Hey guys, Nightingale here bringing you all a new chapter of "An Act of Kindness". It has been a while but just as I promised, here it is. It was a tie between this story and "Fate Apocrypha - Perdidit Risus" at the time so I had to untie with the inspiration I had at the time for them, but for those who voted for the Fate story, don't worry, it will be the next story to get an update and I've already started making it. No promises on when I'll update tho.

But you guys must be tired of hearing me babbling so I'll just let you sit back, relax and enjoyyyyyyy ...

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Somewhere in the Underworld

The wind blew around the wasteland as if the silence ahd become too unberable even for it. No one could utter a word at what just happened because no one knew exactly what happened.

Snow: What's wrong? It looks as if you have seen a ghost.

It all happend too quick. Just  a moment ago, their mentor was near their tents on the other side of the area, and now, he was there in front of them, with one of their King downed on the ground being stomped by him. 

Snow: And you (looks down), how long are you gonna stand there Riser? Or you just happen  to enjoy being stomped by me like this?

As if to mock Riser a bit more, their mentor dug his hell on Riser's cheek and slowly continued to rubing the sole on it.

Riser: As if!

*FWOOOOSH*

The Phenex was quick to melt the ice spear that was pinning him to the ground and turned around, grabbing Snow by the ankle.

 Riser: GIRLS!!

The girls came back to reallity and nodded, understanding his plan to hold him in place so theycould all attack him without him suddently vanishing with his speed again.

Snow: At the very least you are beggining to finally understand how your peerage must have felt everytime you sacrificed them in the Rating Games.

Snow said unamused as he looked down at Riser, clearly not in panick as he swatted away the demonic blasts heading towards him.

 Riser: I'm not that man anymore!

It was clear that Riser regretted the actions of his old self, but none of that seemed to matter to the man standing over him.

Snow: You're still wet behind the ears Riser ...

Riser's hands felt cold and before he knew it, they were frozen over with ice that continued to advance towards his arms. He tried to use his arms to melt it, but  as he tried to activate them, nothing happened.

Snow: The true nature of a person doesn't change that easely.

Riser's arms cracked one last time before shattering into numerous shards and setting Snow free. The white-haired devil wasted no time in kicking the fallen King right into one of his other opponents, in this case Xuelan, and sending both of them flying back.

Yubeluna: Riser-sama, are you ok?

Riser's Queen, Yubeluna asked as soon as she got closer to him and Xuelan. 

Riser: I-I'm ok. (looks back) What about you Xuelan?

Xuelan: I'm perfectly fine Riser-sama, please focus on the fight and don't worry about me.

The chemistry of the entire peerage had already begun to change. The King finally showed worry for his peerage and his peerage was not longer blind to everything other then Riser. 

Riser: (smile) Alright. Once I regenerate my arms we'll hit him with everything we got.

Riser knew that Yubeluna always carried a vial with Phoenix tears, but he had came back from wounds worse then this so he didn't saw the need to ask for it this soon. 

In the distance, however, Ravel didn't share the same opinion as her brother.

Ravel: (thoughts) Nii-sama's arms are taking too long to go back to normal. Why? 

Ravel didn't share the opinion that they would be able to either win or run away from Snow as the others, so she prefered to stand back and analyze their opponent, but seeing her clan's trait taking soo long to activate like this honestly scared a bit.

As for the the rest of Riser's peerage, they were obviously not very happy with how their King was just treated and immedeately prepared to avenge him.

Ni and Li: You bastard!

Isabela: STOP IT! YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR HIM!!!

Isabela warned in the distance but the girls's anger made them unable to hear that warning.

Ni: This is payback for Riser-sama!

Li: Prepare yourself!

To say that Snow was disappointed with their reactions would be a understatement, but from what had come to learn about Riser's remaining peerage, it was far from surprising.

Snow: (sigh) Good grief ...

Once again, Snow vanished before their eyes only to be see reapering behind Ni, ready to give her a powerfull kick. The twins were barely able to understand what just happened as Snow's leg was about to send Ni flying as it did just seconds ago with their Master.

*CLING*

Fortunatly, someone amongst them was also known being being very fast. Karlamine.

Ni and Li: Karla!

Just as the kick was about to connect with one of the twins, Karlamine was able to cross the distance between her and the group and block it with her sword.

Isabela: Phew! Nice one girl.

Her fiend had to praise the Knight for being able to react in time, something she wishe she could have done as she knew that a blow like that was not able to block, especially for someone like Karla who was not used to take hits head on like her. 

While Karlamine was able to block the hit, she was now having a hard time keeping herself in place as Snow kept adding more and more strength on her sword with his leg, slowly pushing her back.

Karlamine: (thoughts) H-He's strong ...

Even now, she couldn't help but think that her mentor was amazing. She used to think that she and the others were invencible a few months agao, but now here he was, facing all of them at the same time and still making them look like children trying to pick up a fight with an adult.

Ni and Li: A chance!

Seeing as Snow was too busy with Karlamine at the moment, the twin nekomatas saw an opportunity to attack and turned around to attack him from the sides at the same time.

Ni and Li: YAHHHHHHHH!!!

*grab*grab*

Sadly for them, they plan was put to a stop when Snow reach out for both of them and grabbed their faces. Do to the difference in the length of their arms, Snow was able to grab their faces while their fists failed short of hitting him by a few inches.

Snow: You two should've left when you saw that you couldn't defeat me. 

Tightening his grip around Ni and Li's faces, Snow changed his leg's position on Karlamine's sword, allowing him to place his feet on it and use it as a base to jump upwards. 

*BAAAAAAAM*

Both of the teams were helpless to stop their mentor as he ruthlessly slammed the nekomatas's heads on the ground, creating a small crater bellow him as the ground cracked with his force.

Snow: Two down ...

Snow muttered out loud before taking a look around to look at the group allowing everyone to see that the twins were unconcious  before releasing his grip on the their heads and allowing them to fall on the ground.

Snow: A couple more to go.

Some of them were expecting this outcome, yet, not one ever thought that would happen this fast and so effortlessly.

Saji: Yo-You've got to be kidding. Not even an entire peerage with Rating Game experience can leave a scratch on him?

Sona and her peerage knew that they had the least amount of experience when it came to real experience in a battlefield and most of them were still overall new to the life as a devil and that's what made the lack of any sort of sucess on Riser and his peerage's part even more surprising. 

Ruruko: What should we do Kaichou?!

Ruruko asked her King, having no idea on what to think after the display of power in front of her.

Sona: I ... I don't know.

Sona muttered, surprising everyone. They only saw her hands closed into fists, trembeling, no doubt with frustration, and avoiding their eyes.

Tsubasa: Haha, good one Kaichou, but seiously what should we do?

Momo laughed, thinking that this was just a joke to help them calm down a bit. Right now however, she was telling them the truth.

Sona: I don't know.

For the first time in a long time, the greatest strategist of the Rookies Four had no idea on what she could do to help everyone in any sort of way.

Sona: I've been trying to think of something for a while now but ...

Her hands trembled even more with the force she was using to close her fists.

Sona: I can't come up with a single plan that could help us.

Sona tried to take several breaths in and out in hopes it could calm her nerves, but as soon as she tried to analyze the data she had on the situation right now again her breaths became ragged almost instantly. 

Out in the distance, Karlamine had engaged Snow in combat again, but even then Snow had managed to take a few glances at the Sitris.

Snow: (thoughts) Just as I imagined ...

Sona: We were unable to lay a finger on him before and now that I can see that he got even stronger, then I can't see us standing up to him. 

Sona: (thoughts) What should I do?!

Sona: Even a group of experienced Rating Game participants is being toyed with like that. 

Sona: (thoughts) Think!

Sona: The way that crossed the distance that took us a whole minute to get from him in only a few seconds makes me believe that no distance we try to put between us will be enough to be safe. 

Sona: (thoughts) What can we do?! What can we do?! What can we do?!

Numerous scenarios played out inside of Sona's head, yet, none of them ended with them in advantage making the heir sweat without even noticing.

Xenovia: You guys get out of here! I'll stay to hold him back!

Much to everyone's surprise, Xenovia started running towards the fights happening with Durandal in her hand without a warning. While a reckless and possibly very stupid decision, that was enough to finally bring Sona back to reality.

Sona: Xenovia-san get back here!

Xenovia: I used to be an exorcist, being hunt down is not my style! With Durandal I have a chance of slowing him down so you guys use that chance to run and hide until time's over!

They knew Xenovia was not exactly a strategist or even the most patient person around, but even so, this plan of hers was simply too risky, even for her.

Back to Snow and Karlamine, the white-haired devil had to create a barrier on his left side to block one of Isabela's demonic bullets. 

Snow: (sigh) I guess this is the limit what you can all do for now ...

Snow jumped back to gain some distance.

Snow: Playtime is over. If you want to show me anything else this will be your last chance.

Their mentor was obviously not happy with their efforts soo far, but as of now, that was the least of their worries.

Snow flexed his knees a bit and extended his arms out with the palms of his hands open as his aura began flowing around his body.

Ravel: That posture ... !

Karlamine: Damn it! Isabela I need your assistence!

Isabela: You don't need to ask twice, if he starts using that here we'll all get wiped out in an instant. 

Isabela and Ravel prepared some long range attempts as only Karlamine would be able to reach their mentor in time so all they could do was backing her up. As much as Snow apreciated his first students's  attempt to become examples for the others, he already saw everything he wanted to see and as such, they were in his way. 

Ravel: Everyone start bombarding him!

The youngest Phenex ordered as she prepared a magic circle. The others didn't know why the girls were in panicked state but they knew him better then anyone there soo they did as ordered.

Karlamine: (thoughts) Almost there.

Meanwhile Karlamine ran as fast as her legs allowed her, hoping that she could stop Snow in time. As she was just a step away from him, the Knight saw an amused glint on her mentor's eyes before his entire frame shattered to reveal a very shocked Tsubaki in his place. 

Karlamine: (thoughts) What?!

It took a lot of strength to hold back her swing but Karlamine was able to stop the edge of her blade from reaching Tsubaki and cutting her at the last second. The former Knight girl was not the only one in shock, every single person was at loss for words at the sudden development in the fight and had to force themselves to stop their own attacks.

*Shatter*

The same shattering sound echoed through out the area, this time coming from near Sona. Her friends's heads slowly turned towards where Tsubaki should have been, but there, they only saw the tall figure of their master standing right next to their King. 

Slowing swallowing a lump on her throat, Sona too looked towards where Tsubaki should have been only to to find Snow staring down at her eyes. Scared couldn't even come close to how Sona felt in that moment.

Sona: ... 

Snow: ...

Karlamine: Impossible, when did he have time to switch places with her?!

Once again, Sona's breath became intense and ragged as she tried to calm herself down, something that once again didn't work out.

Momo: How?!

Sona: (ragged breath)

.

.

.

.

Snow: ... Kaichou?

Tsubaki: Eheheh ...

*grab*

Karlamine suddently felt Tsubaki grabbing her wrist. As if that didn't add even more surprises to the ones that had already happened, Tsubaki's grip on her wrist tightened with a strength Karlamine knew that Tsuabaki didn't have everytime she tried to escape. In response to her questioning looks, Tsubaki simply showed her a calm look and a small smile.

Tsubaki: You lowered your guard down didn't you Karlamine-san?

Tsubaki asked as she gently placed her other hand on Karlamine cheek. At the same time, her eyes changed from their usual light brown color to a bright golden one and allowed Karlamine to finally connect all the pieces of the aparently unsolvable mistery. 

Tsubaki: Your legs are not the only things that should be fast ...

Just as she expected, Tsubaki's form started to fade away, revealing Snow standing in her place once again the same happening to the other Snow that also faded away revealing Tsubaki's form once again.

Snow: Quick wits are also important. You were a second too late in that regard this time. 

Wasting no more time, Snow took his hand off Karlamine's cheek and grabbed the back of her head and pulled her towards him, slamming his right knee into her gut. The moment his knee made contact with her body, Karlamine lost all the air in her lungs as well as the grip on her sword and slowly fell down at his feet, completly unconcious.

Ravel: It was all a trick, Frost-sama didn't leave that spot in the first place.

Ravel bit her lip, furious that she was unable to realize that it was all just an illusion from the start.

Snow: That is correct ...

Snow confirmed Ravel's suspicions. 

Snow: A small but quick deceit can cause far more damage then any grand illusion spell in the right circunstances.

Snow grabbed the jacket he had on his shoulders and toss it up in the air.

Snow: Knights can be tricky opponents with their speed but they tend to get overpowered quite easely if one can actually catch them. All that I needed was a moment of hesitation from Karlamine-san. As the fastest one around, she would be a real nuinsace for me and now that's she's out of this game ...

He continued to explain as he assumed the same posture as before.

Snow: I can put an end to this. 

By now, only Xenovia and Isbela where probably the ones that still had the guts and were heading towards the white-haired devil, but just he had said before, they were to late.

Snow brough his arms closer to his body and at that moment, the entire landscape began shaking making Isabela and Xenovia lose their balance and stumble for a bit.

Xenovia: Argh!

*baam*

Unfortunatly for Xenovia, she was unble to keep herself up and ended up falling face first into the hard ground bellow.

Xenovia: Damn it, what the hell is going on now?!

The former exorcist complained as she rubbed her now red nose and tried to get back up on her feet.

Riser and Ravel: Blast him!

The Phenex siblings yelled at the same time. Even if they had kept quiet about it, everyone was gonna do it because at that moment, they all had a very bad feeling. 

The Kings and their respective Queens, along with their Bishops and even Knights, Rooks and Pawns used their demonic powers to attack their mentor but, as if to mock them, Snow simply started dancing. It didn't look exactly like dancing, but his moviments were definatly very similar to that of a dancer. Each time one of his feet touched the ground, a wall made of earth and stone suddently rose from the ground and protected him from one of their attack.

 Isabela: Fuck! He's already doing it. (looks at Xenovia) Hey holy sword girl!

Isabela called out for Xenovia that was slightly behind her do to having fallen down earlier, gaining the attention of the said girl.

Isabela: Here's the plan, I will create an opening and you blast him with all of your strength and your fancy sword. 

Xenovia: Since when did you become the leader?

Xenovia asked in confusion.

Isabela: Since we just lost most of our options and the big guy started doing the fancy moves thingy.

Xenovia: What the hell even is that?

Isabela: No time for questions. Attack when you see a opening, can you do it or not?

Xenovia: Absolutly.

Isabela: Great then get ready. Also, if you screw this we are all pretty much fucked so no pressure.

Xenovia: Wait wha-

Isabela: LET'S GO!

Not giving Xenovia any further explanations, Isabela started charging her demonic power into both of her arms. 

Snow: (sigh) ... idiots.

Without a warning, Snow slammed his right foot down and, somehow, the ground bellow Isabela and Xenovia crumbled into grains of sand. The girls immidiately realized that not only they couldn't move, but that they were also sinking. From there, the sand bellow them rose and engulfed them, pushing them both deeper into the earth until they were nowhere to be seen.  

Snow: Don't make me repeat the same thing twice. I saw everything I needed to see, this test is over.

From there on, each time Snow slammed his feet in the ground again Sona and Riser's peerage felt the earth bellow them shaking once again. Both of the groups felt as if the ground was about the get ripped from bellow their feet as all of them lost their balance and fell down. 

Saji and Riser: Ouch, ouch, what the hell was- ?

Both of the males of each group was surprised to see each other trying to stand up so close considering both of the peerages were far away from each other.

Saji and Riser: (point at each other) What the hell are you doing here?! I asked first! NO I ASKED FIRST! STOP COPYING ME AND ANSWER MY DAMN QUESTION! 

Both sides looked at each other, not understanding how where they all soo close now when they where several meters aways from each other just a second ago.

Sona: What happened now Ravel-san?

Seeing as Ravel was teh only one that had a chance to understand what Snow did, Sona decided to direct that question to her.

Ravel: I don't know the exact details, but Frost-sama did the same to Karlamine and Isabela once during one of their duels when they were  training together. He started doing those strange moviments and the earth bellow our feet started moving as if it had a mind of it's own.

Mihae: But how is that possible? It would make perfect sense if Frost-sama used his demonic powers to create those phenoms but so far I haven't felt him using even a hint of it.

True to the Bishop's words, none of them felt him using his demonic power to manipulate the earth.

Ravel: Please don't try to understand Frost-sama using common sense. 

Ravel warned, fully aware of that from personal experience. 

Snow: She's right you know?

Their mentor announced before walls of stone errupted from all around them with the exception of where Snow was.

Snow: Don't try to group me with anyone you ever knew. I can assure you that I'm quite unique.

Both groups raised their guards when the tall devil turned his attention towards them.

Snow: It seems like you all have trouble predicting what I'm going to do next. Allow me to make it easier for you.

Snow raised both of his arms up and they felt him concrentrating a large amount of demonic power in them.

Snow: This should make thing easier now. You can either give up or I can break you. Either way if you are gonna choose you better make it quick.

The intensity of his power sky-rocketed making small pebles around the area float as the ground around his feet slowly crumbled under his demoni power's force.

Riser: Tch! Fucking monster ...

Riser muttered with no ill intent whatsoever. While he had come to respect the man in front of him, right now, that was all he could see after seeing the things he had saw.

Sona: We need everyone's powers to create a barrier.

Both of the peerages nodded, agreeing to go with Sona's plan.

Ravel: No, that would be useless. Even if we managed to protect ourselves against his attack, we would all be too exausted to continue fighting. I suggest we surrender and give him the victory this time.

No one was expecting that coming Ravel. She knew how badly that sounded, but from Ravel knew that Snow must have planned to corn them this far from the start to make them realize something. She had yet to understand what that something was but as things were, she saw no shame in admiting that she had lost this one.

Riser: Eheheh, you sure learned to give up quickly little sister.

Riser said with a smile that belonged to someone who was very sure of himself.

Yubeluna: Should we do it now Riser-sama?

Ravel's face morphed into one of disgust, do to  her undersatnd of "do it" was a bit different from most people after living under the same roof as his brother and the girls in his peerage for years now.

Ravel: Ew! I never took you both for exibicionists Onii-sama. You're not actually going to die so please keep those things to yourselves inside a bedroom.

Everyone took a step back adverting their eyes from Yubeluna and Riser not wanting to say anything after what Ravel said. Riser knew that he somewhat deserved that do to his past mistakes but it still hurt, especially when Ravel was looking at him with judging eyes.

Riser: S-She meant do the surprise attack we have been setting up Ravel ...

Ravel: O-Oh ...

Silence.

Ravel: So-Sorry Onii-sama.

Riser: No, no I deserved that to a point. (looks at Yubeluna) Le-Let's just do the thing Yubeluna.

Yubeluna: Ye-Yes Riser-sama.

Riser's Queen raised her staff in Snow's direction, still embarassed by Ravel misunderstanding, and several violet magical circles appeared all around him.

Snow: (looks down) Hm?

Saji: Those are ...

Sona: Landmine spells. She's been casting those since the start of the fight?

Staying truthful to her name of " Bomb Queen", Yubelluna created a landmine field around their mentor. that would continuously detonate if he tried to move even just an inch from the spot where he was.

Yubeluna: Riser-sama it's your turn.

Riser: Alright, time to end things with a bang. 

Sona had to admit that this was unexpected. Riser's playstyle in his Rating Game was mainly him using his pieces to wore down his opponents for him to deliver a powerfull finishing blow, but now that he and his peerage were unable to overpower their opponent, he was quite literally forced to adapt, and he was doing it very fast. 

Snow: ... I guess you choose the second option then.

Completly disregarding the landmines bellow him, Snow stored even more power in his arms.

Yubelluna: Please hurry Riser-sama!

Riser: I know!

Placing his hand on Yubelluna's staff, the magic circles around Snow grew larger and started to alternate between violent and orange colors as the symbols inside it began turning.

Riser: This is the combined power of Yubelluna's bombs with my demonic power. Even you won't be able to leave unscattered Sensei!

The symbols in the magic circles came to a stop before lighting up even more.

Riser and Yubelluna: Phoenix's Nest !!!

*BANG*BANG*BANG*BANG*BANG*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG*

The bombs detonated all around Snow creating a large chain of explosions, forcing both of the groups to protect their faces with their arms. Once the numerous blasts finally stopped, the only things that remained where the cloud of dust in front of them and a ringing in everyone's ears.

Tsubasa: Did they do it?

Sona's Rook asked after a brief moment of silence. They all thought that maybe, just maybe, Riser and his Queen were able to catch their mentor by surprise. The only one that didn't look soo sure, was Ravel.

The young Phenex narrowed her eyes at the cloud of dust in front of her, trying her best to sense or hear anything coming from there.

A shiver went down Ravel's spine as soon as she saw two glowing eyes inside the dust cloud that slowly settled down to reveal the giant once again. Some of his clothes were burned or shredded, but Snow himself was still standing in the exact same place as before, his arms held high and no visible wounds in his body.

Snow: Grrrrrrrrrr ... !

Ravel: Fly! 

Ravel suddently yelled as her flaming wings sprouted from her back.

Sona: But-

Ravel: FORGET THE FIGHT!

Those were the last words that Ravel was willing to say to them as she took off into the sky in a hurry leaving all of them behind. Time seemed to flow at a much slower rate as they saw Snow starting to swing down his arms, and out of reflex, everyone's wings came out of their backs and immediately took them to the sky at the very last second.

Snow: YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Even if they far above the ground now, both of the peerages were still able to feel the shockwave created from the impact caused by their mentor's arms coming in contact with the ground, acompanied by the distint sounds caused by an earthquake. The area where they used to be was instantly swallowed by a avalanche of debris and stone before the earth itself started to break and split apart all around him. Even after the attack itself had ended, the earth didn't stop shaking and breaking apart for a good amount of time before slowly coming to a halt. Where once was a large flat plain, all they could see now was all sorts of canyons spreading from the place where Snow stood.

Momo: Th-The earth ... I can't believe it.

Sona: This ... something like this is ...

Sona and both of the groups felt their bodies shake in fear just as earth itself did a few moments prior.

Yubelluna: Wh-What absurd power. (Looks at Riser) Ri-Riser-sama, th-this was like ...

Riser: A natural disaster ...

Riser whispered as if he was close to losing his voice. Taking a look at his hands he saw that they were both trembling.

Riser: (thoughts) Am I ... afraid?

Fear. The primordial emotion that every creature was born with in order to survive, the first sign of danger ever created by mother nature, and something that Riser had forgot about a long time ago. Yet, today, for the first time in years, he had found a creature that was able to trigger his most basic survival instinct.

Riser: (thoughts) Even if didn't knew about the danger in front of me, my body was painfuly aware and that's why it moved before I could even think.

Looking down, he saw Snow giving them a glance before he turned around and started walking away from them, grabbing the coat he had tossed up just a minute in the air and placing it around his shoulder without paying them any attention. That gesture alone, made Riser bit his own lip in frustration.

Riser: (thoughts) Pathetic ...

He thought as he bit his lip harder, making a string of blood flow down from it.

Yubelluna: Riser-sama?

Riser said nothing and gripped his blond hair in frustration.

Riser: (thoughts) Am I really this pathetic?! Is this all that I've got?!

He got outmatched, outplayed, outsmarted and overpowered and the more he thought about his performance in the battlefield, the more frustrated he got. 

Riser: (thoughts) Is this what weakness truely feels like?!

For some reason, in Riser's mind, the humiliation that he had went through after the weading could not compare to the frustration he was feeling right now. 

Saji: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

A blood chilling shout brought Riser back to reality, making him look to the other group and see Saji with his fist closed and yelling from the top of his lungs. The girls of both peerages got scared for a moment not expecting him to do something like this out of nowhere.

Saji: SHIT! FUCK! DAMN IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!! 

The Pawn continued to yell out, his face having a big frown and a faint hint of sadness in his eyes. To Riser, looking at the current Saji was like looking at himself in a mirror. 

Snow: That was a good decision. I was ready to do more then just give you a scare and few bruises with that attack. 

Snow complemented their decision to give up on the match just loud enough for them to hear him from up there in the air. As he walked, he went past Ni, Li and Karlamine who were still unconcious and 3 blue magic circles appeared over their heads and dropped some water over their heads, making them gasp and sit straight up.

Snow: But unfortunatly for all of you, that's all I'm willing to complement. 

His tone was harsh and he clearly wanted it that way as he knelt down near a bunch of fallen rocks, throwing some away before he shoved his arms deep between them and pulled both Isabella and Xenovia out. Both of the girls started coughing out the sand and gasping for the air they lost.

Snow: Gather up you fools! I didn't do enough damage to do anything serious soo let's get straight to training.

Even if anyone wanted to complain, the shame that they felt at the moment wouldn't allow their words to come out do everyone gathered around Snow like he ordered.

Snow: Now that I've seen it with my own eyes I can tell for sure that most of you don't even have the basic knowledge or pratice of the combat arts. I was prepared for this to a point, but depending on your performance on the next few days I might have to extend this part of the training quite a bit.

Sona: I'm sorry ...

Sona apologized, not being able to even look at Snow in the eyes. 

Snow: It's not your fault Sona. I don't mean to be rude but most of the noble childs are treated as if they are made of glass and can shatter at any moment. The fact that you and your group are still immature comes from your background where you were never exposed to danger. It was to be expected.

Snow explained not changing his tone of voice in the slightest.

Snow: You on the other hand ...

*SMACK*

Out of nowhere, their mentor gave Riser a slap with the back of his hand sending him to the ground.

Yubelluna: Riser-sama!

Yubelluna and the rest of Riser's peerage were about to move towards the fallen Riser but Snow placed himself between them and right in front of their King.

Snow: What the hell was that? I've heard that the only defeats you had as a Rating Game player were on purpose as a favour to your family's friends, but now I'm starting to think that all of your victories were just your opponents doing the same for you.

Riser still had a hand over the cheek Snow had just slapped with wide eyes seemingly loss for words.

Snow: Unlike the other King here, you had enough time and battles under your belt to learn how things truely are in a battlefield. All of that power, all of those opportunities and resources, all of those blessings and unlimited potential and this ... !

He pointed at the fallen Riser.

Snow: This is all that were able to become? 

Riser just stood there in silence, unable to look at anyone, unable to answer his own master.

Snow: (sigh) ... I'm fully aware that you want to change, but don't think that you are a new person just because of that, you just gave the first step in that process of change that you want to go through. First you'll have to accept all of your past mistakes and that weakness so that you can burn your old self to ashes and be reborn. Changing is not as easy as you think rich boy, and I'm here to show you that.

Coming from between the two groups, Ravel stopped at Snow's side looking down at her own brother.

Ravel: Please get up Onii-sama. 

Riser: Ravel ...

Ravel: ... We are not home right now so no one will help you do it and that includes me Onii-sama. It's about time you learn to get up by yourself.

Even Ravel knew that Riser needed this type of treatment. Even if she didn't like to see him being beat down this badly, she knew that it was necessary. But even so ...

Ravel: (turns around) Hurry up and get up, you are wasting everyone's time.

Every word that came out from her mouth hurt. Everyone saw that Ravel, as soon as she turned around, bit her lip and tried her best to refrain from showing any weakness. Right now, she was trying to trample over her own kindness for her brother.

Eventually, Riser got back on his feet and everyone just stood in their places waiting for instructions.

Snow: I want everyone in a horse stance now!

That ... was not something they thought they would be doing next.  

Xuelan: ... You have got to be kidding me ...

Isabela's eyes became wide before she slammed her hand over her friend's mouth but it was too late. He heard her.

Snow: Xuelan-san, horse stance. Now.

Sighing, Xuelan did as she was told. As a martial artist herself, she knew this basic stance very well and had to train with it many times before.

Xuelan: Now what?

As soon as she said those words, Xuelan found herself seeing the world upside down before everyone heard a loud thud. The Rook was now upside down and nursing the back of her head.

Snow: Now, everyone get's another extra 5 minutes in horse stance, courtesy of your big mouth and lack of mastery over the basic. (looks around) Everyone, 20 minute horse stance, now.

The two groups wasted no time in doing what they were told to do. 

Snow: Sona, Riser, Momo, Ravel and Saji, your stances need tobe wider.

Momo: But you're not even-

Snow: Wider!

The 4 people shut up and did as they were told without saying anything else.

Snow: Good, good. Now inhale through your noses and exhale through your mouths.

Starting with Karlamine and Isabela, everyone slowly started breathing in the way they were told without any further question.

Snow: Very good. Now, I'm gonna change into some proper training clothes and when I come back I sincely hope you are concentrating on what I told you to do.

Not wasting one more word, Snow opened his wings and started making his way towards the tents in the distance.

15 minutes in, and some people were alredy feeling the effects of stance on their lower halfs.

Ile and Nel: My legs are killing me!

Riser's twin Pawns said through gritted teeth.

Burent: Shut up, you two saying that out loud is only making me think how much my legs hurt.

Another one of Riser's Pawn scolded through gritted teeth, as she desperatly tried to think of good things to take her mind away from the pain she was feeling.

Isabela: Concentrate. If you do that and breath properly the pain becomes more berable.

Their old peerage comrade said trying to give them some advice on how to endure the exercise. True to her words, the others saw her standing there in the same stance as them, slowly breathing in and out without showing any signs of pain.

Ravel: I was prepared to endure a bit of pain but ...

Karlamine smiled at the fact that Ravel was finally training with her and everyone else and putting soo much effort into it despite never having do much efforts in the past.

Karlamine: (smile) You're doing great Ravel-sama, just hang in there a bit longer.

Ravel: Ea-Easy for you to say ...

Riser laughed a bit through the pain. Even Ravel was doing her best, so no way in hell he would be stopped by something like this. As he did that, he felt someone's eyes on him. Looking straight ahead, he saw Saji standing a few meters away from him, staring at him with a very intense frown. 

Sona also noticed this, and elbowed her Pawn to make him stop.

Sona: Stop doing that right now Saji. We have no need to pick up fights with the other peerage.

Unlike what was expected from him, Saji didn't stop with his staring. Instead, he lowered his stance bit more and despite being even more painfull, he showed the other guy in the groups a grin. For some reason, that really got into Riser's nerves.

Riser: Are you trying to pick up a fight with me Geshirou Saji ... ?

This also came as something surprising for the girls that knew Riser well enough. He had actually bothered to remember a peasent's name.

Saji: Maybe ...

Saji grinned before widening his stance a little more. 

Saji: What do you think?

It was obvious. Saji was challenging the Phenex heir.

Riser: Since when did I ever gave you the impression that you were superior to me in any way kid?

Doing exactly the same as Saji, Riser lowered his stance until it was exactly like Saji's. They were both very close to crying now, but none of them wshowed any signs of wanting to back down from this.

Riser: I-I'll have you know that I can stand like this for far more then just 20 minutes.

Saji: Pfff! S-So what? I can stay like this for another hour if I want to.

Riser: So I guess you do aim for mediocrity huh? I can stay like this for the rest of the day if I want to.

Saji: Bitch! I can do this in my sleep!

Riser: Well, bitch, so can I!

At this point, burning auras appeared all around both of the sole males of each peerage, both refusing to back down from this.

Saji and Riser: LET'S SEE WHO CAN HANG ON THE LONGUEST!!!

While the girls were surprised with this development, they sighed. They guessed that no matter the background, status or situations they have went through , men were still men and had the primordial need to compete with each other for whatever reason they could think of.

Snow: I see you are both fired up ...

Their mentor said out land before landing between them, now wearing a tracksuit like most of them along his usual scarf and mask.

Snow: But how about we make this interesting?

Everyone heard the amusement in his voice as he asked that, which meant nothing but bad news for them.

Snow: The team belonging to the fist one to fall will have to give me another 10 minutes of horse stance before the end of the day. 

Both of the males immediately felt the piercing gazes of all the females around them. They will inevitable make a group of them go through this exercise again, and they were not happy with that idea.

Ravel: Ummm, Frost-sama, as I'm sure you recall, I'm not on either of the teams so this doesn't apply to me right?

Snow just turned to look at her in silence as everyone around aside from Isabela and Karlamine stared at her with betrayed eyes. She had nothing against them, but Ravel would sure as hell try her best to not get envolved with her brother and Sona's Pawn's stupidity. What frightned her now, was Snow's lack of response.

Ravel: ... Right?

Snow: Hmmmm, I had not thought about that. 

He said crossing his arms, filling Ravel's spirit with hope.

Snow: Ok then if they don't fall in the next 10 minutes, you, me, Isabela-san and Karlamine-san will be doing 10 minutes of an exercise choosen by the other teams.

Everyone's lips quickly curved into sadistic smiles while Ravel just regreted ever speaking up in the first place. She had just dug her own grave.

Everyone: (sinister laughs) Eheheheh, sounds perfect ...

Snow: Alright then, with that in mind, everyone else can stop the exercise ...

The girls on both sides immediatly fell down groaning and massaging their thighs and butts as Saji and Riser continued with their own exercise.

Snow however raised his right leg up and then slammed his foot down on the ground, causing it to tremble and making Saji and Riser lose their balance and fall down.

Snow: Ok then, both teams own me 10 minutes of horse stance until the end of the day. 

They were shocked with what he had just done so shamelessly in front of them.

Ruruko: Bu-But that's not fair! You cheated!

Snow: (looks at Ruruko) Remind me dear Ruruko, which rule established in that deal stopped me from doing that?

Everyone: ...

Snow: Exactly. 

Taping the ground with the tip of his right foot down, small blocks of stone rose from it bellow everyone's butts, making them stand up again, before retracting back to the earth.  

Snow: Now for the next exercise. Cardio. Follow me everyone.

Not giving them any breaks, Snow started jogging in a random direction.

Snow: Don't make me go back there~

He said out loud in a threatning sing song voice, forcing them out of their shock, making them groan and start racing after him. This first day of training, was gonna a loooooooong day.

Day 2

Snow: Keep going! I wanna start doing some proper training within the next 4 weeks, not in the next year!

As soon as the light of day could be seen in the second day, Snow forced everyone out of their beds to do some more running.

Ruruko: This is exactly why I never considered the army as a career choice!

They were all still tired from the previous day. All of exercises they went through were pretty basic. Push-up, horse stance, abdonimal exercises and running .... lots of runnning. This would have not been soo bad if the white-haired used common values to the number of times they had to do them or the amount of time in which they had to do it.

Marion: This is torture!

Snow was not just standing around while they were training, he too was training, although not the same training as them. Currently he doing some combat forms as he listend to their complains.

Snow: No that is training.

The teams heard a rumble behind them before they looked back to see a giant sphere rolling towards them. Since Snow had forbid them from flying or using their demonic powers for he long as he saw fit.

Snow: This is torture.

Multiple spikes grew on the earth sphere before it started to speed up. Since most of their ways to escape were kindly sealed by their master, they only had one way to escape it.

Saji and Riser: RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!

 With the spiked giant sphere treatning to squash all of them, everyone immediately picked up the pace and started running faster then what they thought was possible. 

Riser: (looks at Saji) I BET I CAN RUN AWAY FROM THAT THING FASTER THEN YOU!

Saji: (looks at Riser) BY THE TIME THAT THING SQUASHES YOUR SORRY ASS I WILL BE GONE FROM YOUR SIGHT BIRD BOY!

Sona and Ravel: NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT!!!

Day 3

Snow: 5 ... 5 ... 5 ...

Snow walked back and forth in between both peerages who where laying in the ground trying to do some push ups.

Xenovia: We have been in the 5th push up for over 2 minutes now, can we move on to the 6th one already?!

Xenovia complained.

Snow: When you all do a proper push up I'll allow you to reach the 6th one.

Mihae: But we are doing it right!

At this point, they were vlose to completing 79 push ups so they groaned as to why was Snow making things soo dificult for everyone.

Snow: Yes, you are ...

He emphasized that one word before looking towards the end of both groups. Everyone followed his gaze to see Saji and Riser doing push ups non-stop, completly disregarding the way they doing it or the fact that everyone had to do them at the same time as everyone else.

Snow: They however ...

Saji: YOu CAN GIVE UP ANYTIME NOW RICH BOY!

Riser: ONLY WHEN THOSE TWIGS YOU CALL ARMS BREAK YOU LITTLE TWERP!

Girls: STOP MESSING AROUND YOU IDIOTS!!!

Day 4

Snow: How's the water everyone?

On the 4th, Snow took everyone to a lake near they training ground and they where they were all swiming at the moment.

Reya: You know what? This is not that bad.

One of Sona's Bishops said with a happy smile as she kept swiming around the lake with the others.

Tsubasa: Yeah, that's what worries me the most.

Sona's Rook said with an unsure look, seeing their mentor holding a fishing pole near the shore of the lake away from them. 

Riser and Saji: WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Everything was fine until Riser and Saji just passed near him swimming at surprisingly great speeds and splashing him with a wave of water. All the girls gasped at the same time, knowing that their relatively fun time was over now.

Snow: ... Alright. I guess everyone is done with the warm up laps ...

Kneeling down near the water, Snow placed his hand on it and began freezing the surface.

Snow: Now swim like your lifes depend on it.

In an instance the entire shore got covered in ice and the now  frozen surface of the water started spreading towards where the young devils were. As it was expected, they all started swimming twice as fast towards the shore on the other side of the lake.

Tsubasa: I KNEW SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!!

Day 5

Snow: C'mon everyone, put some actual effort into it.

On the 5th day Snow tried to get excited with some games. Currently he had a the tips of a rope tied around each of his wrists and each peerage holding to the other end of the ropes trying to pull him into a pit of mud. It was supposed to be a competition to see which peerage was stronger, but as it would seem, none of them was able to make him move from the spot he was in.

Tsubaki: C'mon ... move!

Yubelluna: For the love of Satan budge!

Ravel: Isabela start pulling seriously!

Isabela: I AM PULLING SERIOUSLY!

Karlamine and Ravel: THEN PULL HARDER!!!

Everyone was holding in their breaths as they pulled what seemed to be an immovable object, sweating non-stop and some even doing some actual funny faces. Snow just sighed and grabbed both of the ropes and tugged them a little, instantly pulling everyone towards him.

Everyone: AHHHH!

*splash*

Everyone landed on the pools of mud with loud splashes and staining their faces and clothes with the said mud.  

Sona: Where are my glasses?!

Sona instantly felt the lack of sight caused by the fact that her glasses where no longer on her face and was now patting the area around her to try to find them. Luckly for her, Tsubaki managed to find them before anyone could step on them by accident.

Tsubaki: They are right here Kaichou.

Tsubaki placed Sona's glasses back on her face to assure her King that they were not broken. She failed remember that they were now completly filfhy with mud and Sona just stood there "looking" at her with an unamused face.

Tsubaki: Eheh ... sorry.

Sona: (sigh) It's quite alright. I just need something to clean them.

*splash* 

A small amount of water fell on top of her, washing not only the glasses, but Sona herself as well.

Snow: Consider your wish granted Sona-san.

It was obvious that Sona was quite enraged with how the some of the water on her started to evaporate slightly, but she still refrained for showing it through words.

Sona: (unsamused tone) Thank you. 

Snow: You're welcome now get up everyone, time for some more running. I hope you like mountain trails.

Everyone groaned at the same time but they did as they were told and got up, trying to prepare themselves for yet another marathon.

Just then, a teleportation circled appeared near them. Some thought that it might be Serafall, but to their surprise, the one coming from it was a man with blue hair, pointy ears and lots of black magic-like tattoos on his face and on his upper body. 

Ravel: Glasya-Labolas ...

In front of them was Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas, a member of the Glasya-Labolas clan. He was known to be quite a delinquent among the nobles and that reason made them warry as to why he was here.

Zephyrdor: I've heard that the heirs of the Phenex and Sitri clans where training together for some reason but I guess they just want san excuse play around with mud like kids.

From the teleportation circle, more people came. These where without a doubt the members of his peerage.

Zephyrdor: From nobility to swines, oh how the mighty can fall.

The peerages's tiredness turned into anger as they glared at the man that had just insulted their Kings. Riser calmly got up and started patting as much mud as he could off his clothes.

Riser: Do you need anything from us Zephyrdor?

Zephyrdor just looked at Riser's state before laughing a bit at his current looks.

Zephyrdor: I could ask you the exact same thing. Need me to get you some clean clothes and maybe some dignity back Riser? Because I hate to say this but you look like shit, and I'm not only talking about your current colours.

The rest of his peerage joined in laughing a bit at their King's joke as pointed at Riser's dirty clothes.

Riser: Well the colour is the only thing missing for you to be considered a full fledged piece of shit but seriously do you need anything from me? 

Now it was time for Riser and his peerage to laugh a bit at Zephyrdor's face once he heard Riser's word. Ravel was not fond of crude word, but she had to admit that even she loved her brother's comeback.

Zephyrdor: Those are some big words coming from the guy that had his fianceé stolen from him in his weading day in front of the entire underworld.

Zephyrdor wasted no time in playing dirty now that he had no proper words for a comeback.

Sona: Just tell us why are you here Zephyrdor. In case you haven't noticed, we are quite busy at the moment.

The 3rd heir just glanced at Sona with a smirk, seeing parts of her underwear through her wet clothes. 

Zephyrdor: Oh no I can definatly see that. Never thought that the bookworm of the Rookies Four liked this kind of stuff. Pretty kinky to a point, I'll give you points for the free fan service dirty girl.

Sona covered herself in disgust once she saw his gaze on her figure. Saji was ready to pounce on the newcommer and give him a piece of his mind, but was stopped by Momo and Ruruko.

Saji: (whisper) I'm gonna kill him! 

Momo: (whisper) No, don't let him get to you Saji-kun.

Ruruko: (whisper) That's right, keep calm Saji-senpai.

One of the people closest to Zephyrdor tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something at him before they both looked at Saji being stopped by Momo and Ruruko.

Zephyrdor: What? You mad kid? 

The tanned devil mocked , daring him to aproach.

Zephyrdor: I wouldn't mind having free punching bag for a few minutes.

Snow: Let's go everyone, the break is over. You can speak with your friend later.

Snow finally spoke up gaining everyone's attention and defusing the situation.

Saji: But- 

Snow: Don't speak. Breath and concentrate. Now let's go.

Their mentor turned around signaling them to follow him. They all took a deep breath and began following him, not wanting the situation to escalate further and give Zephyrdor any sort of satisfation.

Unfortunatly, he was done with them yet and even worse, he had his eyes set on the worst target possible among them.

Zephyrdor: Now, now it's rude to interrupt a chat between old friends ya know?

Zephyrdor came down in front of Snow and placed a hand on his shoulder after taking a small flight to stop the white-haired devil. 

Zephyrdor: But don't worry I understand that's only because you never got any kind of proper education as a peasent so I'll forgive it.

Being much taller then Zephyrdor, Snow leaned down to look straight into his eyes. The pressure placed on the 3rd heir actually made Snow look even larger then he actually was.

Zephyrdor: (thoughts) This guy is huge. He must be even taller then Sairaorg.

Snow: Then allow me to be as educated as a peasent such as I can possibly be. Zephyrdor, can you kindly step aside before I plant my right knee firmly between your testicles with enough force to make you squeal like a proper swine?

This was a very clear warning that Zephyrdor's constant interruptions were getting on Snow's nerves but as it would seem, he was just to clueless to realize that.

Zephyrdor: No need to feel so upset, I came all the way here to see you after all. 

Zephyrdor finally revealed the reason for his visit and no one was expecting Snow to be the reason for it at all.

Zephyrdor: I've been hearing a ton of things about a random guy gaining support from some clans and has been raising his own rank rather quickly these past few months. So I came here to see the man everyone keeps talking about.

Still clueless to the white-haired's lack of patience, Zephyrdor gave him a couple of rough taps on the shoulder.

Zephyrdor: Love the whole misterious guy thing you have going on, some of us high-class happen to be into freak shows and misterious stuff you know? 

Snow: ...

Zephyrdor: That aside, I came here in hopes of hiring you since everyone keeps talking about you can get great results on most tasks.

Snow's students wanted to stop him from saying anything that might enrage him, but at the same time, they really wanted him to do it and get completly destroyed in the process. They were slightly worried with how his peerage members had placed themselves around Snow as if to cut off any attempts him escaping.

Zephyrdor: Say, do you know how to do a good coffee? Cause if you can, I might put on a good word for you and you can work for the Glasya-Labolas as a servant.

Peerage member: Who knows, if you are as good as most people say, the you eventually work as a personal butler for one of the main Glasya-Labolas clan members eheh.

Zephyrdor's peerage laughed like a bunch of hyenas at the fact that they had cornered him and thinking that he had no way out of this.

Zephyrdor: You're gonna have to stop with the masquarade thing and maybe change your shitty choice of clothes ...

The tanned devil continued to mock the devil in front of him by picking the tip of his scarf and toying with it for a bit before tossing it at his face.

Zephyrdor: But I'm sure you can do it with a bit of effort big guy. So, what do you say?

At this point, their overconfident laughs were getting on everyone's nerves.  Sona and the Phenex siblings were especially close to their boiling point.

In response to Zephyrdor's provocations, Snow slowly extended his left hand towards the Glasya-Labolas clan's shoulder before quietly grabbing him by the collar of his clothes and lift him up to his level. With just one hand this man was able to lift Zephyrdor enough for his feet to leave the ground bellow them and squeezing the collar of his clothes just hard enough for him to be unable to breath, once again proving just how much strenght one of his arm had.

Snow: Unfortunatly for you, I'm not willing to serve you a cup of coffee. I can however offer you and your peerage some well prepared knuckle sandwhiches. I'll have to warn you though, you better have a good pair of teeth ...

Snow closed his right hand into a fist and calmly brought it's knucklesand pressed it against Zephyrdor's cheek in a rough manner.

Snow: Because mine are very hard chew.

____________________________________________

Annnnnnnd done! Well ain't Snow popular as hell? Everyone seems to want a piece of him now. As you could all see, Snow will have a confront with the heir of the heir of the Glasya-Labolas clan, Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas, and yes ... it won't be pretty, so I hope you guys are excited to see it.

I know the training part might not have been very interesting, but for now Snow needs to give both of the peerages some basic training on a hard level in order to survive the things I have planned, including the more interesting part of the training and the character growth I have planned for all the characters. You guys know me, I love some secondary and side characters, I see a blank page and I have to try to fill it in with something.

On the next chapter: Snow vs Zephyrdor, Sona's tears, the misterious presence living inside Durandal and much, much more!

As always, leave your comments, suggestions and doubts, and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Ciao!