WEEKS

Much time has passed since Kain and his team started to prepare for the Tournament. Ever since around two weeks ago they received the plans and preparations for their team to succeed. Coupled with the fact that they had an extreme advantage when it came to knowing about the Tournament, Kain really believed that they had a chance to win. That is why he trained hard, harder than he ever did since waking up in this world. His team also trained extremely hard as well. Rika worked on her running speed and evasion, Celina worked with Rika, and Sarah, Elais, and Ran worked on their combat technique as well as their teamwork. Kain’s training with Sarah to master Wrath and learn combat never stopped as well. On the contrary, his training with her actually increased in both frequency and intensity. He constantly failed and was beaten, but he never gave up. On their fourth training in the second week, Kain made a major breakthrough. Sarah had developed a technique for helping him train with Wrath in order to unlock its special abilities and effects. She would push Kain to the point of anger by insulting him and beating him, all so he could reach that feeling that he did when he first channeled Wrath. While unenjoyable, it worked. Many times he had grasped the power, feeling that dark and angry force well up inside him, but grasping is all he could do. It usually slipped away before he had a firm hold. Sarah kept telling him that it was a start, yet Kain could start to see her grow impatient as well. This time, however, it was different. Kain was receiving quite the beating from Sarah, being thrown around, tripped, kicked, punched, and the like. He had only managed to defend himself and strike her twice. This, coupled with her countless taunts, made him angry once more. Like usual, that feeling of dark rage welled inside him, but instead of trying to immediately grasp it, he let it build. It continued to grow almost disgustingly, like a cancer rapidly spreading. Not yet, he thought. Just a little bit more. Sarah looked at Kain with confusion, wondering why he was not attacking or responding to her taunts. He stood there, doubled over and clutching himself. It seemed to her that he had enough for that day. She sighed and began to walk over to him. Better to get him checked out by the Nurse, or Celina if she was anywhere near here. “Hey…” Sarah reached out to grab his shoulder, but stopped when she saw Kain’s face. His teeth were gritted, brows furrowed almost as if he was in deep concentration. Sweat beaded on his forehead and cheeks, likely a result of great strain and effort. Unbeknownst to Sarah, Kain was in a state of extreme effort. Kain was currently in the process of trying not to let his Wrath overtake him, while also trying to control it. Sarah knew something was amiss the second she saw his eyes. Like hers, whenever a Sinner activated their curse, the red around their eyes glowed. Depending on how much of their curse the Sinner drew out, the glow would either be faint or bright. She had seen it back at the Doc’s hideout, the bright red glow of a Sinner’s eyes when they drew too much of the power given to them via the curse. They began to grow unlike themselves, embodying the worst of their Sin while also having the power to back up their actions. It was safe to say that a Sinner should never draw too much of their power unless as a last resort. Now, as Sarah looked at Kain’s eyes, she saw them glowing bright, like two burning coals. Sarah jumped back on instinct. She recalled how when he first used that power, it was strong enough to break her arm. At the time, she too was drawing upon Wrath. For him to snap her arm like that, especially when she had enhanced durability and strength due to Wrath, meant that he was exceptionally powerful. Maybe even more powerful than her. She tensed and called upon Wrath. She had to be ready to subjugate him if he lost control. Kain fought to control the power. He had drawn too much, and it threatened to swallow him whole. Slow down, he thought. All I need to do is slow down, grasp that feeling that threatened to overtake him. He clenched his teeth harder, hearing them creak under the pressure. After a few more minutes, Kain began to grasp it. He exhaled, the strain of controlling the power slowly leaving him. Kain had to release some of it to avoid being overtaken. The released power seemed to fade back into him, almost burning with hatred and anger as it sank beneath the surface. Kain began to breathe lighter now, the sweat that beaded on his face no longer being produced. Kain could feel the power known as Wrath being drawn upon, different from the times he called upon the power, but lost the feeling. It was like a steady burn, comparable to feeling the burn of anger when extremely upset or enraged. Now, however, Kain did not give in to those feelings. Yes, they were there, but he did not feel them. It was a peculiar feeling. Kain slowly stood up from being doubled over, righting himself. Kain was still breathing heavily, but his breaths were no longer labored. He almost thought Sarah sighed in relief, and the faint glow that was in her eyes began to fade. “There…hufff…is this…hahhh…what…hufff…I was supposed to…hahhh…do?” Sarah smiled with pride. She crossed her arms and nodded. “I thought I would have to beat you some more, but it seems that you finally got it. Took you long enough.” Sarah was proud of Kain for figuring out how to channel Wrath, but was also proud of herself. Sarah’s pride lay in two areas, one for being able to effectively teach someone something so complex and the other in confirming the existence of the seventh Sinner. She was pretty much sold on the idea of Kain being the seventh, but him being able to channel Wrath, her Sin, confirmed that theory to be true without a shadow of a doubt. “Now,” Sarah adopted the “ready” stance of her custom martial art. “Let’s see if you do any better by attacking me now.” She smiled playfully, her eyes seemingly glowing like they had before. Kain adopted the same stance and prepared to attack her. What Kain did not know was that Sarah channeled Wrath as well, but only enough to protect herself from enhanced strikes. She knew Kain was strong before enhancing himself with Wrath, but was something else entirely when enhanced. Her previous encounter with him in that state showed that. Sarah thought it proper to exercise caution to avoid becoming seriously injured. “Alright, come at me!” Sarah taunted Kain, but before she knew it, his fist was centimeters from her face. Thanks to the minor enhancements from the amount of Wrath and combat experience, she was barely able to dodge his first strike. Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise. Has he really grown this fast? Kain flew past her, his movements that again of an untrained rookie. He furrowed his brows and clenched his teeth. Moving with Wrath was almost like if someone put a spring in your step, every movement carrying ten times as much force that it would normally have. Kain had only tried to do a light strike, but it ended up being so strong that it blew the wind around them, causing Kain who was not still used to this particular movement to fall forward. Kain regained his bearings to see a kick flying toward his chest. Normally Kain would have not been able to evade such a kick, but Wrath allowed him to easily sidestep her strike and retaliate. It seemed like not only was his physical capabilities improved, but his senses as well. His eyes read everything so fast time itself seemed to slow. Looking back at Sarah, Kain chambered his own kick. It flew out at Sarah faster than he could have ever thought possible. Sarah too looked increasingly surprised at the speed and strength of Kain’s strikes. She had been able to easily evade them before, but now it was near impossible too. Kain again stumbled due to the imbalance made by the power. Sarah took advantage of this, and threw a devastating hook at him. He turned his head to look at her as soon as it met. Instead of Kain’s head being knocked back and blood flying, Sarah’s face stopped dead as soon as it hit it. Actually, it seemed Sarah’s fist had been hurt more from punching a near solid object. Kain was surprised at his own durability. He knew it would be increased, but not to the godly level it was right now. A punch from Sarah that didn’t hurt was truly an anomaly. Sarah retracted her fist, but not fast enough for Kain to catch her wrist and try to throw her. She could not avoid an advance, especially one this close. Sarah tried to spin out of the grab, strike out of it, and various other things, but it was not enough. Kain tried to throw her over his shoulder, a complex move that he discovered his affinity for, but he did not take into account the sheer force that he currently had. It did not take much for Sarah to br flung out of his grip, her body flying well almost halfway across the platform. Other students murmured in surprise at the spectacle. Some came to check on Sarah, who had now recovered and was brushing herself off. She waved her hand at them, signaling that she was fine and they shouldn’t worry too much about her. The remaining students looked around, trying to find who threw the girl such lengths. Kain, however, did not notice their searching eyes and rushed over to Sarah. He had still not let go of Wrath, so he ran with unbelievable speed. The students around them looked on in shock. They whispered among themselves, speaking of the unusual physical prowess that the boy in front of them held. “Umm, Sarah, are you okay?” She looked at him, and Kain couldn’t tell if she was angry or not. She then plastered a smile on her face, and started to pull Kain out of the training room. “Yes, I’m fine, I’m fine! Come on, aren’t we late to lunch anyway?” Kain was being dragged quickly out of the training facility by Sarah, a multitude of students looking on in confusion. “Hey! What are you doing!?” Sarah gave no response, and eventually shoved Kain through the outside doors and closed them behind her. She turned to Kain with a look of anger, about to say something. She, however, decided against it and sighed. The anger on her face evaporated, leaving only slight annoyance. That too eventually left her face, and all that remained was a tired expression. “Look, I’m really excited that you finally learned to channel Wrath, but you can’t be that careless.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “Even if they confuse that power with Dillegence, some people might see through that disguise and call you out for what you are. Especially the more powerful ones. They’re able to sense Sinners. I don’t know how, but it’s a really big problem.” Kain nodded, ashamed of his carelessness. Sarah looked away at something, then said, “I guess we can be done with training today.” Kain smiled despite himself. He wasn’t going to have to get beaten, as per usual. Sarah began to walk away, but stopped and turned back around to look at Kain. She got up close to his face and looked into his eyes. Kain started to move backwards, but Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her. “What are you…” Sarah’s eyes searched his face. She let him go and pushed him away, Kain now even more embarrassed. “Have you stopped channeling Wrath yet?” Kain’s face went from embarrassed to confused. “No, why?” Sarah clucked her tongue in disapproval, causing Kain to become annoyed. “I’d recommend you do so. It seems you don’t have good control over that state right now, and I would rather you not attract the attention of certain Academy students. They can already sense us as is, I don’t want to know how easy it would be if we’re using our Curses.” Kain agreed with her point. He would rather not be outed as a fake and be kicked out, or worse. “We’ll train more tomorrow and work on your control.” She started to walk away, throwing up a hand in farewell. Kain also waved goodbye. After farewells were done, Kain focused inwardly on himself. He felt that dark force that fueled the power of Wrath, and how he was almost clutching it with an unseen hand. He willed his “hand” to let go. Kain felt the force slip away, almost like running water falling from one’s hand. Kain let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, a feeling of deep exhaustion spreading across his being. He stumbled and grabbed a wall for support. After a few more minutes of catching his bearings, he righted himself and walked back on the path, feeling accomplished.

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Two more weeks went by, both of them full of intense grueling training. Sarah went harder on him than she ever had before. Since his durability had increased due to Wrath, Sarah took that as an excuse to hit him harder than ever before. Kain had his suspicions that she too was using Wrath, as her strikes left pretty nasty bruises. In addition to that, their team had met once more in the Nurse’s office to discuss team strategy. Rika had learned about his training from Kain when he griped about the multiple bruises that Sarah gave him, and wanted to join. Apparently it was for her self protection and learning about combat skills, but Kain was pretty sure she wanted to see him humbled every time he fought. Kain’s affinity with Wrath naturally grew because of the frequent training, but he still had poor control over his movements when in the enhanced state. Kain had noticed Celina seemed embarrassed around him ever since that moment four weeks ago. She still talked to him and sometimes clung to him, but she could never touch or talk to him long without turning red and running away. Elais took notice of this, and comforted Kain in a way only guys could do to other guys. Due to this, they started to build up a pretty solid friendship. They would sometimes meet and hang out, talking about their classes and other things. Their friendship, however, could not compare to the friendship that Kain had with Rika. They would talk and spend time together every day. It seemed that ever since coming to this Academy, Rika and Kain’s bond of companionship became stronger. Their days moved along smoothly, no problem showing itself. Kain began to find this life somewhat peaceful. However, he did not give up his purpose of finding himself and recovering who he once was. He would never give that up. One day a notice was sent out during one of his classes. Kain sat there next to Rika in the back of the class, both of them leaning their backs on each other and about to doze off. I Kain’s opinion, the professor’s droning voice made for the perfect lullaby. How could he not fall asleep? Midway through the lecture, the professor stopped talking. He looked up at the mass of bored students and lowered his tone. The abrupt change in his demeanor caused Kain to pay attention, but only a bit. “Everyone, after this lecture, head to the gathering hall. It’s where Orientation was held. The headmaster has an important announcement for you all.” This statement said by the professor caught Kain’s full attention. He stood up straight, causing Rika to fall down and hit the end of the bench with a thump. “Hey!” Rika shot up, rubbing her head, an angry look on her face. Luckily the other students did not notice the commotion in the back of the classroom due to their murmuring among themselves. “Please head there with the utmost urgency.” The professor stood up and removed the blue hologram that floated at the center of the lecture hall. Rika gave up her chance to complain to Kain about his sudden movement, instead turning attention to the professor. She then turned to face Kain, a look of surprise on her face. “I wonder what that’s about?” Kain nodded, wondering what the announcement might be. He sat and contemplated, wondering what the possibilities might be. Kain thought back to Celina telling them that the Tournament that they were preparing for would be announced eventually. What if that was what the announcement was about? He hesitated to convey his thoughts to Rika, unsure if it was even right. The bell tolled, signaling the end of the class period. The professor once more called out to the students to tell them where to meet, but he was ignored by all of them. Kain caught him give up halfway through his sentence and sigh, leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes. He honestly felt bad for the professor. He wouldn’t pay attention to him, though. Who could blame him, his voice was so monotone and the class became boring after the second week. He stood up and stretched. Rika groaned at having to walk all that way to the area that they were supposed to meet at, Kain seconding her complaint. The day had been extremely taxiing, not to mention boring. Rika walked ahead of him, rubbing her eyes. Kain brought his hand to his mouth and yawned. He could not wait to get back to his dorm and fall asleep. Kain started to follow Rika, and they both walked out of the classroom together. The pair exchanged some words while walking toward their destination, mostly about where to go. They resolved to follow the other students, hoping that they would lead them to their destination. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a familiar large hallway that led into a spacious room. This time, the room sported a variety of chairs that were set up in rows. To Rika’s disappointment, there was no food or fancy desserts waiting for them. She grumbled to Kain, muttering a string of curses directed to no one in particular. “Where should we sit?” Kain’s question broke Rika out of her funk, forcing her to pay attention to him instead of the absence of food. “Umm…” Rika tapped her chin, looking for the best seat. Some were already taken by other students, leaving them with minimal options. If possible, both Kain and Rika looked for a seat near the back of the room. Their nap was interrupted by this ceremony, so it would be horrible if they could not continue it. Getting spotted snoozing by one of the teachers, who were standing at the front row, would not be ideal. While he and Rika were looking, something caught Kain’s attention. It was a person waving near the edge of the left wall, sitting in the back row. He squinted his eyes to try to make out the shape. “Hey Rika, what about over there?” He pointed to where he was looking, asking her to check it out so he would have an excuse to see better. “Oh, I guess. It wouldn’t hurt to check it out.” She started to walk over to the spot, when she, too, saw the waving individual. Her face lit up, and she turned to look at Kain. “Hey, look! It’s Celina!” She started to rush over to her, bobbing and weaving through the crowd of students. Kain ran to keep up with her, annoyed at her running away. They eventually made it to where Celina was sitting. Kain saw that it was not only her, but Sarah, Elais, and Ran as well. There were two empty chairs reserved with bags and miscellaneous items thrown into the seat. “Here, we saved you two seats!” Celina beckoned them over to sit down. Kain and Rika climbed over the row and sat down, Kain by Celina and Rika by Ran. Elais peaked over and smiled at Kain. “What took y’all so long? Almost all the seats are gone!” Kain started to explain to him about their direction problems, but was stopped by Rika pulling his shirt. “Hey, man. Look up there.” She pointed up toward the front row. Kain could barely make out the people sitting there due to the far distance between them. However, Kain could still see a bit of who was in front of them. They were none other than Nora and Dixon, sitting side by side and talking. Kain’s eyes widened. He hadn’t seen them since the train ride to the Academy. Something about their presence now made Kain worried. He continued to look at them talking, trying to read their lips. Suddenly, Nora’s eyes flickered in Kain’s direction. He shrunk back into his seat, trying not to be noticed. Had he imagined it? Kain wondered this as he saw her conversing to Dixon as if she never saw him. Kain must have looked distressed, as he found Celina looking up at him, concerned. “Kain, is everything okay? You look pale.” Kain did not respond, instead he breathed heavily and clenched his fist. He remembered Nora’s declaration of hate, and how she said he would kill him. This made him extremely nervous, as he could not die before he knew his past self. That would be inexcusable. Celina looked like she was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by the crackle of a microphone. Their eyes turned to the platform at the front of the room. There stood Berst, the headmaster. He had a neutral facial expression, but looked out in the crowd with a glint of excitement in his eyes. That glint, Kain felt, was not meant to be there. In Kain’s eyes, Berst’ face was not one to show much emotion. Even that singular glint made looking at him feel uncanny. “Students, I call you here today for a special circumstance that will intrigue the least of you.” Berst walked toward the edge of the stage. “Every decade, we here at the Academy hold a special event that weeds out the strongest of you from the weakest. We lift up those strong people and grant them a title, a title that is revered the most among the denizens of Olympus Mons and beyond.” Kain saw almost every student lean forward in their seats. This reminded him of the time that Kain saw almost every student in Orientation enthralled and captivated by Berst’ speech. It seemed that Berst knew how to capture a crowd. “Those who prove themselves and show themselves to be the most talented and skilled of our society are gifted the very title that we will give to those who prove themselves to be the strongest at this Academy. We call them the ‘Blessed’” Kain heard a collective gasp among the crowd. Each person knew the reverence and prestige of those called “Blessed”. Not even the great seven Houses are granted that title at birth. He was informed by Celina that even though most people who were given that title were people that were a part of the Houses, there were circumstances that regular citizens obtained the title. In most cases the non House members who were granted the title were winners at the Academy’s Tournament. Kain saw the ripple of realization on the faces of students in the crown. Everyone had heard of the Tournament hosted by the Academy, as well as the great boons that it gave to its winners. Now that all the hints were given, the students began to understand what this special announcement was about Berst, still at the top of the platform, smiling. “I see that some of you have already figured out our reason for being here today. Yes, this event is the Holy Combat, held once every ten years at the Academy to test this generation’s mettle and skill. Rejoice, for the chance of a lifetime has shown itself!” Berst threw his hands up into the air as students all around the room cheered. Kain could not help but look back up at Nora and Dixon in the front row. He saw them still in conversation with each other, not paying much attention to the spectacle in front of them nor the roaring of the crowd. Kain could not help but wonder if they knew in advance like them that the Tournament would be held soon this year. What else could explain their calm expressions? Or, Kain thought, that they were so sure of victory they did not need to be excited about it at all. Kain shuddered at the thought. Two House members, each with combat ability, teaming up against them. That combo would surely prove hard to beat. Kain was snapped out of his thoughts by Berst’ continuation of his speech. “I now implore you, train hard, study hard, and hone your Virtues to perfection. Each and every one of you will fight, regardless of willingness. You can form teams of seven, no more.” Kain could already hear the murmuring of students around them about what teams they should pick, could they even win, and many other things. “Now with all the announcements out of the way, I shan't hold you back any longer.” Berst lowered his voice back to one that a person would use in a normal conversation. “There will be no classes except those directed at combat. The hours in your school day should only be used for training, nothing more. You will not be forced to train, however. Greatness is sought after, not guided too. Holy Combat will be held a month from now, so train diligently and train hard.” Berst once again spread his arms wide, as if to envelope the entire crowd. “Now, without further ado, let the period of Holy Combat commence!”