(chapter 6) training season

I leant back in my chair in class with my eyes closed, trying to tune out the noise of the classroom that was so loud it was getting a little ridiculous.

Why are people so loud these days, I mean, your right in front of each other.

"Yo, Nova you falling asleep over there?" I heard a familiar voice call out.

I let out a sigh before opening one eye, seeing Kuni walk up to me before pulling up a chair and sitting next to my desk.

"Oh Kuni, it's just you." I said blankly still keeping one eye open and the other closed.

"Can't tell if that's an insult or not?" He laughed weakly resting an arm on my desk.

I shrugged my shoulders in response after putting my hands behind my head to try and get more comfortable.

I'll leave you to figure that out.

Kuni turned to look at Shion who was burying herself in another book, while writing notes furiously in her numerous notebooks.

"Always studying I see Shion." Kuni said as friendly welcome.

Shion paused glanced at Kuni before going back to her 'studying' as Kuni called it.

"Kuni." She replied with zero emotion. "This 'studying', is to help me tune out the noise of this classroom as well as help me to hone my Skills and get stronger overall."

Well. Looks like Shion is in a good mood, she didn't insult Kuni like she usually does so wonder what's put her in said mood.

Kuni raised an eyebrow before turning to me.

"That's her way of saying hello and the friendliest she's gonna get." I said waving him away.

"Well, it beats being called names or having daggers stared at me." He giggled scratching his chin causing Shion to smirk and momentarily put her book down.

"Don't push your luck or I'll use you for target practice again."

"Hey!" Kuni whined. "That was a duel, and you know it."

"Then why did it feel like I was throwing a ragdoll up into the air via a fire tornado hmm?" She giggled knowing that Kuni couldn't say anything back and looked like she might even laugh a little as Kuni voiced his frustrations.

These two are… interesting to say the least. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were going through a lover's quarrel, though if this went on unchecked it'll probably lead to them ripping each other's heads off. That would make for an interesting watch, however.

"Please don't start fighting again you two" Lazuli said coming over. "or Miss Skyline will rip you a new one, though Kuni might get more hurt than Shion."

"Why does everyone bully me!?" Kuni moaned almost dropping his head on my desk causing Lazuli to laugh and having to catch her glasses which nearly fell off.

She turned round and made contact with my eyes for a bit before she blushed, her eyes widening as a slightly alarmed expressionformed on her face that lasted only a moment before she looked away.

Is she still on what happened last night? It was just an accident. Even though I've seen a serious and slightly mischievous side to her, guess she's still a slightly shy and socially awkward person at heart. This will be annoying if it keeps up though, so I'll have to break the ice.

"You doing alright Lazuli?" I asked innocently opening both eyes now as Lazuli turned to look at me, her face still a shake of pink. "You look tired."

Lazuli seemed to snap out of it and no longer looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, I'm fine woke up a little early that's all." She said playfully hitting herself in the head. "Set the alarm at the wrong time. Oh! Did you read the note that fell out of my pocket, if so, what did it say?"

Oh right. The note.

"It was nothing." I said dismissing the subject. "It was for a different Nova probably a family member or something."

"Well, I guess that's that then." Shion said closing her book. "By the way, teach is coming so you all might wanna head to your seats."

Shion pointed out a figure that could be seen outside in the hallways through the blurred glass window. Everyone in the class quickly rushed and scrambled to their seats not wanting to feel the wrath of Vana Skyline before becoming silent.

She opened the door and looked over the classroom and it's students like a shark watching its prey. She had that look on her face that teachers had when they know their students had been causing a ruckus but can't tell them off for it since when they entered the room everyone would be quiet and well behaved.

Finally, some peace and quiet. Thanks, teach I owe you one, now I might be able to relax for an hour or so without being pestered by a bunch of students trying to start a fight with me.

"Good morning class how are we all doing?" Miss Skyline said placing the books she was carrying onto her desk.

"Good morning Miss Skyline." The class droned woodenly.

"Feeling like normal then." Miss sighed rolling her eyes. "You all should be excited. It's results day after all and few lucky people from this school will be going to compete in The Divine Tournament."

Everyone suddenly seemed awake and focused, all sitting up straight like model students, they're eyes transfixed on Miss and the board where presumably the five people who'll enter be revealed.

I didn't quite sit up straight but rather rested my face on my cheek like a stand to hold my head up.

I can't lie, even I'm slightly interested into who'll be entering although I have my suspicions on who three out of the five may be.

Miss Skyline grinned as she saw that she had everyone's attention.

"That's more like it." She grinned. "Before Ireveal who'll enter, I need to say this. The five who'll enter will have up to about two months of training time and only training time for those months, meaning regular classes such as these will become optional."

Everyone let out a whoop of joy, minus Shion I noticed out of the corner of my eye.

Well, that's not out of character but you really need to work on being more expressive on your face. Though, I'm not one to talk.

Miss Skyline raised a hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

"As I was saying," She continued. "after those two months the five students will have to return to school, at a time that will be released, to be transported to the site of the tournament. Everyone got that?"

The whole class nodded with a few saying yes.

"Ok then here goes." She turned to look at the board. "And the people who'll enter this year's Divine Tournament…"

She snapped her fingers, and the board glowed a light blue for a brief second as multiple names appeared.

"Will be these five students."

I looked at the board finding myself strangely eager to see who was on there, though my eagerness didn't show on my face.

Alright then let's see who'll be entering.

Written in a light, almost sparkling, blue were five names.

Shion Marble

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Shion try to hide a thin smile that held so much pride it looked almost arrogant. A smile that said "Of course I'm up there" or something like that.

Kuni Saber

I saw Kuni wipe his forehead with relief glad his little defeat against me didn't affect his place on the list.

Alex Indoles

I never heard of him before. He's either not in this class or he's not a show-off as I can't see anyone whooping for joy.

Lazuli Titana

I heard a scream of excitement mixed with the groans of people who didn't get in and saw Lazuli punching the air.

"I'll look forward to seeing what your capable of Lazuli." I murmured to myself quietly so no one could hear.

Afterall, you seem to have a lot of untapped potential and I can just sense something about your Ethos. Anyway, who's the last personout of the Five.

My blood in my veins froze like ice. I blinked once. I blinked again. I blinked three more times. I suddenly stood up so fast that my chair fell backwards which caused a number of people to look at me with Shion being one of them with a frown on her face that was looking slightly shocked as well. I gripped the sides of my desk so hard that I crushed the parts I was holding like it was an empty water bottle.

What. The. Fuck is going on. This can't be real. It doesn't make any sense, no, it literally makes zero sense for this to happen.

I could deny it as much as I wanted but it didn't change that fact of what was on the board. Written the very same light, sparkling blue colour was a name.

Nova Laos

"There must be some kind of mistake!" I yelled at Miss Skyline.

Some time had passed, and it was just me and the teacher in the empty classroom. Miss Skyline looked at me with a tired expression on her face, looking very bored and irritated.

"Nope, there isn't." She responded inspecting her nails.

What the hell does she men there isn't? It's insane to allow a Lion Rank to enter the Divine Tournament in fact it would result in the recommender being fired from their job.

"What do you mean there isn't?" I said through gritted teeth. "A Lion Rank entering a tournament of this stature is just plain insanity. Who would recommend me anyway?"

Miss Skyline looked at me for a few moments before sighing.

"There isn't a mistake Nova because I was the one that recommended you." She said with her eyes closed. "I sent the recommendation with some footage of your duel with Kuni as evidence."

My blood suddenly boiled and I felt the urge to unleash my rage on everything that was in sight and reduce the school complex to rubble.

Calm down. Calm down you, I mean it. I know you want to reduce this whole area to ash but you gotta calm down.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and calming down, before opening them to see Miss Skyline with a 'you done?' expression on her face.

"It's already been approved by the organisers Nova." She said pulling out a cigarette. "It's out of my hands now so my advice to you is to spend the next few months forming a plan and train like hell. This year's tournament has some of the strongest Ethereals we've seen in a while so you're going to need it. If you have nothing else to say your dismissed."

She finished off her sentence lighting the cigarette and taking a puff from it before waving me away.

This isn't going anywhere.

Reluctantly I picked up my bag and left the room before walking down the hallway. The evening sky was turning orange with the rays of light forming shadows in said hallway giving it an ominous yet relaxing atmosphere as the sound of my footsteps echoed off the walls. I suddenly felt very uneasy and stopped and checked the time on the clock that was on the wall.

"Its 6pm but even so, the school shouldn't be this empty." I muttered to myself, looking around me. The school seemed normal but there was something off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then, just out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something. I walked over to the window and squinted my eyes to try and confirm what I suspected. The glass of the window looked normal on first glance but on a second look the glass seemed to warp and distort ever so slightly as if it was made of water.

Ah I see what's going on now.

Suddenly, what looked like a ripple, shot through the hallway as if it was a wave forming on the beach before a bright flash of light consumed me immediately after.

Almost a moment after the light disappeared and my surroundings had completely changed. I was in what looked like to be some kind of desert like mountain terrain with the time looking like night however the sky was supernaturally clear with every single star, moon and sun shining bright and could be seen in great detail.

Well, I'm definitely not on earth anymore nor am I in my universe either but I don't feel like I'm in a different Reality either meaning…

"So, we gonna play the waiting game or shall we just get this over with." I called out, my voice echoing off the mountains. "Show yourself Devil Ape."

A feminine laugh suddenly manifested itself, coming from every direction making it impossible to pinpoint its origin. I then suddenly heard a whistling noise from way above my head before something dropped from the sky like a stone and smashed into the ground a few feet in front of me sending up an explosion of dust and debris.

As the dust began to clear a feminine figure could be seen within the blanket of dust restricting my view.

"Well, well it's been some time." Said the figure before swinging their arm to the side with such force that a shockwave blew away all the dust and debris within a second and showing the figure in all their glory.

It was a girl who looked around the age of 19 with tanned skin, orange amber eyes and short black hair in a pixie haircut along with wearing short skirt and a crop top. However, what was most striking about her is that, swaying slightly behind her, was a brown monkey's tail that then curled around her waist like a belt.

Yep, there's no mistaking it now.

"You surprise me." I said sighing "Not the fact that you found me, although that is very surprising but considering that universallevel of power, I can sense coming from you I know this isn't one of your clones."

The girl grinned as I finished.

"Ariel High, The Devil Ape."

Ariel clapped her hands before laughing slightly.

"I'm so honoured that you remember me," She said sarcastically. "what do you go by currently, Nova Laos right? An unoriginal and ironic name don't you think."

"What business do you have Ariel?" I snapped getting a little annoyed and impatient. "Do the others know I'm here?"

A glint appeared in Ariel's eyes that reminded me of the way Kuni looked when I asked him a similar question before our duel.

Oh, I'm going to hate this next part.

"You don't have to worry" She said as we began to circle each other. "The other four don't know you're here but they will do if you don't do what I say."

"One last time Ariel." I said getting more and more irritated. "What do you want?"

"Your no fun." She murmured to herself looking disappointed. "Fine I'll cut to the chase, how did you awaken your Ethos?"

My eyes widened suddenly, with the question catching me off so guard that a quick burst of my power released itself for a moment sending a shockwave that cracked the ground and blew back Ariel's hair causing her grin once again.

"Why in hell should I tell you?"

"I kinda feel like you don't have room to bargain with me." She said cracking her knuckles as she saw me make slight movements that would allow me to quickly jump into a fighting stance. "But I don't think you care anyway; had a feeling I'd have to beat it out of you."

"You do realise if you come at me, I'm going to kill you." I said calmly collecting my emotions and thoughts back together.

"About that," Ariel replied. "I've alerted to my clones that if I were to die then they would tell the others where you are straight away. But you know what let's make a little bet and I'm a woman of my word, so I'll keep my end of it if I somehow loose."

I paused for a moment as I let what she said sink in.

If what she's saying is true then I can't kill her, not right now at least but knowing Ariel she always likes to spice things up a little and give herself a small chance of loosing meaning there might be a way for me to win this.

"Spit it out." I said.

"We will fight for let's say 20 whole seconds and if don't get knocked out, beaten half to death by you, etc then you have to tell me how you awakened your Ethos. On the other hand, if you win I will leave you alone, not release your whereabouts to the others and forget this whole thing ever happened. I promise that i will not break these terms so what do yasay?"

I stared at Ariel for a long moment trying to figure out if she was lying or not.

I've known Ariel for many years, and she is many things but a liar who breaks their promises she is not. 20 seconds might be difficult, however. She's not some Dragon Rank Ethereal who's power endangers a planet, no, she's a Demon Rank whose power threatens the Universe two times over. But it's either that or the others figure out where I am because there's no way in hell, I'm telling her anything about awakening Ethos.

"Fine your on." I said reluctantly.

"Great." Ariel replied clapping her hands, jumping up and town like a little girl before rocketing towards me faster than I could react.

She was right in front on me faster than I could blink and slammed a fist into my stomach.

The pain shot across all over my body as I was sent flying straight through the ground going faster and faster, deeper and deeper until shot straight through the entire planet I had previously been on. I still flying just as fast smashing through multiple planets again and again slowing down slightly each time before I crashed into another which stopped my momentum at the cost of a massive crater forming at the point of impact. I could feel my guts, that had been smashed to pieces on the inside, heal almost instantly as I leapt upwards to the side dodging a white staff that that had been thrown which smashed straight through the planet causing it to explode.

Suddenly appeared holding the staff and swung it at me in almost dance like movements forcing me to dodge and block, not giving me any time to attack.

This is getting annoying, let's increase the power input a bit more.

Ariel let out a shriek and swung her stuff at an angle that looked to decapitate me, but I ducked and shot round behind her faster than her eyes could follow.

"How about you enjoy some time in the sun I said." I said grabbing her tail and swinging her round and before letting go, throwing her as hard as I could.

Ariel let out a yelp as she smashed straight through a row of planets before crashing into the sun that was at the end of the solar system of planets, leading to massive fiery explosion that engulfed a portion of the area.

I watched her leap out of the fiery ball of gas roaring in a fit of rage.

"Nice joke asshole!" She bellowed getting ready to throw her staff. "Ruyi Jingu Bang: GROW!!"

As she threw the staff at the speed of light, it instantly grew to the size of a star.

I squatted down on the bit of planet I was one before flying forward rocketing towards the star sized staff.

"Batter up!" I yelled throwing a punch as hard as could which smashed into the staff.

The impact of the punch split the staff intopieces like lightning striking a tree as the shockwave of the punch exited massive weapon smashed straight into Ariel sending her flying back into the sun with the shockwave causing the whole thing to erupt and explode vaporising everything in sight.

I continued to fly froward as I saw Ariel's figure shooting towards me.

We clashed fists and traded blows again and again before I threw a quick which she jumped up above me to dodge. While above me another staff materialised into her hands and swung it at me, like a baseball bat, connecting with my skull.

I was sent flying through the void of space once again before smashing deep into another planet but not straight through it this time though impact exploded half of it.

"How about I end this." I saw Ariel yell as orange energy began to form in her hands getting larger and larger.

I could sense the colossal power coming off it.

That's going to destroy this universe we're in!

Ariel let out a primal roar as she released the blast at me at a speed faster than light itself.

"Release Restriction Levels 5 and 4." I managed to mutter before the blast hit me. I felt wave of heat as the whole universe around me vaporised.

My body healed instantly as the energy of the blast faded away revealing an astonishing sight. Everywhere at every angle for as far as the eye could see were an infinite number of different universes. They looked like galaxies trapped in universe sized glass balls.

"A Multiverse." I breathed.

Been a minute since I've been in one.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ariel flying towards me with a glint in her eye that told me she thought she'd won.

Has she not put it together or is she drunk on the fight?

She let out a yell as threw another punch which released a massive shockwave but stopped short of landing by an inch.

A look of astonishment crawled onto her face as I took her wrist and slowly moved it away from my face.

"The Skill Barrier remember." I said as I felt a grin actually begin to creep onto my face.

In an instant faster than light a slammed a punch of my own into her gut sending her rocketing and crashing into one of the infinite universes surrounding us, shattering it like glass.

I gracefully flew over the where Ariel was as she coughed up blood while trying to calm herself down.

"I'll kill you!!" She screamed like a banshee as another staff formed in her hands as she was about to throw it but suddenly stopped along with time itself.

I have 0.5 seconds to finish this but that'smore than enough time.

I flew over to where Ariel was frozen in time, grabbing her staff and snapping it on my leg like a large stick before then grabbing the arm she was throwing it with and ripping it clean off.

Time returned and for a brief moment looked very confused. She turned to look at me as I was now beside her instead of in front before then looking at the armless shoulder, she had which was pouring out blood.

It then all hit her, and she screamed in pain as she grabbed the bloody stump trying to stop the blood from flowing but failing in the process.

I grabbed her by the face, my hand covering her mouth to stop her annoying screams, and brough right up close to my own.

"That's 20 seconds Ariel," I whispered. "go and if you tell the others, especially my siblings"

I felt my once blue eyes heat up as the flashed red for a brief second.

"then I'll kill you and make sure you suffer now go and never come back." I said throwing her to the side like a piece of paper.

Ariel groaned in pain before her body began to ripple as if it was made of water before disappearing.

I don't think she'll be coming back to see me anytime soon.

"Replace Restriction Levels 5 and 4." I said and felt my power be supressed as it should.

"Now," I said turning to look at the infinite amount universes around me. "which one is mine."