-"The two halves reunite"

**Lei**

I mixed the items into my personal cauldron. The water inside it bubbled thanks to the energy being radiated by the stones. Next, I poured in the various herbs that we'd gathered, causing the water to turn the same light green color as the cauldron.

"Woah," Akito said as he stared directly into the liquid.

"Move away," I advised him. Akito stepped back as the boiling liquid started to reach the surface.

Taking in a deep breath, I surrounded the inside of the cauldron with my prana and compressed the liquid from all sides. A pang of pain flashed through my head as the bubbling didn't die down.

"Akito, the scale."

The kid nodded and took out the grayish green scale from the basket in his hands.

I levitated the scale over to the liquid while simultaneously compressing said liquid. Once the scale touched it, the bubbles grew in size and amount.

The pang of pain intensified.

'You can do this, just a little longer and the pill will be complete,' I told myself.

I surrounded the liquid with two hands made out of prana. The hands pushed the scale entirely into the prana bubble and covered the entire bubble as the liquid turned into steam.

Blood from my mouth splattered the floor.

"Lei. You're using too much prana," Adela yelled as she too struggled with her own pill.

Why was making this pill harder than the others of its kind? Did Lady Koukyuu have Korgermu gather ingredients that were different from the ones we used before? Or perhaps it was because these ingredients were grown in their native world.

"Lei," Akito said in a sad voice. He closed his eyes and held his hands toward the sphere of gas. Green energy flowed out of his body and into the sphere.

Could chi even do that? Wait, Adela said something about how chi and prana were very similar. Damn, why couldn't I remember?

Ryuusei stepped forward and began doing the same for Iah, who was also struggling with his pill.

"Ryuusei?" Iah said.

Ryuusei gave the pill a determined look. "We can't fail. I said that I would help you make a better pill than Ryomi's group could."

Iah smiled. "Thanks, kid."

Ryomi was using her prana as well to help Nyima, allowing her to contain it the best out of all of us. Mr. Suzuran said that water was great for potion making, apparently, it was also great for pills.

"I can't hold it," Akito said, coughing out blood.

"It's fine," I yelled as the sound of steaming gasses filled the room. "It's best that you run." I closed one eye. "It's dangerous here."

"What is going on?" Lady Koukyuu asked as she looked at all ten of us. She glanced over at Korgemu. "Did you do something to the ingredients?"

He shook his head. "No. But the issue is with the ingredients. They appear to have used scales of dragons of legend."

Dragons of legend? Did he mean those of deities?

"Focus!" Akito barked as he continued to give me his energy.

My eyes widened. I dared not look at him. Instead, I closed my eyes and continued compressing the sphere.

"There's that weird prana again," Lady Koukyuu said.

I opened my eyes and noticed that there was purple mixed in with my green and yellow prana. Huh? That prana, was this the power Koukyuu detected when I took the entrance exam? But, what was it exactly? It didn't feel anything like my elements. It was closer to An's psychic powers, but different at the same time. How odd.

The sphere contracted rapidly as the purple prana absorbed Akito's chi with ease, which was odd as I was pretty sure my third power was not dragon magic. The vibe wasn't the same as Iah's power.

The contraction continued until there was only a tiny green pill at the bottom of the cauldron.

"I... I did it," I said, smiling as I looked around. The room, something was off with it, why was it moving weirdly?

Suddenly I heard a thud and saw Akito passed out on the ground.

"Akito!" the kids and I yelled. I reached my hand toward him but that was when everything turned black.

"Lei!" my teammates yelled as I felt myself falling.

I opened my eyes and found myself by a creek. "Where am I?" I asked, rubbing my head as I stood up.

"The Realm of Dreams," answered a voice. It was the same voice that Akito had when his eyes had turned golden. Sitting by the creek's edge was a red-haired man dressed in a black fur cloak.

"The Realm of Dreams?" I questioned, glancing around. "Ahh, so I'm asleep?"

"Yes," the man answered as he stood up. He grinned, revealing sharp fangs. "Never thought that you would see me again, eh, Ventus?"

'Ventus? Why is he calling me by the name of the previous Magus Maximus? Though even my mother says that I bear a striking resemblance to him.'

"The name is Lei," I corrected him. "Ventus Rios is my ancestor." To be specific, he was mine and Adela's great-grandfather.

The man chuckled. "Sure, 'Lei'," he said as he gathered wind around him.

"Who are you?" I asked, blinking.

"My name is Ryujin, but you currently know me as 'Akito'."

I stepped back. "Akito?"

He nodded as more wind gathered in his hands. "I'm the one who possessed the child during your tag battle."

"Thought so. One more question; how did you know the late Magus Maximus, Ventus?"

Ryujin swept his long red bangs back. "We were rivals. Have you ever heard of the second Inter-dimensional war?"

"Of course, I have!" Wait a moment, Ryujin? "You're the previous Dragon Emperor, Ryujin Sumeragi!"

"That's correct, now what else do you know?"

Was this the real knowledge test or something? Tsk, he wasn't going to get me on history. Not when Eri taught me all he knew!

"Ryujin Sumeragi and Ventus Rios fought a cataclysmic battle that nearly destroyed both of their respective capital worlds. You kidnapped my great-grandmother and tried to make her your bride!"

His eyes narrowed. "No need to remind me that she's your great-grandmother."

I grinned. "Sore loser, eh? Kind of reminds me of Ayawamat."

The man grumbled. "Why do you consider someone like him your rival? Wouldn't Akito be a better rival?"

I fell to the ground, laughing.

"What... what's so funny?" he asked, glaring at me.

I stood up. "I mean, Akito is strong for a kid, but he's not even close to me in strength."

"Maybe not now, but in a few years he'll reach your current level. Passing you shouldn't be too hard. You're nowhere near as strong as Ventus was."

I stopped laughing. "I'll surpass my ancestor one day!"

"Is that so?" he taunted. "Try to land a hit on me and I'll acknowledge you."

"Gather around me, howling winds! Ventus Draconis!" I yelled. A wind dragon emerged from my hands and sped toward him. The red-haired man dodged with ease, a smile etched on his face.

I was going to wipe that smile off for good.

"Wind, disperse!" I screamed.

The spell unraveled, causing a gust of wind to blow in all directions, including hitting the man in the back. The man's eyes widened as soon as he realized what had happened.

"Ha!" I yelled. "In your face! Lei, one, Ryujin, zero!"

"Cocky brat," the man said, glaring at me. He shook his head. "Oh, Ryomaru, I can't believe that I fell for such a stupid trick!"

I nodded even as I giggled. "Me, neither! So much for the fearsome sixth Dragon Emperor. Did death make you rusty?"

A gust of wind sent me flying to the creek. "Do you ever shut up? Stupid kid."

I pushed myself up from the flower-covered ground. The guy was as childish as the legends said he was.

He raised a hand to his forehead and sighed. "Well, it seems that our conversation has come to an end," the former Dragon Emperor said as the world turned white. "Wake up now... She's worried about you, Ventus."

"I told you that the name is Lei!" I shouted.

"Lei?" Adela said, stunned by my outburst. She wasn't fazed for long as she wrapped her arms around me. "You're awake!"

"Oww, too tight. You're hurting me," I said, wincing.

She let go of me as she snickered. "S-sorry."

My face flushed. "Uh, did you pass the test?"

"We all did," Nyima responded, smiling. "We're going to start the final part tomorrow. Rest for now. Tomorrow will be a long day."

"Alright, night." I laid my head back down on the soft pillow and closed my tired eyes. 'Why did that guy call me Ventus? Then again, Mom did always say that I resembled our famous ancestor. Well, in terms of appearance, because when it came to personality, that guy was rather shy during his youth.' Although, I sort of was too, as hard as that might've been to believe.

**Ren**

"We're here," Aria said as she leaned her back against a tree. The sun was barely starting to rise. "Kun's brother is somewhere on this island, I can feel it. So Nyima must be here too."

"You can't sense Nyima?" Yuuta asked.

"Well, I haven't really met her, so I'm not sure what to look for. I know Lei as we have the same math class. Even if I didn't, I probably could sense him as he gives off a similar vibe as his older brother.

"I see."

"Think that we'll be able to find him?" I asked.

"We'll find them, we have to," Yuuta said, wiping sweat off his face. He grabbed my hand and warped us to the top of the mountain on the center of the island.

My heart beated fast in my chest. Soon I would be seeing Adela again... How would she react to seeing me?

**Character Section**

Ryujin Sumeragi- Sex: Male Age: ??? Powers: Wind and others Titles: Savage King, He Who Ruled for an Age, Sixth Dragon Emperor, Ruthless One, Founder

**Solar Question: What did you think of Dragon Emperor Ryujin? Why do you think he called Lei, 'Ventus'?**