The sound of a waterfall was the only thing that could be heard in one of the outermost areas of the forest. Morning rays fell over the small lake in which the waterfall ended, surrounded by foliage and paths that lead to the depths of the large forest.

A dark portal opened a few meters away from the waterfall, in a tree-lined cliff. From it, Finster and Espika emerged, the latter holding the former's hand.

"The train has reached its destination, dear passenger," said Finster happily, displaying his wide grin once again. Espika giggled and, letting go of her brother's hand, patted his head as she always did when he showed that smile. Once she stopped playing with his hair, Finster raised a fist upwards in excitement for everything that was to come. He continued speaking:

"Okay, now let's go find that totem! We have to go behind the waterfall, I think. But, what if it's a trap?" Finster placed a hand on his chin and an exaggerated grimace formed on his face, as if he were thinking heavily. "There may be opponents right around the corner."

"It's a risk we're going to have to take, don't you think?" Espika smiled peacefully, in stark contrast with her brother's signature histrionics. "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time we're facing wild beasts. There's no need to worry."

"Actually I was referring to other elementals," Finster pointed out while smiling at his sister. In the same way that Espika felt lightened up when he did one of his many attempts at jokes or bad puns, his sister's smile soothed him. "But we can overcome just about anything. We can always take them by surprise using our C Technique."

"They always fall for that one," Espika replied with a chuckle.

The Blumenthal siblings had spent a bit over a decade fighting as a duo. Thanks to the special benefits of a relationship between a shadow elemental and a body elemental, both of them could perform a series of attacks by combining their elements. Throughout the years, Espika and Finster had created a long list of combination techniques, each one bearing a letter or an improvised set of words as a name. They had always been together, and this time they had to stay united to obtain their two totems.

Finster nodded with another one of his grins and vanished in the shadows, leaving Espika to take a look around the place.

At first sight, it seemed like there wasn't much of interest. The lake's water was clear enough to see that there were no shiny objects in it, and the empathy she had with her element helped speed up Espika's search among the foliage and trees, with it yielding no results. Lastly, she decided to approach the waterfall through a cliff that lead to it. Using her element, she used large leaves from some nearby plants to cover herself, and went behind the waterfall, entering a hidden grotto behind it.

Espika felt her heart skip a beat as she saw one of the golden statues placed on a pedestal at the other point of the grotto. As she approached the silvery stand, she kept her guard up in case there were traps lying around. She took the totem and stored it in a small sack she had strapped on her waist. No trap was triggered by this action; which made the girl sigh in relief. After this, there would be only one totem left for both of them to move on to the next round.

"That went well," Espika smiled in satisfaction and exited the place.

To her surprise, there was someone waiting for her outside.

It was a red-haired man who could perfectly be her father's age, wearing a red military uniform. He stood with arms crossed, while looking up at Espika with a confident smile, his red eyes meeting Espika's lime green eyes.

"I should give you my thanks. I'm a fire elemental, so I don't exactly get along with water," the redhead said while staring at Espika confidently and extending his arm, as if both of them had known each other for a very long time. "Now, do me a favor and throw me the totem from where you are. Your help would be most appreciated."

Espika looked at him in bewilderment, feeling slightly upset. Who did this man think he was?

"Why would I do that?" she asked.

"I have to provide to my wife and… ehh… I think I have a kid?" the stranger sounded doubtful regarding the last part. "It doesn't matter. This country needs your help, citizen," he said while lighting up his fists in flames, "I see that you're a plant elemental. I think you know well who is at an advantage here."

Espika frowned. He thinks he has a child? What an imbecile, she thought.

"It's not the element that matters, but the way that you use it. I think this country can do well enough without me giving my totem to someone who can't find his own and has to take it from another person." Espika did not budge an inch, keeping both stance and stare unwavering. The connection she had with Finster allowed her to feel what he did, and the feelings she sensed from her brother, still hidden in the shadows, were of outrage. It was not the most pleasant feeling in the world when her brother felt this way.

"I see," the fire elemental said, after a sigh of resignation. "You'll rue the day you incurred the wrath of the great soldier November, of the Red Division!"

November, as the man claimed to be named, leaped with his fists cloaked in flames towards Espika, who reacted rising a wall of plants to block the attack.

"You arrogant fool!" November screamed as he punched the plants. To his surprise, the plants resisted his flames.

Espika knew that using common plant techniques to stop a fire attack was useless, thus she had trained for years to perform a level 2 defensive technique. Via said technique, she was able to create a barrier of fire-resistant plants to block attacks from fire elementals and catch them off guard.

November continued his assault, seemingly unable to understand why the plants were not burning as he expected. Regardless of how much energy the enemy used in his attacks, Espika applied more moles to increase her wall's defensive power. Attacking was not something Espika liked to do, and she preferred to think of herself as a pacifist. She left most of the attacks to a certain person.

At that moment, Finster emerged from the plant formation, with a sickle in each hand to slash November. His body was halfway merged with the shadows of Espika's wall, making his apparition sudden.

November barely had time to dodge. He managed to step aside, but received a slash in the right side of his face. The fire elemental glared at Finster in seething rage, while the latter jumped out of the plant barrier and placed his feet on the ground.

"What's wrong, soldier? Is a cut in your face too much for you?" Finster asked mockingly. The dry tone in his voice was something Espika had seldom seen, and she could feel the rage in Finster build up.

"You brat, you don't know who you are messing with," November replied with a growl, appearing to feel humiliated by this. He set his hands ablaze once more and leaped to attack, this time changing his target to the boy who appeared out of nowhere.

"I don't think so!" Espika screamed and transformed her arms into vines, grabbing the soldier's arms firmly and stopping him.

"I'm messing with someone who got his face cut by a brat, it seems," Finster answered before using a level 2 technique to call forth several shades that enveloped November's legs. If Espika had already managed to stop his attack, Finster had completely restricted his movement. Indeed, November was squirming, unable to free himself from the two-element attack. "He's all yours, Espika!"

"On it!" Espika nodded and used her vines to lift the redhead soldier up to the tallest part of a tree. Through her affinity with plants, she controlled the tree's branches to tie him up in such a way that November was completely restrained, without the possibility of freeing himself by setting his fists on fire. In addition, she called forth fire-resistant vines from the earth below that climbed up the tree to further limit his movement, as she knew there was the possibility of him turning his whole body into flames. It was not in her plans to continue with an unnecessary battle, she would leave him there and that was it. There was just one more thing left to do.

"I think we'll just leave him up there so he doesn't bother anymore, don't you think?" Espika approached her brother laughing and put her arm around his neck. She couldn't help feeling overwhelmed by the negative emotions he had, and the best she could do was calm him down.

Finster sighed, and Espika noticed how his anger was dying little by little. He was still angry, but they couldn't afford getting distracted in a moment like this.

"Yes, let's go," Finster answered. "We still have to find my totem, where do we go?"

"We can try looking around any nearby cavern, maybe we'll have some luck," Espika took him by his hand and moved away from a screaming November who still tried to free himself. Both siblings ignored his threats.

"I got an idea," Finster interrupted. "We're gonna warp to… that point over there," he pointed towards a direction that lead to the depths of the forest and, with his remaining hand, he opened a dark portal. There were good chances of finding something interesting there.

Espika nodded without saying anything and let her brother take her through the portal, which vanished in the wind once both had entered.

Souji and Kerket walked through a section of the forest illuminated by rays of light, an indicator that this was a section close to one of the exits. There was a more reduced quantity of trees in comparison to the rest of the location, this helped Souji find his way quicker. When the trial started, he had gone through the area and noticed a quicksand area before moving to a place where he found his totem.

He observed Kerket, who had remained quiet during all the walk. She seemed to be looking around, Souji did not know whether this was due to her looking for totems or to prevent surprise attacks. The blue-haired elemental couldn't help feeling a certain feeling of awkwardness. He wanted to speak to her and meet a possible new friend, but he noticed her to be quite distant. It was to be expected, since none of them knew each other's names a few minutes ago and there was practically no trust, but this tense silence was concerning to Souji.

"Are you… are you okay?" Souji stuttered in an attempt to break the ice.

Kerket looked at Souji in confusion.

"Yes, I am. Why the question?"

"Well, I don't know," Souji replied, his voice tinged with a dubitative and insecure tone. "I notice you're keeping your guard up around me. Although I do understand," he looked downwards, unable to look her in the eyes, "it's difficult to trust everybody in these tournaments."

"You said it. You can never know the intentions of the person beside you."

Souji laughed nervously hearing that answer.

"Yes. I'm sorry, it was a stupid question."

Kerket could only offer a slight smile in return, without saying anything else. Souji didn't know how to carry on with this attempted conversation, maybe it was best to just let go. It was true: Souji only had himself to count on for this competition.

Fortunately, it didn't take long before Souji knew they were in the place where he sought to take the other elemental along.

"Look, over there," Souji pointed to the distance, towards an area where the number of trees had dwindled completely. It was a wide open space where no vegetation whatsoever grew. "Be careful, this is quicksand."

Kerket nodded once Souji spoke, making the latter feel happy. Helping others was fulfilling and made him feel happy. Despite his instincts, Souji constantly found himself helping out anyone who crossed his path, sometimes to the point of sacrificing his own well-being. While some lauded this as a virtue, others kept reminding him that it was a fault due to how far he went to help others.

"So," Kerket spoke, "do you think there is a totem around here?"

"The normal thing to do is place objects in hard-to-reach locations. There should be one of them here," Souji replied. He was hoping she didn't ask him how he knew one of the golden statues was in the quicksand. It was something difficult to explain and he would rather keep some information hidden than otherwise risk having other people avoid him.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Kerket nodded. "I'll look around."

Souji saw the other girl walk faster towards the quicksand. He couldn't blame her: time was running out and he understood she wasn't going to risk elimination. Taking a deep breath, he followed her at a quicker pace to avoid falling behind.

Without both of them knowing, there was somebody else watching them from afar.

Just what I wanted. These two brats will lead me to my totem.

Finster's shadow portal lead the pair to a deeper area of the forest. Very little light fell through the treetops and the silence was, as par the course for the location, absolute. However, there was something that immediately caught the attention of both, especially Espika's.

There were several fallen trees and many more burnt, as if an explosion had occurred.

"Oh my…" Espika looked at her surroundings, unable to hide her sorrow. "What happened here?"

Finster found himself unable to say anything. He understood that his sister, due to her being a plant elemental, had a special affinity to the trees of this forest. He could feel her pain, as she approached one of the burnt trees and placed her hand in it, giving a bit of her life energy to help it recover. The attempt was a success, judging by the green branches that sprouted in several parts of the damaged tree.

"Espi…" Finster said, worried at seeing his sister like that.

A loud noise broke the silence.

Both turned around to see what it could be. It seemed to be the sound of an explosion. This would explain the current state of this place. Finster was put on edge and dashed off to the source of the noise. As he did, he shouted at his also surprised sister:

"Don't move! I'll be right back!"

"Huh?! Hey, Finster! Wait!" he heard at a distance behind him. He knew he couldn't stop her, but he at least wanted that, in case of there being any danger, he would be able to see it beforehand and warn his sister. He kept running around the trees, without realizing there was somebody standing before him…

Crash!

Finster fell backwards, landing on his back. Espika was right behind him; she was able to catch up to him running. Both siblings looked at the person whom Finster had bumped into.

It was a girl who seemed to be around her age, with purple hair in pigtails and whose choice of clothing was elegant. Unlike Finster, she did not hit the ground and had managed to keep her balance. Nevertheless, she returned both siblings a glare full of what seemed to be disgust.

"What the hell? Who are you two?" the other girl growled. The most intimidating aspect about her expression was the threatening sensation she gave without the need of frowning. Finster knew then that he had to walk on eggshells, as there was something clear about her: she was responsible for the explosions that occurred in this place.

"I'm sorry…" Finster stood up and stuttered, not knowing what to do to alleviate the situation. "We are…"

"No, you know what? I don't give a crap about your names," her fists immediately were surrounded by what seemed to be indigo-colored sparks. It appeared she was a lightning elemental. "You're gonna tell me what you're doing here."

Espika frowned, clearly upset by this new person's attitude, and replied:

"Same as you, we're looking for the trial totems."

One of the many things Finster valued about his sister was her ability to keep calm and remain diplomatic in the face of aggressiveness and irrational behaviors from other people. It was particularly in situations like this in that this quality could help both of them to avoid falling into hot water.

"How cute, thinking I'm still looking for mine," the purple-haired girl smirked in a very unsettling manner. "With four of them I have more than enough to make it to the next round."

Four totems? Finster felt stressed at hearing these words. Was it a bluff? The tournament's rules did not forbid anyone from collecting more than a single statue, although on the other hand, Finster did not pay much attention when the rules were being said out loud. Damn it, he thought, if there are other contestants taking more totems and keeping them, we won't make it.

"You know, I could feel generous and just go ahead and give you one of them, but it won't come easy. Entertain me and I'll give you a totem. But if you lose…" the girl with pigtails pointed a finger at them both, "you'll be giving me yours."

"How do you know we have one?" Finster answered in an impulsive manner, and the exasperated stare from Espika made the shadow elemental's heart skip a beat.

"Because you just told me, idiot. What's it gonna be then?" the purple-haired opponent laughed, keeping a satisfied and cocky expression.

Espika looked at Finster for a while. He could read her mind: it was a fool's errand to try and battle for something they could get on their own, albeit with some effort. However, there was the possibility that this stranger would attack them if they said no.

The other girl leaped to attack Finster with her spark-covered fists, without waiting for an answer. Her speed was such that Finster was close to getting hit; he could only get out of harm's way due to his instinctive reaction of hiding in the shadows. He reappeared quickly beside his sister, who kept her distance from this new enemy, and protested, angry at this sudden attack:

"But we haven't even given you our answer!"

"What's wrong with you!? You're crazy! Leave us alone!" Espika screamed. Finster felt nervous, seeing his sister this angry was a rare sight.

"So, let me get this straight," the pigtailed girl answered with a indignant tone that Finster had problems guessing whether it was real or feigned, "you throw me to the ground, you get my socks dirty, and then expect me to let you go, just because?"

Finster could hear a particularly loud buzz in the area. It seemed to originate from this girl's fists. Generally, the sparks produced by lightning elementals made noises like this, although this one was louder. Perhaps this was due to the echo effect provided by this gigantic section of the forest.

Espika's stare became even angrier. It wasn't hard for Finster to read what was on her mind: 'You didn't even touch the ground, you prick.' After a while, she replied, keeping her eyes locked on the opponent's:

"If you aren't letting us be otherwise, then so be it."

"Espika…" Finster looked at her, worried.

"Now that's how I like it. At least you have some guts, unlike those other cowards," the opposing elemental replied, chuckling while the sound of her sparks got louder.

"Espika! I don't like this a bit! We can't let her touch us, no matter what!" Finster warned.

Without saying anything else, the girl leaped towards the Blumenthal siblings with her fists covered in her element.

"Level 2!" Espika shouted and called forth a wall of fire-proof plants in front of her and her brother. To her surprise, the plants started to burn down and melt when the enemy's punches connected. Both siblings could watch the arrogant smile of their opponent.

"Is she a lightning elemental? That… that looks like fire or magma…" Finster muttered in disbelief, unable to understand what he was seeing. His sister was just as bewildered as he was. What kind of opponent was this?

Noticing the confusion of her two opponents, the pigtailed girl laughed haughtily and looked at both of them in the eye:

"Since when does a simple lightning bolt make something burn like this?" she asked and grinned maliciously.

"A dual?" Finster asked, confused. "But they're extinct!"

There was no way they could be fighting against a dual, Finster was sure of this. In the Kingdom of Shiho, there had been a minority of elementals characterized by their skillful use of two elements, generally opposite ones. Due to their scarce numbers and their perceived advantage over the majority of the population, as well as the existence of groups who deemed their existence as something opposing the laws of nature, they were exiled to the wastelands of Jotunheim north of Genbu or mass-murdered. Word had it that the last remaining dual elementals of the kingdom had perished less than ten years ago.

"It's impossible that there are duals nowadays, they've gone extinct years ago! You must be lying," Espika added, staring down at her opponent.

Both Espika and Finster saw how she, without raising her tone of voice, answered:

"Let's find out."