“Hummm, mmmhm, humm.”

Jun’s sing song hums echoed outward from the room.

Ciena’s eyes lit up in excitement as a small blush colored her cheeks. She stood there anxiously with bated breath, lost in her thoughts.

He’s beyond this door. He’s calling me, singing to me. Ahh, this is the feeling. I can’t get rid of this feeling.

She took a deep breath and adjusted her posture.

After a couple swift knocks, Ciena opened the door. The soft hums of song halted, allowing the ambience of rushing water to spill forth.

“Ah? Is that you Bennon? Oh, right. I forgot my clothes. Could you leave them on the bench? I’ll be just a minute.”

Ciena stood there in silence, basking in the thrill of the moment.

Her heart pounded and her mind went blank. Although there was a hazy screen separating them, she could still see the outline of his figure on the other side.

No, I mustn’t dawdle. Yes, yes, more importantly we must get him set up for PSI World. It’s a big moment for him. Mm, yes.

She shook her head of unnecessary thoughts and gently laid his folded clothes on the bench before excusing herself.

The door to the washroom clicked shut behind her, leaving Jun to finish his shower.

So that was Ciena. If it was Bennon then he would have said something.

Jun thought to himself as he focused on scrubbing the sweat away.

There were many types of cleansing formations that one could enter for a quick cleaning. However, there was something pleasing about basking within a stream of hot water. It was a sensation that simply couldn’t be replaced by a mere formation.

It wasn’t much longer before he reappeared in the center stadium. His hair was still damp and a white cloth was draped around his neck. He wore a set of black pajamas that were lined with a deep red.

“You look excellent as always boss.”

Bennon spoke up as he noticed Jun enter the training area.

This wasn’t the first time Jun wore these style of pajamas around him. There were many occasions that Jun would spend the night in one of the private rooms of the club.

“Yes, yes. I take it the private rooms have been reconfigured? Ciena, come lead the way.”

Jun spoke offhandedly while making his way toward a circular platform that would take him to the upper floors. The formation that powered this platform only had one function, which was to move up and down.

“Yes young master, rooms one through eight have been reconfigured entirely. We decided to expand each room, so now there are four larger rooms instead of the original eight. The plan is to repeat this process for all the private rooms in the club. It is to be done by the end of the month since it isn’t high on our priority list.”

Jun nodded as he and Ciena walked onto the platform, leaving Bennon to continue cleaning up the training area. Without a word, the platform immediately shot into the air, taking them to the highest floor.

“Good. I wanted to give you guys each a room should you want to have a safe environment to enter PSI World as well. I know the nature of this place has changed greatly, so you won’t have a lot of your former duties. All I want is for you two to live your lives to the fullest.”

He spoke as they made their way towards room one.

“I’ll try to be here for training during the same time. Other than that, I’ll be spending most of my time in PSI World. There are some things I need to accomplish, and unfortunately I don’t have much time to do so. While I’m busy in PSI World, you guys are free to do as you please. Inform this to Bennon as well the next you see him.”

He opened the door to his private room.

Inside he found a luxurious bed that was illuminated by the gentle lighting along the walls. The room was minimalistic at a glance, but that was just the way he wanted it.

“It looks great…”

He muttered with a smile before making his way onto the bed.

“Young master, I believe you’ll need this.”

Ciena held out a small circular device that had numerous markings etched into it. This was a device that people commonly used to connect to the World System, and simultaneously to PSI World.

“Thoughtful of you, but no need. This mask of mine isn’t entirely useless you know?”

He picked up his black mask that had been placed on one of his pillows. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“Ah, why was I born into such a tedious life. I just wanted to live carefree and not deal with such annoying issues.”

He mumbled to himself before lying back onto the bed.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Young master?”

Ciena raised an eyebrow as she heard this.

“Nothing my dear, I’ll be going now. It’s time to see what this tutorial is all about.”

Before Ciena could speak another word, a light blossomed out from the mask, encasing Jun’s body within. A small moment passed by before the light withdrew, leaving behind a still body that was only lightly breathing.

“It seems he’s finally entered PSI World.”

Ciena whispered to herself as she walked up close to the body. She found herself gazing at Jun’s angular face, inspecting his features one by one as if she were imprinting them into her heart.

She reached out with a hand and lightly traced a finger along his cheek to his lower lip. Afterward she withdrew her hand and took a step back.

Her eyes grew deathly cold the next instant and she reached for the panel along the wall. The lighting in the room dimmed, and the sound of music soon played throughout the entire building.

The airy and melodic sound of flutes soon echoed throughout the halls as Ciena revealed a dagger in her other hand.

“I hope I have the strength to survive this…”

She changed another setting on the panel, causing the entire building to rhythmically flash strobe lights with the sound of the flutes.

One moment her surroundings would be lit as brightly as the sun, only for them to be cloaked in darkness the very next second.

She stole one last glance towards Jun before silently closing the door behind her. She took a deep breath before revealing a second dagger in her other hand.

----------------------------------------

Bennon stood staunchly at the center of the arena.

This was a circular area that was designed for sparring, but he knew that what would come next was anything other than a friendly bout.

From head to toe, he was covered in a silver metallic material. A massive greatsword rotated vertically in the air beside him. With his arm, he cradled a fierce looking helmet that seemed to compliment the spikes of his body armor.

Lights flashed on and off to the beat of the music as the flutes slowly raised to a crescendo. He couldn’t hear her footsteps, but he could feel her presence before she was visible.

The two daggers glinted dangerously as Ciena held them to her sides and angled them outward. She took measured steps towards her adversary in the center of the arena, while the lights made it seem as if she were teleporting forward in small distances.

From her frosty expression to her lethal appearance, Ciena looked like an icy reaper of souls that had come to harvest his life.

She came to a stop a moderate distance away from Bennon, analyzing her opponent. It was clear that he was doing the same during this brief moment of silence.

“The young master wanted to inform you that we’re free to do as we please while he is in PSI World. He’ll be back for training during the same hours.”

“I see…”

Ciena slightly shifted her weight and adopted a fighting stance.

“Now that I have accomplished my task, who are you?”

Bennon simply fitted the helmet over his head and grasped the greatsword beside him.

His eyes took on a red hue from within the depths of the silver plating. A deep and controlled voice rumbled forth. It was the sound of unbridled wrath and thunder.

“I should be asking the same. It appears our knowledge around training gave each other away, or was it before then?”

He equally adopted a stance. It was unavoidable at this point.

No matter how well they had gotten along previously, the unknown entity before them was a critical oversight they had made. It was best to eradicate such unknown variables before they could cause unforeseen issues.

“It appears so…”

The lights flashed bright and then darkness followed. The next time the lights flashed, she was gone.

Ching!

Bennon’s sword parried a blow to his left, it was clear she was trained to fight within the darkness. However, his many years of experience had honed his senses to not rely on eyesight alone.

The air split apart as he single-handedly cleaved his sword to the right, only to be met with fierce resistance. She blocked his strike, but so far they had only been testing the waters.

A surreal amount of pressure radiated outward from the both of them as they took command of the ample amount of mana coursing through their bodies.

The next moment, Ciena’s pressure disappeared entirely, as well as her presence.

“This will be troublesome…”

Bennon grumbled as he gripped his greatsword with two hands. He then ferociously chopped down faster than the eye could follow.

Ching!

Clack!

Sparks flew in the darkness with each successful parry, while in the light he was met with the view of Ciena’s afterimages.

She’s fast.

He’s strong.

They both had simple evaluations of each other as their fight soon shifted into a higher gear.

Their dance of death continued with stabs, slices, and slashes.

Ciena gained speed as she weaved about through the darkness and forced Bennon to continue parrying her flurry of strikes. Every now and then she would duck or sidestep a powerful strike from his greatsword.

Her eyes glinted dangerously as she made a feint in one direction, only to follow up with a sinister strike from a natural blind spot.

She missed, and for the first time in years, Bennon was fortunate enough to survive a near death experience.

At the same time, this was the first time Bennon was required to move from his initial spot during their exchange.

They both came to a brief stop as the music entered a quiet lull, like the calm before a storm.

“I’m surprised you survived that.”

“Yes, I’m surprised I survived that too. It seems that’s enough child’s play. How about you come at me seriously now?”

Bennon’s taunt only instigated a light smirk from Ciena. She paced to the left and disappeared after the next flash of light ended.

Bennon took a deep breath and his eyes blazed a fiery red once more. Simultaneously the melody of flutes resumed, reaching a fever pitch.

Both bodies blurred as they clashed their weapons together in different sections of the arena. Eventually, after multiple rounds of life-threatening attacks, they decided it was time to up the ante.

I’ll need to create an opening to bait her in.

If I have to sacrifice to kill him, then so be it.

Ciena came in close with one dagger, while Bennon parried it away with a wide stroke.

Now!

They simultaneous thought to themselves as they closed in for the kill on each other.

Bennon’s massive and spiked fist careened through the air towards Ciena’s head, while Ciena’s second dagger snaked its way toward Bennon’s vulnerable neck.

“Stop!!”

“Halt!!”

Two familiar and powerful voices flooded the arena, causing the adversaries to come to a screeching halt.

Bennon’s fist froze mid-air, causing an immense amount of wind pressure to flutter Ciena’s light-blue hair. At the same time, Ciena’s dagger stopped dangerously close to Bennon’s throat.

Their hearts were pounding as the thrill of death gushed adrenaline into their systems.

At the same time, three cloaked men made their way into center arena, creating a triangle around the two combatants.

Two of the cloaked men revealed themselves, causing Bennon and Ciena to take a step away from each other.

“Elder Sugo.”

“Commander Sahves.”

They both stepped towards their respective leader. Bennon saluted Sahves, while Ciena gave a small bow of respect.

“It’s fortunate that we came in time, however we have a new task for you.”

Lucius Sugo’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light as he spoke up.

“It’s as Elder Sugo says. You two will be working together for this.”

Ciena’s ear twitched as she heard this, but she still looked towards Lucius for confirmation. After all, her loyalty didn’t lie with Commander Sahves.

“Ciena, you’ll be working with that man there. As for your new mission…”

Sahves and Lucius glanced at each other before announcing out loud together.

“We’ll need you two to assassinate that boy.”