"You want me to what?" A young man with dark hair and an eyepatch over his right eye asked a woman with red hair. Dressed in a pair of black joggers and a muscle shirt that fit his form well, the young man finished slicking his dark hair back. 

"I want you to spar with Mei, Kiana, and Bronya." The red-haired woman replied while drinking from a can of beer.

"But why?" Rex asked, lowering the wooden sword in his right hand. 

"You can't mope alone in the training area all day," Himeko told her little brother, who shrugged. 

"I see... I guess I can. But why do I need to spar with them?" Asked the young man while looking over her side to see the trio getting ready. 

"Because I'll beat them quickly, and you need to learn to fight." Himeko proudly stated, and the young man could feel a giant boulder land on his head. 

"Fine. I'll fight them." Rex slowly cracked his neck, his dark eye earning a slight amber glow. 

"Good luck!" Himeko said. The young man watched as Himeko went to where Theresa was and nodded at them. 

"Oh, Hey Rex!" Kiana greeted with a smile while dressed in her St. Freya uniform, a pair of guns in her hands with rubber rounds on her belt. 

"Hey," Greeted the male as he took a sword from a pack and nodded at the girl he was closest to. "Major told me to spar with you three." He whispered as he looked at them. 

"I won't hold back! Mei-Senpai is watch-" Before she could finish, a blur appeared in front of her, and she felt a blow on her stomach, sending her flying towards Bronya. 

"Rex!" Himeko shouted as the simulation of a forest formed around both Rex and Mei. 

"Kiana-Chan! Bronya!"

"Let's dance," Rex told Mei as he struck. 

The duo danced, covering the area with sparks and blurs of dark and purple. 

Rex looked at a desperate Mei trying to stop his sword from pushing downwards during a blade lock blankly. 

"Mei-Senpai!" Kiana stopped her charge when a small rock landed near her foot, cracking the floor. "Bronya! Can you get a clear shot?" 

"Nyet. Mei-Onee-sama will get hit." The small Russian girl said as she watched the duel between the two. 

"R-Rex-sa-." Mei winced as she felt the pressure of his heavy blow push her blade down while he had a blank face on. 

"You're holding back." The young man said, pressing his body weight forward. "You're more skilled than this. Not bad. Your techniques lack something." 

Sensing something, the young man pushed the purple-haired swordswoman away with his blade and blocked a kick from Kiana aimed at his back without looking, sending him skidding a good few inches away. Letting go of his sword, the stone-faced young man tilted his head to the side, dodging a blow from Kiana, leisurely grabbing her by her head and throwing her away to Bronya's location. 

'I... Incredible! He was not as skilled as he did a few days ago. Is his bullying problem holding him back?' Himeko thought as she watched the fight. Her new younger brother was holding himself off quite well against the strong yet less trained group of three. 

Delivering a back fist on Mei's Katana, he deflected it and flipped her to the ground. 

"I see. You deny your weapon its true purpose." Rex said before being cut off as a missile from Bronya exploded at his location. 

"Target: hit," Bronya said as she floated while helping Kiana. 

"Isn't that too much, Bratnya?" Kiana asked, looking worried at where Rex was. 

"My weapon's purpose?" Mei repeated as she looked at her Katana. Her mark throbbed for a split second as a lightning pulse formed around her hand. 

"It yearns to bathe in the blood of your enemies." Rex's monotone voice echoed through the arena, sending shivers to the spines of the trio and Himeko. A single Amber glare pierced through the smoke as the young man came out looking a bit worse for wear. "But you hold it back." They can see him now. His torso was exposed through the rags he used to call his shirt, revealing countless scars from his training or some of the bullying accidents he had. Blood flowed from his forehead, covering his right eye. Standing proudly on the right side of his torso, red lines glowed.

"The Crozzo family stigmata... That means!" Himeko whispered through the comms as she watched in both amazement and fear as Rex fell to his knees. 

"Rex!" Kiana called out, rushing to the male while ignoring her sore body. 

----

A pair of dark eyes opened, and he found himself in a place similar to Shenzhou. 

"Mommy, look, I can do it now!" Said a beautiful young girl of 12, holding a Chinese-style sword in her hand. 

Off to the side, a beautiful young woman smiled as she watched the young woman. A sword in her hand as she looked at her daughter. 

"Very good, Jaena." The young woman said a small yet proud smile on her face. "It's good to see you have the drive to train instead of being a lazy oaf." Her harsh words were softened with a rather soft expression as she looked at the sleeping figure under a tree. 

"I heard that." Came a lazy reply from the male. 

"honestly, Ren. I know you're tired from helping build the temple but at least sleep in a bed." The woman said as Jaena nodded.

"Yeah, listen to mommy! You always said she is always right!" Jaena said with a bright smile, earning a groan from the young man and snickers from a pair of identical girls off to the side. 

"It's still too early and you're already whipped again," Fuxi said with a grin. 

"I recommend that you stop simping for Phoenix," Nuwa said in a calm voice, yet the hints of teasing echoed through the minds of the group. 

"Of course, I'll simp for her! **-*** is my wife!" Ren roared, only to turn bright red when a  

'This is,' Rex thought as he watched the scene in front of him before it changed erratically revealing a field of some kind of blue lilies. A beautiful sight, one that made his heart hurt as tears formed at the arrival of a beautiful woman.

All of it became distorted. 

The beautiful woman was stabbed with a spear.

The twins disappeared, and Jaena was now an old woman lying on a bed with her parents by her side. 

In front of Rex's eyes, the patriarch of the Crozzo family, Ren Cruz, stood with a sad smile. 

"This is the curse of the Crozzo clan."

-----------------------

"Rex!" The young man groaned as he found himself staring at a blurry mass with white hair. The image of the beautiful woman from before overlapped with hers.

"Guiz- Kiana?" Rex whispered before groaning as the young woman hugged him very tightly. 

"You're okay!" 

---

In another part of the dorms, a young woman with bluish-purple hair felt a sudden need to strangle a lazy idiot with dark hair to keep the crushing weight that filled her heart. She pulled out a simple soulium pendant that has the symbol of a burning moth with the roman numeral alongside the roman numeral 14. The words Vicissitude and Legacy can be seen carved onto the back with a heart over them.