There was a taunting smile on Kia’s face for the first time.

Worse, all the mist gathered towards her lower body. Jane’s leg stayed fixed on Kia’s right leg, her dominant.

Kia’s left leg raised, and the impact of her kick cracked loudly across the area. It connected to Jane’s head, sending her crashing on the ground.

Silence.

Jane tried to push herself up, but failed. Her weak hands couldn’t hold up her body and she dropped back on the ground.

Silence stretched again.

Then the audience cheered violently. The kind of cheer used when there was a winning goal in a sports match.

It made Killian a tad bit sour since he knew Wardens’ fights were considered just sports to the Non-Wardens of Amega, but he could understand their excitement here.

He nodded at Shania.

Shania announced with pleasure She raised an arm up.

"Winner, Kia!"

The mist slowly faded around the stage and between Kia’s lower body. More than half of the other newbies cheered, rushing into the stage.

Killian could tell it would take another ten minutes to get the girls settled for the next match.

He noticed Kia walking towards Jane, and helped her get up. The two girls chatted while laughing and it relieved Killian that they were still friends. His phone beeped and he reached for it.

"This isn’t really bad." Killian told the Void. "I can get used to it."

"Oh, you finally agree?"

"Yes, but only because I get to see others fight with agility and interesting elements." He shrugged. "I mostly rely on my elements, you know. So it’s good to watch others’ fighting styles..."

He frowned at the notification that had come in.

It was from Keith, someone he had blissfully forgotten existed for the last few days.

Before wondering how Keith had gotten his number, he wanted to know what the message meant.

Killian walked out of the fighting arena. "Sis returned home this morning, didn’t she? What is this guy saying?"

[Unknown Number]

’Where is our older sister?’

The only reason Killian knew it was definitely Keith was because it still had the profile picture from years ago when they received their first smartphones. He sighed, typing back quickly.

[Killian Dom]

’On the way.’

"Since when did he care? Does he need help from her again? Our older sister? She’s an ’our’ only when he needs something?" He clicked his tongue, and scrolled upwards just to see an older message.

[Unknown Number]

’Killian.’

’Where are you? We are moving out soon.’

"This guy is really shameless." Killian swiped his message away, deleting the chat history. "He only cares because Father forced us to get paired, right?"

"It seems he doesn’t know what happened to Quara."

Killian paused as that realization dawned on him, but he brushed it off with a scoff. Keith always had excuses available for his use.

Even if their father could do a despicable thing such as not telling him that his older sister was kidnapped, there was no way his mother would have hinted at it with how worried she looked.

And if everyone had totally been silent about it, Keith should’ve realized since Quara never took more than a week on her mission. "Or was I the only one who reasoned to check?"

"Since you and your older sister are the black sheep of your family, that is likely."

Killian rolled his eyes, digging his phone into his pockets. He kept his hands in both pockets, resting on the wall. "So if I had died while looking for Quara, no one would say a word about it?"

"What do you think?"

From the farthest part of his memory, the words of the possessing angel came to Killian’s mind. He lowered his head as the angel’s mocking mocking tone echoed in his head.

Black sheep and anomalies were not meant to be accepted by society and if they did die, no one would care. They might not even get due justice, especially if it was against a Light Goddess’ angel.

It would be considered good riddance to the rest who never wanted him or his sister around if they couldn’t use them.

"I can’t stand it." His fists clenched within his pockets. Existing freely should never be that hard. Even if he was disliked for being chosen to become the Anomaly, it never demanded him being hunted.

He hadn’t killed anyone yet.

"Really?’

"At least, anyone who didn’t deserve to die." His frown deepened. "I will never regret killing anyone that wanted to harm me. Even if I had gotten into their realm first."

Except for Thistle’s family, despite it being a requirement he couldn’t avoid. His WLog had agreed with his actions so far, and he was awarded with the remark ’Chaotic Good’.

That meant he hadn’t crossed any line yet.

’But I need to be strong enough to cross a line to save myself or anyone I chose to.’

"Status."

[Name: Grim Warden] [Rank: C Lower]

[Element: Void] [Affinity: 65%] [Skills: (5)]

[Capacity: 165%]

[Element: Fire] [Affinity: 17%] [Skills: (3)]

[Objective: Increase Body’s Temperature]

[Element: Corrupted Fire] [Affinity: 100%] [Skills: (1)]

[Objective: Unstable. Sync Failed]

[WCoins: W0] [Missions: (2)]

[Verdict: Stable] [Potential: Great]

[Remark: Chaotic Good (Anomaly)]

Killian swiped the interface away. The Void element was the one with the most progress but at the academy, the Fire element would be the only one he could use.

"This sucks." He lowered himself to the ground, resting his head against the wall. He also listened in to know if the girls were settled, but they were still chaotic.

With his own growth only advancing towards the Void, his confidence in surviving within the academy dwindled.

His Fire Element didn’t match the attention and capabilities others expected of him.

And once they realized it was something darker that helped him achieve that, all his horrors would become a reality.

More of a reality than it already was and he’d be truly alone.

"The angel would be right," he muttered under his breath.

"Hmm? Right about what?"

Killian raised his head, locking his eyes with hers. Her face stood so closely that he stopped breathing on impulse.

"Evelyn..." he looked away from her brown eyes, heat rising to his head. "...too close."