“Shit… Did he already figure out I'm behind this…?”

  Ayn cussed under his breath, watching two guards nod at Sol's orders and move towards his direction. This was bad, really bad. At the moment, he couldn't use magic properly, much less fight. At best, he could stop them from casting spells.

  The guards were each armed, but didn't seem overly eager to capture him. Or rather, since it was their lunch break, they probably just wanted to laze around for some time. If he cooled his head, he could make it out of this unscathed.

  He clicked his tongue, and examined the entirety of the room with his eyes. His attention darted from corner to corner, surely there was something he could make use of.

  Meanwhile, the fight between the two youths had not properly started yet. After the initial, respective attacks, they were both put on their guards, for two different, albeit similar motives. Jacob drew back his foot, before producing a curtain of smoke through a small, precise explosion at the ground.

  The sound of his crackling Ark gave away his position, but he didn't think that far ahead. He just needed to test something, and that was the easiest manner through which he could do so.

  Unlike his altercation with the Homunculi the day before, he knew he had to take this one a tad more seriously. She had already shown that she could fight from that initial response to his offense, and now Jacob was more on edge.

  More than that, he wanted to figure out how exactly she hit him. It was likely she was trying to do the same, figure out the nature of his Gift. Her attack was either too fast for him to follow it with his eyes, or harder to track for whatever reason.

  He was hoping the smoke from the explosion could help with that. A hiss sliced through the air, a golden claw cutting through the smoke and aiming to strike Jacob in his body.

  With a click of his tongue he blocked the strike, before trying and failing to grab her wrist. Multiple, small explosions set off from his closed fist, pushing away the smoke curtain with the air pressure and clearing the view.

  Jacob raised his guard, covering his face with his forearms. Light creeped out of Irene's long sleeves, a singular torrent of Ark rushing outwards and towards Jacob, slicing his arms. His eyes widened.

  “That's a nasty trick, innit.”

  He clicked his tongue. That wasn't just an unorthodox or particularly fast spell, it was something else entirely. He didn't know whether he would have enough time and opportunities to figure it out completely, however.

  He had to keep going, running only on the assumption that her Gift was, somewhat, similar to his own. It allowed her to strike from range, with an incredible fluidity in her attacks. What struck him wasn't a projectile, but some sort of sharp liquid.

  “Why are ya thinking so hard about it? You said it's not personal, right?”

  Irene tilted her head, raising a brow. Jacob let out a sigh. He did say that, but it's not like he could allow himself to be easily beaten. He still hadn't managed to show off, and that was the most important part of their plan.

  He clicked his tongue, throwing down his hands for a moment. He couldn't focus fully. Even if he knew this was supposed to be an actual fight, and she struck him a few times, he just couldn't get in the right mentality.

  He put his guard back up, right as more magical attacks shot out from underneath Irene's sleeves. They slithered in the air, moving alongside his gaze, in order to make them harder to track. Though, they were also quite fast.

  Jacob spread his fingers, small clusters of Ark exploding as a manner of defense against her fluid attacks. They were difficult to track due to the irrational movements, reached their destination quickly, and cut deep.

  On the other hand, he hadn't managed to land a proper hit on her yet. Before he could get hit by another of those serpentine strikes, Jacob dropped downwards, placing a palm on the ground. His Ley Lines spread like roots of a tree onto the floor, branching out outwards and around Irene.

  The glyphs traced circles beneath her unaware eyes, as if making her the center of some weird, explosive ritual. Columns of Ark quickly spread upwards from the Ley Lines, completely hiding Irene's figure, at the epicenter of the multiple explosions.

  Jacob clicked his tongue. Although explosion magic was compatible with his Gift, the problem with it was that multiple explosions often cancelled each other out. Which meant, he would have to wait until his current spells completely exhausted their firepower, before trying to throw any more at the Behemoth girl.

  From the residual dust and smoke, silver liquid flashed towards Jacob. It stretched out from Irene's position, in a slower manner than the previous attacks. Perhaps due to the heat, or due to the large area of the explosions, but she had needed to take drastic, defensive measures.

  A cocoon of sorts was wrapped around her body, with chromatic hues. It was sleek and seemingly metallic in material. The tendrils, which had been attacking Jacob until now, retreated back into the construct.

  Parts of it were glowing red due to the heat of the explosion, and slowly melting. She hastened the process, completely melting the defensive barrier, which slid back into her clothes through her sleeves.

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  “The hell kinda Gift's that?”

  “Ya can't really talk, you know. Got a pretty nasty one.” She hissed a remark at him, checking her arms for any burns or wounds. Neither of them had figured out the other's Gift, only the mechanics at their core.

  Jacob had some sort of instant casting, or long range casting Gift. There wasn't much she could do against it, except constantly being on the guard for attacks. Though, that gave her a slight advantage, since her Gift was a defensive one by nature.

  At its core, Irene's Gift altered the flow of Ark. Specifically, the flow of her own Ark, and Ark of anyone whose Ley Lines were damaged by her spells. Instead of being a fluid energy, able to change shape and attributes through Ley Lines, Irene's Ark took the form of liquid metal.

  She could control her Ark almost completely in a free manner once released from her body, in an incredibly more versatile way than most spells could. In exchange for that incredible liquidity, she had trouble casting any other spell, since her Ark wasn't as malleable as other people's.

  It was a double edged sword. Sometimes, quite literally, considering how sharp that liquid metal was. The last fragments of the cocoon floated in the air, shifting and changing, turning into long, sharp needles.

  Their trajectory was trained on Jacob's limbs, to incapacitate him while avoiding any serious damage. As versatile as her Gift was, being unable to use any other magic was a serious drawback. A drawback most Gifts shouldn't even possess.

  Jacob forced his Ark to flow through his palms, reinforcing his muscles and bone. That was one of the most basic magic techniques, utilizing Ark to reinforce one's own body. He caught the needles mid air, to stop them. But unaware of Irene's Gift, the needles changed shape once more, dozens of smaller blades pricking and cutting at his skin.

  “Bloody hell…”

  He spouted some profanities under his breath, before blowing away the metallic shards with an explosion. As a result, his palms got slightly charred, but it was still less damage than he would have took by keeping those needles around.

  The fragments flew back to Irene's arms, as if they were magnetized to her body. Jacob's eyes widened for a singular moment, before his expression regressed back to a normal one. His lips curved upwards ever so slightly.

  As if flinging rocks he flicked his wrists, sending out two chains of explosions, side by side, towards the Behemoth girl. Irene only raised her hand, thin metallic shields diverting the paths of the explosions to protect her.

  He dropped to the ground once again, but this time, she was ready for his instantaneous spells. The shields immediately shattered into dozens of fragments, a silver sandstorm heading towards his direction to shred him apart. She wanted to knock him out before he could finish casting his spells.

  Jacob smirked, persevering through the pain of the shards cutting his skin.

  “Did ya know? Metal's a right proper conductor for electricity.”

  “…What? …!” Irene realized too late the meaning of his words. Ley Lines appeared on the ground, different from the ones he had been using until now. Irene clicked her tongue, trying to dash away, but it was too late.

  Just because she was limited to a single type of magic, it didn't mean others were, too. Electricity arced from the ground to the girl's body, using the floating metallic fragments as bridges to leap onto her skin.

  Due to a slight miscalculation, Jacob hit himself with the spell too, being at the epicenter of the fragment storm. Two loud thuds followed a sound akin to that of roaring thunder, the two youths knocked out cold on the ground of the mess hall.

  Ayn turned his head at the two loud sounds, before quickly being forced to shift the direction of his eyes. His crimson coloured eyes glared at the figure in front of him, an expression of scorn and disgust.

  “Now, now. No need ta be so hateful, aye? I'm jus' here to talk witcha a bit.”

  Sol crossed his legs, sitting on a chair in front of Ayn. The golden chains which usually adorned his arms were spread out, tying Ayn's hands in front of his abdomen, like a prisoner being carried to his holding cell.

  Despite his attempts, neither physical strength nor messing with the Ark's flow of the chains could make them budge at all.

  “What makes you think I want to talk with you? Damned bastard.”

  When talking with that man, the elf knew putting on facades or lying would be useless. If he would be forced to be honest anyways, he might as well insult him to his face as much as he could.

  Sol let out a hearty laugh, throwing back his head and holding his hands in front of his own stomach. With his arms crossed, a singular pull of his finger was enough to tighten the knot around Ayn's hands.

  Ayn let out a pained grunt, the golden chains glowing. It wasn't just Sol's physical strength making them painful. They were heated, burning his wrists with each passing second. And additionally, they were engraved with the same circuits as the ones on the cell bars and doors, triggering his curse marks on contact.

  Just having those chains on his skin was enough to have him cry out in pain. It was his own fault, getting captured like that. He lowered his guard while negotiating with the guards, and the next second, those chains had wrapped around his hands.

  “Let’s start with the pleasantries, aye? My name's Sol. What's yers?”

  He smiled at the elf, loosening the knot with a flick of his finger. It took all of Ayn's strength to avoid clicking his tongue and cursing him out. Still, that didn't mean he would play nice and answer all his questions willingly.

  “Why does that matter to you? Just tell me what you want. Get it over with.”

  “Now, now… No need ta be in such a hurry.”

  Ayn winced preemptively, but the chains didn't tighten.

  “Ya see, I'm a better guy than most people think I am. I meant it, when I said I jus' wanted to talk with ya. Them chains? They're jus' to avoid ya doin' anythin' stupid.”

  The muscles of Sol's hands relaxed, and the chains almost completely loosened around Ayn's wrists. They still touched his skin, but the pain was more bearable, now. He still had no idea what Sol's intentions were.

  He glared at him and tried to lock eyes with the man, but his expression was unreadable. A subtle smile, which only revealed he had the upper hand in that conversation. Ayn could only click his tongue.

  “Ya see, li'l guy, I'm really good at lookin' for people with… Potential. And you? By the Lady, yer burstin' with potential.”

  He leaned back in his chair, throwing back his head while sighing. Once he lowered his head next, his sunglasses fell on his nose, revealing his eyes. He pulled back the chains, leaving Ayn completely free.

  Ayn looked down at his wrists, marked by the searing chains, and then back at Sol. Just what the hell was he playing at?

  In the man's hands, circuits were giving shape to something. Licks of flame congregated in his palm, taking the form of a blazing playing card. On it, the symbol of an upside down arrow was drawn.

  “I have an offer for ya. What do ya know about Atlas Aerhius?”

  Ayn's eyes widened.