-6 months later

“You’re needed for war,” Onyx told the four, playing a board game in their room, just like the last time. Jay got up. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

The rest of his team rose, and a swirling portal appeared in the wall. Onyx waved them in, and so they left. Suddenly, they were elsewhere, atop a mountain staring down at a battlefield. Two armies fought, one of the Gemstone Council and the other Metallic. The battle was massive, with both sides’ guns loud enough to hear from up here. Guns were only used in war because anyone with a sufficient amount of power could stop a normal bullet, though a special-made sword was tougher. And if you were enhancing a gun with magic, why not just throw a fireball at your opponent?

Amon conjured a sniper rifle, the gun literally molding itself to his hands. Amon helped him aim, guiding his hands. “Anyone you want me to shoot?”

Onyx shrugged. “Sure. The guy with the staff in the back. He’s casting a lot of chain lightning spells.”

A second later, a bullet infused with Blood was in the man’s chest, and he started retching, turning green as a fast acting magical virus infested him. Another bullet soon entered the chamber. “Next.”

A woman scything through the Gemstone’s ranks, only wielding a scythe, was pointed out to him. The metal plate she wore(of a metal Jay didn’t have any knowledge of, of course), identified her as a Metallic Councillor. A bullet through her skull soon fixed the issue, and Onyx pointed the next target out to him. Jay killed without pity, until a burst of return fire started, Amon able to react fast enough to raise a wall of quicksilver to block them.

“We’re getting you down there now,” Onyx said, a portal appearing below their feet. They fell into it, suddenly between enemy lines. The entire enemy army turned to face them, shooting, but it was ineffective.

None of them would fall prey to bullets. Jay could simply heal bullet wounds away, Crystal could evaporate them before they reached her, Drake could teleport them through him, and Catherine’s water did not accept any intrusion by hunks of metal. They waded through corpses, none putting up any resistance.

Then came the Metallic Councilors, quick and fast. They were all pretty strong, though there were enough metals assigned to them that the weaker ones were just weak enough for them to deal with. Jay let one lop off an arm in order to put a bullet through her skull, grabbing his arm and reattaching it. Another died when Drake put his knives though his back while Jay and Amon pressured them from the front.

“DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH BLOOD YET?,” Crystal shouted at him from across the battlefield.

Jay shook his head. “NO!”

Crystal snorted. “WELL, YOU’RE ABOUT TO, SO GET READY!”

Then she erupted in a wave of Psionic power, shattering many’s minds. They fell to the ground, lifeless, and Jay suddenly had access to their blood. “HERE WE GO!”

Drake grabbed Crystal and Catherine, teleporting out of enemy lines. Jay stood alone. The Metallic Councilors converged on him, weapons bared, but Jay didn’t react to them. He stood, as if in a trance.

Then the blood around him moved, to collect around him in a raging cyclone. His newfound mastery of Mana directed it, power from within him linking him to the Mana in the blood. Lightning crackled through it as he directed the surrounding Spirits using his Voice, cutting blades of blood forming within.

And as quickly as it formed, it exploded outward, cutting through all the nearby Metallic Councilors. Still they charged, many avoiding death or injury, but Jay simply gave them a baleful stare. He had another trick up his sleeve.

Cracks tore through the sky above, and the Councilors paused for a moment too long. Chunks of the sky fell, crushing them, utterly breaking the scientist’s laws of physics. Jay stumbled directly into Drake’s waiting hands. The sky kept falling, the solid chunks that hit the ground eventually turning to ash.

Jay put one hand over Drake’s shoulder, using him for support as he watched the enemy run. “A good first battle,” he said.

Drake shrugged. “War is never good. We’re just lucky we’re not one of those pacifist countries who have mental breakdowns every time they kill someone. If we had to, that would be far harder than actually killing them.”

Jay nodded. “Yeah, that would be a problem.”

A voice sounded at their side. “You did well.” Onyx stood, looking slightly grumpy. “They’ll already have replaced all of their Councilors, but this is a good blow to them.”

Jay nodded. “What happens next?”

“Now? We have to take the fight to them. We can’t do this forever, and they have the support of many rebel nations.”

Jay sighed. “I suppose we’ll have our last few days in school before we need to go, right?”

Onyx nodded. “I’ll see you soon, Jay.”

Jay knocked on Onyx’ door. Ever since the first lesson, he hadn’t been able to find the old man. He’d simply been missing. A voice sounded inside. “Come in.”

“What are you teaching me today?”

“You’ll see. Sit.” Onyx put a block of wood on the desk

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Jay dutifully sat down, staring at the block. He’d practiced, and the Mana flows came easily to him now, and he watched the different colors coruscate within the block. “Now, grab some of the Mana in the block.”

Jay did so, tentatively reaching out with his mind to take hold of one flow, displacing it slightly. “Pull it out.”

The block froze, ice covering it. “I see you found the fire Mana, and pulled it out. Next. Thought.”

Jay grabbed his Will. “What do I do?”

“Use it to Change the world.”

The block levitated before suddenly crumpling. Onyx nodded. “Grab your Note, the part of you that wants to Sing to the world, make it happy.”

A clear note came out of Jay, almost without his bidding, and the wood reformed into a block. “Aura. Dominate the world around you.”

Dominion channeled itself into a fractal around Jay, and he felt the world around him become bloody, dangerous.. “A domain of Blood. I see. Now combine them.”

Jay grabbed all his energies, putting them all together without thinking. Nothing happened. Then he realized what the problem was. He grabbed Mana, shoving it in the mix. It Changed, becoming one. A sudden exhaustion hit Jay as he looked at his creation. “Memory,” he whispered, turning the crystallized droplet over in his hands.

Onyx smiled. “It’s what I used to be named after. Treasure your Memory.”

Jay nodded, sensing the influence the single crystal had on the world. It dissipated into him, and Onyx got up. “Well, I’d better get going now.”

Jay was facing off against another student in a duel of fire. Or, in other words, eight students.

Just as he’d done ten minutes prior to now, he wiped them out of the room on a tide of Frostflame. Ruby stared him down, but Jay didn't particularly care. This was fun!

Iolite’s massive drill reached his mental wall, and… faltered. It broke down and shattered, as his more offensive defenses reached out and crushed it like a bug.

Then Jay made the mistake of reaching out to Crystal’s mind and saw her massively stronger mental defenses easily keep up with an army of drills, all without a single problem.

Emerald tapped her foot, watching Jay wrest control of the puppet from the entire class working together against him. “Good,” she said, a smirk crossing her face. The boys in the class looked at him enviously. Why are they envious of a smirk?

What makes you think I know?

Light bent around a pillar, changing colors periodically, and eventually reaching the top, where it collected itself into a glowing orb. Jay showed it to Brightstone, and she smiled at him, pointing out and explaining his project to the class. “See how he changes the colors every three revolutions? That makes it look like there are solid rings of color, when there’s just a thick beam of light wrapped around the stick, from the bottom to the top. And see his accumulation pattern, perfect, no errors at all…”

At the end of the day, he stood outside with the rest of his group. “We’re going to war,” he noted, quietly.

Drake nodded. “If we’re going to war, we’d better be the best at it.”

That earned a chuckle, but nothing more. “Promise me. If I die. You don’t go for revenge. Just live,” Jay said, solemnly.

Catherine nodded. “Alright.”

Crystal hesitated, but agreed. Drake didn’t reply, busying himself staring at his daggers. “I don’t know if you’ll actually follow your promise, but try. I know you’ll want the rest of us to do the same, and I will, if you all agree to do so.”

No one replied to his comment, and everyone simply sat around, silently, until they went to sleep.

Diamond looked into Gold’s eyes through the looking plate he was holding. “Hello, father. How goes things on your end?”

Gold chuckled. “Already done. As I suspect you are?”

Diamond nodded. “Our latest battle was a disaster.”

Gold scowled. “I didn’t expect the boy to grow so much in this small amount of time. The assassins we sent after him simply disappeared, too. I’m not sure whether the boy or Onyx killed them, in fact.”

Diamond shrugged. “We still have our strongest fighters in reserve. Let me out, and-”

Gold shook his head. “No, Diamond. We can’t do that. If we do, our final plans will be ruined. All we’re doing right now is fighting for the Monsters until they arrive.”

“But dad, if we win, the Monsters will show us more gratitude, right?”

Gold shook his head. “Diamond. We don’t need more gratitude. We’re already going to live like kings.”

Diamond kept going. “If we win, the Monsters might let us join them!”

“That will not happen, Diamond. You need to be incredibly strong to join. To do so, you’d need to absorb all the kids’ power.”

Diamond nodded, appearing to back down. So, he just had to kill all the kids.

Simple enough.

The Emperor stared at the five slave-kings, all assembled. “Are they still under?”

“Yes, your Majesty. No signs of breaking free from our power.”

The Emperor nodded. “Jade. Nightingale. Breaker. Redheart. Momentum. I wonder what Eternity will do when he finds out we have them in our power?”

“Probably die, your Majesty.”

The Emperor nodded. “If I kill him and send him to the darkness forever, I’ll surely be rewarded.”

“So, what is your Majesty’s next decision about this planet?”

“Eh.” The Emperor shrugged. “Let the Metallic Council die out, then we can attack. No need to give them anything. Continue searching for Eternity. Remove our agents from this planet and send them elsewhere. There’s no sign of him here.”

“As you command, your Majesty.”

The Emperor turned away from the slave-kings, staring out into space. He whipped around, sensing movement behind him. Nothing had moved. Everything was as before. The slave-kings were in place, and no one was strong enough to hide from his senses. It was all normal.

Sighing a sigh of relief, the Emperor stood, untouchable, in the depths of space, watching the denizens of the planet fight for their lives.

Little did he know he’d be fighting for his own soon in the future.