"Remember, child, the key is the mind." the lanky man said as he made another incision into the subject's exposed brain. "The mind controls all. To control the mind, is to control every aspect of your opponent. Now, try again."

The small boy focused on the subject, probing at the man's thoughts. All he was able to pick up were faint whispers.

The boy cut off his concentration with a huff of frustration. "I can't do it. His mind…. It isn't there!"

"Yes it is, child. You just need to know how to look." The man gently grasped the sides of the boy's face and turned them towards the subject. "Focus, child. Feel this man's thoughts. Feel his memories. Feel his life. Feel everything."

The boy refocused on the subject. He forced his thoughts outward and brushed against a shred of consciousness. He caressed a being in complete and utter agony.

"I feel it!" The boy called triumphantly. "It's there! He's there!"

The lanky man backed away and smiled fondly at the small child. "Well done, my boy. Well done indeed."

X

"I want to spar with you."

The surprising voice caused me to jump a little bit, but I got myself under control fast enough that I didn't hurl a necrotic orb of death at the speaker.

"Vali. Good to see you. Please knock next time. Now what's this about sparring?" I said as I looked up from my sketch book. With my bracer completed and thoroughly tested - it worked exactly as intended - I needed a new project to occupy my time with. Between eating, sleeping and training, my crafting time was the only time I got to have any fun. I figured it was about time to make myself a weapon, so I'd been roughly sketching some sword designs to take advantage of my vast library of ideas; both from fiction and my new reality. Interesting as that was, a chance to gauge myself against Vali sounded very attractive.

"There aren't many people here who can keep up with me. I want to see if you can provide me with a sufficient challenge." Vali said matter-of-factly. Did it count as arrogance if he could back up that claim? No, then it was just confidence right?

"Ah. So this is just you seeing if I'm worth your time?"

"I would not have put it so bluntly." he said without refuting me.

"Don't worry about it. Dragons tend to see anyone or anything that's not a dragon as beneath them, and you have a dragon living in you. It should be expected you would develop a bit of arrogance. I'm not doing anything terribly important right now, so if you're ready I say let's do this." I snapped my sketchbook closed and tossed it on my desk. I considered grabbing my new bracer from where it rested on its brand new stand, but I decided against it. I hadn't used it in combat yet, and I wanted to see how I measured up against Vali without any aides.

Standing from my chair, I led the way out the door and down towards the training hall. Vali followed close behind me.

"So," I began conversationally. "What about me piqued your interest? Was it my acting or just the fact that we finally met?"

Vali's lips contorted as he thought over how best to convey his message. "You feel wrong." he finally said.

Choosing not to take his comment as an insult, I said, "Care to explain?"

"My magic slides off of you. It shouldn't do that."

Holding up my hand, I let one of my ever-present, magical shields glow so he could see them. "I have an illusory ward up constantly as well as a slew of others to keep certain undesirable circumstances from occurring to me. That's probably why your spells won't find any purchase."

Vali shook his head. "No. Wards or not, I should be able to get a general idea of who and what you are. It's like you're a magical dead spot."

"No offense meant, but my wards have tricked some pretty powerful people. I don't know what you're capable of without Divine Dividing, but I imagine you would need to use it to get through them."

Vali looked sidelong over his shoulder at me as we walked, now nearing the training hall. "I am descended from the original Lucifer. I am perfectly capable of dismantling your wards without Divine Dividing."

Raising an eyebrow at him, I said, "Is that so? Then I imagine you would be perfectly capable of taking me out without using your Sacred Gear?"

Vali nodded, a confident smugness surrounding him.

"Alright then. Here's the rules of the spar; no permanent injury or instant death attacks obviously." Even if that handicapped me significantly. Whatever. It wasn't like any of my kill spells would work on someone of Vali's strength anyway. "If I conceed or am incapacitated, you win. If you conceed, are incapacitated, or are forced to use Divine Dividing, I win. Acceptable?"

Vali smirked at me and said, "Acceptable."

Internally, I was smirking as well. I knew I had no chance against Vali while he was using his Longinus, but I felt I had a sliv…. I hated that word. I felt I had a miniscule chance to win now, albeit a small one.

We walked into the center of the training hall and began limbering up. Vali took off his coat, hanging it on a nearby rack.

As we faced off, the others in the hall realized what was happening and spread out to give us plenty of room. One of the two-winged Fallen even sprinted from the hall calling, "Vali's about to fight the necromancer!"

How many times would I have to tell these people that I wasn't just a necromancer? I had plenty of other tricks up my sleeve. I'd prove that during this fight.

As more and more Fallen, magicians and general rank and file Grigori filled the area around Vali and I, I stepped out of the illusory shell I had created around myself as Vali and I were walking over, instantly shrouding myself in invisibility as I did. Not only was I invisible to the eye, but I masked my scent, sound, and mystical presence as well. No one in the entirety of the room realized the version of myself squaring off with Vali was an illusion.

While I was positioning myself, Vali manipulated the wards woven into the training hall to create a spherical dome of energy around the two of us. A fifty foot radius, translucent barrier rippled into being around the two of us, protecting the spectators from any spell or shrapnel that we might lose control of during our spar.

"Are you ready?" I asked through my illusion as I moved to a more favorable position.

Vali nodded. "When do we start?"

My illusion pointed to a random human in the crowd. "Flip a coin. When it lands we'll start."

The woman nodded and reached into the folds of her robe. Her hand emerged holding a silver coin. After looking between the two of us, she flipped the coin into the air and took a large step back to get clear of the coin's path.

The coin spun through the air then impacted the ground. It let out a shrill ring as if someone had struck a wind chime.

The moment the coin hit the floor, Vali moved. The ground caved in beneath his feet as he launched himself forward at speeds I was almost unable to track, a fact that surprised me. I was trained in physical combat by a vampire, and even still I could barely follow Vali with my eyes.

Vali lashed out with a fist towards the illusory version of me. It was about to connect when I detonated the spell I wove into the illusion.

Vali was blown backwards into the air as the illusion exploded into a dark blue geyser of magical power.

Recovering immediately and seemingly unharmed, Vali's demonic wings shot out of his back as he scanned the area for any sign of me.

Keeping absolutely still, the slightest movement may be enough for him to detect me now that he was aware I was hiding, I flexed my magic.

Dozens of spirits rose from the ground to charge at Vali. While they normally wouldn't be able to make it through the barrier surrounding our fight, I created a small hole in the sphere underground so they could squeeze in.

Vali easily outmaneuvered the slow specters. Several bright blue spell circles appeared before his hands as he cast destructive spells to destroy my spectral army.

I didn't expect the ghosts to be able to do anything to Vali. All I wanted was a distraction; something I now had.

I clenched my fist and the spell I was preparing took hold.

Vali gasped in surprise as his entire body locked up. He fell backwards through the air, completely frozen as if his form had suddenly become a statue.

Dropping my invisibility, I moved to capitalize. I took a step left while an identical copy of me moved right. Both of us summoned spell circles and fired a bolt of pure darkness into Vali's frozen body.

The half-devil grunted in pain, both from the spells and his collision with the ground, but for the moment he remained bound by my magic.

I took another step right as a new, second illusion stepped left, a third stepped back, and a fourth stepped forward. My first illusion also created its own illusions. There were now eight of me, all of us were already unleashing another spell into Vali, this one a sickly green ball.

All eight spells impacted and Vali began to growl in rage.

Eight more illusions of me appeared as I faded back into invisibility. I could feel my hold on Vali about to break. He would be free before I was able to cast again.

Just as I predicted, Vali tore free from my metaphysical binding right as my illusions were lobbing their acid balls towards him.

Sixteen small blue disks shimmered into being around Vali's body. Each one absorbed a different acid ball as he began decimating my illusions.

Using the opportunity provided by his focus on my false duplicates, I launched a viscous probe into his mind.

Vali's hands went to his head and he screamed as my probe found purchase, allowing me to burrow my way deep into his thoughts.

Still hidden in the safety of my invisibility, I sifted through his mind. I read his plans to deal with me and my illusions, altering their paths to avoid his dispelling magics, and altering my own course to avoid large area of effect spells he was soon to begin using. I began to delve deeper to try and control hi-

THIS MIND IS NOT YOURS!

A booming voice more powerful than anything I had ever felt slammed into my mental presence and forced me out of Vali's head.

I was ejected so violently I actually staggered backwards, gasping in shock and pain as a throbbing migraine took hold. It seemed I had just met Albion. I would need to think that over when I wasn't locked in deadly combat with said dragon's host.

Shaking my head, both to forget about Albion and to numb the migraine with some self-targeted mental magic, I turned to my opponent once more.

Vali, now free from my mental influence, snapped to look directly at me. Not my illusions. Me.

This was bad.

A spell circle larger than any other I'd seen during our fight spun into being before his outstretched arm, and I decided I wanted nothing to do with whatever spell he was attempting to fling at me.

With practiced ease, I dumped an absurd amount of mana into Vali's spell circle and forced it into nonexistence.

Vali's eyes widened in shock as his spell circle shattered into a thousand shining fragments before fading into nothing before his eyes, and I used every moment the distraction provided me.

I felt my muscles strain as I forced mana into them. Leaping further and faster than any normal human could ever dream, I appeared inches from Vali, my invisibility fading as I diverted its mana to power the punch I had aimed towards his head.

My fist connected, and Vali was sent spinning away from me. He was able to right himself before crashing into the barrier, but the shock on his face showed he hadn't expected me to be able to touch him, let alone draw blood. But, as the thin trickle of crimson leaking from his nose showed, I had done both.

A literal fire lit in Vali's eyes as he stared me down.

Throwing both of my arms wide, I created two more illusory copies of myself to either side of me.

Roaring in fury, Vali used his incredible speed to close in on me. I wouldn't be able to dodge his fist before it sent me careening into the ground.

Luckily for me, I was a cheater.

As I snapped the fingers of my left hand, my world rapidly shifted as my location was substituted with the illusory copy I'd sent to my left.

Vali's fist speared through the duplicate, destroying it instantly.

With Vali now within arm's reach of me, I reached out quickly and pressed my palm into his shoulder. An unnatural black energy seeped into his body from my hand.

Vali recoiled from me and spun around to strike, but his movements were sluggish. Where before he attacked as if he were a scalpel, deadly, lighting-fast and precise. He was now moving like a sledgehammer wielded by a four-year-old child, slow and uncontrolled.

Easily maneuvering around his wild punch, I forced mana into my muscles once more as I began pummeling Vali.

I struck his stomach, his head, his throat, anything I thought would get a reaction out of him. And get a reaction out of him I did, just not what I wanted. This guy was tough.

Seemingly understanding he was now too slow to effectively fight me in hand to hand, Vali screamed and threw his arms wide.

I was blown away from him as a blue sphere of power radiated out from him. His magic washed over my remaining illusion and scattered it completely, leaving me with only myself.

Normally I would just summon more spirits or illusions, but I was running low on mana. If I kept up my evasion tactics I would run out of power before I was able to bring him down. He was just too tough for me to win this with a 'death by a thousand cuts' approach. I needed to do something drastic now if I wanted to win this.

Thankful to every deity there was that Vali was still burdened by my debilitating curse, I leapt away to the far edge of the dome and began shaping a massive spell.

Vali wasn't an idiot, he saw I was up to something and started running towards me but he would arrive too late.

Drawing my dagger, I channeled my spell through it and impaled myself in the lung, driving the dagger all the way to the hilt. Normally my wards would resist such an attack, but as this action was voluntary, I parted them to allow the blade access.

I screamed as the steel dug into my flesh but maintained my focus. This wasn't the first time I'd used this spell afterall.

Vali's form pulsed with black energy as my connection to him through my curse reared its head. The White Dragon Emperor gasped in pain and fell to the ground as a gaping wound appeared in his chest.

Vali was incredibly tough. So much so that I was having difficulty damaging him. Ergo, the best way to hurt him was to transfer damage from someone far squishier. In this case; me.

Vali's form pulsed black once more and I felt the dagger tear itself out of my chest as I was restored to my previous state; Vali and I had exchanged vitality. Not only that, but I had further weakened Vali with my magic. With each successful casting of this spell, the target's natural protections wither and die. This attack was far more devastating to Vali than a simple knife wound.

With my knife free once more, I didn't hesitate. My dagger was back in my stomach the moment it was free of my chest.

Vali howled as a new wound appeared in his stomach, though even through the pain he continued to close the gap. He was almost right on top of me.

Once more, the dagger shot out from my stomach. I rammed it back into my chest, pulling on my connection to Vali through my curse for a third time.

As Vali's form pulsed with black energy, a powerful voice called out, "DIVIDE!"

My dagger shot half-way out of my chest, leaving a sizable wound in my chest, but right then, I didn't care.

Vali fell to his knees before me under the weight of all the damage I had dealt to him.

I fell to my knees right next to him. My wound was far more minor than his, but I was just a human. I didn't have devil ancestry on my side. What I did have was a six inch dagger driven half-way into my chest and very much inside my lung.

As we were sitting there swaying back and forth, our eyes met and we grinned at each other.

"Good…. Fight." I ground out through the pain.

"You…. Too." He said back, his teeth covered in blood.

Vali fell one way as I fell the other. Both of us were unconscious before our upper bodies made contact with the ground.

X

Azazel

I watched from my place high on the balcony as the Grigori below me frantically tore down the barrier around the arena and rushed to get Vali and Xarion to a healer. While I suppose I should have worried about my two favorite underlings, I knew they would be fine. I was more focused on the fight I'd just witnessed.

I knew better than anyone just how strong Vali was. Hell, I'd practically raised the kid. While not using Divine Dividing severely limited him, he was still a powerhouse without it. Even still, Xarion was able to not only put up a fight, but pull out a win.

According to the rules they'd set before the fight, Xarion won. Xarion. My lab assistant.

No matter what bullshit I claimed as my reasoning to appear more in control, when I'd initially recruited him I'd only wanted to figure out how he managed to make a totem to keep the werewolf wearer from transforming during the full moon in a week. That was an insane timetable. I was a craftsman at heart and I wanted to figure out what he did then either promote him or send him off accordingly.

Then when I gave him adequate resources he materialized a magical amplifier that would put some Sacred Gears to shame. Until ten minutes ago, I hadn't intended to use Xarion in any combat capacity. Sure I was holding the threat of his necromancy over the devils, but that was supposed to be a bluff. In my head, he was far more valuable churning out incredibly potent magical devices for the other members of the Grigori.

After seeing this though, I wasn't sure keeping him locked in a lab was the best way to use his abilities. He was in a stone room, cut off from any bodies he could animate for disposable minions, yet he still had disposable minions and managed to demonstrate illusion magic so elegant even I had trouble seeing through it at first. Then to top it all off, he noticed he wasn't hurting Vali and stabbed himself in the gut to transfer the wound to Vali. Disregarding the absolute craziness of having the willpower to stab yourself in the gut as a mostly normal human, I didn't even know it was possible to transfer wounds like that!

What could he have done if he had corpses around him? If he had access to people dying to draw power from? As much as Vali was limited, Xarion was handicapped as well. Not to the same extent by any stretch of the imagination - an extra power source from soaking up the energy of the dead would never be able to compete with Divine Dividing - but enough that it was surely noticeable in this fight.

This kid…. he had the potential to grow into an absolute monster. What kind of mentor figure would I be if I got in the way of that potential?

No. I was going to do everything in my power to foster his potential; to give him any advantage he needed. To do that I needed to finish cracking the secrets behind dad's Gears. Once I did that, I could give Xarion a leg up. It wouldn't be enough to stand on even ground with Vali, but he would be among the strongest members of the Grigori. Hell, he already was. Add a Sacred Gear on top of the grudge match I just witnessed and you had pure, unfiltered beauty.

I needed to get to work. If I couldn't get this working soon, maybe I'd just give him the Sacred Gear extractor and tell him to go fishing. The kid was a necromancer. No way would he get squeamish about killing someone for power.

Stepping away from the balcony, I headed directly for my lab. I had work to do.