“So, did you two hear… everything?” Cora asked with a face that said she knew the answer.

Following their battle an hour earlier, Thea had transported Seiji and Cora to their personal chambers to fully heal and change into their Exam outfits while Endora and her Aqua Silhouettes repaired their training hall. When Seiji had prepared to leave, Thea burst into his dorm room telling him she didn’t want to be there and to watch out for himself. While Seiji did appreciate her thoughtfulness, he also couldn’t recall a time when Thea had ever been so concerned for him. It made him feel bad for all the times he’d been rude to her. Before he left, he thanked her for her generosity and ordered a large assortment of food. Chances were he’d eat with Cora after training, and Thea wasn’t one to waste food. He ordered all her favorites, then he left.

“You know, every Valkyrie and their Servant have a moment like this at some point in time. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Endora responded, deftly avoiding Cora’s question.

They all stood at the center of the newly repaired training hall, which had a distinct smell of ocean water mixed in with the regular wood.

“So, what was your moment with Akio like?” Seiji asked, crossing his arms.

“Well, it was after we lost our Final Exhibition. Father gave us a day to say our goodbyes. That morning I went to his dorm and we started talking, not unlike Cora did with you after your Exhibition.” Seiji shared an awkward glance with Cora. Endora didn’t pay it any mind. She sighed and smiled softly. “In the end, we were both crying. I told him I loved him and didn’t want him to leave, and he told me the same thing. We had our first kiss in our dorm room. After that we… well..,”

“What?” Cora asked.

Endora looked away. She looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped as the door to the training hall burst open. Akio stood in the doorway carrying a crate of what looked like at least a hundred elixirs. Unlike the many others Seiji had seen the past few days, these elixirs glowed an almost neon green and radiated a mix of aura and bloodlust. If Cora gave off the feeling of overwhelming authority, these vials gave the impression of ultimate healing. One of those vials and you could heal from anything.

“There they are! Thea said she bought about one hundred and twenty revival elixirs, right?” Endora said a bit too quickly, running over to Akio. Cora looked after her in confusion, but Seiji only gave her a knowing smirk.

“Yeah, they’re all here,” Akio confirmed. He kissed Endora’s forehead before setting the crate down beside the door of the training hall. As soon as they were down, he walked to the center of the training hall with Endora in tow.

“No time to waste. We’re Dominion training today. Cora, I’m going to fight with Seiji and I need you to pay attention.”

“Dominion?” Cora asked, tilting her head. “What is that? I heard Endora talk about Dominion being something that can be taught after the Hell Pit.”

Endora looked surprised for a moment, but she spoke up. “It’s what Seiji calls bloodlust. The easy version is that Dominion is a state of being that people can feel. The actual version is complicated and I’m not equipped to describe it nor do I have the time to.” She jabbed a finger at Seiji. “When his Dominion is active, Seiji believes that he can kill anyone. The people he’s targetting believe it too, so they surrender to him.” She jabbed a finger at Cora. “When your Dominion is active, you believe that you’re a Queen, so people treat you like it.”

Cora raised her hand like they were in a classroom. When Endora nodded to Cora, she thumbed over to Seiji. “When we were fighting, Seiji wasn’t listening to me. Does that mean my Dominion is weak?”

“Not necessarily,” Endora responded. “Your Dominion is quite potent, it’s just that Seiji has strong defenses against it so it’ll take some powerful Dominion to break through it.”

“Ah! How do I train my–”

“The clock is ticking!” Akio groaned. “I want to fight my cousin here. I’ve been patient!”

Endora laughed, pulling Cora under a scaffold at the side of the training hall. When they reached the wall, Akio immediately lowered into a battle stance.

“Alright, tap into your Dominion. I’m gonna give you a little upgrade. Go all out, I don’t need magic.”

***

Seiji’s fight with Akio felt more like a dance than a battle. Akio dodged every one of Seiji’s attacks with ease, while Seiji did the same for Akio. It felt odd to say he was disappointed in the Tier 40 Servant, but he certainly left wanting. He imagined if Akio had deigned to use even a drop of aura he might feel different, especially since the man was supposed to have a Shadow Aspect, but Akio hadn’t used–

A sharp pain emanated from the center of Seiji’s chest, interrupting a punch he’d thrown at Akio. How? Why? Akio hadn’t physically attacked him. When did he land this attack? Blood poured from Seiji’s mouth as he tried to form words. As his vision faded, he saw Endora fly over on golden wings with one of those neon green revival elixirs in hand.

She forced it down his throat, senses returning to Seiji a bit too quickly. He groaned as his wit slowly returned to him.

“That was cheap.” Seiji sighed, fixing Akio with a look of clear annoyance from the floor. He didn’t realize he’d even been sitting.

Akio helped him up. “It’s the Shadow Aspect. I don’t have to do anything, I can control shadows independent of their host’s movement.”

As Seiji stood to his feet, Akio pointed to the floor beneath them. There, he watched as Akio’s shadow flicked Seiji’s in the forehead. Seiji himself felt the blow, though his shadow was completely static.

“That’s… dangerous.” Seiji mused absently. He looked over at Cora, who met him with a knowing nod. If he had an Aspect like this against Lirio, they’d be guaranteed victory.

“Anyway,” Akio began, beckoning for Cora from below the scaffolding. “That little demonstration was necessary for this next point to hit home.” He gave them both a sharp look. “Magic is a supplement to your combat. It shouldn’t be your entire combat strategy.”

Seiji thought back to how Lirio fought him in the First Exhibition. Unlike Seiji himself, Lirio tended to cast his magical abilities just before physical contact. His magical attacks were quite weak, Seiji had thought, though his physical attacks had worn him down to the point where that hadn’t mattered. This whole time, Seiji felt the best way to combat that was by fighting the opposite way – wearing Lirio down with magic and catching him off-guard with physical combat. His Magical Stamina was slowly making that a real possibility, and he’d planned to lean on that during his inevitable fight with Lirio. Seiji waited to hear what Akio had to say next.

“You both are skilled Mages, especially when paired with your Dominion, but if you rely solely on your magic you’re guaranteeing your own loss due to exhaustion. Lirio and Selene have the right of it, lace your normal attacks with aura before you attack and cast tougher skills only when you have the opening for it.”

To Seiji’s surprise, Cora hadn’t said a word throughout Akio’s lesson. She looked down at the floor, thumb in her fingers as she nodded along to his words. When Akio called for Seiji to test the new combat method, she walked back beneath the scaffold with the same gesture, muttering to herself.

Using magic as a supplement came pretty easy to Seiji. It felt a lot like how he’d fought back on The Ardor before magic had been a thing to him. With his Dominion active, he’d managed to stab Akio through the heart with a hand coated in Dragon Fury. Endora had him drink a revival elixir, and they got back to it.

Over and over, Seiji continued to kill Akio Akita. When Seiji clawed him with a Dragon Claw-infused uppercut, he’d begun to feel… right. No matter what Akio attempted to do, Seiji was there, and he was final. This was how it’d always been, how it was supposed to be. Seiji felt like he’d put on an old glove. He felt so correct that when a sharp pain pierced him through the heart, he didn’t even care. Seiji ignored it, blasting a hole through Akio’s chest with a full-powered pillar of Dragon Fury. As Endora handed them both their elixirs, Seiji stared down at Akio like he was his prey.

“Feel that, Cora? That’s what Dominion feels like outside of Haven! You’ll need that much to even stand a chance!”

Seiji bristled, all traces of bloodlust gone as he turned to Endora. She’d promised to tell her secrets after they passed the Exam. If she was talking about this kind of stuff now, she must really believe in them.

“True Dominion comes from an unshakeable will,” Akio began, clapping him on the shoulder. They both looked at Cora. “It’s how Seiji was able to kill Alexandros despite being weaker. How he managed to threaten Lirio. How you were able to turn Selene into a crying mess. You both made decisions, and those decisions were powerful enough to infiltrate your opponent’s minds. The next step is letting it infiltrate your own mind. That’s when you become a real monster.” Akio turned to Seiji, hand still on his shoulder, and winked. Seiji’s cheeks heated as he recalled his violent thoughts toward Akio.

“May I try?” Cora asked, her face as contemplative as it’d been for the past few minutes.

“By all means,” Akio responded, tapping Seiji’s shoulder. “You two can go this time.”

Akio’s restrictions for Cora seemed a bit unfair to Seiji, but he wasn’t going to argue with the man. Seiji was allowed to use magic, while Cora couldn’t. Their fights went as Seiji had expected – he’d killed Cora about fifteen times in a row. The more he did it, the more he felt that sense of correctness. With that, though, grew Cora’s rage. Her Dominion was active and in full swing, which made it a bit disconcerting when Cora’d begun to swear like a sailor despite still being in her ‘Queen of Valkyries’ mode. Even still, he wasn’t going to let up on–

“Die a slow death, you insolent fuck!”

Seiji hooked her with a Dragon Claw to the throat, but Cora ignored it, responding with a palm strike to the chest. When it landed, she released a thick bar of Dragon Fire straight through Seiji’s heart, killing him instantly.

When his eyes opened again, Akio had been there with an empty vial in his hand. Endora had her hands on Cora’s shoulders, talking to her about something Seiji couldn’t hear.

“She’s walking her through a meditation exercise like the one you gave to Cora in the waiting room. It really helps with Dominion.”

“How do you know about that?”

“We were outside your door,” Akio said, as if it was obvious.

Seiji sighed.

After a few minutes, Cora stomped back to the center of the training hall gushing Dragon Fury, though it went against their lesson. Seiji prepared to meet her, but Akio stopped him.

“My turn,” Akio said with a smile. “You stand back with Endora.”

Cora’s fight with Akio was brutal. In one exchange, Cora shot a crater into Akio with a palm strike paired with a Dragon Burst. In another, Akio cut Cora with a hundred slashes using his Shadow Aspect. The more they fought, the more Cora began to smile as he’d seen from her only once before – back before the Botanist’s Bond Event. Following a particularly brutal punch Cora landed on Akio, Cora began to laugh almost maniacally as she chased after him. Endora, the whole time, had begun scratching her cheek.

“Look at Akio, he gets to spar while I’m on elixir duty. He’s always hogging all the fun.”

“I don’t think–”

Endora summoned her silver halberd out of nowhere. She spun it absently, though it slowly began to glow in her hands.

In his entire time knowing her, he hadn’t once fought against Endora directly like Cora had. Sure, he’d had some decent matches against the Aqua Silhouettes, but it was clear that they weren’t exerting themselves. If he were being honest with himself, he knew Akio wasn’t exerting himself, either. Still, in his entire time in Haven, the only time he’d gone all-out against an opponent was when they were facing the Pit Demon, and that hardly counted.

Endora glared at Seiji over her shoulder, but she turned back to the fight the instant their eyes met. Seiji felt his hopes rise.

If he hadn’t been eager for battle, he wouldn’t have been fast enough to stop Endora’s blazing-fast blade sweep. Seiji felt a wave of annoyance when Cora was the one to catch the blade before it could stab him in the chest, but that annoyance vanished when Akio appeared out of nothing from behind her. Seiji stopped an overhead punch with a palm, and he looked into Akio’s blue eyes with a smile.

Everyone in the training hall laughed wickedly, but the moment only lasted a few seconds. They had a fight to get to.