Cixi looked at Akiza with a worried look. "What's wrong Master?" asked Akiza.

"You need to get stronger much faster," said Cixi.

"Why?" asked Akiza.

"With the other schools sending their Emperor Stage people over, you need to be at the same level as them," said Cixi.

"But I haven't even gotten control over my elements yet," said Akiza.

"Which is why I'm going to train you first," said Cixi. "We're going outside of Labyrinthos for a while to do this, but don't worry, we'll be back soon."

"Alright," said Akiza. "I trust you."

Cixi led Akiza outside of the city of Labyrinthos, back to the road where they walked into the city from. They headed to the nearby trees. "Alright, give me a second," said Cixi.

Cixi walked around looking for something. She picked up a medium sized rock and put it in front of Akiza. "Focus your Internal Energy on this rock and try to remember the feeling as your flames take on the shape of it," said Cixi.

Akiza focused on the rock, but the rock turned orange. It was getting hot. The flames were spreading from the outside to the inside of it. "Ow!" shouted Akiza as she let go of the rock.

"Remember, only the outside," said Cixi.

"Alright," said Akiza as she tried again.

Meanwhile, Cixi gathered some other objects. One of them was a stick. There were a few blades of grass and leaves as well. "When you can form just a flame around the rock, we will move on to the next step," said Cixi.

Akiza tried it several times. She screamed a little each time she burnt her hand with the rock. "I can't do it," said Akiza.

"Yes you can," said Cixi. "You're trying to do things too fast."

"But you said I have to do this first before anything else," said Akiza. "I have to hurry before the others beat me to whatever I'm looking for in the Labyrinth."

"Relax," said Cixi. "Fire is more than just a burning desire. It is also the warmth of life and the warmth of love. When you try to hold on to something too much, it hurts you too."

That was something difficult for Akiza to understand. She lost her parents at a young age. The only thing even close to a family was Serph, who was kind of like the older brother she never had. Akira was sort of like a father figure, but he could not offer much by himself.

Akiza tried something else, she tried to remember the exact moment when she was able to focus her flames into a single beam. It was at that moment that she was driven to do something. She was driven to help and to protect Cixi, who was losing ground against the Lich. Her anger and rage was what limited her abilities. She thought about all the times she helped and protected Serph. The feelings that she had at those times. It was driven by her goal of wanting to help someone rather than the goal being to hurt an enemy.

Akiza focused, trying to let go of her desire to become stronger for herself. It was not easy. She wanted to be stronger in order to protect herself. She wanted to be stronger to be able to help Cixi. The problem was that it was always focused on herself rather than her goal. Day after day, she practiced. Until eventually, she was able to do it. Flames around a rock without heating the rock itself. The orange flames wrapped around the rock, but would disappear the moment Akiza let go of the rock. "I did it," said Akiza.

"You need to be able to do that consistently," said Cixi. "Can you do it ten times in a row?"

Akiza tried it. Doing it once was not too hard, but doing it consistently was much different. The early Stages were all about increasing your power. The later Stages were all about controlling it. Akiza's attacks often focused on delivering the maximum amount of power in a single attack and even her personality was like that, so maintaining control was what was difficult. Release too much power and you burn everything you touch.

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Three out of ten times. Four out of then times. Three out of ten times. Five out of ten times. Six out of ten times. Eight out of ten times. Six out of ten times. There was gradual progress, but it took numerous attempts. Eventually, Akiza was able to do it. "Ten out of ten times!" shouted Akiza.

"Now, recreate that feeling without the use of the rock," said Cixi.

Akiza focused and did as told. In the palm of her hand emerged a small ball of fire.

"Throw it somewhere," said Cixi.

Akiza threw the ball of fire into the distance. BOOM. There was an explosion that left a small black patch of ground. "I did it," said Akiza. "That's a fireball."

"That's correct," said Cixi. "Now you must learn the other basic forms."

Cixi handed Akiza the stick. "Same thing as before," said Cixi. "Focus your flames on the area around the stick. Start small and work your way up. If there's smoke, your flames are too hot."

Akiza tried to focus on the stick. The first thing that happened was that the tip of the stick began to glow orange and white smoke came out. In other words, it was too hot. She had to tone down the flames so that it would not burn everything. Only after understanding how much heat the object she was using could take did she understand that she had to lower the power output in exchange for the weapon. Using brute force with flames to enhance a weapon could soften and make your weapon bend or break. After going through several sticks, Akiza finally found the special spot where it was possible to create a light flame around the stick without making anything burn.

This was the basis for the Lord Stage techniques of being able to give shape to an elemental. With this, she was able to figure out how to make spears and lances out of flames. "Why did you not teach me this earlier Master?" asked Akiza.

"You're supposed to discover these techniques on your own as a way to develop your character," said Cixi. "But circumstanes have changed. With the other schools roaming around Labyrinth, it's no longer safe for you unless you become stronger."

In other words, Akiza was now the one holding them back. Cixi needed to protect Akiza, but she is still only oner person at the Emperor Stage. There was no way that Akiza could fight an Emperor Stage. After all, there was such a large gap in development.

The third was to be able to affect a small area, simulated by the effect of being able to burn only the stem of a leaf and having it spread outwards to the other areas. No matter how hard Akiza tried though, she failed. It would always burn up the whole leaf too quickly. "I can't do it master," said Akiza.

"This is the hardest one," said Cixi. "That's because you need a fairly strong flame to start it, but you need to be able to control the strong flame, which is very difficult."

Akiza continued to try, but the same thing happened every time. The stem would light up orange, then in an instant, the whole leaf would be set on fire. Her flames were simply too strong.

But, with this, Akiza was now able to shape her flames into at least fireballs or lances. The fireballs had a bit of explosive power. If she could use it at close range with her flames, it could increase the explosive power of her Rising Phoenix Strike. The pointed shape could make her arm like a spear with penetrating power that could rip through someone's Domain as well. Without a Domain of her own though, Akiza did not have the defensive abilities to match someone at the Emperor Stage. As long as she could avoid the attacks and use her speed to her advantage, it would not be a problem though. After all, she had wings and could fly while others could not. But more than anything, Akiza wanted to be at the Emperor Stage so that she could have her own Domain and not hold Cixi back.