It was almost eleven o'clock.
Degis had already said yes — only Kamo was left.
So I headed to the infirmary to see him.
As soon as I entered the room and he saw me, he burst out laughing.
"What are you here for? To submit to me? To mock me? To remind me that you beat me?" said Kamo.
As I approached him, I said,
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Me, a nobody, beat the great leader of the Caho clan, also known as Kamo Caho — and in one strike, no less. You're really pathetic."
Kamo, who was about to jump at me, replied,
"Earlier, I underestimated you. With how easily you beat me, you must be Rank Four or Five."
"Good answer, bum," I said.
"You… I'm really going to kill you," Kamo growled.
"Oh come on, bum. I'm not here to fight. But you do need to do something for me," I said.
"What do you want, big mouth?" said Kamo.
"...That's the last time in your life you call me big mouth, you little bum. Just say yes," I replied.
Kamo, trying hard not to jump on me, said,
"You came here just to get me to say yes?"
"Yup, and you just said it. See you later, little bum," I said as I left.
"That guy is seriously insane," Kamo muttered.
I went back to my room to sleep, but first, I needed Degis to say yes. Once that was done, it was time to begin.
I entered my consciousness and summoned the other four. Joseph, who was now used to it, no longer fell to the ground.
"Where are we?" asked Arlen.
Kamo looked ready to attack me. Degis remained calm — maybe he's just too shy.
"Relax. Right now, we're inside my consciousness. Your real bodies should be lying in bed."
"Kamo, you weren't supposed to be here, but it's fine," I said before quickly explaining the situation to him.
"Are you messing with me?" Kamo said.
"Before we begin: to see ather, you'll have to push your sensing ability to the extreme and start visualizing it. I could let you go at your own pace, but no. I found out with Joseph that pain speeds things up. You're going to have to do what I say — while suffering. That'll force you to move faster."
"Don't worry, your real bodies won't take any damage. And when you die here, I'll bring you back. Enough talk. Joseph, you ready?" I asked.
"All three of you — remember: it's Tony and me versus you until you can see the ather," Joseph said.
I summoned my fire-and-lightning sword. Joseph summoned an ather sword. It was time — one hundred hours of battle.
Sixty hours later
Degis, being the weakest, couldn't keep up. Joseph narrowly beat Kamo several times.
I focused on Arlen — she was really strong. Each battle against her gave me valuable experience.
After fighting with my ather sword for so long, I noticed that it was attracting ather. Eventually, it even generated a second ather sword — but this one floated.
I tried connecting it to my eyes — and it worked. I could now see Arlen, but I still couldn't catch her.
An idea came to me: eyes are key in battle for those who rely on speed.
If she couldn't see me anymore, I'd have the edge.
I gathered ather and cloaked myself in it — it felt like I was washing myself with it.
That's when she attacked me from behind.
Her attack went right through me.
"What the hell is this?" she said, trying to flee.
But it was over. My ather sword pierced her — though she wasn't dead yet.
Then an explosion went off right next to her. I had won.
Later, Joseph and I tied up Degis, Arlen, and Kamo. After a few moments, they woke up.
"Are you serious? You're sleeping even though you're not in your real bodies? Unbelievable," I said.
"Instead of running your mouth, why don't you tell me how you beat me?" Arlen snapped.
"You must've wondered why you passed right through me," I said.
"At that moment, my body was no longer made of flesh — it was lightning. I changed the state of my body."
"Then I placed my ather sword inside you without making it appear — so it hadn't stabbed you yet.
At the same time, I planted a miniature orb of fire and lightning on you. It quickly amplified and fused.
If I hadn't done it just right, I'd be dead.
All I had to do was snap my fingers to trigger the explosion," I explained.
"You're completely insane," said Arlen.