Keristis took a few seconds to anticipate his opponent's movements. Suddenly being revived sure did take a toll on one's battle sense. A silent stare at the enemy in this fight signalled the true start.

Fallentis half-heartedly shot out a jagged line from its being, clearly to attack first and gain an advantage. A lack of speed in this offence gave way to an easy counter by Keristis, who blocked the attack with his spear and made Fallantis unsteady. The unfathomable being shook violently for a moment before stabilising itself.

Without warning, many more and equally jagged beams exited Fallantis. They wove in and out of each other, off-putting Keristis. Quickly, their acceleration increased turning them into a mesmerising display of certain injury. Keristis knew he needed to attack now. He ran directly at the beams, as he got closer they split apart and aimed right at him.

The first set came, Keristis slid underneath them at the last moment; stepping to the side as the second round came charging at him. Whistling was heard as they passed by. The third and final round unexpectedly appeared as Keristis dodged the last of the second wave. A delayed beam hit him in the back, but he did not falter. Whatever his armour was made from, it was remarkably sturdy.

Another set came and as one of the beams came close to piercing Keristis, his helmet glimmered a purple hue through its slits and time slowed to a crawling pace. It was as if the projectiles were completely stuck in position: frozen in midair. A familiar voice called out through the silence,

| Keristis, your purpose have been revealed to us. It seems that your specialty is Time Dilation. Through my own means it is now active but just remember, you can do this yourself. Please do not court death again in the future and remember, I will be watching. Do not disappoint me. |

Once again, the voice faded away.

As time began to reach its previous speed, Keristis knew he had to strike. Now, the deciding blows of the battle were going to be dealt. Fallantis recognised that its opponent was not like the others it had faced, something was not quite right and it couldn't determine what exactly had just happened. Somehow, excitement crept into its being.

With an exuberant screech, an electrical crackle exited Fallantis. It became larger in size, gaining a form that barely resembled a person. The force that distorted Fallantis' surroundings increasing in power exponentially alongside it. Keristis struggled to stand, as so did Aurelius who slowly stepped back with a grin on his face.

A different attack was forced at Keristis, almost matching the movements of his own. Fallantis drew a longsword from nothing and sprinted at the armour before it. The speed that Fallantis moved at caused it to turn into a deadly blur. Once again, time warped for Keristis' will and the previously untraceable Fallantis was stopped in its tracks.

Keristis stepped towards Fallantis, who visibly had killing intent revealed by its distorted yet angered face.

Standing directly infront of his opponent, Keristis unleashed a flurry of slashes, each one becoming faster as time began to return to a normal pace. Violet flames erupted from his body as the last strike of his spear was set into motion.

But Fallantis wasn't going to just stand there and take it, was it? It swiped its sword once and all of the attacks Keristis had made were rendered futile, useless.

These deflects exposed Fallantis' true being, a crimson red, ominous orb carelessly floating inside of its nearly humane exterior. Dashing backwards, Keristis launched his spear directly at the orb. Unexpectedly, his weapon created identical copies of itself by splitting apart, creating a flurry of the same spear to charge towards Fallantis who was quickly overwhelmed and impaled by at least fifteen of them. Without anything to guard it, the ominous orb shattered like broken glass amidst a small explosion before returning to Aurelius as energy. A broken scream was heard immediately afterwards.

It was merely an afterimage.

Keristis had lost sight of his foe, but an instinctive feeling vaguely told him the direction of his next attack. Chance was going to decide this fight.

CLANG.

Fallantis' sword was stopped dead in its tracks as Keritis grabbed it with his metallic hand. He felt nothing from the impact, the force behind the strike had dissipated into the air demonstrated by the powerful gust of wind that spun wildly around them. Keristis turned around, still firmly holding the longsword in place. The two's eyes met, one with sheer fear from what it had just witnessed.

"¿ꓵO⅄ ƎꓤⱯ ꓕⱯHM ¿ƎꓶꓭISSOꓒ SIHꓕ SI MOH"

The shriek cascaded around the chamber, barely sending a chill throughout Keristis' hollow being.

Without hesitation, Keristis crushed the end of the blade he had grasped onto as his armour was set alight by purple fire, obscuring Fallantis' view of his helmet. The last of Fallantis' energy had been depleted and so it returned to Aurelius as a weak golden ray of light.

Aurelius was just as amazed as Fallantis was, nothing had ever matched them before but even so, he welcomed a shocking result. Victorious, Keristis stood firmly in place as a wave of purple haze came over him and vanished into the air, extinguishing his flames. Applause broke the returning silence coming from where Aurelius was spectating.

The summoner was visibly in disbelief.

"That's... erm... something I've truly never seen before – what was that?"

Aurelius remembered Keristis couldn't speak, but the Summon shrugged nonetheless.

"Ah right, the voice thing. Anyways, with that you've shown me that you are up to the job. My highest congratulations are deserved, I am in disbelief that you defeated Fallantis. It might take a while for that to register."

Keristis picked up his spear that had returned to being a singular one and walked over to Aurelius, with a reignited passion for combat. Becoming a Protector was now his new position in this unfamiliar world. Aurelius informed him what was going to happen next.

"So, here's the deal, we're gonna go and get you registered in the Summoning Index; it's basically a record of all the spirits that have returned as Summons. There, you'll be assessed in the aura test where they just measure your capabilities. After that, you're coming with me to meet some acquaintances of mine, just to make yourself familiar with at least a few people."

Through the large hall they went, exiting the chamber to be greeted by a stranger.