Yuri came back to their temporary hide-out, grabbed the water bottle from the cooler by the wall, and uncorked the cap. He refreshed himself with the liquid, glaring at Rem who took a seat on the's livingroom most egonomic chair. By the wall Hikma, Hikma guiltily avoided looking at Yuri.

Rejuvenated, Yuri slammed the empty plastic battle on the table.

“How the hell did a newly founded country come up with so many ridiculous weapons?” Yuri glared at Rem. “Did you invent an Americanization serum and spike their food? These people love guns too much.”

Rem wasn’t ashamed, “If tyrannical nobles burned your country in a civil war, while brigand accosted your broken family, then you will hug the blessed death-stick too.”

Hikma walked over to Yuri and placated the boy. He had this conversation before, and he knew how it would end.

“Rem is the die-hard fan of the 2nd Amendment,” Hikma said to his junior. “Don’t let him get one on how the government and tax-collector should be watched under the barrel of a gun.” He winced. “And try to avoid Karl Marx.”

“Marx is right where he belongs,” Rem growled. “On the poker table with the crackhead Mao, Stalin, and that moron Castro with Satan as the Dealer.”

Hikma shook his head, “He always gets like this for those subjects.” The gentlemanly Knight gave Yuri the explanation he owed. “To answer the question, I think Rem called it capitalism. When the Dawn first created the Acropolis, we taught several trades and encouraged them to build an independent economy and culture. Some of these, like oral symposiums, finance and the beverage industry, are relatively innocent.” He hesitated a little. “Others like the fire-arms manufacturing are less so. Given the refugee just suffered the horror of civilians, they leaped at the self-defense industry like with gusto.”

“Where there is demand, there is growth,” Rem added, not feeling the slightest guilty. He turned to Yuri and made certain clarifications. “Me and Melody might teach them the merit of guns, but we were only channeling that energy away from a more dubious method. And, I set up a proper healthy gun-culture to take root, so we don’t have to worry about fire-fest.”

Hikma sighed, “Rem, you are too paranoid.”

Rem decided to shelf the subject and turned toward Yuri.

“Okay, Yuri,” Rem said. “What do you think about Atalante and Ayla? Do you think you can take them?”

Yuri laughed dryly, “I have no chance. Hell, I doubt Alpine can get out unscathed if she fights with Atalante. How are you fine with spreading the knowledge of Aura and Arcane like it is a free promotion?”

It was Hikma who answered that question.

“Hiding knowledge didn’t make us stronger,” Hikma said. “We have copyright agreement and Acropolis paid a premium for our books and annotated copy. If we want a ground to criticize the Divine-race’s tendency to hoard knowledge, the last thing we should do is act like them.”

Rem added a bit more information, “We grow from competition, Yuri. Your growth ceiling is higher than both of them. The only thing keeping you down is the fact they could access their Abilities, while you couldn’t. With Hikma here, we can finally fix that.”

“Wait,” Yuri said, turning toward Hikma. “You can give bodies to L and T?”

T picked that moment to materialize as a soul.

‘Are you sure?’ T asked. ‘Normal containers couldn’t take our souls.’ She frowned. ‘Strange. Where the hell is L? She should be excited about this.’

“I can’t,” Hikma conveyed the bad news. “I believe Cy could if she has enough time, but she is busily setting up our countermeasures around Frisnia's capital. Like usual, it is Symphony who gives us an answer. I think it’s best for her to explain.”

Yuri blinked.

He couldn’t believe how today's orientation ended with the meeting with Horizon Dawn’s greatest authority.

…

The ritual to meet the most powerful being in the Multiverse was more mundane than Yuri realized.

In the barely lit basement, Yuri was sitting shirtless across the Astral body of T. Both of them were sitting in a cross-leg position. Yuri was a tad nervous at the dinghy location. Hikma kept the crime-bosses and associates he had beaten before Rem messed with their head and sent them to the authorities. He was far from a superstitious person, but even he felt ill-omen.

Opposite him, T fidgeted, sharing his concern.

Sadly, the two architects of this ritual were utterly laid-back. It wasn’t a surprise. Both Rem and Hikma had survived way worse than a dingy room.

Hikma’s hand glowed with auburn sigils linked in a circle. It was the power of his Origin — the [Glyph of Forms]

“Bond-Realm-Carrier,” Hikma cast the framework to construct the Arcane into a unique shape. “[Paradiso]”

Circular Magic binding painted itself in the air, connecting a circular track around Yuri and T, putting them into separate circles linked by the glowing magical chain.

Both Hikma and Rem both raised their hands.

“Symphony is waiting for you in the Astral Realm,” Rem said. “We are picky-backing T with you on a binding rope with [Tenshou] to hold you together, so calm yourself and sink into the Astral Realm. Hikma will suspend the time inside another set of barriers, so you can stay as long as you like.”

Yuri couldn’t help but panic.

“What should I be expecting?” He said.

Hikma and Rem shared a glance of pain and simultaneously agreed on their next word.

““Brutality.”“

“You said Symphony is nice!” Yuri complained.

‘My old teacher is nice too,’ T’s eyes looked dead. ‘But you either fly or die with her.’

“That isn’t fine,” Yuri said, panicking. “Shouldn’t we talk about this?”

“Too late for that,” Dream said. “On three.”

“Relax your mind, Yuri,” Hikma warned. “Two”

“I can’t relax, guys,” Yuri whimpered. “Do we—”

““One — [Tenshou]””

With that Primal Arcane, the world went black.

…

Yuri blinked.

He knew he wasn’t dead. That was the first good news. The bad news was the dingy basement was gone. Instead, he was sitting in tea-time in an open-air atrium made of glowing material. It was clear he was in a new variation of the astral realms. The air of this place had an ethereal, indescribable smell. It was like someone condensed all that was good and pure in the world into aerosol.

The chair he was leaning on was soft, comfortable, and relaxing. It was softly glowing like the rest of the atrium.

But what truly blew him away was the scenery.

They were in the middle of the cosmos; galaxies, nebulae, and countless stars surrounded them. It was the majesty and possibilities of the universe. It was an image that inspired awe at how tiny he was. Somehow in this sacred space, among the starry skies, Yuri felt the weight of life. The stars outside seemed small and insignificant, but there were wonders for their twinkling light. This impossible celestial machination inscribed to him the beauty of this world.

Now, he finally understood why Rem put on a mask and became the die-hard champion of liberties. The reason Hikma towered as a pinnacle to Orwell and many others became so mathematical.

Both men glimpsed at this space and swore to defend every yard of this starry beauty with everything their titanic will could muster.

T was sitting beside him, but she wasn’t in her monstrous form. Instead, in front of him was T from her time as Tiara — a silver-hair girl slightly older than Yuri. The cool beauty sat in silvery garbed, blinking at the circumstance she found herself in. She quickly erased the burst of joy from being in her original body. It was better not to be too happy because this special gift was likely transitional.

Then a light came to their glowing stone table. In a blinding flash of aurora and warm, comforting light, a slightly tan woman in a blouse and sweater graced the party. She brushed her black hair and cordially greeted the two visitors with the eyes of a burning rainbow.

“Hello,” Symphony began. “I believe you both know who I am.”

“You are Rem’s and Hikma’s teacher,” Yuri said. He didn’t know how to react upon facing the legendary strongest in the Multiverse. Yuri opted to pull a Rem and pulled the polite but stern maneuver. 

“Well, technically I let Scáthach teach the Dawn before I fully take over,” Symphony said. “To her credit, she had done an okay job.” Symphony frowned. “However, the fact my children barely defeated that punk in Venistalis proved I must be more hand on. From that point onward, I’m the woman who trained Rem and Hikma.” She conjured some cookies that appeared on the table with a soft clang, before continuing to gossip. “I know I shouldn’t have a favorite, but I enjoy training Luxinna the best. You wouldn’t believe how fast she progressed during a duel to the death.”

Yuri looked at the cookie with dread. Rem and Hikma weren't joking about their boss being brutal. 

T fully expecting the universal constant of an extremely brutal trainer grabbed a cookie and bit. She nodded. T wiped away the tears of joy. This confectionery tasted inhumanly good. Somehow, this tiny sweet shone the light into her dead, cold heart.

Symphony nodded, “I am glad you like the cookie, dear.” The Queen of Center Force turned to Yuri. “Rem and Hikma were exaggerating.” She hesitated. “I admit my teaching method can be,” she paused, “frankly terrifying, but my students weren’t in any danger.”

Yuri decided to get his execution sentence ewarly, “So what is the training?”

Symphony clapped, “I am glad you asked. Let’s change the venue.”

The entire place flickered.

…

Yuri and T were dropped onto the sandy dunes.

Yuri stood under the desert skies, barely able to comprehend the sudden change in setting. The coarse sands were smooth to his skin, but what marked the peculiarity of this desert was the air. Unlike normal, typical desert, this place was warm.

T struggled up beside him and muttered, “It is about to begin.” Her eyes looked dead from the surfacing trauma. “Please let it not be fighting a giant Iguana with a stick.”

A light appeared before them. 

“Perish the thought, my dear!” Symphony re-emerged from the light. “Now. Let me explain the goal of the training.” She landed on the desert floor and began the lecture. “This training had two objectives. First, we have to stabilize T-chan’s soul. Second, we need to pump Yuri-khun to the point he wouldn’t embarrass himself to the roaches from the north.” Symphony was beaming. “Congratulations, it is time for me to train your Origin, Yuri-khun.”

“You mean the [Divine Geas],” Yuri said. “Rem said it is a contract base.”

“Yes,” the Symphony nodded. “That is mostly right, but it is missing the more nuanced meaning. Rem, as smart as he is, isn’t all-knowing. Your Origin is a medium for a trade of record between you and those of the Divine. It allowed you to assimilate record and power from the contracted and elevated you beyond mortal’s limitation. And this is where we met our first hurdle.”

“You mean I and L,” T said. “Our lack of physical body is dragging Yuri down, aren’t we?”

Symphony beamed.

“It warms my heart to see you open-up, dear,” the entity representing all the goods of the world smiled at the silver-haired girl. “But no; Rem has a reason to believe your lack of body and the patch-worked souls might be the case, but that isn’t true.” Symphony’s turned serious. “The true problem is you never trusted each other.”

T and Yuri looked at each other in confusion.

Symphony continued, “T-chan and L tried to dominate when you first started out, right? Then Rem gave Yuri an upper-hand, which flipped the relationship around. Those dominations and submissive positions did wonders to tank your synchronization rate and completely jammed the pact between you two.” Symphony winked. “It isn’t a coincidence that Yuri pulled T-chan’s move after the two of you have a heart-to-heart and become friends.” Symphony made a heart with her hands. “That’s the power of love. It turns into hawks and doves. It holds the universe, and down-right unstoppable once channeled into a coherent beam of destruction. I myself used the Love Kamekamaha during my war with the entire Center Force” Symphony nodded with pried. "Even now, it haven't recover."

Yuri’s jaw dropped at the revelation. He wanted to find a hole and died from shame.

T stood beside him, blushing. She was never in this position in her two lifetimes worth of memories.

The Symphony wasn’t finished embarrassing them.

Here, T-chan and L might be the perfect recipient of [Divine Geas],” Symphony made a nasty smile. “The Malice grafted a tonne of record on you both, creating an irradiate structure that would fail eons ago if it weren’t for your subsequent sealing. Yuri’s Origin held your leaking Astral-body together. The result is two spilling Divine souls linked to mortal souls that could assimilate the spillage. Aren’t you three a match made in heaven?”

“You mean I am leeching T’s memories and power,” Yuri asked.

“You put in a bad term, dear,” Symphony corrected. “You are absorbing the excessive build-up in T’s teeny AAA battery of an Astral container to prevent her from blowing up in a firework.” She coughed. “This brings us to our objective. We must accelerate this process, while improving the quality of T’s Astral container. Luckily, Yuri’s [Divine Geas] also allowed the trade of traits and records. I believe reforging T-chan's Astral container with the human-trait will more than stabilize her soul.”

“Wait,” T said, confused. “Human-trait? You are turning me into a human?”

“Humans have the highest modification tolerance, dear,” Symphony — a human-born goddess — smiled sweetly. “Our Origin is freakishly powerful. I, Hikma, and Rem are prime examples of this. With that addition and the link to Yuri, you will undoubtedly surpass your prime.” Symphony looked up and down at T. “You might even get to keep your current look too. Human took better to Amalgamate Beast trait than the Divine-race”

T took a glance at her smooth, scaleless skin and made her mind.

“We have a deal,” T said.

“I am fine with that,” Yuri added. “So, how are we going to do this?”

Symphony lifted three fingers, “Before I explain the plan, I will go over our three main problems. First, there are too many records for T’s Astral container to contain. Second, we also have to deal with a Malware various Reverse Beast infected T. Third, we need to fix the corrupted Divine Core.” Symphony nodded. “The third will fix itself with Origin and human-traits. The second won’t be a problem because I can help you seal it. It is the first that is a problem. The Malice jammed too many superpowers into T without minding their compatibility.” Symphony walked toward T with a beaming smile. “Which is why we are going to shoot two birds with one procedure.”

In a move that shocked both T and Yuri, Symphony reappeared in front of T and punched right through her stomach.

From the new hole in T’s abdomen, a flood of darkness erupted. Inky goo sprouted like a black fountain of oil. The black fluid sprayed across the desert like a mid-summer rain. Gooey water piled on the sand. Instead of being absorbed in the ground, the dirty fluid with the stench of wild beast reformed into creatures of darkness. Most were wild-beasts like wolves or jaguar. Some, like a mutated elephant were bigger. Many like the Alicorn sporting sharp fangs or the eight-head giant serpent were downright fantastical.

Symphony extracted her fist from T.

Yuri rushed over to the daze. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she wasn’t injured. Only smooth skin existed where Symphony’s fist dug in.

“What was that for?” Yuri asked. His instinct flared an alarm bell from the surrounding creatures.

“I punched the record out of her,” Symphony said with a bright smile. She gestured to the hoard of feral beast surrounding them. “These are the wills inside the record. You two must kill them, collect their data, and compile all those disjointed records into a proper Skill.” Symphony nodded at her genius. “Isn’t it great? Not only are we fixing T-chan, but both your compatibility and prowess will increase from fighting back-to-back together. We are basically shooting three birds with one stone here.”

T got up, huffing from the almighty fist she received but still confident. “Don’t worry,” T turned to Yuri. “I can clean this within a second.”

Symphony smiled, “I won’t say that, dear.”

Right on cue, an inky armadillo leaped from the crowd, curled into an armor ball and plowed into T, knocking her flat on the floor.

Symphony continued to explain as the hoard of rabid animals began attacking, “Your strength here is proportional to the mastery of Mana. Here, T-chan is the weakest.” Symphony levitated to the sky as Yuri and T got smothered. “Don’t worry, dear. I will revive you if you die. Now, fight! At the edge of death, your potential will awaken. I believe in you, so fight like you are going to die because you will!”

As Yuri got mobbed by the record, he finally understood with his senior description.

Their leader was good, kind, and beautiful. However, she wasn’t soft.

If evil offered an easy way out, good itself spat at the weakness and shove you down the barbaric grinder to make you stronger.

No wonder good always win. The entire faction had no chill.

…

Nine days remained before the Danghai’s Conference.