A boy with short brown hair and blue eyes stood in an empty hallway. One could see it was a school, with various class and club names over the doors.

The hallway wasn’t dark or old, but it gave off a creepy feeling from the emptiness alone. The boy was wearing some kind of school uniform, with a jacket and trousers of the same color, which was dark blue.

The doors of the classrooms started moving, slowly, all of them. Then it gradually quickened, and it quickened even more. Soon, they were swinging full throttle.

Countless things were thrown at the boy, which he simply took head on without movement. The objects included eggs, pens, pencils, water balloons, forks and spoons.

Voices came out of the classrooms, belonging to seemingly invisible people. At first, they were only curse words, like “Go die.”, “Pathetic.”

He stood indifferently all through them.

It took only a minute for it to change to pleas of mercy “Let me go!!!”, “I didn’t mean to!”, and finally, the last spice needed in snapping him was “Who are you?”, the one who said that was a girl, as implied by the voice.

“Guaaah!!!” shouted the boy as tears started rolling down his wide-open eyes, looking down at his bloody hands and the girl with a black brunette, now bleeding with a knife inserted into her stomach.

She had a horrified expression on her face.

The surroundings contorted and returned to its former form, an endless grey room.

“Well, I think I went a little too far.” said Crow with surprised eyes, looking at the boy in front of him.

He looked too dangerous that Crow doubted that even the Devil, let alone puny gods wanted to mess with him now.

The boy then started growing scales and wings, his eyes turning red and reptilian, like Crow’s. But the current Crow had normal glowing red eyes, instead of its reptilian form.

“I think it’s a little too dangerous to let him out now.” said Crow as he started chanting a spell to calm him down. Then it happened. Raven simply disappeared.

“Shit!” shouted Crow as he looked around as much as he could, but he subconsciously knew that it wasn’t possible for him to bring him back now. He had woken up.

…

“Ah!!!” shouted Raven as he woke up with a start. ‘That was just a nightmare? No way, it’s that bastard’s doing.’ he thought to himself, without even noticing that he was in a hospital room.

“What’s the matter?” sounded out a feminine voice from near him.

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“Nothing.” said Raven as he looked at Stein with slightly lifeless eyes, which Stein noticed instantly.

“Well, the party’s ready in case you’re fine.” said Stein with a carefree tone.

“Hmm, what party?” asked Raven with a surprised tone.

“Your coronation.” answered Stein as if stating the obvious.

“Is it connected with the lethargic beatdown I gave to the redhead?” asked Raven with a smirk.

“Yes, that’s only a part of it. I just wanted you to learn more of the world.” answered Stein with a grin.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” asked Raven in a rude manner.

“It’s a secret.” answered Stein with one of his fingers before his lips.

“Tch, so when will our training start? I have things to do.” said Raven with a calm voice.

Indeed, he had remembered something and that became his sole purpose for living now. As for what that is, most people would laugh at him while some would sympathize with Raven.

“Huh, the hell?! Why did you become a training maniac?” asked Stein with a wronged expression.

“In case you didn’t know, I was close to that. And I just remembered something I have to do.” said Raven with a monotone voice, getting up promptly.

Now that his powers came back, he didn’t sustain much physical injuries, so it was easy for him to move around. In truth, the battle between Qu Xin and Raven was mostly mental, unlike the fight between Jet and Emily.

“Oh, then we’ll start our training tomorrow.” said Stein, of course in real time.

“Let me guess, we’ll celebrate in Tyrannos?” asked Raven in a sarcastic tone.

“Of course.” answered Stein with a smile, looking to the side “You can come out now, Lucy.”

The black and green haired woman appeared out of thin air next to Stein. “I guess I’m not that good at hiding.”

“You should at least hide your jades in a storage ring or something?” said Stein with a furrowed brow.

“No way, they’re my identity.” she said while gently touching the necklace with 7 jades.

“Then just pop out from nowhere like you do, they’re far better than being boo-ed in the middle of the night by someone I know where she is.” said Stein with a frown, looking at Lucy.

“I guess you’re right. Oh, Raven, she said that due to some unforeseen circumstances your challenge will start in a month’s time. Your sister will be there, and so will your grandpa, uncle and almost everyone connected to you by blood. Then there will be 2 of the 10 joining the fray.” said Lucy as she disappeared in a flash of green light.

“Well, this is better, I guess. Let’s start full-speed training.” said Raven as he looked at Stein with strange eyes, eyes of someone with a purpose.

Stein didn’t get what Lucy meant, but he knew it was some kind of motivation for Raven, which was of course false.

“Where are we?” asked Raven with a clueless face.

“In the infirmary, you just exhausted all your energies, so you were just sleeping here.” answered Stein with a sigh. “Honestly, I didn’t think you would beat that qi boy.”

“How long?” asked Raven, as he knew those torturous times could never be a mere day.

“What?” asked Stein with curious eyes.

“How long have I been asleep?” clarified Raven with an irritated tone.

“3 days, if you count the day of the tournament.” answered Stein honestly.

The two left the room in a moment as Raven rushed out the door. “Where is the coronation taking place?”

“Outside.” answered Stein with a carefree tone while looking at him with curious eyes “It’s what the mountain is for.”

“Well then, we’re starting it now. I don’t want to waste precious time.” said Raven as his steps started quickening and he left the infirmary.

Then Stein was thinking ‘The hell, I didn’t sign up for this.’.

He then took out something like a phone and clicked it a few times on different places and it started beeping. A voice came out of the crystal, asking what he wanted. Stein then answered “Raven is awake and he wants the coronation to start.” The explanation was brief, but absolute.

The other man answered (Ok, give me one hour.)