Cecil was sitting in the changing room, setting up his armor, getting ready for his semifinal match. He had been on this planet for six or seven years now, and was just starting to get used to it. Across his neck was a fang attached to a silver string, a good luck charm Bella gave him back before they came to this bizarre world. For the longest time, she was his only friend, his anchor. When his parents had to leave their town for work, she stayed. And when he decided to go to college at nine, she was left behind. Cecil had always been brilliant, but his ability to comprehend complex concepts made him feel alone in a dull world. When he discovered his world’s magic, he used it to grow his mind further.

“I don’t miss my homeworld with her around.” Cecil didn’t know why he was getting sentimental all of a sudden. While wiping a fallen tear, he noticed the tooth was chipped.

Cecil adjusted his glasses a bit as worry filled his expression. His heart ached for reasons he hadn’t understood. Still, Cecil had to fight. His team trained hard to get to this point, and even if the team matches hadn’t begun, he would show them all that Drisil was the best school on the continent.

To his feet, Cecil walked through a doorway to the arena. A fiber suit covered his entire body with a thick blue helmet atop his head. Over his shoulders was a silver cape. A holster for his special wands was at each hip, and around his waist was a belt of various tools.

Across from Cecil, a dark-haired young man around Kyrion’s height with a sickly complexion stood with a wicked expression.

“I didn’t expect for you to make it here. I thought you Drisil brats were prideless cowards.” Milo cackled with a cocky expression, a strange blade with an azure aura radiating from it in his hands.

“You look like a low-budget crook with a poorly made CGI sword. Like an extra in an FV movie.” Cecil smack-talked back.

“I have no idea what that means?” Milo didn’t get the reference.

“Not the last time you’ll be admitting ignorance today.”

“Says the man unaware that his girlfriend was kidnaped.” Milo stated.

Cecil’s expression shifted underneath his helm from joking to murderous. “What? Are? You?Talking? About?”

Milo didn’t reply.

The announcer took the podium.

“Today! We have a match between the vice captain of team Drisil, and the captain of the Republic’s team! Today’s semifinals matches will take place atop the lost mountain peak of Tymar! Ready! Fight!”

Cecil and Milo vanished from their positions, reappearing atop a mountaintop cleanly sliced across the top, leaving a nearly perfectly shaped circle with various ridges. Rings that reminded him of the growth rings of a tree.

Milo moved forward, sword in a low formation, attempting to slice Cecil across his torso.

Cecil drew two of his wands, firing a blast of red mana out of the left and a burst of blue on the right.

Milo jumped to the side, avoiding the red blast to his right, only for his sword arm to be hit below his wrist. Stunning the limb and causing the sword to slip from his grasp.

The red blast let loose a screech that caused the now loose sword to fly into it, propelling itself off the mountain instead and into the nothingness below.

“You stole my sword!” Milo charged forward, his fingers forming claws of azure flame that he proceeded to swing at Cecil.

“Instead of retreating, Cecil slipped his guns in their holsters and moved into the flurry of strikes, grabbing Milo by the robes and slamming forward into the mountaintop. The splinters of debris confirmed that they were fighting atop a tree. From there, he proceeds to punch Milo in the jaw repeatedly, causing blood to pool in his opponent’s mouth.

Milo brought his clawed fingers into Cecil’s arms to no effect. As though his attack wasn’t doing anything to him.

“How!”

Cecil didn’t reply and kept punching.

Milo spat to the side and whispered. “You’re supposed to let me win, otherwise your friend will have an accident. Didn’t you get my message? My aren’t you heartless?”

Cecil stopped the beatdown suddenly. “What are you referring to?”

With Cecil distracted, Milo exploded with blue flames, pushing the man on him off of him and giving himself time to slowly heal his opponent’s damage. Only nothing came.

“What message!” Cecil yelled a second time, adjusting his wrist.

“The ransom note. Withdraw or throw the match else your friend dies.” Milo stated.

“You. Do know that’s against the rules.” Cecil adjusted his

“It would be my word against yours. You’d just sound like a sore loser.”

“I see. No wonder Rion said not to go easy on you. You’re pathetic.” Cecil moved forward.

Milo took a deep breath in and let out a blast of blue flame that should have reduced Cecil to bone or triggered the wards.

Cecil, seemingly uninjured, punched Milo in the nose, causing it to start bleeding. While Cecil wasn’t physically strong, his armor enhanced his strength until it was about half as strong as Kyrion the last time he measured his strength. His armor canceled the radioactive flames with a hum.

“What are you?”

“Me? I’m just a human. A frail and weak human.” Cecil landed a spinning heel against MIlo’s neck, bringing him down to the ground before stepping on it.

“If the others know that Bella is missing. I have no doubt in my mind thats she’s out there watching this bout. I won’t let you make me look bad. While I am a human, you are but an insignificant lizard.”

“What!” Milo croaked as the dregs of his power began to gather. With the remainder of his strength he had planned to attack, black scales were already coating his neck.

A silver blade covered in runes shot out from Cecil’s heel, which he then brought down and watched as his opponent was teleported. His original plan for this fight involved putting on a show. Making himself look like an underdog. But no. His opponent played on his insecurities and had threats lined up. Had this not been a match, Cecil wasn’t sure he could have resisted the urge to kill Milo here and now.

“And the Winner of the semifinals with an overwhelming victory is Cecil of Drisil!”

The area shifted, and Cecil was back in the arena with a beaten and bloody Milo getting placed on a stretcher. His bones had been shattered and his spirit broken, both figuratively and literally. He hadn’t realized the young man’s sword had broken when it hit the ground. Cecil had won in many ways, yet there was a hole in his chest. At least. It had been there until he looked up and saw a pink-haired woman rushing towards him at full speed. Completely unharmed.

Cecil then looked to Milo, who was currently holding his neck as blood was running through his fingers. A contingent of healers seconds away from him, which was concerning; the wards were not working correctly in this match. Still, he turned his head away and moved on to something more substantial.

“Bella, you ok?”

“What do you take me for?” Bella squeezed a bit tighter before letting go. Her eyes trailing behind.

In a warehouse about six minutes before the match began.

Bella awoke to a metallic clang caused by a metal rod hitting its twin. She had been tied to a chair by silver chains. Where would people of this world know to use silver chains? Something was fishy, and it wasn’t the orca man she saw yesterday. No, she had been kidnapped by people who knew how to keep her from transforming and drawing on her unnatural strength and yet had no effect on her magic besides its durability.

“What’s going on?” She asked no one in particular.

“Ah. Sleeping beauty is awake. Now do you know why you’re here?”

“Wrong story, and no. People don’t seem to tell me things like that. Hell our captain causes more trouble than a monsoon in the desert. Did he burn down your city on accident?”

“Close, your captain is making too many waves, so we decided to take the one most important to him away.”

“Oh. So you kidnapped the wrong person. You probably wanted Lin.”

“We decided that you were the easier target and were right.”

“She killed all of them. Didn’t she.” Bella had a smug expression.

“That’s none of your business! You’re our hostage!” The man in front of her slapped Bella across her face.

“How many of you are experts? Two. Three? Just remove the chains and let me go. Otherwise you won’t like what happens to you if I can’t watch the fight.”

The expert prepared to hit Bella again, only for a head encased in ice to land before him.

“Wha? Silvery blades!” The expert conjured five floating silver swords and looked up.

Kyrion appeared behind Bella like a blur, removed her chains, and banished her back into the shadows. “Pretend to be held for a second longer.”

“What did you do!” The expert pointed their blades at Bella, one of the blades cutting her cheek.

“Me? Nothing.” The pink-haired girl answered. “Something wrong?”

“My men are dying!”

“And I’m a chained damsel in distress, with no power of my own,” Bella said with an exaggerated southern bell accent.

The expert didn’t like that answer and began to summon power into his blades. Continuing to stockpile it until he was ready. The man looked down and saw that there was a hole burned through where his heart should be and cartelized. He couldn’t feel his heartbeat, and no blood aside from the initial attack was left behind, as though he were cooked from the inside out.

Confusion erupted from the man’s mouth. “Wha..hyuk!’ Followed by blood and ichor.

From behind the standing corpse, Kyrion appeared, juggling the man’s heart between both hands. “Oooo, O negative. These are rare. It might come in handy one day.” Kyrion caught the still-beating heart and tossed it through a tear into his domain.

“Did you just kill him?” Bella asked worriedly.

“Yeah. Well. Technically no. I did take his heart, but most experts can survive without important organs for a little while if they don’t move. If he even tries to cast a spell, though, he’d explode.”

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“Where did you learn that?”

“Anatomy. Although I’d only do that to those who harm my friends and family. I’m sure Cecil would appreciate a swift dispatchment of your captor. His fight is starting so you need to get there as soon as possible. We’ll take care of the other two.”

“You just said that they’re experts. I’m coming with. No way you can take on two alone.”

“I’m not alone. Lin is probably providing support along with some dude who seems to know me.. What’s surprising is Edwin was stronger than these guys. Guess he got the expensive demon.” After sealing the wound, Kyrion blinked at the standing corpse and fixed its clothes. It would continue to stand lifelessly as though it were still alive, like a macabre statue.

Ice began to snake up the corpse, creating a coffin of solid ice around its victim. Why Lin would do that was beyond Kyrion, and he decided to ask when he was not in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

Bella scowled. “Rion? What’s the plan?”

“Kill one, interrogate the other. I believe my actions yesterday have caused a few traitorous nobles to pop out as though I hit an ant hill. None of them have demonic influence or signs of possession. But it’s clear that they are mixed up with the Beast Blood empire. I believe they wanted a civil war, and were planning to use Midas…er Marigold as a figurehead for one side. Then she went and abdicated her claim to said throne which led them to plan b where they use their agents to create an issue. Taking out the boy who purchased Drisil’s lands and the kingdom west of there has made me their target.” Kyrion explained what he put together based on his opponent’s tactics and words. As though such was the truth, and it made sense.

Bella took two steps back. “You’re smart. Too smart. And too ruthless. The Kyrion I know wouldn’t casually kill a bunch of people or figure out something so complex quickly.”

Kyrion slowly blinked before a bolt shot through his head. “Don’t use my name.”

“Oh right, sorry. But you didn’t deny what you said.”

“Because you’re right. I am not the same person I was two days ago for you. Most of my mind seems to be sealed, or well separated from my body. Most of my observations manifested as intuition and gut feelings. Now I can hear the words my brain has for these observations as well as two shards that know their tactics intimately. Like all my thoughts are trickling down like rain from a cloud.”

“Two days. What kind of growth can you have in two days that let you buy a country?” Bella was exasperated.

“All I can remember is that time is a pain to understand. Also, Cecil’s fight will begin in about fifty seconds... I can hear them smack talking.” Kyrion pulled a plant out of his ear; it resembled a black bean with various vines stretched out to attach to an ear. It had been invisible behind his hair.

“Listen, to this one, I have two.” Kyrion explained.

Bella looked at Kyrion like he was insane but still held the bean up to her right ear. Voices came from the other end.

“You look like a low budget crook with a poorly made CGI sword. Like an extra in a F.V. movie.” Cecil had said through some static.

“I have no idea what that means?” Someone else replied.

“Walk and listen, we still have time.” Rion stated as he blinked the both of them to some rafters above.

Bella had finally realized that they were in some stage warehouse where goods were gathered for transfer through various merchant caravans.

“When did you plant this on Cecil? Does he know?”

“He knows that there’s a recording function for sound on his glasses, he doesn’t know that I hijacked the frequency a while back and found someone who could put an idea I had into motion.”

As Kyrion finished speaking, he found a wandering expert and moved to engage him from behind when a beam of purple light passed through the man’s skull, quickly penetrating the barrier around him and a box next to it. The expert was dead, and the wound didn’t bleed, as though it also cooked where it passed like his fire. That thought disturbed him. He could sense the man above jumping through the rafters, putting down a few practitioners from stealth and some unlucky fledglings.

Kyrion’s scarf yawned, looked up briefly, and fell asleep.

“I see the final expert. He just teleported in. I can anchor further teleportation but you’ll need to fight him head on. Can you?” Lin said through their connection.

“Sure.” Kyrion flipped off out of the rafters, landing with a soft tap before he shifted to cover and erased his presence.

Lin and Bella saw Kyrion land, and then he vanished as though he didn’t exist. When they tried to find him, it was as though some force was pushing their gaze away.

The expert ran towards where he heard a sound or thought he did. It wasn’t worth a jump, so he hadn’t tried it.

Upon arrival, there appeared to be a hoof-shaped indent on the ground, which held the expert’s attention.

From there, Kyrion slipped behind, covering his right arm with a swarm of near sentient triangular creatures, as he slammed his arm into the expert’s core. From there, the thorns had begun to pull and tear.

The expert yelled as he attempted to teleport away. Something had bypassed his body and was extracting his core. And he couldn’t use his magic to counter.

Panicking as he lost the protection experts had from reaching that level, it turned with strength built up from years of training and landed a solid chop against Kyrion’s forearm. The movement caused a small whirlwind of force, yet the foe was unharmed.

“S-stop! Please!” The man yelled.

“No. You kidnapped my friend, and I want answers; as you are as slippery as a snake, I can’t let you keep your powers.”

“You’re tearing out my soul!”

“Possibly. Does it matter? Would you rather be dead? I’ve been to the other side and I can assure you that the boredom will drive you insane.”

“M-monster!”

Kyrion squeezed, and the core cracked, signifying that he had broken the man’s spirit. He wouldn’t be using magic until it could regenerate.

The expert fell as his mana ate at him, his body exhausted. “Now then. Who is your employer?”

“I work with the Beast Blood empire as an infiltration specialist. But my allegiance is to the Lord in Red as one of their tethers to this planet. We need five total, with me dead, leaving three, White Fox, Gamodren, and the Queen.”

“I see. Why kidnap Bella.”

“It was meant to distract Cecil while keeping you occupied as my other allies attempted to get to Max and Minah then infect them. Orders are orders, but I fear that the one who did so is already dead.”

“Silver sword guy?”

“That is an apt description. If I were to let you live, would you swear fealty to me and only me until death?”

“The Lord in Red would kill me, or send his agents to.”

“What is the name of this lord?”

“If I speak it, then he’ll kill me personally.”

“I doubt he can even hear at the moment. I ripped out the heart of your employer and juggled it in front of him. I severed someone’s head and left him to live out ten minutes of excruciating pain before his soul left his body. You shouldn’t fear the Lord of Red. You should fear me. Now I am patient, but I do so hate repeating myself.” Rion said with his best hysterical tone. Those who knew him suspected that he was laying it on a bit thick, but Rion had met this Lord of Red, and to top crazy, you had to make crazy seem tame in comparison.

“You leave me no choice.”

“You have two. Serve me in life or serve me in death. One option is just a bit more pleasant, while the other may end with you half eaten and discarded by my pet.”

“I can’t have two life oaths of servitude to two different entities. I am bound to his soul. I would jump ship but I can’t.”

“Try; if you can’t, then you truly have only one use.”

Kyrion’s scarf moved like a snake eying the morsel up. “Ewww he looks bland and pasty, just muscle and bone. Did you really have to drain his core? That takes months to heal properly. It would be a waste to eat him now. But, hear me out fatten him up while helping his recovery. Maybe bathe him in butter once a month. Let him tan in the sun a bit as well. Oh, space affinity, fix his core then let me eat him. Those are a delicacy.”

“I swear to serve you and only you until my soul fades away! So long as I’m not eaten!” The expert all but rattled out. Having obviously heard the scarf.

A line of what Kyrion now recognized as D.E. connected him with the expert as a thinner line snapped, although some of the remaining energy flowed into the current line. He then looked inwards, finding his connection with Imala, confirming that his D.E. was immune to her meddling, probably as a way to prevent limiting the powers of other deities.

“Is that so? Why stop at being food? That’s oddly specific.”

“Your scarf can talk.”

“I see… Well then. As you now serve me exclusively you will listen to my spirits should they have use of your services. Bye.” Kyrion slipped the expert into his domain and scowled as it barely altered the draw on his mana pool.

“Oi! Rion! If you’re done I think we should get going!”

“Oh, right.” Kyrion eyed Lin and Bella, and the sniper then snapped his fingers. In the next instant, the four had vanished from their spot.

The group found themselves present in their booth behind the rest of their team. Max had grown five inches in height and quite a few pounds of muscle; his silver hair was tied back in a ponytail, and a golden scar went down his left eye.

Ander had appeared to have grown eight inches in height and now stood 5” 6, which he seemed to have gained as his body adapted to his soul’s increase in power. The bags under his eyes were fading, yet he hadn’t removed his sunglasses.

The headmaster looked Kyrion down and sighed. “Why are you altering your teleportation each time you use it? What are its limits?”

That resulted in several heads turning to Kyrion, Bella, and Lin.

“I can’t jump to another universe at will, nor can I go to another planet, as far as I’m aware. Not without cheating mind you. To be honest, I don’t need a portal, nor does what I’m using require mana. I’m using something that I shouldn’t have to do that. Just like how I purchased the lands west of the severed river.” Kyrion flicked the headmaster an octagonal coin to the headmaster.

The headmaster caught said coin. Looked at it, his expression turning into stone. “Rion? You have some explaining to do.”

“I’m preparing for graduation though gaining powers that put me above most experts. I’ve also given said coins to most of the others for training. I appear to have a strong personal time dilation chamber, if Max has grown that much so quickly.”

“You weren’t aware of that?”

“It was a lot weaker last time I was told of its limits. Seems someone managed to find a way to enhance it while I was out.”

“And where were you?”

“Lost. That’s all I can tell you right now.” Kyrion shrugged.

Kyrion watched Cecil beat Milo into an inch of his life and found the scene amusing. Cecil wasn’t fighting to his strengths anymore. Milo had pressed the wrong button and was lucky Cecil couldn’t kill him. Had Milo’s potential not been stolen by Ander, the fight would have been more exciting. But it seemed that Milo hadn’t spent much time training or pushing his own limits, depending on his draconic nature to make him stronger.

“You know, at least Cecil is keeping his tools hidden fighting like this. Wouldn’t beat me like that but still, pretty nice.” Ander observed.

“You are our best in pure martial skill and technique. Still it’s fun watching a book reader like Cecil beat the blood out of an accomplished fighter like Milo.” Brion replied.

“He’s weaker than Lisa it seems. I could have taken him had I known that, although I doubt I could beat Damian. He’s growing as fast as our captain, isn’t he.”

“I don’t think anyone here can beat Damian, save the headmaster. Even then…” Kyrion muttered out of character.

“I am not weak enough to lose to a practitioner. I am not like those experts you slew with ease earlier today.”

“You can’t sense it can you? Damian is a step away from breaking into the expert tier and appears to be holding off on it for some reason. As though planning on using the prize for the tournament to evolve his spirits first. Or obtain a powerful training aid.”

The headmaster squinted. “You can sense how far along people are in their spirit mastery?”

“Not quite, but I can tell that he’s using an item to prevent himself from pushing into expert on accident. I can tell that because I’m technically doing the same thing, just slightly differently. I will jump into the middle tier of experts as I am now. I intend to jump into the ranking tier of power when I break past my limits. Gamodren appears to have hit that level already.”

“My son is strong but he isn’t a ranker. Not yet anyways.”

“Not in number but he is in power. That’s a coin made from his technique. Truth be told I may or may not have kidnapped him briefly. Along with Volain, who should be quite strong.”

A wolflike creature leaped out of the booth and into the arena, shifting to a pink-haired woman who tackled Cecil from above as he was declared the winner.

“I always knew they go well together.” Said a small brunette woman sitting in the front of the room.

“Right. That. I’m happy you found your sister, but who is she?” The headmaster pointed to the tiny brunette.

“Listen. I don’t know what to tell you.” Kyrion sat down in a seat to watch the next bout.

Minutes later, Cecil and Bella arrived back in the booth. Hands held as they looked about in shock.

“M-mom! When! How! What?” Cecil looked at the brunette-haired woman with glasses with utter shock.

“Shesh, Cecil, I taught you to be much more observant than that.” A white-haired man walked from behind Cecil and entered the room. The two had cool blue eyes and similar builds and heights, yet Cecil seemed moderately concerned looking at the youngish man’s face.

“Dad? What about work! What? What sorcery is this?”

“It appears I’ve done something that I really wish I could remember.” Kyrion gave up trying to figure out who these strangers were.

Lin looked at the new couple and then at Kyrion. “Don’t do that too often. Or you’re going to lose that harem of yours.”

Kyrion tilted his head. “I think we should vote to change its names when we get back.”

“Might be the best day of my life if that happens. Although rebranding now would be a pain.”

“If we’re becoming global we can say the name changing is a mark of our growth. As it won’t just be Cecil’s Harem, no…. We should call it the World Harem, or Cecil’s Guild. The Magitech friends, Artificer’s Alliance, or Super Bolt Bros.” Kyrion put a few names out there as he relaxed. The next fight was beginning, and it felt as though it would be enlightening.