.” Bella said.

“Still it’s quite dark here.”

A chilly breeze passed behind the two girls as words whispered directly into their ears. “The walls have eyes.”

“Did you hear that?” Minah asked.

“Uh huh.” Bella agreed.

“Ghost?”

“Doubt it.”

“Why would you doubt that?”

“Ghosts are apathetic beings. While some enjoy pranking the living out of spite. Most could care less. No, this is someone trying to get us to turn around.”

“The birds see all.” A second whisper passed into the girl’s ears.

“Only good birds are fried.” Bell stated.

A trumpeting sound came from down the hall.

“Hoot!” An owl could be heard deeper down the hall.

“Max! I’m coming!” Minah ran down at top speed.

Bella followed on all fours. The duo eventually stepped into a puddle of water that seemed much deeper than it should have been.

A giant vine monster made of plants and eyes shot out and slowly thrust a large tendril forward.

Minah used her tools to quickly turn the monster into burnt debris; the hall was also now somewhat lit.

“That was a sentry, there could be more.” Minah gripped her daggers hard.

“I thought the goblin said that there were no hostile monsters here.”

Minah took a second look at the now-dead vine monster. It held a basket full of torches in one tendril and flints in another. A few vials of potions had also been shattered.

“It should not have snuck up on us.” Minah stated.

“It was right infront of us. But yeah. You’re a bit jumpy.” Bella observed.

“I am not jumpy.” Minah lied.

“Would you rather be called, stab happy?”

“Guess I am jumpy. This place just has me on edge.”

“Good grief.” Bella shifted into her hybrid form to carry the torches, and the two walked down the hall.

The duo eventually found Max walking with an owl.

“Max! “Minah yelled as she started running forward. But, unfortunately, her feet were blurring as she accelerated.

“Minah?” That was all Max managed to get out before a large crack filled the hall.

Minah fell back, dazed as a thick ice wall cracked in response to getting rammed.

A large white humanoid bird with pristine feathers, a blue navy cap, and a cigar in his beak appeared.

“Ahoy! Maggots! You won’t get past me easily!” The bird yelled.

Behind the bird, a woman made of water appeared. A stoic expression covered her face as she eyed her opponent. “Why are there only 2?”

Bella scowled. “You smell familiar….”

“I am Sergeant Pompi Swanson, and I don’t know any of you.”

“You smell more like duck.” Bella said before sniffing the air and drooling.

“I am no duck! This means war Maggots!” Pompi adjusted his hat and stood at attention.

“Birds shouldn’t look human like it’s unnatural.” Bella snarled in her werewolf form.

“Hello pot I’m kettle.” Pompi said balls of water formed behind him.

“Werewolves are completely natural. Have you heard of a wereswan?”

“Yeah. Well, I’m still learning the shift, it isn’t easy for all of us” Pompi began to move.

Minah continued to swear while holding her nose on the ground.

“A little help here?” Bella asked her ally.

“She’s out of the fight.” Pompi hurled a ball of water at Bella.

“That was cheap.” Bella casually knocked it to the side.

“Cheap would be filling the ice with spears of ice that would have been sharp enough to take out both legs.”

“So you used a wall instead.” Bella stated the obvious.

“Broken legs or no legs?” The water spirit said stoically.

“Can’t you just let me go? I’m on vacation.” Max asked nicely.

The water spirit sighed. “You have to beat me while they have to beat the bird.”

“Fine. Suit yourself. Arthur, lend me your strength.” Max held his hand out, and the owl vanished.

Max soon found himself surrounded by a cloak and cowl of feathers. A dagger made from sharpened feathers appeared in his right hand. His eyes examined his target with predatory intent.

“That’s new.” Minah looked up in confusion, her nose still bleeding.”

“No.”

“It’s a trait of my power. I can take on aspects of the creatures I’ve bonded with so long as they trust me fully. It seems I’m not really a tamer.” Max walked around his opponent with the feathery weapon in his hand.

The water spirit summoned a wave to knock the young man into a wall.

Max jumped over the wave with an ease he didn’t have prior. Then, while in the air, he threw the dagger. As it flew, it multiplied into a swarm of falling blades.

The spirit took the buffet and countered by sending a tendril to wrap around Max’s ankle.

Max braced as he slammed into the wall, and a large crack filled the hall.

“Go forth and conquer.” Max said from behind his opponent.

The creature turned and found itself hit with another buffet of feathers. As the water spirit attempted to flee, the feathers attacked as though they had a mind of their own.

The spirit encased herself in a water ball that stopped the feathers in their tracks. But, unfortunately, the water soon froze, and Max found his feathers useless against his frozen adversary.

So Max tossed a feather over the ice wall and attacked the frozen ball.

The spirit held on.

Bella was having trouble with that pompous bird. Whenever she began to raise gravity, it would dance out of the area while throwing darts of pressurized water to break her concentration.

The attacks didn’t hurt, but they were just enough to be annoying, as though the creature was playing with her.

“You’re playing with me.” Bella stated her thoughts.

“If you believe that I’m not taking you seriously then you’ll lose and not understand why.” Pompi threw another dart of water at the werewolf.

Bella moved to dodge, only for her body to start cramping, and the blast landed right between the werewolf’s eyes.

Bella fell over her body, not listening to her commands.

“Wha?”

“Now. You’re completely under my control. I’ve altered the signals in your nervous system. They now move as an extension of my own. You will raise your left hand and wave as an example.” Pompi stated.

Bella’s eyes widened as her arm moved against her will.

“Your power is strong and versatile. So why are you so obvious with it? You should have a ranged alternative way to use it.”

Bella howled as she tried to get up to no avail. She willed her body to thrash about, but nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, she had an idea.

Shifting down to her human appearance, the pink-haired girl began to set the gravity around her body to move outwards. Changing the direction, it flowed until the water on her was pushed off.

Pompi threw another dart of water, watched as it slowed, and then got sent right back at him.

The bird hopped to the side only for an elbow to catch him where his head met his neck, and the bird went down.

Moments later, Max appeared on the other side of the wall running for all he was worth.

“Let’s go!” He yelled as he continued down the hall, his feathers following slowly.

Minah soon followed out, pacing her brother. But not as quickly as she used to be able to.

Bella entirely transformed into a wolf and began dashing away.

“Big cat, bad attitude, and has an affinity with wind and lightning.” Ander used his underdeveloped thinking muscles.

“Watch it human.”

“Unless you want to help me along, don’t interrupt, I’m thinking.”

“Fine. I think I’ll just go for a bit of a stroll.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ander’s body woke up and began the process of stretching. The spear in its arms held in front of him.

The spear in Ander’s hands shattered and entered the young man’s core. Black lines began to cover his body in a pattern. After they appeared, they congealed and then faded into a single black mole that appeared near his mouth.

“Doubt anyone will notice the difference.” Ander’s body slowly made its way down the hall toward the top of the tower.