"That was cool," She said.

 

"Thank you," Kaya said. Then a speaker on the wall crackled.

 

"Aronte, I'm guessing that was you?" The Director asked through it.

 

Kaya sighed and said, "Yeah, sorry about that. I was showing off."

 

"Warn us next time," The Director said before the speaker turned off with a click.

 

We exited the training room and Kaya left to visit the rest of our family.

 

"That was crazy," Lauren said.

 

"That was my first time seeing her full release in person," I said. "I've seen her occasionally on TV."

 

"Well, I'm tired out," Cinder said. "I'm going to go rest."

 

"Same," I said.

 

"Why don't we all just have a nap?" Kiku asked.

 

"Let's do that," Violet said. We all set out to our dorms and slept.

 

 

Over the next several weeks, we all continued practicing and training. At one point, my Thinblade split into two. It turns out that when someone has two Unique Magics, their weapon usually turns into a dual version.

 

I've managed to perfect my control over my Unique Magics. I mostly use a shrunken-down version of Scalding Frostbite when using my blades and I finish off a combination with Icefire Eruption.

 

We've also started learning how to use our Unique Abilities. While our Unique Magic is an attacking form of magic, our Unique Ability is a defensive or movement form of magic.

 

Mine, Frostfirewall, creates a floating wall of cold fire before me. All of my attacks pass through it, but any attacks from opponents are stopped by it or are deflected.

 

And now, after a month, we're finally getting assigned to our squads. I'm both extremely excited and nervous about it. Because we live in the First Sector of the city (there are five Sectors), we're going to be in the First Division.

 

"The letters came!" Kiku suddenly yelled from the doorway. I rushed to her, eager to see who would be in my squad.

 

Cinder ran in from her dorm, holding an envelope. Kiku handed out ours to us.

 

"On three," Lauren said. "One, two, three!"

 

I tore my open and scanned it.

 

 

Seeing as we were in the same squad, Kiku's matched mine. Laren, Violet, and Cinder were also in the same squad.

 

 

"Same squad!" Cinder said happily.

 

"You get to be on the squad led by the Captain!" Lauren said. "Lucky."

 

"He's arrogant and lazy," I said. "But he is powerful."

 

"Of course, you've met him before," Kiku said.

 

"When do we start training with our squads?" Violet asked.

 

"There's about two weeks of training as a squad," I said. "Then there's another week of practice fighting Orix."

 

"Aw, we have Jacob in our squad," Kiku complained.

 

"He may be an asshole, but he is skilled," Cinder said.

 

"Fair," Kiku said. "I still don't like him."

 

"Come on, we need to get ready," Violet said.

 

 

A month later. We've had a few fights against Orix, and done pretty good. With the help of Kiku and, unfortunately (for me), Jacob, I managed to take down a King-Risk Dragon class Orix.

 

As we were riding back to the main base in the travel truck on the roads that were suspended high above the city, Captain Narumi got a concerning report.

 

"What!?" He shouted suddenly, startling us. "What do you mean, it's gone? Whole sections of the Outskirts don't just vanish!" He paused as someone spoke to him. "Alright, I'm pretty close. I'll go to it." Then he turned to us.

 

"Change of plans," He said. "We're heading to a part of the outskirts that's apparently gone missing. We'll meet up with the 2nd and 5th Divisions there and investigate." He turned to the driver and said, "Five A 554."

 

"Yes, sir!" The driver said. He turned sharply down a side road and headed toward the Outskirts.

 

We sat in silence as we waited to reach the area.

 

"What the hell. . ." Fin Collins, a dragon who had dyed his hair electric blue, said. "The whole thing's just gone. . ." We all turned to see a huge circle in the Outskirts of flat ground. Buildings partially in the circle had sections cleaved off.

 

And the ground closer to the center of the circle was pitch black. It looked almost like it had been soaked in Orix blood.

 

"We'll stop here," Narumi said. The driver stopped and we all leaped off. We (except for the Captain, for some reason) ran across the rooftops toward the circle of nothing. Then something moving at a ridiculously high speed shot past us. The Captain slammed into the ground near the center of the circle. We caught up with him after a few seconds.

 

Then a shining object fell from the sky. It slammed into the ground, kicking up dust. When the cloud disappeared, I saw my sister standing there, all six of her wings splayed out to their fullest extent.

 

With a loud snapping sound, the Captain of the 5th Division appeared.

 

"Hello Kaya, Soshiro," He said, smiling.

 

"Ryan," Captain Narumi said. The three turned toward the very center of the circle. There looked to be the scorched remains of a huge Orix scattered around as if it had exploded from the inside.

 

"There's someone in there," Kaya said suddenly. She dashed forward and knelt down. When she stood up, she was holding a young angel girl in her arms. The girl had several black lines around her face and her wings were also pitch black.

 

"This girl," Kaya said. "She has the Aura of an Orix and an angel."