The next morning L and Kwazhak called everyone for roll call, a loudspeaker barking at them in each of their assigned rooms. All the doors soon went ajar; for everybody had fatigue from last night’s feast. It was a new day of the young sun, and it was as L promised. Training.

While people were gathering in the center, yawning, rubbing their drowsy eyes, Suruj stood upright, trying to forget the nightmare he had.

“Hell yeah! Maglalaban tayo!” Perez was the only one who was jumpy and active, waving his gauntlets, but no one could understand what he was saying except for Suruj and Kwazhak.

“Yo Zundui,” Hyun-woo asked him in Khoit, “You know what Perez is saying?”

“Yeah, uh, he’s saying that he’s fired up for training today,” Suruj forced his eyes open. Hyun-woo sighed and facepalmed, his weights jingling.

“You would think that he’s a quiet one at first, next thing you know he’s a branded hothead.”

Once all ten of them: Zundui, Toqemur, Shunji, Ashojan, Perez, Lanu, Izdaha, Hyun-woo, Htet, and the girl congregated, L and Kwazhak came from one of the doors.

“We’re going on a trip to the practice field, featuring Le Prince de Laoyuang,” L posed excitedly, “No breakfast. Follow us this way.”

They all changed from their sleeping attire to the Al-Wa uniform. They went through a door on the far right, a long white corridor with bright tiles that led all the way up to a glass double door. As soon as Kwazhak opened it, they saw a large stadium, a wide field littered with sand, with an open roof in a hexagonal shape.

“Today, Let us test your skills. Le Prince and I will be opponents, fighting all of you. If one of you manages to land a blow on us, you win. Simple?”

Talk stirred as they heard that they were going to fight them. To Suruj, he knew landing an attack on L would be near impossible, and was sure that the others knew as well. Kwazhak and L took their sides, while the fighters took theirs. Suruj was nervous, however he wanted to see what the other fighters had to offer.

“Alam Pagpapaandar!”

Perez took the first move, throwing his fist out. A gauntlet fired off his right hand and propelled at L at high speeds.

“Alam Baohu,” He created two sahar shields with his hands. He simply knocked the gauntlet out of the way. The glove stopped midair and propelled backwards and reattached itself to Perez’s right hand. He then ran towards L, and thrusted both of his hands out. The gauntlets flew towards L in a flanking direction. L deflected them away with a swing of the hand. He pushed Perez back with a forward thrust.

Hyun-woo swayed from side to side as he took off the weighted restraints around his neck. Everybody began to run with a walking start. Toqemur’s green eyes glowed before she disappeared from the visible eye. Saya unsheathed her sword. Saharic particles began to gather around Suruj.

Hyun-woo appeared behind L ready to kick him. A shield appeared above to block his attack.

“I see, I see, you’re just fast, Jun Hyun-woo. And Jose Perez is a boy who throws his gloves around,” L laughed as he taunted the two of them.

“Puñeta!”

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Perez slugged L’s shield repeatedly. It came with clanks of grinding metal. It kept one of L’s shields at bay. Toqemur popped up from behind L. Kwazhak stepped in. A large sword materialized from thin air for him to unsheathe and went on the offense. Hyun-woo took her place and launched a sweep for L’s leg. L moved his left hand and pushed him away with the shield.

Kwazhak’s sword was a wide Z̆ongren blade with a colorful blue hilt. It danced along with him. With one hand behind his back, his fencing posed a threat for physical fighters. Saya came in with a loud strike of the bachi. Suruj could hear the shamisen roar. Up, down, left, right, slam. She swung her scimitar with a beat. A white beam released from Shunji’s finger. It was released of its bandages, rupturing the ground.

“Dihu Minjie!”

“Alam Alkhafa.”

“Mahou Reeza!”

“Alam Botok!”

Sahar spells were chanted at an alarming rate. The saharic particles around the area were sure to be used up. Suruj noticed that his sahar accumulation was slowing, so his own sahar spells would be weakened.

“One can turn invisible, Mouka Toqemur,” Kwazhak aimed his sword forward, while keeping his distance.

“Eek, you two are going to keep on pointing out our skill sets or something, Le Prince?”

Toqemur dodged multiple slashes. His sword was brought down on her. But she placed her hand in front.

“Mahou Tusgal.”

The blade landed on her left hand. It warped through her hand as she placed her right hand near Kwazhak’s abdomen. Kwazhak sidestepped as his blade came through Toqemur’s right hand and evaded a belly stab. As soon as he pulled his sword out of her left hand, the blade retracted from her right.

“Interesting. A spell that reflects physical strikes.”

Only Suruj and the girl hadn’t assumed any form of attack yet. Perhaps they were too cautious, seeing the result of the others trying to land a blow on L or Kwazhak. Not only that, but there was nowhere left for them to jump in. Friendly fire would result in a fatal mistake, when everyone was trying with so much effort to attack the two. Suruj had already begun to charge saharic particles for his own spell, but he felt that it was too weak for him to use.

“Oi,” She went up to him and pointed, “They are already learning to make a formation. But I…”

She was right. Perez was the vanguard, attacking both targets. His sahar spell took very little charge, useful in stalling. L was using sahar, while Kwazhak had a more physical approach. Saya would be the main attacker to Kwazhak, while Hyun-woo for L. Shunji and the others fired ranged spells from a distance, while Toqemur acted as a support, channeling allies’ projectiles and using herself as a decoy. Suruj processed the entire situation.

“How wonderfuri they work together, like I read in books,” She said again, “But I…”

Suruj exhaled and took a deep breath. They were the only ones left that did not fight. He had enough charge to unleash Daigdig.

“Don’t be like that. I can’t butter you up, but you should be working together with them,” He put his hand on her shoulder, as he felt his saharic particles leaving his body. “You deserve as much as them.”

“Wait-”

Suruj was transferring all the particles he had stored up into her through physical contact. For any normal person, they would overdose by the sheer amount. But he knew that he and she could take such an amount with their sahar level. She looked at her hands. They started to glow white, white matter orbiting around her.

“We’re gonna be stuck here for some time. Go show them that you want to have fun, talk, and laugh with them. Now spread your wings.”

“...”

She took a running start. She leaped up into the air. Then she chanted.

“Mahou Tsubasa!”

Two enormous white wings sprouted from her back. She took to the sky and soared above all of them. Each flutter distorted the wind, her shadow covered the dark sunlight. The girl descented down at L with her fist clenched. For a moment she was as fast as the wind. L quickly glanced up and saw her falling down on him. He briskly moved his hand up into the sky. The shield followed. Suruj had never seen her use offensive spells, so he anticipated what would happen.

“Mahou Daigdig!”

A streak of heaven flowed from her hand like a comet’s tail. With one blow L’s Baohu shield shattered instantly. The stellar fragments rained down from above.