The wisps of the nova's explosion faded into a collage of prismatic colors. The dark red flames licked the walls, sparking the enchantments to life. Each flame strained the runes at the edges but was held at bay by a flicker of reinforcing mana.

My pulse raced and my gaze stared into the event horizon of the nova.

A pair of baleful orbs in my memories burned like the runic knowledge from the journal. It invaded my thoughts sinking deeper and deeper. I could feel its claws and it's fangs nearing the edge of my throat.

It wanted, it sought to-

Fingers of steel squeezed my shoulder, and a jolt of pain shot down my arm. I instinctively attacked, whipping my tail upward. A purple barrier caught my tail, blocking the attack accompanied by the crack of something glass-like.

I leapt to my feet but another strong hand held me down. I rose to fight it, pushing the hand away briefly before they returned.

"Cyrus, it's okay."

What? Why-

The pressure eased and the hands slid behind my back, wrapping me in a hug. A firm chest dwarfed me, folding me into their hold.

"What's…" I started.

The arms squeezed me against them, gentle but I couldn't move. A burst of mana attacked my senses, and I tensed, but an even gentler warmth engulfed me. A soft golden light filled the room, and I watched it fold like a blanket as it settled over my head.

A soothing calm wrapped itself around my thoughts.

Attack!

I squirmed and I heard a gasp at my side. The bulky arms holding me down prevented me from turning but I felt mana activate. Sounds crinkled at the edges of my hearing, too distorted for me to make out between the thumping of a drum.

Suddenly the hands adjusted. One stayed, it's wide palm securing itself at my center while the second moved upward. The second hand landed on my head and more heat radiated from its surface. Fingers curled around my hair and pushed me deeper into the broad chest.

"Cyrus, it's okay. You can turn it off now. Just listen to my voice, watch my mana," the person whispered into my ear.

What are you talking about?

As the blanket touched the floor my mind cleared.

Wha-haaaw. What the hell was that?

Teddy's strong arms loosened and he pushed me enough to get a look at me. "You're back to yourself. Good."

"Sorry? Why are you hugging me?"

"Ignore that for now. Listen to my words. Watch my mana, I'm going to guide you while we have the chance."

"Guide me?"

"Stop asking. Feel for it."

I resisted the urge to grumble and instead stared at the mana around us. At first it was nothing special; the same old same old that I had seen hundreds of times. Except that wasn't entirely true. Underneath the layer of soft yellow was a thin, nearly invisible sheet of shifting grey.

It was nearly impossible to see if it wasn't for Teddy's mana bending inwards at odd intervals to expose the sheet. Where the gold pressed down, the grey grow more present. Impossibly thin strips of color would catch the light as if swimming into existence.

Instinctively, I reached for it. The mana or whatever it was, wasn't fully present in reality not in the physical sense. However, when I reached a mental probe and lifted my hand, the sheet popped as did Teddy's mana.

He grunted and took a step back.

"Oh that's different," he coughed. I blinked as the room regained its normal tone. Arturous raised a paw, stopping Teddy from falling over. "Thanks Arturous. That was a little unexpected."

I scanned the room and found the others crowded into a corner behind one of Celenae's barriers.

"What the hell is going on?"

Celenae glanced at Teddy before waving her hand and dismissing her skill. She summoned a large flat piece of glass encased by silver wire and held it over her eye.

"It's gone. Isaac, it's safe to emerge," she said.

I watched Isaac poke his head out of the floor. His eyes were strained and he openly glared. Strangely, it lacked the bite of his usual anger.

"Of course it is. It's never easy with the idiot," he snapped.

"Enough. Bicker later. For now, we need to figure out what happened so we can prevent it from continuing."

"I don't… understand," I said.

"What do you remember?" Teddy asked.

"I remember thinking that Zog is annoyingly athletic."

"And?"

"The caster pissed himself. I don't think Zog noticed while he was throwing them at the pillar." I paused and then the burning orbs appeared in my mind along with the wolf's howl. "What happened to the match?"

Celenae tapped the runes controlling the booth's screen. It appeared, revealing Zog standing atop the pillar. Alone. He held his fist raised and grinned at the crowd as they roared in excitement.

Did I blackout? No. I remember the fight. He tossed the people onto the pillar and then activated a skill. That bastard…

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"Do you know what triggered your aura?" Sereza asked. She came to a stop beside me and leaned down, examining my horns. "They're not glowing anymore."

I leaned away. "Aura? Glowing?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember the fight and him activating a skill." I licked my lips. "I attacked you, didn't I? That crack, that was your barrier, Celenae."

"It was. And either you have been holding back or that was far stronger than you have displayed before. Did you activate a skill? Your strength shouldn't have been enough to overpower Teddy," Celenae explained.

I shook my head. "No. I didn't. I-"

My voice trailed as I stopped and considered something. On a hunch, I pulled up my status sheet and scanned through. As I reached the passive section of my skills one drew my attention. It felt wrong. If I had to describe it, it was akin to putting on the same shirt every day only for the next time to feel off.

Like a shirt sitting improperly on your shoulder or the neckline hugging your throat lower than usual.

I focused on the skill and its description expanded into view.

Chaotic Resonance:

Minor increase to all physical capabilities.

The skill effect increases per every familiar actively summoned

–???–

That's different. Lovely.

I looked up and found everyone staring. "What?"

"Share with the team. What did you learn?" Igas said.

"And how do you know I learned anything?"

"Cyrus I will punch you."

I held up my hands and willed the prompt to their system. There eyes quickly scanned through with Celenae summoning two books from her inventory. She began scanning through them while the others sighed and finally started to relax.

"Anyone want to fill me in on what I did? Or what it looked like at least."

Sereza shrugged. "Zog pummeled the other fighters and then piled them on top of the pillar. He looks at our booth, screams and then you froze. Next thing we know, Teddy and Arturous is pushing us into the corner. Isaac is shouting at you. You're horns start to glow a little, and your hair starts to float." She tapped her chin and then faked being surprised. When she turned she stared at me with dead eyes. "You also started projecting a wave of pressure that made me feel disconnected from my flesh."

"Sorry."

"It made me feel like my mana was wrong. My body was wrong. I felt hot, then cold, then warm, then itchy, scratchy, sluggish, and fast. You name it. It felt wrong, Cyrus. Really wrong."

"Sorry," I apologized again. I lowered my head and flashed a weak smile. "It wasn't conscious."

"Obviously. So why did Zog's skill trigger you?"

"I think it was…"

I bit my lip and tasted the word. The word 'Ragnarok' fizzled at the tip of my tongue. I knew I could say it, but it felt wrong to try. My anger flared and I gritted my teeth. Some stupid skill name wasn't going to stop me!

"Ragnarok! Ragnarok. Ragnarok!" Tingles scattered down my tongue and deep into my throat, balling inside my chest. I summoned a drink and downed it attempting to soothe the scratching. "There. Fuck that."

"Cyrus."

"Huh?"

Sereza shook her head. "I have no idea what you just said, but it hurt. It felt like my ears were going to start bleeding."

"You didn't understand me?"

"It was all distorted. Like sharp metal on glass except quieter."

What the hell is going on here? This is some system fuckery. Is this like the runes?

"Whatever you're saying, we can't hear it," Celenae stated.

The others nodded to her words.

Except Isaac. He stopped long enough to metaphorically drill into my skull with a scowl on his face.

"He can't say it, but can he speak it?" he said.

"That… might work. Could you summon Galarion? Maybe he can send us the memory in case telepathic communication fails," Celenae said.

I shrugged, already threading mana into Shroud of the Astral Archon.

Galarion appeared, floating freely toward Celenae while stretching a mental tendril toward my brain and hers.

"Can you hear this: Ragnarok's Descent." I communicated.

Celenae winced and shivered. "That was uncomfortable. The distortion includes telepathic communication as well."

Next, I tried willing the memory of what I heard to Celenae. For good measure, I threw in the visual of Zog shouting his skill's name.

She sat down and thumbed her temples. "That was worse. On par with the shade-raug."

"That bad? Damn. I still remember its scream," Igas grunted.

I let Celenae collect her thoughts and turned to the arena. The blood and ash had been swept aside. I hadn't noticed at first but Zog's attack destroyed the pillar. A new one took its place, both clean and sporting different scenes along its sides.

I'm not getting any knowledge on this thing. No idea why Zog's skill is banned by reality. It can't be because it's related to Earth. Fate wants to fuck me over but it wouldn't set up something like this years in advance? No way.

I waited for the bracelet to shift colors and announce my match but it remained inert–as did Sereza's. By the time Celenae pulled the books back into her dimensional storage, the next batch of competitors was entering the arena.

"You need to ask Calstrax about Zog's skill. As much as it frustrates me, his skill name isn't important right now. Instead, we should focus on how to prevent your aura from activating again," she said.

"Teddy should begin training him properly. I'd say wait till the tournament is over but maybe you begin tonight. He was here to stop him this time, but what about the next?" Eodyne proposed.

"Agreed. Teddy?"

He nodded. "If you're up for it, then we can start. Do you remember any of the fundamentals?"

"Not really," I admitted. "I've tried but the skill is giving me nothing. I'm not even sure how it activated in the first place. It's a passive."

"Not every passive is entirely passive. Some skills require a more conscious choice to flip on or off. Usually, it's something one instinctively learns to do barring that they refine their control the more one trains," Celenae explained.

"Do your books explain what's with the extra line in my skill? It definitely wasn't there before," I said.

She sighed. "Yes and no. There are brief mentions of skills gaining new additions to their power. We know we can modify a skill and change parameters on how skills work. You've done this with your Spirit Lord's Invocation."

"I never had a hidden line before, or well… It was obvious this time, and I didn't feel the same wrongness when that skill changed. It sorta, just did?"

"That could be because it's a passive versus an active, maybe certain thresholds have to be met." She frowned while staring at my chest. For some reason, I didn't think she was looking at more so trying to pierce inside me. "It could be because you're you and we know how the Weave treats you. We don't know. We probably won't know unless Calstrax confirms it. For all our several centuries of being a kingdom, knowledge on how skills work remains woefully lacking."

She held more than a trace of heat to her voice but again I felt it wasn't directed at me personally.

"Sorry," I offered.

"No. It's not you're fault. If anything I should be excited at all the new possibilities for knowledge to be gained but it is frustrating."

Teddy patted her on the shoulder and I watched the others for a time. Isaac continued to stay away but he seemed relaxed. That more than anything bodes well for the night. Another night antagonizing the rogue because of his empathy skill wasn't something I wanted to inflict. Not on purpose.

It was only toward the end of the fight did I finally focused and realized I recognized one of the fighters in the arena.

Vincent scrambled his way up the pillar and grabbed the unconscious archer from her perch. In a stumbling throw, he spiked her into the ground and then dropped to his knees. He raised his arm with a roar and sat undisturbed for the rest of the match. By the time his opponents managed to pull themselves together, the announcer buzzed, signaling the end of the second king's pillar.

I whistled in respect and locked eyes with Sereza.

"Our promise still stands?"

She snorted. "Of course."

Minutes passed and we extended our wrists, waiting for the change.

Suddenly, Sereza grinned and stood up. "My new bet is that I'll be faster than you. If I win, you owe me more of that sweet noodle dish from Ysanna's realm."

"Alright, bet." I playfully tapped her tail with mine. "If I'm faster you have to make me a drink."

"A drink? That's it."

"I trust in your ability to use poison to concoct something delicious."

She shook her head and headed for the door. "Deal. Not that it'll matter. Our bet on you doing something crazy still stands."

And nothing crazy is going to happen. Not if I can help it.

I wished Sereza luck and settled in for the fight.

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