WIEDERGEBURT Act III Chapter 12

After leaving the small village of Merovingian, Dagan, Erica, Tungsten, and I journeyed to the nearest town, waited for a caravan to pass through, and offered to protect them in exchange for a free ride. Very few people did not know who we were. Erica and Tungsten were famous for their legendary battles against the Sekbeist, Dagan was the most powerful healer in the world, and I was leader of Brave Vesperia, a rising star within the Northern Plains.

I was sitting in the wagon near the back with the other three people I had journeyed with. Heedless of the jostling, I looked at the passing scenery as the bumpy wagon traveled along the dirt road. I wasn’t sure where we were. I couldn’t recognize any of the landmarks.

Someone shifted beside me. I looked over to find Erica sitting next to me. The woman offered me a smile, and I returned it, though I didn’t much feel like smiling. There was so much on my mind.

“What are you going to do when you get back?” asked Erica.

I wanted to know…

“Hug my wife and daughter,” I answered.

I wanted to know who that man was…

“I already assumed that much.” Erica rolled her eyes even as the smile on her face widened. “I meant after that.”

“Oh.” I paused. “Play with my daughter and then make love to Kari when Kayli is asleep.”

That strange man who had been trapped within the crystal coffin, who had been released by Hriedmar, and who had very nearly killed all of us. His power had been overwhelming. I’d never met anyone who could just destroy an island like that, yet he had done so like it was nothing.

Erica rolled her eyes. “Are they all you think about?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “Kari and Kayli are my entire world. Without them, my life is utterly worthless.” Giving the now shocked woman a smile, I continued. “After I return home, I’ll have to let Kari know about what happened here. She’s the researcher between the two of us. I’m sure she’ll be able to discover something about that strange man who emerged from the coffin.” I paused again as another thought occurred to me. “We should also inform the Dwoergs about the man we saw. I think they might know something about him.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Dagan. He was sitting a little further from everyone else, his eyes dull and his posture slumped. I think he was taking the deaths of his comrades harder than anyone else. He was not a warrior but a healer, after all.

“Because the person who undid the Runes sealing that coffin was Hreidmar,” I explain. “The fact that the Sekbeists needed him to unlock the coffin means the Dwoergs must have been the ones who built it.”

“Now that you mention it, I have been wondering why the Sekbeist attacked Niðavellir.” Erica placed a hand underneath her chin. “I had always assumed it was just because they were a warlike race who enjoyed enslaving others and abusing worlds, but what if the real reason was because they wanted someone who had the skills to undo the seals on that coffin?”

“It’s a frighteningly plausible scenario,” Tungsten admitted.

“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Dagan muttered.

Continuing with this line of thought, I spoke some more. “According to what I learned from the Dweorgs, the war against the Sekbeists thousands of years ago ended with their leader and much of their army being sealed away by the Seven Great Overlords. What if that man was the Sekbeist leader—their overlord?”

“There’s no way!” Erica exclaimed. “You saw what that man looked like! He appeared nothing like a Sekbeist!”

“I know.” I nodded, but then shuddered. “However, that energy he was wielding felt very similar to the Sekbeists, didn’t it? It was almost identical, in fact.”

“Identical? Maybe.” Tungsten leaned back against the wagon, placed his hands on his thighs, and stared at them in thought. “It did feel very similar to the Sekbeists’s powers, but it was so much more powerful than anything I had ever felt from any Sekbeist before.”

“Exactly my point,” I said. “Maybe when a Sekbeist becomes the ruler of their race, they undergo some kind of transformation that makes them more human.”

Erica still didn’t look convinced, but it wasn’t like she had a better theory. None of us knew anything about that man. All I knew was that his powers were simply overwhelming, to the point where I was incredibly afraid of him and what he could do.

Of course, I also couldn’t get what he said out of my mind.

“You… To think there’d be another one of your kind still left. Are you here to stop my glorious resurrection? No matter. As you are now, you lack the power to consider yourself even close to being my equal. It is time for you to die. I shall kill you before you can ever become a threat.”

He’d said something about his “glorious resurrection,” but I honestly didn’t understand. It seemed like he had already been resurrected, or maybe he meant that he wasn’t completely resurrected yet, like perhaps something was missing to make him complete. I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. I only knew two things.

First: That man had powers similar to the Sekbeists, but they were far more overwhelming than any one Sekbeist—even the Warlords.

Two: That man looked an awful lot like the long-eared man I’d seen depicted in murals at the ruins Kari and I had explored.

I didn’t know what this meant.

“D-DEMON BEAST ATTACK!”

A shout suddenly came from outside.

“I’ll handle this,” I said.

“You sure?” asked Erica.

Nodding, I grabbed the Dragon’s Tail Ruler and leapt out of the wagon. The people in this caravan were already panicking. Their Struts were acting wild and trying to run away. Meanwhile, the caravan members were trying to calm down the Struts with little success. It was hard to calm down a beast when you yourself were anything but calm.

A quick glance at my surroundings revealed the Demon Beast that was attacking the caravan. It charged forward on six massive legs that were about four times larger than myself. A long tail in the back curled around and ended in a stinger. The torso growing out from the creature’s front was, like everything else, covered in chitinous red scales the color of rusted blood. It had two arms, but it didn’t have hands. Instead, strange pincers akin to mouths clacked together with bone-shattering force. Sitting at the very top of this creature was a head. It had a nose, mouth, and eyes, but the similarities between it and a human ended there. This thing was incredibly grotesque.

It was an A-rank Demon Beast. Giant Skorpomorfe.

My eyes narrowed as I wondered what a creature like this was doing so far in the Northern Plains. These beings normally made their homes in a mountainous desert region far to the south-west of here, close to the Rotfang Forest. However, as the beast thundered forward, I realized I really didn’t have time to think about that.

Spiritual Power exploded from my body, transformed into the water element, and engulfed me. I could feel the change happening near instantaneously. Everything felt… wet. It was like I had been engulfed in water. However, that wasn’t actually what happened. I hadn’t been engulfed in water. I had become water.

With my body no longer constrained to a human form, I exploded forward, transforming into a giant tidal wave that slammed into the Skorpomorfe without mercy. I swept over the creature, sending it back. As the beast stumbled around on all six legs, I reformed my body right next to it, channeled water through the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, and sliced off one of its legs.

The Demon Beast howled in range as the leg flew off and turned to sand. The Skorpomorfe turned around and tried to attack me with its pincers, but I used the Flash Step to disappear and reappear next to one of its other legs, which also turned to sand when I sliced through it.

The Skorpomorfe howled again.

Skorpormorfes were creatures with a powerful earth affinity. In fact, their entire bodies were made out of extremely dense sand that had been packed together so tightly it was even tougher to cut through than Adamantine. However, being creatures made of sand, they had a weakness to water. I had already covered the thing in water. Sand was sloughing off its wet body and droves, and my attacks were even more effective like this.

It did not take long before I had hacked the A-rank Demon Beast to pieces and taken its core. I was sure Sundur could make some nice armor with this monster core.

I ignored the gawking stares from the caravan members as I traveled back toward the wagon, hopped in, and sat down next to Erica. After a few seconds, the caravan began moving again.

***

Several days since Kari and I rescued Geirolf had passed by. During that time, I had quickly gotten my priorities in order.

The first thing I needed to do was create my sect, which I still hadn’t named. Now more than ever, I needed to create a group of Spiritualists who could travel into the Demon Beast Mountain Range and gather medicinal ingredients. We also needed a group who could help clear out the stronger Demon Beasts that had moved their territories closer to Nevaria. I refused to let even one of those creatures get too close to this city.

That was Exactly why I’d arrived at our headquarters early with Lin, Kari, and Fay.

When we got there, several dozen Spiritualists had arrived, congregating around the front gate as though they were waiting for us. Some of them were the people I had hired—the butlers, maids, chefs, and receptionists—but most of them were people who wanted to join the sect.

My group of four walked through the crowd. They parted for us, allowing us to reach the gate. Before opening the gate, I turned around and looked at all of the people present.

“Everyone who we hired for positions within the sect, please step forward! Those of you who are here to join the sect as a member to take on quests, please step back!”

Everyone did as I ordered. About forty of the people present or so stepped back, while only twelve people stepped forward. These were the staff members we had hired after debating the merits of everyone we interviewed. Most of them were people Kari had chosen. She always had a strong grasp of administrative work, no doubt a result of being the Princess of Nevaria, but there were a few like Jessie Vanderburg who had been Fay’s choice.

On that note, Lin hadn’t chosen anyone. I had the feeling she didn’t really care about who worked for us.

“I would like you twelve to go with Kari,” I explained to them. “She is going to explain your duties to you. Once that is done, you may either choose a room if you wish to live here, or you can travel back to your home and return for work tomorrow.”

Having explained this to them, I opened the gate and pushed it forward.

“Follow me.” Kari gestured with her hand as she walked past the gate. “We’ll find an empty room to use and I’ll go over your duties.”

The group of 12, including the nervous Jessie Vanderburg, followed Kari as she traveled up to the front entrance, unlocked it, and stepped inside. I think the poor girl was nervous because most of the people we hired were Spiritualists. Even the people who would be working as chefs, maids, and clerks had at least reached the First State of Spiritualism.

Kari and I had determined that anyone working for us would need to be strong enough to handle the more rowdy members, so the clerks who would be dealing with sect members day in and day out were Spiritualists who weren’t interested in traveling to the Demon Beast Mountain Range. This meant the remaining eleven staff were strong and imposing to a girl who didn’t have any training as a Spiritualist.

I felt kind of sorry for the girl.

Once Kari and her group disappeared, I turned back at the Spiritualists who wanted to become members.

“All of you, follow me to the back courtyard,” I ordered before turning back to the gate and entering.

Fay and Lin followed right next to me. Meanwhile, the thirty or so Spiritualists who remained hesitated for just a moment before following me.

The back courtyard was a massive space surrounded by a high wall that blocked off our sect from the rest of Nevaria. It was a large and open space. At Kari’s suggestion, I had set it up so that about three-fourths of it had been converted into a training. There was an archery range a little further back, but the rest of the courtyard was mostly dedicated to sparring circles that were each about ten meters in circumference. There were also tables and benches set up near the entrance.

Because it was next to the outer rampart, I could see several Nevarian Spiritualists who had stopped patrolling the wall when they saw our group. Some pointed at us. I didn’t pay them any mind. Turning to the group of Spiritualists with me, I studied them with keen interest.

They were a mixed group if I’d ever seen one.

Some of them were clearly nobles. They wore gleaming armor that looked far gaudier than was necessary and had the arrogant bearing of someone who had grown self-entitled because their families were rich. Not all of them were like that, of course. Some of the nobles present actually looked more noble than arrogant, like Catalyna and Marko, who I noticed were standing among the crowd.

The rest of the group were a combination of peasants and mercenary types. Their armor was a lot more worn and rugged than the nobles. Scratches, dings, and dents covered their chestplates and shoulder pauldrons. Their greaves were scuffed up. It was clear that they had seen great use. While this made them seem less presentable, I had a favorable impression for some of those people.

“All of you have come here in the hopes of joining our sect,” I said in a loud voice as I gestured to myself, Fay, and Lin. “But before we begin determining who is eligible to join, let me tell you what the main purpose of our sect is.”

Everyone remained silent as I spoke. Even those whose faces were covered in scars and presented an intimidating and reckless aura said nothing. They had all seen me dominated the competition during the Spiritualist Grand Tournament, and I was sure quite a few of them had also spotted me during the Demon Beast attack two months ago.

Strength meant everything in Nevaria, and I had proven mine several times already.

“We have several goals,” I began. “The first is to explore the deeper regions of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. The second is to exterminate any powerful Demon Beasts who have made their territories too close to Nevaria. The third is to gather medicinal ingredients on behalf of the Alchemist Association. The fourth is to take jobs that the people of Nevaria come to us with.” I paused and allowed them time to absorb this information. “Members of this sect will be paid for each completed quest. The amount you make will depend on the difficulty of the quest taken, and a quest’s difficulty will be determined by its rank.”

In general, the more quests a person took, the more money they earned—at least, during the initial phase when they were still untested rookies. Stronger Spiritualists who took on higher ranked quests would earn more for one quest than beginners earned for a dozen quests. I didn’t tell them that. I could see from the nods and knowing expressions that they also understood this.

“Quests are classified into several ranks,” I continued. “They are ranked F through S, the same rank in which we classify Demon Beasts. As the lowest ranking quest, F-ranks will be more numerous but pay less, while S-rank quests will be rarer but pay more.”

I began pacing down the line of individuals. Lin and Fay did not join me in my pacing, but they did follow me with their eyes.

“Before any of you can join, I need to see what you are made of,” I said. “I need to know how strong you are so I can properly rank you. To that end, each of you will fight me.” I almost smiled when everyone present paled. “Don’t worry. I don’t actually plan on fighting back. My goal isn’t to beat you black and blue, but to find out how strong you are. Having you all fight me one on one will let me determine your strength and give you a proper rank.”

After saying all this, I moved to one of the sparring circles and faced the group of now uncertain Spiritualists. None of them said anything. None of them stepped forward. I placed my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow.

“Now, who is going to come at me first?” I asked.

I was expecting everyone to hesitate more, but someone stepped forward barely a second after the question left my lips.

A blond man who looked somewhere in his mid-twenties, with a body covered in hard muscles easily visible beneath his leather jerkin, stepped forward. He wore chainmail underneath the jerkin, which clicked together as he walked, and his pants and long-sleeved undershirt were an off-white color that complimented the dark brown of the jerkin. His hands were covered in a pair of gauntlets made with bare-fisted brawling in mind.

“I’ll go first,” he said.

“Marko,” I greeted the man who had stepped into the circle. “I had no idea you wanted to join my sect.”

Marko looked at me with an intense frown, but then his expression relaxed, and he released a sigh. “It was something I debated for a few days. Truth be told, I have never been too fond of you. However, I do acknowledge your strength. I wish to become stronger, and I believe I can become stronger if I join your group.”

His reasons were very straightforward. I couldn’t fault them. Nevaria was a place that celebrated the strong. Of course, this entire continent honored those who were strong. The strong went on to create legends, carved out a place in history, and were revered by everyone. Marko’s reasoning was just keeping in line with this basic principle.

“I understand.” I nodded. “Come at me whenever you are ready.”

Nodding, Marko slid his boots across the ground and adopted an orthodox fighting stance. He hesitated for several seconds before launching himself at me.

He was much faster than he had been when last I saw him. I could tell that he had been training ever since the Demon Beast attack. That said, he was still too slow in my opinion. Once he joined my sect, one of the aspects I would have him focus on during his training was speed.

Marko threw a basic straight punch at me, and when I dodged it by tilting my head, he tried to slip a knee into my stomach. I raised my left leg, blocking the attack. A loud crack echoed from where his knee met my shin. From the way he flinched, I could tell he felt that one, and when he stumbled back, his knee shook from the impact.

“I recommend you be a bit more careful,” I suggested. “My body is quite durable. An attack like that is more likely to hurt you than it is me.”

I didn’t know if Marko took my words under advisement, but he didn’t attack with his knees again. He came in with several punches, throwing out different combinations. Wide hooks were mixed with straight jabs. He kept up the pressure and never stopped attacking me for even a second.

While I was more used to fighting with the Dragon’s Tail Ruler and Spiritual Techniques these days, I used to be well-versed in unarmed combat. I parried most of his attacks with the back of my hands and palms. I pushed away a straight jab with a strike of my palm. His left hook was redirected over my head when I smacked the underside of his wrist with the back of my hand. We constantly danced across the battlefield, sticking to this one 10 meter circle.

In terms of pure fighting technique, Marko seemed to have improved a lot. I could tell he had been working hard. However, physical combat was not the only aspect of fighting that a Spiritualist needed to know.

“Feel free to use any Spiritual Techniques you might have,” I said.

“Fine… don’t say… I didn’t warn you,” Marko said in a heavy voice. He was already sweating and breathing like he’d exerted a lot of effort.

Jumping back, Marko stomped on the ground with his left foot, drew a circle in the dirt, tucked his right hand into his torso, and then launched it forward despite being several meters away. Of course, this attack was a ranged one. A powerful ripple flew from his fist, kicking up dust as it traveled the distance between us. I waited for it to come closer.

And then I punched it.

Marko didn’t look too shocked when his attack dispersed. He repeated his technique. Stomping on the ground with his left foot, he generated Spiritual Power. Drawing a circle in the dirt directed the Spiritual Power to toward his front. When he tucked in his hand, the Spiritual Power his movements generated gathered into his fist and created something of a whirlwind, which he launched forward with a punch.

This attack was stronger than the last one, but I still destroyed it with a single punch. Marko clicked his tongue as he adopted a stronger stance. He spread his feet shoulder-width apart, bent his knees, and lifted his hands. He moved his hands in figure eight patterns that caused a green glow to appear on his palm. The longer he moved his hands in that pattern, the brighter they began glowing, until they were so bright they left green streaks in the air.

Once the glowing reached a peak, I thrust both palms forward, launching a wind attack that took the shape of two figure eights. The two attacks did not hit me at first. Instead, they combined about halfway to me, creating an intense wind that suddenly turned into a tornado, which ripped apart the ground.

“Not bad,” I muttered. “That looks like a B-rank Spiritual Wind Technique.”

As I praised his technique, I channeled the water element into my fist, adopted a wide stance, and threw a punch. The water element leapt from my fists. It took the shape of a water lance as it pierced the tornado, forcefully dispersing the technique. A heavy wind kicked up dust and caused people’s hair to billow. Several of the people watching shielded their eyes so as not to get sand in them.

My lance dispersed before it could reach Marko, who was breathing a bit heavier but still looked raring to go. In fact, he was seconds away from launching another Spiritual Technique, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“That’s enough,” I said. “I’ve seen what I need to. Step back and allow the next person to take your place.”

Marko looked like he wanted to keep going, but then he took a deep breath, held it, and nodded as he released it. He stepped out of the circle and walked back into the crowd of Spiritualists.

Even before Marko had left the circle, a beautiful woman around the same age as him walked out of the crowd. She carried a sword at her waist. It was bigger than a broadsword but smaller than a claymore, with jagged edges and a wicked appearance.

Unlike her brother, Catalyna was wearing a chestplate, which was large enough to accommodate her chest, but it only covered her chest and not the rest of her torso. The ends of a white tabard swished back and forth as it extended from beneath her chestplate, as did the blue skirted end of her dress. The dress had long sleeves that were barely visible between the joints in the segmented armor covering her arms. Her boots were covered in metal, which clicked against the ground as she walked.

“It’s been awhile, Eryk,” Catalyna greeted me with a saucy smile.

I nodded back. “It has. I’m guessing you’ve been training hard since the Demon Beast attack. I look forward to seeing how strong you’ve become.”

“I’m certainly more than willing to show you my strength.” The smile remained in place, but her eyes shifted to something behind me. I heard footsteps heading my way. “However, the one I want to fight is not you. Would you mind watching from the sidelines?”

I already knew what she wanted, just as I knew that the person who wanted to fight her was right behind me. A hand landed on my shoulder. I turned my head to glance at Fay, who looked at me with a determined expression.

“Please allow me to test Catalyna,” she said, a fire blazing in her eyes.

“Okay.”

It was easy to tell that Fay didn’t just want to test Catalyna. She also wanted to test herself.

During the Spiritualist Grand Tournament, Fay had fought Catalyna and lost. I was sure that loss was still eating at her. Fay tried to act confident and tough, but she had an inferiority complex that made it hard for her to act sometimes. Even though she and I were betrothed now, she still kept a certain amount of distance between us like she was afraid of not being able to measure up to Lin and Kari.

I think she needed this. That was why I acquiesced to her request so easily.

I went to stand beside Lin as Fay took my place, rolling her shoulders before adopting a fighting stance with her dominant foot forward. Catalyna gripped the hilt of her sword and pulled it from its sheath, revealing the jagged edges of her blade. She held the weapon in a standard two-handed grip.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how much you’ve improved,” Catalyna said with a smile.

“Me too,” Fay confided. “I want to see how much stronger you’ve become since the Spiritualist Grand Tournament.”

Although they had journeyed together into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, neither of them had interacted much, and Fay had not really seen Catalyna fight. She and I had separated from Catalyna and her group when Skygge had enacted a small-scale ritual that activated Dyr’s power and drew tens of thousands of Demon Beasts to our location. I was sure neither of them had really been able to see how much the other had improved.

The one who started this battle off was Fay. She used the Flash Step, but she didn’t appear next to Catalyna. She appeared above the woman. Her left fist was already tucked into her torso, and she thrust it forward in a corkscrewing punch that generated a powerful spiral-shaped bolt of fire.

Catalyna’s reflexes and spatial awareness had clearly been honed to a fine point, for she moved even before the attack was launched. That said, she didn’t move quite far enough.

The fire spiral slammed into the ground in front of her, exploding with an impressive amount of force. I could feel the heat from here. Several of the Spiritualists watching even took a step back and covered their faces as if afraid of getting burnt.

Catalyna stumbled backward several steps. During that time, Fay used the Flash Step Version 2: Jump Step, to appear on the ground behind her opponent. I blinked when I saw her figure flicker out of existence. Not even a second later, Catalyna spun around as if she had sensed Fay’s sudden appearance. Lightning coated her blade as she swung it.

Her sword passed through Fay like the redhead wasn’t even there. Fay’s figure disappeared seconds later.

“Well, that’s new,” Catalyna said out loud.

Fay had appeared behind Catalyna again, but she was several meters away, but fists tucked into her torso. Spiritual Power gathered around her fists, transforming into fire. Rather than delivering a single powerful double-punch, Fay launched several dozen lightning fast punches, which create several less powerful flame projectiles that shot toward Catalyna.

“HA!”

Tightening her grip on her sword, Catalyna swung it up and down in a vertical pattern. Each swing create a blade of lightning that slammed into Fay’s fire projectiles. The attacks negated each other. However, Fay could produced many more fire projectiles with her punches than Catalyna could create lightning blades with her sword, which was heavier and therefore took more time to swing. Catalyna was forced to activate her Spiritual Aura, a bright yellow flame crackling with lightning that appeared around her and protected her from the projectiles. Each fire projectile exploded against her Spiritual Aura. She stumbled back a few steps. However, it was clear that she hadn’t been harmed.

“You really have improved!” Catalyna shouted.

Fay didn’t respond as she activated her own Spiritual Aura, but she didn’t keep it up for long. Her Spiritual Aura was soon sucked back inside of her. This caused her skin to produce a glossy red shine, becoming rosy and soft.

Catalyna narrowed her eyes. “I see you’ve reached the Second State of Spiritualism. Well, so have I!”

With this declaration, Catalyna took her Spiritual Aura into herself. Unlike Fay, her body produced a soft yellow glow. Some crackling emitted from her body like she was coated in electricity. It was proof that she hadn’t mastered this state to the level that Fay had. Still, reaching the Second State of Spiritualism was something only a few hundred people out of the tens of thousands of Spiritualists in Nevaria had managed, so it was impressive that she’d come so far.

The battle quickly picked up. Fay and Catalyna closed the distance between each other and began a powerful bout that combined physical combat with Spiritual Techniques. Flames spewed from Fay’s hands as she threw punches and her Spiritual Fire Technique, Rotation Fire Fist, at point-blank range. On the other hand, Catalyna’s sword was crackling as she cut through the techniques and tried to counter Fay’s attacks.

Fay blocked a downward swing by catching Catalyna’s sword on her left gauntlet. She had used the back of her left hand. Fortunately, the sword didn’t strike the monster core. Rotating her arm, Fay forced the sword to her left and down. At the same time, she tucked her right hand into her torso and threw a powerful punch that released a burst of fire. This time, the attack did strike Catalyna, but she was fortunate that Fay hadn’t put too much Spiritual Power into her technique.

Hissing as she stumbled back, Catalyna looked down at where her tabard had been burned all the way through, revealing a torso that was blackened and emitting smoke. Fay’s Rotation Fire Fist hadn’t broken through her skin. Even so, she was going to have some burns the next morning. What’s more, Catalyna must have known that Fay could have put more power into that attack if she chose to.

Smiling, Catalyna sheathed her sword and stepped back. “I yield. I can already tell that I’d lose if we kept going.”

Catalyna had not used her strongest attack, the Lightning Wolves Asunder Technique, but even if she had, I was sure she realized that Fay would be able to defend against it now. Lightning Wolves Asunder was a powerful B-rank technique. However, for as powerful as it was, it was also easy to defend against if you knew its weakness, and Fay now had enough Spiritual Power that she could simply overpower the technique with her Rotation Fire Fist.

“Thank you for letting me battle with you,” Fay said.

“Sure.” Catalyna raised a hand in the air and smiled. “I hope this battle told you what you wanted to know.”

“It did.”

“Is that so? Then I’m glad.”

Catalyna walked off the now ruined sparring ground and joined Marko, while Fay joined me and Lin. There was a satisfied smile on Fay’s face. She looked a little more at peace. This battle had proven to her that she had grown stronger, that she was no longer as weak and inexperienced as she had been during the Spiritualist Grand Tournament. I hoped this match would help her overcome that inferiority complex she had.

Offering a smile to Fay as she stepped up to my side, I soon shifted my gaze to the sparring circle, now covered in burn marks, craters, and cracks. I sighed. Then I walked over to one of the other sparring circles and asked for the next person to step forward.

As I began the tests again, I hoped we wouldn’t ruin too many of these sparring circles before I had finished testing everyone.