Asheria 13th, 2200 MC

The Knighthood Games had finally started that morning. The first game to commence was Fencing in the Prana Group….

“YA!” Sully dashed quickly and was on the offensive.

The competitor in the meanwhile would struggle to counter his sword fighting and was stuck on the defensive. But then, he smiled and backed away to the opponent's surprise. Then, The Opponent counterattacked, yet he swiftly dodged all of this thrusts from the opponent's blade. 

Sully, with all his might, aims his wooden sword his opponent and charges. His Opponent, feeling cornered, then performs a somersault and rolls backward. But then...

“GAME! THAT’S 2-0! THE WINNER OF THIS MATCH IS SULLY AURIK!”

The crowd cheered. The Silver Haired man then raises his fists into the air and lets out a loud cheer. 

The Opponent was surprised. “But How-”

The referee then spoke, “You were out of bounds, Sir. You are aware that it is an instant loss, yes?”

Then the man looked at Sully and thought to himself. “So that’s why he backed away….I was so focused that I….” He then chuckled and left the arena.

“He’ll be an interesting fighter one day. Well, I wouldn't want to share all my secret moves so soon.. Although I wonder what his majesty is think about, calling me over."

Meanwhile, In the MANA group….Each Elemental group was to demonstrate their powers against a certain challenge presented to them before the Final Destination.

And so Bruno demonstrated his Thunder Magic...

“Thunder Element Technique: Needle Barrage!”

Bruno formed out electricity from his tome at a wide range, and shot out fast needles of lightning, demonstrating to the crowd the power of one of his best moves.

The Magic move ended up breaking a massive Wall in half.

Oliver was observing from the crowd since it wasn’t his turn yet.

“Wow, Such a powerful technique….Even the best Thunder User in my village couldn’t reach that level. Wasn’t the user who built that Earth Technique Stone Wall one of the best Earth Magicians?”

Bruno looked into the crowd and then saw Oliver.

“!”

Bruno then smirked. Oliver then thought to himself,

“Heh, Not bad… But I assure you… You shouldn't underestimate me just ‘cause I'm a commoner…With my Vienloch...No...OUR Vienloch...”

After the last Performance of the Thunder Games, Last but not least was the Wind Games…

“First Up, We have…. Theon Oliver Nado!”

“Tch...I hate that they have to call me by my first name, But they said I couldn't enter otherwise….Oh well.”

Oliver walked to the stage…. As he witnessed 2 Stone Golems being formed in front of him. “Tch, Stone Golems?? Heh, This will be very interesting… In that case….”

Oliver then pulled out his Tome.

“Hmm...Ah yes. This spell will be perfect. No one can stop me with this one. I’ve even beaten some Fire Users with this one…” Oliver then chanted some words out loud, performing his grand spell: Mana Skill: Pyrohawk!

A few men in hoods were watching the man perform the skill.

“Yes….The experiments were a success! We did it…!”

Oliver then proceeded to fly straight into the golems.

“HAHH!” He then spun around, creating a violent turbulent around him, and for a moment, flames engulfed Oliver until the wings cut through the Golems…..like glass.

They both collapsed.

The audience was in shock.

The headmaster was flabbergasted. “W-what monstrous power!”

“S-so…”

Oliver was afraid of what they would say. To his surprise, No one noticed the flames.

“SO COOL! WELL DONE, YOUNG MAN! THIS IS THEON OLIVER NADO, EVERYBODY!”

Oliver blushed a bit. “Heh….I-I wasn’t expecting this reaction, but….I don’t dislike it.”

Oliver then saw Bruno. But he did not get a positive look. Bruno’s expression was terrified….as if He saw a ghost.

“Yikes….I scared him. Oh well. At least I hopefully fixed his attitude a bit..."

Meanwhile, After Oliver left the stage…

Bruno was still in shock.

“That man...Oliver… Could he really be that boy from the lab rumors….? The wings...The symbol in the tome...plus...The Flames.”

Bruno then punched a wall.

“Did he….”

Bruno’s face then looked determined. 

“...I have to find out what happened.”

A few hours later, The PRANA Games was about to conclude soon with the Semi-Finals in Final Destination. The End was quickly approaching for the Prana Games.

“Now then….. The Last Battle Before Semi-Finals!”

‘ In the Right Side, we have….’

The Blind Man steps up.

“Cormac Udo!”

“On the Left Side, we have….. Diego Rios!

“May the best fighter win! Now...FIGHT!”

Diego thought to himself. “Is this guy for real? A blind man….on top of that, he’s an archer….I didn’t see his performance back there, but I’m pretty sure he was quite the laughing stock….hehe...”

Cormac then spoke. “T’was quite the opposite, I assure you.”

Diego was shocked. “What?? Can this man read my mind….?”

Cormac then spoke. “Unfortunately….That will be something I cannot tell you...ever.

The referee then yelled. “Ready…... Fight!”

Diego was terrified, and then in a panic, he dashed towards him.

Cormac then opened his eye. “Foolish child. You have much to learn.”

Cormac held a unique stance…..And then repelled the man with his spear.

And then Cormac advanced him very quickly at top speed….and then Cormac opened up his eye patch so that only Diego could see.

“T-that eye!!! Damn you-”

Cormac then looked directly at his eyes and without noticing...activated a spell on him. Then he proceeded to palm strike him and Diego fell unconscious.

“Forgive me…. For you're too young to learn of my burden.

He then quickly covered his eye.

“It looks like we have a winner!!! Cormac Udo wins!!”

Aeneas from afar checks his special list.

“He’s pretty good! Quite energetic for a man of his age.”

Reinhardt smiled. “Indeed Milord. Looks like the results of this plan could be a success.”

Aeneas nodded. But as he reviewed the pages for every person registered in the tournament, he replied, “I’ve gotten reports about this guy, Oliver…. His magic is insane for a commoner. Something’s bothering me about him. In fact….I feel like him and the incident from years ago could be related somehow…”

Reinhardt then looked at him and responded, “You mean the Incident in the Chonan Peninsula? With the Institute involving many test subjects....involving people?”

Aeneas then shuddered and gave a quiet reply. “Yeah...The ones who Father captured said they were only doing blood work and other check-ups. But the only reason we found them to be extremely suspicious and lock them up was thanks to one detail, which mentioned the words: "Testing the Possibility of 2 Elemanas within a person for a proper "host", whatever that means. I just hope this is all a coincidence. I'm more surprised as to why Kris didn't join the Knighthood Tournament, after all the trouble I went to personally delivering it by Mail the other day."

Reinhardt squinted at the prince. "You think she's still upset after your first encounter with her?"

Aeneas for a moment did not understand what his friend was talking about for a minute. Then...It came flowing back to him in an instant. The moment the information flowed back to his head, as quickly as water flushing down the toliet, He got up his chair, grabbed his own head, and yelled in embarrassment, before running towards Reinhardt, shaking him in tears.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO MENTION THAT USELESS FACT! THAT. WAS. AN. ACCIDENT! I THOUGHT-" 

"Look, I get it. You were at that age, but that still was no reason to-" 

"Reinhardt, You're making me angry." 

Reinhardt sighed. After some silence passed, an idea popped through his head. 

"Say, what about your rival-" 

Aeneas snapped back, "Hell no. That guy's more of an asshole then a rival."

Reinhardt chuckled. "He did save your life though. Honestly...I do admit, at that time, I honestly thought you really lost your mind after...you know, during that battle nearly 2 years back. It did scare me."

Aeneas took a moment to come up with a response before sighing in disappointment with himself. 

"I...I was feeling a lot of things at the moment. I thought I was gonna get killed...but by instinct...I told myself to keep fighting. And right now...I do have a much more important reason to keep fighting. That's why I am building up this tournament. After everything, I saw on that journey, No way in hell I can back down. I finally found my answer to my own question too..."

Reinhardt gave him a puzzled look. "Question?"

"It's something my mother advised me years ago. I questioned it despite being saved by Ms. Marida...and...Thanks to that journey, the people we met...I found my answer."

"I'm glad, my lord. I am sure your mother would be proud to hear her own son following in her own footsteps...for a greater and unified future for all citizens of Calydon...no, citizens of the world. 

Aeneas and Reinhardt shared a smile together until something comes across the prince's mind. 

"Oh my, speaking of citizen, there’s this Udo fellow….the one with the eye patch.”

Aeneas stares at his file.

“I can’t help but feel his movements look familiar somehow.”

Reinhardt then looks at him. “Huh? What do you mean by that?

“I’m probably just overthinking it….Everything here is going well. Alas, I can’t help but worry about these two…. Cormac Udo and Theon Oliver Nado. Though I am not 100% certain with Udo, However, with that Oliver guy...His Mana...It's as if there is more to it than just Oliver himself.”

Aeneas then stared at the crowd and waved.

Reinhardt then thought to himself with concern, "There are rumors saying that he is a survivor from that incident. However, unlike the rest of the competitors, His magical output is FAR stronger than everyone else's. Possibly more than Bruno but...We have to keep a close eye.