Kyrion and Ander stood atop a hill in the middle of a hoard of what Kyrion called Valls, vanity thralls. Ander, however, called the zombies. The two instead agreed to just call them the Lost Legion. And so the legion of lost swarmed about the area in an attempt to get to the young men standing atop the hill.

“Kyrion. Why did you bring the hill here?”

“The high ground is important. There are only two of us so we need a decisive advantage.”

“Did you have to drop us right on top of them though?” Ander said as he elbowed one of the lost in the throat with enough power to cause it to dissipate instantly.

“I’m claiming all ninety seven of those kills. Thank you very much.” Kyrion replied as he landed an axe kick on the head of a lost, turning it into mist. From there, he spun on his right foot, turning his falling kick into a roundhouse as he dissipated three more lost.

Ander scoffed. “Like you need more kills. Save some for me.”

Ander let loose a series of precise strikes, dissipating four Lost quickly before training a target blow in someone’s gut. A bolt of lightning shot through its back and spread outwards like a tree, impaling more and more lost as the power used the D.E. inside the victim to power each additional strike. In seconds, Ander watched in horror as his legion of Lost was being erased, and the energy that returned to him was minimal at best.

“You know, I tried to save some for you, but if you’re going to use a Genocide Bolt, the gloves are off. Well on, in my case.” Kyrion summoned his purple and red armor as his body grew more solid, his eyes took a concerned shape, and a pair of antlers grew from his head. They no longer appeared as small branch-shaped horns, as they revealed themselves, beginning to absorb the Divine Essence. From there, metal formed around his face like water going over his forehead and cheeks, keeping the red and purple pattern as it stopped at his lower cheeks; from there, the armor moved behind his face to the back of his head to connect with the opposite side. From there, a scale-like pattern connected the open-face helm to his body, forming a barrier around his neck.

“Huh. Those are big horns.” Ander stated.

“About eighty percent done now. Although I just wanted my gloves.” Kyrion muttered as he sliced his hand horizontally. A purple line passed through the hoard of Lost and continued further. Where it passed, heads were separated from necks, and bodies dispersed into D.E. and flowed into Kyrion. The head reappeared momentarily as a mass of raw power and had been directed into Ander.

“Jeez, is that what you were holding back?”

“I wanted to push them back, not remove their heads.” Kyrion scowled as he cut the air with the purple energy again, only to notice that a bit of fire had been leaking in. Correcting that was easy, and Kyrion realized he was dumb for not testing it before using it to wipe out an army.

“Kyrion, don’t feel guilty, it was us or them, we aren’t the ones running at them.” Ander stated.

“Yeah, and we may have to do this three or four more times. Guess you win this one Ander.”

“My Genocide Bolt vs your Diminsional Execution. Which one do you think is stronger?” Ander asked.

“In terms of magnitude mine. In terms of cost effectiveness yours. I hate to admit it but we may need these techniques honed sooner rather than later.”

“Because of the war?”

“Because our enemies, well at least mine are quite powerful and you should probably figure out how to kill me if I fail to defeat my evil shard. I believe he’s talented in this same skill set.”

“You already know about your shards? Wait, is Kyrie one of your shards?”

“Yeah, an expert from another world, why?”

“How are you not evil?”

Kyrion stopped for a moment and tripped, falling face-first on the hill. He lifted his head up to Ander. “Beg pardon?”

“Kyrie is simple, he was motivated by power and mindlessly growing stronger. He wanted to fight stronger foes and continue that mindless path of violence and combat. His desires should have influenced your own. The fact that he doesn’t even show up, seems like a bit of restraint from someone stronger. Also, with the elements I know you have and your mana, killing your enemies isn’t hard if they give you any time to set up. I’ll even give you the benefit of the doubt and say you could beat most in a hand to hand bout despite your lack of formal training in a true martial art.”

“The way of the Hokey Pokey, is a true martial art.”

“It’s a combat style that focuses on pressure points and disabling attacks. Sure you could kill if you didn’t hold back, but it’s a self defense style made to punish those who get into melee range.”

“I can use it offensively, when I need to.”

“Quit distracting me. With how cocky Rion was, I assumed he had a bigger role in making things happen but.”

“You saw Kyrie act separately, yet I hadn’t changed in attitude or personality. I can’t be a hero, Ander. Just as well, I can’t be considered a villain or second Demon lord, despite him being my uncle. I am a walking ball of chaos and mischief, where I go things change. Everything I touch absorbs a portion of my own chaos. Do you think I haven’t noticed that those around me, tend to get stronger, faster, or gain in power more quickly? Those I heal, become stronger than they were before. I am surrounded by friends and allies that I care for but can’t be near too long at times as my presence could make them ignore exhaustion and or injuries. Before I had magic, I didn’t notice, my father would take me outside to play in the fields to play whenever I was sick.”

“That sounds backwards.” Ander stopped Kyrion briefly.

“My mana was tearing me up from the inside and killing me. Just the act of going outside and moving around the fields caused the excess to flow out of my body. Which gave me a little more time.That time was spent causing trouble for my neighbors and the other kids that had thought I was a freak. In hindsight, my magic did cause a few wild incidents. Nothing dangerous, just a few trees growing where there shouldn’t be trees. Or animals turning into cored monsters, just by being in my general area or eating something I touched. Then there was the fire with Asesla.”

“Fire?”

“It’s something I remembered while here, and managed to gain access to my other half. Apparently my young mind had chalked it up to trauma and buried it.”

“I know your cou-sister, is capable of wielding powerful fire magic.”

“Yes. The thing is, I now know my fire affinity had been sealed within her as a way to save us both.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“It’s a long story. You sure you want to hear it?”

Kyrion’s pov

An absurdly long time ago, when I was four years old. I played outside with Asela and my neighbor, a slightly older girl named Nelin. Asela was a small ball of sugar at the time, nothing like how you would describe her after the awakening. I would have even said she was my favorite younger sister then.

But I digress. We decided to play Hide and Seek in the nearby forest. A dumb decision for someone at the age of four to make, but the place was mostly safe, and the older kids also tended to venture deeper for training and rabbit hunting. Most of the creatures there were good sources of wild game. When a monster appeared, it was rare, and with my father being a practitioner, most monsters that did come were swiftly purged.

It made sense to me that my dad led the town’s hunters and militia, but at the time, I hadn’t entirely understood that he was a war hero and much stronger than he pretended to be.

Anyhow, Nelin was tasked with finding us while Asela and I were hidden. Yours truly had chosen to climb up the tallest tree he could find. Which, in hindsight, isn’t something I should have been capable of doing at that age. Yet tree climbing and talking to the squirrels was a relaxing pastime.

While I was preoccupied by a few squirrels having a nut dispute after getting divorced. A scout from the republic had snuck into the forest in search of a good place to attack when they returned with their army. It was supposed to be a quick occupation, treaty be damned. No one really cared about the border villages after all.

Being a semi-trained fledgling, the scout quickly found Asela hiding in some nearby bushes. Now, if I was four, Asela was between two and three, which also, in hindsight, made bringing her along. Kind of a stupid thing to do.

The scout had already killed a few of the older boys who had gone out into the forest to hunt. His clothes were covered in blood. A sword was sheathed at his hip, and he didn’t even bother to draw it as he approached the toddler, hiding with hands over her face. Not knowing that she should have been scared.

“What are you doing there little lady?”

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“Hide! Seek!”

“Oh? So there are more of you around?”

“Big broder and siser.” Asela replied.

In my stupidity, I had partially ignored the man and hadn’t paid enough attention to his actions. Which was a failure on my part.

“Ah. Then I must have killed them already?”

“Ki-” Asela had started to ask when a kick sent her flying into a tree.

It was hard; if anything, she was lucky to survive such a blow. Fledglings were not that much physically stronger than normal people, but he was still a fully grown man. That kick had broken ribs and left her in a near critical condition.

“Oh? Guess I should have been softer.”

Asela let out a blood-curdling cry that immediately tore me out of my fugue state, and when my eyes found the small battered body that had no business looking near death on our lands. I felt a rage that I haven’t felt since. My emotions were usually subdued or delayed, but this rage was different.

I had begun to climb down the tree quickly when a worried Nelin ran into the clearing and spotted Asela.

“Run Kyr! Asela’s been killed!” Nelin had tried to protect me as the oldest present.

Now, I was never one to go against my heart, and Asela hadn’t actually died. She was a bit more resilient than that. But she was clearly close. I wasn’t going to run and let Nelin fight that bastard alone. I hadn’t actually known that Nelin had participated in a recent awakening and gained mana that year. She didn’t really play with magic all that often.

So when she conjured a small ball of ice and shot it at the man, it was surprising. The ball even hit the man square in the face. Only it did no noticeable damage.

“Another young spirit master. A shame you have to die today. I’m sure you’d have been pretty.” The man withdrew his sword and raised his arm into the air.

At that moment, my rage had reached dangerous levels, and I had a high degree of intent when it came to getting revenge and protecting my best friend. The blast of mana I shouted out seemed more like a whip made from energy than a ball of fire. It was also thin and brittle-looking. However, it was sliced and cauterized instantly as it made contact with the scout’s arm. Resulting in sudden immense pain. The power flew over Nelin and hit the ground, causing a large fire to spread from that location.

The fledgling scout, down an arm and in immense pain, decided to flee and tell his superiors of the enemy’s strength when two roots shot out of the ground and tied him to the spot.

“That had to at least be a practitioner! But I can’t sense one anywhere! Come out and face me like a man.”

I was four; I didn’t face him like a man. I was also still angry, and that desire to end him didn’t quite go away, and with an exercise of intent, the scout’s head was removed.

As my rage faded, another horror dawned one of immediate danger. I had surrounded us all in a powerful ring of fire with no way out, and my horror upon seeing it caused my fear and emotions to go haywire, which in turn caused the fire to grow stronger and more chaotic. A feedback look of fear and not understanding the cause.

Nelin managed to grab Asela, and we sat in the ring of fire surrounded by a much smaller igloo. My mana had somehow increased the power of the igloo while we had, but the danger was still coming.

Minutes later, Dad arrived and tore us out of the igloo. Carving a path through the flames as he led us back home to safety. Asela received some quick treatment, but it wasn’t enough.

She had been harmed by the smoke and heat to the degree that she would die without assistance. It was while we were desperate and worried when Charles appeared with a proposition.

“If you transplant Kyrion’s flame affinity it’s possible the damage will cease and soon undo itself.”

“But if we do that-” Dad started.

“He’ll regain the affinity in time. Possibly sooner rather than later. The process will probably be better for him in the long run. No more accidental flare ups even if they did save their lives this time.” Charles stated.

“I don’t think fire would be safe for him to have. Not right now. That level of damage so quickly could lead to an accidental death. I don’t want my son to go through another experience like this only to come out broken mentally.”

“His fire was powerful for an unawakened.” Bill stated.

“I don’t think that was fire. Still we won’t have much time.”

Next thing I know, I woke up with black hair, and the one called psycho had managed to sneak into my subconscious via the trauma of the event and missing affinity.”

“So you already knew Lin. I wonder if that’s why you fell in love with her.”

“Psh. No. Nelin was my childhood best friend and keeper. There is no way.”

“There has to be a hint in that head of yours.”

“A hint?”

“Why would Sigfried protect Lin?”

“Because she came from a remote island?”

“Why does Lin have Ice magic like Nelin?”

“Wait…There was this one time where I told her I wanted to play together forever… No. Not even others could be twisted enough to let me set myself up.”

“What are you going on about?”

“I’m starting to suspect we’ve been engaged for a while. Or well betrothed. But I decided to like her all on my own. If she is Nelin, I’ll ask. If she tells the truth, we can put this under the rug.

“Did Nelin go off to attend an academy?”

“Huh.”Kyrion sat down in a stupor,”

“Moving on. You gave Asela a powerful affinity. In return you didn’t cause any more disastrous fires.”

“Via magic.”

“So you can’t be a hero because you gave away your fire affinity.”

“Can we move on. I just want to live out my golden years with a happy family, not die before i’m thirty being a hero.”

“Golden years are when you’re much older.”

“Yeah. Like thirty.”

“Hmmm… How old is your mother?”

“Twenty five.”

“And your father?”

“Fifty six.”

“How old was your mother five years ago?”

“Twenty five.” Kyrion stated in a way that meant dropping the subject.

“So your dad is old?”

“Like really old.”

“Did you forget that we can live centuries?”

“Great…Ander. I feel like punching some Lost. First, to kill Erebus wins.”

Ander, who didn’t need another second of rest, turned into a black lightning bolt and vanished. A booming sound echoed as the sound worked to catch up to him.

Kyrion looked down at his hands and clenched them. “They worked too hard to keep me alive, just for me to die a hero’s death.”

From there, the young man stood, looked off into the distance, and sensed a familiar presence. With a twitch of mana, Kyrion appeared behind the woman who had just claimed to be his grandmother.

“Hello there.” Kyrion said as he placed a hand on each shoulder.

“Came back for revenge, have you? A shame really. Your family is delicious, sadly I won’t be able to savor you as well.”

Kyrion noticed that the walls of his cottage had begun to move to surround them before enclosing them like a mouth.

Kyrion snapped the neck he was holding and scowled as the walls continued to encroach.

“No!” Kyrion let flames flow out of his body and push at the walls to no avail. He attempted to teleport but couldn’t remove his body from this creature.

A throaty voice laughed as it spoke down on Kyrion. “Ha! You can’t teleport from within my belly. You may have escaped once but never again!”

Kyrion sighed. “You’re trying to eat me too? When am I going to run into someone who just wants me dead?”

The walls continued to encroach as Kyrion pretended to wait for his death. As the wall was within five feet on each side, Kyrion spun in a circle, sending out a condensed line of purple that left behind a charred residue where it cut. The top of the house vanished as the bottom stopped moving altogether. Unlike what he’d considered D.E., glowing blue motes floated around him. Touching one caused him to see through someone else’s eyes briefly.

“Souls… That sounds correct. They should get in the bag.” Kyrion opened his domain and rapidly began to pull the souls into it. He would sort them out later.

A voice Kyrion hadn’t heard in years spoke to him. “If you don’t stop putting large populations of sentient humanoids here I’m going to make your love life difficult.”

“That’s a weirdly specific threat… How?”

“You don’t want to know.” Jala removed herself from Kyrion’s head.

“Guess I’ll send them to Karl then.”

“Still processing the island tortoises! Although, while they are quite useful as raw materials they take a while, even with thirty years of time. What are they made of?”

“Divine Essence, I should be able to give you some through our connection.” Kyrion focused on his energy and fed it through the connection, only to be caught off guard by a scream.

“Ahhh! Stop! You’re going to force me to evolve!”

“Oh, sorry.” Kyrion muttered, cutting the feed instantly.

“This tier of energy is chaotic. Don’t do that unless you’re ready to break into expert. You’ll lose future utility but the power you’ll gain will be more concentrated. Plus yu cold always make spells later.”

“Wait, don’t I need cores to become an expert?”

“No, by evolving your spirit you can cause it to reach maturity. Cores can be used to expedite this process, but they also alter the core aspects of the power.”

“Wait. Does that mean, every practitioner can break into the expert tier when they deem themselves ready?”

“Didn’t you help Lingar do so? Cores are a common tool, but most monsters on your world found a way around cores. Heck, what do you think the prize of this tournament is?”

“Oh. Oh… I thought it would awaken my original spirit.”

“Through evolution. All of us would evolve. Only I doubt you actually need that to awaken your old friend. I can sense the change as you have solidified as a person.”

“I see. So I can move into that tier when I’m ready. Then beyond with some effort.”

“Do so after the call goes out and the experts leave. It should give you the chance to take down the Beast Blood Empire.”

“I see the merit in that, but I’ll need to talk to the others. I’d also need to graduate early.” Kyrion popped his knuckles as he looked about. Killing that creature had left the area empty with nothing he could sense in miles. Strangely enough, he could feel that the final quarter of this outer kingdom had also been destroyed. Only he couldn’t sense Ander anywhere.

“Did he die?” Asked a small creature from behind Kyrion.