"Such speed. Think she's faster than you, Yen," Hikaru said as we watched Tamara pummel Aurelius to the ground. By the time he finished speaking, Aurelius crashed to the literal floor.

Tamara smiled at her opponent and she stood at the edge of the crater.

"Yeah, she is," Yen said. "Probably an entire mach quicker."

"Incredible," Yuzuki said, gawking.

"Think it's safe to say it's over," Hal said. "Aurelius isn't even moving."

True, but it's odd that Ms. Key had yet to call the match for her. Could Aurelius still have a trick up his sleeve?

"That girl, she's as strong as Aida," An mumbled.

"Yeah. Glad that Jude lost after all. He would've been crushed fighting against her."

"Actually, your brother probably would've performed the best," Yen said. "Snow absorbs sound. With plenty of it, he would've weakened her spells."

"Oh, yeah. Jude probably would've come up with that plan. Though, the question is if Tamara would've even given him the chance to set up the snow. Aurelius didn't land a single hit on her."

Adela crossed her arms. "That girl used more power against Aurelius than she did against Mira. She must've seen him as a worthier opponent."

"Seems like it," I said. I smiled as Tamara walked back. Thus far, that girl was the most impressive one out of the eight. Though, Nate didn't show his full power either during yesterday's match. Carter probably wouldn't manage to bring it all out, but Tamara could.

Not that I would discount the guy. Those intense flames sure were something. They reminded me a little of Zelde's. Could he have had something sealed in him too? Except, his body couldn't take them, so he would be an imperfect host. Or could he have an autoimmune disease, causing his natural defenses like his prana veil to attack himself?

"What's on your mind?" Yuzuki asked.

"Just thinking about the next match. It could either end quickly or drag on. Hopefully, it'll be a good one. One-sided battles aren't very fun to watch."

"Nor participate in," Adela said.

I nodded. She was right. My bout against Iah prior to going to the ruins was no fun. It was funny to think about, considering I always wanted to overpower everyone else. Maybe being the strongest wasn't all it was cracked out to be. Then again, there were always people getting stronger to try to knock one out. I wouldn't mind so much being a pillar to climb.

"Thinking about Iah?" Yen asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Wished that our last match could've been more fun. Hopefully, he can recover his powers."

"Yeah, but what we should want is for his mental health to improve," Adela said.

I smiled. "True, but a nice rematch wouldn't hurt."

"You and your priorities," Yen said, huffing.

I laughed. "It'll mean he's doing well, though." I put a hand on my chest. "Trust me, Iah has the heart of a warrior."

Adela smiled. "True. As do you and Nyima." She stared at the battlefield and gasped.

"What's wrong?" I asked, turning my attention back at it.

Tamara lowered her hand and turned around. It was as if she waited for Aurelius to try something but it never came. She kicked the ground as if in disappointment and stomped away.

"She probably shouldn't have gone too hard on him if she wanted to have a more interesting fight," Hikaru said, sighing.

Hal laughed. "Yeah!"

I narrowed my eyes. A faint sensation of wind prana hung over the ring. "That's not it. Something feels off."

Adela nodded. "Aurelius slipped away," the High Priestess of Xian said.

Tamara turned around and blasted Aurelius with the energy she had gathered. Aurelius burst into thousand feathers.

"A substitution spell?!" Hikaru said, jumping to his feet. "When did he find time to cast that?"

"Think it was while he was laying down," Adela said. "Tamara shouldn't have given him the chance to retaliate. It could now backfire on her."

Tamara's head shifted left and right in frantic desperation to find him. She cupped a hand around her ear. Her brow furrowed. It seemed she couldn't pick up on any sound coming from him.

What kind of spell could do that? Make one's presence vanish almost completely. None came to mind other than the one that the mercenaries sent to capture me had. But that was more refined than whatever Aurelius was using.

"Where did he go?" Yuzuki asked, glancing around.

"I can sort of feel his prana, but it's spread throughout the ring," Adela said.

"Explains why the girl looks so puzzled," Yen said.

"Let me see if I can locate him," An said, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, hold it! You should be more frugal or else you'll run out of prana," Hal said, putting a hand on his teammate's shoulder.

An smiled slightly. "I'll be fine. I might not have access to the kind of power that I used to at the moment, but a spell like this should be simple enough. After all, it's nothing like riding Psyche Draco to Hoin."

Hal crossed his arms. "True, but you almost crashed into the library while doing that."

"He what?" Yen exclaimed.

Hal nodded and laughed. "Yeah, he almost ran into my library at the last moment. He didn't have the energy to slow it down, so his only option was to undo it in midair. If not for Jude making a pile of snow to soften his landing, he would've gotten badly hurt."

If Sarah were to hear that, she would probably blow her gasket.

"I admit, I overdid it there." An lowered his head. "I was in a rush to see you guys again. Adela was the only one I'd seen up to that point."

Adela sighed. "I knew that I shouldn't have let you go. You've proven to be as reckless as Lei."

I opened my mouth in protest but quickly stopped myself. She had a point actually. I probably would've done the same in his situation.

An raised his head.

"Hold it, let me do it," a voice called out. We turned around and saw Hideo enter the skybox we were viewing the event from. The place had drinks and video games. It looked like a hotel room more than part of the stadium. Then again, we were inside of a boat so this whole place was pretty crazy, to begin with.

Though, there were some boxes like this during the Mahoulympics. Grandfather viewed the events from one with a balcony. Must be nice to be king. Once I become Magus Magus, I should retrofit one with a kitchen to make myself some honey chicken!

"Lei?" Yen said, waving a hand over my eyes.

"Huh?" I asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're daydreaming again."

My face reddened. "I was?"

Adela laughed.

Hideo chuckled as he leaned toward the glass. "Reminds me a little of my sisters."

He held out what appeared to be a scope.

"See anything?" Yuzuki asked.

"Yeah. He's above her, recovering. There's a multitude of feathers above her."

Tamara's eyes widened. She glanced up and shot into the air. A barrier of wind appeared, creating a shockwave that shattered the football field-sized ring.

"Did she just hear you?" Hikaru asked.

"I think so. Never met someone with such good ears before. Even Silas's ears aren't that good."

I watched as rubble rained down on Tamara and presumably Aurelius. A spherical wind storm tore through the dust cloud and sent emerald feathers falling like meteors.

Tamara jumped and watched as the feather stopped short of hitting the ground. She turned to the left and saw as more came from her right.

"Those feathers, they aren't producing any sound," Yen whispered. "At least, none that is audible to me from here."

"Emerald feathers," Hideo mumbled to himself.

"Are you familiar with his technique?" I asked.

"Yeah. I learned it during my first visit to Vandavale."

"When you were assigned to guard the Ziz?" Adela asked.

Hideo nodded. "Yeah. That land of the fateful final battle."

"Ziz? The legendary bird?" Yen asked.

"Yeah. I had to guard it at one point."

"What did you need to guard a beast that powerful from?" I asked.

Hideo stared at Aurelius punching Tamara in the gut, sending her crashing into the field of sand and pebbles.

"The Pillars of Destruction."

I gritted my teeth. "The Pillars, huh?"

Hideo gave me a solemn look. "Did Adela tell you about them?"

"Yeah, but I also met one in person."

He grabbed my arm. "Which one?"

"The Rat Pillar."

He gasped. "The Rat Pillar? How can that be? The portal was closed."

"Not the one who tried to capture the Ziz, but the ancient one," Adela said.

"An ancient Pillar? Wait, that's right, only four of the pillars my generation met were original members. That leaves the Rat, Tiger, Rabbit, Horse, Sheep, Rooster and Dog." He gasped. "Wait, it's the one within Iah, isn't it?"

I nodded.

He turned away. "That idiot. If only I could've stopped him."

"Wait, what about the original Pig?" Adela asked.

"That one was killed by two of the Seven Hills." Hideo touched his chin. "Come to think of it, I wonder if Iah's abysmal might know how to get back to the abyss."

"Nyima told you to give up on that. Those creatures are dangerous! Ratmir almost killed us all!" Adela snapped.

Yuzuki nodded. "We're lucky that he wasn't at full strength, else we might've been killed by that Blade of Ruin."

Hideo gritted his teeth. "I know, I fought one of those monsters before. It took a lot to finally bring that beast down. Though, if Iah is the host, maybe he could open the pathway."

"I said no! You aren't going to have Iah use that power again!" Adela snapped, standing up. She bolted out of the room and slammed the door.

"Scary," Hikaru mumbled.

Hideo nodded.

I sighed and stood up. "I'll go and talk to her."

"Let me do it," Yuzuki said, getting up.

"You? No offense, but you aren't exactly the best of friends," Yen said.

"That's why I'm the best one to talk to her."

"Huh?" Yen and I said in unison.

Yuzuki sighed. "She would probably hide her pain in front of you. Especially you, Lei."

I lowered my eyes. Yuzu had a point. Adela, she didn't say it anymore, but I knew she still blamed herself for what happened at the ruins.

"I should probably be the one to do it," Hideo said, sighing. "I am the one who made her mad, to begin with. That said, Iah's already resorted to using that power again."

Right, Elliot had mentioned that. He had turned to it to shift the flow of the war, but it didn't work out. Ratmir wanted more control. In the end, Iah could only think of giving himself up to the enemy to secure the escape of Hal and the others from Sera.

Yuzuki smiled. "I'll go with you, to serve as the moderator."

"I should go too," An said. "As a friendlier face."

"Alright," Hideo said, smiling slightly.

"Better be prepared to bow as she didn't sound happy at all," Hal said, snickering.

Hideo smiled. "It's alright. I have experience dealing with angry royal women."

"Uh, is that something to be proud about?" Hikaru asked with narrowed eyes.

"It definitely isn't," Yen said, glaring at the knight.

Hideo laughed nervously and ran for the door. Before he could pass through it, all of us were sent flying to the floor.

"What in the world was that?" Hikaru asked, staggering up.

I pushed myself up and gasped. Aurelius laid on the ground, bloodied. Tamara grunted as she held her left arm. The sleeve of her dress had been torn. Blood trickled down it, dyeing the white fabric crimson.

"What did we miss?" Yen asked.

"Tamara broke through the wind barrier by force and unleashed a hypersonic wave at him," Hal said, scratching his head.

"You saw it?"

"Yeah, unlike you, I actually paid attention to the whole thing. That girl, Tamara, she's well above average." He touched his chin. "So much so, that I can't help but think of the Hierarcians."

"Wait, you think she's one of them?" Yen asked, watching as Tamara panted. Ms. Key had yet to call the match again.

"No, but her power is just like theirs."

An nodded. "Said as much earlier."

Hal eyed Tamara. "Yeah, but this girl more so resembles Benjamin than Aida."

"The sound guy?" Yen asked.

"Yeah. He would zip around and make short work of his opponents. In fact, they kind of look alike. She even resembles the girl that Yanyu described. That woman gave a her a lot of trouble."

That was frightening to hear. I had to depend on my teammates to distract Yanyu and gather a ton of energy in order to take her barriers down during the games. That a single person could do that to her...

Yen narrowed her eyes. "Wait, so you do think she's a Hiearchian!"

Hal shrugged. "I wouldn't say that, but it's a possibility. We have to be careful around that girl."

I sighed. "Great, more suspicious people. Thought we had enough of that last year with Ren and the others."

"Yeah," An said, scratching his head. "At this rate, we're going to become paranoid."

Hal chuckled. "Well, being cautious is always my mode of operation. Last year's events solidified that."

"Well, it seems that the winner is Tamara!" Ms. Key yelled.

"We better go heal him," Yuzuki said, staring at her device. "It looks like that blast blew out his ears."

"Looks like Adela already has it handled," Yen said. She pointed at Adela as she rushed toward Aurelius and Tamara.

"I probably should handle his ears," Hikaru said.

Yuzuki turned around and opened a portal. The siblings walked through it and emerged on the sand-covered battlefield.

Tamara's eyes widened as soon as she saw them. She looked like she had never seen space magic before. Well, considering how rare it was, she probably hadn't.

"What does Hikaru plan to do? He lacks healing spells," Hal said as he dusted himself off.

I watched as Adela stepped aside, allowing Hikaru to attend to Aurelius. He crouched down and placed his hands over the injured first year's arms. A silver light emanated from Hika's hands and covered Aurelius.

Yen smiled. "You'll be surprised. Hika didn't spend all of winter vacation twiddling his thumbs."

Hal gasped as Aurelius's wounds vanished completely.

"Is that a time spell?" An asked.

Yen nodded. "Yup! Hikaru's rewinding time. The only issue is that he can't use it on himself. But, basically, he can heal someone by reversing time on the body. Though, it might result in the person forgetting what caused them to get hurt in the first place. Plus, lost experience."

Aurelius opened his eyes and touched his head. He glanced around in confusion.

"I see," An said. "Wait, think that he could rewind time on me or Sarah? Well, maybe Sarah would have more to lose considering everything she had been through, but I was in a coma for most of that time."

"No, he can only rewind time so far. Right now, it's only a couple of minutes. Hika must've reverted that guy to the state he was in after he had healed himself," Yen said.

"So, he would still remember getting pummeled by Tamara, harsh," Hal said.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. He probably thought that everything he had done after he healed failed.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter ^^. This was the first chapter since Blade of Ruin 123 to be narrated by Lei. The good news is that a gap that big won't happen again (at least for a long while)**