I'm really churning out chapters now. I wonder why? I guess the quarantine has given me some free time so the old creative juices started a flowin'. Whatever the case I hope you're all staying safe and keeping calm. Remember, the more we all stay put and self-isolate, the less stress is put on the health workers combating this global pandemic. So please, be calm, be respectful, be careful, stay positive and remember, we love you all.

It didn't surprise Mephisto that the first thing Romulus and Vali wanted to do upon meeting again was fight. The two were perhaps the most active set of rivals he'd seen in a while. Adrianna looked on at the two bickering boys with an exasperated eye roll but a wide smile on her face. The young girl was just as pleased to see their little group back together as the two boys, if the enthusiastic hug she'd dragged them both into was any indication.

Romulus himself was ecstatic to have his two friends over for a visit. Aside from the much awaited rematch with his eternal rival, he was also relishing the chance to show his friends around the house he'd become more and more accustomed to exploring. Though according to Tannin Romulus still avoided the old Titanius library like the plague but the fact that the boy had had only a mild flashback on his first day spoke remarkably of his ability even at such a young age to deal with stress and trauma.

Part of Mephisto was happy that Romulus seemed to be dealing so well with being back in his old family home. However, another part of him reminded himself that Romulus had been away from his home for over three years and that though he was still young the boy possessed a mental fortitude rarely seen in those his age. Looking over at the children who were still working through their breakfast in preparation for their great return to the sparring yard he saw Romulus was animatedly talking about his tutors and their lessons.

"Ms Circe and Mr Asushunamir are super cool. They've been teaching me a lot of really cool stuff about all my powers."

"Cool." Vali shrugged as he took a large bite from a piece of toast. "Azazel and Mephisto have just been having us working on getting our balance breakers. We barely get to learn anything new."

"Vali, that's the whole reason we've split up, you know that. The faster we can break through this, the faster we can all go back to training together, maybe we'll get to live here too when everything goes back to normal."

Vali looked around the ornate dining room.

"I guess it'd be pretty cool to live in a place like this. It's huge." He turned to Romulus. "Found anything cool here? Did you find some secret rooms?"

Romulus' eyes clouded over slightly and he suddenly grew silent. Mephisto could almost see his thoughts. The secret passages under the library likely appearing in his memories. Choosing to take the attention off of his silent ward he addressed the two sacred gear users.

"Perhaps." He said with a raised eyebrow. "We should concern ourselves with continuing your training instead of just running around?"

Vali and Adrianna looked at each other frustratedly. After all, neither of them had been able to fully break through their barriers and achieve the full power of their gears."

"Azazel said that the gear responds to feelings, right?" Adrianna asked. "Maybe fighting Romulus will help Vali get it. He really doesn't like to lose you know." The young magician nudged her friend and king, who shook himself out of his mulling and brought a mischievous smile to his face.

"Yeah Vali, I can't wait to see how good you are after all that training."

Vali growled at Adrianna before turning to Romulus and offering him a smirk.

"I'll get you this time Rom, I've gotten way stronger."

Romulus smirked before leaning over, getting right in Vali's face.

"I've gotten stronger too Vali, I'm gonna win this fight, like I did against Riser."

"You know, any closer and you two might kiss."

The two boys shot back away from each other, glaring at the smiling Adrianna and the laughing Tannin, Azazel and Albion.

"Ha, wouldn't that be a grand way to end the bet?" Albion chuckled. Romulus blushed and Vali scowled.

"Wait, what bet?" Adrianna asked.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Nothing Ms Lorelei." Mephisto said. "Just a little thing between us old men."

Adrianna looked between her companions. Azazel, Tannin and Vali were smirking or grinning, while Romulus blushed heavily and avoided eye contact. Mephisto had a small smile on his face but maintained an even demeanour.

"Ok." Adrianna shrugged, but planned to squeeze the truth from her blushing friend at a latter time.

"Well, now that we're all fed up, shall we get ready for young Vali and Romulus' match? I understand you two are tied again."

The two rivals locked eyes with a renewed fire before bumping fists and grinning.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Adrianna rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, do you guys ever think about anything other than fighting?"

"Nope." "I like fighting." The two said at the same time.

"Well fine." She groaned.

"Oh, come on Ari." Vali nudged her in the side. "You like sparring just as much as we do. Come on, admit it."

"I admit nothing. You two are just a couple of idiots, dragging me into your stupid punching contests."

"But you use magic, you don't punch at all." Romulus interjected with a smirk. "You just shoot at us from far away."

"Shut up." The girl blushed.

"Come on." Romulus grinned at her. "Admit it, you like fighting with us just as much as we do."

"Shut up." Adrianna growled.

"Carful kid." Tannin said jovially. "Don't want your little queen to start blasting you again."

"Come on." Vali got up out of his chair and ran towards the doors of the dining room. "Where are we gonna fight anyway?"

"There's a forest part way down the mountain, and another at the base. We can take a teleporter there. I'll show you."

Romulus dragged Adrianna behind him and led his two friends out of the room and towards the site of his and his rival's battle. Staying in the dining room even after their charges had charged off into the compound the three men of different races stared off at the doors until the sounds of children arguing faded out.

"How've they been doing?" Tannin asked.

"Well so far. Vali's been able to manifest the Scale Mail so long as he's active. It's keeping the activation even after he's calmed down that's the problem. He's missing the push he needs to go beyond that." Azazel said.

"Do you think Romulus will be able to trigger it?" Mephisto asked the fallen angel

"Maybe, honestly I've never seen either of the heavenly dragon emperors trigger their gears like that without facing the other."

"True. But then again, I've never seen a user with the kind of latent talent Vali has. Nor have they been under the tutelage of a being who knows as much about the sacred gear system as you do my friend."

"Mephisto my friend, is that praise I hear coming from you?"

"I give credit where it is due Azazel, I don't deal in empty flattery."

"Either way, a good spar and seeing how strong Romulus has become might just be the kick in the pants Vali needs to break through his block."

"I felt both of those kids. Romulus' progressed a lot in the past six months, he'll wipe the floor with Vali." Tannin said, smirking.

"Indeed Tannin." Mephisto acknowledged. "At his current strength, Vali may have caught up with Adrianna in the aftermath of her reincarnation, but Romulus has been training without rest for the past six months. Compared to Vali's progress in technique and control, I do believe that this fight is firmly in Romulus' hands."

"Kids gotten stronger than the girl. It'll be good motivation for both of those two to master their gears' powers."

"Well, shall we observe our proteges' match?"

"Ten bucks says the squirt dragon throws a tantrum." Tannin laughed

"I'll take that action." Azazel and Tannin shook hands.

Romulus brought his two friends to the forest that rested at the foot of the mountains that held his family's compound. The woods here were made of normal trees, rather than the super strengthened trees of Mephisto's forests.

Romulus and Vali were working with Adrianna to stretch and get ready.

"You ready Vali?" Asked Romulus, bending down to touch his toes.

"'Course I am." Vali countered, stretching his arms above his head.

"Well then." Mephisto interrupted. "I suppose we should begin the match."

The two boys moved away from each other, to the edge of the small clearing they'd chosen to start their fight in.

"Ready." Both boys got into ready stances.

"Set." Muscles tensed as the two locked eyes.

"Go."

The ground beneath both of their feet exploded as they rocketed towards each other as a flash of purple and silvery-blue.

Vali's fist struck a glowing shield as Romulus swung with surprising speed. The shield shattered as Romulus dispelled the construct, and his fist landed, sending Vali careening backwards into the dense forest. On the sidelines Adrianna looked on with wide eyes at the sight of her friend and king's magic.

"Kid's gotten almost as fast as Vali." Tannin said, appraising the two.

"Vali's speed has plateaued." Azazel acknowledged. "Until he can push past his limits with the balance breaker, he likely won't make the same leaps and bounds he did previously while training with Romulus."

"Romulus' control has also greatly improved." Mephisto commented. "That shield was a good use of chakra, drawing in some of the energy from the nature around him to fuel its power."

"Asushunamir's been taking the kid's training pretty seriously."

"Indeed. I am glad that I managed to convince Ereshkigal to part with him for this."

"What'd you even give the old hag to convince her?"

"Now Tannin, that would be telling."

Adrianna turned away from the grown men, and instead turned her attention back the the fight. Normally, Romulus and Vali were counters to each other. Vali's speed and ability to drain energy balancing well against Romulus' iron wall defense strategy. Vali would attack, and Romulus would defend and counter. Vali would back off, and Romulus would slowly pursue. Over and over the fights between them were drawn-out, intense wars of attrition that were only won after a lot of blood, sweat and tears were shed, leading to a satisfying victory to add to the tally. Though more often than not the two would simply beat each other so badly that neither of them could claim the win, leading to more ties between the two than actual decisive wins on either side.

This fight was none of those things.

Romulus' speed was now nearly on par with Vali's. Granted he wasn't quite as fast but the ability to keep up with Vali's speed at all was an impressive feat. Romulus' strength had also improved. He had always held more physical power than the younger devil, but Vali had made up for it with the power of his gear and his agility. At the moment though, his gear was perhaps the only advantage he truly had and even that wasn't proving to be of much help, given how many times Romulus had fought against it he had a concrete way to deal with the pesky gear.

Vali was finding himself firmly on the defense. Pushed back more and more until he was on his last legs. The worst part for the silver haired boy was simply that his long time friend and rival had yet to even break a sweat. Romulus' shields were stronger than ever, dissipating before he could take their energy, and firmly limiting his speed as they appeared like walls and ceilings to keep the young dragon emperor contained. Vali could feel his frustration rising, his anger was growing more and more as the fight went on.

The anger was not focuses at Romulus however. No, instead Vali was directing all of his annoyance inward. From where he could see his friend's face, Romulus looked almost... sad. He looked as if he couldn't believe that winning was this easy. After three years of the two training together, improving together, staying level with each other, the last six months now made Vali feel like perhaps he'd been holding his friend back.

'You're weak.' A voice that Vali hated, a voice he hadn't heard in a long time, whispered in his mind. 'Just like your mortal mother. My son spawned such a weak child, you deserve to die with your whore mother.'

Vali's rage mixed with the voice, giving rise to a distain that only fuelled the white dragon emperor on further.

Romulus watched as his friend's eyes flashed a menacing blue. The fight so far had been... there was no other word for it; disappointing. Vali and Adrianna had said they'd mostly focused on achieving their balance breakers, but he didn't think that the two of them had progressed so little outside of them. Vali's power was more than the last they'd fought, Romulus could tell that much, but it seemed to be mostly in general control and a slight increase in speed.

Meanwhile, Romulus himself had spent the last six months learning to harness two entirely untapped sources of energy within himself. He'd also learned how to use his powers from three experts in the fields of magic, chakra, and combat. Together, the young Titanius had become a more honed fighting machine than most supernatural beings many times his age, and he was still only getting stronger.

The fight didn't drag on for much longer. Romulus forced Vali into a corner, literally. His shields appeared around his opponent, forcing him into a direct, frontal confrontation, the worst position for Vali at his current power. Romulus could almost feel Vali's frustration, radiating off of him like a noticeable aura that showed the boy that his rival was just as unhappy with how the fight had happened as he was.

Vali's head thrashed around, trying to find a way out of the trap he'd been forced into but none made themselves know. Instead he felt the shields getting closer all the time, closing off his options so that even if he somehow made it past Romulus he wouldn't be able to get out. He felt his demonic power flow through his veins as he tried to augment his power further.

Over on the sidelines Azazel, Mephisto, Tannin and Adrianna watched. The three older men were almost bored.

"Guess this is the end of it." Tannin sighed. "And I was hoping for something more climactic."

"Nope." Azazel grinned. "This is exactly what we needed."

Mephisto nodded along with the governor-general of the Grigori.

"Indeed, Vali now has everything he needs to succeed."

Adrianna looked at the three.

"What do you mean? Romulus is about to win."

Mephisto turned to her.

"Yes he is Ms Lorelei, and this fight has been a lacklustre performance on Vali's part since the beginning. Vali's pride won't allow such an easy loss, nor will Albion allow his host to lose so spectacularly in such a one-sided battle. Hopefully, this will be the point where Vali can finally stabilise his gear's true power."

Adrianna's eyes widened and she turned back towards the fight.

Vali tried harder and harder to force his power to increase. Albion's power was his, Albion's gear was his. Romulus' shields had almost completely enveloped him when he heard Azazel's voice in his head.'

'You've been using physical training to activate your gear so far. It's fine as a starting point but now you have to slow down. You need to try and start the balance break without moving so fast. Give yourself some time to concentrate on actually keeping it active and controlling it instead of just riding the wave.'

Realising that this was perhaps his last chance, Vali concentrated. He focused on the feeling he had whenever he'd managed to activate his balance breaker. He felt that same feeling deep inside himself now, only stronger. He felt the distain for failure, the hatred of weakness. He reached out towards that power, trying to grab it and hold onto it. The power finally touched his mental fingers and coated his entire body, but Vali could still feel that it was brittle at best, ready to shatter in the event of a strong enough strike.

That kind of power, the power he'd used until that point, wouldn't be enough. Romulus would get hits in, it was inevitable in their fights. He needed something that could withstand that power, he needed armour that granted power and defense, not just sheer speed. His hands reached out further as the shields and his rival moved closer, almost in slow motion. More power flooded over his body. He needed to fight. Even if he lost, he wasn't going to let his friend win without a fight worthy of the white dragon emperor. More than that, he wasn't going down without giving as good as he got, anything less would be disrespectful. It would be shaming himself, his rival, their bond as friends, and every fight they'd had up until that point.

Suddenly everything seemed to click. Vali understood, and the power coalesced around and within him.

Romulus had almost closed the shields, trapping his friend and ensuring an end to the fight in his favor. Suddenly there was a gust of wind next to his head as he moved it to the side, and Vali was no longer in his makeshift prison.

The young devil whirled around just in time to throw up a shield. The strike that hit was too strong, it would break his shield if he tried to stand his ground, so instead Romulus allowed both himself and the shield to be thrown back by the momentum. Flying through the air, landing some twenty meters back Romulus could finally see his rival.

Where Vali would once have been, there was now a white armoured figure. The change in appearance added nearly a foot in height to the figure, and the distinctly draconic plating, combined with the metal tail and blue glowing energy wings let Romulus know exactly was wearing the suit.

'Sacred Gear; Divine Dividing. Balance Breaker, Scale Mail!'

Albion's voice resounded throughout the area. announcing to everyone just what had happened.

"Is that what I think?" Adrianna asked in shock. She and the fight's other observers were floating above the forest, keeping pace with the boys and watching as the battle progressed.

"Indeed Ms Lorelei." Mephisto nodded. "Vali's utter disgust of loss and refusal to disappoint with an unsatisfactory fight has finally allowed him to break through his blocks and ascend."

"I knew it." Azazel bragged. "Vali would never let Romulus win with such a poor performance."

He turned to Tannin.

"And he didn't throw a tantrum, pay up."

Tannin grumbled, before handing Azazel a wad of noted.

"Looks like the kid's on the back foot now." The dragon said. "That armours closed up the power gap and then some."

"This might be a win for Vali then, in more ways than one." Mephisto observed.

"Nope." Tannin shook his head. "Kid's still got a few tricks up his sleeve, and now that Vali's gonna start pushing him, it might just be what he needs to finish up his training."

Down on the ground, Vali was looking curiously over his new form. Clenching his armoured fists he felt the new power that was surging inside of him.

'Well done Vali.' Albion congratulated in his mind. 'You have finally achieved balance breaker.'

"This feels weird." Vali responded. "I feel so much stronger, but the power feels more compact."

'The energy of our gear has spread out over your body, but condensed down in order to provide the power and defense to balance out our increase in speed. This is the true Scale Mail'

"Wow."

Vali turned suddenly seeing Romulus coming towards him.

"Is that your balance breaker?" He asked, admiring the impressive looking armour.

"I think so." Vali responded, voice coming out slightly echoed and distorted. "Albion said so."

"Cool." Romulus smiled. "You think you can keep up now?"

Vali smiled at his friend, who's smile had since become a smirk. The two dropped into their respective stances, though Vali's was a little different now that he was covered in armour.

"Of course I can. Can you keep up with me?"

"I was winning, remember?"

"Hmm, no I don't."

Vali disappeared and Romulus had only a moment to dodge before a fist buried itself right where he'd been standing.

"You're faster."

"Well duh." The two boys vanished from sight, racing once again through the woods. This time however, it was Romulus who was on the retreat. The Balance Breaker of the Divine Dividing allowed the division of power near instantaneously instead of just every ten seconds, so Romulus found himself losing several of his shields to the gear's power before he adjusted to the new speed of his friend's abilities.

He was thrown backwards suddenly when Vali's foot crashed against his defences. Romulus had long since stopped trying standing his ground. Instead, with every strike he allowed himself to be carried back with his shields to gain what distance he could. Vali's power was becoming too much for him to handle, and every second the gap widened as his friend became more and more used to his new abilities.

Feeling the pressure mount Romulus used the brief respite he'd gained being flung back by Vali's strikes in order to concentrate on his chakras. The power of the Berserker would be useful, but against someone like Vali who could drain his energy the careless offence would only lead to a swift defeat. The fifth chakra would also be useful but Romulus still hadn't learned how to completely control it and extensive use left his throat raw and sore. The sixth chakra was his best bet for now, predictive capabilities were his greatest weapon against Vali's speed. Gathering his energy in his forehead his third eye opened. He skidded along the ground before coming to a stop. Immediately a sensation in his eye and the phantom image of Vali in front of him showed him what he had to do. He readied himself and as Vali's attack was thrown he dodged to the left and threw his own punch. Encased in a shield for extra power Romulus' attack was a clean his, sending Vali rocketing away from him for the fist time since he'd unlocked his scale mail.

Vali was glad his armour provided now extra protection. His friend's attack would have been enough to shatter the previous version of his balance breaker. Flaring his power Vali stopped in mid-air, extending his wings. The wings' frames grew, extending farther than they had before. Glowing ripples of energy formed along Vali's wingspan before launching numerous projectiles to ravage the forest below.

Romulus threw up his shields, keeping them close and concentrated against the barrage of energy.

Vali finally ended his attack, looking down at the levelled section of forest. Romulus' shields had held strong, leaving him in the only clear area surrounded by destroyed foliage.

Romulus' shield finally fell and the boy fell to his knees, panting and gasping in the aftermath of his defense. Vali descended down to his friend's level, keeping his distance in case his opponent's state was a ruse to catch him off guard.

"You gonna surrender?"

Romulus just glared at his rival but felt his options leaving him.

"Well, this has been a real back and forth hasn't it?" Azazel observed with and amused grin.

"It surely has." Mephisto agreed. "And Indeed the progress made by the two has only been exemplified by their matches."

"Kid's almost out of options." Tannin growled. "Time's almost up for a last ditch effort."

"Why Tannin, something you know about our young ward?" Mephisto raised an eyebrow at the Dragon King.

"Kid's been working on something ever since Asushunamir mentioned he could combine his energies. Hopefully that Vali brat's gonna be able to help him finish it."

"Oh?" Mephisto and Azazel were now eyeing the fight with a more intense eye. "Can his body handle the combination of three different powers."

"Not really." Tannin shrugged. "But he's found a way around that, at least until he comes up with something more permanent."

Out on the field, Vali and Romulus were still standing across from each other. Romulus was waiting for the right opportunity, a possible opening for an attack. Meanwhile Vali simply waited, flexing and stretching the limits of his new power to better understand it.

"You gonna move?" Vali asked, taking a step forward.

"And get pummelled because I made a bad one? No way."

"I'll wait. It's no fun if we don't fight at our best."

"I know, I wasn't having any fun when I was winning before."

"You weren't winning."

"Yeah, I was."

Romulus thought on his options. Vali's power wasn't something he could match with what he'd mastered.

'I guess it's time to see if I can really do this?'

Romulus dropped from his combat stance into a meditative one, surprising Vali and their audience.

"You giving up?" Vali asked, a little concerned.

"Nope, just give me a second. Then we can really get going."

"Oh." Vali's concerned look broke into a broad grin. "Go ahead, I don't wanna win unless we're going all out."

"What's he doing?" Adrianna asked, watching her king.

"I'm not sure." Mephisto replied.

"Kid's gonna try it." Tannin smirked.

"Try what?"

"You'll see."

Romulus focused in on himself. Taking a firm grip on all of his powers he felt them roil and protest as he mixed them with each other. There was still the pain that he felt when he'd practiced mixing his energies, both on accident, and later by design, but he pushed past it. Taking the power of the Berserker and pushing it to its maximum the pain of his clashing energies faded away and he could feel every part of himself grow stronger and more resilient. His body hardened against the strain, but Romulus also felt his mind beginning to succumb to the red haze of anger. To counter it, he focused more of his energy on his third eye, using it to give him clarity and reason through the film of instinct that was taking over.

"His powers are being forced together." Mephisto observed, a touch of concern entering his voice. "He's only just managing to keep his body from collapsing under the strain. The Berserker's power won't be enough to hold back the damage, at least not without him losing control."

"He's using the third eye to give him clarity." Azazel observed in mild awe. "The instinct still takes over, but the eye and the calm tempers it."

Romulus could feel the power leaking out of him, and did his best to contain it. Meanwhile, Vali watched as his friend's powers raged, collided and augmented each other. Romulus had almost reached the level of power the Scale Mail gave Vali.

As the powers of his chakra's finally maximised, he felt his demonic and heavenly powers complete their merger. He could feel his body slowly being broken by the clashing powers, only mitigated for the moment by the resilience granted by the Berserker's rage. As the final vestiges of his energies slid into place, his skin began to give way under the strain of containing his power. In a blast of energy that finally closed the gap between his power and Vali's, Romulus was consumed.

When the haze finally subsided, Vali, Adrianna, Mephisto, Azazel and Tannin could see what Romulus had become.

His height hadn't changed as drastically as Vali's, who's armour added and extra foot to his natural height. Instead the addition was mostly in the mass of energy that flowed upwards, giving the appearance of a flaming head. His skin had also changed, rather, his skin was gone. Instead, Romulus' body was a mass of pulsing, blue energy that had taken on a humanoid form. His build had remained the same, but he now displayed none of his distinguishing features. His face, once handsome with features that made him appear similar to the nobility of Ancient Greece or Rome, were now a blank, rippling facade of energy, with a brow that met sharply in the centre of his face, and without eyes, a nose, or a mouth. His larger forehead was also dominated by a swirling, galaxy-like spiral of energy that resembled an eye.

Vali looked on at the figure who's energy he recognized as his friend's. He wasn't as adept at sensing energy and magic as the rest of the observers but Albion was more than ready to tell his host what he was facing.

'This form, he's managed to balance his energies with the gates of chakra.' Albion spoke to Vali through their gear. 'His power is on par with our own in our current state.'

"Great." Vali grinned. "Now we can really start the fight."

'Careful Vali.' Albion warned. 'You don't know what Romulus is capable of in this form, do not become reckless.'

"Yeah yeah old man. I know."

Vali took a step towards his friend, which got the mass of power's attention.

"You ok? You ready to get going?"

The mass stood still, and its head bobbed up and down as if it was trying to speak. Looking over itself, Vali could see that Romulus was getting used to whatever it was that had happened.

Deciding not to give his rival a chance to breath, esspecially not after allowing him ample time to reach whatever form this was, Vali launched himself forward with his wings to attack. Part way through his dash, he crashed into a shield wall, it seemed that the attack had brought his friend back into the fight.

Romulus meanwhile was feeling strange. That wasn't unexpected considering his body was not just a condensed mass of amalgamated power but it was still disconcerting to the boy. He'd probably lost himself in his new form if Vali hadn't attacked and restarted their match. Regaining focus, Romulus could see Vali's path with more clarity than ever before, and had completed his shield and it's backup before his friend had even gotten close.

The White Dragon Emperor's fist slammed into his protections, and the barriers were gone before the gear could even get a fix on them to drain. Romulus responded to the attack by pushing off the ground and beginning his own strike. Vali's newfound speed allowed him to barely dodge but also sent him into a sloppy backpedal that allowed Romulus to push the advantage and his new attack.

His fist struck Vali's gut, causing the silver armoured boy to gasp before he was kicked in the face and send backflipping through the air.

Using his new airborne state, Vali used his tail to slash Romulus across the face, almost hitting him and shattering the hastily made shields that had sprung up to defend him. The two observed the other from their places; Vali in the air, steadily rising higher into the sky, and Romulus on the ground reinforcing his position with shields.

Suddenly both of them disappeared and the sounds of impact could be heard. The air rippled as shockwaves rocked the trees and scattered leaves from branches.

Romulus' fist smashed against Vali's helmet, while Vali's leg slammed against Romulus' armour of shields and sent him skidding backwards clutching his side. With every second the two were exchanging flurries of blows, pushing themselves farther and farther as they tried to draw out every ounce of power they could out of their newly gained forms.

Finally the two came together, Vali's clawed hands gripping Romulus' shielded ones in an intense grapple.

'Hold on Vali.' Albion encouraged. 'Just a second more and you'll be able to drain the power from his defenses.'

Romulus knew his time was running out. Vali wasn't letting go of him. This was the worst position to be in against the White Dragon Emperor, in close quarters and without a means of escape. If Vali managed to activate the power of his gear, his shields would weaken until they were flimsy enough to be bent, and then Vali would be able to reach him and drain his power directly. If that happened, it was over for him. He quickly contemplated his options, disengaging was not possible, Vali's armoured hands had too firm a grip on his own. Attacking physically was also out, Vali would only counter, and any mistimed shields to defend himself would only be drained. Finally, an idea came to mind, focusing his power into his throat, he pushed the power of the Berserker and Vishuddha to their limits, trying to squeeze out any remaining power he could, and force into one last attempt to put his rival down.

Vali grinned under his helmet as he counted the last moments before his gear would activate and push him to victory, but that smile faded when Romulus' chest puffed up as if he was taking a deep breath. A line spread across his rippling non-face, before it opened to reveal a mouth like chamber.

'Vali! Dodge!' Albion roared through his gear.

Vali tried to disengage and evade, but now it was Romulus who held onto his rival in an iron grip and so Vali's only choice was to focus as much of his defense as he could into the front of his armour.

"ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"

The scream wasn't anything intelligible, but Vali felt the blast wash over him, stripping away most of his armour and leaving him all but spent. Romulus' grip finally loosened as the sound reached its crescendo, flinging him back and sending him skidding and sliding across the ground, knocked out from the power of his opponents final attack.

Meanwhile, Romulus' form of energy flickered and soon raw skin could be seen under the rippling power. The combined energies withdrew from the surface of his body, leaving him looking as if he'd been badly burned. Romulus fell forward, unconscious from the drain of his new form, and the energy pushed into his last attack.

Off to the sidelines, the group who had been watching the whole thing looked on.

"Are they dead?" Azazel asked, before flying towards Vali's prone form while Tannin moved towards his own protege.

Tannin nudged Romulus' body with his foot, and was rewarded with a pained and exhausted groan.

"Nope. At least, this one isn't."

Azazel nodded, crouched down beside his ward and began to poke him in the side. Receiving a similar groan he stood up with a smile.

"Vali's still kicking. Damn, that was a good show."

"Yep."

Mephisto and Adrianna arrived next, stopping in between the fallen boys. Adrianna rushed towards Romulus' side, holding her hands out and allowing some of her magic to flow as she cast a healing spell to help her knocked out friend.

"These two always take things too far. A couple of idiots, that what they are." She grumbled.

"Now Ms Lorelei." Mephisto admonished. "Let's not be too critical, we don't want you throwing stones in glass houses do we? I seem to recall you working yourself to exhaustion in your spars several times."

"At least I don't do it every other fight." She retorted.

"Girl's got you there 'Phisto." Tannin laughed. "These two beat each other black and blue just about every time they get to go at each other."

Mephisto let out a long-suffering sigh before gesturing to his queen.

"I'll concede that one Tannin. Now, let's get them back the the compound, Romulus looks like he'll be needing more than just some energy replenishers, and Vali is most certainly going to have some deep bruises from that scream, perhaps some damaged eardrums."

"On it 'Phisto." Tannin hoisted Romulus onto his shoulder, while Azazel carried Vali on his back.

The next few days after the fateful spar were odd to say the least. Vali and Romulus, both excited and invigorated after the discovery of their powers, had been training tirelessly with and against each other, seemingly in a competition to find who could master their powers first. Meanwhile, Adrianna had become more and more frustrated as her own training seemed to stall, and her two friends progressed farther and farther ahead of her. For the first time in her life, she was falling behind.

Adrianna had always been talented, obviously so. Sure, people said her gear gave her an unfair advantage but she hadn't ever let that get to her, or drag her down. Even if the gear meant she understood things faster, it was up to her to learn what she was taught, and talent could never be a substitute for practice. She remembered something one of her teachers had said;

'Talent can get you started, but it won't take you anywhere unless you put in the work.'

She didn't know why, but she'd never forgotten those words, even when her teacher had recommended her advancement and she'd left their class at the age of six, she still wouldn't let those words leave her. She'd progressed quickly after that, rising up a dozen times in less than a year until she was placed in a class of people nearly three times her age. Perhaps she'd have advanced further along with traditional education, if she hadn't met Romulus. Now she was studying magic the likes of which her former classmates could barely comprehend, and her schooling had accelerated to the level where according to traditions schooling she would be on par with young adults in the middle of highschool.

Even with all these accomplishments however, she still couldn't help but be jealous of her two friends. They'd progressed so much, and though Romulus had assured her that she was still the smartest of the three of them, something she most definitely was aware of, she still wanted to reach that level that Vali had.

Honestly, it wasn't fair. She was a calm and collected person most of the time, far more mature than her nine years of life would have most believe, and she was constantly acting as the voice of reason for her two idiot friends who's brains were more fill ideas on punching than anything else, and it was exactly that fact that was holding her back. Mephisto, Azazel, Vali, all of them had told her that to get in touch with her gear, she'd need to get angry, or at least, feel some serious, uncontrollable emotions, but so far, nothing. Nothing could really get her to break through whatever was blocking her.

She'd even tried to think about Riser Phoenix and his sister. After all, the last time she'd even gotten close to Balance Breaker she'd been fighting them. It didn't work. Sure, she'd get annoyed thinking about how they'd almost taken her first real friend from her, but she and Romulus had won that fight, and now as far as she'd heard from Mephisto and Tannin, everyone was scared of the two of them.

On the third day since Vali had managed to unlock his Scale Mail, and Romulus, whatever that weird energy thingy was, Adrianna was sitting in the training grounds that Romulus had apparently been using for the last month. She could see why her friend liked it. It was really peaceful, the waterfall looked nice and the water made a nice, relaxing sound as she found herself fading into a meditative trance. She sat there for a while, almost falling from her meditation into a nice afternoon nap, before something began to invade her calm.

"-ri?"

'A-ri?"

"Ari!?"

She snapped out of her trance, finding Romulus in front of her, finger out and about to poke her on the forehead. Jumping slightly and leaning back, she puffed up her cheeks to look annoyed and swatted at his hand.

"Stop that."

"Sorry, but you didn't say anything when I talked to you. I thought you might have fallen asleep."

Adrianna blushed softly, she almost had. "I was concentrating." She glared at him, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry I guess." Romulus shrugged.

Adrianna groaned, and flopped back onto the ground, resting her head on one of the bull-oak tree's roots.

"It's ok, I was... I was just trying to like, talk to my gear."

Romulus tilted his head to the side.

"Can you do that? I thought you could only talk to your Sacred Gear if it had a monster in it, like Vali's."

Adrianna got to her feet, her blush persisting she stomped her feet.

"I know. I just... I don't know what to do Rom. I've tried focusing, I've tried using all of my power to force my gear into balance breaker, I've tried fighting Vali, Mr Mephisto, even Mr Azazel, nothing works."

"Well, Mr Mephisto and Mr Azazel told Vali and me that we got out powers because we didn't want to lose a fight, have you tried that?"

"I think so." Adrianna huffed. "I've fought Vali a lot, but I can never get my gear to activate against him, not even a little. I just don't really care about fighting the way you guys do."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ugh, this is so dumb, why does this have to be so hard?"

"I think it's supposed to be, otherwise everyone would do it."

"I know that! But why can't I do it, I'm supposed to be great at this magic stuff. My gear's supposed to be awesome at it, and I work super hard. Why doesn't it work."

"... You know, Vali got his Scale Mail because he hated the thought of losing to me without a good fight, I got my thing the same way. Maybe you just need to find something you hate, and then you can use the gear to beat it."

Adrianna thought about it. It made sense.

"I guess, but I don't hate losing like you two. I mean, we all hate losing normally, but you guys really take those spars way too seriously."

Romulus shrugged.

"I guess, but it's fun for us."

"Yeah, I know."

Romulus paused for a second, and a strange thoughtful look popped up on his face.

"What made you do it last time?"

"What?"

"Last time you got that book thingy. It was in our rating game, what made you do it last time?"

"I don't know. I guess... I was hurt, and I was super angry, and I really didn't want them to win."

"Then let's do it again, think about them."

"I tried that already. It didn't work."

"Oh, okay."

The two sat together, an awkward silence starting to form. After a while, Romulus frowned and spoke up.

"I don't like this."

"What?"

"I don't know what to talk about?"

"Me neither."

"But we always had something to talk about, I mean, we were always talking."

"It's been six months since we talked, at least without letters."

"Sorry."

"it's ok."

"..."

"..."

"What was it like, training with Mr Mephisto and Mr Azazel?"

"It was fine, I guess, just a lot of sparing and magic practice, I didn't even get to learn any new spells."

Adrianna kicked her feet from where she was lying, and Romulus moved so that he was sitting by her head, leaning back against the tree bark.

"Wait, I remember now." Adrianna looked at her friend. "What was that bet thing Mr Mephisto Mr Azazel, Albion and Mr Tannin were talking about? I wanted to ask but you and Vali knocked each other out like a couple of idiots."

Romulus blushed, and Adrianna increased her glare, hoping to scare the truth out of her friend.

"It's nothing Ari."

"Nuh-uh, It's a bet, that means they're betting money, I wanna know."

"Really Ari, it's... it's stupid."

"Then tell me."

"I don't wanna."

"Tell me or else."

"I... Mr Tannin told me not to."

"Lord Tannin isn't here now, just tell me."

"I really don't wanna Ari."

"Romulus Titanius..."

Adrianna flared her magic, and though Romulus could have easily fended her off or smothered her power with his own, he looked down, blushing bright red.

"Fine, but promise you won't get mad?"

"Yeah." Though she wasn't sure she'd keep that promise.

"Mr Mephisto, Mr Azazel, Mr Tannin and Albion have a bet running, about when we might..."

He trailed off, bitting his lip and blushing an even brighter shade of red.

"What?" She asked, curiosity burning in her veins. If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, it was being kept out of something by others.

"A-about." He stammered. "About when we'll... we'll k-k-kiss."

Adrianna stared at her friend, her face turning redder and redder as she began to understand what her teachers had been betting on.

"What?"

"They bet on when we'll k-kiss." He repeated, this time stammering less as he reached the end.

Her face turned scarlet, and slowly it changed from one of stunned disbelief into one of suppressed rage.

"Those... those stupid morons!" She screamed, leaping to her feet and opening the book that had suddenly appeared in her hands. "I'm gonna kill those stupid idiots."

She marched across the water, out of the training grounds and down the hall, shouting about idiots and stupid bets. Romulus watched her go in stunned silence, before he leapt to his feet, unfurled his wings, and flew after his furious queen.

He caught up to her just as she reached the one of the studies that the adults were using to chat in. Mephisto looked up at the young girl, and raised a brow at her angry expression.

"Ms Lorelei?" He asked, drawing the other's attentions. "What is the matter, has something happen-"

"Stupid grown-up idiots!" She yelled, opening the book in front of her and firing a blast of magic from it.

Romulus watched his queen fire into the study at his guardian.

"Ari! Stop!"

"No!" She yelled back. "Those jerks thought it was funny to bet on if we were gonna kiss."

"Oh, you told her Romulus?"

The two turned to see the smoke clearing, showing Mephisto, Tannin and Azazel, looking no worse for wear. In fact, the only evidence that they'd just had a destructive spell shot at them was the slight singing of the table and rug.

"Told the kid not to tell her, ruins the fun of it." Tannin grumbled before chuckling at Adrianna's furious expression.

"Well, joke's on you, I'll just never kiss him." She huffed. "Who'd wanna kiss him anyway, guy are idiots. All they care about is fighting and making bets and being stupid idiots."

She marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving Romulus with his teachers... and Azazel.

"I wonder if she realised she just used her balance breaker to attack us?" Mephisto wondered aloud, sipping from his cup of tea as if nothing had happened.

Romulus turned wide eyed to look at the door.

"She did."

Suddenly the door burst open, and Adrianna raced in, clutching the book that was apparently her balance breaker tightly to her chest.

"Romulus! I did it!" She jumped up and down before throwing her arms around her friend, pulling him into a celebratory hug.

"Yeah, I saw" Romulus laughed, hugging back and joining her in jumping lightly in place.

"Needs more practice." Azazel observed. "it's complete, but still not perfect, she and Vali'll need to train in order to really get it under control, and maintain it for long periods of time."

"Well, we've got time." Tannin remarked. "Might as well put them all to work."

Wooooo done.

This one was half-way finished since I put out chapter ten, but I actually wrote chapter 11 half-way into this one to fill in the gap in training, and I thought introducing all of this without the proper information about the gates and their power, or just giving a brief overview, would be a waste of an interesting mechanic. That's where all of chapter 11 came from.

I hope you enjoyed Romulus and Vali's first fight in a while. I wanted to do it justice and though it was short at the end I was more focused on both Vali and Romulus gaining their new powers. For those of you who want a visualisation or a picture of what Romulus looks like in his new form, it's the cover image for this story.

Did I do well with the dialogue. Romulus, Adrianna and Vali are all kids of nine to ten years old, so I tried to keep it simple without being babyish. I hope it came across well. I actually had a really easy time writing Adrianna and Romulus' dialogue but that's what makes me nervous. Let me know if you though it wasn't something you could see a nine year old or ten year old saying.

I wanted to add a little bit of contrast to the awakening of balance breakers. Vali always had the emotion to do it, rage and anger work well for fueling the powers of dragons but what Vali really needed was control, and so being trapped as he was against a stronger opponent he refused to lose to was what pushed him over the edge and into his Scale Mail. Issel had his perverseness to push him over, with poking Rias' breasts, Vali has his competitive spirit and will to fight, which I feel fits his character better.

Adrianna had the opposite problem. As we saw in previous chapters she's always had the power and the calm to achieve her balance breaker, but isn't as emotional as Romulus or Vali. So what did I do? I gave her a situation where her calm was finally broken and she went full on rage mode, unlocking her balance breaker in a fit of rage, embarrassment and passion. It had a lot more humor than Vali's but I felt it kind of fit. Also, now Adrianna knows about the bet, that's gonna shake things up a little.

Next chapter will be a little different. It's gonna be another small time skip and a little something to do with Zatouji. All you DxD fan you know what I'm talking about, post in review what you think Romulus and Adrianna will get.

As always, stay safe, stay healthy and don't forget, we love you.