Carter and I joined the others at the beach, though a couple such as Jude and Hal had gone on ahead. Same with Hideo's sisters, minus Amun.

"Daddy!" a green blur tackled Hideo. A cute little kid around Serein and Raul's age hugged him.

"Daddy?" Carter asked. "You're a dad?"

"Sure am. Twin boys and one girl."

"Who is the mom?" Carter asked, leaning toward the kid to get a better look.

Zefi hid behind his dad.

Carter blinked and pointed at himself. "Huh? Are you scared? But I'm not scary."

Nate laughed. "He's shy."

The strawberry-eyed boy chuckled. "Ohh. I see! Like Jude and Huo!"

Huo huffed. "Or you with girls!"

Carter coughed. "H-Hey!"

"Why didn't you bring him and the other kids to view the tournament?" Koukyuu asked, staring at him like my aunt did whenever she was upset by something Eri did.

Hideo petted his frightened child's head. "Zefi has a tendency to wander off, so I asked Eien to babysit them."

"Good thing too. One missing person was enough," Amun said, leering at him.

"What did I tell you, Zefi?" a voice called out. A red-haired teen rushed over. "Don't wander off!"

"Oh, hey, Eien! Long time no see!" I yelled, waving.

"Eien scary," Zefi said, hugging his dad.

"Scary? I was only trying to get you to eat your veggies!"

Zefi stuck his tongue out. "I don't wanna! They taste yucky!"

Lidia giggled and stared at Huo.

Huo scoffed. "What? They are!"

Eien sighed. "At least you didn't drown, get maimed by a bear, or worse."

Zefi whimpered.

Koukyuu laughed and turned to look at Hideo. "How did you get my nephew to babysit?"

"Money," Hideo answered.

"Isn't he rich?" Yen asked.

Eien scoffed. "Mom gives us a limited amount of money, so I have to make a living some other way."

"You're sixteen," Koukyuu said, snickering.

"Yeah, but I have stuff I want to buy!"

"Such as?" Silas asked.

Eien turned away. "That's a secret."

"Now I really want to know!" I exclaimed.

"Me too and I don't even know the guy," Carter said, laughing.

Eien sighed. "What's with him?" the prince asked, pointing at him.

"He's a little special," Nate said, laughing.

Carter nodded. "Yup, the next Magus Maximus kind!"

Eien leered at him. "The next Magus Maximus?" He scoffed. "Sorry, kid. I'm the next Magus Maximus!"

I laughed. "You're both wrong. We all know who will be the next Magus Maximus."

"Yeah, me!" Yen said, slapping me on the back.

I glared at my sister and pouted. "No, I meant me."

Yen laughed. "I know who you meant."

Adela smiled as she glanced up. "Looks like Kun detected you two," she said as she glanced at the sky.

Kun descended from the sky, landing in front of Yen and me.

"About time you're here!" Kun yelled as he jumped toward us. The matches have already started!"

"Matches?" Carter asked.

"Our class's tournament," I said.

His eyes glimmered. "I want to see!"

Ling raised a hand to her forehead and shook her head. "Such a child."

Hideo twitched upon hearing the remark, causing Koukyuu to chuckle.

"You okay?" Yen asked.

Hideo nodded. "Y-yeah."

Koukyuu crossed her arms. "Seems you're still self-conscious about that after all these years if you react like that when those words are directed at someone else."

Hideo huffed. "I'm not."

"Self-conscious?" Zefi asked, tilting his head.

"It means to be wary of oneself," Koukyuu said, pointing a finger up.

"What's wary mean?"

"Kid must have a small vocabulary," Carter blurted out.

"I have a feeling you were the same when you were his age," Kanja said, smiling impishly.

Carter's cheeks reddened. "Not true! I had a big vocabulary when I was his age! I knew what an aristocrat is!"

"I know that!" Zefi said, smiling. "I'm one!"

Carter's smile vanished. "Do you know what cuisine is?"

He nodded. "Food." His stomach growled.

Koukyuu giggled. "Seems someone could use some of that."

Zefi blushed. "M-Maybe..."

Alex patted the kid's head. "Elliot here can whip you up something tasty."

Zefi glanced at Elliott. "You can?"

Elliot pulled up his shirt's sleeve, revealing a well-toned arm. "Yeah! I can make you anything from noodles to a beef bowl!"

Zefi raised a hand toward his lips. "C-can you make c-curry?"

Elliot nodded. "Yup! I can make a mean, curry!"

Hideo laughed. "If it's curry you want, your dad can make it!"

Elliot grinned. "Want to compete for who can make the best curry?"

"Sure!"

"W-wait! I want noddles!"

"That's fine too!"

I glanced back at Kun. "Speaking of competitions, who has fought thus far?"

"Wanikiya and Ulissis is the only completed one thus far," Kun said with an unusually stern look. "Arima and Vermeil are about to begin theirs."

I smiled. "Did Wani win?"

He shook his head. "No. He lost. His spirit removed all of his power, leaving Wanikiya to have to work with his frail ice magic. Worse, that guy tried to take him over."

I lowered my head. Why was it that my friends kept being taken over? My abysmal hadn't tried to take complete control of me since I first obtained him, but would I end up the same way as Wani and Iah if I let my guard down?

https://youtu.be/ERIV6rjJFo4

I stood in the middle of the ring, waiting for Arima to appear. She had gone with Ulissis to check on Wanikiya. Surprisingly, Alto and Aban didn't accompany the frail Ulissis. Could something have happened between them?

I gasped as I turned toward the west. An had arrived, I could feel it. He must've come with Hal and the others after all. Kun probably felt his triplets, that's why he left after having dropped by at the end of the last match.

"I'm here!" Arima said, causing me to jump.

I gritted my teeth. "Told you not to appear like that!"

Arima shrugged. "I'm going to be doing so throughout this match so you better get used to it."

I smirked. That's what she thinks. Then again, that technique of hers could be a darkness spell instead of a spirit one.

Arima smiled back at me. "That smirk tells me that you got something planned."

"Seems that our girls are rearing to go! Without further ado, begin!" Marina yelled, making a water bubble explode to mimic the sound of a pistol going off.

Arima cupped her hands and formed a sphere of spirit energy.

I calmly put my hands together as if in prayer and formed a single crystal between them.

Arima raised an eyebrow as I remained still. She leaped back and threw it at me.

I opened my hands up, revealing the rainbow fluoride crystal I had made. Arima gasped at the sight of her sphere, or rather lack of it, as it was gone.

"H-how did you do that?" she asked. "Does that crystal let you copy the ability of others? Did you mimic Ulissis?"

I chuckled. It only worked for ghost magic but letting her think it made me an anti-mage wasn't so bad.

Arima spread out her hands and formed two more spheres, throwing them at me as if we were playing a game of dodgeball. I dodged them instead of allowing the crystal to absorb them. Like Ulissis's anti-magic, it had a limit. I could've made more, but I had to conserve my energy for other spells too. If she were to figure out that it only worked against her spirit magic, I would have to counter her darkness magic.

"Dodging, huh? That means I'm right, there is a limit to your imitation!" Arima said, forming two more shadowy balls.

I smiled and formed several rubies in the air. Haroun taught me how to make them over the summer. Big brother spent it diligently training even though he had decided to take an off year before heading off to college. Dad and Mom offered to pay all of his expenses, but that guy wouldn't take it. He was always so straight-laced. While annoying at times, it was also one of the things that I liked about him. It was probably the same for my parents.

Just before Arima's spheres hit me, I formed a shield out of the rubies, sending the attack back at her.

Arima grabbed her redirected attack and threw it into the air. The thing stopped in mid-air and remained there.

Last year's champ snapped her fingers, causing small bullet-sized beams to rain down on the battlefield.

I raised my shield as if it were a makeshift umbrella and ran toward Arima.

The ex-champ chuckled. "Seems that your anti-magic didn't last long." She dashed at me with a hand covered in shadows. This one was a darkness spell.

I threw my ruby shield into the air and cupped my hands. "Diamond Blizzard!"

Arima vanished from sight as a storm of diamonds tore the battlefield in front of me into shreds.

I spun around and directed my falling shield to slam against her, sending her flying.

"You've grown more than I expected," Arima said with a slight smile as she got up.

"Of course I did. I had to." I turned my eyes away. "I need more power to protect my dear friends!"

Her smile widened. "Reminds me of why I became this strong." Shadows spun around her. He held out her hand and transformed her wand into a scythe. "Come at me! Show me how strong your will is, Vermeil."

I transformed my wand into a golden knife and covered it in amber.

Arima raised an eyebrow. "Amber?"

I smiled. "Yes?"

She laughed. "You know what I meant. You usually cover it in diamond."

I nodded as I raised the knife-turned-sword in front of me. "I decided to use amber as it's my signature gem." With my swing of my knight, the ground shattered as a golden beam flew out of it.

Arima gasped. "Was that fire or lightning, or light just now?"

"Solar energy, actually," I said, chuckling as she jumped back. "Amber is a stone that is said to contain a part of the sun."

Arima vanished, dodging my amber sword as it blast through the battlefield like a mighty photon sword. If not for my metal magic, I likely wouldn't have been able to do this.

"Tenebeas Angelus!" Arima chanted. An angel made up of shadows appeared overhead. That was the spell that did Iah in during last year's finals.

I leaped at her, forcing her to warp away. A beam of orange light flew out of the til of my sword, blasting where she had warped to.

Arima sidestepped the attack and watched as a two-meter deep, five-foot wide crater formed.

"That attack sure packs a punch." Her eyes widened as she realized that my prana wasn't being absorbed. "How are you evading my spell's ability?"

I raised my ruby shield. The weapon glowed deep red. "Ruby protects against energy absorption!"

Arima clicked her tongue. Her angel flew down at me and sliced my shield with his sword.

I clung to the half still in my hands and swung the other half to my sword hand using my crystal control. The rubies stuck to the hilt of my sword.

Her angel spell dodged as I swung my sword in front of it. But within a few seconds, everyone realized how futile that was as an arc of orange manifested in the air, slicing the angel.

Arima swung her knife at me. I lifted my sword and slammed the dull end against its side, sending it spinning to the floor.

She vanished from view and appeared behind me. Just as she swung her hand toward my neck, she was pushed back by an invisible force.

Arima was foolish to have covered her hand in that ghostly aura of hers.

She gripped her hand and grumbled.

I raised my hand, covering her feet in diamonds and fluorite. The latter was to prevent her from phasing through them.

"It's over!" I yelled, appearing behind her. Arima gasped as I stuck the back of her neck. She fell to the ground, the face of sheer shock still on her face.

"In a stunning upset, it seems that Vermeil has defeated last year's champion!" Marina yelled.

I smiled. I'd done it. I won against Arima! In that instance, it felt like I stood on top of the world!

**Solar Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thoughts? Predictions?**