Chiyo deflected a serpent of flames as a lion-human hybrid brought an axe down on her location.

The swordswoman danced around the ax and the Ulnar artery in the large man's arm before after images danced past him coating his golden fur red.

Noah in his durability did not go down from the series of blows, but the damage was clear as he soon fell to his knees, confused.

“How are you so fast?” Noah asked the woman who held a sword at the nape of his neck in a mere second barrage.

Chiyo recognized the tells of a combatant buying time for a counter. Rolled to the side as a shadow shot upward out of the ground and pierced her shoulder causing a gaping hole to appear where the shadow was struck.

Looking at the shadow wielder, Chiyo launched three long needles into his form causing him to seize as a paralytic venom entered his system and began to wreck him.

Atimn lay on the ground seizing his mind going blank as his body went dangerously still.

“You killed him?” Noah in a faux rage attacked relentlessly.

“No. That was non lethal. At most– Another trap.” Chiyo danced through the barrage of arrows and turned to an archer currently looking down from a hill.

A ball of explosive flame with a molten boulder hidden in the center was launched at her and she knew not to take it head-on.

“Secret Art: Blade of a thousand worlds.” Chiyo seemed to sheath her blade as a majority of her life energy and mana were depleted at once. In response everything save for her ally had been sliced up moderately and the spells had been utterly destroyed. Steam flowed off her form as exhaustion hit her.

Before Chiyo could hit the ground Tiffany appeared and caught her wayward ally with a sour look on her face. “You should pace yourself better. Also, these people should be our allies. Isn’t that right Asela!”

Nicole looked at Tiffany through a broken vizor. “Allies? Does Drissil even care about their leaders?”

“You replace them as though they don’t matter.”

“That isn’t my choice either. I’d rather my captain be left alone to tend to his flowers in peace.”

Asela sighed as she appeared with Wura and Chester. The Trio had been holding back to gauge the threat before Tiffany showed up.

“Who is this woman?”

“You know Ander?” Tiffany asked.

Asela shrugged, and Noah nodded. “The spear user?”

“Well this is his wife.:”

“Just where does Drisli hide so many powerful people?”

“Our current captain is quite troublesome, almost identical to our first in his ability to attract talent.”

“I see. Shall we be allies then.” Asela nodded as a ball of concentrated flame appeared in her right palm.

“Why do you look like you’re going to att–”

The blast nearly hit Tiffany head-on as the blow moved past the speed of sound. The following explosion, however, sent Tiffany flying forward.

“You won’t trick us again, shapeshifter.”

“Well. I guess its my turn. Light of the Dawn.” Tiffany drew a series of symbols in the air in a matter of seconds.

The setting sun vanished as a rising sun could be seen on the other end of the sky. Where the light touched there were no shadows, no darkness, and illusions faded. Revealing a lone Lisa smugly sitting atop a rock near Asela. Yet no one aside from Tiffany managed to notice her.

“Powerful mind manipulation. Chiyo, it’s time to go.”

“I can still fight.”

“No, you should go.” Said a male voice that seemed to be in a tone much deeper than usual.

“Captain?” Tiffany looked at Kyrion’s face and where his eyes were usually green a warping distortion had appeared in both as he began the process of using his mind magic you counter Lisa’s.

“You! Milo, how could you!” Noah ran forward only to trip and fall as his legs gave out.

Slap!

Kyrion slapped his friend across the face and sent him flying into a tree. His armored form faded along with his wounds. Though no one watching the aggressor would have noticed the minute detail.

“My predecessors made quick work of him. I shouldn’t be any weaker, no?” Kyrion popped his neck as he spoke with a lilt he added to his speech.

“You bastard!”

“Not true. My dad accepts me most of the time. A solid eight four percent. The rest is when he says I remind him of my mother.” Kyrion said as he reached down and slipped something away from Atimn before applying pressure to his temples and sending him to his fortress.

A three-headed dog humanoid hybrid with large muscles ran forward only to get poked three times on each nose and sent into a state of confused shock as nerves had been pinched and it caused the creature's connection to Nicole to vanish and fade in an instant leading to a pseudo spirit broken state that would fade in five minutes. She wasn’t getting those five minutes.

Teleporting behind Nicole, Kyrion slipped one of Chiyo’s needles into a nerve and sent her into an unconscious state.

Wura summoned a lance of Mercury and threw it forward only to watch as it was caught in an orb of wind and frozen solid in seconds.

The strain of manipulating her element in that stage of matter left her distracted for a brief moment as a blue liquid shot into her mouth and she fell backward. The mercury then faded from existence.

Arrows came at Kyrion from above and instead of dodging or taking them head on. Each arrow was plucked out of the sky with surgical precision as Kiara tired herself out.

Kyrion teleported in front of Kiara and poked her on the forehead, sending her into an unconscious state.

“Now then five of eight are down, why don’t you surrender. If I wanted them out of the tournament I would have ended them dear cousin.” Kyrion said in a way reminiscent of Milo. He’d seen the resemblance with his own eyes, a mix of Gamodren with the man in his uncle's body.

“Don’t you dare call me that!” Asela summoned a great ball of energy which was rapidly condensed to the size of a pea before getting filled with vast power.

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Isaiah sent all the mana he could spare at Asela and the Pea-sized ball of heat was the size of a golf ball.

“You know, an attack like that could destroy a planet on any other world.” Kyrion exaggerated, it could level a human city on Cecil's world but that was it with just that much mana.

“Then maybe it will teach you not to mess with my family again!” Asela held the ball above her head preparing to throw it.

Kyrion teleported behind his sister and pulled a move used by older brothers everywhere. He snatched the ball of energy that could no longer be called fire with divine essence and held it above her head. While placing a hand on his diminutive sister's head and softly applying a mental healing spell on her. She wasn’t too strong and it was clear that Chester was unaffected by the manipulation but had been playing along due to being dangerously outnumbered.

Asela’s mental state reverted to being a little kid again as she whined. “Hey, give it back! That's my ball!”

“You’re going to have to take it from me if you want it. Little Asela.”

Asela, enraged, instinctively kicked Kyrion in the shin enough to break a bone. A thin bone in her foot. That shock caused the spell to face and the regeneration effect was soothing as said bone was fixed and her gaze partially landed on Lisa.

“No way! I’ll just make it explode.” Asela stated.

“Oh? That will take us both out!” Kyrion yelled as the ball was filled with his divine essence of flame doubling and tripling in size before getting condensed into a small ball of blue-white energy.

“My flames of corruption will taint this ball in my colors!” Kyrion laughed as he threw it upwards while Lisa watched in confusion. Kyrion eyed each of his friends who he left some of his mana on, then grabbed Isaiah and Chester and teleported everyone save Lisa to the fort.

The blue orb expanded into the size of a mountain before exploding outward in a shockwave that forced everyone in that general area to be evacuated right before it could hit.

“Ummm…Just how much power did you put into that attack Kyr?”

“Just a little bit of a higher form of power. Though, how long have you known that your ability over fire was ripped out of me which is why you can easily manipulate anything plasma related I send in your general direction?”

“When mother explained it when you failed to awaken. She said that there would be quite a few more lies in the mix until you were ready for the full picture. You have most of the pieces and they will fall into place when you get older.”

“Figures. I got a bit of that back when it regenerated in a dungeon, then a mental breakdown caused it to erupt for the first time in rage. I must thank you for taking on that burden here.” Kyrion handed Asela a bag of spicy candies.

“What is this?”

“Candy that increases your power over plasma based elements when consumed steadily. A rarity in this world. So rare you won’t find another source with it on this world.”

“When did you learn how to make candy?”

“I have a source. Now then how were you all enthralled?”

Chester sighed. “I’m the only one with decent mental defenses and I was still unable to see the person enthralling us. Meaning acting out could lead to a slit throat.”

“So you went with the herd. Annoying but understandable if you were as weak as you act.”

“I also wanted to see how powerful your new friend was. To take so many on so well despite being an unknown was something concerning. Information is my best weapon.”

“This is why I despise most tacticians. Always thinking of the big picture when it would be simpler just to react and adapt as things come.”

“Is that why you actively disrupt most of our plans? What about your own team's tactician?”

“I despise other people’s tacticians. Mine are easy to deal with. They know not to predict what a force of nature will do, they know to plan around for whatever chaos I cause and adapt accordingly.”

Kyrion walked towards the edge of the tower and proceeded to backflip off of it as a portal opened under him and he disappeared.

“How did you end up so different?”

“Teachers. I’m more likely to follow rigid instructions and orders when they come to me. He’s likely to ignore orders and do what he thinks is best. Flexible adaptation, battling against rigid order. Now we both know this is was a desert, but could any one person build such a fortress in mere hours then push us that much while obviously holding back. Somehow he’s found a path past the expert tier before reaching it. The same as Damian, and the same as you Chester.” Asela eyed the tactician before she turned away to look at the setting sun.

Brion and Bella were surrounded by a large number of monster corpses and yet a near endless hoard of beasts surrounded them and even more ignored and continued to run past. Both were covered in scratches and dirt but had few bleeding wounds due to their endurance. However, that didn’t protect against failing due to mana exhaustion.

Brion slammed two arms into a bear creature's shoulders and brought them together removing its upper torso and head taking a cut to his ribs that made him take a step back after to breathe.

“I don’t think we can make it through this.” Brion sighed as a forty-foot-tall gorilla with the lower body of a six-legend lion marched forward toward their location trampling trees and other monsters alike.

“That isn’t fair.” Bella stated as the creature approached.

“That is a middle expert tier creature at least. Why would they put us somewhere with a powerful enemy like this?”

“So that we won’t build a settlement and bunker down. A creature like this is probably too strong for our captain to take on alone.”

“Of course it is! Why do you think I'm here?” Said a familiar voice through an unfamiliar form.

The Great Gorillion hadn’t been outsized in a fight in centuries. Even then that was back when it clawed itself out of its parent and then consumed their pride whole. Now a metal two legs covered in mana appeared before it standing a full story taller than it.

“Two legs are tiny. Why you no tiny?” The Gorillion demanded, proving that it had gained a level of sentience in its age.

“Magitech.” Cecil stated through his speakers as he withdrew a modified mana cannon from a holster and began to charge it using mana from the engine and all around them.

The Gorillion felt fear. Not understanding what that meant, it charged forward to rip the giant two legs in half.

The mech jumped back and took to the air as more energy was charged into the weapon.

With its six powerful legs, the Gorillion jumped with enough power to shake the land below and cause many of the monsters to flee.

“So. Now that we’re here.” Cecils spun the cannon slamming the butt into its chin and sending it upward its body unprotected.

“When would a predator flee from its prey?”

“Huh?”

“When it seeks to trap its mark before slaying.” Cecil fired the cannon upwards and at a diagonal the blast cutting through the creature's lower body and torso and continued into the clouds then pushing beyond as the blast broke out of the atmosphere and was absorbed by something.

“Well that's not concerning at all.” Cecil said bluntly.

“That is very concerning. What's wrong with you?” Arion responded in a monotone.

“How are you related to our captain?” Cecil asked. This position was somewhat the reverse of what he was used to. Arion did not talk without prompting there was

“We have no physical relation, although our souls are one and the same.”

Cecil sighed and opened up various cooling vents to release the built-up heat and excess energy to create a protective bubble as it landed. The field scared away many expert-tier creatures though not all.

Those foolish enough to charge forward were frozen solid and then crushed by a gravitational ability caused by a currently hidden Bella.

Brion crossed his arms and asked bluntly. “Why isn’t Cecil the captain?”

“Assassins. Did you see how many times people have tried to hunt our captain down. They failed and went straight for me only to fail in the end again. Also, this is a team design, Cecil has been working towards this for a while and it was due to parts our captain came across while running from assassins that this was able to be finished during the tournament.”

Brion nodded. “So this is your group's Magnum Opus, or proof of mastery?”

“You’re a member as well. Thing is, these machines require minimal mana to control so almost anyone could learn to pilot one. As far as things go, you could be one of said pilots if you wanted to.”

“Maybe…” Brion turned to instead watch the fleeing monsters. He was loyal to Kyrion for helping him walk again, but he knew that the person in that position didn’t care for being a leader. If it wasn’t for spite he’d probably be acting as the team medic instead.

Now that Brion thought of it, Kyrion had been their group's unofficial leader for a while as the bridge that connected all of them, except maybe Hel. Though she was Minah’s aide, there was some connection with spying attempts that went unnoticed like ants crossing his path through his natural repellents or flies occasionally sitting on walls right before Minah would arrive only to watch him flee. She told him that she recently learned that he’d planted trackers on Minah’s armor to better flee. Unaware that he’d been the cause of years of her frustration.

“Maybe what?”

“Polgamy is somewhat legal in Etrevonia. So a harem wouldn’t be uncommon…”

“I’m not sharing Cecil.” Bella said bluntly.

“Huh? No. I just get the feeling a certain captain intends to graduate then hide out here for centuries as the inevitable hoard of suitors start breaking down his doors with axes.”

“I mean, he isn’t ugly…Maybe it’s because I remember when he was mostly babyfaced.” Bella watched as a hatch opened and an albino woman climbed over Cecil to escape.

She marched forward recognized the lotus scent that Kyrion kept on him looked about noticed the strong smell of plants and stopped. She then looked at them closely and realized it was androgynous, though that didn’t mean much. She’d seen Kyrion’s mother and sisters, there wasn’t enough of a difference for that distinction to matter. Noticing her fingers were in the middle of transforming she willed it to stop.

“Get in. We need to go back to the lo–fort.” The figure stated bluntly with a near-robotic voice.