*Tetsuya*

The passage of time in this world of dreams was different than that of any world I'd been too, even Munil. It was hard to keep track of how long we've been here. There weren't any stones indicating a day in this world had passed, nor an equivalent amount of time provided to us so that we could calculate it ourselves.

In what time had passed, I had shown Serra several mana control techniques.

I smiled as Serrano continued to concentrate his mana on top of a tiny pin as he sat cross-legged across from me. Prior to me falling asleep, Kaliq had taught me and the other knights how to do this. It took me several tries to do it, but I had finally started to get a handle of it, well, at least enough to teach Serra how to replicate it.

"Okay, think that's enough for now," I said, clapping my hands.

Serrano kept his eyes on the pin. "I understand that this is a form of mana control, but how will focusing my mana on a tiny spot keep me from running out of energy quickly?" he asked, sighing. "I mean, it seems like it's more meant for dangerous attacks. Like how Kohri's Esquilino has the ability to focus his mana into an extreme density for extra damage at the cost of range."

Come to think of it, Kohri was the only Seven-Hill of the new generation I hadn't had a chance to spar against.

"It does?" I asked. I chuckled. "I'm going to need to ask him for a match, that way I can see all of his tricks."

"Good luck, Kohri tends have a rather savage way of fighting."

"Should you really be saying that?"

He turned away as he seemed to recall how he nearly killed me during our last sparring match at the palace. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't..."

I gulped. Maybe that was a bad move...

"Well, Rosa does too. She was like a whole other person when fighting Satoru after he had nearly killed me."

Serrano laughed. "Pretty sure that she was driven by anger."

I rubbed my head. Anger... I had allowed anger to take me over during my battle with Eiichi. Was it even fair to count that as a victory? I even hurt my mom in my madness... Rage, it could easily turn a person into a monster.

I sighed. Perhaps it was best to let go of the anger I felt toward my father. Though, at this point, that didn't matter much as he was stuck in The Abyss.

I slapped myself and shook my head. I need to focus on what is in front of me right now. Everything about the outside world right now is a distraction.

My eyes widened. Everything about the outside world... is a distraction... Setsuko said that in order to draw forth the mana of the world we need to zone out everything.

I stared at the black void around us. I snickered. No wonder my dad had me and the other Knights of Prophecy go to Munil, it wasn't only because it allowed us to train a year's worth of time in three days. The realm itself was a void, allowing us to not be distracted by the outside world. We were the only distraction... including ourselves.

Serrano snickered. "Hey, Tetsu! Stop zoning out!"

I blinked. "Huh? What? I wasn't zoning out!" I yelled, blushing. Come to think about it, I was already pretty good at zoning out the outside world. My inner thoughts were what kept on messing with me. I needed to clear myself, empty myself...

"Hmm, looks like you're doing it again."

I sat down on the ground and crossed my legs. "I got an idea," I said.

"Oh, really? What's your brilliant idea now?"

I leered at him. "I don't like that tone ya give me, mister."

He snickered. "Okay, pardon the teasing. Just carry on."

I turned away. "I think I'll just keep my idea to myself."

Serrano sighed. "Come on, aren't you supposed to be my tutor here? Don't keep information like that to yourself."

I chuckled. "Well, my dad did that to me. Actually, you did too! You seemed to have known what it was that I was missing but didn't say it."

He laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah. I had forgotten about that... Must've been because of the damage I sustained at the hands of Satoru and company."

I leered at him. "I doubt that. Anyway, I want to switch over to another aspect of mana control. That involves absorbing the mana of your surroundings."

"Uncle Tekeshi was going to show that to me, but our plans got side tracked." He lowered his gaze. "It seemed as if he knew at that moment what was coming and was trying to hurry up teaching me Aventine's techniques while he could."

I frowned. "He did?"

"Yeah... It sounded as if he knew he would soon be marching on toward his death."

My heart began to beat faster. His death?

"You think he might be dead? But Hanketsu made it sound like he was imprisoned as he said we needed to rescue him."

"It's possible that he expected to die in his battle against Aster."

I sighed. "Well, can't blame him for thinking that. She is a Ruler of Abyss after all." We both knew their power first hand, having nearly died at the hands of her fellow Ruler as he was fixing up Agnes. Well, in my case, I had died.

I gripped my rosary, now devoid of Hanketsu's spirit.

"Let's return back to training," I said as I slowly uncurled my fingers from the angel tool. "Alright, I'm going to teach you something that Setty and Kaliq were teaching me."

"Kaliq?"

"He's this sage-like fellow we met in Munil. He's actually the husband of one of Halim's daughters. Hmm, guess that makes him Zafir's uncle-in-law. Anyway, this skill will benefit someone with low internal-mana and or bad control. I haven't completely mastered it yet, but what little I know can help you."

Serrano nodded and threw the needle behind him into the black void.

I gasped. My body lurched toward him on its own. I grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him away as a blast of blue energy stuck the ring, taking out half of it even though the center-point of the blast was several meters away.

"That was huge..." I said, eyes wide.

My cousin glanced back at the damage the unraveling of his tightly focused mana point had done. "Opps."

"You idiot! Why did you throw that away like that? You should've slowly dispersed the energy!" I snapped as I let go of him.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't think it would be that strong."

I leered at him. "You're stronger than you think, dummy." I sighed and stood up. "Let's continue this on the good half."

My cousin glanced around the black void. "Aventine hasn't returned yet."

"She probably watching from afar." I snickered. "After that stunt you just pulled, she's wise to do so."

His face flushed. He looked over his shoulder and held his hand behind his back. The broken parts of the white-tiled ring were gradually restored until it was as good as new.

Come to think of it, I should work on developing my earth powers more. My list of techniques is rather shallow.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Hey, Serra, if we still got time after I show this this, can you teach me some new techniques?"

He smiled. "Sure. Anyway, carry on with what you were saying."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, listen closely. I need you to meditate."

He nodded and did as I said, he even closed his eyes as if he knew what I was going to say.

"Did you do this before?" I asked.

He smiled. "Uncle Tekeshi had me do something similar when he was teaching me how to use Yuuki."

I tilted my head. "Yuuki?"

"Yes. It's one of Aventine's seven special techniques. He wished me to master them and unlock Aventine's true form for me."

"You for you?"

He kept his eyes closed. Even with my eyes open, I could feel him drawing forth the mana of our surroundings closer to him, including what his blast had dispersed.

I kept quiet and continued to watch him at work. Even though he drew a large amount, only a bit of it was drawn into him.

"Draw it toward your body like how you focus your mana into a center point when making a Shadow Sphere. Except, in this case, the energy point is inside your body. You can choose whichever point. Some prefer the head, while others rather draw it toward the center of their chest."

He nodded and took another deep breath.

"Alright, now once you have the energy inside, try to spread it out evenly."

He nodded once more and tried to spread it out.

He opened his eyes and coughed.

"You okay?" I asked, patting him on the shoulder.

"I couldn't maintain it," he said.

I smiled. "It take some time. Like I said, I haven't completely mastered it either and I've experienced what feels like several months' worth of training." I scratched the side of my face and snickered nervously. "Plus, I was breaking your concentration by talking."

He snickered. "In a way, your voice helps me focus better as you were telling me the steps."

I gasped. "Wait, really?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded as he gave me a shy smile. "Yeah. It's rather comforting to have someone guide you. To be honest it felt like I was lost at sea after we fought due to what happened on the day of the ball."

I smiled and patted his shoulder. "I see. Well, don't worry, I'm here for you, buddy!"

Serrano averted his gaze. "Honestly, I'm blessed to have you as a friend."

My face flushed. "Same here! Alright, this time I'll show you how to gather mana from your surroundings. Pay close attention to its movement if you can."

He nodded.

I closed my eyes and took several deep breathes to try to help clear my mind and relax my body. The white-marble ring and Serrano seemed to fade, leaving me alone in a world of intangible energy. Soon, that energy began to twist and turn around me as it was pulled toward the center of my chest.

Once I had the amount of I wanted, I spread the mana throughout my body, moving it along my veins and arteries as if it were blood.

I opened my eyes and saw Serrano looking at me inquisitively.

"Woah, you made it look easy. I thought you said that you hadn't mastered it yet," he said, snickering.

"I haven't. I only drew in energy for a bit."

"Really? But the amount seemed rather large."

I tilted my head. "It did seem like a great quantity." Wonder if that was a bad thing... one needed to control the flow of mana coming in and going out. The rule was usually to limit what was going out, but too much mana coming in at once presented the issue of overloading.

"Seeing your growth, I feel a bit better about our prospects in this war."

"Well, I'm not the only one who's going to be fighting in it, so go on and see if you can do it yourself."

He nodded. "Alright."

He took several deep breathes and began to replicate what I had done. He drew the surrounding mana toward his the center of his chest and pulled it into his body. Like me, he had drawn a pretty large amount in.

He gasped for air once more as he started to distribute the energy throughout. He even managed to move it across his veins like I had done.

Seemed Serra was still as much of a visual learner as when he was a kid.

He smiled as he opened his eyes. "How did I do?" he asked, giving me the same shy smile he used to back when I was teaching him how to properly wield a sword in the backyard of my house.

"You did pretty well, but not as well as me," I said, puffing up my chest in a way reminiscent of when I was a kid.

He laughed.

"Looks like training is coming along well, unfortunately time is up," Aventine said as she manifested on top of one of the four corner pillars. She jumped down and grinned. "It's time for your real test, Serrano. May your strength and that of Tetsuya prove enough to make me consider helping you in person."

Serrano and I stood up at the same time.

"Let's do this!" Serra and I said in unison as we fist bumped. 

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the episode, if you did then please give click on that star either up or down there! I would also love to hear from you \^_^/**