Unconsciously, both Key and Kiznaq were carried out of the simulator room by Mr. Kashner, the mentor of Kiznaq's squad. Mina and Dior came to transport Kiznaq to the couch, whereas Ramiron single-handedly took Key to their space.

Mr. Kashner wore a long black reefer jacket and a fedora hat with a deep blue ski mask, almost as dark as the jacket. Normally, he would not be the only mentor handling this, yet Dowii had to take care of the new kid, so he had to look after both squads by himself.

"I'm quite surprised with Key's victory." Kashner leaned beside the door to the simulator room. His voice was a bit sharper and hoarser than average.

"Ugh, it's literally luck! He would've lost if the net thing flew a bit slower," Dior argued as he slumped on the lounge chair.

"Just shut up. You know Key planned every step out. He outsmarted Kiznaq by a large margin," Glacia said, her mouth pouting.

"D'at's also drue," Mina DoLock easily concurred. Her accent was as thick as her unconscious brother.

"Key Rayth works much harder than any of us here." Ramiron stood beside her long couch since Key needed to rest on it. She propped her arm on the seatback. "That's why I believed in him from the start!" Her own last sentence had her seriousness vanish in laughter.

"No, you were saying he didn't stand a chance." Glacia turned toward Ramiron.

"Hiroku said it. I just explained his thoughts."

Hiroku sighed and said, "He did surprise me."

Upon hearing it, Mina looked over her seatback and yelled, "Should've drusded your deammade more."

"Alright, kids, up for the next match?" Kashner checked his watch and stopped leaning against the wall.

"Mina, we need to avenge our bro," Dior jumped up from his lounge chair, swinging his arms.

"Yes."

"Alright." Glacia took a deep breath and left Hiroku's ponytail alone.

"Okay." Kashner clapped his gloved hands. "Next match. Dior Nessuno and Mina DoLock V.S. Glacia Quakeheart."

The simulation quickly appeared on the five screens. Kashner was in the simulator room, so only three people were awake in the lounge. The simulation for the current match was a market mall different from the cylinder one. This one was rectangular and included a vast, fully-filled parking lot.

Glacia was spawned in the parking lot, wearing her usual tube top and flare jeans.

Dior and Mina were put on the other side of the simulation, behind the back door of the market mall. Mina was in her casual white pullover, leather jacket, and long black skirt, with an extra layer of pink gothic makeup on her face.

She forgot to put it on this morning, yet it was still added to her face in the simulation since it was part of her image stored in the system.

Dior, on the other hand, was clothless and formless. His whole existence became a tense cluster of black smoke, which took a bit more space than Dior in his human form. The plume of dark particles only faintly formed the silhouette of feet to stand on the asphalt ground.

"Let's do this." The husky voice came vaguely and strenuously from the smoke. The pitch was low, and the volume was lower.

Before Mina could answer, the vibrating floor knocked her to the ground. She fell on her own golden hair. Her instinct had her grabbing the ground as the rectangular mall swayed back and forth. Mina shut her eyes spontaneously. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" she mumbled with unaccented, perfectly-pronounced swear words.

"It's worse than last time," Dior shoved the sentence out of himself and jumped up from the ground, his feet vanishing. His plume of a body flew freely in the air, unaffected by the trembling world. Watching the entire simulation with every particle of him capable of seeing, he spotted Glacia immediately. However, Glacia also saw him.

Gold light glowed from Glacia's eyes, covering her entire eyeball. Beneath them were two golden tattoos. Each was a shallow sine wave extended to below the pterions(temples), glowing brighter than the eyes. She stared at him, knee crouching and transporting her power into the ground with her two palms.

A rough silhouette of two hands extended from the smoke, the heels of his palms touching. Faint particles with violet glimmering emerged and vanished before his hands. Then, a gush of violet laser beam burst out before his palms from the thin air. The rushing beam hit Glacia right in the face.

The quaking stopped. The sudden change in pattern had the inertia busting the giant mall.

The foundation was torn up from the ground. The building's already crumbling structure fell directly on Mina. The roof edge of the mall actually smacked on the simulation's invisible wall first. Yet, the rest of the mall just broke from the center, like a hanging pig being lacerated from the belly, organs dropping to the ground.

"Mina!" Dior shouted and paused his attack. Not a word came in response from the ruin of the mall.

"The wind girl down. Last one left," Glacia said to herself. She walked toward Dior, intact. Not a single scrape was done on her body.

Glacia Quakeheart had the power to make things quake, but she could not use it both for offense and defense simultaneously. She had to use it on her own body to nullify Dior's attack, so she let the inertia of the swaying mall do her the favor of taking down Mina DoLock.

"That's a quick one," Ramiron commented, quietly smirking, not to mock the two kids from the other squad, but in contrast to Key and Kiznaq's fight.

Hiroku nodded, attentively watching Glacia's match despite its obvious result and boring execution.

Suddenly, Kirane Kayama stood up from the couch. "Well, then, I guess I'll have to be the only one winning in my squad."

Kirane was the only one in his squad who was not wearing black. His full kimono set contained a white nagagi(inner robe), lemon-colored hakama(additional skirt), and light blue haori(outer coat). The embroidery of a golden wyrm(a snake-like dragon with no feet) was sewed to both sides of his haori, running vertically from the hem to his shoulders. Behind, a golden, roaring phoenix was sewed to the back of the haori.

Unlike his cousin with two ponytails, Kirane's dyed-white hair ran down his shoulder naturally, just like every other master of Tribe Kayama. He gazed at Hiroku, who was totally neglecting him. Kirane could only see his seatback and disheveled ponytail. He conspicuously clicked his tongue.

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"I actually think we will be the one winning this time, Kayama," Ramiron confidently said.

"We will see, Veilora. Can you carry my cousin to victory? I doubt," Kirane replied harshly.

While the two were trash-talking, Hiroku was focusing on Glacia's performance. She had just shot down Dior by launching the debris into the sky. She still could not aim well. However, she overcame this minor obstacle by throwing a volley into the sky.

"It's done," Hiroku said.

"Aye?" Ramiron confusedly responded. She paid no attention to the screens.

"The match is over," Hiroku explained. After Glacia strode out of the simulator room with satisfaction and pride, Hiroku told her the volley was nice. The compliment put a thin blush on her cheeks.

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The simulation for the next match was set across four city blocks with tall office buildings and taller condos. The silence of the commonly crowded scene added to the somberness of the dark gray sky. Not a piece of blueness could peek through the heavy clouds.

All three participants had no equipment whatsoever. The team of two spawned in the Northeast corner of the cubic simulation. Across the map, Kirane Kayama was alone in the Southwest corner.

"Plan?" Hiroku asked, appraising the surroundings.

"I kick his ass, and you watch," Ramiron replied. Her voice was as playful as usual, but its assertion was non-neglectable.

"Hm?"

Ramiron vanished without answering. Sweeping the shining dust in the air, Hiroku looked around and found Ramiron teleported to the edge of the closest building's rooftop.

Hiroku sighed and said, "Whatever." He launched his lavender spheres and attracted himself upward. With seven different spheres, Hiroku climbed to the top, which Ramiron had already left. Sighing again, he went across the roof and stood by the edge to watch over the simulation.

Although both his views of the ground and other rooftops were severely limited by other not-much-shorter buildings and even taller buildings, Hiroku stood there since he had nothing better to do.

For a dozen or so seconds, Hiroku heard nothing but his own breathing. The fake loneliness of his position calmed Hiroku down a little.

Then, there was an explosion. It happened afar, behind enough buildings that Hiroku could only see the rising smoke.

Hiroku immediately sent a lavender sphere horizontally into the air. He quickly darted at it. Before arriving, he threw a new one and canceled the old one. His motion was as seamless as if he could actually fly.

When he finally crossed the condo that blocked his vision, he saw two facing buildings, both with a giant dent, and spotted the two participants fighting on the street in between.

Ramiron emerged before Kirane, her right foot already jabbing. The kick teleported right onto Kirane's chest, knocking him at least five meters away.

Hiroku pinned himself in the air with his ability and threw a strand of lightning at Kirane, who was lying on the ground.

Surprisingly, Ramiron teleported forward, taking the attack for Kirane. The back of her sea green polo was burnt black, adhering to her skin. "Didn't I tell you to watch?" Ramiron shouted, not even glancing at Hiroku.

Right after the last syllable of Ramiron's words, Kirane vanished. A circle of ten white swords appeared around Ramiron. The closest one was only several centimeters away.

They charged at her.

The Teleporting Attack.

Kirane was using Ramiron's trick against her but at a much more fatal level.

"Tssssssss."

Suddenly, all ten swords were gone. In replacement were ten clumps of dense, glowing particles spreading, floating, and fading in the air. While Ramiron was laughing wildly at her effortless work, Hiroku realized what just happened.

Ramiron's power source is Lumarion from the Teratiak star signs. It holds the power of stardust, the intermediate between substance and energy. By decomposing herself into stardust and reforming at a different location, Ramiron could teleport in a certain radius as long as she could see her destination. This method of teleportation used to be her only application of Lumarion's power…

She must have decomposed those swords into stardust. This power is unbelievable. If she can activate it so thoroughly with the attack almost touching her, there will be no way to harm her in any meaningful way. Kirane must have realized it, too.

"Nice trick, Veilora. Let's see if it stands against the magic of Kayama." The sentence was carried to both Hiroku and Ramiron's ears by a breeze of no origin. This was one of Kirane's magic. He would often hide himself and let the wind carry his messages for him.

"Let's find out," Ramiron replied, putting her hands on her waist.

A dark fume slowly appeared a dozen or so meters above Ramiron. It began as a small plume of fume. Then, it grew bigger and bigger until it was of a cloud's size.

Killing Cloud, one of the magic tricks preserved by the one main branch of Kayama. It is said to be able to tear anything within it into pieces. Not even the hardest metal in the world could stand its force. Is Ramiron really going to take this attack?

The cloud of fume descended onto Ramiron, completely devouring her.

Seconds later, it was turned into a giant cluster of stardust. However, in the cluster, Kirane stood within. He punched Ramiron in the stomach the moment "Killing Cloud" was dissolved. His fist was glowing a dazzling white light.

For a moment, Ramiron, impressed, could not use her ability, and Kirane was just standing there, holding his fist against Ramiron's midriff.

"Meteor Punch," Kirane said. An explosion followed.

The white light temporarily blinded Hiroku, and the shockwave destroyed the lavender sphere.

By launching a sphere to the ground, Hiroku barely survived the fall. His hairbands had fallen off at some point, leaving his messy hair covering his face.

He got back on his feet as he tucked his hair behind his ears. The smoke was gradually fading. Kirane's single-armed silhouette became clear. He only had his right arm since the left one was expended to perform "Meteor Punch."

"Just like I guessed, Veilora's decomposing ability can not function on creatures with souls. Now, it's just you, my disappointing cousin. You would stand a chance if you knew our family's magic. Or am I expecting too much from a side branch?" Kirane extended his remaining arm at Hiroku.

Hiroku could see the silhouette of the giant wyrm crawling out of the void behind Kirane. The wyrm rested a second on the caster's left and then went before him, raising and turning its head at the caster's right. It rounded Kirane circle after circle like chasing its own tail. Eventually, the smoke fully faded, and the golden dragon held its head above Kirane's, glaring at Hiroku Kayama, the side branch of the tribe.

"Have you given up already, my cousin?"

"..." Hiroku stayed silent for a second and sighed.

He could just give up here. He did not want to fight the spoiled brat, anyway. Yet, there was a burning guilt in him. He would feel guilty if he did not fight to the end. He would feel guilty if he did not struggle until pulling his final trick. He thought of what Key Rayth did, and he felt guiltier.

His fists clenched, violet light glowing through the finger gaps.

Then, he thought of what Glacia said, so he let go. "Ram told me not to mess with her duel."

With a blood pit in her stomach, Ramiron emerged behind Kirane. Her right hand was on his jaw, and her left hand was on the back of his head.

"Goodbye." Ramiron pulled her hands to the sides, rotating Kirane's head 180 degrees.

There, the match ended. Dowii's squad thoroughly defeated Kashner's squad with a perfect three to zero.

Before they exited the simulator room, Ramiron asked, "How did you know I was still hanging in the simulation?"

"Glacia told me to trust my teammates, so I did just that," Hiroku reluctantly said and quickly added, "also, I don't want to fight that brat."

"Aye! I'll make sure to tell Glacia all about it!"

"No, you don't. She's going to act crazy. Just tell them I don't want to fight Kirane. That's enough." Hiroku got visibly nervous.

"Hee hee hee hee." Kashner giggled from behind.

Hiroku grunted in response.

"Alright, alright. I won't tell her how much you cherish her advice, ha ha ha ha ha."