"We’re about to fight, aren’t we."

"Observant." Valkarion’s expression didn’t change. Then his thick mana came out.

It hit the air like something falling from a great height, pressing down on everything in the tunnel at once.

The stone floor cracked under Aries’s boots from the pressure alone. His knees bent without him deciding to bend them.

"Wh—what is this—" Valea’s hand found the wall. She dropped to one knee, clutching her chest.

Beside her, Adrian, Nico and Eren went down in the same moment.

Everyone else was completely down. Cedric was still up, but Aries was the only other one who could barely stand.

Cedric lowered his posture beside him, blade raising fully. "Aries." His voice came out quiet. "If this goes bad, get them out. Wait for my signal—"

"Where do you think you’ll run to?" Valkarion said.

He wasn’t in front of them anymore.

In the blink of an eye, he was standing between them.

Cedric’s sword swung on pure instinct.

CRACK!

Valkarion’s kick hit Cedric’s side before the blade came close.

Cedric’s eyes went wide. Blood left his mouth.

His body left the ground sideways and hit the far wall of the tunnel that sent chunks of stone raining down and dust exploding outward in every direction.

"MASTER CEDRIC!"

Valea’s scream echoed off the walls.

’Attack. Move. Do something.’ Aries gritted his teeth and pushed against it, but his feet didn’t move.

Valkarion turned away from the hole Cedric had smashed into the wall. He looked at Aries with Icey eye.

’Those eyes.’ It seemed a familiar one to Aries, something clicked in the back of his head, pulling at a memory he couldn’t quite reach.

That night, a shadow stretched across the roof just above the Kaelenor manor’s balcony. Those eyes glowing frost blue in the dark.

It was him.

Eren had one hand against the tunnel wall, head down, fighting just to keep his face off the floor. "N-no — Master—"

’Pathetic. I Can’t move or do anything.’ Aries’s legs had stopped listening. His arms felt like stone.

His nails cut into his palms.

’I don’t want this.’

He managed to summon flames out, forced it downward, pushed it through his legs until they stopped shaking and started holding.

’I’m not going to stand here like a coward.’

Valkarion’s eyes slid sideways to him. "Hm. The brat’s got some nerve, standing up under this."

Nico had managed to lift his head off the floor. He was staring at Aries, still gasping. "A-Aries—"

"I like your spirit." Valkarion raised one palm. Behind him, frost began forming itself, long crystalline spikes pulling together. "Let’s see whether you’re worth the trouble."

The Glacier spikes launched.

Aries slammed both palms together. Flames erupted around him and spiraled outward into burning orbs that shot forward to meet them head-on.

BAM. BAM. BAM!

Each collision burst into a cloud of steam and ash, ice and fire canceling each other mid-air, filling the tunnel with white haze.

Valkarion watched it through the clearing smoke. "Not bad. Let’s raise the difficulty."

Three clusters formed this time.

The air around them dropped temperature fast enough that Aries could feel it on his skin from across the tunnel, the frost biting through his sleeves.

’They’re too thick. I’d need twice what I have left to burn through all of—’

One slipped through.

It caught his arm and tore through him. Blood hit the stone floor, and then the pain arrived all at once, ice in the wound.

"AAARGHH—"

He went to one knee, hand gripping the arm, teeth locked.

Valkarion exhaled, sounding almost bored. "That’s it? I thought you might actually entertain me for a moment. I expected too much from a child."

A gust of wind screamed past Aries’s ear.

The attack drove at Valkarion. He blocked it with his forearm, frost crawling across his skin at the point of impact, absorbing it.

Vines erupted from the ground next, thick and fast, wrapping his legs and arms and pulling tight. The stone beneath him hardened, locking around his feet.

Aries looked back.

All four of them — Valea, Adrian, Nico, Eren — standing. Bodies shaking. Magic circles burning beneath their feet despite the pressure that had dropped every one of them to the floor thirty seconds ago.

"Don’t stop!" Adrian holding it with his vines. "We’ve got him!"

Nico managed to move his arms, water compressing around them in tight spirals. The razor spirals launched forward, twisting fast.

Valea’s hands swept wide, a cutting vortex rising and threading into Nico’s attack, both of them combining in the air into something that hit harder than either alone.

For one second it looked like it was going to connect.

But unfortunately, ice crawled up from the stone beneath Nico and Valea’s feet, spreading fast, locking both of them in place mid-step.

"What?!" Nico looked down, breath visible in the sudden cold. "He froze us from the—"

"Your magic leaks more than you realize," Valkarion said. He didn’t even look at them. "Simple."

He flexed his hand on the vines.

The vines shredded. The stone bindings cracked apart like they’d been made of sand.

"He broke free.. From all of that—" Adrian whispered, his face the color of the tunnel wall.

More ice crawled toward Adrian and Eren. It found their feet before they could move, spreading up to their shins, locking them both to the floor.

Aries forced himself upright on one shaking leg.

’Flame Emperor. I have to use Flame Emperor. Just get enough mana together—’

"Surprise." The voice came from right in front of him.

He had no time to react.

The punch hit his stomach with everything behind it. Every bit of air in his body left at once. He folded forward, coughing blood that hit the frozen ground in red drops.

"ARIES!" Four voices.

He was on his knees with one hand against the floor, trying to find something to breathe.

Valkarion crouched in front of him.

His hand caught Aries’s left wrist and turned it over, palm up.

The mark was there. Black lines quiet across the skin, but pulsing faintly.

Valkarion made a low sound in his throat. "So it’s true."

Aries looked up at him. "What are you talking about."

"You devoured the Xarveth Stone." He said it quietly, like he was confirming something to himself rather than telling Aries. "One of the seven Aetherstone bearers."

The words hit Aries, making him remember the Aetherstone.

’Seven Aetherstones?’

He remembered the cave where Zenith had forced him to swallow the Stone.