"Big brother, big brother!" came a childish, loud voice from outside while Saynur was dusting inside his general goods shop. He recognized it at once as his little brother, only ten, rushed in, almost bumping into one of the dispy shelves.

  "Easy there, Frenir, you will knock over the goods! What happened?"

  "You should come! Quick!" he yelled, excitedly grabbing onto his arm, trying to pull him out of the shop.

  "Wait, wait, what happened? Is it Mom? Has she gone into bor?"

  "Into what? No, it's not, Mom!" He shook his head, still pulling.

  "Is it Dad? Is he back from the road? It should still be two weeks…."

  "No! The competition!" He interrupted his brother, "The final match is starting soon! My friends and Mom are holding our pce... You need to come quickly!"

  "Oh…" Saynur muttered, "I thought it was something important. Who cares about that? It's just some brawl to appease us while the winter passes, and most people have nothing to do. I'm not interested."

  "No, you are wrong!" Frenir cried out, "You never saw something like this before! It's amazing! There were fmes, lightning, and everything! It's like in the tales Dad told me!"

  "Huh? What are you talking about?" Saynur asked, confused, "Experts of that level shouldn't be fighting, especially in he city. They belong to the battlefield."

  "Ughh… Just come! You must see it! Come! Close the shop and come. The young Prince and a young girl are going to fight!"

  "What? How is that allowed?!"

  "Hah, I think the Prince will lose!" Frenir giggled, "You didn't see, but that girl is strong! She could blow away your store with a breath!"

  "Yeah, sure…" He shrugged, writing it up to his younger brother's vivid imagination, "Look... I'm not going."

  "Come on! Nobody came in today yet, no? Everybody is there watching! We were even let up to the wall! We can see everything from there, come! Hurry!"

  Saynur wouldn't say, but by then, he was curious why his usually more reserved little brother was enthusiastic about a fighting tournament. It was also true that since that morning, barely anyone had come in, and even the streets had turned awfully quiet. It may be winter, but at least a dozen people should've come in by now...

  "Okay, I understand. I'll go. You can stop trying to drag me out." He shrugged, reaching for the shop's keys. "Let me get my coat and stuff, and then I will go!"

  "Yey! Come oooon! Hurry!"

  It didn't take long to arrive, and he was amazed by the number of people crowding together to watch a tournament. As Saynur climbed the stairs on the Capital's wall, he could see violet lightning strikes fshing from the ground up to the sky, giving him a strange feeling, as if he was seeing something in reverse instead of the natural order.

  "Hurry, hurry! They already started!" Frenir cried out, skipping steps as he rushed ahead.

  When his brother reached the top and looked over the wall, he was stunned. Around the arena, sparks flew everywhere, and thundering booms resonated in the air as the two young bodies cshed against each other, looking like nothing he could have ever imagined.

  "Wha… what is this?" Saynur stuttered, completely stunned, as it had never happened before, even when a simir event was held. This kind of powers... How?! The most he saw was strongman fighting and wrestling, sometimes even using weapons... but this was...

  "I told you! You have never seen something like this! So cool!" his little brother ughed with shining eyes. "I'll become someone strong too in the future!"

  …….….

  "I think that was enough of a warm-up." Ren giggled, stretching as the arena's floor was marked by scorches from her powers, every kick or punch tearing up the floor below her.

  "I agree. Come!" Leinor smiled, provocatively gesturing towards her, "Attack, and let me see if you are faster than before."

  Ren's answer was only to shoot out like a fsh of lightning, arriving behind Leinor and directing a kick toward his spine. Her leg ruthlessly smashed into him, sending him forward, cracking his spine, but after only one roll, Leinor was already back up, completely healed.

  "Careful!" Ren cried out, cpping her hands, manifesting a spear from pure violet electricity, stabbing towards Leinor by the time he recovered.

  Both of their eyes were filled with a fighting spirit and shone like stars in the night sky, and while Ren's stabs were aiming for his torso, Leinor always narrowly dodged her moves, already familiar with her style. The years of constant dueling together had made them move so much so in sync that neither of them needed to think; they could react to each other's movements by instinct alone.

  "Is she trying to murder him? If one of those strikes hits, I don't think the boytoy will survive." Isha gulped, surprised at their violent outbursts. "Not even if he can regenerate."

  "He probably would," Zern added, shaking his head. "The Prince is... formidable."

  "Is the Prince really that strong?" Poli asked, clearly surprised.

  "He is." Zern nodded, "He may punch softer than I and may be slower than Master, but he sts longer than any of us... combined. I trained with him when we focused on increasing his regeneration speed… He took my punches for three hours straight…."

  "Harsh. That's why I say he is a boytoy." Isha snorted. "Masochistic little fucktoy."

  "Khm... He could go longer, but I was out of energy," Zern added.

  "Just what I said." Isha grinned, watching the battle.

  "Monster…" Poli murmured.

  "Ahaha, don't say that to his face. He is still a Prince." Isha giggled, teasing him. "Is what I should say, but for sure, call him a monster, please. He is one."

  That was when a tearing sound resonated in the arena as Ren stabbed through Leinor's side with her lightning spear, holding onto it with her tiny fingers and sending a lot of energy through it, straight into Leinor's body. Yet... The feeling she got was as if every drop of power she sent through to numb his body was simply thrown into the deep abyss, disappearing, cutting her off from maniputing it. Yet she still furrowed her brows.

  "That's... new... Hah… you sneaky bad boy!" She ughed as she let go of her weapon, jumping backward, watching her powers disappear.

  It happened instantly as Leinor fully absorbed the spear, which shrank down and disappeared before one could even blink. He was letting her energy flow through him as if it were nothing... Something he was so used to, as if it was his from the get-go. His wound quickly closed up, even faster than before, and he was, once again, full of energy. Then, now with Ren's energy making rounds inside him, just as in their battle against Boursat, Leinor was letting all that electricity back out through his fist. Ren was still in the air, coming down from her jump, when she received the attack. It came so fiercely that it blew her upwards with a loud thundering noise. For the first time, it made her let out a painful moan as the rebounding energies ravaged her insides, making her spit out blood. She felt her energy rebounding within her body, sending everything into turmoil, even making her head dizzy and her ears ring.

  "Geez, your insides are completely immune to me by now, eh?" she giggled, licking off the blood while she reached the maximum altitude and began falling back towards the ground. By then, her whole body was surrounded by electricity as she shot down like a bullet, trying to send out the now chaotic energies inside her, purging everything.

  "I can do more than that!" Leinor smiled, and his legs moved, lighting up with a violet hue, and he used the same speed as Ren, dodging the oncoming attack, utilizing her absorbed energy for himself. In a fsh, he appeared behind Ren, grabbing onto her petite frame and pinning her down on the floor.

  "You still have some… leftover… energy? Wha-?!" she cried out, surprised, because she felt that Leinor, the moment he pinned her down, grabbed onto her wrists, leaned in... and he kissed her neck. "Kyah~?!" escaped a small, way too excited cry from between her lips. From the outside, people saw how her body shivered as if it were an unexpected yet delightful sensation.

  But it was not exactly that... Only partially.

  Someone in the Harmony Realm, if they looked closely, would see purple-colored energy leaving Ren's body, spiraling into Leinor's, dissolving into pure, undiluted lifeforce as soon as he absorbed it. It was not a kiss.. Ren felt Leinor's teeth sinking into her flesh as he drained her energy at an astonishing speed. Although some blood did start to drip out of the tiny wound, it didn't really flow into Leinor's mouth... unlike her powers. She was getting... absorbed.

  "Damn… you bad… bad… boy…" she giggled, softly moaning as her strength left her body and she could do nothing about it. She tried to get out from under him, but the feeling of tiredness quickly overcame her. The whole thing felt eerily satisfying, and she just got... sleepy...

  "So, this means I won?" Leinor whispered in her ear after stopping, pulling back, giving a lick to the bite wound on her neck, making it close up, sending another shiver down Ren's body, shaking her out of the tiredness instantly as Leinor's power revitalized her mind.

  "Yeah, LeiLei… you won~" She sighed, surprisingly happy. "Aww... Keeping it secret until now... Bad boy... fufufu... That was dirty."

  "S-sorry…" Leinor murmured, turning completely red, starting to feel ashamed about what he had just done, and kneeling next to her. "I can't do it without direct contact yet..."

  "Ahaha, no worries, I liked it! When did you come up with this?"

  "When mother spped me."

  "Huh?" She flinched, her eyes turning surprisingly angry and protective all of a sudden.

  "She has been kept alive and young by my father's powers," Leinor expined, sitting on top of her, ignoring that they were in the arena... forgetting about that fact. For him, there was only Ren now. "Although she is not a cultivator... She still lives for centuries because of my Dad. If we can share lifeforce with others… can't we also take it away?"

  "Ooooh… nice thinking!" she ughed while looking up at him, "And it seems your body is greatly compatible with mine, eh? See? That painful training day by day, enduring my lightning inside you, made you finally defeat me! Nyahahaha!"

  Realizing she was genuinely happy for him, Leinor smiled at her, stroking her head, then picking up the now way too feeble Ren, holding her in his arms.

  "I like it when you hold me like this~!" She giggled, snuggling up to him, and that was when the crowd's cheering finally reached them, even though a lot of people were cpping with weird smiles on their faces.

  But... not everyone was happy.

  "You taught him... that?" Carthus asked with a stern, cold voice, his fingers crushing the wall's masonry, his body almost trembling from shock and anger.

  "No." Dermitos replied with an equally dark expression, "It was erased from all records. You killed every person who knew about the technique of Erterion's... Aerthus VII's... I swear I have nothing to do with this..."

  "Make him come to me in private!" Carthus sneered, "This technique must not be seen again. Got it, son?" he looked into his eyes with a murderous glint. "I won't permit it."

  "Father!" Dermitos protested, now fearing for his own son's life.

  "I won't kill him. Rex..." He added with a bit more restrained voice, "He is a prodigy of our bloodline... But he can't take the same road as your grandfather." Carthus grunted, disappearing from the wall, while Dermitos looked down at his son with a complicated emotion bubbling within him.

  "You should show a happier face," Anya spoke up, coming closer, leaning against the wall, watching the kids in the arena with a half-smile.

  "You're right..." The Emperor sighed, "But that stupid son of mine showed his embarrassing side in front of half the Capital."

  "Ahaha, Ren can take half of the bme." She chuckled, surprisingly calm.

  "True, she corrupted my adorable little boy!"

  "Yeah, sure," She rolled her eyes, remembering something from the past. "It's not like Leinor's father can say no to his crotch every time he sees a fair maiden."

  "Ugh, your tongue is still as sharp as ever... I admire Xendar, really."

  "Hmf!" Anya grunted, "Anyway, we'll see you in the evening. Don't even think about letting the kids meet you and your father without my supervision!"

  "Good. I hoped you would come..." Dermitos nodded with a relieved expression before opening his arms, addressing everyone as their Emperor, closing the Emperor's Day celebration, and announcing the competitors' rewards.

  As the people began to head home, everyone felt that what they had seen that day would be remembered for a long time to come. It was a universal thought that a new chapter had begun to reveal itself to the people of the empire, perhaps ushering in a new golden age, just like after Aerthus the Conqueror established their Empire.