Either decision would be one he’d badly regret.

"Yeah, I’d pick the deep blue sea." Killian decided.

For some reason, Theodore was trying to rub it in his twin brother’s face that he wasn’t chosen.

Killian didn’t care about either of their feelings on the matter, or why they’d try to compete over who gets to be his partner, but he knew which one would be less of a hassle for him.

Theodore raised a brow. He looked into Killian’s empty box and then at him. "What do you mean by ’deep blue sea’?"

"I doubt you have no other option. But he really doesn’t." Killian folded his arms and turned to Keith who was now watching him. "Or do you also have another option?"

Silence stretched for a second before Keith looked away.

"See? I’m just being a good older brother. No hard feelings."

Theodore’s hand crumpled at the edge of the paper, but released almost immediately. He forced a smile. "Yeah, no hard feelings." He left the box empty, submitting.

As he walked away, Killian noticed the other person seated in the room stood up to follow him. "That should be the fifth person who won their fight in under half a minute."

He had heard from Evelyn who watched the other fights. The most impressive fight was the fifth where a boy won with one move in under twenty seconds.

He had also been the only one to have a match with a boy, unlike the boy-girl match-ups, even if others felt he was the girl in the match because of how he looked.

"He is an Earth Element type so physicality would be in his favour," he muttered to himself, wrote down Keith’s name and returned the paper to the old man.

Keith appeared beside Killian to sign. Killian said nothing, standing there. "Do you want me to thank you?"

"I just need to make sure you don’t miss an ’l’ while spelling my name? You always did that."

Keith’s expression flattened. He pushed the paper towards him and signed the last box first. That reaction was the last thing Killian expected when he was trying to be provocative.

He sighed, looking away from the book. At the very least, Keith wasn’t going to try to randomly kill him because they were now both monitored by their father.

Also, he needed to keep Keith close, just in case that angel thought possessing his cousin wasn’t enough.

"Good." Killian headed to the door. He noticed Kirara staring at Keith, then she looked away. He had never seen her in his school so he couldn’t be sure what relationship she had with Keith.

All he knew was that she was the one who abandoned Juda during the training and gave him the chance to take Juda for himself. "That reminds me. I have never actually eaten Juda’s Healing Fire. I took too long to try it out."

"It tastes better than Holy Fire. That is for sure."

Killian smiled at the Voice’s remark.

’Anything that will nourish you will always taste better than what was supposed to kill you.’ He raised his headphones to his head.

A gift from Evelyn that canceled the noise around him for up to three miles, sound waves from a low-ranked Sound Mage would be ineffective. ’Perfect for trying out the Sound Bead.’

[REMINDER: New Skill Unlocked! (Fire)]

He tapped it.

[Orbs of Scorch]

He raised a brow. It wasn’t self-explanatory and there was no description so he would have to fight with it when the time comes and make do with whatever consequences.

[REMINDER: Skill Upgraded! (Void)]

He opened it with a thought. He was now outside the building, looking at the roads for a taxi. He returned his eyes back to the WLog. "Hmm? Shadow Writhe upgraded?"

[Shadow Writhe → Shadow Barrage]

[Keep both versions?]

[Replace Shadow Barrage with Shadow Writhe?]

He chose to keep both. "There’s just something cutely primal about the tendrils slithering to their meal and the upgrade felt like it would lose that perk." He said to himself.

He got a taxi, and showed his address. The taxi paused, a usual reaction they had on seeing his family’s surname, before nodding humbly and driving ahead.

’You are still going to give me the Void Series you promised right?’ The Void had kept him up last night talking about it. It would be inspired by George’s Earth series and have a defensive skill.

There were very few chances to ask for a skill as Wardens get them as they train or progress, but since Void was a sentient element who might not be just an element, he could get a skill once he earned the capacity and strength to wield it.

"You will have to unlock them in a fight so intense it provokes."

’Another life and death mission? You are quite sadistic.’

"I am not the one thinking that tendrils devouring corpses are cute," the Void sighed.

The silence stretched on his way back home. He noted the things he had to pack for the academy— which was everything he ever owned— which also wasn’t much as he rarely bought anything or occasionally received presents.

He stared down at the headphones in his hands. And down on his WLog necklace his older sister had given him. A soft sigh left him.

He paid the taxi and got down the car, staring at the woman standing at the gate, waiting.

"Mother?" The word felt foreign on his lips. He knew she had been waiting for him because Keith had just arrived at the organisation.

She stood there, fingers clasped like she had been saying a prayer. With the ash marks on her fingers, she might’ve been begging for a wish from her ancestors again.

"Is there any news about Quara?" He asked, because he also knew she wasn’t there for his sake.

His mother slowly nodded.

"The mission was in a C-tier realm named Orcans. It might have been a hidden A-tier realm and her signal has been lost."

The words dropped on Killian too heavily for him to stand straight. "Her signal was lost?" He held onto the wall, not breaking eye contact with his mother.

He noticed the wetness around her eyes and his heart sank further. "Orcans."

He remembered clearing it during the simulation and those orcs had been studying the behaviours of Wardens.

"It is now a hidden A-tier realm...? Why?"