Tiffany got back to her feet and jumped to the side as a wave of wind passed through her hand, severing the nerves. And causing her sword to fall from her left hand.

With a twist, she retrieved the blade with her right and began to launch darts of light at her opponent from range.

Kyrie counted the darts with his swords, only for a bright red centipede to fall from above. The creature landed.on his shoulder and clipped the red-haired boy on his neck.

He stumbled as one of his swords clattered to the ground.

“Partial paralysis? How annoying.” Kyrie took a step forward. Then after adjusting his movements, he pushed his left foot into the ground. Easily breaking the concrete tiled floor as he charged towards Hel.

Hel stood there surprised as her opponent seemed unbothered. Then, reflexively she summoned her giant horned Beetle to block the charge.

The bug, however, wasn’t much of a roadblock was hit head-on by the change and flung through the wall, a green ichor painting the room.

“That had to be lethal force. You cheated.”

“Nah. At most you’d have several broken bones. Had I even hit you to begin with.” Kyrie grabbed his blade and cut off the bump that had formed on his paralyzed arm. Watching as the wound closed and fully regenerated in seconds. The young man swung his arm a few times, getting used to its power again.

“You can’t just cut out that much venom.”

“I can and I have. Quite a convenient power.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“That’s fighting those with regeneration. If you don’t end the fight quickly then it drags on.” Tiffany said from behind Kyrie.

Kyrie swung his arm back in an attempt to knock his stealthy opponent down.

Tiffany hadn’t actually been there. Instead, the hand slammed into a bubble of light and exploded, returning the force Kyrie had used on him doubled. The blast did minor damage, but it did stagger the young man.

“That. Is new. Nothing in his memory spoke of this aspect of your power. Tricky tricky. I may have lost my arm had I not been holding back.”

A green scorpion crawled on the ceiling above, waiting for a chance to attack.

Tiffany noticed it and used her affinity to make it disappear.

Hel summoned her scythe and ran to engage Kyrie on one side while Tiffany attacked the other. However, with only one blade, he was at a disadvantage facing two skilled opponents.

So instead of going at them with one sword, he summoned the second to his hands and began defending from both sides as he looked for openings.

Both opponents were good and had experience facing strong opponents. They just didn’t have enough experience with teamwork.

Hel moved to take off Kyrie’s head with her scythe.

Tiffany thrust forward, aiming to skewer him.

The duel-wielding goliath vanished from his position and reappeared 30 feet away.

Tiffany stabbed Hel’s shoulder as the pole of the scythe hit her head.

A string of swears came from Tiffany’s mouth as she looked about in a daze. “How?”

Hel grasped her shoulder and sighed in relief as the blade hadn’t drawn blood.

“How what?” Kyrie asked casually.

“How did you dodge that?” Tiffany asked.

“He can teleport.” Hel cursed herself for forgetting.

“No. He can’t, he can mimic teleportation, but it’s really just quick movement.” Tiffany said as she moved towards her opponent.

“Right and wrong, i’m not teleporting. Although it could be seen as such.” Kyrie said while lazily holding his sword in the fool’s stance.

“So, what are you doing?”

“Suffice it to say, so long as I have mana, I can’t lose. This sword grants me a few abilities as well. However, I am essentially a god with some limitations.” Kyrie snapped his fingers as a scorpion fell unmoving to the floor in front of him.

“You should still have a weakness.”

“No. I don’t. You should surrender now before one of you gets hurt.” Kyrie said, relaxed.

“This fight can’t go on much longer can it. You’re near a limit!” Tiffany found the truth and hung on for dear life.

“Preposterous.” Kyrie said, looking away, his sword hands retreating closer and his stance tightening.

Tiffany closed the distance and opened up with a flurry of thrust aimed at his face, followed by a sweep to his legs with a low kick as she spun.

Kyrie deflected the thrusts and jumped, only to be impaled by a thin stream of light. A hole through Kyrie’s body could clearly be seen, and it didn’t regenerate.

Kyrie looked at his stomach and then up at Tiffany. “Yeah. You figured it out. Kyrion didn’t give us much mana. Not for a handicap, but because this is an exercise. Still, my pride won’t let me give up without at least going all out.”

“All out?” Hel took a step back.

“Ah. You wouldn’t know. Kyrion tends to fight with weights on so that he’s alway conscious of how much power he’s using. Didn’t think he’d put those limitations on a clone.”

“How heavy are the weights?”

“In the tons range I bet, if not more now.” Tiffany stated.

“Has he been holding back?”

“It’s more pragmatism. Brute strength doesn’t bridge the gap between a practitioner and expert. That chasm is the difference between a puddle and an ocean. Not because of mana size or brute strength.”

Hel took a step back. “I don’t like this.”

“He can’t kill us. So at best we just need to not get hit.”

Hel watched, and three more cuffs were removed and fell to the ground, the combined impacts causing the floor to break. “Go forth and sting!”

From Hel’s sleeves came a swarm of red bees. The creatures were so numerous that there were no gaps to see through in their formation.

Kyrie watched as the bees formed a giant hammer-like appendage and slammed the floor in his direction, giving out as the force gave the weight all the push it needed.

The battlefield was filled with bees and debris, and the whole area was obscured for a long moment.

“Ahhh!” A short yell filled the room as someone hit the ground.

“No.” Tiffany stepped back and bumped into a large imposing figure shrouded by dust. She immediately stabbed the figure’s torso and met a surprising amount of resistance.

The dust settled, and a robed Brion was in the room, keeled over and hurling.

The yelling figure turned out to be Ander. Only his skin was covered in black lines.

Kyrie was now weaponless and stood across the room, his arms crossed.

“Your timing is inconvenient. The fight was just getting good.”

Brion pointed to himself in confusion.

“Bah. It’s fine. I can handle you four. Easily enough.” Flower petals conjured by mana appeared to take the shape of a sword as Kyrie then took the ochs stance, his blade pointed next to with head pointed at Tiffany.

Kyrion watched as Ander walked into the room, a predatory gaze in his eyes. He looked over Bastion before lingering on the headmaster for a moment and then locking onto Kyrion.

“Hey Ander. Is that a new mole?” Kyrion tilted his head to the side curiously.

“Maybe I always had it and you’re just now noticing.”

“And the spiky hair?”

“It looks cooler.”

“What about the point in your ears?”

“The better to hear you with.” Ander seemed irritated as he flexed his hands, lightning sparking between his claw tips.

“And the claws?”

“The better to kill you with.” Ander seemed ready to pounce.

“I doubt that is the full truth. Are you his spirit?” Kyrion took off his eyepatch and handed it to Bastion.

“You’re a bit too observant young man.”

“I doubt that. You just don’t feel like Ander. Are you here to fight me?”

“Right again.” Ander said before vanishing from his spot.

“Sadly you’re mistaken. I can’t fight you tonight. I’m currently busy keeping everything here running smoothly.”

“You can’t leave me hanging,” Ander said, standing behind Bastion. A hand resting over the boy’s shoulder.

“We can spar some other time. Go fight the others before coming to me. I can’t move yet.” Kyrion said with a deadpan expression.

“What then?” Ander unwittingly brought the claws closer to Bastion.

A woman with black and white hair appeared behind Ander and wrapped her arms around him before falling through the ground like a ghost.

Ander seemed too surprised to react and flailed about uselessly.

“Huh. Guess he’s going to time out. Right, dad?” Bastion said, nonplussed,

Kyrion looked around for a moment before settling on Bastion. “Are you ok?”

“Huh? Oh. Yes, I’m fine.” Bastion seemed to look off with a sad expression.

“Looks like you need some rest. It’s been a long day.”

“Still not over yet. They still have to get here.” Headmaster Caeden stated.

“Uggg… Do I really have to do that? They’re coming along well in their training.”

“Your teammates have been pushing it, but they don’t actually know how far they really should be.”

“Ugh…So we sent Ander down for no reason?” Kyrion closed his visible eye and sighed.

“You should be sufficiently weakened enough to justify a loss anyway. So there’s that. It’s not like gaining a false victory could make the others cocky and get them killed. And no, Ander needed to be distracted every minute counts. Now head on up and assume the position.”

“Tch.” Kyrion clicked his tongue. Before rising to his feet and heading to a staircase behind him.

“It would also do, to show them the true power of a ruler.” Caeden said as Kyrion left the room.

“What are you talking about?” Bastion asked while rubbing his eyes.

“Oh right. Do you know why someone like Kyrion holds back?”

“Hold’s back?” Bastion asked.

“Well… doesn’t immediately end his opponents.”

“I dunno.” Bastion shrugs.

“It’s because they were trained to do so. Kept humble by losses and told that it’s best to keep their full power hidden as to keep an ace in their sleeve.”

“What’s an ace?” Bastion asked.

“...Do you? Nevermind. They like to keep a trick up their sleeves.”

“Uh huh.”

“Kyrion’s trick is total area domination. When the world itself is actively fighting against your every action. Easy to counter early on. Tricky to catch if you don’t know what to look for.”

“Didn’t he use that against the people in the arena?”

“Yes and no. What he did was manipulate the battlefield to the point where his opponents were taken out through rather niche tactics. Had he been serious his shoe wouldn’t have missed and his friend would have been buried 30 feet in the earth.”

“He can’t be that strong.” Bastion said, catching onto the hyperbole.

“...” Caeden had a stone face.

“He hasn’t brought anyone underground as far as I know.”

“He did. When he escaped his jail cell. Took another prisoner more than a few hundred feet underground in moments. Other earth based spirit masters do similar things to their opponents for quick wins.”

“But that Noah guy was huge.”

“He’s still smaller than Brion though.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

The headmaster smiled and turned his head.

Little did the headmaster know that things had gone from good to chaotic.

Ander didn’t recall how he got where he was. All he knew was that his head was on fire, and his body was full of energy. His spear had vanished, and in its place seemed to be sharp claw-like nails at the end of his fingers.

Getting to his feet, he noticed Kyrion holding a strange blade and a sword stance. Kyrion, as far as Ander knew, didn’t practice swordplay. The arrogant look also didn’t belong to him.

Turning around, he noticed an exhausted Tiffany holding onto her sword for all she was worth.

Footsteps coming up the stairs could be heard, and soon, Minah, Bella, and Max had made it back. The trio was not as injured but still somewhat worn from the battles.

“What did I miss?” Ander asked.

“The easy fights. Looks like the final boss is up a head. You should probably heal up if you can. Otherwise you won’t do too well.” Not Kyrion said.

“Don’t you dare tell me he has another person in his head.” Hel said from a floor below her body battered but not broken from the fall.

“I mean… It’s quite crowded in his core. You’ll understand one day. I hope.” Kyrie sighed.

Minah threw two daggers at Kyrie to end the fight early.

Kyrie deflected the two daggers and moved towards Minah’s direction, sword at his side.

Minah dodged the broad swipe of the sword by moving out of its reach. At least she tried to do so.

With a burst of wind mana, Minah was slammed into a wall.

Brion charged in and began to exchange blows with Kyrie in a daze. Having not fully awoken. His large greatswords getting parried and knocked aside by someone slightly smaller than him.

Tiffany joined the fray, and Kyrie faced three blades as his attention seemed to fill.

“Push and Sever.” Kyrie tossed his sword into the air and got low to the ground, both of his arms spread out. Blades of wind shot out of his elbows and began to sharpen.

Tiffany instinctually jumped back, knowing that when Kyrion used incantations like that, it was more of a warning than a necessity.

Brion, however, wasn’t quick enough to get out of the path of the vortex. Getting cut all over as he was forced into the wall next to Minah.

Max rushed forward with a blade made of feathers and sent many along to seek and destroy the vicious swordsman.

Bella called forth a concentrated field of gravity under Kyrie’s left foot, causing it to fall through the roof, stopping the spin, and allowing Max to stab through the clone’s chest while Tiffany launched a dart into its torso.

“Huh. Guess you win.” Kyrie burst into a burst of flowers, and the mana left the area as the field surrounding the tower vanished.

“Why are you just standing there?” Tiffany turned to Ander.

“I get the feeling that I’m forgetting something.” Ander looked to the staircase going upward.

“Who else is there to fight?” Minah asked

“The headmaster!” Ander proceeded to sprint up the stairs to be the first one there.

“Wait. Shouldn’t we rest and heal up first?” Hel asked from the floor below.

Brion pulled himself out of the wall and shook himself off. “What happened?”

“Ander ran off to go fight the headmaster.” Bella stated.

“Without me?” Brion turned and also dashed up the stairs.

“Ugg…”

“If they’re fighting the headmaster, it’s my job to help them.” Minah said as she freed herself and marched towards the staircase.

Bella, Max, Hel, and Tiffany looked at each other and then at the large crater in the floor.

“We’re going to see why our captain is still our captain. Aren’t we?” Tiffany looked to Hel.

“If it’s any consolation. I’d surrender before the fight starts. I’ve seen enough of his combat capabilities to know that If Ander is the first one to face him head on, then we lose our one real advantage.”

“Wait why? Cecil told me he was Kyrion’s weakness.” Bella prodded.

“Because you don’t know what type of training we went through with Gamodren. Kyrion has no real weaknesses anymore. He just likes to pretend so that people don’t catch on. Lighting will shut off his regeneration, so long as his feet aren’t in direct contact with the ground. Otherwise he can disperse it and counter.” Tiffany sighed.

“That’s… Good to know.”

“We should go now then.”