As the connecting foliage around Zack began snapping, his head turned to the advancing footsteps. A grin only became bigger, and soon, it was a plethora of different Demonears leaping towards the great prize.

Amongst the faces, there was none other than Jyuzou, raising his spear, as discs spun out of the wind and homed in to slice the thread in half, up until Zack simply raised one hand, forcing the shrub beneath him to move.

There and then, a few big flying bugs and one a few mixes called nosfas flew out at rapid speeds, seemingly caused by the same wind that Jyuzou tried using in his favour. His aim faltered, then, as the disc flew upwards, slicing through leaves, as he tried to avoid the entourage.

The other Demonears found themselves in a similar predicament. It was either the snakes there, the cow from earlier or even the sheep chasing them towards the course's finish line, cutting them off at the last second.

"Almost there!" Alice pointed. "They're all distracted! Now's our chance!"

However, Mike didn't respond, as he and Alice were already too busy being chased by the massive bull that forced him to scream out in terror and shift Jyuzou's attention to the other copses momentarily.

He fixed his glasses in disbelief before another swarm of the same bugs floated up and found themselves rustling through his hair.

"Great idea, that one." a gasp came from the left of Alice, as Judy joined the run with a sly smile. "The bull might just cut through the vines by itself."

"Oi! We're still not friends, Judy-girl!" Alice raised her voice, before pointing the grappler forward, closing one eye and shooting forth rather blindly. Mike leapt to put his hands on her shoulders. Judy quickly grabbed his hand, and then, the rubber attached itself to Jyuzou, who barely managed to stand.

Another crash led more birds hiding in different spots to emerge and storm towards the few Demonears desperately trying to win.

Zack raised his brow, as the bull passed right below the foliage. He smirked, turning to the four.

It was now a battle of wits, annoyance and alike. Jyuzou desperately pushed the grappler and Alice off his body, trying to raise himself. Mike grabbed his arm sleeve, pulling him back down, and Judy came to strike the boy in his shoulder.

Finally, however, the Morian managed to leap to the side, nearing one of the lakes. While the three wrestled, he spat out a small twig that had found itself in his mouth and quickly threw it towards the water with ground teeth.

A massive gust appeared, raising the liquid level, forcing everyone's gaze to focus on the moment, giving him enough momentum to force the newly created wind into a disk with his spear. The wind sliced through the green thread he still held onto.

Then, there was silence for a few moments. After Zack signalled the winner, a few annoyed gasps sounded, letting Jyuzou breathe out.

"No fair," Alice muttered, rubbing her hurt cheek. "He always wins this damn thing! When's our turn?"

Mike coughed out. "At this point, I don't think it's about winning."

"How else will we prove our might, Mike?" he shook him by the shoulders.

"Maybe it's high time you show us what your Guardian Demon can do!" he pointed, furrowing his brows.

Alice opened her mouth, clearly pondering his words for the next few seconds. "No can do." she raised a finger. "It's too powerful."

"Great job, there, Jyuzou." Judy sighed, stretching around and forcing her pike back into a longer sheath. "Won again."

"You have to take any opportunity," he muttered. "Though, I guess saying it doesn't cut it."

"I'm almost there, I think. I leapt onto these two idiots when I had the chance, otherwise, I'd be one of the last."

"You three were the last to arrive in the centre either way," Zack muttered, walking over to the two. Jyuzou turned, and so did Judy, but only one of them was a little unsure. "It doesn't change much, but the more time you give yourself earlier, the more time you have later. Good job, Jyuzou. Great thinking there."

The Morian slowly nodded, before glancing away. Zack stared at him for a while longer, before taking out a sheet of paper, checking around the other contestants.

***

In the heat of the moment, everything seemed to slow down. Parrying one more attack, Atomu bounced from Mihua's onslaught, sliding around the hills and forcing his feet still around the rocks nearing the river.

One press of the boot reassured him about his position, as ground teeth forced him to focus. Mihua spun in the air like a klefsender heading for its prey, and it was now high time to think.

How was ground meant to counter air? Even though both were the same and then, the solution appeared in his mind.

Sticking the sword into the grass rather harshly, a shockwave followed, shaking the nearby water and forcing itself to create a small hole near the end.

Atomu's gaze intensified, as he made sure it was to count as well. Mihua smiled, inching closer by the second, and that's when the ground rumbled, ever so lightly.

Atomu raised his hand in front of his weapon, as thick chunks of hardened dirt and rock sprawled out from beneath and connected to a thick boulder controlled by his fingertips.

Though, with one sling of the weapon, it was shot forward into the storm created by Mihua. It surely didn't miss, mainly because the thousands of particles that followed his faux ascent started diminishing.

However, Mihua stuck his hand out, digging the dirt out of the boulder, forming it into an attack with his hammer, which headed right for the Paladian.

Atomu jumped up, creating a wall big enough to raise himself above the attacker, before help arrived, quickly noticed by the Ainan.

Chyuuichi ran forward, spinning his scythe around the axis. Letting the ice settle, it sprawled to his feet, speeding his step, quickly outwitting the opponent. He reached his frosty hand, trying to grab Mihua, though, with a tug and a forceful bend, the only thing it did touch was the wall Atomu stood atop.

The Paladian screamed out, and the Mirillian ground his teeth before the frozen chunks popped off into bits and forced Atomu to fall.

Chyuuichi breathed out, rather harshly, before breathing in again, with a shaky gasp to follow. The air around him transformed, as he fixed his attire and reached his scythe out.

It froze, and the few chunks left in midair were connected from it by the same crystals, forcing Atomu to stay there for the next few seconds.

One glance from Chyuuichi, however, and their plan seemed simple. The Mirillian smiled, and even the Paladian managed to sneak an unsure smirk.

Mihua stood behind them, readying his hammer for another throw into the game before everything unfolded.

Chyuuichi closed one eye, with the present freezing wind barely slowing the Ainan, but to a point where the two had a slight advantage.

Atomu jumped, reaching his hand out again, as the frozen bits of ground connected into the thickest crystal among those smaller ones connecting with that still line, before Atomu hurled it forward.

With one faster swing, Mihua destroyed it, but that gave Atomu enough momentum to smash the sword into the ground again. The small quake present made Mihua stumble, and when the disjointed crystals surrounded him, connected by the line of frost, Chyuuichi raised, readying an attack.

Mihua's smile wavered, then and then.

"You win!" he screamed, putting his hands up and dropping his hammer.

With a grin, Chyuuichi laughed out loud. The crystals fell to the ground, and Atomu let go of the Knrhum's Blade with a heavy breath.

The Ainan brushed the sweat off his forehead before the Paladian stepped over to lend a hand.

"Teamwork makes the dream work, eh?" Mihua asked, before rolling his eyes and forcing another smile. "I'm still yet to see each of you win by yourselves, ohoho!"

"No worries!" Chyuuichi put his hand over Atomu's shoulder and jumped up. "My buddy and I are always there for each other's backs."

Atomu slightly nodded, sharing a similar smile.

"If that's your idea. Though, must say, you're getting quite creative with your abilities. Glad that at least one thing got solved in this mess." Mihua fixed his glasses, standing up. He put his hands on his hips, before turning towards the plains stretching further away from the the temple.

Zack's group followed suit soon enough, meeting the few Demonears huffing and puffing on the hills, as their attention diverted to two things flying through the skies.

Jyuzou cleared his throat, whispering something to Judy. Chyuuichi squinted in disbelief and Atomu sighed, folding his arms.

"They're at it again, aren't they?" Mihua asked, turning to the two.

It was practically everyone out there on the fields of Malikan staring at the same thing.

Genni turned, throwing her weapon to the ground as Ingo did the same, shaking his fists. "Good work today," he muttered, breathing out, before looking up, as Genni's gaze focused on the same thing. "Though, I wish we had the ACTUAL teacher evaluating our moves."

"They're at it again." Genni chuckled. "Boy, oh boy, the scale's only getting bigger by the minute."

"Not a good thing if it means sacrificing our good work!" Ingo raised his voice, sitting on the ground and slamming it with his fist.

"Ingo, come on." Genni grinned. "Let him have his moment."

Ingo sighed. "He had a lot of those recently."

Morio and Zhen floated through the air, carried only by the strengths of their Pneumas. The green dragon expanded, as it rested outside of Zhen's spirit, covering a great chunk of the sky.

Chyuuichi clenched his fist, as he always did, with Atomu stopping his happy tears. However, everyone else got used to the monumental sight.

However, not many people there saw the purest form of it, as Zhen once said. In their eyes, it was the two floating through, with translucent apparitions carrying them through the skies.

Pneumas, as described by a whole lot, served as an extension of what the human body could do. The spirit with unwavering faith created the strongest power housed inside the body. A few Demonears even wondered if it was stronger than the demons, but then again, some insisted it was a league of its own.

An untouched past, forming a hopeful future.

Morio smiled, bouncing off the air before readying his fist, as a light blue coated it and sprawled out above his shoulder to form a figure floating in the air.

The hands of the shadow were extended. A tail wrapped around the head with two ears sticking out the top, fur moving down to match Morio's figure.

It was nothing but a small Yule snoscat, though, the apparition was much bigger than that, yet smaller than what Zhen created.

The Ainan moved forward, as a slight tap of the leg forced the dragon to soar and open its mouth, heading right for Morio's attack. One sling of the fist, and the cat slashed into the Pneuma's body, without leaving much of a mark.

There were limits to what could be achieved during training. The dragon slightly faltered and Zhen fell back, heading closer towards the ground, while Morio soared to raise triumph.

The cat's tail wagged the second his smile became bigger, as he headed right for the prize. Then, though, when the Ainan crossed his arms, the dragon soared to push from above.

A few gasps followed as Morio closed one eye, now surely heading for the crash, as Zhen chuckled. 

Though, at the last moment, much like back then, something else happened. Taking Bancho's wand out, the boy teleported and bounced right back up.

The dragon followed, with Zhen staying behind and floating for a few more seconds. The last bits of the tail allowed him to swiftly roll off at the end and as opposed to the Morian, he used his hands to control the beast with ground teeth.

It felt heavy, and the same could've been spoken about Morio, as he only broke sweat after sweat, bouncing around the air to run away quickly enough.

However, in the end, he had to decide, as he turned with ground teeth and tried facing the opponent head-on. Zhen raised a brow quickly enough, as even more gasps sounded and he bit his lip in retaliation.

Morio headed straight for the offence, extending the cat's paw to slash through the dragon's defence.

However, at the last moment, he saw it retreat towards Zhen's body, and the Morian slammed himself to follow through with that notion. The cat leapt, and so did he, and through exhaustion and a tight yell, his fist met Zhen's as the apparitions disappeared and flailed back to their bodies.

The two breathed heavily, hand meeting hand, gaze meeting gaze.

Zhen's pure white pupils faced the darkness with a sparkle of Morio's, and the Morian smiled behind his clenched fist.

With one final push, he took a step forward, forcing Zhen to bend slightly, before the Ainan collapsed, raising his hand.

Then, cheers sounded around the plains, hills and even the forest where a few still struggled to get out of that other fiasco.

It wasn't that Morio defeated a tyrant, but the show was spectacular enough to give them a reason to scream out.

"Pneumas, huh?" Genni muttered, glancing around and fixing her glasses with her wrists. "Your inner soul fighting for the right thing. I wonder how far you can fly with that power in your hand."

"You're sounding like Jyuzou," Ingo added.

"His diary."

"Figured." he nodded. "Though, man. Morio gets one thing taken away and finds another to play around with. Wonder what my spirit animal is."

"Probably a bull or something along those lines."

"Gh!" Ingo made a strange noise,

"You're surely as feisty as one. However, snoscats are more like Morio. Jyuzou said that you can find them anywhere in the world once it snows. Always curious to seek something new and wrap themselves around all the trouble and greatness of this world."

Morio strolled up to Zhen, breathing heavily, and reaching his hand out.

"A few minutes and I can go a second time," Morio added, beaming. "I'm sure."

"A second time?" Zhen uttered through a gasp, grabbing his hand and straightening himself up. "Seriously?"

"W-What? Are you tired, master? I can break a few more sweats."

"I don't mean that." he put his hand on his hips, breathing out rhythmically. "It wasn't a draw. You were stronger there, for those last few seconds, using all the wit and everything you've learned during your stay here."

Morio opened his mouth in shock, before gulping. "S-Seriously? Even without a Guardian Demon?"

"If one thing's strong enough then I'm sure the other will make up for it." Zhen smiled, with a drop of sweat rolling down his face. "Besides, we can't keep everyone waiting. You won, Morio."

Morio blinked a few more times, before stepping back in his awe-filled expression. Turning to the masses, a massive chunk of them held their thumbs tightly, watching the show as it unfolded.

Then, Morio raised his hands into the sky and yelled in joy.