***

  The knights are now in a nightclub located in a penthouse of a downtown building.

  The place had three floors: in the center of the club, an open central space that runs through all three floors with a huge dance floor in the middle.

  On the first floor, a corridor that leads to a two-story attached bar;

  On the third, there is a VIP lounge.

  In that lounge are Selene and her brother, Leon. They are waiting for something.

  A tall, strong man wearing a suit approaches them and directs a serious look at Leon.

  — We don’t usually allow children in here.

  Selene, in a quick movement, grabs her brother in a protective hug:

  — He is my precious little brother! And nothing will EVER make me leave him behind!

  — That reaction wasn’t necessary. I wouldn’t kick him out.

  - You are VIPs for bringing in a participant. I only said that because I wouldn’t bring a child to see the entertainment here.

  — I appreciate the concern. — Leon replies politely while freeing himself from his sister’s tight embrace. — But I can handle whatever comes.

  — The trauma is yours. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  A red light turns on and a loudspeaker asks people to clear the dance floor.

  Once it’s done, the floor around the dance area rises up with magic.

  Two doors are open on opposite sides of the third floor, even though there is no nearby flooring.

  In the lounge, a man with gold rings on his hands and purple-dyed hair approaches the edge and raises two fingers in front of his mouth.

  — Ladies and gentlemen! — Thanks to the magic in his fingers, his voice was amplified, overlapping any other sound in the room. — Let’s get to tonight’s event! It’s been a while since we last had a fight here, all because of this woman, coming from the north entrance…

  From the doors that opened above, a hooded person steps out from each one.

  By the rhythm of their steps, where before there had only been air, grids of magical energy appeared, forming platforms beneath their feet as they descend.

  The two follow a spiral path down to the arena formed by the dance floor.

  - Her fighter name is SPINECROWN! She already has more than twenty consecutive victories, making her an undefeated champion!

  - She has been so extraordinary that I won’t waste time introducing the opponent so I don’t get attached.

  The audience laughs and cheers excitedly.

  The two fighters continue descending until they reach the arena.

  They remove their hoods, revealing that the champion’s opponent would be Talon.

  Rowan watched him from the audience.

  ***

  [Two hours earlier]

  The newly formed group of knights had just stopped the car at a traffic light.

  Selene, who had been selected as the leader, begins to talk about the mission:

  — So, Grant only shows himself to announce the fights, but they’ve been happening quite rarely, so we can’t count on him having one tonight.

  - Because of that, we’re going to have to sign one of us up to fight and create an opportunity. The thing is…

  - We already had someone planned to do that, but that person would also be a trump card we’d rather not reveal.

  She turns to the twins:

  . — It’s totally fine if you say no, but could one of you fight? That would help a lot.

  ***

  The two fighters prepare for the clash.

  In the audience, Rowan watches his brother go to fight while in his mind he recalls:

  “Whenever Talon has to face an environmental criminal as a hunter, he gets excited. Of course he has a knack for fighting.”

  In the arena, under observation, Talon analyzes his opponent.

  - “Spinecrown”, huh?— He speaks in a provocative tone. — I suppose your unimagi has something to do with spines, right?

  — Well well! You’re quite perceptive. — An equally ironic response. — I wonder what gave it away?

  She shifts her ironic expression to a more serious one. Thorns grow from her back in a threatening manner.

  Many aspects of magic are unknown even to the mages who use it.

  Many details are applied only through theories; among them there is one called “unimagi.”

  This concept was named from Latin by combining the words “unique” and “magic.”

  It represents a unique form of magic possessed by each mage.

  Although common spells are used freely by all mages, such as spells used in daily life, unimagis emerge during a mage’s adolescence.

  It is currently believed that unimagi forms through the experiences lived by the mage.

  According to this theory, just like personality, all of a mage’s knowledge and life experience adapts itself in a way that is useful to them.

  Most mages are able to use their unimagi in their jobs.

  Stolen story; please report.

  This theory would explain why Rowan, a boy who always liked studying botany, developed his power.

  Rowan

  Unimagi: Green Bloom

  Rowan can manipulate plants, making them grow and obey his commands freely. (To use this ability better, he always carries a series of seeds with him.)

  The same applies to his twin brother, who always loved playing with animals and comparing himself to them, making physical matches.

  Talon

  Unimagi: Beast’s Soul

  Talon can equip characteristics of animals he has lived with in the form of energy that overlays his body invisibly. He can equip these characteristics partially or completely.

  Note: an extremely promising ability, but it requires refinement.

  Talon looks toward the lounge from inside the arena.

  He spots his companions and speaks internally:

  “Don’t worry, I’ll buy all the time you’ll need!”

  He equips reptilian hide for the battle while Grant makes the announcement:

  — NOW, FIGHT!!!

  ***

  Inside the lounge, Grant deactivates the amplification of his voice and looks at Selene:

  — You know the deal, right? — He asks her in a serious tone.

  — Of course I do. Relax, it’ll be fulfilled properly.

  — Great!

  Grant steps away. Selene turns and whispers, apparently to nothing:

  — Ready, you’re free to go.

  In fact, although they couldn’t see her, Eira was there.

  She is wearing different clothes than before: an open jacket, and a cloth over her nose and mouth.

  She nods in affirmation and heads down the corridor from which Grant came.

  Eira passes the guards silently, who don’t notice her presence, until she reaches Grant’s office.

  Passing through a double oak door:

  “Now I have to look.”

  ***

  [Two hours earlier…:]

  While they were in the car after deciding to use Talon as the fighter, Selene gave more information to the twins:

  — Put this in your mouth, but don’t swallow it. — She hands them two small devices, and they follow the command.

  In a second, they feel a shock in their mouths.

  This causes an irritated reaction from Talon:

  — What was that?!

  — Sorry about the shock. It’s really not very pleasant. And that’s why I didn’t tell you before, so you wouldn’t think about refusing.

  — What was that for?!

  — Let me show you! See this?

  She opens her mouth, making visible to them two magical devices on the molars on the left and right sides of her mouth.

  — These two are special communicators that we’re going to use for the mission, and you just installed yours.

  She adjusts the central rearview mirror so they can see themselves and confirm it.

  — They’re simple and discreet: each of us has one, and if we activate it, it sends a signal to the others. They react and vibrate.

  She demonstrates it to them.

  — If it vibrates on the left, it indicates a call for help. If it vibrates on the right, it means they’re giving an OK. In this case, that will be used when you’re already free to defeat the opponent.

  She indicates this, making sure Talon has understood, since he’s the one who will fight.

  — We need information from Grant, but of course he won’t help us willingly.

  - We have to have a trump card, and that’s why our driver here is going in there to get us something we can use against him.

  Eira blushes a little and looks to the side. Selene, noticing this, tries to encourage her:

  — Oh, no need to be shy, girl. You have the perfect unimagi for this, so you have to keep your head up.

  From the seat directly behind the driver, Leon stands up and grabs Eira’s shoulders, startled:

  — You also have to do it because the light is red!

  She startles and brakes the car abruptly.

  The inertia makes everyone in the car jump in fright.

  — Her unimagi is incredible for stealth missions. — Selene continues as if nothing had happened.

  ***

  Eira

  Unimagi: Sensory Recluse

  Eira is capable of perfectly hiding her presence from the senses of people she does not fully trust. Invisibility and sound dampening are not everything;

  It diverts the enemy’s attention away from any mark she previously left in the environment.

  She can also allow herself to be perceived by people she trusts.

  In the office, she seems much more focused than she was in the car and remains focoused on her search without deviation.

  She finds nothing on the desk but keeps looking.

  She thinks about the situation:

  “Hardly anyone would leave something physical like that.”

  “ There’s nothing I can use here.”

  “But everyone has something to hide on their computer, and many people close their laptop forgetting to lock it.”

  “Lucky me and unlucky him: he’s one of those!”

  ***

  Spinecrown advances toward her opponent.

  “She just keeps attacking me with thorns.”

  “It’s hard to believe she’s the champion with such poor skills.”

  She transforms her arms into long thorns and tries to pierce him as if wielding a spear.

  Talon manages to dodge easily, jumping back and making her hit the ground.

  Unexpectedly, from that ground, a thorny bush sprouts and ends up striking him.

  He is not pierced beyond the surface of the skin, however:

  “Good thing I prepared by equipping crocodile hide. Otherwise, that would have hurt like hell! It seems she’s a bit more than I thought.”

  Spinecrown

  Unimagi: Thorny Charm

  Extremely sharp thorns, controlling how piercing they are and their size, and the places they pierce can also be used to create thorns.

  “She could pierce the walls of the arena and leave me completely cornered, but then it would end quickly.”

  Seeing that he managed to escape the thorns, she continues with brutal and strong attacks.

  “Even though I protected myself, those thorns weren’t that sharp.”

  “But looking around, you can see the entire audience is loving watching:”

  “Oh… Now I get it.”

  “She’s also prolonging the fight to entertain the audience!”

  “If I had to guess, I’d say she was probably a girl who needed money and got involved with the wrong things.”

  “She had a visually interesting unimagi for those who bring in the cash…”

  “The bosses must have rigged it so she would be champion and earn more money…”

  “Well, it’s certainly a better job than being a prostitute.”

  At that moment, Talon could think of 20 different ways to win this battle easily,

  but he needed to buy time, so He continued dodging and prolonging the fight his opponent’s blows.

  Until he felt the vibration in his tooth.

  “After that much thinking, I almost feel sorry for what I’m about to do.”

  ***

  [Few minutes before…]

  Rowan watches his brother from the audience:

  “Poor guy, he volunteered to fight, thinking on doing something interesting, but he’s got such a bored look on his face.”

  “And to think I was worried he’d get hurt…, he’s actually making an effort to make the fight last.”

  Throughout the entire fight, Rowan let the roots of the seeds he carried with him germinate from his sleeves.

  He made them grow to the ground and spread among the audience’s feet.

  When the signal finally arrived through the device in his molars, Rowan turned and violently pulled the roots.

  They were growing on the columns that supported the lounge, and the pull caused them to start crumbling.

  Talon brings his arms together below his chest, transforming them into a single rhinoceros horn, and equips its muscles in his legs, gaining strength.

  Spinecrown startles and throws an extremely sharp thorn at him.

  Talon avoids the tip so as not to be pierced and uses the horn against the middle of it, shattering it.

  Immediately afterward, he uses a similar impact on his opponent.

  She is thrown upward so strongly that she breaks through the arena’s magical barrier.

  Talon does not want to injure her too much, so he creates a kangaroo-like jump to catch her before she hits the ground, so she’d be hurt as little as possible.

  He sets her on the ground and hopes she finds a better job afterward.

  Looking to the side, he sees the lounge falling due to his brother’s actions and runs there.

  He feels intense muscle pain in his back, certainly a result of the effort he made to break the barrier.

  In the lounge that was beginning to collapse, Grant seems to panic.

  His bodyguards go after him.

  Leon and Selene seem calm, unlike Rowan, who was desperate.

  The lounge gives way and falls.

  But before it hits the ground,

  The debris of the lounge, Leon, Selene, and Grant seem to simply stop in the air.

  The other people who were in the lounge, on the other hand, keep falling.

  This seems to have been Selene’s action, as she was emitting a yellow glow from the raised fingers of her right hand.

  She moves her hand in a circular motion counterclockwise, and everything that had stopped in the air returns to where it was before the columns broke.

  — What the hell was that?! — Grant shouts desperately and in panic before being immobilized by Selene, who grabs him from behind.

  — Let’s go! I can’t hold the lounge much longer!

  Following Selene’s signal, the twins land outside the lounge.

  Eira arrives through the corridor.

  — Now what?

  — Count, one, two! Three! — Quickly, an energy emerges and engulfs them, and they disappear into the air.

  The lounge falls again in the same way as before, hitting the ground this time.

  ***

  On a nearby rooftop, a similar energy appears and the knights emerge along with Grant, captured.

  Rowan is the first to speak:

  — I had my doubts whether that teleport in the device would work, but it really did.

  — It’s only activated if everyone activates it together within a five-meter radius. — Leon explains. — It doesn’t take you very far, but in a closed place it’s enough.

  Grant, who was there, seems to want to run away, but Selene notices him.

  — It seems our guest is trying to escape. Twins, can you hold him for me while she shows me what she found?

  — Wow, you like to exploit your employees…

  — Cut it out, Talon. — Rowan says as he starts running toward Grant.

  Grant, who was running, is stopped by Talon, who appears in front of him in the blink of an eye.

  Before he can react, he is tied up by plants coming from Rowan’s arms.

  — You’re already using a lot of energy since the fight. Be careful not to overpush yourself.

  — Relax, I’m more resilient than you think.

  — It’s the older brother’s duty to worry.

  Selene and Eira approach.

  — Relax, boys… our girl brought something very interesting about him.

  — Forget it! No matter how good the leverage you think you have is, I’m a powerful man and my boss is even more so. — Grant says arrogantly.

  — We know the law can’t do much. — Selene says smiling. — But our girl is good at what she does. And I’ll tell you, for someone who talks so much about your boss’s power, you’ve been playing around too much with his wife.

  Selene shows something on the paper Eira had brought.

  — I printed this on your office printer.

  Grant is so frightened that he gives in.

  — What do you want?

  ***

  Three days later, the five knights are heading toward the landing site of Upperclouds’ fishing ship.

  They are in the rear compartment of an SUV powered by magical energy.

  In that vehicle, there is a divider separating them from the driver.

  They have a table available in the center where they talk.

  Leon and Talon prop up a tablet on which they are playing a video game.

  — Damn it! — Talon shouts in frustration. — You play well for a kid! I’ve been playing this for four years!

  — I’ve been playing for six. — Leon says proudly.

  — You’ve been playing this since you were six years old? Your parents were terrifyingly liberal. — Rowan says upon hearing the conversation.

  — He’s accompanying us on a dangerous mission. — Talon says sarcastically. — But that’s nothing compared to an inappropriate video game.

  Selene intervenes:

  — This mission won’t necessarily be dangerous. Our objectives are to find evidence of an illegal market and buy the dragon egg at the auction.

  - We received fake identities and an unlimited credit card. If we maintain our disguises, we won’t have problems.

  — That’s why we’re going in an unnecessarily expensive car to enter? — Talon asks.

  — We have to keep up appearances from the start. — Selene replies. — We have to give the impression of wealthy spendthrifts.

  The car brakes, and Leon says:

  — Looks like we’ve arrived.

  They step out of the vehicle onto a remote lot where a magical ship is landed and a woman stands at the entrance.

  — Step forward for ticket and identity verification.

  End of the chapter