Frederick sweat from his brow. He knew he could not outmatch his friend, who had an early Prinstyct Awakening. Perhaps if he used all his efforts to catch up while forgoing his other areas, his Prinstyct might be equal, but that was not the case.

His green Ein burst out as a 'Gust Blade' coated his swords.

Oscar stepped in and swung his bulwark with the force of Reis and Ein. The Reis flowed cleanly through the bulwark, thanks to Aunt Rosett's Reis forging. His Prinstyct clashed against Frederick's as they sought to out-predict the other.

However, his face formed a scowl as Frederick moved into a tighter stance. His buckler and Frederick's swords clashed, but like slippery snakes, his swords and body swayed, slipping past Oscar's bulwark. Oscar had already seen this with his Prinstyct and pulled his bulwark back easily because his previous blow was half-hearted.

Oscar tried to stop Frederick from the back with his deer anima, but the hawk anima swooped in with its wings. Oscar sidestepped the hawk anima while Frederick ducked the antlers. But their main focus was on each other.

An unusual exchange occurred between Oscar and Frederick. Frederick continued to move flexibly, slipping by Oscar's blows, only to be stopped by Oscar's quick recovery. Oscar continued to make half-hearted attacks so he could move to stop Frederick's counters.

Oscar cursed as cuts appeared on his face and arms. The continual struggle with Frederick had exposed him to Frederick's sharp winds that continued to fly out as sparks do between metals colliding as Frederick's blades swiped by his bulwark. Blood seeped out of these cuts as more and more winds harmed him.

Using 'Silver Sheen' would be detrimental for his body stilled from its every use, an opening that would allow Frederick to move more freely.

This was Frederick's scheme. Oscar could not put out his full force because of Frederick's sneaky way of combat, and Frederick could not go full force with his blades unless Oscar put his all in one strike, which would leave him open. Although Oscar was more evolved in Prinstyct, Frederick deflected Oscar's attacks at the last moment before Oscar could unleash his Reis.

But Frederick wasn't in ideal shape either, as Oscar noticed his arms trembling. Even though it was a series of slight contacts, his bulwark rattled Frederick's arms.

'He's not using any other spells, so there are no Ein movements to predict. He's moving his body with minimal movements. Nice one, Frederick. You already worked out a strategy against the Prinstyct. But that is enough. I still see better.' Oscar stomped ahead. He stopped his punch right before Frederick could slip by and readjusted to attack elsewhere. His attacks had adjusted to Frederick's sweeping blades, stopping them a moment before they could move freely.

Soon, he had Frederick on the backfoot. Seeing Frederick's movements a step early was enough. His victory over Celestina in close combat was because she had overextended, but Oscar would not make that mistake.

Unable to slip by any longer, Frederick commanded his hawk anima to continue its swooping tactics, but Oscar met it with his deer anima. Sparks of blue and green spread in the vicinity around them from the animas' clashing.

"Cough." Oscar spat out some blood as his deer anima suffered minor cuts from the raging winds of the hawk anima. His Grade Four deer anima still had a minor resistance to higher Exolsias, but the difference wasn't so great, so it could keep fighting. Meanwhile, he pressured Frederick to the point of only dodging.

'Gust Steps'

Frederick retreated; his arms were numb and trembling. Thankfully, Oscar did not land a clean blow on him, or else he would be done for. Suddenly Frederick spat out some blood, feeling pain in his core, and his body numbed to the bone.

Looking up, he saw his hawk anima dissipating, obliterated into nothing.

Oscar smiled. His deer anima used its antlers to catch the hawk anima by its wings, entangling it while Frederick was distracted with retreat. Though the winds started to scrape and cut on the surfaces of the antlers, Oscar skewered the hawk anima with his silver lance.

Next, he turned to Frederick. The loss of the hawk anima weakened his friend. Oscar stomped before him and slammed his bulwark on Frederick's chest.

Frederick fell out off the platform, coughing and wheezing from Oscar's heavy blow.

"Winner, Oscar Terr." The proctor announced.

"Well fought, Fred." Oscar held his hand out.

Frederick clutched his chest, feeling his ribs rattling. He cursed and clasped Oscar's hand, allowing himself to be pulled up. "You bastard. I thought I had you for a moment."

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"Maybe if we were on a different battlefield. The platform is too restricting, and there's very little cover. You would do well in hit-and-run tactics while attacking from a distance. Though if you decided to fight with your life on the line like when you were crazy, it would have been different" Oscar patted the dirt off his legs, sighing at his arms full of cuts. "You ruined my arms."

"I'm never going to fight that idiotically again." Frederick patted his chest, feeling the last bouts of pain fading. "But you're right. A platform is too clean."

"Let's head back and rest." Oscar and Frederick retreated to the sidelines and discussed how they could improve.

An hour later, the bells tolled for the second round of the Grand Gathering to begin.

"I'll be going." Oscar stretched his back and lifted his bulwark.

"I'll watch." Frederick had nothing else to do.

Once an elder called Oscar's name, he and Frederick went toward the designated platform. Oscar stepped on while Frederick watched from the side, but their eyes widened in surprise at Oscar's opponent.

"Fred and Oscar. How are you doing?" Her orange hair, tied in a ponytail, whipped around, her orange eyes shined like jewels from glee, and her face had a wide smile of a battle-hungry warrior. She stared at Frederick, who looked away. "You lost against Oscar?"

Oscar's Ein flamed all over him. He chuckled. "Fred was too slippery, and it was annoying to fight him. I'm glad to get you, Emily. Let's have a nice duel."

Emily gripped her grade-two staff, stabbing into the platform with tremendous force that blew away the dust in a fierce wind. She cracked her knuckles with a sharp pair of eyes. "You're a tough opponent with Reis, but I must get revenge for my dear Fred."

"Hear that, Fred? She called you dear." Oscar turned to Fred with a cheeky smile.

"At least I have someone." Fred scoffed and called to Emily. "Yes, my honey, please bash Os's head in."

Emily smiled, twirling her staff around. Fred's words delighted her, and she didn't want to disappoint as her orange Ein burst out in shockwaves, rippling through the air. Her orange staff anima manifested in her hand, and she gripped it together with her armament.

Oscar gripped her bulwark tighter. This display by Emily seemed strange, stacking both staffs together and wielding them as one, but both were thin and fit together in her hand, and her Ein focused and merged well between the two. He admired her efforts to train to reach the Melding stage of Anima Mastery, to combine the anima with a weapon or beast.

Regrettably, Oscar had not made much progress in that area as his anima was a beast, and more complicated to train Meld properly unless he had a deer beast companion. Putting it in a weapon was possible but required more effort.

"Then let's do this." Oscar summoned his deer anima and rode it. "There's no need for us to put on pretenses like Fred. Full frontal assault."

"Agreed." Emily readied herself.

The proctor smiled at how far these students had come, fighting in their ways with their anima. "Begin!"

Oscar bolted atop his deer anima, which sped ahead with its hoofs. But the Ein burned upon its antlers and Oscar's bulwark because he knew what Emily would do.

Emily's legs tensed as she took slow and heavy steps. Each step shook the platform; she was like a moving mountain, slowly encroaching while seeming unmovable.

Oscar swung his buckler with the deer anima's antlers. The resonance between them melded the individual Eins into a strong frontal force.

In response, Emily lifted her two staves and brought them down like a sword. The same resonance shone between them.

The orange and blue Eins collided like two elephants ramming their heads into each other. The Eins blew apart around them, streaming from the point of collision. Their clash cracked like thunder, shaking the platform.

…….

Within the Triton Hold, the main headquarters of the Blue Ocean Pavilion, Remulus Grant entered a large room with a round table. A small moat of water that glimmered as though stars were in it surrounded the table. Remulus floated over the waters and sat on a golden throne.

"It's good to see everyone gathered here." Remulus smiled.

Sitting around the table were all the high figures of the Blue Ocean Pavilion, Vice Pavilion Master John Williams, Great Elder Robert Levitt, Grand Commander Margaret Ward, Director Austell Jones, Forgemaster Rosett Evergold, and Cauldron Lord Isaac Weiss, the lord of the Palace of Whirlpools for alchemy.

"Not everyone, master." Robert opened his eyes, revealing the pair of blue and red on the empty seat.

"You know Draven will not come." Margaret crossed her arms but her face remained indifferent.

"The Warden has been too disrespectful as of late," Isaac grunted. He had a strange pair of glasses with three layers of lenses like a microscope, a black mustache twirled around, and short black hair. His deep clear-sea eyes had a hint of annoyance. "That madman should be stripped of his privileges and chained up with the other prisoners."

SLAM

Rosett slammed the table; veins popped over her forehead. "A damned herb sniffer talks so big."

"So says the lord of pyromaniacs. Still in love with that deranged fool." Isaac murmured.

"What?" Rosett growled.

"Enough!" Remulus raised his voice. "Draven's matter is my own to handle. He does not need to be here. How are preparations?"

"The empire has overdrawn its finances. Any more, and there'd be no pay for anyone." John sighed about the current situation. "But the military academy has shown favorable results, and the borders are being well fortified."

"We still don't know if the other empires have sent their spies in. I did hear alarming news of some infiltrations, but those were squashed. Enemies may be laying in wait until the time comes." Margaret answered. "I did hear the Emerald Hydra Empire had a hand in a recent beast tide that washed over a region of the Scarlet Griffon Empire, but they did not find any evidence."

"It's getting more chaotic. Pretty soon, we may have to close the borders. The merchants know something is happening and have slowly moved their assets around." Robert sighed.

"Leave politics and economy to the emperor. Our focus is Ashen Grove and the treasure within. We must have it no matter what." Remulus coughed. "Speaking of Ashen Grove, I have high expectations for your disciple, Robert."

Robert Levitt laughed. "If my master is willing to gift a boon to him, then I would be satisfied."

"No. Just train the boy well." Remulus sipped his tea, remembering one other grand disciple, Oscar Terr. Would that child be ready for Ashen Grove?