The bench they usually went to was quieter.
Vilythe sat slumped forward on the bench, her combat suit half-zipped, the skin of her shoulders mottled with faint bruises that refused to fade easily even under Radellei's healing touch. Her lightning element always left residual burns. It was worse when she overused it. Radellei sighed, placing her hand over Vilythe's chest to regulate her heartbeat.
"You used your form, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Radellei did not even look at her. She was focused on her work, her Flux forming slow patterns across her fingers.
"That is what cost you the match. You were too impatient again."
"I know."
"No, you do not You think you do, but you still have not learned restraint. You are faster than most people, Vilythe. You could have won if you just kept your head straight. But you blew your energy on a show of force that backfired."
"I said I know," Vilythe muttered, biting the inside of her cheek.
Radellei didn't answer for a while. The silence stretched, heavy, awkward. Finally, Vilythe exhaled and said softly.
"He was holding back. The whole time."
Radellei's hands froze. "I... figured as much."
"He didn't even go on the offensive until the end. Everything he did was parry and escape. He was testing me. Every dodge, every afterimage, he was studying how I moved."
Radellei stepped back, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Then Phyri is gonna have a fun time tomorrow. He is getting stronger. At this point, the only ones who can match him are me, Nefira, and Hinesia."
That earned a small smirk from Vilythe, despite the ache in her body.
"You're that confident, huh?"
"I'm not confident," Radellei replied flatly. "I'm being realistic."
"Still… I want to see it. I've never seen any of you fight seriously before."
"You'll get your chance. Just… take it easy for now, okay? I've patched up your external injuries, but honestly, most of what I'm healing are his hits. He didn't even break anything."
"Yeah. That's what's freaky. He hit me hard enough to shake the arena walls but… none of it felt fatal. It's like he was choosing not to kill me."
"He didn't even use his Concept Flux either, right?"
Vilythe shook her head slowly. "No, just Xana manipulation and void control. Not even a sliver of Concept Flux. Makes me wonder…"
Radellei finished for her. "Just how much of a life-threatening situation would he need to be in to actually use it?"
Before either could say more, Phyri appeared. She had two cold cans of energy drinks in her hands, tossing one lazily toward each of them.
"Hydrate, losers."
Vilythe caught hers. "Hey, you could be a little nicer."
Phyri shrugged, cracking her can open with a hiss. "Not in my job description."
Radellei smirked faintly. "You ready for your duel tomorrow?"
Phyri took a sip, then sighed. "Ready? Yes. Prepared? No. I'm probably gonna lose. I'd say I've got, what, a three percent chance at best?"
Vilythe blinked. "You're just going say that out loud?"
"Yes. Acceptance is part of growth," Phyri said casually, plopping down beside Vilythe. "It doesn't mean I won't go all out, though. Father's testing us. He's making us fight him to show we've been too complacent. Guess he found someone who can slap that arrogance out of us."
Radellei nodded slowly. "He's right about that."
Phyri turned her head toward Vilythe. "So. What's he like?"
Vilythe's face changed subtly. Her eyes darted down for a second, as if replaying the fight in her mind.
"He's… oddly calm."
"Calm?"
"Yes. It felt like I was fighting an assassin. Not the kind that kills for sport but the kind that kills because it's natural. And he was scary. I couldn't read him. His Xana didn't spike or falter. It was so calm that he felt like a machine."
Phyri whistled under her breath. "So that's what I'm dealing with tomorrow."
Radellei smirked. "Welcome to the club."
The three sisters sat in silence for a moment. Out there, the crowd still chanted the name of the Lone Nomad.
Vilythe leaned her head back against the wall, a tired smile ghosting across her face.
"He's an anomaly, Radellei. In one season, he's gotten close to your level."
Radellei's smile faded a little, her expression turning serious.
"And that is exactly what makes him dangerous."
Phyri's smirk returned, soft but daring.
"Good. Then tomorrow will be interesting."
"Just try not to die on me, Phyri."
Phyri grinned. "No promises, Radellei."
And for the first time in a long time,
The Rameses sisters had finally met someone who could stand on their level.
------
Phaser leaned on the glass railing of the balcony, his faceless mask resting on the rail beside him. He'd pulled back his ponytail, letting the stray strands of his bangs fall across his temples as he stared down at the sprawling city of Nairobi beneath him.
He chewed slowly on a Fluveheart crystal, feeling the tiny surges of vitality dance through his body with every crunch. The sweet, metallic taste sat sharp on his tongue, each bite repairing the fatigue in his bones, each pulse of the mineral knitting his cellular structure faster. His body didn't bruise or bleed for long, not with a constitution like his. The recovery rate was one of the few blessings of being what he was. He glanced down at his hands, scarred only faintly, faint residual burns where Vilythe's lightning had grazed him. Her speed had been monstrous. Her coordination was almost perfect. For a brief moment, he'd actually felt something like pressure. Almost.
He let out a small laugh. It came out hollow.
Vilythe had forced him to move faster than usual and to rely on reactive precision rather than predictive control. A mistake for most, but not for him. Her Flux Form was brutal but it burned her Xana like wildfire through dry grass. She cornered herself with impatience.
Still, she was talented and so were the rest of the Rameses sisters.
Phaser exhaled, watching the vapor drift away into the chill air. Phyri would come tomorrow, then Nefira and then Hinesia. He could already feel the weight of that lineup pressing against the back of his skull.
Phyri wasn't the issue. Her battle sense was sound, but her patience wasn't. Her combat approach was offensive-heavy, predictable in momentum and more emotion than calculation. She'd rush him, overwhelm him, but that wouldn't work. Phaser thrived in chaos. He would simply flow around it and let it collapse under its own imbalance.
But Hinesia was different.
Phaser tilted his head back, closing his eyes as memories flickered behind his eyelids. Hinesia fought like a strategist who had already run the battle a thousand times in her mind before it even began. Her attacks were never meant to land first. They were meant to trap one into thinking they had control, only to realize too late she had been manipulating their rhythm the entire time.
And that was before she had reached the height she stood at now.
She was an Outer, like him. In terms of raw energy, she was probably the strongest of the sisters. Nefira came second and Radellei third, her power leaning heavily toward control and reinforcement.
Vilythe might have been the youngest, but her lightning carried raw talent shaped by youth. The others had honed it into artistry. Phaser sighed again, running a thumb along the smooth surface of the railing. .
"Nefira and Hinesia, huh? You two are going to be a problem."
He wasn't afraid but he was cautious. Hinesia had seen him at full speed before. That meant she'd have counters ready. And Nefira didn't rely on reading opponents; she felt them. She could sense intent in motion. If he tried to deceive her with afterimages or void illusions, she would read through it like smoke in sunlight.
"If it comes to that, I might actually… need to push it."
His Concept Flux.
Just thinking about it made his muscles tighten. It wasn't something he could control at will. It needed a trigger, mostly the brink of death. It was a situation so dangerous his very soul would react instinctively, unleashing what he truly was.
But that was exactly the problem.
If that happened, the mask would fall. The identity of Phasnovterich Vecria Argemenes would be exposed to the world. The Lone Nomad would cease to be a myth and become a memory. And that… couldn't happen. Not yet.
Phaser bit down on another Fluveheart, the crunch echoing faintly.
"No. Not till it's necessary."
He pushed away from the railing, standing upright as the wind tugged lightly at his cloak. Far below, the city lights seemed to be getting warmer with the noon sunshine. The tournament was one thing but he wasn't here just for fights.
He remembered the six open world quests. Each quest was dangerous but it was a sure way of making the University Arc obsolete.
"Great. Just the kind of 'light summer work' I wanted."
But truth be told, he wasn't dreading it. The corner of his lips lifted slightly as he looked up. The arena tournament was his test of restraint. The University Arc would be his test of endurance. And by the end of summer, when spring's cool winds gave way to the blaze of training season, he would have have learned the four Xana techniques.
He picked up his mask, slipped it back on, and turned away from the cityscape.