Looks like he's waiting for me to strike first. He did say he was only going to be blocking my attacks, Selena thought. She gripped the handle of her scythe and swung it, creating an icy blue slash that raced toward him.

Cedric lept to the right, easily avoiding her attack without breaking a sweat. "Not bad; try attacking me at close range," he mentioned while steading his stance to prepare himself for whatever she planned on doing next.

Selena sucked in a deep breath as she charged toward him. She clumsily shifted her weapon around before slashing downward.

Clack!

Both of their weapons collided with one another, causing tiny sparks to dance around in the air. Selena jumped backward, giving herself more distance to plan her next move.

"Can I ask you something?" Selena asked. She swung her scythe horizontally and vertically, sending an X-shaped slice in his direction.

"Sure, what's on your mind," Cedric said with a smile. He swiftly swirled his staff around his body before cutting straight through her attack, causing it to disappear.

"I noticed that you have a different colored key than me. Does it mean anything?" Selena asked with a raised eyebrow. She extended her hand out, "Storm," she mumbled, casting a spell.

A strong gust of wind manifested in the room, slithering around them in a circle like a snake waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike its prey. The wind dove past Selena, moving her long hair forward.

"Oh, it's because the keys have a ranking system based on color, and they hint toward someone's magical capabilities," Cedric mentioned as he jumped back. He softly exhaled, and a watery substance swirled him, taking the form of a giant cobra. It sank its fangs into her wind spell, devouring it whole. "The lowest is silver, after that is gold, and the highest is platinum, but I'm not trying to gloat or anything," he added before nearly tripping when he took a step forward.

Selena's eyes widened in bewilderment, and it wasn't from the fact that the spell she cast was gobbled up by a massive snake. She couldn't wrap her mind around how a goofball like him could've managed to obtain the highest-ranked key possible. I guess gold is better than silver, but platinum would've been pretty cool to have, she briefly thought, disappointed.

Selena moved forward and slammed her scythe into the ground, creating a fracture in the floor that bolted for him. "I don't know. It sounded like you might've been trying to gloat a bit," she mentioned, but more as a tease. "So, how many people have platinum currently," she asked before sending a fire blast at him.

—--

Cedric made a face when she sent two attacks his way. Oh, I definitely made her mad. Just look at the face she's making; I should've worded that better. Why do I keep screwing up? he briefly whined inside his mind. He threw his body back into a cartwheel to create a bit of distance before he used his legs to propel himself into the air.

"Two people currently have platinum, including me and Lena Blackthorn, who is the leader of this organization," Cedric explained while in mid-air.

Cedric's eyes widened in shock when purple hands reached out of the crack in the floor for him. Such a scary spell, he thought as he watched them get closer. His eyes flickered over to the fireball soaring toward him. "Mist!" he shouted, causing a thick white fog to surround him.

Selena yelped when Cedric tapped her shoulder from behind. "I almost didn't think I would be able to dodge that for a second," he said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. He looked forward, noticing how her fire blast struck the other spell she had cast.

—--

Selena's mouth hung open when the purple hands became engulfed in flames. A tiny bead of sweat rolled down the side of her cheek when the temperature in the room increased. "Wait, I got this," she extended her left palm outward. "Rain!" she yelled.

Numerous gray clouds scattered across the ceiling. They let out a thunderous hiss before sending heavy drops of water tumbling below. The flames coughed up balls of smoke as they died down.

Both Selena and Cedric made a face when the raindrops pelted against them, soaking their clothes with cold water.

Clatter!

Selena jolted when her scythe slipped out of her hand and slammed against the floor, causing a loud metal pang to ring through the air. She reached up to cover her ears when the noise dug into her eardrums.

Cedric snorted before bursting out into laughter. "I can't feel my hands," he cracked up while holding his stomach. "I think this training went a lot better than expected," he panted out after struggling to catch his breath after laughing too hard.  

Selena turned around with a confused look on her face. "I think you're just trying to make me feel better. I was too clumsy, my spells were terrible, I flooded the floor, I probably gave us a cold, and I dropped my scythe," she pointed out, only causing him to laugh harder, making her frown.

Selena glanced over her shoulder when she heard a small sound, noticing how her scythe transformed back into a gold key. "What's so funny?" she grumbled with her hands on her hips while a small blush dusted her cheeks.

Cedric reached up to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. "it's nothing. It's just you're kind of like a grumpy cat that's too hard on itself," he teased before dodging her punch.

"What the hell! First, you go from flirting with me then to insulting me! Get over here!" Selena threatened him with a murderous look in her eyes as she chased him around the room while he continued laughing.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself," Cedric said with a smile while dodging her wrath-filled attacks.

"You two look like you're having fun, which is always a good thing. Because sending two people who don't get along on a mission isn't the best idea," Liam said as he entered the room, causing Selena and Cedric to pause in their antics.

"I wouldn't call it fun," Selena grumbled with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Dante wanted me to check in on you both. Now that you have a key, I'm sure Cedric mentioned that one important thing to you, right?" Liam mentioned this before sighing when Cedric advertised his gaze.

"Yeah...I might have forgotten to mention that one little detail. Now, I'm glad Dante isn't here; he wouldn't have stopped screaming at me," Cedric breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What was the detail about," Selena mentioned. She reached down and picked up her soaked key off the floor.

"That if you try to use someone else's key, not only will you get a painful shock, but if you ignore that and continue to use that person's key anyways, let's just say it'll do some painful damage to you to put it lightly," Liam explained.

Some painful damage? I get the feeling he made it seem a lot better than what exactly happens, Selena thought, feeling her stomach turn on what actually happens if she were to use someone else's key.

"Since it's late, you two should probably take a break from training today and continue tomorrow. Also, Cedric, think you can show Selena over to the apartment building where she'll be staying?" Liam stated.

"That shouldn't be a problem. Let's go," Cedric said with a smile as he exited the room with Selena following after him.

—--

Those two didn't hesitate to make a mess out of this room. If Dante was here, he probably would've made them clean it all up, Liam thought with a chuckle. He stepped into the center of the room. He took a deep breath and clasped his hands together.

A golden mist emitted out of thin air around him. It gradually crawled around the room as if it had a mind of its own. Everything it touched went back to how it originally looked, easily cleaning up the mess that was created.

I was worried there for a moment. But Cedric seems okay with his new partner so far. I just hope everything continues to go smoothly with them, Liam thought after he was finished cleaning up the room.

—--

"Isn't this great? We're neighbors on the second floor. You're 168, and I'm 169," Cedric said with joy beaming in his eyes. "Oh, and this is the second apartment building," he added.

"Just to be clear. Just because we're neighbors doesn't mean you get to distract me," Selena mentioned as she unlocked her door and pushed it open. Her eyes widened in surprise. "It's a lot nicer than I thought it would be," she mentioned in awe.

"See? I told you you would be impressed. You have a bedroom, a small kitchen, a small cozy living room, and a bathroom," Cedric said, gesturing to everything. "Also, I'm going to head out so you can get some rest. I'll see you early tomorrow morning for some more training," he explained with a warm smile as he waved goodbye to her before exiting the room.

"I'll be seeing you then," Selena barely got the chance to say before he bolted out of the room. She sat on the edge of her bed and leaned back before she frowned when she thought of something. "What does he mean by training early tomorrow morning!" she screamed inside her mind.