Hideo went straight to the angelic dome after he finished eating. His teammates had suggested meeting up for some training. Plus, it'll be a great bonding exercise. He didn't even know the names of most of his teammates. In fact, he wasn't even sure as to why they joined him over the others, considering his lackluster performance against Eiichi.

He hated to admit it, but the peasant was stronger than him.

"Hey," Hideo said as he entered the room. His teammates had gathered around in a circle. They all turned to look back at him as soon as he approached them.

"Hey, short stuff!" a dark-skinned blond yelled as he ran over to the knight. The guy had a resemblance to the Kuroichi-Raiyama brothers.

Hideo narrowed his emerald eyes at him. "Don't call me that!"

The guy put his hands on his hips and chuckled. "I call them as I see them."

Hideo pouted and crossed his arms. "I'm the boss here!"

"He's right, Borasco. We have to respect him," a lanky guy with glasses said as he stepped forward. With his sweater vest and tie, the guy looked more like a nerdy scientist than a soldier.

The short-knight grinned. "Glad that one of you understands, at least!"

Borasco leered at the lanky guy. "Seems you weren't content with being the teacher's pet, now you go on and become the knight's pet."

The guy adjusted his glasses and scoffed. "Such childish behavior isn't befitting a soldier of the Kurorikuian army."

Borasco snickered. "Same can be said about your musculature. You look like you'll faint even walking toward the front line."

The glasses guy blushed. "Y-you know that's not true! You've seen me in action before at school!"

The dark-skinned blond rubbed the back of his ear and chuckled. "Yeah, but only for short spurts. You were always put on the bench whenever you got tired." Borasco poked his teammate in the chest.

"That may be, but at least I don't have a brick for a brain, unlike a certain someone! I bet you'll get us all killed!"

Hideo rubbed his head and grumbled. "Shut up!"

The two turned to look at him and jumped away.

"Pardon me, Sir Hideo," the glasses guy said, bowing.

"How overly formal..." Borasco said, leering at him.

"And you're overly informal for one of noble birth!"

"Don't start again!" Hideo yelled.

The glasses guy covered his mouth and stepped back.

A girl dressed in a brown cloak snickered. "Seems you can't control your own team, huh, big bro?" the girl said.

Hideo's eyes widened. It was the first time he had heard her talk. "Kiara, is that you?"

The girl removed her hood, revealing short orange-brown hair. "Yup, it's me! Missed me?"

He stared at her dumbfounded. "What are you doing here? You should be back home, taking care of Dan!"

Kiara lowered her eyes. "Dad said to watch over you. He's worried about you."

The short-knight crossed his arms over his chest. "Worried? Why would he be? I can take care of myself!"

"Right, like how you took care of yourself against my cousin," Borasco said, snickering.

I nodded. "Yeah, like I took care of- Wait, what?" he asked, turning to look at the dark-skinned blond.

"You lost miserably against Eii, or did you get amnesia?"

The short-knight blushed. "I remember..." He leered at him. "Ugh, I can definitely see the resemblance between you two, not just in looks."

Borasco smirked. "We get that a lot, but I'm a lot stronger than Eii!"

"Liar," the glasses guy muttered.

"Shut up, Sirroco!"

Hideo chuckled. "Tried to pull a fast one on me, huh? Sirroco, I'm making you my second-in-command! Should something happen to me, I'm leaving you in charge of the team."

"Huh? Why him?" Borasco asked. "I'm stronger than him by a long shot!"

"Power doesn't equal leadership, Bora," a light-blue haired woman said. The soldier was covered entirely in black from her hoodie to her long leather boots, which reached her thighs.

"Of course, it does! Without power, how can one keep their position?"

The young woman sighed. "I don't know why I even said anything to you. It's obvious a brick head like you wouldn't understand."

Sirroco nodded. "You and me both."

"You two ganging up on me? Come on, I'll take you both on right now!" Borasco said as electricity started to crackle around his hands.

"Hey, stop that!" Kiara yelled. "Listen to my big brother!"

Hideo smiled as the attention of all seven returned to him. "Thanks, Ki. So, how about everyone introduces themselves?" He had overhead the shield knight's team do just that back in the lobby. Unfortunately, he didn't have the chance to do the same before all seven split off to do their own separate training.

"I'll start!" Kiara said, raising her hand. She ran over to her brother and turned to look at the others. "I'm Kiara Makkuroyama! I'm this shorty's little sister!"

"Kiara!" Hideo said, leering at her.

His sister giggled. "Come on, it's fine when I say it."

"No, it's not!"

She giggled again. "Okay, I won't call you that... often."

Hideo grumbled. "Well, are you done with your introduction yet?"

"I think that's it. Unless if you wish for me to talk about my hobbies."

"Go ahead if you want."

She smiled and held out her hand. Suddenly, a skateboard came flying at her from a distance. "I love to skateboard in my free time. If any of you skate too, I would love to accompany you to the skatepark. I heard that this city has the best ones in the world!"

Hideo leered at her. "Wait, is that the real reason you decided to join me?"

Kiara laughed. "Oh, come on, brother! You think so little of me! I came here to make sure you're fine. I might as well have some fun while I'm at it."

Hideo sighed. "I think I'm the one who will be watching over you." He smiled. "Not that I mind. I am the older sibling here."

Kiara pouted. "Just don't hover over me all the time, okay?"

"Have I ever?"

She put a finger against her lips. "Well, there was that one time when we first moved. You didn't want me playing with my new friends."

"You barely met them! What if they turned out to be bad people?"

Kiara puffed her chest out. "But they weren't! I'm a pretty good judge of character, after all."

"So you say..."

Sirocco laughed. "Well, how about I introduce myself now?"

"Go ahead!" Kiara said, waving her hand.

The scrawny guy walked over to her and faced the others. "I'm Sirocco Luneare. I'm studying military tactics at Fushi University."

"Fushi?" Hideo said, eyes wide. "Woah, didn't expect someone from there to join my team..."

"I'm a student at Fushi too," Borasco said.

Hideo gave him a deadpan look. "Seriously? How did someone like you get into the top university in all Kuroriku when I couldn't even get in?"

"What was that, half-pint? You want me to punch you?" Borasco asked as lightning gathered in his hands again.

"Calm down, Bora," the girl in all black said, pulling him back. "You're making yourself look bad."

Borasco took a deep breath. "Rude kid."

Hideo grinned. "Don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot, huh?"

Eiichi's cousin sighed. "Well, I might as well introduce myself now, huh?"

"I didn't finish, but alright," Sirocco said, crossing his arms.

Borasco laughed. "What else do you even have to say? You're all about studies and boring regimental stuff."

"That boring stuff has an impact on your life, you know?"

The dark-skinned blond sighed. "I get it. No need to give me that talk for the umpteenth time!"

"Seems I have to as it can't get into your rock-hard head!"

"Oh, I'll show you something else that's rock-hard!" Borasco said, raising his fist at him.

"Guys, guys, if you won't stop fighting, I'm sending you both outside for some time out!" the girl in black said as she pushed the boys away."

The two gasped as they realized they had been sent flying two meters away from where they once stood by freezing winds.

The boys averted their eyes and walked back to join Hideo and Kiara.

"Well, might as well introduce myself while I'm at it. I'm Ponien Lacordia. I do not answer to 'Pony' if any of you are wondering that."

"Aww, but I'm used to calling you that!" Borasco said, grinning.

Ponien glared at him. "Do I need to send you flying outside of the room, Bora?"

Bora raised his arms. "You caught me when my guard was down. You won't have as easy a time pushing me like that again!"

Ponien took a step forward and vanished into a gust of wind. Borasco gasped as she appeared behind him. He jumped back in time to avoid a kick to the back and unleashed a bolt of lightning at the girl.

Ponien formed a barrier of wind and pushed back against the bolt, but it ripped through the barrier and sent her flying back.

The young woman grinned as she came to a halt. "Impressive. If only you were more serious about your duties, Bora."

Borasco scoffed. "You know what happens when I'm serious."

Hideo sighed. Why couldn't this guy be more like the others? He turned to look at the three who hadn't said even a single word all this time.

"So, uh, who wants to introduce themselves next?"

"I guess I might as well do it so that we can start training," a light-green haired woman said. She appeared to be the oldest in the group, looking to be around her mid-twenties or older.

Hideo smiled. "Say, are you from Makkuroyama too?"

"Yes. The name is Chuba Horizonte. My parents were former guards to Grand Duchess Kaze."

"To grandma?" Kiara asked.

She nodded. "Yes. That's why I joined this team; to serve the noble family just as my parents once had. Though, it appears that Lady Kaze's descendants are more laid back than she was, despite everything that happened."

Kiara laughed nervously. "Well, I can't say. Dad doesn't really talk about grandma much. Or grandpa, for that matter."

Chuba crossed her arms. "Is he ashamed of them? Lady Kaze just wanted what she deemed as best for her people. As for whether her decision to turn against Kuroriku was correct or not, I can't say. Though, the royal family doesn't strike me as very impressive either." She glanced at Borasco and scoffed. "Nor do the other noble families. Perhaps, the era of nobility in this country will soon be coming to an end."

"Hey, just because we're laid back doesn't mean that we're useless!" Kiara said. "My big brother here will become a better noble than our grandma was! I'm sure of it!"

Hideo smiled. "Kiara..."

"Even though he is lazy and short-tempered."

"Enough, Kiara!" he yelled. "You should've stopped a long time ago!"

Kiara giggled. "Sorry, big bro."

The short-knight grumbled. She had to have done that on purpose...

"Well, seems he still needs some polishing. I'll be keeping my eye on him," Chuba said, leering at Hideo.

Hideo gulped. What will she do if I don't live up to her expectations?

"He seems like a nice kid, Chuba," a red-haired girl said as she stepped forward.

Chuba scoffed. "You're just saying that because you think he's cute."

Hideo blushed. "I'm not cute!"

The red-haired girl snickered. "That's not it, Chu. I can tell just by looking at him. He's like a crab, has a hard-shell on the outside and a soft inside."

"Sis, can't you pick something I'm more familiar with, like a chestnut?" Chuba asked.

"Ah, you're siblings? Did you hear that, Hide? We're not the only sibling pair in this group!" Kiara said, grinning.

"Why are you so happy about that?" Hideo asked, rolling his eyes at his sister.

"Because family tends to fight harder! It's not all that different from lovers in an army or super close friends."

"You are aware that not all family gets along, right? Even in our family, some of us don't get along."

Kiara laughed. "You mean Sy? You know he just plays tough. He's more of a crab than you. Mom should've called him 'Crabby' instead of Silas."

Hideo laughed. "You're weird, sis." He glanced back at Chuba's sister, who was smiling at them. "Uh, so what's your name?"

"I'm Leva Horizonte. I'm Chu's younger sister. I plan to attend Elitia next year. Well, assuming the war ends by then."

"Same here!" Hideo said, beaming.

"Really? What are you studying? Or have you not decided yet?"

"I plan to go into military studies."

"Ah! If you need help, I'll be willing to teach you what I've learned in Fushi," Sirocco said, smiling.

Borasco gagged. "Don't you get tired of kissing up to your superiors?"

"I'm being polite. Plus, I'm glad to meet someone else who is interested in military studies."

Leva laughed. "It's cute how happy you got as soon as Hideo mentioned it."

Sirocco blushed. "Cute?"

"What are you studying, Leva?" Kiara asked.

"I'm not sure yet. To be honest, I kind of joined to find out," Leva said. "I might go into military studies too, or perhaps I'll go into something dealing with health."

"Not a bad choice. I can assist you if you want," Sirocco said, smiling.

"Really? Thank you so much, Siro!"

"It's nothing, I'm just glad to help," Sirocco said, averting his gaze.

Borasco coughed. "Simp!"

Sirocco glared at Borasco. "What was that?"

The dark-skinned blond whistled. "What was what?"

"Just now, you called me that s-word!"

"What s-word?"

Sirocco's face grew redder. "You know what I mean!"

"Can't you two wait for introductions to be over before you continue arguing?" Hideo asked, glaring at his male teammates.

Borasco grinned. "Good thinking, shorty!"

Sirocco sighed. "I'm glad that the only stupid one here appears to be you."

Borasco stepped toward him as sparks crackled up his arms. "Sorry, Hideo, but I can't wait!"

"You can begin if you wish," a voice called out.

They all turned to look at the white-haired guy leaning against the barricade separating the spectator seats from the battlefield. The young man gave off the aura of an assassin with his cold demeanor.

"Okay," Borasco said, taken aback.

"At least introduce yourself," Ponien said.

The guy closed his eyes. "Fine. The name is Levech."

Hideo and the other six stared at him, waiting to see if he would say anything else about himself.

Levech sighed as he removed his skull-shaped necklace and turned it into what looked to be four interlinked scythes with circles joining them together. "If you wish to know more about me, a battle can tell you more than words can."

Borasco grinned. "Battle, eh? Sorry, Siro. Seems our match will have to wait!" Lightning rained all around him, electrifying the ground itself, forcing everyone else to get away.

"What power," Hideo said, eyes wide as he flew into the air.

Ponien snickered. "That Bora might be a bit of a meathead, but like his cousin, he can back up his words."

Backup his words, huh? Hideo stared at his hands. I need to hurryup and do the same. I have to become stronger if I wish to protect myfamily.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter :). I decided to go back and properly introduce Hideo's group as I mostly focused on Tetsu's over that of the other four knights. Plus, out of the four groups, Hideo's will eventually play a role.**