How did we end up in this? I know the answer and I still keep questioning myself. My current situation is nothing like I expected—none of us had planned to do anything like this.

  I crouch to dodge an axe infused with electricity. It grazes past my head, and I have to move my body backward to avoid being pierced in the stomach. When I think I’m free from the attacks, the mana around me turns chaotic, especially around my legs—huge plants and thick wooden trunks try to trap me or at least injure me.

  I repel every spell with the electric serpents around me. My control has improved since I created the spell; now it’s no problem to move the circuit of my electric mana to target selected enemies while it keeps spinning around me.

  Dozens of arrows fly at full speed toward my new position, but the problem is that these arrows are the size and thickness of spears. I build several ice walls to stop them—standing still for a few seconds was a mistake. A massive ice construct, shaped like a giant shard, falls from above. It must be nearly four meters in diameter.

  I use gravity around me to hold that monstrous construct for a few extra milliseconds, giving myself time to control my inner mana and teleport to a safe place.

  Are they trying to kill me? I thought they just wanted to compare the difference between them and me. I increase the gravity around me to buy time and rethink why I even accepted this request.

  Everything was going fine at lunch when we gathered with my two brothers and their fiancées. When the topic of my fighting came up, something ignited in Sers and Ritmo—understandable for the first, but not for the second. Both wanted to practice with their younger brother after so many years, and they weren’t the only ones.

  Arisa, Sol, and Marga wanted to test their strength at Sapphire rank without worrying about hurting the other person. They all agree that I won’t die no matter how they attack me. I was even more shocked when Brendu decided to join because it sounded fun. Ivad and Riku wanted to join too, but they couldn’t because of the pregnancy.

  The group’s insistence made me accept training with them for fun. I should’ve suspected something when everyone put on protection collars and didn’t give me one. According to Arisa, I don’t need it because of my ridiculous healing ability—and although she’s right, the collar would only make me weaker, taking away my chance to injure myself to push harder.

  Arisa reaches me in an instant. She’s reinforced her body with more wind mana so she won’t lose speed. Every strike of her spear targets dangerous spots—one clean hit could be critical. It’s a shame she’ll never be able to touch me because of the difference in weapon skill, or so I thought.

  Sers moves just as fast, if not faster than my sister. His ability seems to focus on a single explosive movement—his axe is aiming to take my legs off. I feel the imminent danger of his strike and slow him down slightly with gravity. With a fluid sword movement, I escape without being injured. I use the same momentum to move sideways, but Arisa predicts my movement and drives her weapon into my shoulder.

  I try to disarm her by freezing her weapon in my shoulder and forcing her back with a slash toward her face. She’s already coordinating attacks with Sers. Now I witness firsthand their excellent coordination with Sol and Marga—arrows come from behind Arisa, the same ones I’ve already seen, and sharp plants sprout from the ground to stab into my legs.

  I have to stop my attack midway to cut down all the plants and use electricity to neutralize every arrow. Arisa takes advantage of that tiny moment to shatter the ice on her weapon with a wind spell and throw wind blades at me as she retreats.

  I build an ice wall around myself, but I’m also attacked from behind with ice spears. I sense something strange about Ritmo’s attack—those ice constructs are dripping some kind of liquid. I look up and see a smile on Brendu’s face. Those spears are poisoned.

  Brendu stands in the middle with Marga, Ritmo, and Sol just a few meters behind her, while Sers and Arisa keep me busy in close combat. Brendu joins in at times too—she can use those wooden constructs like powerful venomous whips.

  “I thought we were just going to practice a bit. This is already unfair—six against one.” I shout from inside my ice fortress.

  “If we don’t do it like this, it wouldn’t even be practice for you.” Sers answers with a defiant smile.

  “We have to be this many, otherwise you wouldn’t take us seriously.” Sol adds.

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  “You’re enjoying this too. I know that smile—I’ve lived with you for months.” Brendu speaks last, and I swear I see Sol, Arisa, and Marga twitch when they hear that last comment.

  “Aren’t you afraid of killing me?” I look at each of them. They all look extremely focused—no doubt, no hesitation.

  “You’ll survive somehow. You always do.” Ritmo wears an excited smile. I’ve never seen him this motivated.

  I jump in place a few times and relax my wrists. “Come without fear. Attack like you want to kill me.” I release the bloodlust I’ve accumulated after killing thousands upon thousands of monsters, letting my Imra spread to everyone around me. Their reactions are clear shock—all except two: Sers, who looks even more excited, and Brendu, who has already seen and felt me release my bloodlust.

  This time I won’t stay on the defensive. I take advantage of their moment of distraction and charge at them. My first target is Arisa. She reacts just in time to block one of my swords—the other stops just centimeters from her. Brendu blocks the strike with an extremely hard wooden construct, and Sers forces me to focus on him.

  This idiot has an ability that draws enemies toward him. If I don’t focus on him for the next few seconds, his next three strikes will be almost twice as strong. I block every construct from my brother and the girls, burning through a massive amount of mana just to defend myself.

  I have to take Sers down first—the team’s tank has to fall before anyone else. I keep consuming mana to stop every attempt to push me back, clenching my teeth so I don’t lose focus on everything happening in my Personal World. Sers blocks my swords well with his massive axe, but he finally makes a mistake—the first cut lands on him, then a second, and then more.

  I feel a tingling on my back—something’s wrong. The smile on my brother’s face confirms my bad feeling. I feel life mana flooding Sers’s body. I turn and see Marga sticking out her tongue at me, and at the same time my brother has gathered a ridiculous amount of mana around him.

  He tries to blow up the area with electric energy and paralyze me, but that won’t work on me. I have almost a second before he finishes charging his skill. I push my brain harder—gravity mana around him, combined with all my Laws, Banner, and Imra, creates a prison around him to contain him.

  My swords land as many cuts as possible in that fraction of a second. Marga’s healing magic arrives to try to help him. Sers’s electric mana explosion shatters the prison, and my sword lands a strike at the same time.

  The mana around Sers changes color, indicating he’s exceeded the limit and is eliminated from practice. I can’t help but laugh as his body drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He’ll stay there until the training ends. I can’t move my muscles because the explosion did paralyze me a little.

  They unleash every spell they can at me. I force my cube to work overtime to activate Dimensional Step. I dodge almost everything—almost come out unharmed—but the fastest attack connects. An ice spear pierces through my stomach and comes out my back. Ritmo wears a proud smile.

  I taste metal in my mouth. I destroy the spear and every construct Ritmo made using my death affinity. I block his attempts to hit me with more constructs. I heal the huge hole in my stomach instantly, placing my hands over the wound. When I finish healing, I lift them. “Ta-da,” I shout like a magician.

  Not even three seconds passed from the moment I started destroying the ice spear. Now that the tank is out, this will be easier—they all know it. Everyone is giving their all to restrain me, no one holding back their mana reserves to help poor Arisa, the only melee fighter left.

  I teleport behind Sol—my swords already descending. She’ll be the first to fall. The only one who could track my sudden disappearance was Brendu—she has a good spatial affinity. Her attempt to stop my strike only blocked one of my swords and one blow. My arms swing as fast as I can, and when everyone reacts, Sol is already on the ground.

  I’ve taken out the person with the largest mana pool. She wouldn’t stop sending massive fire-and-sand arrows at me—powerful and relentless. I couldn’t let Arisa stay in because of her. Now it’s time to go for the healer—Marga is the other reason Arisa didn’t fall in the first minute.

  This time I change tactics. I start flooding Ritmo, Brendu, and Arisa with Joyeuse. They can’t defend themselves properly while also protecting against so many ice swords. Marga tries to run or buy as much time as possible with her constructs—trying to bind my feet or pierce any part of my body. My defenses hold, and she finally falls.

  Arisa is next. I trap her in my gravity prison. She does everything she can to break free, but fails. Ritmo is the second-to-last—he defends well against my constructs, and even his armor resists my strikes, but it’s not enough. I can tell he’s just one step away from reaching Ruby rank—his constructs are no longer Sapphire level.

  The last one is Brendu. That woman is strong. She can teleport and flee dozens of meters away, attack me with wood as hard as steel, and even poison me if she lands a hit. I’ve practiced with her many times—that helped me learn her patterns and corner her faster.

  She falls to the ground. My sword stops a centimeter from her heart. I stop because she raises her hands in surrender and her safety collar is one strike away from activating. I focus mana and Imra into my middle finger and flick her forehead. Her collar activates, declaring me the winner.

  It was much harder than I expected. I took at least two hits from each of them—they coordinated very well for their first time. They’re all talented and strong. Managing to corner me and hit me is a great achievement. I don’t want to sound arrogant—it’s just the truth. I can trap Sapphire ranks in my prison and leave them there as long as I want. Everyone here is special.

  Finally, with the last collar activated, everyone can move again. When I’m sure they’re all looking at me and listening, I speak. “That was fun. Whenever you want, we can do it again. You’re all very strong—I’ve had less trouble with some Grade 4 monsters.” I can sense many different reactions in the air—every one of them is different.