I sat down on the opposing chair and leaned back, welcoming the sun as it reached my face. The wind blew against my body, allowing for a cool breeze to spread the scent of flowers from the garden.

Sereza moved her chin into her arms and turned her head to examine me.

"You look tense."

I sighed and inhaled the sagra lilies. "I'm very zen right now. Can't you tell?"

"Mmm. You look like you're trying to manifest calmness."

"Exactly."

"By mentally threatening that you'll burn the world if you don't."

I lowered my head. "Rude."

She shrugged. "You've been tense ever since we left the arena. It's been two days, figured you'd have stopped caring by now. No normal sane person would, but well..."

I frowned and opened my eyes. Myol had said the next match would have been today, but apparently something happened that caused it to be delayed. According to Isaac, it had something to do with the king and the arena-master.

King Allaron…

Even now I still had no idea why he was involved. Teddy's parents had returned later that night for dinner–sporting new bruises and busted lips and still managed to waltz in with smiles on their faces. That smile slipped the moment Teddy explained what happened at the arena.

Almost immediately they reacted. After they bursted out the nearest window, they returned an hour later looking furious. When prompted they shook their heads and excused themselves for the rest of the night.

Since then, I hadn't seen them once.

To make matters worse, Teddy informed me the morning after that Zog had come over. He didn't barge in and demand I fight him, but the news he delivered only added to the stress.

His damn god revealed that the blood mana in the underground vanished. Not slowly fade, nor disappear to somewhere else. In the blink of an eye, it vanished. All traces of blood-aspected mana from the underground were absent from the underground. Even the sizable deposit underneath the pit's arena was no more. Three hours later, the royal guards confirmed it, sending the Hands into a flurry as they began inspecting the entirety of the underground.

I tightened my grip on my legs.

More mystery, more bullshit. Same damn meddling from others.

A scratching sensation gripped my chest and the gremlin rapped its knuckles against its cage. With a growl of frustration I suppressed it and exhaled.

"It doesn't matter," I said.

"Cyrus, I know you well enough to at least know that what you just said isn't true. Hells, you had Galarion temporarily erase your memory so you could avoid being arrested. That's crazy.," Sereza said, sitting up.

"Maybe. Maybe not. So the king is involved. So what?"

"The nobles tried to curse you and bind your mana. From Galarion's memories there's over five houses involved."

"Even if they did, I have a feeling that they'd suffer through a world of misery afterwards."

"Have you talked to your god?"

My frown returned. "No."

"My point."

"Not valid. You and everyone else except maybe Teddy keeps forgetting what I am."

She crossed her arms. "I constantly am reminded of what you are. It's hard not to when every few weeks feels like one chaos-filled insanity after another."

The feeling returned and my mana hummed to a vague tune inside my chest. Another headache crept its way into the back of my head and I restrained myself from visibly reacting.

Dropping my voice to a whisper, I looked toward the horizon. "Sorry."

A thwack hit my shoulder and I glared in her direction.

"Don't apologize to me for the trauma you receive from the Weave. That's not what I'm getting at."

"Jeez. What did you mean then?"

She huffed and crashed against the rooftop. The sunlight caught her green hair and illuminated the orange orbs of her eyes in the sea of black. They stared at the sky, past the clouds into the open expanse beyond.

"I mean that you can't say the king's involvement doesn't matter. What the nobles did was inconceivable. Something the arena-master should have stopped–would have stopped. The meddling of the houses. Zog and his god. Your repressed issues. It all matters, Cyrus."

I shook my head.

"It truly doesn't." Before she could protest I continued. "I survived an awakened rift boss. Survived a battle with some dimensional, planetary horror. Survived the remnant of an old god from who-knows-where. Now? Some dumb idiots and their convoluted plot to cripple me hardly matter. Literally every month I've spent in this world has been nothing but surviving stuff. They are small fry. They don't matter. Not even if the king is somehow involved."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Ignoring the fact that what you said is insane. Does this mean you'll continue in the tournament? I know the others think you should drop out."

At that, the headache pulsed but I refused to summon Galarion. The feeling continued and settled in but I welcomed the distraction from the weirdness in my center.

Slowly, a grin split my face and I smirked at the felkin. "That's exactly why I won't."

"Why's that?"

"Hard to explain. Simply put, I feel like I have to."

"You have to? Is this because of a passive? Or one of your perks?"

"Nothing so mystical," I said, joining her in laying down. "More like I have authority issues and I'm already getting jerked around by some all-powerful magic force. I'm going to fight again because I want to. That and something tells me the next match is either going to be boring and safe, or something fun. I'm hoping the latter, that way I have something to redirect all my pent-up frustration to."

Sereza looked at me skeptically. "Logical. Are you sure it's not some mystical feeling in your gut? Maybe your passive changing, perhaps?"

I brought up the passive in question.

Chaotic Resonance:

Minor increase to all physical capabilities.

The skill effect increases per every familiar actively summoned

–????–

Another question mark, lovely.

I shrugged. "Nope. Merely my intuition."

"For some reason I don't believe you."

Now it was my turn to deliver a gentle tap with my tail. It rattled the chitin of her stinger and she grimaced.

"Enough about me. I'm not the only one going through something crazy. How are you holding up?" I asked.

"Well enough," she grumbled.

"Oh so it's bad if I repress my emotions and issues but not you? Where's the fairness in that?"

"Nobody said it was fair. People are hypocrites after all," she replied. Sereza stretched her arms wide and dropped them over her eyes, covering her face. "I'm numb. Like I can barely think about it all. My father… Is a complicated man. Certainly there were times where I hated him, but he's my parent. He raised me."

It was obvious she wanted to say something else after she said 'my father.' I had enough social graces to not point out her last minute change of words.

I snorted. "So?"

"I think I'm allowed to feel complicated feelings toward my father, Cyrus."

"I don't know. He didn't sound like much of a dad."

"Not everyone has a god as their adoptive father." She sighed. "Nevermind. What about your… Other parents. I'm going to assume they were saints, because if they weren't that means you are like the rest of us common mortals."

The headache progressed to a firm squeeze and I gnashed my fangs together. A memory threatened to surface and the sound of chain breaking filled my soul. Quickly, I threaded mana and prepared to summon Galarion but the feeling faded. The whiplash left me hollow, like something ached in my chest but not at the same time.

Sereza shuffled around. "Cyrus?"

I stood up and stretched. "They were lovely people, I'm sure. Now enough parent talk. We sound like teenagers."

She sat up and held out her hand. I helped her up.

"You brought it up first," she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go before Isaac shows his ugly face."

"He's objectively very handsome. As are you. Neither have room to talk when you're both too pretty to call yourselves ugly. It's insulting."

I looked Sereza up and down. In the final rays of sunlight her hair shined with a golden hue that bounced off the brown of her horns. Her lightly-tanned skin glowed almost gold in its rays. The wind picked up and blew through her hair, setting the scene for the perfect photo-ready shot.

"Right. Insulting to other people perhaps. Maybe demons like us were born to be pretty. Enough of that. Let's get foooooood." As I turned, Sereza caught my wrist. I counted to three and braced myself. "Please don't tell me you're about to pull an Isaac on me."

"No, Cyrus. I'm not," she said.

"Then?"

She leaned in close and met my eyes. I raised an eyebrow but she didn't back away.

"I have a request," she whispered.

"Uhuh."

"Not going to ask?"

"Does it matter?"

"It'd be polite."

I sighed. "What's your request, my lady."

She pushed me away and laughed. "Gross. Never going to be a lady. I'm an adventurer, remember? Besides, I don't even have a house anymore."

"Fine. What's your request, dear adventurer?"

"My humble request is that you take me with you."

"To the dining room? I had planned to walk with you and chat on the way there. So… Sure?"

"Not what I meant" she groaned.

I smirked. "I know. Stop stalling. I'm the edgelord filled with dramatics. Not you."

"Fine," she crossed her arms. "I formally request to join your party. These past couple of months have taught me many things. One of those things is that life with you is never simple, and never boring. I doubt that'll change in the future. So will you take me? Oh, Lord of Spirits?"

Now it was my turn to make a disgusted face. My mana hummed again, to a different tune that still managed to stir up a strange feeling in my core.

"If you're only an adventurer, then so am I."

"Deal. Your answer?"

"You know I don't have a team? I'm merely a parasite being babysat by a bunch of famous adventurers."

"You have Khrem, and you are not a parasite."

"Still doesn't make it a team."

She huffed in exasperation. "Then make one. Now, what is your answer?"

I sobered my expression and dropped my shoulders. As I approached, Sereza blinked rapidly in confusion. My hand landed on her shoulder and I slowly looked up.

Then I pushed her away. She stumbled, but prevented her fall by stabbing her tail into the ground as leverage.

With a single leap I darted for the stairs and raised my voice as I ran. "If you're crazy enough to stick with me, that's on you! Don't say I didn't warn you though!"

I caught the baffled expression on her face before I jumped down the stairs, clearing several feet. Rolling to my feet I sprang over the railing and reveled in the freedom of falling a couple of stories. The impact hardly jarred me and I dashed for the nearest door.

Somewhere behind me, Sereza activated a skill and rapidly approached.

My smile strained and I slowed down once I entered the mansion.

The hollow feeling stretched and churned upward. It reached my stomach and stopped below my chin.

I weaved strands together and connected them to Shroud of the Astral Archon. Galarion appeared and I gently grabbed him before he could float away. My familiar knew what to do and settled in as he probed my mind.

Something sucked into his tentacles and he purred in delight, leaving me with a muted hunger. It wasn't a true solution, and the astral spirit wilted upon realizing he failed to take away the hurt.

"You did good, Galarion. Mind keeping an eye out for the rest of tonight?" I said, gently filling the soul-link with appreciative thoughts.

"Yes, Master!"

He settled in and just in time. The door rattled and Sereza stepped inside. She blew hair out of her eyes and frowned.

"Cheater," she said.

"Not cheating if it's not a competition. Come, I can already smell the food," I teased.

She took the lead and I followed behind. Outwardly, I smiled.

Tomorrow. I had a feeling that the tournament would resume by tomorrow morning. When it did, we'd enter our fights and compete to see who would win the competition.

Not that we would fight each other. Teddy's word's came to mind. A faint chime echoed in my soul and Galarion shifted his tentacles around.

I shook my head.

Whatever. Whether the nobles try something stupid or not, it doesn't matter. Easy, Cyrus. All you have to do is win. Besides, what can they try that you haven't already dealt with before?

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