"About time that repugnant air left you, yes."

The words of the small, but high strung girl met his ears as he looked over, seeing the platinum-haired spirit standing by his bedside with her arms folded over her chest.

"Yeah?" Emilio looked at her.

Hextrice glanced at him, "The air of a self-pitying man is a nauseating one to have to breathe in, yes. It's good that you're finally back to your normal self—as annoying as that self might be, that is."

"Thanks," Emilio playfully responded.

An easy night of sleep awaited the Dragonheart as his heart was finally allowed to rest easy after the unfortunate string of events.

[A Week Later]

Gathered into a special, deeper section of the Cerulean Keep inside of a large, colosseum of sturdy, dark-blue and black material, Emilio stood beside Celly, Excelsior, and Everett.

Julius and Irene were helping out Consurge with a task, though it was definitely an event that Emilio felt he couldn't miss:

Standing at opposing ends of the colosseum, two reincarnators faced one another:

Sirius tightened his gloves with a cocky, but excited smile before rolling his shoulders to warm up.

"I heard the name that you like to be called by—"Strongest Reincarnator"—now, that just won't do. I won't allow a title like that to be held while I'm around!" Sirius claimed, pointing to the man across the arena.

Standing there with a bothered expression on his face, the bearded nomad scratched his head, "Look, kid, I've never called myself that. It's just something that came along on its own."

"'Kid'? Hoh," Sirius seemed more ready to fight after that word, "Well, I'm down to follow your little missions—but show me you're worth listening to first!"

"Fine, let's do this," Bastian grumbled.

—

Watching from the sidelines, Excelsior clapped her hands together with a smile, "Get 'im, Sirius! Kick that beard's ass!"

'I thought her and Bastian were friends?!' Emilio thought.

'I thought we were friends. Well, Excelsior has lost to me in every sparring match,' Bastian thought.

Celly didn't have much stake in the friendly not-so-friendly match, though she was more so interested in witnessing the clash of mystical abilities inherit to the two reincarnators, interested in the unique powers that bypassed the limitations of magecraft.

"--" Celly's emerald eyes watched the arena closely, staying quiet.

'She's focused–I guess I get it. The explanation that Excelsior gave instead of revealing our reincarnator status is that we possess "chosen bloodlines"--which isn't far from the truth. For somebody as dedicated to the art of magic as her, this is a unique experience for Celly,' Emilio thought.

As the battle teetered on the line of beginning, the Stormheart cloaked his body in his trademark, magenta lightning with a smile. In response, the Seraphheart produced a radiant aura that stuck close to his body, tossing his cloak to the side as he revealed his burly, muscle-bound form that was barely hidden beneath his black shirt.

"Come on, then," Bastian said almost boredly, "I've got things to do–so let's not take all day."

"Yeah, now we're talking!" Sirius said, taking the initiative as he dashed across the arena as a lightning bolt, causing a roar of thunder to pulse throughout the colosseum.

The shock wave that shattered the sound barrier prompted Celly to quickly cover her ears as her silver hair was blown around from the wind produced in the aftermath.

Sirius shot forward with a thunderous kick, though missing as Bastian ducked down swiftly, causing the Stormheart's boot to slam against the black-and-blue wall as the entirety of the arena trembled.

It was a battle almost too quick to perceive; Sirius' continuous lightning strike-like, quick-and-fierce attacks struck the arena, all while the experienced Seraphheart kept on the defensive with his divine reflexes.

"This level of strength..They're both incredible," Celly remarked under her breath.

"Heh," Emilio let out, almost proud.

To a seasoned practitioner of magecraft like Celly, the battle before her was something mystical even in a world of magic: two people fought without a single incantation, commanding powerful effects that flicked into existence in an instant.

SNAP

With a swift snap of his fingers, Sirius smiled as he flicked a lightning bolt straight towards the nomad, who responded by raising his hand, conjuring a radiant shield that endured the erratic element.

Though the lightning crackled with divine might, the golden shield wielded by the nomad withstood it without much damage.

"Hm," Sirius squinted.

As if testing the durability of the radiant barrier wielded in the hands of Bastian, the Stormheart shot forward as a lightning bolt, roaring across the arena before his boots slammed against the shield with a massive impact.

With both boots planted against the shield and surrounded in a cone of erratic lightning, Sirius pushed against the shield with further force, causing the arena to rumble. In response, Bastian planted himself down, causing the rectangular shield of golden light to glow with heightened intensity.

["Sinner Repulse."]

"--!"

A flash of light emitted from the shield with a blaring hum, releasing a shock wave that rippled through the wind. Electricity scattered through the air before Sirius landed back down with a delighted smile.

"Neat attack," Sirius said, rolling one of his shoulders before cracking his neck side-to-side, "I'd hesitate to call you 'strong' though–you're good at dodging and hiding behind a shield, so all I know is that you're pretty good at letting me attack you. Bravo–you'd give an armadillo a run for its money."

"--" Bastian ignored his words, keeping the radiant shield up.

Even as the lightning-wielding reincarnator moved as a lightning bolt around the arena, constantly releasing mighty snaps of the powerful element with bolts that could erase even giants to ash, Bastian remained vigilant. The nomad stayed completely calm, staying in the same spot but constantly maneuvering the shield around him to block and absorb the electricity.

["Storm Hammer"]

With a swipe of his hand, coiled in abundant electricity, Sirius swept his limb forward before the air shifted, commanding a massive hammer of lightning to conjure as it moved with speed that cracked the wind. It slammed against the divine shield with enough force to cause the wind pressure to propel outwards, causing the hair of the spectators to rustle plentifully.

Again, the radiant barrier of the nomad remained uncracked, simply watching the Stormheart from behind its glow.

"Tch," Sirius clicked his tongue.

–

From the sidelines, Excelsior sighed, "Oh, man..he always fights like this. No matter what–even if it's a friendly duel, this is how he fights."

"What?" Emilio responded.

"Bastian–he calls this method of fighting the 'Heaven's Gate Style'--he can conjure some really powerful shields through his system, and even more, he can use certain abilities to even offensively counter, all while staying all but invincible behind his defense," Excelsior explained to him, "It's a really, really annoying, but pretty much impervious strategy he uses. It pisses me off."

From the way the short-haired woman spoke, it seemed as though she had quite a bit of history going up against the impervious defense of the Serappheart, seeing as she yelled out again to cement this line of thought:

"Kick his ass, Sirius!" Excelsior yelled.

Celly seemed a bit taken aback by Excelsior's "passion" in what should be a casual match, lightly chuckling, "...The amount of strength they're putting behind their attacks, this is just a friendly bout, right?"

"Yeah–something like that," Emilio responded.

–

After a combination of attacks had failed to pierce the seemingly impervious barrier of the Seraphheart, the magenta-eyed, pale man sighed out before cracking his knuckles. Though from the sidelines, Emilio expected an activation of a system to occur with this stalemate, instead, Sirius did something else:

"Do you know why I've earned the title of 'Strongest Adventurer'?" Sirius asked, looking across the arena with a smile.

Bastian didn't respond for a few seconds before boredly replying, "No."

"It's not just because of my lightning–I'm known as the supreme user of two elements," Sirius explained, "I'll show you."

Holding his hand forward, the black-haired Stormheart didn't conjure any electricity; the spectators watched closely as did the nomad, though there wasn't any visible element that appeared.

Vrrrrrrrr

The air seemed to hum lightly, beginning to tremble as a force rustled through the arena like a rumbling wind; a smile hastened on Sirius' lips before he swiped his hand to the side.

"Separate."historical

Bastian found himself stumbling forward for a reason unknown to him before realizing it quickly as his hands held onto nothing, "--!"

The radiant shield that the man wielded was gone; forced from his hands and brought over to the possession of Sirius, whose smile turned into a confident smirk.

"Did you catch that, old man?" Sirius asked.

It was a shocking counter to the ultimate defense of the bearded reincarnator, though a mystery as to just exactly what was done–a question still fresh in the mind of Bastian.

'To remove my shield like that while I was holding it..It wasn't some act of speed–don't tell me he can use "that",' Bastian questioned.

"Was that a wind-based spell?" Celly wondered, putting her hand to her chin.

"...No, that's not it. I didn't feel any change in the wind–it was like it was bypassed altogether," Emilio wondered curiously as well.

In the mind of the Dragonheart, there was something familiar about the sensation he got when witnessing whatever mystical action that Sirius took. What he recalled was the being he fought: "Cosmo"--the total and unavoidable manipulation of space itself.

'That's it..Wait, does that really exist?' He realized.