Sabine huffed as she reclined her back against a large tree.

"Catch your breath and head back to the campsite," I said, crouching down next to her and handing her a canteen full with water.

"Lunch is ready," said the second member of my team. She was a tall girl with pitch black hair and ruby red eyes. She didn't really say much at all.

"Thanks, Yebin. We'll be there in a few," Sabine said.

Yebin nodded and turned around and flew off, carried by her lilac dragon wings. It seemed that just like Ryonoko's father, she was related to a tribe of dragons capable of taking on a humanoid form.

"Go on without me," I said, walking into the forest. "I want to do some more training."

"You're going to tire yourself out before the match has even started," Sabine said, knitting her brows together.

I scoffed. "That peasant won't defeat me, even if I were to be exhausted. Now, go."

Sabine narrowed her eyes at me. "Fine, I'll go. However, don't come crying to me if you lose!"

I chuckled. "As if that'll happen." I took another step toward the forest and turned around at the sound of wings flapping in the air. Her wings were a brilliant yellow like the light from the sun. Looking at her, I couldn't help but feel as if we were from different worlds.

I shook my head. I should push her away. I am not worthy of her. I looked down at my hands and saw the hands of a demon. I had fallen... if she sought to follow me then she would too.

Sighing, I continued going deeper into the forest.

"Food is ready!" I heard a voice called out. It was Zyuuni, but his words weren't directed at me. I ran further into the forest and saw another clearing. Lying on the grassy floor was Hideo while his teammates stood around.

"Let's call it a break," Koukyuu said, waving at the short and lanky kid.

Hideo raised his head and grunted as he tried to push himself off of the ground. "N-no. I have to get... stronger," he said. His arms wobbled as he raised himself up. "F-for Dan's sake. If I... couldn't... defeat Satoru, Roa, nor the peasant, then how... how can I defeat the stronger abyssmals?"

"He's one of them?" Sonata asked, gasping.

"Yes, he... is. Teke...shi is one," Hideo said.

"That explains his regenerative abilities," Zydeco said, rubbing his chin.

Koukyuu suddenly turned her head toward where I was hiding. "Hey, you there, come out!" she shouted, narrowing her eyes at the tree surrounded by dense bushes that I was hiding behind.

I walked out and smiled. "Hey, beautiful!"

"Ugh, it's the playboy," Sonata said, glaring at me.

"Love you too," I said, grinning.

"W-what are you doing here?" Hideo asked, standing up completely. His feet wobbled, he would collapse at any moment.

"I sent my teammates to go eat. I'm not feeling hungry, so I decided not to go. In the meantime, I decided to do some solo training."

"Why here?" Koukyuu asked.

I sighed. Do princesses have something against me? Why do they all seem to glare at me like that?

I ruffled my blond hair. "I guess that I sort of wanted to do some sightseeing too."

"So you were... basically on break," Hideo said, smiling. He closed his eyes and began to wobble forward and back. "Ugh..."

"Easy there," Zydeco said, holding him up.

"I told you to get some rest," Koukyuu said, putting her hands on her hips. She shook her head at him. "Honestly, you two need to learn the importance of rest."

"You're talking to me? I was taking a break according to Hideo, so I'm fine," I said, grinning.

Hideo raised his emerald eyes at me and chuckled as if drunk. "So... you... were... slacking off."

"Slacking off? As if!" I yelled, turning away. Why did I even come here? I should've just continued on walking.

From the corner of my left eye, I noticed that Hideo's hands were covered in blood. Was it his own?

"So, what kind of training were you doing?" I asked.

"I was... training, my body. I... boxed with the three of them."

"Training your body?"

"Some... time ago, I was told... to work on it. To... take the recoil from... Donato."

"Oh right, you were flung back at times during your match against the peasant. But it isn't as bad as it once was."

"A-are you saying, that I've improved?" he asked. His eyes shimmered, making him look more like a little kid.

I laughed. "I guess you have." I directed my eyes at his teammates. "If you three want, go on ahead with Zyuuni. I'll watch over my fellow junior knight here."

Hideo smiled. "You'll... box with me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but first we'll need to fix you up. Say, do any of you four have any of those energy restoring berries used to make prana restoration pills?"

"I got a couple," Sonata said. She slid her hand into a brown pouch on her right side and took out two tiny red fruits. "Though, I'm not sure they'll work since they're supposed to restore prana, not mana."

"There's mana in everything," Koukyuu said, crossing her arms across her chest. "When I've taken them, I've felt my mana restore, in addition to my prana. Though, it's only a quarter of one's full energy."

"Give it here," Hideo said, reaching his hand out for one.

"You could be more polite," Sonata said, pouting.

"Please!" Hideo said.

The dark skinned, white haired girl smiled and handed him one. "I'll be keeping this other one for myself."

"Here, give me that," I said, taking the fruit from Hideo.

"H-hey!" the shorty yelled, nearly stumbling to the ground as he tried to get it back.

"Hold on, I'll give return it in a few. Though first thing first, I'm going to refine it into a restoration pill. They're more effective, plus you won't end up crashing."

Sonata gasped. "You know magic?"

I chuckled. "Of course, I do. I am a descendant of your first Magus Maximus, after all. My bloodline is still roughly half Xelerian after all these years."

"Oh right, some of my aunts and uncles married Kuroriku," Zyuuni said, scratching his head.

"Yeah, that's how the Raiyama and Kuroichi families were born," I said, grinning.

"Sure, you're related to one of the strongest mages ever, but that doesn't explain how you know magic," Koukyuu said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"My mom hired tutors from one of the strongest Xelerian clans proficient in lightning magic, the Leiji."

"The clan that was founded to serve as the vassals of Magus Maximus Takehaya?" Zydeco asked.

Zyuuni whistled. "Not surprised. They are an ancient clan in possession of millennia of arcane lightning arts. At one point, they also had texts filled with water and wind magic, but those were destroyed during a subjugation by the fourth Magus Maximus."

I nodded. "Yeah, my master told me about it. His wife is actually the queen of the Leiji."

"Oh, I know him! He's..." Zyuuni stopped himself.

I leered at him. "He's what? Is he alright?" I asked, stepping toward the future Magus Maximus.

"Yeah, he's okay! It's just... he's kind of special in our world," he said, grinning.

I smiled. "He is? Ahhh, let me guess, he's on the magic council, isn't he? That's why you paused."

His blue eyes widened. "H-how did you know?"

I scoffed. "It was always his dream to be part of the magic council. It's good to know that he achieved it."

"Well, we best get going, the food must be getting cold right now. Take good care of the twerp!" Koukyuu said, waving.

"Who are... you calling, twerp?" Hideo shouted as fragments of green aura appeared around him.

I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll never catch her eye if you continue to act like this. Try to play it cool, dude. Otherwise, you'll continue being a 'twerp'," I whispered into his ear.

His face flushed bright red.

I smiled. I knew it, he did have a thing for her. The shorty was finally growing up, well not so in height... but in other ways.

"Aren't you coming along, Zy?" Sonata asked as she stood at the exit of the meadow.

"I'm going to stay behind and continue to watch over him," Zydeco said.

"Really? Uhm, maybe I should stay too," she said, fidgeting.

I snickered. Seemed that Hideo could really learn from that guy. He didn't only have the Kasai no Ki princess' eye, but also Sonata's.

"Go on ahead. I'll go in a bit!"

Sonata huffed. "Alright."

Koukyuu eyed me. "Zydeco, watch the refining carefully for me, okay?"

"You got it!" Zydeco said. He snapped his fingers, causing a flying eye ball to appear.

"An abyssmal!" Hideo yelled.

"Huh?" Zydeco said.

"That's not an abyssmal," I said, sighing.

Sonata and Koukyuu chuckled.

"Scaredy cat," Sonata whispered.

Hideo's face reddened. He punched Zydeco in the arm as soon as the girls and Zyuuni were gone.

"Hey, what was that for?" Zydeco asked as he sat the shorty next to a tree.

"You... you had to summon that thing!" he said, pointing at the flying eyeball.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Are you deaf? The girls laughed at me because of it?"

Zydeco moved his head left and right. "Uh, I don't think that was the reason. It was your reaction."

"I wouldn't have reacted like that if it weren't for you summoning that thing!"

"It's not a summon, it's made entirely out of prana," I said, staring at the floating eyeball. Thinking about it, it did look similar to the eyeball abyssmals we encountered at the entrance of the dark castle in Kuroyuki no San.

Zydeco chuckled as he shook Hideo. "Yeah, man, it's a prana construct! If you have this much energy to scream then I doubt that you need that energy pill."

Hideo leaned his head against Zydeco's shoulder.

"Did he just fall asleep?" Zydeco asked, blinking.

I snickered. "I guess that all that yelling took all the energy he had left in him."

Zydeco snickered. "Yeah, seems like it."

I raised the fruit toward the sun. "Well, better get to work." Hope I remember how to do this.

I summoned a mid-sized golden cauldron out of my hyper ring and dropped the fruit inside. Next, I took out more herbs from my hyper ring. They still looked as fresh as the day that I had picked them, over nine years ago. Hopefully, their effects were still there too, as well as the taste. I dropped the herbs inside. Then I focused my internal energy, or what Xelerians called 'prana', on the bottom of the cauldron like how master had taught me.

Electricity crackled underneath the cauldron, charring the grass under it. I levitated it higher and increased the flow of prana. The entire pot sparkled with static. The skies above even rumbled.

"Wow. You're good. Hey, have you ever considered taking on students? I got a little brother called Alto. He's a lightning mage too," Zydeco said with a large smile on his face.

"Shhh, you're breaking my focus," I said, grunting. The cauldron began to bubble on the inside with colorless prana. I had to get this next step right or else this would fail. "You might want to take Hideo and get far away, just in case."

Zydeco smiled. "I'm sure that you'll do fine. Give it your all, Eiichi!"

I snickered. This guy was as cheerful as Kohri. Expect, Kohri would probably never cheer me on. He had never been fond of me.

I closed my eyes and continued to focus my prana all around the cauldron. The colorless prana wanted to escape, but I wouldn't let it! I capped the top of my own prana and pushed down on the fruit's energy.

Remember your Master's words, Eiichi. Encircle the energy like the world serpent encircles the world tree.

My prana encircled the cauldron in the shape of a giant serpent with its tail within its mouth.

I opened my eyes and clapped my hands together. A bolt flew into the darkening heavens, splitting the clouds wide open and allowing the sun to shine its rays down on us once more.

I walked over to the cauldron and peered into it. Inside was a tiny golden oval. I chuckled and raised my arms toward the heavens. Looks like I still got it, Master!

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Thoughts? Predictions for what's to come?**