Done with the theatrics, Vin rotated and steered away from the group and the celebration. He'd seen all there was to see.

"Tryna run away!?" Yelled Oswin, observing his target wander away at the pace of a one-legged sloth. Vin did stop momentarily, but it wasn't to address the man. He had a pest in his head screaming for attention, so he eyed Elaine and relayed, "DK says to... wash your boots?"

...

Perplexed faces monitored him for a hand full of seconds. Waiting for their brains to make sense of his message or for him to elaborate. Neither came, and Vin continued on his way. Not long, because an unexpected flurry of flames shot from the ground, and a man-sized, horned figure vaulted out.

"I said, 'Watch your usage of my blessing!" Thundered the demon king previously contracted by Miyo. He held the same appearance, except he rivaled Vin in height, not the buildings. "Where on earth, or hell, did you get that translation?!"

"ALSO, address me as DEMON KING or YOUR MAJESTY, not DK!"

Vin tucked his hands into his pocket and slowly tilted his head in idle reflection. "So that was it. I still have a hard time comprehending how you summons communicate."

"Also," Vin continued. "DK, If you could alter your size, why didn't you do so before when I told you to?"

Considerable amounts of observers were gained from the hubbub, but Vin nor the demon paid them any mind. It roared, widened its stance, then outstretched its jaws. A black flame festered between their sharpened fangs, and they discharged a deathly fireball toward Vin, who squeezed their lips together and blew it out like a candle.

"Curses!" Bellowed the demon. "If not for the prince, I would sever your head!"

Miyo became disturbed after the creature's remark and stuck their head out of the sweaters trap door. Vin peeked at Miyo, then at the horned figure, and repeated, "Prince?"

As if the situation wasn't muddled enough, Elaine dashed over and kneeled respectfully in front of the infuriated creature. "Demon King Onyx!" She blurted.

"It's an honor to finally meet you, your majesty," she said. "You may not be aware, but your power has saved me. Restored my ability to run."

"Hmph, finally, a lowly human with sense," DK smugly remarked. Pissed, Elaine's friends swarmed the horned entity, "Who you calling lowly?!" They barked, all returning obscenities to it.

Amid the fuss, Elaine attempted to beseech the demon to explain the change in her blessing. Apparently, an orange flame radiated upon use, but it was then black.

DK found it challenging to admit that they were killed by Miyo and resurrected. Thus, they pretended not to hear her and just continued fighting with her friends.

As Vin and dozens of others watched the human students bicker with a summoned demon, they couldn't help but wonder just how intelligent SFX innovations were. They grew angry, had personal backgrounds, and, more importantly, their actions shaped the system.

Onyx was an entity of its own inside a castle track. Yet, their armor existed as someone else's ability. Moreover, they seemed knowledgeable of the human who used their blessing and critiqued them. It was abnormal.

Vin wondered if Miyo had a story of their own. If they guarded a world before coming into his possession. Or if another human used Miyo's ability to control black flames instead of commanding the phoenix's physical form.

Eventually, an axe was released onto his train of thought. The crowned female arrived and shouted for everyone to settle. She could no longer sense the butterfly she had granted Elaine as company and sought explanations.

Well, a quick glance uncovered the lethargic Vin twiddling his thumbs while his summon clashed heads with strangers. The winged insect fluttered around him with its new decked-out appearance, very much against its original owner's consent.

Vin soon learned the then-angered girl wore the crown as a sign of being an actual queen in the university. The same rank as Castiel. Also revelatory, every student in that section was attired with blue, obviously members of the Shark's faction.

Vin returned a dull look to the queen and the outraged group that followed her. He reached down for his trusty longboard, which wasn't that trusty after all since it was currently being repaired. The next best thing.

He ran.

He ran when he broke something as a child or stole cookies from the jar. So why not in that scenario too. After all, the bug had died. He crushed it. The thing was gone, removed, decommissioned, KIA. From then on, it could only exist with Miyo's power.

Though outside his prime, Vin believed he'd gained sufficient athleticism. Especially since they were the same age, and he had a head start. He didn't even need to get far, just return to the mass of partyers and merge into the crowd.

Dead wrong. As luck would have it, Vin had followed Elaine to her major's hang-out. Meaning every student was a university-level track and parkour runner.

They were at his neck in seconds, glad to oblige their queen. A firm hand gripped the back of his sweater as he ran, yanking him. Vin jerked back but promptly rotated, grasped the wrist of the person that tugged him, and wrung it behind their back before kicking them away.

Before he could get back in the wind, he sensed an urgent heed to dodge. So, Vin flung his head forward, which narrowly missed a rocketing fist.

Another sense drew his body forward more. He bent his knees, pitched his arms backward, then kicked off the floor and backflipped away from a string of hurled, sharpened candy canes.

Another directive was received far too late for his body to react. Vin's flip landed him in a puddle of what was perfectly summed up as 'green goop.' It was viscous and gummy, ensnaring his feet the more he tried to escape.

He was ensnared for too long, and even more magic fired his way. Vin peeked at his digital watch that displayed his slowly declining style points. There were less than three minutes of usage, with no way to replenish them, unlike during races.

Since the students openly used their powers, Vin felt no need to hide his uniqueness. His talents.

He decided to openly share his advantage. His strength.

Vin undid his belt and yanked it off. "I'll show you," he said, slowly unbuttoning his pants fastener.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The closing pursuers halted and recoiled. "Not again!" a girl had shrieked. Too late. Vin shooshed down his pants and revealed his secret weapon to them all.

His raging, black, pair of fire pants. Yes, Miyo engulfed his legs in black flames, those specifically catered to burn everything except its owner's flesh.

Since the uniform wasn't cheap, Vin just wanted to disrobe his slacks before they caught fire. He hunched over, then forcefully squatted down, which flared the flames over the thick green adhesive. The substance burned, then Vin tensed his bent knees before blasting from the pool of goop.

"What?!" Yelled one of the students. "Isn't he a summoner?!"

He was, but the manner he used Miyo made it look like he had a different type of sphere, such as-.

Weapons: Nanobots cluster to form tools like swords and shields.

Magic: Has various forms, including elemental attacks and enhancements.

Mutation: The user's body is distorted using special effects. Their physical body doesn't literally alter, but nanobots can create attachments like beast claws, tails, wings, etc.

Vin didn't contemplate how Miyo did everything they did. But, the phoenix was abnormal from many standpoints, even in how they withheld their discontent with their user. Miyo never explicitly tried to communicate its displeasure with its lack of usage. Still, Vin could tell Miyo wanted to be utilized more.

He landed some distance away, which gave him a sliver of breathing room. Just a pinch. The runners were back for round two shortly after.

He could escape whenever he wanted. But he allowed himself to be surrounded. It wasn't that he planned to do so; Vin just- Well, he found running around with them to be... Pleasantly different. There was a rudimentary contrast between skating and sprinting; for starters, he had more control over his moments. Second, it didn't matter.

Unlike skating, where he wanted to prove his innate ability, the sport of running meant nothing to him, so it didn't matter if he goofed off with Miyo.

Vin raised his feet, then stomped the ground, which exploded in a black blaze. A dark proactive gust expelled outward from the impact and drove the other students back.

With his legs ablaze, every step he took was propelled by the fire. A cooperative effort made by himself and Miyo. It wasn't often that they were able to collaborate like that, and Vin could feel the phoenix's enthusiasm for being utilized to such a degree.

He could sprint around the immediate area just as fast as the dedicated runners, lightly dancing around them in frolic as they attempted to catch him.

The affair became less fun in games as the Sharks began to feel outmaneuvered. It would be a disgrace to their name to be bested by a skater, so more of them called upon their abilities.

The first was sourced from underneath a student and spread across the ground, turning it into glass. That alone didn't hinder Vin, but upon the summon of a transparent, mirror-like gnome, the glass began to shift and contort. Said pointy-hatted creature waved their hands about to manipulate the glass, making walls and shaping it into spears that rocketed up from the floor.

A glass edge slashed Vin's leg, which hardly hurt while coated in fire, but it riled Miyo. Without notice, the Pheonix used its unknown powers to send a command to the otherworld.

The ground turned black, and the long-neck, spiked creature jolted from the earth and chomped down on the tiny gnome that controlled the glass. Upon its loss, the slippery, transparent floor became still underneath Vin's feet. He wanted to communicate with Miyo, but another student blurted something before he could. A massive glass whale launched from the glass plane like water and swallowed the giraffe whole on the way up.

As lengthy as three transport busses, the creature ascended into the sky. Whales were known to jump between 10 and 15 feet from the water, but this one lept twice as high before reaching its max altitude. From its location, many uninvolved students noticed and marveled at the transparent mammal that refracted light in various directions.

As it began its descent, a more extensive void pool obscured the floor beneath it. Then, a colossal, armored head outstretched and unlocked its fanged jaws before crunching down on the whale in one vicious instant.

Glass exploded once crushed and scattered from the demon's mouth before showering onto the area like crystal rain. More than that, the Shark's resolve fell to their toes.

Total silence encompassed the region as those in attendance wondered what had happened and what that giant was.

Phones were a godsend at that university. Aside from dilly conversations, students created large chatrooms to share information. One was a scale list for the largest summons seen in events. That whale was ranked 4th, so concerns rose when it was so quickly devoured by an undocumented monster.

Heads turned in search of the second and third ally that arrived to help Vin, but they found no one. Nevertheless, they wouldn't indulge or even fathom the idea of one person controlling two completely unrelated summons.

Onyx's head stood tall enough that Elaine saw it from her location and rushed over to observe it. With her was the queen, who had waited impatiently for her allies to capture Vin for questioning. Not only was he still free, but the nearby students were heavy-breathed and nowhere near him.

She looked resentful. She was less than her festive self now that she'd lost one of her mini, fluttering mates. Melancholy, and brief, she eyed Vin and asked, "why are you doing this."

He'd forgotten. All he recollected was that he followed the girl in a wheelchair and ended up pissing people off. Elaine looked like she wanted to speak up and admit that she accidentally dropped the blue-winged creature when kicking Vin. But, better a stranger to take the fall than yourself.

When unresponded, the queen squinted and began undoing the blue ribbon on her shirt. Some tried to disengage her, bidding another opportunity to catch Vin themselves. However, they already had their chance, and she had relinquished what little patience she had.

From there, the situation blew even more out of proportion. The whale, and the massive, horned head attracted nearby students' attention, some of whom were Dragons enrolled in the parkour course. Their intention seemed less to help Vin, who was outnumbered but to fulfill their own agendas.

As they aligned themselves at Vin's flanks, like soldiers preparing to march, one of them collected his attention. "You're Gavin, right? I used to watch your dad growing up."

"So what," Vin thought. It had nothing to do with his current circumstance, so why state it? Another chimed in, only to fan Vin's annoyance more. "First the Lion king of skate, now the Shark queen of sprint; you really are his son!"

The student's face flared, and their hands jittered with excitement. They nudged an indifferent girl next to them before continuing their rant, "remember when Gavin joined the league? He also challenged two high-rankers back to back and won both races!"

The female, clearly a devoted runner, had no clue about the pro world of skating. Why would she? They would have idolized other adults in the same field of parkour, not Vin's father. She shoved the ranter while reminding them why they were there.

To fight.

By then, most of the students in blue were regrouped and preparing for an assault from the Dragons. Amidst the middle of it, Vin sighed and scanned the area for his discarded pants. Instead, yards away, he met eyes with Elaine, backed by her friends and preparing for war. It was just a glance at first but soon became a lengthy stare as he surveyed her armored legs. He remembered that her state was only temporary thanks to technology, and she'd eventually return to her wheelchair. That was her future, which Vin dreaded for himself when he awoke from his coma. It was scary to think that he'd almost ended up in her shoes, but also encouraging to see her fight despite life's misfortune.

She returned his gaze with a muted and apologetic expression. Vin had no clue why she wore that face, but he readily assumed he did something to sadden her. He wouldn't be around to find out how. No, he became uncomfortable among the crowd of strangers who so casually addressed him by his full name as if they were chums. As if they were supposed to join hands, sing kumbaya and ride into battle together.

He oozed 'Fuck off' energy at that point. He'd been used once already; it wouldn't happen again. Before Vin turned his back to everything, he opened his palm toward Elaine, and the black butterfly landed. He mouthed the word "sorry," to which her brows dug in guilt.

Vin squeezed his flaming thigh, observed hers once more, then added, "Good luck." The road of an athlete would be tough for her, but Vin found comfort in knowing she was surrounded by friends and wouldn't face the world alone as he did.

No, that's not entirely true. Vin was never truly alone. He had his companion, his brother, summon, family, whatever; the term used didn't matter. Their name was Miyo, and they backed him wherever he went.

Vin snuck off from the army and searched for his, far too expensive to forget, pants. He discovered them, dusted them off, then cleared out of the soon-to-be battlefield.