"And to think, we nearly missed it," Reika cooed, leaning back on her hands.

As of late, she'd begun to cut back on the strict upkeep of her formal persona. Kyoya offered a mental shrug; he wouldn't be caught dead complaining about it.

Blasts of color kept him from honing in on any one element of the sight before them. On the horizon, fireworks and colorful dancing lights began to appear in the skies above Altaire. Their radiant glimmer even punctured the veil of night as far as where they sat.

He wondered further at the lightshow.

"Why does moonlight seem so much stronger out here than anywhere else I've been?"

Reika turned her head toward him, rolling her eyes at whatever expression of puzzlement and intrigue he'd shown. "I don't know how you didn't figure it out sooner, but the barrier surrounding the grounds has an effect of light magnification."

She explained further, "I'm not the most knowledgeable of how it works, myself, but the fact of the matter is that it prevents Demons from appearing within it's area of effect. Whatever magic it uses strengthens the light and prevents darker forces from manifesting inside... but evidently even it has a limit, if your encounter during Not Forgotten was any indication."

"Oh? I guess it makes sense: everything has limits, one way or another. But, on this magnification bit..."

The boy paused and pondered. "Lookin' back at it, it clears up why I was never able to get as far as I thought I would, trying to leave all those times... So that'd mean anything we see outside the barrier is way farther out than it looks from inside, yeah?"

"Maybe you're not as much of a dolt as I'd been led to believe. Good on you, Miscreant."

She quickly adopted a wide-eyed expression, generously confusing the boy. "It almost escaped me, but I'm still owed an explanation regarding that Affinity of yours."

"You drive a hard bargain, Pinkie..." he pondered. "...but what harm would it do?" Kyoya nodded and leaned back, raising one hand and panning it horizontally in front of him to demonstrate a sense of scope. "I call it 'Critical Ascent.' I can't say if it was at all named like your Affinity on purpose or not, but it should go to show how much I looked up to your game for a while."

"Is that so? I'm touched," Reika snarked back. "And its effects?"

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"I was gonna get to that, y'know. It's simpler than you might think. Pretty straightforward, actually." Kyoya noted, another rising remark from Reika making him pause.

"I don't know how it could be simple at all to make your punches suddenly carry the force of a tackle, but go on."

"Right... So, it has to start with landing a physical hit. A punch, a kick, hell, even a headbutt. Once I've managed to land a single shot, even if its blocked, the next one after that holds on to the power from the last, and keeps tacking on for every consecutive hit. That's why my first punch felt pretty normal, but things started ramping up towards the second, and then on. But, any time my little chain gets stopped, like countering and stuff, it puts me back at square one, till I can start it again."

"That definitely clears up the ludicrous force behind those last few hits in our duel, then. Though, if you went through the trouble of developing an Affinity in the first place, I can't help but feel as though it also has an extension effect. Would I be wrong to assume it so?" The unrelenting analytics in her tone practically cornered him, leaving no room for dodging the question.

"Nothing gets by you, dude," Kyoya sneered. "Yeah, it's got an extension effect, but I haven't given it its own name. Honestly, it might just have the same name as the Affinity itself, whatevs'—burn that bridge when we get to it."

A shrug preluded his continuing. "With the normal effect, let's say I land three hits, and the force of the third chained attack is around whatever. With the extension, I can pull all that stored energy and combine it into one big hit that doubles the collective force of every one before it, regardless of how high or low that number might be, but sacrificing my chain in the process, n' getting put back at zero," Kyoya explained, albeit a bit pridefully. "Dunno about you, but I like that set of terms—seems like a pretty fair and pretty effective trade-off."

After a few moments of thinking, Reika returned her gaze to the horizon, staring deeply at the firework show. "Hard to think someone of your make and model would have thought up something so intricate, but there's always a new surprise around the bend."

The girl laughed herself off, evidently finding his previously unseen ingenuity to be comedic in nature. After that, her calming gaze again fell upon the landscape. "What we'd nearly missed was the preparational eve celebration of an annual commemoration held at the capital."

Reika yawned, then shook the sleep away. "Altaire's Legends Festival... Every year, citizens from every corner of Takera flock to Altaire to take part in the honoring of those lost in the Great Schism; a celebration of their sacrifices that ultimately brought the light victory."

Kyoya couldn't help but ponder the strange passion she had for the topic, but granted her aspirations, it shouldn't have been anything new.

"I guess you're pretty big on things of that nature," he murmured.

"Being an Heir to Eternity, I haven't any choice but to be connected to the facets of Takeran myth... But even if I weren't, they'd remain some of my most precious thoughts."

She remained staring off. "When you leave tomorrow," the girl began, "if not for your own gain, then for Guran, and for me: as a means of paying any debts you've yet to repay in your time here..." Reika turned to him again, opening the palm of his left hand and placing a weighty, metallic item gently inside of it.