Lukas woke up within the exact void he met his darkness, though it was eerily quiet this time around as he looked around. Yet he then saw it again, the darkness that looked like him, but this time it was more clearer than before. Its features were definitely more akin to him as there are some differences that were forming. The eyes were that of a blank white, no pupils or irises from what Lukas could make out. The hair was taking on the similar black hair, though having slight hues of purple. The attire was strange to him, though he couldn't really make out what it was.

Lukas: "You look.... different..."

???: "Because I am different, but not at the same time."

Lukas was suddenly surprised by this sudden development.

Lukas: "You... you can talk!?"

???: "When you utilized my power within you, I was able to learn. I understood you, but I could never convey."

The figure's voice was echoing through the void as it seemed rather strange. He could tell that the voice was a mixture of his and something else, a voice he couldn't recognize at all, being deeper.

Lukas: "Then... what are you..?"

???: "Mortals of the outside refer to me as your inner darkness, born off of your negative aspects. In truth, I came to be because of your past, your emotions. Your hatred. However, that is partially true."

Lukas: "W-What..? What are you saying...?"

???: "I was brought to you because of a higher being. One that has a similar feeling to you. My master and creator."

Lukas: "Your master and.... creator..?"

???: "He calls himself Void. The being that transcends Mortal understanding. An endless abyss is his power. All creations and I are connected telepathically as we are the same, but not at the same time."

Lukas was not fully getting the idea as he was trying to process this. His inner darkness is something else that ended up apart of him because it was drawn to him? The purpose he wouldn't know per say but things aren't exactly adding up just yet.

Lukas: "Then... What about the visions...? Why am I constantly reliving nightmares and even seeing a vision of someone else..?"

???: "That is due to my connection towards the other creations. We are able to detect each other as we can tell who is who as each of us are unique due to our chosen. You are different to others. You contain large reserves that allows me to feast to stay alive. My brethren require reserves to occupy the chosen."

Lukas: "So... Your leaching off of me!?"

???: "Leaching and feasting to us are no different. I am forever a part of you until our master deems so."

Lukas then sighed, trying to process this again, but he realizes something that he didn't quite get.

Lukas: "Do you have a name..?"

???: "Names are fruitless for us. As we are deemed to be just mere created pawns for our master."

Lukas: "W-Well... I can't just continuously referring you as my inner darkness when we talk... Since I already got Veladora living as a part of me as well at the moment..."

???: "Very well. You shall name me as I will be your servant. However I shall take over when you can't do more as it is to protect me from disappearing out of existence."

Lukas could tell that means death, though he had to come up with one on the spot. He has studied a bit of different languages, especially since he joined an Academy that might have Supernatural from different areas of the entire world, so he had to come up with something. Then it finally hit him on what to name his inner darkness.

Lukas: "How about Kage?"

???: "Kage?"

Lukas: "It means 'shadow' in Japanese. When I look at you, you look like me but as if I was looking into my shadow. I think it fits... right?"

Lukas was a little unsure on if he is making the right decision right now to name an entity that is seen as his inner darkness. The figure did a bowing gesture as it was being respectful, throwing Lukas off guard.

Kage: "For now I am Kage. I accept the name as you are my temporary master and constant chosen."

Lukas: "R-Right..."

But then suddenly, a bright white light was surrounding him, confusing him as he was confused on what was going on, starting to panic.

Lukas: "W-WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

Kage: "You are returning to the real world. You'll awaken."

Lukas then closed his eyes as he opened them again, sitting up as he was breathing in and out heavily as he could feel the cold sweat dripping down his own face. 

Wilson: "Look at that! He's awake everyone!"

Lukas then noticed Wilson who seemed rather glad or just genuinely excited to see him alive and well. 

Lukas: "W-Wilson...?"

Wilson: "Yep~"

Lukas: "W-What happened...?"

Wilson: "Well~ That Reaper lady brought you back here, apologized and went on her merry way. That was yesterday."

Lukas: "Y-Y-YESTERDAY!?"

Wilson: "Yeah. You were out cold for a while, though we didn't know why. Plus Zai allowed us to keep an eye on you for the time being while we progress through this Exam together."

Wilson then offered his hand, which Lukas accepted as he got up to his feet. 

Wilson: "So? You up for some action bud?"

Lukas: "Maybe..."

Shoto: "Glad to see you up Misaki."

Saruei: "Same here."

Both Saruei and Shoto arrived to where the two were as Saruei was the most glad that Lukas was alright since she did view him as a friend. Shoto was glad that Lukas was alright since a Human death wouldn't be on his conscious, but then again, he was reminded of what Lukas is, which made him scoff.

Shoto: "Don't get any wrong ideas pal. You are alright for now, but as long as you show no hostility towards me, we should be okay. I had a long talk with Saruei."

Saruei: "Yeah. He tended to be a pain in the ass sometimes. However I decided to have a talk with him a little while ago about his past and himself. So he won't be causing you any problems as long as you remain on his good side yeah?"

Lukas chuckled awkwardly as he had no idea on how to respond to that. Though shortly after that, the group led by Shoto managed to the centre within a couple of days, about a day left before the Exams would come to an end. It was uneventful to say the least as Shoto made sure to find paths that would lead them away from the monsters as they don't want to fight too often. 

Yet they did find no difficulties along the way due to Shoto's keen sense of smell, Wilson's scouting capabilities and Saruei's tracking skills. Lukas mostly went along and helped out whenever he could, trying to forget about his fight with Calli as much as he could as he doesn't want to dwell on it too much. He is aware of the fact that Calli won't be after him anymore, yet what was mostly plaguing his mind on his journey was the talk he had with Kage, the inner darkness so to speak.

Yet when the four arrived to the centre of the island, which seemed to be a form of an outpost, they made their way inside, being possibly the first group to actually arrive. Yet they all managed to settle down, but tonight, Lukas wanted to be by himself as he locked himself in his room. He felt rather comfortable now that he wasn't in the outside forest, yet he felt like he needed the rest since he made it to safety. He face planted onto the bed as he felt rather comfortable, turning to face the ceiling.

Veladora: "Hey Lukas~ Mind if we have a normal face to face talk~?"

Lukas then sighed, figuring that now might be a better time than any. So he sat up straight, lifting his hand as the ring swirled into energy before turning into Veladora herself. She sighed in satisfaction as she stretched a bit, feeling rather happy.

Veladora: "Oh it feels great to be out and about~"

Lukas: "I guess..."

Veladora: "So buddy, how was your Exam~?"

Lukas: "Weren't you...?"

Veladora: "Watching the whole thing? Nah~ The rest of it was really boring for me to watch really. You got through without too much difficulty because of you not fighting any monsters. Though, there was one thing I wanted to talk to you about."

Lukas: "That being...?"

Veladora: "It was about the fight you had with the Reaper. You managed to handle yourself against her quite well, especially for a novice."

Lukas: "I was just.... improvising...?"

Lukas wasn't really sure himself since after the day he tapped into his inner darkness the first time during his Academy life, he always had this strange feeling of knowing what to do, yet at the same time not. He was mostly going with the flow while also trying to keep himself in check, but the fight with Calli was different. His inner darkness co-operated with him and he managed to learn how to create his own form of Magic on the fly that helped him in the end, while also being a double edged sword.

Veladora: "Really~? I've been thinking~ I noticed you using that Fire Form technique, shifting between your physical form into a Fire Form state. Fire shifting if you will. Though I did notice something, you were using a natural force to form an unnatural one. Which is a first for me. Yet it makes me so excited to see what else your mind can think of!"

Veladora was beaming with excitement as her pupil, an Omni Magician is advancing the power to new heights in such a short time span. Yet Lukas couldn't help but smile lightly about it.

Lukas: "Well... While I was fighting, it felt like I was using a different style of fighting over all..."

Veladora: "Oh~ How about we give that fighting style a name~?"

Lukas: "A name..?"

Veladora: "You see, through the many generations of Omni Magicians, each one essentially had their own fighting styles that fit them the best. Yet I believe you just discovered the one that suits you! Being able to Flame Shift isn't easy as technically mostly Phoenixes should be the only ones to be able to do it as they are literally made out of fire. Yet you did like it was second nature, which makes me believe that you have discovered your fighting style! So come on, give it a name."

Veladora was excited about what Lukas could come up with next as this is the most fun she has had in a long time. Though Lukas thought about it for a moment, he realized that she was right about something, which made him come up with the name in the process.

Lukas: "Say Vela, how about the Phoenix Style?"

Veladora: "Oh~?"

Veladora was intrigued by that name, putting her hand to her chin, making a thinking pose.

Lukas: "You mentioned that Phoenixes can shift their bodies because they are literally made out of fire. The Flame Shifts that I did was probably similar, though it did hurt me while also increasing over all chances, like a double edged sword of course. However with enough practice, I can make it work, perhaps even add more forms of Magic into the mix if I try hard enough right?"

Veladora: "You're absolutely correct!"

Veladora then suddenly appeared right next Lukas, hugging him into an embrace as she was rubbing her cheek against his constantly as she felt somewhat like a proud parent if she ever had a child.

Veladora: "Oh I'm so proud of your way of thinking!"

Lukas felt relatively embarrassed as he wasn't used to this kind of action at all.

Lukas: "C-Can you s-s-stop...?"

Veladora then stopped in place for a second, blinking a few times in confusion as she realized what he was thinking, making her appear standing originally where she was.

Veladora: "Oh my bad! I didn't know that you weren't comfortable with that kind of thing."

Lukas: "It's fine.... I'll figure things out in the morning onwards... As for now, I think I need some sleep, especially with the things I went through..."

Veladora: "Sure thing~ Take care~"

She then swirled into energy as she formed into the ring on his finger again as he sighed, rubbing his eyes a bit. He then rested on the bed, thinking back a bit to his fight against Calli first. 

It did start off on the wrong foot as she wanted to kill him for understandable reasons, from his perspective at least. Yet over time, even though it was a life or death situation, he was able to adapt and keep up in a way, even if he was improvising in the process, not really sure on what he was doing at times. Yet he did eventually talk her out of killing him, helping her with her own understanding of being... mortal you could say. He never really knew much about romance as he was unknowingly engaged to someone who technically is somewhat of a badass who could've been way out of his league. Yet he somehow managed to help Calli get a hold on the very concept of love, which might never help him, but it did help her so he took it as a win on that front.

Then he thought about his talk with Kage, the inner darkness. He remembered that it mentioned something about its creator, Void. Void did sound rather terrifying, whoever he might be. However the thing that he was trying to figure out is how to now co-operate with Kage so that he wouldn't get into situations which could cause him more harm than success. Sure Kage somehow managed to help him learn the Phoenix Style in that fight, but it doesn't mean that he will be able to handle Kage's overwhelming power that it might exude. 

He then just decides that it would be best just to sleep it off and figure it out as he went along, so he fell asleep soon after.....

A/N:

Hey sorry for cutting the Mid-Year Exams short, however there is a good reason to this really. The Mid-Year Exams for the First Year wasn't really as exciting or impactful as the original intention was to test how quick they could get to a place without lacking survival skills and things like that. The students who don't make it would be kicked out of the Academy, but since Lukas made it with Wilson, Shoto and Saruei, he passes along with them. The Mid-Year Exams were quite uneventful besides the important encounter with Calliope Mori, so now with this, the next few chapters are fillers before the next arc, so I hope you don't mind there being less action and there being more central lore build up. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya in the next update!