*Kun*

I spun around as I came dangerously close to hitting something. I wasn't sure what it was as everything looked like a blur. Perhaps I should've heeded Tahoma's warning...

"You idiot!" Tahoma yelled. He sounded like he was close. "Just continue straight but start to slow down. We're almost at the finish line!"

"Yahoo!" I yelled.

"Oh no you don't!" I heard Sloane yell. Suddenly, a black blur appeared in front of me.

"Stop!" Tahoma yelled. "You're going to..."

I moved my hands and formed ramp straight ahead. I swooped past the dark blur in front of me and took to the air. My speed gradually slowly slowed down as I descended back down.

I used my wind powers to further slow my descent in order to avoid wiping out the moment I touched the ground again.

I spun several times too in order to burn off some of my energy.

'Perhaps I should enter the snowboarding and skiing competitions,' I thought as I began to do all kinds of tricks in midair.

"Tada!" I yelled as soon as I safely landed on the ground.

"Kun! We did it! We got first place!" Tahoma yelled.

I turned around and saw that I had flown past the finish-line banner.

"Yahoo!" I yelled, throwing my ski poles to the air.

"Those were some skills," Aida said as she rolled past the line along with her partner.

After them came the Sefan knights and then the Hoinian sisters.

"That was amazing!" Sloane's sister said as came to a halt.

I grinned. "Tell me something I don't know!"

"Cocky bastard," Sloane said, glaring at me. She chuckled as she summoned a scythe. "Though now I can attack you."

"Stop, sis! You can't attack people outside of the events!"

Sloane sighed. "Seriously? Well, once the games are over, I'll have my chance," she said as her scythe dissolved into a dark wisp.

"She's very violent," I whispered to the kind sister.

"Yeah, Sloane takes after father. He's a former gang leader."

I snickered. "Ahh, no wonder she gives off yakuza girl vibes."

"Hmph. Catriona is just too soft, just like mother. They would be kicked around if not for father and me."

Catriona narrowed her eyes at her. "You know that mother and I can defend ourselves. We simply prefer not to fight unless if we must. Or have you forgotten how fearsome mother is when she's mad?"

Sloane gulped. "Please don't mention that..."

The kind sister smiled. "See."

The scythe wielding mage kicked the icy floor. "Still, it sucks that we couldn't win. I wanted to make Father proud."

"I'm sure you did," a familiar voice called out. We turned and saw Hal make his way to us along with Sarah and several others.

"Y-you were amazing!" a brown haired young man with golden eyes yelled. He reminded me a little of the shield knight I had once called 'Papa' by accident. He too had brown hair and golden eyes.

"You truly were," Sarah said, smiling at us.

I chuckled. "Thanks!"

"You certainly lack modesty," Tahoma said, sighing.

An laughed. "Lei seems modest when compared to him."

"I take that as a good thing," Lei said as he and Yen approached us.

Yen nodded. "It's good to be modest every once in awhile."

"Not that yourself are," I said, leering at her.

Lei sighed. "Sometimes I feel like the mature one."

"As if!" Yen and I said in unison.

"You..." the brown haired boy said.

Lei tilted his head at him. "Do I know you?"

He clenched his head. "Ma-master?"

"Huh? Master? Me? I'm not your master."

"Master? Dan, I'm pretty sure that Lei isn't your master. He's younger than you," Hal said.

Lei glanced up at the sky. "How odd. First it was that guy in my dream who called me 'Ventus' and now this guy calls me 'Master'."

"Ventus?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah. It was a strange dream."

"Could it be that you're Ventus' reincarnation? Maybe this guy was a servant in his past life," I said, staring the guy.

"What?" Lei said, eyes widening. "Me, Ventus' reincarnation?" He placed a hand on his chest. "You really think that the former Magus Maximus would be reborn into this weak body?"

"That would be remarkable. Wait, that you make you our great-grandfather's reincarnation!" Yen yelled.

Lei chuckled. "If I am Ven then does that mean that I can punish you for being a bad great-granddaughter?"

Yen scoffed. "Even if that's so, I wouldn't treat you any different."

He laughed. "I wouldn't want you to!"

"So you're a descendant of Ventus, no wonder we struggled against you," Aida said, snickering as she turned her back to me.

"No, it's not because of that. I worked hard to get to where I am. Same with Lei and Yen. We might carry in our veins the blood of the fifth and sixth Magi Maximus, but because of our hard work."

"People are limited by their genes," Aida said as she slipped her hands into her coat. "The ceiling of your power is higher than those of others. In your genome is the blood of the strong. You should be glad. You're superior people."

"Yet again your kind quantify things into good genes and bad genes. There are other factors to take into account," Sarah said.

Aida snickered. "I don't need to hear that from someone born to a dying race."

Sarah clenched her hands into fists. "Dying? We'll come back soaring high like the phoenix!"

The green haired girl giggled. "Then show me in today's stadium battle, Princess Sarah Nian Zhen Shui. If you succeed then I might just remove our forces from your nations."

Sarah's mouth dropped. "What? You can do that?"

Aida's eyes glowed bright emerald. "You're talking to the daughter and heiress of one of the 'Five Bases' of H.E.H."

"Are you the daughter of Uracil?"

"No, Guanine, but Father has more influence than Uracil."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at her. "How can I trust that you'll keep your end of the bargain?"

"You'll simply have to put your faith that I will. In turn, if I win then you'll stop interfering in our actions in Sera."

"I can't do that!"

Aida chuckled. "My... that truly shows what an inferior being you are. You don't even have confidence in your own skills."

"Don't call her that!" I snapped. "Sarah isn't 'inferior'."

The green haired girl sighed. "You would do best to not seek her as your mate. You'll dilute your good genes with those of a dying people."

Wind danced around me. "I warned..." My wind took the shape of a wind knife. "Ventus C-"

"Stop, Kun!" Yen yelled, blocking my attack. "You can't attack your fellow participants!" She turned and wrinkled her nose at Aida. "Even if they deserve it."

"She's right," An said. He was clenching the hilt of his ivory sword so hard that cracks had formed on its surface.

I took a deep breath and dissolved my blade of wind.

Aida smiled as she continued to walk away. "I'm looking forward to meeting you in the ring, descendant of the founders of this third empire! Hope that you won't disappoint!"

Was that girl really a fellow Shard of Light? That thought didn't exactly inspire confidence in our mission... How could someone like that possibly be a hero of light?

"Ma-Master..." Dan said again, continuing to clench his head.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I sensed something off about him... like a deep darkness reminiscent of the abyssmals.

"Dan, let's go. The sunlight is probably getting to you," Hal said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Dan nodded. "P-probably."

"We should go get ourselves some refreshments," Xue said.

"Good idea!" Hal said as he helped Dan walk.

"Go on ahead without me," Sarah said, walking away with her head down. The twins followed behind her.

"Sarah..." An said, holding a hand out for her.

"Listen, don't let what that girl told you get to you!" I yelled.

Sarah turned around and smiled. "Thanks, guys, but I have to do some last minute training. I won't lose to that girl or any of her ilk. To do so would be like failing my nation, my people..."

"Then it would be best to have a teacher," I said.

"I bet that aunt Ocarina can help," Yen said. She took a medal from Tahoma who had vanished to receive them while we weren't paying attention. She put the medal around my neck.

"That's true. Our aunt is one of the strongest water mages around!" Yen said.

"Princess Ocarina?" Sarah asked.

"Yup!" Lei said. "Our aunt is incredible!"

"I've heard of her..."

"Perhaps I should get her to teach me too," Nyima said, crossing her arms. "I still have a long ways to go as a water mage."

"I would love to train under her, but would she train a member of a rival team?"

"We could try to convince her," Yen said, smiling.

"You know, if you need a water master without any ties to nation, I'm also available," Marina called out as she ran toward us.

"Marina, wait up!" Silas yelled as he caught up to her.

"Why would you offer to help me?" Sarah asked, tilting her head. "We barely met."

"True, but I did hear about you from my father."

"Your father?" Sarah asked.

"Yup. You know him simply as 'Mr. Mizu no Kin'."

Sarah gasped. "Our Zionian teacher?"

"Yup!"

"Why did he bring up Sarah?" I asked.

"Well, he tends to keep an eye on his hardworking students. Plus, her brother did help out my older brother and his friends years ago."

"Your brother..." Sarah laughed. "I know who you're talking about but he's a... prince..." Her blue eyes widened. "If Mr. Mizu no Kin is your father then that means that... he's the previous Celestial King?"

"Bingo!" Marina said, clapping her hands together.

"Wait, the previous Celestial King is a teacher at Nine Petal?" Lei said, his reaction the same as Sarah's.

"They don't call our school 'prestigious' for nothing," I said, laughing.

"Nine Petal is closely tied to Zionia," Silas said, putting a hand on his hips.

"As well as the abyss," I said.

"Right, my brother told me that."

"Brother?" Nyima asked.

"Yeah, you've probably met him at Nine Petal before. My brother is Hideo."

Nyima backed away. "You're the brother of that crazy guy?"

"Uh, crazy?" Silas asked.

Nyima laughed. "Uh... well... Hmm... how do I explain this... Uh... Well..."

"What history do you have with his brother?" Lei and I asked in unison.

Nyima sighed. "I rather not mention it. All I'll say is that his big brother isn't stable..."

Silas chuckled. "Let me guess, you made him mad?"

She nodded.

"Seems we're more connected than I thought," I said, putting my hands behind my head.

"Yeah," Lei and Yen said, laughing.

Sarah directed her blue eyes toward Marina and bowed her head. "If you're willing to take me under your wing, I would be honored, Princess."

The female angel smiled. "No need to be so formal, please call me 'Mari'."

"Thanks, Mari," Sarah said as she raised her head. "I'll try my hardest not to disappoint."

Marina laughed. "I should be saying that too! Hope that I can be a good teacher to you."

"Wait, you know magic?" Nyima asked.

"I lived in this realm for a couple years. Plus, my tutor was Princess Ocarina herself."

"Aunty taught you?" we triplets said in unison.

"Yeah. She was the only one I could open up to... probably because she reminded of one of my older brother's friends."

I recalled the young girl who was with the shield knight when I ran into him the first time. She had a similar aura to mother and aunty Oca.

Lei glanced down at his chest as if remembering someone.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Please let me know your thoughts here if you have any ^_^**