So...not sure how I feel about this...kinda stepping into a fandom I don't know much about. The wiki gave me enough info considering I wanted to get this little training arc over with and kinda don't want to poke around for the anime I asked Mr Miliardo for(if I did, I might get caught in a binge session and not update for a long while) On with the show! Or story!

Chapter 8

Magic, there is no escape.

Hisoki P.O.V

I groaned a little as I massaged my temples. I need good torture methods, but sadly the bastards that made them when they were at large in the medieval times took those to their graves, and all the younger people that know how to use them...for more scandalous purposes, not to mention they are greatly altered from the original for said purposes.

One strangely sexual prank is enough for me, I do not want to deal with the backlash of 'No homo'.

"Yuuta, I need you to go stand in the water until your chest-deep," I said coming up with an idea.

He stopped ringing out his hair and gave me a skeptical look. "Why?"

"For me to kick your training up a notch" I replied, keeping a sinister smirk off my face. I generated more clones, this time making sure the one with Kumin would be the strongest of them. "Besides, you're already wet, you'll be fine. No sharks or dangerous man-eating fish in the water."

I failed to mention the sea dragon, but I said fish. He should be able to scare off any dragons...probably.

"Ok..." He seemed hesitant, and he had a good reason to be but hey, my training, my rules. It's 5 time skips too soon for him to challenge my authority.

I snapped my fingers and all the clones went to their selected trainee.

I'll swap with a clone at some point, but I want the sweet taste of revenge first.

Soon everyone was back in their original position and got back to work. Yuuta slowly waddled his way into the deeper waters.

I focused a small bit of magic into my feet and walked along the water's top. "Alright, I want you to try to channel the dragon, but instead of pure magical energy, which is what you were doing, I want you to summon the black flames themselves and let the flames take the form of the dragon, not only will this increase some of your offense and defense, but it will eliminate some elemental attacks"

"What do you mean?" He asked as he braced himself.

"Well Plant and Metal-based attacks will no longer be a problem. Not to mention if the flames are hot enough, you might evaporate water ones and air would only fuel your fires if the fire is stronger" I explained. "It's pretty simple stuff."

"Yeah, I get it. So you want me to do it in water because it would be more difficult" He nodded. "I can do that"

I couldn't help it this time, a grin split my face. "Water isn't the only problem"

He looked up, and a flash of fear entered his face when he saw my smirk.

"Cold as night, frost as the snowman. Duratus in inferno!" I cackled as the water slowly started to freeze over, and Yuuta's lips turned blue. "This spell makes the water permanently cold until it's counteracted with a heat-related spell"

"I-I'd c-cu-cuss yo-you out b-but m-my lips w-wo-wont m-make it" He managed to say through clattering teeth.

"Good, something to look forward to, don't worry, I won't try to kill you anymore. No promises about the sea dragon though" I called behind me as Yuuta started to freak out a little.

Given his internal flame, if he doesn't manage a little heat, he'll die in around 10 minutes. Much better than a normal human, who would die in like half that. Nutshell, it's pretty damn cold but a person could likely survive with some lung damage. Ok, they might die because of that, but that doesn't matter.

I summoned another clone(Good gods, the headaches are setting in again).

"Watch him, make sure he doesn't pee, that might give him an advantage" I called behind me as I tried walking without stumbling toward Kumin.

"What do I do if he does?" The clone asked.

"I don't know or care. Freeze the water, rewind him so he doesn't need to pee, hell, you could snap off his frozen wee-wee for all I care" I said rubbing my head. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh well, I hope Yuuta has a decent-sized bladder.

"Got it boss!"

So now Kumin was working with a stone-faced Hisoki. Which was better than one that was about to die from a heart attack.

"Oi, backup" I called as I walked over. "Make her summon something holy. Then an item, something to fight with. I want to test her combat skills."

He flashed me a thumbs up and relayed the information to her. Kumin smiled and closed her eyes before a set of ten rings fell into her palms.

That's...a Teigu. Perfect Armory: Metalwork. It's from a branch of its main universe, where that and one other were found and placed in the hands of a set of siblings.

Metalwork is pretty powerful if used correctly. So as long as Kumin is crafty enough she could probably win.

Her eyes shinned. "I met a nice guy who said I could borrow his rings"

I raised an eyebrow. Only a select few people from universes are gifted with the power to speak with summons, at least summoners like Kumin. A certain power level is needed for that, which didn't surprise me Goku and company were able to offer their services. If I recall correctly, she pulled that from a universe crawling with assains, all pretty strong.

"He said, I just have to put them on at least once and they'll do anything I want, but the best use is making things and its teleportation ability," Kumin said as she slid them on her fingers, at first they were too big, but the closed around her finger, fitting her perfectly. So if Kumin takes an item, it recognizes her as its owner, weapons like Metalwork would normally kill whoever it doesn't think is worthy or mess up whoever tries to use it.

Meaning, in theory, items that depend on traces of DNA might work for her. God, she could just pull some alien mech suit from nowhere and I'd have to pray for my enemy.

Anyway, Metalwork has two secondary abilities. one allows you to swap places with any bit of metal that you have used, or have out, and the second is to pull any metal you provided back. So in a way, she could create several flying shuriken, hurl them at her target and pull them back for a second round, or have instant transportation to her opponent. Now, I'd doubt she'd be that vicious but it's a tactic that could be quite effective. Naturally, the limit is based on how much your body can handle. The current user of the weapon can pretty much spam it.

Before I forget, she has enough metal at the tips of her fingers to likely make a floating island complete with a castle on top.

Kumin activated her summoning and a second before she finished I got a bad feeling.

Crap!

I prepared to attack the second she finished. I literally took a page from Yuuta's book(Note to self, return that before he notices) and prepared an infernal shotgun, this time 75 rounds(just to flex). Whatever is popping up won't be friendly and likely will be just as ugly-

A flash of light and there was a fairly tall, decently slim woman.

I paused. On second thought, she's not half bad-looking.

She had teeth that vaguely reminded me of a vampire's, along with some red marking on her face. Her long blond hair reached down to her waist, minus two stands, one on each side of her head, nicely framing her face.

My clone let out a low whistle. "You know, she's kinda hot"

I glared at him. "Shut up, she might be hostile"

"I might like it rough-" I shot off one of the bolts of fire floating around my body into his stomach to shut him up.

"Now's not the time for one of my clones to decide they are kinky!" I snapped before a large blast of wind blasted me back. I managed to plant my feet before I could get shoved into the water.

"Interesting," She said as she looked at her hand. "My magic isn't working the same way"

"Yeah, differences between universes can do that sometimes," Kumin said happily.

I grunted. "Kumin, change of plans. I want you to fight me with her"

She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. Then, for some ungodly reason, Kumin scared me. You see, what happened, at the mention of fighting me, her smile melted off her face and she leveled me with a cold stare. "As you wish...Marllerr... let's kill him"

I felt a flash of panic in my chest before I realized maybe Kumin should take a more upfront role.

I scanned around me. Marllerr had vanished. Since her magic isn't functioning how it normally would, it's safe to assume she'll stick to some more basic abilities and pure combat.

Suddenly she seemed to grow right next to me and tried to ram me with her fist, so I backed up to create some space, but Kumin took advantage of that. Suddenly, large, pointy, weapons flew at me and I nearly got skewered.

Crap! Kumin is one of those people with a split personality!

I twisted my body around, and pulled the remaining fire bolts I had into a large sword to effectively block the weapons flying back, next Kumin swapped places with the projectiles and now had a large greatsword formed from Metalwork.

Marllerr had decided not to be left out of the fun and tried to activate a spell on me.

She'll turn me into an object!

I grunted and slashed the sword to block Kumin, and thrust my free hand out where Kumin once was. "Infinity's Passing!"

My hand, using magic coated itself in metal, and a loud chunk rang out, Kumin had used my focus on her to try and get me from behind.

Next, I quickly used what I now see as a large sharp shield to block me from Marllerr's spell.

"He's not half bad is he?" Marllerr asked as she grinned.

"Yes..." I felt a chill travel down my spine when I heard the now emotionless voice of Kumin. "We might have to up the force. He is a god after all."

Marllerr perked up. "God, you say? Well, I have to take him down now. I still need to up my business. No hard feelings I hope, Mr. God, I'm just doing my job"

That's not good, even though she's normally incompetent in taking down gods/goddesses, I'm not a god or demon of the same power platform as her.

Here, even with her magic out of wack, she is stronger, magic is easier to cast here.

"I do hate to hurt people, but he did ask for this" Marllerr said with a sigh before charging at me.

I grunted, Kumin was still trying to run me through and there were still several sharp objects unaccounted for.

I made my choice, I pushed against Kumin's blade and launched her into the air, now with a little breathing room, I slammed the shield into the good and gave it a good stomp before coating both my arms in metal, and crossing them in front of me.

Marllerr, seemingly not caring, rammed into me. Sparks flying.

My headache is only getting worse.

My head was throbbing. If I could pull back one or two clones, then maybe I could fight them both, but my magic is limited. Those clones need magic to sustain themselves, and I can't just pull them back willy-nilly.

One of my senses flared and I jumped up, narrowly avoiding a split kick from Kumin who had swapped places with the shield. I noticed a glint on her feet, she had attacked blades to the back of them, of course.

This time I pulled my arms back and prayed that all feminists wouldn't hate me as I punched Marllerr back a good half a mile.

That left the bigger problem, Kumin. I landed back on the ground as Kumin stood, now sizing me up.

"I doubt I can will this, may I summon more weapons or backup?"

"Hell no, you're giving me enough trouble as is" I spat. I lifted my hand and caught the shield that was falling.

"I see, I just have to up the force before you admit defeat," She said as more metal gathered around her. The silver metal layered itself over her body until it formed a giant almost draconic creature standing proudly over her.

"One second," I said holding up a finger. A small beam of light shot from my finger and it severed the ties with the universe that didn't allow extreme cussing. "Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!"

Now Large metal wings first emerged then arms twice as thick as tree trunks, long claws that were larger than their bodies, and finally, its head with a snout. The face was misshapen, dented out of shape, the right half seemed melted, but still very alive seeming and still oozing with the urge for bloodshed.

The body was still forming but it seemed like it was complete enough as the body's new metallic muscles flexed. The new creature shinning a deathly pale silver, but its eyes were like rubies.

The beast silently placed its hand onto the ground, then roared as it crushed the patch of the earth underneath its hand like it was made of paper.

"This... can't be legal, your telling me someone can make that?" I asked as it towered over me. "Kumin that thing can eat us both for lunch and still have room for a four-course meal"

It roared as it slowly grew, but it was clearly ready to fight, and I mean now.

Technically, I could rewind her to the point she was never born, but that wouldn't exactly fly with this team or the magical society, they were perfectly clear about how they felt about me with the numerous bounties placed on my head. Something about 'a demonic god being against the laws of nature and science'

Bitch, you are literal wizards and witches, mages on the daily do things that can only be explained by, 'yeah we think stuff and our energy makes it happen'.

I could summon my staff but this thing is only possible because of magic, so, I couldn't block anything from it if I want the power output I need. I had no doubt in my mind that this thing is a cousin to Truck-Kun that hits just as hard.

I dispelled my metal coating, which would be useless. If I get hit at any point, It's game over, I ain't respawning and I ain't waking up.

I focused my magical energies and poured them around my body as the words of my teacher flowed into my mind.

"You see, I get that you want to learn magic spells because they're cool," She said as she paced back and forth in front of me. "You have plenty of mana, that's easy for you, but control is a whole another aspect. You see, what are you going to do if someone finds a way to prevent you from casting spells?"

"Kill them dead!" I said raising a wooden sword. "Then I'll blast their face in for not letting me use magic"

"How will you do that? You don't need to use your mana for spells, you can use them on yourself"

"Why would I do that?" I asked, clearly confused.

She smiled. "Well, if you channel or focus your mana, you can increase your physical strength or speed, and if you fine-tune it enough you could increase your healing rates"

"Woah, so is that what you're going to teach me?"

"You betcha, it's hard at first but you get used to it."

Soon, my mana was spread around my body with a comfortable warmth spreading along with it. He wants to hit like Truck-kun? Fine, I'll match that.

"So you're resorting to cheap magic tricks" Kumin deadpanned. "That's pathetic"

Rude much?

"At least I have more than one trick" I spat back.

Marllerr, who had recovered tried to surprise attack me. She appeared right behind me in the air, likely shrunk herself, and grew back to the right size at what she thought was the perfect moment.

I dropped low, evading her kick, spun my body around, and slammed my foot right between her eyes. She didn't even cry out as my kick continued until she hit the ground with enough force to create a crater, making me lose my handhold, landing on my feet.

I think I kicked her back to her universe because she kinda vanished after that.

'I have obtained ultimate power! The only one that could stop me now is shaggy!' A voice that certainly wasn't my own exclaimed in my head, sounding far too pleased to ever be me.

I slowly turned to face Kumin and jokingly asked. "Ready Player 2?"

"Of course"

I had a feeling she would have a hard time moving, so I rushed her. I almost felt like some anime character as I jumped up.

The creature pulled back its arms and tried punching me so I pulled an arm back and punched at its arm.

Pain filtered into my body as jagged bits of metal cut into my hand, but I paid it no mind as I tried to put more force into the punch.

I managed to shatter the arm and fall to be face to face with Kumin and I pinched her nose hard to snap her out of her battle mode.

...At least, that's what I want to say happened.

Yeah, the creature of metal overpowered me and I was sent flying, likely breaking my arm on my way down as I crashed into the trees.

I groaned as I looked around. Rikka was nearby and so was Dekomori.

Both paused their training(Much to the dismay of their trainers) and rushed over to pull me from the tree I was hanging from.

I winced as Dekomori dropped my head. I hit a rock with a loud thunk.

Did she do that on purpose?

They set me down on the ground on some pillows my clones provided.

"Mr. Hisoki, what is going on over there?" Rikka asked me as she brought her brows together as a sign of worry.

One of my clones stepped forward and got set to patch me up. "Time's Denial"

As he turned the clock back I felt my body start mending itself under the green light that came with the spell.

"Kumin is going insane right now. Turns out she has a split battle persona. Quite a mean one at that." I explained as I sat up. "She also had a demon she summoned, I would have been able to take them down if I had two fewer clones running around."

Rikka and Dekomori exchanged a look. "It would be deathly awful if we kept you back from beating the monster Kumin has become in our absence-"

"Nope!" I cut the small blonde girl off. "I will not let you two go without trainers. I'll take away Yuuta's and my other clone needs to be found. The one that was working with Kumin"

They deflated. "Back to work you two"

Rikka gave me one last sad, wet puppy look, which I glared at her in response. "That won't work on me, go now or I'll make sure that your next meal will taste like tomatoes no matter what it really is"

Needless to say, she was back to work quickly.

I rolled my shoulders as I jumped a bit. All systems are a go. The only thing ain't working is some mild back pain. I got to stop slouching, I can't blame that on age just yet.

I headed off to where Yuuta was and surprisingly found him sweating. Like before, the dragon was circling his body but this time its features were harder to distinguish as they were made from a mixture of black and dark purple fire.

He glanced up.

"Hey buddy, I'll have to leave you unsupervised for a little bit so I'll need your trainer clone," I said tentatively as shock registered on his face.

He had no clue I had swapped with a clone, and I prefer it that way. Keeps him on his toes.

I held a hand out to the clone and he flashed a bright green before changing into a ball of green light that flowed into my hand. My headache weakened, and I felt like I had a tad more magic at the tips of my fingers. Which was great, made me feel almost alive(I mean I am but I normally feel a little dead inside...am I depressed? Or Bipolar as they call it? Maybe both? Whatever...doesn't matter).

I forced my senses to open. My clone was knocked out, by the waiting Kumin, she could tell I wasn't done yet, which sucks.

The metal is next to unbreakable, the user of it can control even a single atom of it, and it has its own magical properties that make it impossible to keep away for long.

I snapped my fingers, even if I send it in to the void, it will find its way back to Kumin. So what if I just blocked them?

I formed my staff and I fed it more power, this time skipping the magic phasing ability and going straight to the red and blue highlights. I gave it an experimental twirl and watched as the fire flared from the red end. I gave it more power, and the fire cooled, and the blue side had a chance to show off its ice, when the two met, the ice melted and the fire was put out by the new water.

I kept spinning it and the more water formed, soon, the staff resembled a shield missing its handle.

There isn't a single indestructible magical item, well besides liquids, gasses, and energy. But not important. if I keep messing with the water, then, in theory, I could trap some of the metal in there temporarily.

I started spinning it again, now the staff itself has a chance of deflecting the metal.

I grinned and ran towards her. I needed to pull my clone in and snap her out of this. Deep in my mind, I cursed myself for being this weak, but it can't be helped. My magic is getting restless, not wanting to obey me. Only a matter of time before something unfortunate happens.

.

Nibutani P.O.V

.

So, regardless of what the main Hisoki had said, the clones did not obey and put our training on pause.

Why? They figured that we might like the chance to see Hisoki struggle for once, even if he has several magical limitations, its amazing Kumin was holding her own(And more considering she sent him flying).

I caught my breath as my cannons reverted back into their pom-poms. Even Yuuta, who was chest deep in freezing water could see them.

Kumin isn't playing around, which is so odd considering her normal personality.

All of us were seated on a large couch(Courtesy of a clone), with popcorn and one of the Hisoki clones used a magnifying spell to let us see more clearly.

Hisoki ran towards Kumin, spinning some strange makeshift shield and when the metal monster she create slammed its fist against it, surprisingly he held his ground this time.

I saw some metal pieces try to stab through the water, but they got caught mid-way.

That's when he grinned. He stopped spinning it, letting the water drop to the ground and slammed his staff into the ground, and evaluated off with it, landing next to his knocked-out clone. With a brief flash of green light, Hisoki stood tall perfectly ready to fight.

More metal formed around Kumin, now forming armor and a new weapon. She launched more projectiles at him, and he dodged once again.

Kumin suddenly swapped places with one of the metal projectiles, holding a weapon, ready to slice through Hisoki, but he rammed an open palm into her stomach.

She flew back before once again swapping places with the metal projectile abandoned on the floor.

"Kumin, not smiling doesn't suit you" Hisoki joked.

"Really? Stupidity suits you quite well" She retorted, still stone-faced.

"Ouch, tough crowd I see" He summoned his staff once more, and to my surprise, the golden end pieces came onto it.

He can't block like that, what is he planning?

Kumin ordered her metal monster to attack and Hisoki calmly got into a blocking stance, when a large metal claw reached him, as expected it began to phase through the staff, but then the staff's golden bits vanished and the staff solidified, claw still trapped.

Hisoki grunted, and pulled, his arms began to glow a little and he managed to pull the beast up and slam it into the ground behind him. He dispersed the staff and the monster melted, only for the metal to wrap around his body, pinning him in place.

"You are a slippery bastard arent you?" Kumin said as she formed another sword in her hand. "I'd like to see slip out of this one"

Hisoki smirked. "You asked for it, not me"

He called out a simple spell, one all Exalt children(at least according to my altered memory) learned as a starter. "Flash!"

His body glowed a bright white, making everyone look away to keep their sight, but when we looked back, Kumin was now trapped in metal while Hisoki lounged on a chair made from metal, five rings shining on his hand extended to the sky, gleamed.

His smirk was still going strong.

"How did you do that?" She demanded

"I made a clone, who was free who used a simple stealing spell to take half of the rings, freed me, then trapped you before giving me the rings," He said with a shrug. A hand made of metal formed and it pinched Kumin on the nose, she squeaked and blinked a few times.

"Oh my...Mr. Hisoki, what happened?" Kumin asked, sounding back to normal as she glanced around

"You basically went cray-cray with power for a bit. Your one of those people that have a clear split in personalities under the right conditions" He said as he dispelled the rings and damage caused.

"Oh...are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just have a bit of a headache," Hisoki said while rubbing his forehead. Then he turned in our direction as if he could see us watching him. Yuuta and Rikka stopped eating their popcorn."Want to explain why the hell you are watching me instead of training?"

I froze.

Hisoki sighed. "I guess I should let you guys go now, it's starting to get a little late...I'm getting exhausted anyway. Do any of you mind me crashing over at their place for dinner?"

No one answered him.

He let out another heavy sigh. "I'll figure it out. Anyway, I should just send you home"

He snapped his fingers and a green mist pooled at our feet.

The next thing I know, I was standing outside my house. I glanced at the sky, perfect time for supper.

.

Yuuta P.O.V

.

I franticly looked around confused, every time Hisoki sends me somewhere, something weird happens, be it to me as some kind of prank or we get a lore dump on our friend.

"What are you doing?" Hisoki asked from behind me making me jump.

"Dark Flame Master, you are acting quite peculiar" Rikka muttered as she placed a hand on her chin. "Do you feel ill?"

"I'm fine," I said hastily. "Just keeping an eye out"

"Good, you're on guard." Hisoki laughed. "I have serval magical wards placed around this general area so don't worry too much. If you sense anything magical, it will likely be another mage of some kind."

"But wouldn't that be bad?" I asked. "Most mages that understand their power arent on our side right?"

"I mean, I could always scare them off." A sinister grin stretched on his face, making me shudder. "I have some countermeasures in place in case anyone is openly hostile."

I didn't question it. We all headed up the stairs into our building.

Hisoki dragged his feet as he walked, being the first one of us to exit. He gave a weak wave goodbye and headed off.

I kinda felt bad for the guy. "Hey, umm. What are you planning on eating tonight?"

He turned to face me, eyes looking more tired than I'm used to. "Uh...maybe some instant ramen or something. If I don't I might just crash and worry about hunger when it's time for lunch."

I paused. "Lunch?"

"I skip breakfast often. It's a waste of time" He said with a wave, trying to walk away again. "See you-"

Rikka was surprisingly the one that grabbed him and pulled him closer to us. "It wouldn't be profitable, or good for our weel being if you lack propper nutrition"

He did seem kinda scrawny. But he was always strong considering the raw force his status of being a God granted him. I doubt he needed as much food as we did but this is still his human vessel, which is basically his body.

"Yeah, I don't think you should go into fights or use as much magic as you do on a daily and not eat full meals" I said.

"You shall join us in the Dark Flame Masters lair for an evening meal" Rikka insisted as she pulled him up the stairs.

"Yeah- hey! When did I agree to have you both over?" I asked, but she ignored me. She does eat dinner with my family often so my mom tended to make extra in case Rikka ever pops up.

I relented and followed them up.

I made sure to open the door first, my mom was placing getting the table ready.

"Oh, Yuuta honey, do you mind setting the table- oh who is this handsome young man?" My mom said as she held out her hand to Hisoki.

"Oh, hello Mrs. Togashi, I'm Hisoki Sakai," He said as he shook her hand. "I'm a friend from school"

Sakai? Doesn't that mean something like border or territory? I wonder if he made these names up purely for the meaning to be a little joke or this was an actual person's name.

Secret territory, just like all of him.

"Oh, when did you and Yuuta become friends?" My mom asked

"Well we met on the first day but we really became friends more recently." He said. "I kinda just wanted to say hi and all that, maybe invite you guys over some time, I live right downstairs-"

Hisoki tried to use his speech as a distraction as he slowly backed up toward the door, but Rikka made her existence known at that moment to push him back.

"Oh hello Rikka," My mom said with a small wave

"Greetings, Mrs. Togashi. Our acquaintance here lacks adequate nutrition, which will naturally deplete his magical energies over time" Rikka said as if it made sense.

I resisted the urge to facepalm. Hisoki at least tried to put on a normal front.

I quickly jumped in. "Y-you see mom, Hisoki hasn't been eating properly because he is currently living alone while his caretaker is abroad"

"Yeah... it's like she's in a whole other world" Hisoki managed to say with a straight face. But there was a hint of amusement in his tired eyes.

"Well, this just won't do. While you're young you need to eat so you can grow up strong" My mom said with finality in her voice. "You're welcome to eat over any time."

"I- thank you," Hisoki said after some hesitation. "Sorry...I'm a little...socially awkward. That's why it took me and Yuuta a while to connect, I think I scared him and confused him in the beginning"

You got that right. You honestly scare me more now that I know what you can do. Remind me how I got so involved with this guy?

My mom smiled. "It's fine, I'm just glad my Yuuta is making good friends"

Before my mom could call my sisters over to greet Hisoki, he quickly got to work setting our table.

Before long, Yumeha recognized Hisoki's magical signature and rushed over to him while Kuzeha watched him skeptically.

"Mr. Hisoki! When will you teach me more magic?" Yumeha pouted.

He chuckled. "Soon young one, soon"

Kuzeha looked him up and down. "Are you one of those Chuuni weirdos? You don't dress like one"

Hisoki copied her gesture. "Are you a silly child that doesn't know how the world operates? You sure look like one"

"You don't speak weirdly either...It doesn't match up to me" Kuzeha muttered, pretty much ignoring the fact he insulted her.

"I'm just good with kids, I like to play along with them. Is that so wrong?" Hisoki asked innocently but I noticed his eyes flared with a green light.

Kuzeha's eyes did the same before she shook her head. "No, it's not weird."

"Dinner!" My mom called and we all went to wash our hands before eating. Before I did that I pulled Hisoki to the side.

"What the hell did you do to here?" I whispered

"I made her a tad more...accepting to the magical aspect of life, she won't be nagging you so much if you ever start what she calls 'relapsing', your welcome"

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Before I could comment on it he cut me off.

"Her mind isn't messed with. All I did was cover up how weird she found it, a magical aspect that's part of the magical boundary lines."

I let go of him. "Fine man...whatever. Not like I could stop you"

Soon enough we all were seated and eating dinner. My mom tried telling embarrassing stories about me, which didn't fly in my book.
Surprisingly, Hisoki listened to every little thing someone wanted to tell him, be it how my mom ran into a friend she hadn't seen in 5 years, how Yumeha broke one of her crayons while coloring, or when Kuzeha started complaining about a certain boy that was bothering her.

He cracked a joke every now and then, sometimes sending me a suggestive eye wiggle, meaning he was hinting at something magical.

Something in him seemed to come alive, but another part of it seemed forced. I thought he'd be the type of guy that would like books more than people.

"Anway, as amazing as that was, I have to get going now," He said as he started collecting our finished dishes and placed them away. It must be some kind of habit for him.

He patted Yumeha on the head. "I promise I'll teach you a good spell soon alright? But you got to promise me you won't tell your brother."

"Of course!"

"Kuzeha, that boy might like you. Whisper in his ear, something like 'I like you too' or something. His reaction will let you gauge if he does. If he is just being a jerk, then kick him in the soft spot."

"Noted"

"And Mrs. Togashi, I thank you again for having me over. Maybe I'll help you shop one of these days and I can meet one of your friends"

"Of course dear"

Riika stood next to him by the door. He leaned into my ear and whisper so only I could hear it.

"Yuuta...meet me at my apartment tomorrow before school, I remembered something I need to warn you about"

I nodded.

"You promise me you won't forget?" He asked louder, making it seem like it wasn't anything weird.

"Of course, who do you take me for?"

"Alright so you are all set to confess your undying love for Rikka tomorrow," He said with a smirk.

I felt my face heat up. "W-what?! No, that's not what I said!"

"Funny you deny that you said that but not the undying love part," He said while he shrugged his shoulders.

While my face was burning, he left with a wave.

I hate you. I really really do.

I could see him smirking in my mind and he would hold up a +4 card from uno because he's that type of person.

.

I woke up without anything magical. I glanced around, but nothing strange-

Suddenly my face was against the ceiling and I crashed onto my bed.

I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my back. What the?

When I tried to use the quick change spell, I nearly set my dresser on fire, so I quickly got dressed the non-magical way, gave a rushed good morning, and see you later to my family that was awake, and rushed down to Hisoki's apartment.

Before I could knock on the door, it swung open. "Follow me"

I followed him in and noticed he looked as he normally does but his sleeves were singed.

He lead me to what I assumed to be his room, it looked so painfully average and plain beside the fact it was super clean.

The second he closed the door, however, like when we enter the Overlap the room shattered and it now resembled something like Rikka's room. The pieces of the original room were still there but now they were spread out by several inky black walls.

One had several racks of swords, another had axes, and the last two were piled high with books, and unlike the ancient dusty look Rikka was going for, these were neat and orderly, stacked neatly and they seemed to go on and on forever, upwards and down.

His bed had shifted into a couch and his original bookshelf had become a large computer set up, reminding me of some hidden spy tech.

"Oh, where are my manners? Would you like a drink?" He asked and he flicked his fingers toward me and from the inky black roof a minifridge floated out. "I haven't restocked in a while so it might be a little empty"

"I-I'm fine," I said as I looked around.

He walked up to the 'bookshelf' and a chair popped out of the bottom, he sat down and clicked a few buttons and a bunch of glowing screens floated in the center of the room.

He moved them around like they were pieces of floating paper. Flashes of other things were on the screens.

One I could make out the shape of a weirdly shaped boy wearing a straw hat, and another boy wearing bright orange clothes as he devoured a bowl of ramen, another a group of kids holding up glowing handheld devices. I glanced at another and there was a 12-year-old boy with a bronze sword slashing at some winged creature.

"These are different universes, when I'm bored or have a specific reason to, I look at these," Hisoki explained.

He moved one towards me and it was one where I recognized several people I knew dressed in black gathering around a grave. A funeral.

Suddenly it shattered in his heac. "What happened?"

"I kinda destroyed it," He said sheepishly.

"How did you do that?! More importantly, why?" I exclaimed

"That was your grave Yuuta. You see, today is a very special day, but not in a good way. It caused your death and I fixed it"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, all magic is wonky for a while and that wonky magic killed you"

"Why? How?!"

"Something about a demonic moon being in retrograde or something," He explained. "All Mages powers won't work, but all demonic entities gain a significant boost in power. But in certain places protected by the influence of the moon, your magic will work properly. Rooms like Rikka's and mine. Anyway, you tried to cast a spell but it didn't like that and it killed you, plain and simple. So I broke the laws of time again and brought you back to life, henceforth destroying that timeline"

"So we are in luck," I said.

"Not at all, if something attacks we can't go into the Overlap because the Overlap isn't a place untouchable by the moon"

"But you count as demonic right?"

"That's the problem, halfbreeds-" He seemed disgusted by calling himself that. "Like myself get randomized magic. It either works stronger than normal, or it doesn't work at all"

"What kind of magic world has rules like this?" I exclaimed. "It's purely luck-based pretty much., you'd be better off without power"

"I know, it's bullshit. I don't make the rules. Not to mention it's immune to my powers so I can't skip this day" Hisoki said with a sigh. "Anyway, feel free to look around a little, I have some weapons I made myself, some I made copies from across the universe, and others I found cool looking. Not to mention a copy of every book ever made is in here"

"Wait, you said you broke the laws of time again. Isn't there some kind of repercussion for doing something like that?"

He tossed me a remote with an up and down button. "Nah, who would know? All the other beings with domains over time are senile, they wouldn't know if I reverted time back to the ice age, plus laws of time are complicated, you can do certain things like break those laws along as it was your destiny or some crap like that. I'll know if I wasn't meant to do something if someone calls me a Nexus event."

I figured I shouldn't push any further and pointed the remote at the sword rack and pushed the down button. Like it was connected to a large machine and I was simply scrolling through it. I held it until it changed to daggers, maces and other closer ranged weapons. I pointed it at the axes and soon it changed to guns, before heading off into other long-ranged weapons.

"Woah"

"Point it at the roof and hold the down button," Hisoki said to me.

I did as he said and it moved down towards me, and after it touched me, it phased through me. And after my head went through it I could see a beautiful magical magical wonderland. I could see winged creatures flying through the sky, triple rainbows, waterfalls falling upwards, floating castles, anything you could imagine in a fairy tale was here.

"What..is this place?" I asked breathlessly.

"Captivating isn't it? Hisoki asked from behind me.

"Yeah"

"This was the magical world before the Dark Organization, before the boundary lines. Well at least its the hidden aspect, the kingdom where we bring people to god status"

"This place was really real?" I asked.

"You have no idea what is and isn't possible," He said with a chuckle. "As cheesy as it might sound, this likely is where our final battle will be, where it all started. Magic was discovered and races, classes, and ranks were formed, all in this spot."

"Do...do you think we will be rewarded...for saving everyone?" I asked.

"Well depends on how the remaining gods feel. Some did think the time for magic was ending. But I think, should you guys succeed, you would have earned to right to become the new gods"

I turned to face him. "What?"

"You heard me...We are old and out of fashion. Out of date. High time a new generation takes control"

I felt a lump in my throat. "What about...my life here? What about you older gods?"

"Well, you see, you don't have to be in the magical realm to complete your duties as a god. What remains of us older gods will likely fade, which is what happens to immortals when they no longer have any purpose or they simply give up on their life."

I didn't know what to say to that. "What...will we do?"

He smiled. "Let's not think about that now. Do you want to peak at what it looked like when I left? I warn you, it only could have gotten worse since I last saw it."

I backpedaled as the magical wonderland around me vanished, leaving us standing in Hisoki's room. "I'm good, I'd rather see it later so I don't have nightmares now"

He grinned at me. "Magic will make you see some weird shit later. You can't escape the magic Yuuta, it owns you now. Anyway, let's get to school"

I've decided I'm crap at fighting scenes.