Here we are; sat on a rooftop, towering over the city. My black hair caught in the wind. I peer down on the humans below me, sneering at their futile attempts to garner my attention. Ahh, my shadow quivers! The twilight is empowering me as I feel in my element, soon a veil of darkness will envelop the city and make me…

  Why do I have the feeling that you’re thinking about something rude?

  Huh? I’m not! But ehh what word would you use for ‘strong’ that isn’t ‘empower’?

  Uhh, stalwart or mighty could work… Agnis… are you thinking of how to impersonate me?

  Shit! I think Greg realized! How does he keep doing this?!

  Uhh, perhaps. How could you tell?

  Greg sighed.

  I don’t know why, but whenever you do something similarly, your existence becomes exceedingly thin, bordering on imperceivable, I assume that it might be related to you acting true to your race.

  Ah so I become a ghost when I do 9t stuff? Nice to know.

  I would appreciate it if you focused your energy on our goal and not on other things. Are you even trying? I have noticed in the last 2 weeks that your goals seem to have been shifting.

  I looked over at Raishin who was waving to the ‘fans’ below, thinking that they were here for him.

  Well, you’re not wrong. I came to a simple conclusion. It might be flawed but here it is; there is no need for all three of us to set ‘finding Hourai’ as a goal. We will become aimless when we hit a wall like we did a week ago. I still want to find Hourai but I will focus on keeping us alive until we get so far. You focus on finding Hourai with your 3x reading speed and nerd proficiency.

  Greg processed what I just said and pointed at Raishin. What about him?

  I shrugged. Nobody knows what he’s thinking, we can at least be sure that it has our wellbeing as the highest priority.

  Hmm, I see and how is impersonating me part of keeping us alive?

  It’s not! I just felt like it! Anyway, can you tell your fans to clear out? I need to complain to Daddy’s girl, the roof of the AA is so uncomfortable!

  My hand slipped off the slippery roof and I almost slid away into some spikes that discourage birds from chilling on that part. I saved myself by freezing myself to the roof.

  This counts as attempted murder, right? These roofs are so unsafe!

  Roofs aren’t supposed to be resting places and not everyone here are my fans!

  I was pointing at the crowd below, which was mainly female. They surely aren’t here for Raishin! They’re all Oblivious Prince fans!

  The name is Obsidian Prince! And why couldn’t they be your fans?

  I raised an eyebrow. Are those cat ears decorations? Use them!

  It was quite clear that most of the women were calling for the Oblivious…Obsidian Prince. I’m not sure why Raishin doesn’t realize that nobody here is his fan, as long as he keeps waving and doesn’t do anything stupid.

  You might be correct but what about those there! Greg pointed at a group that wasn’t as big as his fans, these were obviously interested in the Silver Torrent but most were men.

  They are inconvenient, so they don’t count, and they’re mostly men.

  Greg pointed at a subgroup of chicks.

  Yes, but something is wrong with them.

  Not everyone interested in you has something wrong with them… how about a different kind of fan? Greg pointed at a quite dangerous group that was flinging magic at me. Nilah was having a blast absorbing their magic.

  Well, those aren’t fans, they want me dead so those don’t count obviously.

  My tail used [Frozen Ground] and 2 assassins slipped and fell off the roof.

  Popular as ever…

  I could use less of that, you too, how about you stop wearing suits and radiating darkness, your edginess is making moving around difficult as you attract all the chicks.

  I’m not radiating darkness!

  I placed a Dawnlight next to Greg and its light was visibly getting sucked up. I pointed at it and looked at Greg.

  Ugh, fine. I will consider changing up my wardrobe… Talking about wardrobe… why are you wearing a bathrobe?

  I got up, spun around, and showed off my dark blue bathrobe that I had bought in Jarn years ago.

  It’s cool, eh?! I had to bin the other one because I couldn’t get Hisui’s charm magic out of it. So many things that I had to incinerate…

  And you criticize my fashion…

  Well, at least I don’t wear the same outfit day in and day out like a certain Oblivious Prince!

  Looking for a fight, eh? How about this, the Oblivious Prince will send you to oblivion! You’re due for some ass-kicking! Greg said while making an edgy battle pose.

  Heh, so edgy, do your worst, Nilah will destroy your [Edgecat]!

  I ducked to evade a [Shadow Tendril] and sent a [Water Blade] out on reflex. Greg didn’t like this.

  So, you have declared war! I won’t let you off easy this time! How about this? We will have a duel in the AA in 20 minutes. If I win, we will go to the archeological dig site in Zanyr desert and if you win, we’ll go to help the fishermen in Gavin.

  Oho threatening me with sand? Your already nonexistent chance of winning just turned to a negative value, I hope you like water catboi, you’re going down. I said as I gave a thumbs down.

  Wait what? Sand? Noo! Agnis you can’t lose!

  So, you’ve snapped out of it Raishin. I have polished my skills, I’m confident that I can kick Agnis’ ass now!

  Greg [Shadow melded] down and into the AA to arrange for our duel.

  Will you be fine? Greg had been training and practicing a lot the last 2 weeks while we were fooling around. I don’t want more sand in my underwear…

  Hmm, that reminds me of something. We might want to hop by Jarn first. It’s bullshit that it takes so long for them to get back to their former glory, something fishy is going on there. I will beat up Greg, we will visit Jarn, steal their secrets, and go off to Gavin.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Is sand-repelling clothing included in that plan?

  Of course! I somehow lost my sand-repelling fox onesie… I need a new one.

  Raishin pointed down. What do we do about my fans?

  What about them? We’re mythical beasts, we can give them the slip whenever we put effort into it.

  Raishin used a leg sweep on an assassin and pushed him off the roof.

  It has been a while since we had assassins after us.

  Yeah, they keep pushing their luck because I have been passive in dealing with them.

  Nilah ran at me, leaped into my arms, and requested cuddles. I petted Nilah while staring down 2 assassins.

  So, I don’t get you guys, the idols are clearly acquainted with me, how is assassinating me going to make them happy?

  “Hah! You won’t fool us!”

  I sighed and shook my head.

  Hmm my intuition tells me it’s time!

  Raishin placed his hand on my shoulder and teleported us to the inside of the AA.

  The AA was quite busy as it was the AA of Gittrian. The presence of team Hourai might have also played a role.

  Ugh, so many people! It’s all Greg’s fault! His darkness aura makes my [Hide in plain sight] passive useless! And who touched my tail?

  I turned around and only saw adventurers acting oblivious. Maybe the Oblivious Prince’s aura is contagious and makes others oblivious too. I kept my tail where I could see it while evading fans and assassins. Some [Water Blades] went out after my evasive maneuvers but it’s a reflex at this point so it’s hard to keep that under control.

  We made it to the duel area and noticed a group of women.

  Found Greg!

  Excuse me ladies, let me pass.

  The group of women parted and the Oblivious Price stepped forward.

  I have rented a public arena. You might behave better if a large group witnesses your defeat! It’s arena 12B, we start in 10 minutes. Better get prepared to visit the desert.

  Greg walked away and his harem followed him.

  Who do you think will win Raishin?

  Uhh, I dunno, you were super annoying when we fought you in that dungeon but I also have gotten my ass kicked multiple times by Greg. I’m rooting for you though! No to sand!

  Hmm, well Greg will kick my ass if I get serious.

  Huh? Don’t you mean that he will kick your ass if you don’t get serious?

  That’s how things normally work yeah but I’ve noticed that taking things seriously has me using low-risk skills and tactics, which more than often cause me to lose. I have realized that I’m a high-risk, high-reward type of race.

  Nilah turned into a sword and I wore her on my hip.

  This means that if I mess around and take risks, I’m way stronger than I normally am.

  So, you’re going to blow yourself up?

  Oh, I have no intention of dying or injuring myself. I said with a smile.

  This smile seemed to have intimidated Raishin as he took a step back.

  I…I don’t know why but my intuition tells me that Greg is screwed. I am wondering though… we know what Greg can do but none of us really know what you can do.

  Raishin might be right, but that’s the point, mostly. Not that I’m trying to hide it as it’s not hard to find out but it might be one of the many things, I thought I told them but didn’t. I created a bubble of illusions around us so only Raishin could hear me.

  I guess I haven’t told you guys, I thought I did but my memory is terrible as you know. It’s not hard to find out if you know what to look for, I’m sure it will make sense after I tell you.

  Raishin’s demeanor changed. It doesn’t happen often but he gets like this when he pays attention and realizes that there’s no time for bullshit. It doesn’t appear often as I agree with him that not many situations need this stance but it might be a biased opinion of a 9t that hardly takes things seriously.

  As you know, I’m a hybrid. This seems to always come with some sort of identity crisis as I’ve understood from using Ourasyn with the vixens in the floating lotus. My mother was the only one who was a 9t phoenix hybrid, but while she was more in tune with her phoenix side, I was more in tune with my 9t side. My sisters were both pure blood phoenixes so I had nobody to relate to.

  Oh right! I never really thought about that…

  Besides that, the majority of the people in the palace were women and a lot of those our age were chicks, I only had you 3 as guys. So, there I was as a 9t/phoenix hybrid with nobody to relate to and I had no idea who or what I am. So, I found a solution one day.

  Ehh how?

  Well, my memory was shitty so I decided to kill 2 harpies with one fireball.

  Ohh… I don’t get it.

  As I had no clue who I was, I let the people I cared for shape me, which has the side effect that I won’t forget them. That’s why I hung out often with Viridian, probably the only other male 9t in Hourai. I got my assassin skills from Viridian and Hisui, shadow magic from Greg, martial arts from Ted, and Lightning from you. I don’t know if it drowned out the person, I was supposed to be but those skills kept me alive so far.

  Ohh, I never knew… I’m sorry…

  Don’t be, I never told you so you couldn’t know. And even after I had an idea who I’m supposed to be I continued as it had become a habit. Azu for magic as a whole and Elliana for the Windglass arrows.

  Windbark amber.

  Too long! Nobody can remember that!

  But hmm I see, now that you say it like that, a lot makes sense!

  Only Dragonvein is from myself, even Nilah is from my gramps. And while I think I know who or what I am… I’m probably wrong… I have yet to touch my phoenix side… The vixens in the Floating Lotus are way older than me, some over 400 years and they’re still finding out. This is not something I can find out in just 24 years but…

  I looked at Nilah on my hip and back to Raishin.

  I decided that I should improve the things that make the current me. All the things I’ve mentioned, I’ve just copied and not made it mine. Lightning and magic are the exceptions but I've left the rest untouched so now… I’m working on evolving them.

  And this is why Greg is screwed?

  I nodded.

  I have already started evolving some of those, there might be more to come in the future but currently, even I don’t know what I can do and Greg was stupid enough to volunteer as a guinea pig.

  Thanks for telling me! you should talk more about yourself!

  I hate talking about myself!

  We know. Now go beat up Greg! It would suck to have this talk for you to lose!

  Heh, you’re right.

  The illusion bubble disappeared and I continued thinking of what I just told Raishin. When will I find out? Or is it normal to have this identity crisis for centuries? The vixens in the Floating Lotus suggest that it is but… they probably don’t go outside to try and find out as much, they’re mostly with other vixens with the same problem but the problem is nuanced enough that none can help each other. Are they dragging each other down?

  Did the 9t community realize that this would happen by creating hybrids? I understand the reasoning of why our race needs hybrids but it created a new problem. I sighed and let the thought rest.

  We walked to arena 12B, Raishin went to the spectator area and I went to get ready. It might have looked as if I was messing around the last 2 weeks but I had run simulations on getting more out of the skills I tend to use. I also revised those that I don’t often use and should use more often.

  It wasn’t my intention to test these on Greg but he forced my hand. It seems that he didn't learn from his experience in the Nightmare dungeon so I need to remind him why having a rematch against me is a very bad idea.

  Are you ready Nilah? Let's show Greg why challenging a 9t is a terrible idea!