*-Rudeus-*

"I'll be back in a sec."

"Okay. Going to get some snacks?"

I turned to Phoebe and motioned with my eyes towards the man.

"Something's up with that guy. I'm gonna go investigate."

"Um. What guy?"

I looked back and saw that the skeletal man had disappeared.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find a certain family member of mine, do you? His name is Aleksander."

Phoebe and I jumped back and saw that the man was directly behind us.

"Who are you?"

"Oh how rude of me! I'm Randolph Marianne, The Death God."

Phoebe tugged on my sleeve.

"Thorn. He's the fifth of the Seven Great Powers."

"Number five? Oh great-"

I was cut off as I was surrounded by an invisible barrier. As soon as it formed around me I could feel the mana within the barrier getting absorbed by the barrier. I tried punching it with my left hand, but when I did a large portion of my fist turned to dust.

"Thorn!"

"Don't touch the barrier! It's absorbing mana."

"Let him go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see I was warned that the one person I truly needed to look out for was a magician by the name of Thorn Hanabira. So I've got him in this barrier and I have no intentions of letting him out."

"How do you know my last name?"

"I believe that should be the least of your concerns. You know, cause of the barrier eating away at your skin?"

I looked down and saw Randolf was right. My arms, legs, and even parts of my stomach were shriveling again. All except for my right arm. The one that was black, and exuding the smell of lust only sensed by those with heightened senses like the beast-folk or Raion.

In truth I had assumed you were as smart as he was and that you would've figured this out by now. I suppose I could give you a nudge in the right direction though.

I heard a familiar voice in my head as my right arm reared back, and some kind of black dust swirled around it and punched into the barrier and it crumbled accompanied by the sound of shattered glass.

I breathed in deeply and absorbed as much mana as I could. Whenever that black fuzz pooled out of my arm and punched the barrier almost all the mana in my body flowed to my arm, and almost caused me to turn to dust.

"Oh? Seems your stronger than I thought. And that arm of yours seems quite interesting. What is it? A curse? A magical implement?"

"Honestly? No idea."

I got back up and started feeding mana into the arm. More black dust flew around it, and when I waved my arm at Randolf the dust formed a crescent shaped blade and launched at him. He effortlessly reflected it.

"Thorn you good?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"What's up with the arm?"

"No clue, but I'm getting the hang of it."

"Banter is good and all, but I'm to do two things. It was one before, but you've intrigued me. Let's see what you can do."

His magic eye twitched and I could feel another barrier forming around me. I quickly pulled my hand up and formed a finger pistol. By forcing an insane amount of mana into my fingers I launched my finger tips forward like bullets.

One stabbed into Randolf's left shoulder and the other barely grazed his cheek right next to his magic eye. The barrier that was forming around me quickly collapsed.

Phoebe ran forward and jumped in front of Randolf and looked him straight in the eyes. Both of Randolf's pupils quickly turned bright pink, and he jumped backwards.

Yuki appeared next to Phoebe and quickly melted into a scythe. Yoko appeared next to me and melted into a mimic of my baton.

"What is this? Why am I back here? Wait. What are you doing? No! Stop!"

Phoebe and I quickly ran at Randolf and cut both of his Achilles heels. As he fell on his knees I shoved my hand into his eye socket and removed his magic eye. His remaining eye returned to its normal color as we jumped backwards.

"Ugh. You know I think it could be considered rude sportsmanship to tear out a man's eye after making him watch his restaurant get burnt down."

"I don't get to choose what you see. Though it's not your fault for being scared of losing your business."

Randolf tried to stand, but he quickly fell down again.

"So you said your here for Alek? If you're willing to talk."

Randolf pushed himself backwards into a sitting position.

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice do I? He's my family you see. Son of my dad. Our family is quite the complicated one. I came here from the King Dragon Kingdom after hearing he was defeated and that he just disappeared. Alek isn't the type of kid to just disappear like that. He's always wanted to be a hero, so you'd always have a general idea of what continent he was in whether you heard of a giant beast he killed, a kingdom he freed from an oppressor, or any other deed he did. You'd always hear news of the traveling North God, but for him to go quiet? You'd have a better shot telling a bird to never fly again."

"He was going on and on about being a hero when we fought."

"That sounds like Alek. You wouldn't happen to know where he is would you?"

I looked towards Phoebe and she shrugged her shoulders.

"He's in a place called the void. My friend threw him in there after our fight so that he wouldn't cause any more trouble. "

"If you give him back to me I swear that I shall keep him out of trouble."

"And how exactly are we supposed to trust you?"

"Fair. I was just trying to kill you, but you needn't worry. I'll even give you my spot as fifth of the world powers. You've proven strong enough and your only five years old. Ha! Five years old and become the fifth great power! I'm hilarious."

"Haha. Very funny."

"Oh come on Phoebe you gotta admit it is a little funny."

I looked back at Randolf as he picked up his sword. I quickly got into a stance, and he quickly shot his free hand in the air.

"Woah! I'm just sheathing my sword it's no issue."

Randolf sheathed his sword and returned to his previous position.

"So do we have a deal?"

"Hm... if you can really keep Alek out of trouble I see no harm in it. Besides, he won't have his gravity sword, so if he does show up I won't have any problem with him. Oh uh. Do you think I can keep the eye? As insurance."

"It's yours as a spoil of war. And here. This ring will prove your mark as the fifth great power."

He reached down at took a ring out his pocket. He handed it to Phoebe. It was a silver ring in the shape of a skull.

"Thank you. I've sent a message to our friend. He'll be here shortly."

An ice mirror appeared behind Phoebe and Kuroi stepped through it. Him, Pin, and the others stayed back in Buena to prepare a party where we could celebrate Phoebe's birthday like we did mine. One where it was just us friends and family, and not all the nobles you didn't know.

"So this is number five. Or well, the used to be number five I suppose."

"A sky folk? This is my first time meeting one. How strong might you be?"

"He's stronger than both of us. Kuroi can you get Alek please?"

"Yeah sure."

Randolf watched Kuroi with a curious eye as he opened a hole into the void and reached inside. He pulled his arm out and attached to it was Aleksander. Naked.

I used some space magic to make a simple cloak and used it to cover Aleksander.

"Oh my. Is he alright?"

Alek didn't look very good. In fact he looked a lot like Randolf. All bones and no muscle.

"His immortality isn't letting him starve to death, but it's got him in a comatose state. Just feed him some food three times a day and he'll be back to normal in about a month."

"I see. Thank you very much."

Randolph stood up, picked up Alek princess style and walked away.

Looking at his feet I could see that his Achilles were both fully healed. Right. If he's related to Alek he's probably got some immortal blood.

Phoebe was looking disapprovingly at his feet as well. Seems she came to the same conclusion I did. We both let our guards down, and it could've cost us dearly.

I looked down at my right hand. In it's palm was the black and red eye.

I brought it up and fused it with my own eye. I blinked a couple of times and got used to the feeling of having a semi-physical body part instead of a magical one.

Kuroi went back to Buena to continue party preparations, and after a speech from the scared, but now calm king the party continued on like normal. There was a long speech from the king about the good of the country or something like that. I stopped listening halfway through, and just started having random conversations with Phoebe about ten minutes in. It was really boring.

As people slowly started filtering out of the party Phoebe and I stood back at the top of the staircase. As the nobles left they were expected to come up the stairs and say goodbye to Phoebe.

Coming up the stairs now we're Prince Grabell and his oh so loyal dog, or should I say pig, Darius.

"My younger sister. It seems as though you've garnered more and more attention nowadays. First the North God and now the Death God. It's almost as though you are a magnet for trouble."

Grabell showed a kind smile, but it had no sincere feelings behind it. It was just for show.

"Why thank you dear brother. It's quite troublesome yes, but it's nothing Thorn and I can't handle."

"I suppose, but what happens when someone you can't handle comes along? What then?"

"It's highly unlikely brother, but there is one thing I'd like you to remember. These veiled threats of yours hold no sway over me. The throne will be mine."

Grabell's smile shifted to a frown for less than a second. Darius on the other hand was obviously scowling at Phoebe.

"Prince Grabell I think it best for you to get your 'friend' under control. If he keeps looking at my fiancé like that I may find myself offended."

Grabell looked back as Darius flinched.

"I suppose we shall take our leave now. Won't we Darius?"

"Guh! Yes sir."

Grabell and Darius both descended down the stairs and left the party. Shortly after Princess Ariel and her friend Luke came up to us.

"Hello little sister. Have you been enjoying the party?"

"I would've enjoyed it much more if the Death God hadn't shown up, but no one got seriously injured, and I've now been named one of the Seven Great Powers. I suppose I don't have any room to complain."

"True. Well Luke and I were about to leave. Shall we meet at the garden sometime soon? It's been a while since we've spent some time together. Oh, you could bring you're fiancé! He could do that thing where he gets teeny tiny and you snuggle him like a toy."

"Ugh please no."

Phoebe smiled and elbowed me on my ribs. Well I suppose it's where my ribs should be.

"That sounds lovely actually. We'll have to set up a time soon."

Ariel and Luke both left and Luke kept glancing back at me with looks of pity. It took him a while but it seems he's finally over me taking his dad's job.

The last person I actually paid any attention to whenever they came to say goodbye was someone named Tristina Purplehorse. It wasn't that I found an interest in her, but she had this sort of aura about her. It was similar to the one Raion, Eris, and Ghislaine had. The aura of a swordsman. The Purplehorse family was known for their children being powerful swordsmen, but as a noblewoman it was likely Tristina's abilities may never be realized. It was quite unfortunate.

After everyone left we went back to Buena and had a much smaller party there. This time Raion and his family were able to come. We held it in the spare Boreas house I made, and it wasn't much of a party, as it was everyone just chilling and hanging out. Raion's grandfather brought alcohol for the adults, and us kids had plenty of entertainment talking about the Death God. Even though it was a fairly short fight Eris had us retell her the story a bunch of times. She had stars in her eyes basically the whole time. Cyrus also had stars in his eyes, and Aurora had a constant look of worry. We decided to save giving out presents for the morning, since it was already late and there were more people here.

The adults slowly started passing out one by one. Once they were gone Cyrus and Aurora were next. They were plenty mature, but their bodies were still three years old. Next was Eris then Sylphie. Pin fell asleep after trying to arm wrestle Raion, and then he fell asleep after caring her to her bed. Now it was just me and Phoebe.

We both agreed to not do anything naughty tonight. There were simply to many people in the house, and we were simply to tired anyway. But I still wanted to show her something before we went to sleep.

We walked outside and I grabbed ahold of the air. I pulled it as if it were a rock in the way of a path, and my hands suddenly flew sideways.

"So... now what?"

I smiled and pointed upwards. Phoebe's jaw dropped as the stars started to become streaks in the sky.

"Whaaaat?"

"You like it? I've been using this as my method to increase my mana pool, since it's so draining it's very effective. Plus it's also really pretty. All it takes is a simple illusion spell and anyone else looking up at the sky doesn't see anything wrong."

Phoebe and I sat for a while and just watched the stars move. Once my mana ran low I put them in their spots and we made up constellations until we go too tired and went to bed.

"Honestly I'm rather disappointed. Dad would've figured out how to use that arm days after he got it. Though I suppose the comparison isn't fair. Thorn is a prodigy, but he isn't anywhere near as prodigious as Dad."

"Wasn't it dad that made the magic formula for that arm anyway?"

"Yeah, but still. If your gonna be called a magic prodigy then he should've been able to figure that out on his own."

Looking around I found myself in some kind of library. Books flying all around the place filled the giant room with the sound of flapping paper, and the small of coffee was strong. I followed the voices and eventually spotted two girls sitting at a table. One was wearing a long black dress, and had a large hat sitting on the table beside her. Without the veil attached to the hat covering her face you could see her silver eyes and white hair.

The second girl wore a pair of glasses, and was surrounded by books. To her right was a floating cup of coffee that she constantly took sips of. You'd think it was bottomless.

"Say how long has it been since you've come out of the library Shi? I know you like reading, but you need to get out more."

"Oh please. I'm not like you Dae. I don't want to go out on jogs, or get myself a boyfriend. Dad gave us this library and if your not gonna use it then I will. How's taking over for Mom going?"

"Well the noobie won't be done with their training for another four years or so, so it seems like I'll be holding the title of 'death' for a while. Do you think mom has a name other than Death? Do any of your books talk about her before she met dad?"

"They do. She was created as Death at the same time the multiverse was created. Out of the infinite stream of souls from these infinite worlds that tried to seduce her the only one to succeed was Khaos Konton. The man who wasn't even trying to."

"Huh. So she must've been lonely."

"Yep. Now if you don't mind I'm going back to my book. It's a pretty good read."

"Oh please. How could some words on paper be better than flying outside?"

"I simply prefer reading. Besides I still haven't figured out which one of these worlds is the one dad and mom are on. Some of these places are completely different, and then some timelines only differences are the slight shift in the placement of grass, or one tree swapped places with another tree. In a multiverse of infinite worlds you'd think each one would be a little more creative. Luckily since both of them are singularities I just have to find them once."

"Uh... hello?"

The girl reading her book quickly looked at me and put her book down. The other girl put on her hat, and I realized that the girl I was looking at was the very same patron I made a deal with.

"How'd you get in here?!"

Death looked over at Shi with what seemed to be wide eyes based on the highlighted flame from the veil.

"I don't know. I just woke up and I was here."

"Well get out!"

Shi dramatically waved her hand and I woke up in Phoebe's bed.

I looked towards the window and realized it was still dark outside. I turned over and snuggled into Phoebe's arms until I fell back asleep.

That morning once everyone had woken up and eaten breakfast we all gave Phoebe gifts.

"Here you go Miss Phoebe. We hope these dresses are to your liking."

The Boreas family gave Phoebe a bunch of dresses. We didn't really need clothes since we could make our own out of magic, and then make those clothes feel however we want. Though Phoebe did say that they were incredibly comfortable. Besides it's not like they were anything to extravagant anyway. They were in the middle ground of noble and commoner. Not to fancy, but not too simple.

Kuroi and Pin made her a Kumu shaped bean bag.

Paul and Zenith gave her an encyclopedia of the fauna and flora found in the Fittoa region. Sylphie gave her a necklace similar to the one she gave me, but it seemed to have been crafted better now that she had more experience.

And lastly I gave her the magic staff I made for her. With a golden wooden handle and a large blood red magic stone adorned in a cage at the top the staff was barely as tall as she was. Everyone was flabbergasted when I brought it out, and Philip was even more surprised when I said I got all the materials myself.

For the rest of the day everyone simply relaxed. It was peaceful, and for the first time in a while all of us Godkin were together in a situation where we could just hang out. No fights to the death, no injuries, and no surprise attacks from unknown individuals. Sylphie, Aurora, and Cyrus joined us as well. We walked around Buena, played tag in the fields, and eventually found ourselves sitting under the tree Sylphie, Aurora, Cyrus, and I train under having a massive picnic.

"Woah. I've never seen food like this before."

"It's food from our old world. It's delicious!"

Kuroi gathered everyone around and gave us all plates.

"Thorn back of the line."

"Huh?! Why?!"

"Cause if you go first then there won't be any food left for the rest of us."

"... Stop making good points. It's not fair."

While the others made their plates I sat with my back to the tree and started messing around with my arm. By channeling magic through it I could essential make the magic a physical substance, which is what the black dust is. It's mana becoming physical. I could shape and mold it like how I mold earth magic, but I could get far more precise with the details, and once I detailed it I was able to control it like a puppet. I made a small figure with no real look in my hand. I then made the tiny mannequin dance in my palm until everyone got their own share of food.

I filled up my plate as much as I could and then got seconds before anyone else was even half finished.

"Haha! Rudy's got quite the appetite."

"Yeah he does. He'll eat all the food here if we let him, and the craziest part is is that he'd still eat more if he could get his hands on more food."

"Foods great!"

"Come on Thorn at least swallow your food before you yell like that."

Gulp!

"Sorry."

Once we all ate we went back to Phoebe's house and played a bunch of games like Connect 4, Dominoes, and UNO. Things got real interesting though when Raion came up with a suggestion however.

"What if we all fought to figure out who's the strongest? We've all gotten stronger, and while I know it's not gonna be me I wanna know what I'm working with."

"Oh? That's actually a pretty good suggestion. I'm cool with it."

"Yeah!"

"Let's do this."

"I suppose I could."

And so Aurora, Cyrus, Eris, and Sylphie sat on the sidelines and watched us all fight. Before we started be broke up some sticks and whoever stick matches yours you went against that person.

Since he seemed to be the strongest of us all we didn't let Kuroi draw a stick, and instead sent him straight to the final round.

We were fighting on the training ground I placed in front of the Boreas house, and Eris, Aurora, Cyrus, and Paul stood by watching us. Even Ghislaine had come to watch.

The first round was Phoebe versus Pin. Pin started off by throwing a nail directly at Phoebe's leg. I expected the nail to stab her leg, but instead it went straight through her leg and caught her shadow. Pin approached Phoebe and a bunch of needles formed around her. Phoebe froze in place and was about to get shoved out of the arena, but Pin suddenly stopped as she went wide eyed and her pupils turned bright pink. She backed up and whimpered as she waved her hands and the nail in Phoebe's shadow disappeared as well as the nails around her. Phoebe pushed forward and a shattering sound was heard as Pin did the same.

The two clashed with Pin dual wielding her daggers, and Phoebe wielding her scythe, aka Yuki. The two struggled for power until eventually Phoebe came out on top and Pin was launched backwards out of the ring. Phoebe was named the winner and Raion and I stepped into the ring. Raion hefted Kajakut off his shoulder and got into a battle stance.

"Try not to embarrass me to much in front of my little sister would you?"

"No promises."

Raion pushed gravity magic under his feet and flew forward. I shoved him with a wall of gravity magic of my own and stopped him midair. I jumped up and held my hands together and slammed him into the ground. By shoving himself with more gravity magic he barely avoided a ring out.

I ran at Raion and dragged one of my hands along the ground sprouting a menagerie of plants and vines as I ran. Once I was closer to him I flung my hand forward and all the vines jutted out from the ground and flew towards him. He grunted and sped himself up with gravity magic as he spun around wildly and cut the vines into pieces. I canceled out his gravity magic with my own, but he kept his momentum as his sword quickly drew closer to me.

I quickly channeled mana into my new eye, and my perspective changed greatly. I saw a grid like pattern around everything and saw time slow down to where it nearly looked like it was frozen, but I could still feel that blade getting closer and closer. Quickly what looked like a floating ball of translucent puffy appeared in front me and started wildly changing shapes.

I quickly stopped the mana flowing to my eye, and everything went back to normal. There was a loud clanging noise as Raion quickly came to a halt. His blade had slammed into a light red barrier in the shape of mushed putty.

Raion jumped back as the barrier disappeared. Out of curiosity I channeled mana through the eye again and time slowed like before. The grids appeared around me and the floating putty appeared as well. I focused on what I wanted the barrier to look like and formed it again. This time I tried thinking about it being invisible like the one's Randolph had made.

Time fixed itself and Raion hit his head on the barrier that was now invisibly formed around him. He pulled back his sword and slammed into the barrier with as much force and space magic as he could. The only sound heard was a slight crack, but the barrier remained.

"That's enough! Thorn wins. Raion is in no more condition to fight."

Kuroi called the battle to a close as Raion's hair was turning white from mana exhaustion.

Raion exhaustedly collapsed into one of the spectator chairs we had on the side. Next Phoebe stepped into the arena.

"You know I've been wondering whose stronger between us."

"Guess we'll have to find out."

"Alright! Three, two, one. Go!"

Phoebe and I both rushed forward and clashed weapons. The sword part of my baton versus her scythe.

We both jumped back and I shoved a hand forward forming a barrier behind her that she bumped into. She hopped up and pushed her feet off of the barrier launching herself towards me.

I jumped up and summoned an earth pillar under me for support as I pushed myself further up with gravity magic. Phoebe slammed her scythe into the ground as it melted and formed a coiled spring that launched her into the air. I pointed my right hand at her and a fist made of black dust formed and punched towards her. Phoebe threw her scythe and it turned into a fist and punched against my own. I formed a second one and grabbed her and threw her at the ground aiming outside the arena.

As Phoebe flew down she reached out, and her arm melted into her pink Akumu and she pulled herself back into the arena before she could hit the ground.

Her fist fell towards the ground and turned back into a scythe as it landed in her hands.

"Acrophobia."

Phoebe whispered to herself and I suddenly started feeling nauseous. The ground seemed to be getting further and further away, and I felt myself start shaking.

I quickly jumped back down and as I landed back down on the ground I could barely hear Phoebe speak again.

"Trypanophobia."

Her fingers turned into needles and she lunged at me.

I made a barrier separating us, and Phoebe responding by listing another fear.

"Athazagoraphobia."

I looked between myself and the barrier. I knew that something was supposed to be on the other side, but no matter how hard I thought I couldn't remember what it was supposed to be.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my neck, and when I looked over I saw Phoebe with three of her needle fingers in my neck.

My vision went black, my hearing shut off, and my whole body felt numb. As a last ditch effort I focused a bunch of my mana into my right arm and sent it out in a burst wave around me.

After a bit of time my vision, hearing, and touch came back. When I looked to my right I could see Phoebe with another one of her needles in my throat. All around us was a bunch of destruction. Almost the entire arena had been eradicated. Stone was jutting around the area, and dirt had been flung all around the arena.

"Thorn wins."

A visibly surprised Kuroi announced time as the winner.

"What the heck was that?"

Phoebe was pouting at me. She had dirt in her hair and stuck on her face.

"I released a bunch of mana through my arm. From the looks of things it was more destructive than I thought it would be. I should be the one asking what you were doing near the end there."

"All I did was say the name of a phobia to force you to be scared of it. Like how I made you scared of heights, or how I made you forget why you made your barrier."

"Oh. Couldn't you have just made me forget that I was in the ring for a fight and just wait until I walked out for a free win?"

"I mean yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

Phoebe chuckled as she went to the seats. I fixed up the arena and Kuroi and I got into position.

"So quick question before we do this."

"What's up?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a pet hydra would you?"

A pet hydra?

"Not currently, no."

"Have you?"

"Maybe?"

"What do you mean maybe? How do you not know if you've had a pet hydra before?"

"Well I mean there's an egg in the middle of Yggdrasil, so maybe when it hatches it could be a hydra. Who knows?"

"There's a- you know what I'll save it for later. You ready?"

"Yep!"

"Then let's go!"

*-Phoebe-*

And then they disappeared. Literally. As soon as the two of them jumped at eachother they disappeared in a black flash that covered the center of the arena.

"Um... where'd they go?"

Paul leaned over his seat with a confused expression.

"That's a great question. I've got no idea-"

Bam!

I looked back at the arena and saw Kuroi slamming Thorn into the ground. But as soon as they reappeared they sunk into a whole in the ground. A couple seconds later two black puddles appeared in the air. It was as if someone had spilt ink and then pasted the puddle into the air. Thorn and Kuroi came flying through one puddle and into the next.

"What in the world..."

"Their going in and out of the void."

"Huh?"

We all turned towards Pin.

"Those portals lead to the void. Kuroi said that as long as one of us were outside the void he could freely go in and out of it. It has something to do with this necklace he made."

Pin reached under her scarf and pulled out a small silver necklace that had what looked like a black pearl on it.

"So Kuroi is controlling where they fight? And he's even pulling Thorn into a place he has domain over? Sounds like this fight is as good as won then."

Raion seemed to come to a simple conclusion. He was making a mistake though.

"Your forgetting one of the rules about fighting Thorn. Never underestimate him, and always expect the unexpected."

There was a crash sound and I turned around, but instead of seeing a black puddle in the air I saw golden roots rising from the ground forming a circle in the air. Looking inside the circle you could see nothing. It was a pitch black void. Slowly Thorn stepped out of the portal and walked towards Kuroi who was getting up off the ground.

"I suppose now we can really get started!"

*-Rudeus-*

Gotta say the start of this fight wasn't fair at all. As soon as we started Kuroi dragged me into the void and started barraging me with spells I had never seen before. And let me tell you they hurt!

Next thing I knew he tackles me and then I breath in fresh air and boom! We're back in the void getting struck by insanely powerful spells.

After this happened a couple more times I decided to even the playing and reached out to Yggdrasil the next time he brought me back to the real world. Then when he brought me back into the void I used a twig I had from Yggdrasil to form a connection and make a portal out.

Kuroi was shocked just long enough for me to blast him outside with gravity magic.

Once I got down from the portal I grew some more twigs out of the roots and snapped them off so that I could make more portals if I had to.

"I suppose now we can really get started!"

Kuroi cracked a smile and pulled out two tonfas.

"Here we go."

Unlike all the fights we started with a slow approach this time. We both had gone on the defensive, and were slowly circling the arena as we got closer and closer.

I grabbed a twig and threw it at Kuroi. As it soared at him I pumped it full of life magic and it grew into giant vines. Each vine shot towards Kuroi, and to escape he conjured an updraft underneath him and flew up. I ran and jumped off the roots while lightening myself with gravity magic.

Kuroi quickly swooped around to try and grab me, but he slammed into a barrier I conjured in front of him.

"Ha! Like a bird to glass."

"Oh shut up."

Kuroi shoved himself off the barrier and started flying circles around me. Next I silently summoned some fireballs and overloaded them with mana. Then I changed their chemical makeup with wind magic to pump it full of extra oxygen to make it burn hotter and also turn blue.

I fired them all in different directions and then used space magic to change their direction to surround Kuroi. They all flew towards him and crashed together with a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared though he was gone.

Bam!

I felt something hit me in my back and launch me forward a little. I steadied myself and turned around. There were a bunch of void openings showing up in the air around me.

Bam!

Another hit got me in the back. I formed an eye on the back of my neck and barely dodged a punch that came from one of the openings. I grabbed the hand and pulled as hard as I could, but I made one miscalculation. I was focusing my gravity magic on floating up here, and he has more muscle than I do.

As Kuroi yanked back and pulled me into the void I focused on the mana in my right arm and used it and my barrier eye to form a barrier around me.

I could feel as the barrier was thrown around and pounded against, and just as another hit was about to be landed on it I jutted put some spikes. Then I destroyed the barrier and kicked Kuroi right in his stomach.

"Gah!"

I pulled out another twig and formed another portal. I grabbed Kuroi's collar and jumped through it.

Kuroi grabbed my hand and threw me towards the edge of the arena, but I manipulated my arm and planted it in the ground. I continued to move through the air, so my arm stretched quite a bit. It was a really odd feeling to be honest.

Once I started losing momentum I pulled back with all my might hoping to use that force to knock out Kuroi, but once I approached the arena I didn't see him. I looked at the others and saw that they were looking up, and when I looked I saw Kuroi with one hand in the air. Above his palm was a large ball of void.

"Oh so this is how we end it? Fine by me."

I clapped my hands together as I charged up the largest amount of space magic I've ever conjured before. Kuroi brought his hand down and the ball of void started falling towards me.

Once I had put the rest of my mana into my orb of space I raised my hands and launched it. My beam hit his orb and clashed lighting up the sky with what looked like a purple and black Aurora Borealis. The two of us struggled to push our spells against each other, and after multiple minutes passed there was a giant explosion as the spells dissipated.

*-Phoebe-*

The fight between Kuroi and Thorn had finally come to an end. And it ended with a tie. We all moved to my house and I put Kuroi and Thorn in some beds for them to rest. Once Zenith got back she wasn't exactly pleased that we had fought each other, but she still cast healing magic on Kuroi and Thorn.

They both woke up an hour later. Lilia brought over some food and to no one's surprise Thorn was still hungry after eating two whole meals. Luckily I had a Kumu cooking downstairs so he had a constant supply of food.

Once we all ate some food we lounged around in the living room downstairs.

"So do we just call it a tie? I mean both the spells fizzled out, and you both went unconscious at the same time. You even woke back up at the same time."

"Hmmm."

Both Thorn and Kuroi got into thinking positions. No doubt they were replaying the fight in their heads. After a while it was Kuroi who broke the silence.

"As much as I'd hate to say it I believe that Thorn won."

"Why's that?"

"Think of how much we both had to hold back. We couldn't cast our most powerful spells since that would likely kill the others and cause insane amounts of collateral damage. I know my limits, and if you were to have brought down a meteor like you did with Aleksander I know that I can't do something to stop that. At most I'd only be able to minimize collateral damages, and even then over half of Buena would've been crushed. I simply can't match that power. Plus you were using your regular baton. Had you been using Yoko or a staff like you made for Phoebe we wouldn't have tied."

And that's how the tiers were decided. Later Thorn made some machines the size of phones after getting a blood sample from each of us. They couldn't communicate with each other and only served one purpose. Similar to the monuments that showed the Seven Great Powers these phones would show the Godkin and their placements. They'd alSo update if we got strong enough to beat someone ranked above us.

1. Star God, Rudeus Greyrat

2. Void God, Kuroi Hane

3. Goddess of Fear, Phoebe Asura

4. Goddes of Night, Pin Hane

5. Blood God, Raion Boreas Greyrat

So this is a really late chapter. I've been real caught up in school more than I thought I would before. Plus I've rewritten this chapter more times than I could count. Honestly I'm just glad I finally found a way I liked this chapter. See you all Sunday!

Also Rudeus's arm is based on the nano machines from Nanolist. It's a really good comic on Webtoon. You should check it out if you can.