A flaming arrow soared through the air like a phoeni. It was aimed at Rai. Tullian followed up with multiple flaming arrows, making it so Rai had to keep dodging.

Huh? Where’d he go? Tullian looked around the arena after he felt his flaming arrows dissipate into nothingness upon hitting the ground.

Tullian was suddenly surrounded by a ball of water, just before Rai was about to kick him in the head.

Rai noticed the water had bright runes within its currents, runes that would’ve exploded outwards if he struck them. He turned his attention to Amy, who was silently mouthing incantations. She also had an orb of water surrounding her.

Rai zipped back as far as he could get. He reached out with his right arm, aiming towards the orbs. His footing shifted so he could handle the reactionary force, and he gripped his right arm with his left hand to provide some stability.

Rai entered Stormflow.

Purely through instinct, he channelled lightning through his body into his arm. In Rai’s right palm, a swirl of lightning energy formed. He continued to purify it, trying something he didn’t quite think would work. All of the imperfections within the lightning, the imperfect mana, it was all honed in that instant. Once he felt it was ready, he released.

A beam of purified lightning shot out from his hand, striking the orb surrounding Tullian before he could even nock his next arrow.

BOOM!

The runes all exploded. Steam wafted into the air. Tullian yelled in pain.

A blue orb shone brightly through the steam in the air, followed by a serene voice from behind him,

Surge et sana.

Tullian’s pain flowed away from him. He could stand once more. The burn marks and sharp pains were ebbing away.

This was an opportunity. He saw Rai kneeling gripping his shaking hand, the backlash from that attack was clearly too much for him to handle right now.

Tullian roared, morphing into a sabertooth.

Sin’s eyes were wide open in surprise, He’s a beastman?! They’re meant to be extinct... but there's one right in front of me...

The serene voice came once more,

Festinare.

Amy was no longer only human. Her skin was shimmering in the artificial light of the sparring arena. It was almost pearlescent. On her neck were gills, and her elven ears glowed golden. Almost her whole form was completely changed, but her clothes remained, leaving a rather strange image. The one thing that didn’t change were her eyes, they were still green and blue.

Sin’s jaw dropped. SHE’S A SIREN?! WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE!

Her attention went back to the battle as Tullian moved at a speed that was unnatural, even for a sabertooth. Rai couldn’t react. Tullian’s jaw was about to snap at Rai’s shoulder. Amy cheered internally, Finally, we win!

Rai smirked. His seals were currently releasing a tenth of his mana. But he wanted to win.

Tullian saw Rai’s inverted eyes glow brighter. The white iris in his blue eyes glowed brighter than before. Tullian adjusted his path to avoid Rai, electing not to try to gnaw at his shoulder. He returned to Amy, not noticing her transformation.

Amy’s voice was smooth and serene. It was like an echo followed her voice as she spoke. “Don’t worry, we almost had him. We’ll get him on the next attack!”

Rai stood up. His voice crackled and boomed at the same time, “I thought you had me. What happened?” He tilted his head and stared at Amy “Didn’t you say you’d win?”.

Amy winced. She watched as Tullian roared. It boomed throughout the room. His roar was cut short.

Rai appeared beside Amy in an instant. Tullian was knocked out. Amy was too scared to speak. Rai was about to reach for her neck, but caught himself before he did it. He, instead, rested his arm on her shoulder. His voice crackled quietly, “I believe it’s over. I win.”

Sin called for the end of the match, “It’s over!”

Rai released Stormflow. In turn, the pressure that Amy felt when Rai entered the form was relieved, causing her to fall to her knees.

Rai reached out towards her, offering his hand to help her up. He smiled, contrasting his attitude in the fight. “It was a good fight, you’re both really strong!”

Amy allowed herself a weak smile. She took Rai’s hand, using it to lift herself onto her feet. “If we’re strong, what does that make you?”

Rai’s expression went somewhat sour. “... A junior monster, I suppose.”

Amy didn’t notice his change in mood, and walked over to Tullian. He’d morphed back into his human self after falling unconscious.

Sin and Lina were also running over to him, ready to use healing magic if they needed to.

Amy surprised them. She started gulping down heavy chunks of air. Lina told Sin to cover her ears, like she did. Amy finished consuming about half of the air in the room. “OOOIIIII!! TULLIAN!! WAAAKKKEEEE UUUUUPPP!!!!”

Tullian rose into a sitting position comically fast, “wuh. WAH! AMY YOU GOTTA RUN, HE’S TOO-” He frantically looked around, eventually landing his eyes on the people looking down at him on the ground. “Um. Did we already lose?”

Amy giggled, then fell on her butt beside him. She gave him a hug, ignoring the sweat that both of them had all over themselves. “We did well. Good job.”

Tullian blushed, but welcomed the praise. And the hug.

Sin was too excited to wait, she was practically bouncing with excitement, “You both have super rare divine forms! That’s so cool!! When did you awaken?! Did your parents have the same forms? How long did it take to get used to them?! I have so many questions!”

Tullian let out a loud laugh, alongside Amy doing the same. He smiled at Sindyl, “Can we rest a while before answering them?”

Sin pouted for a moment, but she accepted it.

Lina used wind magic to raise them off the ground, helping them stand.

Sin looked over at Rai, who was sweating himself. He seemed to be upset over something. She walked over to him, leaving the other three to giggle amongst themselves.

“Hey, you alright?” She slowly turned his face towards hers. “Are you crying? Why are you crying?”

Rai slowly shook his head, “Not now. I can’t right now.” He looked at her with such a sad expression. He pulled her forehead to rest against his. Even more tears flowed as he whispered in a shivering voice, “Pl... please.”

Sin’s heart almost broke right there and then. Her closest friend was clearly deeply hurt by something, and she couldn’t help him right now. She knew that he would open up to her eventually, but her heart grew tight knowing that there was nothing she could do right this moment.

She let out a couple of tears herself, then spoke in a soft voice, “Okay. It’s fine, we c-can talk about it when you’re up to it, alright?” He nodded his head so softly that she could only tell he nodded because their foreheads were still touching. She whispered to him, “I’m always here for you. Always.” He nodded less softly this time.

Sin let him go, then wiped her face. She looked over at the other three, who were thankfully still in the middle of their discussion, whatever it was.

Phew. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Sin walked over to them, then ushered them to the lift without much warning. “That was all well and g-good, but Rai wants t-to review the match for his own learnings s-so let’s leave him to it and go b-back up to the penthouse!”

They were all light-hearted enough in the moment to not think too hard about what Sin was saying. They went into the lift. The twins and Tullian were engrossed in their conversation, but all Sin could do was watch Rai as the doors closed. He sat motionless in the middle of the arena.

All Sin wanted to do right now was sit beside him, rest her head on his shoulder, and be there for him. But she knew it wasn’t fair to do that. It wasn’t fair to push him to open up when he wasn’t ready. If this was an issue that he didn’t quite understand himself, then he deserved however much time he needed to figure it out.

Rai listened as the doors to the lift closed.

He sat there in the middle of the arena. After a few moments, he laid back on the ground. He covered his eyes with his arm. His hair was untied and splayed out across the ground.

“It was a good fight you know.” He heard a voice echo from the other side of the sparring room.

His voice cracked, “I don’t have time for you right now Kallad. Please.”

The voice’s laugh echoed in the distance. Then he heard the voice much clearer from beside him. “I believe you have me mistaken for someone much more important, young man.”

It was the headmaster, Rodrick.

Rai whispered under his breath, “Why do all these old people keep showing up out of nowhere...”