The morning was a beautiful day, with bright rays of sunlight flashing down onto the beach, accompanied by a calming sweep of the ocean's breeze.

The beach was majorly quiet save for the brief, intermittent laughs of joy coming from a young boy sitting on the lap of a beautiful young woman.

She was putting on a simple tight-fitting gown; her legs crossed as she watched the spectacle about to play out.

Her fair skin shone a bright luster under the bright sunlight, and an emerald-thin construct shielded her eyes from the direct rays of the morning sun.

Beside her, on another emerald platform also hovering a few feet off the ground, was a man. He was clothed in a thin fabric of emerald color, shaped like a coat except with an almost transparent feature. Another thin, almost transparent construct shielded his entire body from the morning sunlight as his eyes calmly focused on the show about to play out.

Hovering over the shore water were two men. One, a light-skinned man, almost bordering on golden. His sandy blond hair was tied back into a ponytail and his blue eyes took on a hue similar to the deep ocean. His physical features were shaped in such exquisite beauty that no doubt saw him as the center of attention wherever he went.

And a quirky smile adorned his face as he playfully eyed the other man on the water.

This man, the second one, was a person of a much darker hue. Not dark, dark, just enough not to make him seem like he was radiating sunlight like his counterpart. His facial features were a little bit more subtle compared to the overwhelming beauty of the other man. Same with his physique, with a slim, wiry frame that was all compacted muscles built for both instant agility and massive strength.

His stormy grey eyes calmly locked into those of his neighbor, almost roiling like a storm, if the other man had anything to say about it.

And his grey hair... Such beautiful blend of black and white that stood out under the sun, taking on a characteristic that seemed to reject any modifications from the natural surroundings.

Both men were wearing nothing save for shorts, leaving their upper bodies bare. Their shorts were made of some kind of fabric that looked flimsy to anyone else but were capable of enduring longer than the body of an adept stage essence wielder.

[Good morning, everyone.] Gray appeared in between the two men, both his hands raised into the air in a very exaggerated manner. His voice came again, reaching everyone clearly despite the lack of any shouting or any form of magical amplification. [Today, we're all here to witness the combat duel between Keilan, here,] he gestured at Keilan, and then to the other man. [And Damien.

[This competition, although it is one you all have been dying to see, is unfortunately not a true determination of their strength.

[Today's competition is aimed at training these two on the essence of focus.]

He then turned to both Keilan and Damien, gesturing for both to come together. [For both of you, the rules? It's simple. No essence aid. Meaning, no essence aided techniques. No essence-aided flying. No essence-aided body protection.

[The main reason for this duel is to test your skills on intent. Is that understood?]

They both nodded.

[Good then. Go back to your positions.]

Damien gently jumped back, this time relying only on his physique and not his powers.

Arriving back on his position, instead of hovering over the water like he did before, this time his feet touched down on the water; and instead of sinking, it stayed firmly, like it was on solid ground.

As soon as he accomplished the feat, he took a deep breath. 'That was close. A minute there and I'd have lost before we even began.'

The main obstacle to the duel, of course, was the feat of keeping their will from slipping and dropping them into the water, all the while they battled each other.

Internally, Damien squirmed in nervousness. Sure, he could admit that over the four days since they'd arrived on the island, his non-existent skills in wielding intent had grown past the stage where he'd consider it non-existent. He was strong enough to wipe the floor with anyone who wasn't knowledgeable in its use, sure. But when he eventually met someone with enough strong will to defy him? Well, at least he had the ol' raw power to fall back on. Though he'd rather avoid that.

[Ready?]

Now that he thought about it, as his feet gently slid on the liquid, he realized he liked the feeling of water under his foot.

The feeling of the liquid under his foot had the similarity of stepping on top of those glass tile platforms other people used in their buildings, except this one was less solid and had a truly cool, tickling feeling under his feet.

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[3.]

Damien positioned his spear facing sideways, which gave him the flexibility of either sweeping into a defensive position or delivering an instant slash, depending on how Keilan started out.

[2.]

The spear was made from a simple tree branch, cut down and modified with enough enhancement — courtesy of Gray—to prevent it from an instant shatter at the first collision.

[1]

The sharpened tip had been scavenged from the bones of some dead animal, and also enhanced—again, courtesy of Gray— to last long enough not to shatter at the first touch of their skins.

[0. Go.]

Damien immediately took off, his feet, alongside those of Keilan's, lapping loudly on the ocean water as they quickly approached each other.

His sideways slash, aimed at Keilan's upper torso, was immediately blocked as it met a similar movement from the man.

Foiled, Damien quickly jumped back, giving himself some space. Keilan mirrored the gesture, apparently following the same thinking pattern as he.

Undeterred, Damien came in again, this time with a stab at the groin, which was immediately turned into an upper slash as his brother pushed out his lower area while his upper body leaned forward.

Damien's excitement at claiming first blood was instantly squashed when, In slow motion, his attack was subtly shifted a few inches away from the chin it was supposed to impact, his spear tip harmlessly whistling past Keilan's cheek and then upward into the air.

By the time Damien had brought the spear down again, Keilan had already stepped out of range.

"Hey! Watch where you're stabbing that thing! I still want to have kids someday, you know?!" Keilan glared at him.

In response, Damien simply shrugged. "You do know that these spears are pretty useless, right? They can't even pierce your eyeball!"

"Oh. Oh, so it's my eyeballs you're targeting now, Huh?" Keilan swept his spear In an exaggerated flourish. "Let's see how you feel when I start plucking out all the balls on your body." And then he came at Damien with a shocking speed that left him staggering.

For the next ten minutes, a very long and horrifying one, Damien hurriedly blocked, jumped, dodged, backstepped; and then he repeated the sequence again. Sweat, which should not have been on his face in the first place, began streaming down in droves as he sought ways to get out of this chokehold. His brother came at him like the wind: furious and unrelenting. Whenever Damien attempted a strike of his own, by some unseen influence, his spear trajectory would miraculously shift away from Keilan.

He knew what his brother was doing; Keilan wasn't manipulating the wind with his essence; he was doing it with his mind and his intent, and he was doing it very well. Damien knew that if he didn't find a way to break out of this metaphorical noose his brother was slowly tying around his neck, he'd be under the water in no time.

While he struggled to avoid Keilan's attacks by the skin of his teeth, he desperately scrambled for ideas to get him out of this unfortunate situation, searching for something to put them back on an even footing. That was when it hit him.

No, not the idea. Keilan's spear.

While Damien was in the air, thanks to an uppercut from Keilan's spear shaft, a thought suddenly crept into his mind. What Keilan was doing right now was manipulating the wind, his element. He couldn't summon tornadoes like before, nor could he rain down scything winds, but what he could do was thicken the air around him, thereby setting up a constant shield.

Damien could break through it, sure. He could shatter it at any time, which would put him back in the game. But he knew that an attempt like that would require more focus than he could currently spare, a focus that was devoted to keeping him above water. So he was now caught in a deadlock. Should he release his will from keeping him upright, sacrificing himself, so that he could land a hit through Keilan's shield, or should he find something else?

Well, the choice wasn't hard to decide. Breaking through Keilan's shield wasn't a certain guarantee that he'd win; but it would certainly guarantee his loss should he fall into the water.

And then something else came to him.

Keilan's success at intent-wielding was no doubt due to his adherence to the use of only the wind element. He wasn't controlling any other element aside from the wind, and he also wasn't doing it with his essence well. No, what he was doing was using his will as a paddle to cajole the ambient essence of wind into doing his bidding.

Damien had been trying to emulate him ever since his success, but he'd been constantly failing at every turn. The only reason he was able to stand on the water was because he was using his will to force the water into becoming somewhat solid, which would surely drain him faster than Keilan. Now, he suddenly realized that he hadn't been getting the process wrong, just the tools he'd been using. His element wasn't wind, it was destruction.

A triumphant smirk appeared on Damien's face as everything finally clicked.

His mind immediately latched onto the essence of destruction saturating everywhere. A war had been going on for the past few months now, and the essence of destruction was practically choking every essence in the surroundings.

Damien flexed his will, a simple command going out, and Keilan staggered from his relentless pursuit as the wind platform he was standing on suddenly glitched, flickering in and out of solidity. Quick reaction, though, saved him from plummeting into the water.

Damien wasn't disappointed at the failure. In fact, he was ecstatic; he could finally use intent.

His eyes glanced at Gray, seeing the knowing smile, a smile of approval. It warmed Damien's heart.

'lets see what I can do, shall we?'

Casually, he approached Keilan, his will threatening the essence of space to behave on threat of destruction. Since there was no one else to fight his will, the essence obliged, and then solidified under his foot.

His brother instantly became wary at the newfound confidence in Damien, taking up a defensive posture, left hand forward in a warding gesture while his other hand drew back, elbows first, like he was about to stab forward, except his spear was unevenly crossed below his other arm.

Damien dashed forward. He wouldn't be able to get this opportunity again.

His spear came up in a sideways slash at his brother, fully prepared for it to be blocked, and Keilan, in a rare act of oversight, decided to leave himself open, trusting in his defences so he could have the chance at an equally open attack. He was more than shocked when Damien's spear wiped out his defenses with barely a pause, impacting him in the face.

Although the attack did basically nothing to him, the sheer shock alone on his face was a memory Damien would never forget. And in that happiness, Damien forgot what he was supposed to be doing. His will slipped.

And he plunged into the warm water.