It has been four months close to five months since Hunter's disappearance, Royal and Cloudy both passed the remaining trials they were given shedding blood, sweat and tears to do it. Nick surprisingly awakened right at the fourth month confused as to what was going on and was filled in on what happened. Unfortunately for him Gatekeeper was the most vicious and aggressive toward Nick for good reason due to his berserker state when collecting heat passively. With the fifth month arriving faster than they all would like Nick had managed to pass three out of the four trials he was given with the only one he couldn't successfully pass yet is ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖. His pride was a rather handful for the knight and for the trial he was forced to endure knowing the contents of that specific trial. It was crucial that he explained the importance of holding back his words and to be more self-aware when in certain places. All of them gave an awkward stare aiming right at Gatekeeper as if they wanted to say something but were hesitant to do so.

"Go on~. Say it already or else I'll make you do extra trials."

He said with a hint of annoyance.

Royal muttered under his breath thinking he wouldn't be able to hear him if he spoke quietly enough.

"... When will Hunter return again?"

Gatekeeper turned his gaze toward the boy and gritted his teeth

"When he returns he will be a completely different person."

Royal's eyes widened hearing those words.

"What does that mean?"

Gatekeeper's eyes widened shifting away from their awkward stares and worried expressions only telling them that he would return when his time came scolding them to not bother him about that man again. The boys all were down in the dumps not knowing what they should be doing without Hunter's guidance and words of encouragement. They heard Gatekeeper stomping away with the metal from his armor echoing throughout the hall until it stopped seeing him sitting on the throne ahead contemplating something.

"It's ok... I will keep my promise to you. That wish you told me about will come to fruition. I won't allow him to fall into despair."

He uttered to himself saddened. After some time of silence he was left to consider what his next move will be as he heard the door open with Nick entering the throne room with a solemn expression on his face.

"I'm back."

Nick said in a monotone tone.

"Good you're okay. What did you learn?"

"There are many things to remember about the world but I managed to understand the basics well enough."

The boys decided to do what they could with the little free time they had and went on their own way around the throne room. Cloudy chose to plop himself in the medical room in order to rest his sore body from the training and trials he had worked so hard on while Royal was determined to practice using and manipulating aura. In the process of them doing that Nick was being trained vigorously without mercy. In a separate room much larger than the rest Gatekeeper called it the white box. It was capable of allowing him to manifest many larger things to reality such as a building or even something as large as a castle if he was given enough time. He snapped his fingers forming a brick box massive enough to hold a few beasts inside. Confused Nick looked over at the knight wondering what he was going to be forced to endure next. Gatekeeper explained that the room he built was designed to withstand high amounts of heat to basically keep the heat in to help absorb more.

"You must endure the heat and absorb as much as possible so you can handle more later on. Basically increasing the storage that allows you to hold energy. You must've been taught this already. Head inside the furnace room and get training."

"What will happen if it can't handle the heat I have?"

"It can withstand it. It uses a special material that looks like rubber bricks that can take on an insane amount of heat. Even then if its too much there is a regenerative factor that will make up for it if all else fails. If that fails I will be there to quell the situation."

"A-alright~. This better work or I'll be pissed."

Nick marched inside closing the door behind him hearing multiple locks being put on only deepening his worries of the room. Flames began to arise from his body the room slowly shaded to red and orange with sweat pouring down his body rapidly. His height rose with his body growing at insane speeds. The bricks on the outside were being burned but regenerated enough to hold its shape to keep the exercise going.

"Focus boy don't let the flames control you. Emotions play a crucial role as well. Don't be tempted by it."

"E-easier said than d-done damn it- ack~."

Gatekeeper's attention shot up seeing Nick's blonde hair having a shade of mandarin as his pupils began to have flame symbols coming from it.

"Hey! Give me my axe it'll help me control these flames better I'm getting dizzy."

"No. You need to learn how to deal with these situations better without your weapon to always be there for you. Keep trying. I know the special properties of that axe."

The axe Cherry Blossom that Nick owns was supposedly an heirloom of sort. When he was found and brought to the orphanage he use to live in the axe was beside him with a note attach to his little carriage. It stated to only give the axe to him when he was ready to adventure out and see the wonderful tranquil world around him to experience a new beginning. On the back of the note it even detailed it had a special power that only Nick could use with it. This special power was to absorb heat emerging from Nick's body and the surrounding atmosphere to increase and store aura. The note called it 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒞𝒶𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑜𝓃.

𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒞𝒶𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑜𝓃: Nick's main source of power that passively absorbs energy and heat or can actively take in if needed around the area upgrading his strengths and fortifying his weaknesses. It only is available when he uses his axe. Without it, it is much more difficult to control and use energy around him including using the three methods.

Gatekeeper orders Nick to continue absorbing as much heat as physically possible. He lets out a few moans of pain before he went silent for a couple moments almost like he died from the overexposure to the heat making Gatekeeper worry for a second. The flames from his body still were alive and well meaning he was alive but that wasn't what made Gatekeeper worried. He saw Nick rise without using his hands to help him up like a puppet. He spoke with the same tone he did back at the hall with Hunter forcing the knight to have a serious glare.

"𝒴𝑜𝓊. 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝐼𝓂𝓅𝓊𝒹𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒜𝓉 𝒪𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝐹𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝑀𝑒 𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒸𝓀𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝒪𝓇 𝐸𝓁𝓈𝑒."

"You wouldn't do anything. Not when your vessel is in danger so stop this and bring the boy back to the overworld or I'll interfere."

The hulking boy only looked at the dark knight in an pompous way as the flames from his body burst forcing the containment to expand and crumble from the pressure. The bricks were being reduced to ash but each time the regeneration would kick in barely holding it together. The furnace room started to burn at the molecular level as Nick's body almost grew to the size of the room itself. He moved his sight confidently over to the guardian with a grin on his face.

"𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝐼𝓈 𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒲𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹."

Gatekeeper's eyes opened widely realizing the severity of the situation as he yelled aloud in anger.

"Fucking hell! You will be harming the boys friends! Is this what you so desire?!"

He stayed silent getting a good look at the knights distraught expression as he himself looked upward in satisfaction. Gatekeeper activated his murky aura as the room was surrounded in an ocean of flames. The room was no longer capable of containing the massive amount of heat clumped together and exploded all over the white box. Nick's body was close to releasing a tsunami of fire that would consume the entirety of Gatekeeper's realm if nothing was done soon. In a small panic the guardian teleports Royal to him with the snap of his finger and orders Royal to try and convince Nick to calm down. Just getting there Royal took in his surroundings with sweat dripping all over his body from the heat. The heat came in like a wave going across the fire resistant box making it much more treacherous to tread through.

"Cloudy is asleep! He said he was going to rest his body for the day!"

Royal shouted wiping away the sweat from his forehead.

With what little time left they had Royal moved through the sea of flames with each step feeling as if ashes were beneath his feet.

"𝒩𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹- 𝓃𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓇𝓂𝓈 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝒮𝑜 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝑜 𝓊𝓈. 𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓊𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐹𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒾𝓉! 𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓊𝓈 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃!"

Inside the furnace room tears began to fall from Nick's eyes and rise back up into steam.

"Help me.. I-I can't control this~."

Running forward Royal jumped to help without thinking for once as he was blasted away from a sudden heatwave taking the brunt of flames to his legs. Muffling his own screams of pain he did as best as he could to keep marching toward Nick with complete concentration. Gatekeeper snatched Royal off his feet and retreated back to from a quick plan to keep everyone alive.

"I'll take care of this. I shouldn't have pushed the boy so far. Get away from me now."

He chucked Royal away making him hit the other side of the room as the guardian materialized one of his axes to his hand. With a serious yet saddened look he saw what Nick had done and announce to him with a content look.

"Nick I hereby announce that you have passed the trial of ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖. It's been an honor for me to train such talent and youthful person."