*Starting Scene*

The wind gently blows, causing the naturally short grass belonging to a spacious area to passively flutter back and forth. Day-time steadily goes on as Trace gives a cautious look towards Loki for several seconds with his clothing mildly flapping to the side because of the wind while now standing roughly twenty-five meters away. Soon after that, a serious expression overcomes Trace while keeping his attention locked on Loki. "I've told you a million times, we aren't brothers. So quit calling yourself that. It pisses me off."

Loki whimpers with sadness presented. "Oh, don't say that! You're hurting my feelings, BIG BRO!" The turquoise-haired gentleman maliciously smiles and faintly slants his head to the left. "Tell me, Trace. What are you doing? Does Master Takeru know you're here?"

Trace maintains his seriousness. "I was going to ask you the same thing. It's a huge coincidence to find a Trailblaze Spellcaster in the same place Enshin's Disciples just happened to..." Realization consumes Trace as his eyes widen. "Hold on... Is this your mission? The one you've been on for the past three years."

Loki sharply nods after straightening his head. "You bet! My mission was to infiltrate Enshin's Disciples and eventually persuade them to join forces with our organization, or find a way to have them do our dirty work! Nothing special!" He softly laughs. "I put in a lot of effort into it too!" The clear-eyed individual pulls his right hand out of his pocket with the other hand still hidden in his left pocket and demonstrates the "Enshin's Disciples" tattoo that's established there. "I even went as far as to get this crappy tattoo etched into my arm, became Lord Enshin's No. 1, got so used to calling him LORD Enshin that I sorta' can't help myself sometimes and our organization made deals with him involving Devil's Circuit!"

Confusion rapidly appears on Trace's face. "But isn't Devil's Circuit...?"

Loki shuts his eyes while putting his right arm down to his side. "It sure is! Though there's no need to worry about that now!" The light-skinned young man opens his eyes again while emanating a menacing aura. "Now, answer my question, Trace. What are you doing?"

Trace becomes a little nervous and diverts his gaze to the right. "Nothing. I'm just doing the same thing as you. My mission's to eliminate Dante Einsburn, so I decided that I'll wait until the perfect opportunity arrives and kill him when he doesn't expect it."

Loki raises his right eyebrow in a scrutinizing manner. "Really? When he can read your mind. You're going to have to come up with something better than that." He suddenly scoffs. "And I swear, if somewhere in that dumb-ass head you're planning on betraying Master Takeru, just because he killed Jace, we're going to have a HUGE problem."

Trace grits his teeth while keeping his focus away from Loki. Not long after, the purple-haired person steers his attention back to Loki with a calm demeanor. "I don't know what to tell you, Loki. That honestly is my plan to eliminate Dante."

Loki shakes his head after closing his eyes. "Well, whatever. If that seriously was your plan, then no need to worry about it..." The individual with the bobbed hair cut twirls around while extending his right arm outward and happily yells, "Since Lord... I mean Enshin's more than likely going to kill him!" He looks at Trace out of the corner of his eyes in the middle of him spinning. "I guess your job is done."

Trace gently sighs and casually begins walking towards Loki. "Seems like it. One thing though..."

Curiosity overtakes Loki. "Yeah?"

Trace clenches both hands into fist as they dangle on opposite sides of his being while continuing to walk. "I never had the chance to ask you where you were the day Jace died."

Loki immediately stops twirling, puts his right hand back into his khaki pants' pocket and makes eye contact with Trace. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

Trace intently glares at Loki, having halted his advancement just over fifteen meters away. "I just thought this would be the best time. After all, it's been so long and I don't know when I'd get the chance to ask you again."

Loki chuckles while fully facing Trace. "Well, that's very simple. I was sent on my mission right before Master Takeru killed Jace. I know that because I was sent a letter of notification about him dying. If memory serves, you walked in when Jace was near death, right?"

Trace's visible eye dulls with sorrow replacing his earlier behavior and focuses on the grass below. "I..."

Loki grins evilly. "Tell me. What difference would it have made, BIG BRO? Why would it have mattered where I was? I know neither of you two ever thought of me as your brother, despite all three being saved by the former Trailblaze Organization leader, Master Trevor, and raised by Master Takeru on Trevor's orders."

Trace reluctantly nods. "You're right. In a way, I wanted to make you also responsible for Jace dying, but I have no proof of you having anything to do with him dying... Although..."

Loki scoffs again. "What? What is it that makes you want to confront me like this?"

Trace sets his sights onto Loki without moving his head as he radiates an enraged attitude. "I find the way you're acting to be freaking insulting! Almost like you couldn't care less, even though Jace actually respected you, unlike me!"

Loki takes a step towards Trace and tilts his posture to the left while emitting an irritated composition. "You have to be flipping kidding?! Screw you, BIG BRO!" The clear-eyed gentleman removes his right hand from his pocket once more to point his thumb at himself. "Did you forget what Jace did to me last time?! Respect my ass!"

Trace's overrun with confusion after his visible eye narrows and promptly fixes his posture. "What he did to you...?" He then recalls something with amazement brimming. "Wait! Are you talking about when he finally beat you in that sparring match you two had?! The one the three of us always had ever since we were little!"

Loki gestures his right hand forward. "That's right! I've never lost to either one of you! I never lost to anyone and that got Master Takeru's interest!" A maniacal expression surfaces as Loki lowers his right hand to his side again. "That could've been my chance to make a name for myself in the Trailblaze Organization instead of doing this overdrawn mission I was put in!" He stomped his left foot on the grassy terrain in a fit. "I deserve better, but that flipping Jace went and ruined everything for me!"

Trace leans back a tad with suspicion resonating in his eyes and thinks, "That day... The day Jace..."

*Start Of Flashback*

Trace and Jace were orphans for as long as they could remember, not knowing what happened to their parents when Jace was only a year old while his older brother was four. Everyday, they strove to survive during a cruel time for anyone to try existing with no guaranteed means of living due to the current war between Spellcasters raging on. The two brothers thought of every possible way they could think of to make it through this treacherous life they had been dealt, and by the age of six for Trace, they were knocking on death's door while lying near a desolate riverbank with not a shred of hope left in them. The brothers held hands to let the other know that they weren't departing this world entirely alone as some blood covered them, mainly where the left eye's located but unable to be seen thanks to being shrouded by their hair, to exhibit that they indeed suffered a great ordeal.

Luckily, a Caucasian man in his late 50s with ash-colored, sleek hair as he was dressed in severely-damaged, grey, heavy, body armor that barely hid his muscular physique, rescued the brothers from their extremely precarious situation and brought them into his Spellcaster Organization. This organization being the Trailblaze Organization, one of the main sources for the war's start, and the man who's named Trevor Tosuka, the leader of said organization. It was there that both brothers developed their Spellcaster ability, which interestingly enough, both shared the same one. Electricity.

That alone was a rare occurrence since sibling Spellcasters never normally generate the same magical power. Even more so considering they aren't twins, despite them looking very much alike, where that would have made a bit more sense due to there being a recorded history of twin's containing the same magic. Having taken into account how incredible the two brothers are, Trevor made the choice to appoint Takeru, who already had been selected to one day take over the position of leader, guardian of the brothers and a younger Loki, who had recently joined as well. This, however, in contradiction to what the older Loki said, did so out of his own desire and not that he was saved from any sort of dire experience.

Moving forward many years, Trace (19 years old) and Jace (16 years old) find themselves in the middle of their weekly sparring sessions they agreed to do with Loki while residing in a big room composed of multiple, white columns that keep its roof up and circles around the vast floor where the siblings will fight. Their opinion of the turquoise-haired individual wasn't too great due to how Loki would act in a snobbish manner after defeating the two, but that day in specific would be the epicenter of change for both Trace and Jace.

Jace stands on the south end, wearing an attire very similar to the one Trace always has on, except that the shade of purple his clothing contains is the same as Trace's hair and also has his left eye masked by his dark purple hair. Another notable detail is that Trace, who's leaning against a white column behind Jace with his arms folded together, the tip of his right foot repeatably tapping the smooth floor due to the aqua-eyed young man's standing, isn't currently wearing the light purple, metal arm pads his older self never seems to take off. Though, Jace, in a separate case, has arm pads of that very color strapped to both limbs. A few seconds then pass until Jace chooses to glance at Trace via turning his head to the right since that's the only way he can see his brother through his own aqua-colored eye and confidently grins. "You better cheer me on, Trace!"

Trace chuckles before shaking his head. "You don't need me to cheer for you, Jace. You've gotten much stronger from the last time we sparred with that moron, especially after getting the hang of our magic. A win's finally coming your way. I can feel it."

Jace happily nods. "Definitely, but don't assume it'll be easy. Neither one of us has ever beaten Loki and for good reason. He's really tough."

Trace makes a bland expression. "You have a point, although that doesn't change how freaking annoying he is."

Jace halfheartedly laughs with his eyes shut. "Yeah..." The younger brother switches his concentration to his right arm pad after bringing it up to himself and adjusts the metal plate by use of his left hand.

Trace quickly expels a curious composition. "You're very fond of those arm pads, aren't you? You got them a few months ago and I haven't seen you take them off once. I don't get why, either. It's not like they help you considering you can just use your electricity to shield your body."

Jace gives Trace an overjoyed look while flaunting both arm pads. "It's because they're cool!" He joins both arms side by side as he places them in front of him to focus on. "And in turn, I feel bad-ass wearing them!"

Trace abruptly slouches, plagued by a somewhat baffled demeanor, and ceased his foot's tapping. "Wow... Good for you, Jace."

Jace softly laughs, returns his attention to his brother and lowers both arms to opposite sides. "You should get yourself a pair! That way we can both look bad-ass!"

Trace retorts without an ounce of emotion while waving Jace off via his left hand. "Nah, I think I would rather hang myself before I would ever wear them."

Jace instantly rebuttals after his eyes profoundly widen as he's quite upset. "You don't have to go that far!" The younger sibling steers his focus away from Trace with a depressive behavior taking shape while staring at the floor. "I just wanted us to match..."

Trace heavily sighs and mounts his left hand upon his right arm. "Don't you think we've already made it to that point with very little exceptions. Seriously, we aren't twins to be so close in appearance. For starters, my hair color is lighter and I'm taller than you."

Jace grovels in a low tone, "Only by three inches..."

An aggravated scowl rapidly surfaces on Trace's face. "That's still a notable difference."

Jace snaps his head to Trace and defensively speaks. "I'm still growing!"

Trace chuckles out of amusement with his gaze deviated to the right. "If you say so."

Before Jace could utter a comeback, Loki, who's right now 18 years old, enters the room with his vintage attire while displaying grand sums of arrogance and comments as he halts at the north end. "You two sure do like to bicker. It's actually pretty pathetic." The turquoise-haired person smirks. "It makes me ashamed to call you my brothers."

Trace gives Loki the middle finger without separating his arms. "Go to hell, Loki. And stop claiming that we're brothers when we aren't. It's getting on my last nerves."

Loki pays no mind to Trace's threat as he specifically focuses on Jace and puts his left hand into his pocket. "So you'll spar with me first, little bro? Normally, I would wipe the floor with Trace and then you.""

Jace nonchalantly shrugs, not really caring about how Loki referred him. "Seems like it."

Loki cheerfully nods. "Doesn't matter! After today, I'll be moving up in the world, so I'll humor the order change!"

Trace becomes serious, silently watches on with his right hand tucked beneath his left arm and thinks, "Why do I have this bad feeling aching in the pit of my stomach all of a sudden?" His concentration locks onto Jace's back while thinking, "Could it have to do with the fact that Jace has recently gotten stronger? Not only that, he's even stronger than me now from what I can tell." A hint of sadness immediately overcomes Trace and mutters, "Kind of makes me useless as an older brother..."

Meanwhile, a dark-tanned man, who has grey eyes while containing light brown, semi-long, straight hair as a thin, grey strand extends over his right eye, enters the room, however, stays hidden behind a column several meters from Loki's back. Also, it can be noted that the grey-eyed gentleman has light-weighted, silver, body armor on as he calmly observes the three male individuals.

Then, with his arrogance climbing, Loki motions at Jace via his right hand. "Let's go, Jace. I don't have all day."

Jace positions himself to stand sideways with his left foot toward Loki and lowers his posture forward as he intently analyzes the clear-eyed teen. "Okay, here I go!" The young sibling's left eye briefly emanates a surge of electricity, even though it continues to be blotted by his hair to not show what's exactly happening to it.

Astonishment hastily appears on both Loki and Trace's beings while the dark-tanned man coldly witnesses what's occurring before him. Right after that, a dark purple bolt of electricity collides onto Loki's body, which causes him to release a horrid cry, until sent flying towards the exact column the brown-haired male's resides behind. Loki soon crashes his back into the column as it couldn't take the immense power applied in the electrical attack and is blown to bits.

The dark-skinned man simply took a step backwards, having deemed that necessary enough to evade any of the white column's debris, with his eyes glued on Jace.

At the same time, Jace contentedly smiles with his left hand extended forward as purple electricity faintly runs along that limb, however, no longer generates from where his left eye's hidden and asks in a surprised voice, "Is that it?!" He hurriedly veers his head towards Trace. "I just won, didn't I?!"

Trace momentarily stares at Jace, disbelief eating away at him, and then peers over his brother's right to investigate Loki's condition. "Well..."

Loki lies atop the broken column with his eyes shut while lightly breathing and is quite battered.

Trace straightens himself and sheepishly grins prior to making eye contact with Jace. "What can I say? It looks like it."

Jace suddenly leaps in the air after closing his eyes and throws his right fist up. "Yay!" The younger brother starts running around, delighted by his victory. "And I did it in record time!" He stops a couple of inches away from Trace while the two face each other. "It would always take Loki a lot longer to beat us since we're so stubborn!" Jace proudly laughs.

Trace scratches the back of his head via his left hand while placing the other hand on his waist. "Yeah. You actually did it. Plus, you did it only with one Electro Shock, or at least that's what your attack looked like, but never purple. We always shared the same white electricity."

Mild concern swiftly overtakes Jace's expression. "Why don't you seem happy? You said it yourself that a win was finally coming my way."

Trace nervously chuckles with his right eye shut. "Sorry, I was just caught off guard on how fast it ended, mainly." He earnestly looks at Jace while putting his left hand down. "Good job!"

Jace's visible eye glimmers as he joyously nods. "Mm-hmm!"

Controlled clapping soon resounds throughout the room, which makes the two brothers immediately direct their gaze towards its origin. This leads Trace and Jace to see the dark-skinned man casually facing them while standing to Loki's right as he continues to clap his hands.

Trace walks over to stand beside Jace, who had turned towards the brown-haired man, and talks with an astonished attitude. "Takeru! What are you doing here?!"

Takeru stops clapping before crossing his arms. "It's Master Takeru now, Trace. You should get used to that."

A mournful look quickly takes hold of Jace. "Forgive us, Master Takeru. It's understandable that we still haven't gotten the hang of referring you in that way. After all, it hasn't even been a week since Master Trevor passed away from illness."

Takeru lightly grins. "There's no need for you to ask for forgiveness, Jace. It wasn't you who addressed me wrongly." He gives Trace a firm glare. "Right, Trace?"

Trace lets out a dull sigh and diverts his focus from Takeru. "I'm sorry... I'll do my best not to forget again, Master Takeru."

Takeru briefly watches Trace without much emotion. "Hmmm..." The dark-skinned soon switches his attention to the younger brother. "You did very well, Jace. I thought no one would ever end Loki's undefeated streak, unless they were at the top of Trailblaze, but you did it faster than lightning."

Embarrassment shows itself on Jace as the dark purple-haired teen scratches his right cheek with his right index finger. "Thank you for your kind words."

Takeru acceptably nods, changes his gaze to Loki, who remains unconscious, and leisurely reaches for the turquoise-haired young man via his left hand. After that, the grey-eyed man hoists the non-moving Loki by his tank-top's strap and easily carries Loki within his left arm's grasp while reverting his attention to the two siblings. "Trace, do me the favor and take Loki to his quarters. I would like to have a moment with just Jace."

Trace's promptly frustrated with an intense scowl brimming. "Please tell me you're joking."

Takeru's eyes become vacant while radiating an intimidating aura.

Trace can't utter a word, consumed by the sensation of his life being in peril, until slumping his shoulders after dropping his head in defeat and gradually begins walking towards Takeru. "Fine... I'll do it." The light purple-haired Caucasian peers at Jace without lifting it up nor halting his progress. "I'll be back, Jace. Wait for me right here, okay?"

Jace puts his right hand down and gives Trace a sympathetic smile. "Will do, brother."

With that said, Trace's given Loki as he carries the defeated teen out of the room on his back since there isn't much difference in their stature and would be troublesome any other manner. While doing so, the aqua-eyed Spellcaster gently comments to himself in the middle of traveling through an elongated hallway with aggravation dwelling inside him. "If the roles were reversed like usual, then this asshole would've left us to rot and blabbed about how great he is. I freaking don't know why things turned out this way." Curiosity and confusion beckons Trace as he glances up at the hall's ceiling. "And what's so important that Takeru thought it important to discuss with Jace alone?" He shrugs a little. "As if it matters since Jace always tells me everything."

Having finished that sentence, Trace arrives at Loki's quarters and doesn't waste much time leaving the light-skinned boy sprawled atop of his small, plain bed. Trace quickly exits the room, calmly makes his way back to the practice ground where Jace should be waiting for him and eventually finds himself near the entrance that leads into it. Right when that happens, the elder brother's unexpectedly face to face with Takeru, who overflows seriousness at the moment. This forces a hesitant behavior to arise from within Trace as the purple-haired gentleman raises his right eyebrow. "Ta-" He abruptly stunts his speech due to recalling that he's about to address Takeru improperly and then demonstrates a small amount of worry on his being.

Takeru barely acknowledges Trace's presence before walking pass the aqua-eyed male's right without uttering a single word.

Trace follows Takeru with his gaze while quite confused. "Ummm... See you later?"

Takeru refrains from responding to Trace and continues walking away.

Trace hunches over, annoyed by Takeru's lack of communication, as he mutters with his attention veering towards the entrance in front of him, "What's his problem? Ever since Master Trevor died, he started acting weird. Like more strict." The purple-haired Spellcaster repairs his composition prior to resuming his advancement to go inside the practice ground while softly saying, "I prefer the old him. At least then, he wouldn't give me those hard looks like he wants to murder me."

Not long after, Trace sees Jace and contentedly grins while getting ready to say something, however, stops himself with concern instantly taking over due to him seeing his little brother having a horrified expression as he's looking at the floor. Concurrently, the aqua-eyed person stops walking, stands a few meters away from Jace and carefully asks, "Jace?"

Jace's startled by the sound of Trace's voice as he quickly brings his attention up. Afterwards, the younger brother gives Trace a smile of relief. "Oh, you're back already. I didn't see you.""

Trace crosses his arms with a hint of skepticism and concern. "I can tell. You alright?"

Jace hesitates before replying in a stutter while a small grin surfaces. "O-Of course! Why w-wouldn't I be?!" He hurriedly walks pass Trace to go to the room's center, stretches both arms towards the ceiling, rests his gaze upon it and happily declares, "I'm more than alright! I finally beat Loki today!"

Trace watches Jace with an unsettling feeling aching him as he softly says, "Yeah..." The elder sibling then clears his throat and passively walks up behind Jace, curiosity now overcoming his previous demeanor. "Anyhow, what did you and Takeru talk about?"

Jace tenses up prior to slowly dropping both arms to his sides and hesitates again while speaking in a bland tone. "Uh... It wasn't really anything special. Just praising me some more for my victory."

Trace's head cocks to the left with confusion joining in. "Seriously? Then why did I have to leave if it was just that?"

Jace refrains from looking at Trace and lightly shrugs. "I have no clue. Maybe he didn't want anyone to see him praise one person too much. He now does have an image as the Trailblaze Organization's leader to maintain, after all."

Trace's visible eye narrows as he thinks, "That doesn't make sense, especially with that face you were making when I entered." He fixes his head and questions in a stern voice, "Is that really what happened, Jace?"

Jace swiftly turns to Trace while emitting an assuring composition. "Certainly! You know I would never lie to you, big brother!"

Trace's expression softens with surprised taking shape until faintly smiling and firmly nods in acknowledgement. "I know you wouldn't, little brother." Depression then eats away at Trace while thinking, "Unless you have a very good reason to lie... That's how well I know you..."

*End Of Flashback*

Trace continues to face Loki as he finished his remembrance with a calm attitude showing. "That actually was the last time we saw you, right? It wasn't long after... That Jace..."

Loki nods, displeasure radiating from his being, and puts his right hand on his waist. "Yeah. The next day I was assigned to this mission and left without settling the score with Jace." A content smirk soon establishes itself on the clear-eyed person's face. "Though Master Takeru did that for me."

Electricity travels throughout Trace's body as intensity resonates within his right eye. "You're such a moron! To openly say that to me, you must want to die really badly!"

Loki chuckles out of amusement. "Funny, I just remembered that we never had OUR spar from three years ago. I wonder how it would have turned out." He scoffs while veering his gaze away from Trace after shaking his head. "What am I talking about?!" Loki reverts his focus to Trace with overwhelming arrogance. "You're nothing like Jace, aside your appearance! He was always more talented, which is why he barely needed to train!" A criticizing expression appears on Loki as his eyes narrow. "You, in a completely different case, had to always work your ass off to even keep up, right?!"

Trace doesn't utter a retort with more electricity passing along his person.

Loki examines Trace's being via rapid glances and chuckles again. "To be honest, I can't flipping imagine you to EVER be on par with me. It's a real shame too, considering that amazing power you both have in common. I would have loved to take out any lingering negative feelings I'm sure are creeping inside me by fighting you, but it wouldn't satisfy. You're no good at all, Trace." The bobbed-hair young man laughs a little and says in a taunting manner, "The older brother who couldn't protect his dear little brother, and instead, was-" Loki's abruptly cut off by a stream of electricity flying at him with remarkable velocity.

Right after that, the electricity simply passes Loki's left before hitting the grassy terrain not too far behind him as a mild explosion occurs upon contact, which creates a shock-wave that makes both Loki's hair and clothing flutter forward uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Loki smiles without even batting an eye at what recently transpired. "You sure seemed pumped up, BIG BRO!"

Trace, with his left arm extended towards Loki while overrun by large sums of his usually white electricity, tenaciously says to the turquoise-haired individual in the same sideways position Jace had defeated Loki as his own attire is blown towards the right, "You freaking need to learn when to shut up!"

Loki replies in a patronizing tone after the shock-wave dies down. "Oh, how kind of you, BIG BRO!" He places his left hand on his left pectoral area. "Giving me that warning shot when you could have killed me with that!" Maliciousness instantaneously plagues Loki. "There are a lot of things YOU still have to learn too. Let me teach you since you had the balls to attack me outside of a spar." Loki takes his right hand off his waist and then sprints towards Trace.

Trace glares at Loki and releases another Electro Shock without changing his posture as he recoiled backwards a tad because of more power being added into this one.

As the electricity goes towards Loki, the Trailblaze Spellcaster slides to the right to evade Trace's electricity with two sudden streaks of water jetting out of the grass that are left behind Loki, compliments of his boots having expelled water from their sole. Having accomplished that, Loki continues his way to Trace while giving him a pompous smile. "How did you like that, Trace?! I've further developed my water magic after my humiliation! This is my Water Glide! It helps me move easier, so no one can ever lay a hit on me again!"

Trace chooses not to rebuttal and sends forth multiple Electro Shocks at Loki with as much strength as the previous.

That doesn't surprise Loki for even a second and just avoids each bolt of electricity via the same sliding method while enthusiastically laughing with numerous explosions occurring in the background. "Come on, BIG BRO! You got to do better than that to throw off my Water Glide!"

Trace whips his left arm back with electricity cracking as he positions himself upright. "You sure are talkative today, aren't you, Loki...? It's a real pain in the ass."

Loki laughs more while a mere couple of meters are all that divide him from Trace. "Do something to shut me up, then!"

Trace retorts in a determined voice after lowering his left arm. "Like I need you to tell me! Shock Cloak!" His entire body's immediately engulfed by white electricity.

Loki's eyes widen with no change to his enthusiasm as the Trailblaze Spellcaster's right hand starts to produce some water from its pores. "Water Veil!" He throws the limb at Trace and tries grabbing the purple-haired young man by his throat. "Is that supposed to scare me?!"

Trace unexpectedly vanishes to narrowly dodge Loki's grasp, leaving him a bit bewildered, and appears one meter over the clear-eyed person's head with his body facing towards Loki while firmly stating, "Nah, it's just for this!" The aqua-eyed male briefly pulls his right fist back before launching it at the top of Loki's cranium with a profound amount of electricity surging as his being continually overflows lesser quantity than his attacking limb.

Loki hastily looks up, not a single shred of worry emitting from him, and draws his water-endowed hand to collide with Trace's oncoming strike. Both sparks and water spatter on impact while countless shock-waves sweep the region as a result. This caused the trees surrounding the grassy clearing to vaguely bend back with the region's terrain fluctuating from the tremendous force. At the same time, Loki maniacally stares at Trace and seems unaffected by the clash as he stands firm. "Did you think that was going to work?! You must've forgot that I use pure water to neutralize yours and Jace's electricity! If not, I'd be in deep shit!"

Trace grits his teeth from light frustration while remaining in the air and then angrily shouts, "How could I possibly forget?!" Equal sums of electricity passes onto the aqua-eyed gentleman's left arm that's currently held back. "I've lost too many times because of it!" He deviates Loki's right hand away via a swift jerk of his own hand to Trace's left, permitting an opportunity to attack with the Buster Shock charged on his left arm after hurriedly pulling his right hand to the proper side before descending towards Loki a tad.

Loki counters by swinging his bare left shoulder to Trace's hand as water overruns it and creates another shock-wave on collision before sending both Spellcasters flying in opposite directions.

Trace slams his left foot on the grass, so he can slow down his momentum and eventually ceased just when he was about to hit one of the forest's trees erected behind him. After that, the purple-haired Caucasian plants his right foot forward, allowing a solid stance, while locking his attention back on Loki with intensity and remains surrounded by the Shock Cloak.

Loki, after using the Water Glide to control his progression via twirling himself along the terrain, stunts his movement as water's no longer established. He then gleefully faces Trace with each arm stretched outwardly on its respective side of the clear-eyed young man's person a little and comments out of being dumbfounded, "Damn, Trace! You're making it tough to nail you with a hit! Normally, I would've gotten a few in by now!"

Trace reverts to his silent behavior, not wanting to dignify anything Loki says with a reply, and watches his self-proclaimed brother. This only lasts a few seconds prior to Trace joining both hands' index and middle fingers while curling the rest shut in preparation of the aqua-eyed gentleman's Shock Bullets as he thinks, "I hate that I'm rushing into using this spell, but it'll be best I end this fast. I can't ignore that I've never beat Loki and there's no telling what else he has in store aside that Water Glide, which is annoying on its own since Loki was more of the stationary type, originally."

Loki zooms onto Trace's hands with a hint of curiosity in addition to his currently laid back attitude and lifts his right hand in front of himself, having all five fingers almost touching each other while pointing upward. "You going to show me something new, Trace?!" The turquoise-haired individual eagerly smiles. "I sure do hope so! That way you have no excuses when I beat you again!"

Trace swiftly points both hands, electricity accumulating at the united tips, and states with minimum emotion, "Shock Bullet." A tiny electrical bullet flies out from each hand, forcing them to recoil, and advance towards Loki with the same speed ordinary ones produce when shot.

Minor surprise surfaces on Loki before water travels from his right wrist to the space between the Spellcaster's fingers belonging to the same limb without switching its previous composition. Then, Loki snaps his right hand just as the water took a small, hexagonal, prism form and sends it flying at the left Shock Bullet after shouting in haste, "Water Bomb!"

The two attacks ram into one another prior to blowing up, however, that doesn't deter the right Shock Bullet as it's a few inches away from reaching Loki's face. In that very instance, water expels out of Loki's pores, shrouds his entire face and protects it upon contact involving the electrical projectile with sparks flying in addition to a bit of water. Following that, a second Water Bomb takes shape, although in his left hand this time, and chucks it at Trace once his vision's cleared of the collided spells while giving off a demented grin. "Batter up!"

Trace answers by shooting a Shock Bullet out of his right hand after pulling his left hand back to stand sideways and intercepts the Water Bomb with yet another minuscule explosion. Immediately after, electricity overflows from the purple-haired young man's left arm and then thrusts his left hand forward without pulling away his right hand from its outstretched poise. "Electro Shock!"

With white electricity flying at him, Loki's eyes nearly appear to be gleaming, even though their clarity would seemingly make that impossible, while quickly joining both hands together to clench each other. Not wasting much time, the Caucasian young man lifts his united hands over his head, and with the use of his Water Glide, slides to the right to evade the Electro Shock without any problem before questioning in a cocky tone, "What are you thinking, BIG BRO?! Why are you going back to such a weak attack that I can dodge with my eyes shut?!" Concern instantly blots Loki's expression with a vague gasp released, hurriedly throws his joined hands downward while implementing the Water Veil on them and strikes down a Shock Bullet that had greater speed in comparison to the last.

The attack promptly crashes into the grass, which explodes on impact, and forces Loki backwards after separating his hands with disbelief emitting as he watches a three-meter-long, circular crater having been made. "You can't be serious!" He switches his focus to Trace with a nervous smirk established. "Where did that power come from, Trace?!"

Trace, with his left hand gripping onto his right forearm and the metal arm pad belonging to it, has his right hand continuously aimed at Loki while portentously saying, "That's for me to know and for you to die from."

Loki scoffs as he calms himself. "Don't make me laugh." The turquoise-haired person gradually rejoins his hands in the same manner like before with them lowered. "Talking tough will only get you so far, BIG BRO." He pulls both hands above his head and begins to generate water within them. "Especially once I start bringing out the big guns!" Loki swings his arms forward and opens up his hands with a vast sum of water jetting out while strongly declaring, "Boiling Water Cannon!"

Trace's briefly taken back as he sees the water rapidly heading towards him and thinks, "Did he say BOILING?!" His entire body's then engulfed by electricity prior to Trace disappearing in avoidance of the oncoming water blast. Trace soon arrives at a spot not too far towards the right of where he was standing after the concentrated water hits the grassy terrain with his sights momentarily on Loki, who had ceased expelling water from his hands, while no longer endowed in electricity. This only lasts until Trace starts hearing a loud seething noise from the Shock Spellcaster's lower left and steadily turns his head to check out the source. After that, the aqua-eyed individual's quite baffled due to witnessing the grass that's been soaked in Loki's previous attack being mildly scorched as it keeps seething and carelessly puts his arms down, retaining his left hand upon his right forearm. "It's like... He burned it with water..."

Loki suddenly appears right in front of Trace with both hands still together in the same position and are inches away from the purple-haired young man's face. "You got that right! Boiling Water Cannon!"

Just as that was said, Trace brings his gaze towards Loki, fear and panic apparent on his person, while immediately receiving the full force of the heated water blast, which causes his head to contort backwards with an agonized grimace barely notable thanks to the jetted water drowning his expression. This doesn't last long as Trace frantically pulls himself out of the water's ensnarement and takes multiple steps towards his left in an unbalanced way with his visible eye shut.

Loki snaps his head to Trace and notices something about Trace that surprises him a lot. Not even a couple of seconds later, the clear-eyed gentleman halts the spell he had cast, lowers both arms onto opposite sides of his being and directs himself to completely face Trace while mumbling, "Did I just see that...?"

Meanwhile, Trace whips his body around after placing his right hand on his face, his hair dripping wet because of Loki's spell, as he winces in excruciating pain and lets out several cries. "Shit! That's hot!" He bends down, not knowing that he's facing Loki with just a mere five meters separating them thanks to Trace staggering around in the middle of him riving in agony, while groaning quite a bit. "My face feels like it's on fire!"

Hearing Trace's outburst, Loki regains his concentration and softly chuckles out of amusement after gesturing his left arm a little. "That's what happens when you drop your guard, BIG BRO!" The turquoise-haired Spellcaster laughs in a stuck-up manner with his left hand on his waist. "That was always your problem in combat! You get careless and that leaves you wide with openings!"

Trace partially moves his right hand's fingers to focus his attention on Loki, steam radiating from where he took the Water Cannon as redness can be seen, and retorts in a disgruntled growl. "I know that already...! I've been working hard not to be so reckless...!"

Loki gives Trace a skeptical look with his head tilted to the left. "Could've fooled me!" He raises his right hand forward and commences forming the Water Bomb again. "In my opinion, you haven't really changed, aside learning a couple of new tricks! That's why you'll never amount to anything and pathetically die in a much worse way than Jace did!"

Trace's left hand tightly clenches, anger overwhelmingly brimming, as he grits his teeth with static beginning to course all over both of his arms. "That's enough! You've talked far too much!"

Loki fixes his head prior to putting his left hand atop of the right one, closes it a tad to constrict the Water Bomb inside his right hand and brings both limbs above his head once more while emanating an eccentric attitude. "You've yet to do anything about it, so stop whining!" The Caucasian young man then swings his arms down with his legs mildly spread out and body bending forward as he smashes the hexagonal-shaped water onto the grass. "Boiling Water Bomb Wave!" A huge wave of water expands from where Loki's hands hit the grass while rapidly advancing towards Trace as it creates a loud rushing sound.

In response, Trace takes his right hand off his face, pulls both arms behind his back without them halting the flow of white electricity that's completely overrunning the two, and just when the immense wave reached him, drives his currently opened hands into the attack. "Double Buster Shock!"

That results in the mixing of the two Spellcaster's spells before causing an enormous explosion, which fully consumes Trace and Loki along with the entire grassy terrain they have been on. It takes about a minute or two for the explosion to die down while it's raining electrified water that deteriorates anything it touches as Loki's the first to be revealed. He's unharmed due to having protected himself with his Water Veil that's oozing out of every pore while the clear-eyed individual's now in an upright posture. Not long after that, the water shielding Loki recedes into his person the very moment it stops raining, softly laughs a little with his focus on what's left of the explosion and eventually sees Trace.

Trace, who's barely able to stand on the recently wet and scorched area because of Loki's Boiling Water Bomb Wave, shakily breathes with his head down as both hands are planted on his knees for leverage. In addition, it can be noted that Trace's hair, skin and clothing have suffered burns from that last collision while also profoundly soaked as the purple-haired gentleman's near his physical limit, hence why he's in such a precarious position.

Glee shows itself on Loki as water gradually generates within both hands. "Pretty smart, BIG BRO! You nailed the wave and sent your electricity right where it would blow! That way you would escape with your life intact!" A menacing grin replaces his glee. "Too bad you didn't come out scot-free!" He promptly swings his right arm horizontally to throw the small Water Bomb at Trace.

Having almost no strength remaining, Trace gets hit on his left shoulder, burning it, and causes him to fall backwards a bit with his head cocked up while grimacing after shutting his right eye. A split second later, another Water Bomb flies at Trace, however, rams into his other shoulder as it also burns and soon receives a plethora of the same spell on different parts of Trace's being, each forcing a strained cry from him.

While doing that, Loki continually thrust both hands forward in a fast motion to send the Water Bombs while commenting in a pompous tone, "Come on! Don't tell me that was your last hurrah! And here I was starting to change my opinion of you, but you've disappointed me!"

Trace doesn't hear much of Loki's taunt as his body uncontrollably torques around from the numerous strikes landing, which made him unconsciously remove both hands from his knees, and thinks while wincing with every contact made, "I can't believe it..." He's no longer able to keep his balance in his present state, harshly sits down on the damaged grass and begins to succumb to the assault as he thinks, "After everything I put myself through, I still can't win against Loki and we're in the same classification from what I can tell... I hate to admit it... But he's right... I'm beyond weak..." Trace's heart slows down with a loud thumping sound while thinking, "I'll never attain the kind of strength I'm sure Jace would have by now... I... I Lose..."

With that thought, Trace momentarily passes out and commences keeling over on his right side until remembering Dante's sincere words as they echoed in his mind. "Be sure not to lose ever again."

Suddenly, as if reliving that experience, Trace abruptly opens his eyes with intensity establishing itself and firmly declares, "Like hell I would lose anymore! That's not how I do things!" His presence then instantaneously sparks prior to disappearing from where he was falling without warning.

Loki stunts his barrage with bewilderment surfacing, puts both arms down and then smirks in an enthusiastic manner. "Still got some fight left in you, I see!" A left-footed, windmill kick comes at Loki's head from in front while generating a large quantity of electricity, however, fails to affect the turquoise-haired person in any way since he was expecting such an attack. "Typical. You could never beat me straight up, so you resort to something like this." He weaves his head towards his right to successfully dodge the surging kick.

That makes Trace stagger while turned away from Loki as he brings his left foot down on the grass without expelling electricity anymore before feeling the clear-eyed opponent's right hand resting on his right cheek and hastily looks at it out of the corner of his visible eye.

Loki gives off a sly smile. "It's about time I end this. And what better way than using Water Drain? After all, you were so kind to finally come at me with so little bit of electricity protecting you."

Trace's stunned by what he just heard, his face starting to shrivel because of Loki implementing the Water Drain, until joyfully grinning and chuckling with his breathing a tad ragged. "You moron..." The purple-haired gentleman steers his head enough to set his gaze on Loki, even though the Trailblaze Spellcaster still has his hand on Trace's cheek. "You do realize... What you're doing, right?"

Confusion plagues Loki and simply tilts his head to the right without deviating his attention.

Trace faintly scoffs. "Do I have to spell... It out for you? Your bare hand... Is ACTUALLY touching me." Static sharply sparks from where Loki's hand is stationed.

Loki's overcome with shock while letting out a distraught gasp. "Shit!" An unimaginable sum of electricity then engulfs Loki as he releases a horrific scream that resounds all over the place. Countless seconds after that, Loki removes his right hand from Trace's cheek and is severely burnt from that single electrical jolt as he drags his feet to back away from the aqua-eyed young man with his right arm lightly extended forward.

At the same time, Trace turns towards Loki, his face having reverted back to normal because of how little the Water Drain managed to affect him, while his right eye emanates seriousness and says without demonstrating any real emotion in his voice, "You underestimated me for way too long, Loki. Remember, whether it's a spar or a real fight, one mistake can result in death. Those are the wise words Master Trevor gave us in the beginning, and unlike the two of us, Jace never let those words go to waste even once. That's why he was better. He took nothing for granted and became naturally superior."

Loki tries to rebuttal, but couldn't due to randomly losing consciousness and falls flat on his face with his right hand beneath him.

Trace witnesses that happen and allows a restrained laugh while muttering, "You haven't changed much either, Loki. One good hit is all that it takes to knock you out. That's all we ever needed to do." His visible eye closes as he veers his head to the right and gently touches the hair blotting his left eye via the tips of his left hand's fingers. "Isn't that right, Jace?"

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...