I exited the room and headed to the side of the building. Despite not having visited this place since I was Layla's age, I still had a pretty good memory of its layout.

The sweet fragrance of lilac and wisteria struck my nose. It reminded me of the garden at the front of the Imperial Palace.

Usually perfumes irritated my nostrils, but for some reason, flowers didn't do that. Perhaps it was the artificial ingredients in most modern scents.

A path of white stone pointed forward until curving to the right, leading to a diagonal path which met with several others. Smack in the middle of the multitude of crossing roads was a dome the side of an arena surrounded by several pillars.

That place was built for training? Why in the middle of the garden?

A blur of blue and red zipped around within the barrier, punching metal targets that flew all over the place. The bots had red lens on them reminiscent of the lasers on the tanks that King Osamu had dispatched during The Battle of Grand Crater.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked.

The boy turned look at me. "You wish to join me?"

I nodded.

He gasped and jumped up as a red beam fire from one of the bots. "Darn it, got distracted!" The boy dashed straight at it and punched its lens in, causing the robot to collapse to the floor and explode. "There! That should be the last of them!"

"That's a rather expensive training method," I said.

Damien turned to look at me. "It is, but Zafir can fix them up."

I smiled. Had no idea that my cousin was a mechanical genius. Doubt metal powers alone could fix those. The lenses were clearly glass.

"Are you just going to stand around or are we going to spar?" he snapped.

"You remind me of a certain other scarf wearing guy," I said as I entered the dome.

His brow furrowed. "A friend of yours?"

"No. I actually can't stand the guy at times." I scoffed. "He lets his emotions drive him."

Damien curled his hands into fists. "Why are you telling me this?"

I turned my back to him. "As you might make the same mistakes as him if you let your emotions control you. Those who can worm their way in can use them against you or your friends."

"Are you saying that because it happened to that guy you know? Well, I'm different."

I shook my head. "If anything, your reaction is telling me that you're just as childish. Though, you are practically one."

He gritted his teeth and rushed at me. "What do you know?" he yelled.

I caught his fist in my hand and smiled as he managed to push my arm back. "Not bad. You got some talent despite your age."

He yanked his arm back, freeing him fist from my grasp. "Talent? I'm not Marina!"

I ducked his next punch and delivered one of my own to his stomach.

Damien grasped his stomach and roared. Water burst forth out of his hands.

I sighed and snapped my fingers, freezing the water in place. "Talent or hard work, it matters not. These kinds of attacks won't be taking down any of the high-level abysmals. Even low-mid-tiers like Roa would be difficult for you."

"Oh, yeah?" he yelled as he punched through the air. The sheer pressure from his attack pushed me back.

Seems that I still have a way to go with my footing.

I spun around and struck his arm as he flew at me. "Freeze!"

Frost covered Damien completely, causing him to fall to the ground. He gritted his teeth.

"Hmph. An attack like this would easily be shake off by the kinds of enemies I've been up against these past few months."

Damien pushed himself up. "Argh!" The ice snapped off of his body and turned into water spearheads. "Shut up!"

I held out one hand and stopped them in mid-air, not even turning them back into ice.

"Huh?"

I smirked. "What? Forgot that my mother is part Mizu no Kin? While I'm not proficient at water control, attacks like this are nothing for me." With a curling of my hand, the water bullets exploded, raining droplets everywhere.

Damien glared at me. "Stop mocking me!" The air around him started to crackle.

This is Second Heaven. How did he awaken it so young?

I crossed my arms as Damien delivered a kick toward my face.

"Not bad. You had a trick up your sleeve that I didn't anticipate."

Damien let out another roar and kicked me again, flinging me back. I touched the ground and backflipped out of his way. Training with Tetsuya and Setty paid off.

He stopped and took several deep breaths. He cupped his hands together, gathering the navy blue mana into them. "Tenshiha!"

I brandished Baldo and sliced the blast in half. The two halves exploded behind me, nearly flinging me to the ground as it rocked the complex.

Damien's aura covered fist would have struck my chin if I hadn't stepped back. He jumped back and held out just one finger. "Tenshi-Rei Gun!"

I rolled out of the way as he fired his attack. The barrier flickered erratically.

"Tsk. Weak thing," he grumbled.

I smiled. "Wouldn't you be more disappointed if you could do that much in that form?"

Damien smiled slightly. "True." He sighed and reverted back to normal. "You're a tough one, Knight of Baldo."

"So, you've heard of me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He nodded. "Yes, from Zafir before he headed off to your lands to celebrate your birthday."

So, he was aware of what Mother and Kohri had in mind. Not that it was surprising. The guy did assist Rosa in getting Agnes delivered and was going do the same with Donato if he hadn't hurt himself in his distress over being dumped.

"I see," I said, crossing my arms. "Say, what other techniques do you have on your belt?"

Damien smiled and held out his hands. "Axeinos!" His fingerless gloves glowed, transforming into crimson armored gloves with a sapphires on the center where skin was once exposed.

I tilted my head. Was he going to show me one of the techniques exclusive to Axeinos?

"Realm Expansion!"

I gasped as the garden transformed into a circular blue ring surrounded by pillars on each of the cardinal directions. Water sprayed out of the pillars like a waterfall, falling into the sea surrounding us.

"So, Axeinos can bend space."

Damien smirked. "Space isn't the only thing it can distort. Now, how about we continue our fight?"

I eyed the white sky above us. It reminded me of Munil, but with a lot more blue thanks to the sea and central ring.

"Alright," I said, reaching for my sword. This space didn't seem normal. Were there certain rules to this domain?

 I drew Baldo and slashed a ground. My left sleeve fell off as something tore through it. "I see, so there is a trick behind this space."

Damien jumped toward me. "You're the quickest one to fight out! Took even Ranaa a couple hits to figure it out!"

I jumped back, avoiding his fist. He wasn't turning into Second Heaven? Was it because he felt he didn't need it as harming this space would injure me? Or did it take up a lot of mana to maintain this 'Realm Expansion' of his?

The boy smiled as his fist struck the ground. It failed to leave even a scratch. Was it that only the enemy could damage it?

Were the pillars the same?

I leaped over to one of the waterfall pillars and froze the water on it. My body became colder, but that wasn't a negative.

"I figured it out!" I said, smirking. "Freezing Gale!" 

Damien's eyes widened. He leapt back as the ring around him froze.

Ice wrapped around my body rapidly, but I simply pushed the cold air away, causing it to melt.

"This technique of yours would be more effective against the likes of my fellow knights. Even Tetsuya with his defenses would have a hard time against it."

Damien jumped over to another of the pillars and held out his hand. A blue aura flared on his palm and came together to form a sphere made up of multiple spirals. "Tenshimaki!"

I jumped out of the way, but the force of the sphere explosion sent me crashing into the ring. Blood trickled down my mouth. My crash had shattered part of the ring.

So, he had ways to work around his opponent not using physical attacks. Should've guessed it.

Damien jumped down with another of those spheres. This time, he swung his arm toward me before releasing it.

I slapped the sphere away with my sword, sending it crashing into the water where it exploded, causing a torrential rain to fall over us.

My body ached. The surface seemed fine, but was there a part beneath the water that had been damaged? Wait, but that was his attack. Or did the space consider it mine after deflecting it? In that case, I could only dodge like before. If Tetsuya were to fight this guy, he would be in worse trouble than I originally thought.

Damien smiled. Did my face gave away what I was thinking? "Tenshi-Rei Gun!"

I ran past it and froze the ground further. He gritted his teeth as it expanded up his legs.

He fired off his laser, causing the ice encasing him to shatter somewhat. Spinning around, he punched the ice, shattering it. I winced as pain surged up my body. He broke the ice himself, so why was I suffering damage? The rules in this place were more rigged than I thought. No matter, at least it gave me a challenge.

Damien laughed as he staggered toward me with his index finger pointed at me. The kid was on his last legs.

I scoffed. "Give up now. You've lost."

He smirked and fired his ray. I stepped out of the way and watched as it fell into the sea in the distance. The space around us faded, returning us to the garden. Nothing appeared to be out of place, so it couldn't have been some kind of illusion.

"Should've summoned Axeinos," Damien mumbled as he closed his eyes.

I walked over to him and grabbed his arm. "Easy there."

"Hey, Damie, Hyo! We're back!" Mari yelled, running over to us. Her brother and Nahla accompanied her too. "I assume Hyo won your spar?"

Damien opened his eyes and nodded. "Y-yeah."

"Wow, you must be strong, Mister!" Nahla said, looking me with glimmering eyes.

I shook my head. "I wouldn't say that."

Zafir crossed his arms and grinned. "How modest. If you aren't out of it, how about we battle?"

I smiled. "I would like that. I still have to get back at you for what you did on my birthday."

"Huh? What did you do, Brother?"

Zafir laughed weakly. "I might've thrown him back a little far."

A little? He threw me meters away from the gate, after I had nearly died sparring Kohri. Though, Etsuo and Rosa had done a great job at healing us. The former's healing skills, how did he sharpen them in a world of self-healing beings? Or was that simply natural talent?

"Probably was very far. The prince still has to learn to control his strength," Damien said, laughing.

Zafir blushed. "I've been working on it."

"Here," I said, handing Damien over to the girls.

Marina covered Damien in a blue glow, healing his wounds.

"Thanks, Mari," Damien said, smiling as he started to move around like before.

"Let me heal you too, Hyo," she said, grabbing my arm. A refreshing sensation wrapped around my body.

Her skills, they went beyond closing wounds. Was Nahla also as skillful as these two?

"Alright, let's begin!" Zafir said, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, we were transported to a room whose only light came from a giant pool of water.

"What is this place?" I asked.

My cousin smiled as he leapt over to the other side of the five-meter-long pool "This is my personal Angelic Dome. Only a place like this can take the kind of attacks we'll be dishing out.

"May the best fighter win!" Marina yelled from the bleachers, raising a fist into the air.

Zafir smiled. "Oh, I plan to!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Begin!" a female robotic voice yelled.

"Akhzar!" Zafir yelled at the top of his lung. Golden armored covered him from head to toe. That armor wasn't his true weapon, though. Those were the silver chains on his wrists and ankles.

I dashed at the young man and struck him on the back of the neck where his helmet didn't protect with the bottom of my sword. My eyes widened as what appeared to be bone grasped the pommel.

Zafir took deep breaths as his armor started to shift shape, becoming plated and bone-like.

"What in the world?" I said, yanking my sword free.

I crossed my arms in front of me as smoke covered the place, pushing be back.

"I should've warned you against hitting that area. It's a bit of a sore spot for Akhzar," Zafir said as his voice seemed to get farther away.

My eyes darted upward at the giant glowing blue spheres peering down at me. The fog spread out to reveal a fifteen-foot humanoid with golden bone-like plating on its entire body.

Was this one of Akhzar's abilities? What kind of abilities had the other Seven Sea weapons granted their owners?

**Solar Note: So, how many of you caught the references? xD This chapter was another love letter some of my favorite anime.**