The airship groaned as it climbed through the cloud shelf, its hull plates humming under Muti pressure. A leviathan of the sky — five decks, two domes, a training arena, and the faint smell of engine flame mixing with incense. Below deck, the thirty-two surviving candidates found seats, beds, or reasons to cause trouble.
Rin found a reason.
(Training Deck)
"Stay still, damn it!"
A streak of orange fire spiraled past Rin's head, blasting into the wall behind him with a dull whump—the floor plates warped from the heat.
Rin side-stepped, coat flaring, eyes half-lidded. His opponent — a tanned, broad-shouldered Seeker with burn scars along his forearms — hurled another sphere of flame that roared like a jet.
A fireball carved across the deck, scattering sparks like meteors. Rin ducked low, the blast rippling his coat as he slid sideways between scorch marks.
Another explosion chased him. Then another.
Rin's sigh barely cut through the thunder. "You're wasting fuel."
Rafael. Reggie's brother. The scar lines across his arms pulsed bright red with each swing.
"Didn't anyone teach you to aim?" Rin said flatly.
Rafael grinned, heat curling off his skin. "You're fast. Let's see you dodge this."
He slammed his palms together — the air rippled, fire gathering between them. Then, in a heartbeat, the sphere split into five smaller orbs, each rotating with its own pull.
Rin's left eye flickered crimson. Viatra. The eye that saw through aura and intent itself.
The orbs streaked forward. Rin blurred.
Each step was a whisper — floor-touch, pivot, redirect. Fire rolled behind him in waves, lighting the arena in bursts of orange—one missed by inches, singeing the tail of his coat.
Rin straightened, barely winded. "Five fireballs. Cute."
(Captain's Deck)
Upstairs, the command room was filled with tension and brass lighting. Ten captains ringed the table — uniforms neat, faces sharp, each one carrying their own legend.
William leaned forward, jaw set.
"Confirm it again."
Captain Hera slid a holo-sheet across. "Dune City. Red Cloaks. Full siege. Shinshō Luna sighted near the breach."
A long silence. The engines rumbled underneath like thunder.
Captain Mars muttered, "We're still two days from Janoah. Even if we diverted—"
Captain King cut in, voice gravelly. "—we'd never make it. And the Red Order doesn't start small."
Captain June leaned back, cigarette between fingers. "The world's burning faster every year."
William's eyes narrowed. "Then we make sure the next generation can stand when we can't."
The others nodded — grim, unspoken understanding.
(Passenger Lounge)
Meanwhile, on the lower deck, Kai sat cross-legged across from Aria and Lila, the hum of the engines filling the silence.
"So..." Kai asked slowly, "what exactly is Muti stacking? Darius tried to explain it, but he started using words like 'harmonic soul weight,' and I stopped listening."
Aria blinked, then burst out laughing. "You seriously don't know? You're a monk, how do you not know?"
"I trained to find inner peace," Kai said, dead serious. "Not... combustion."
Lila snorted into her tea. "He's not wrong."
Aria sighed, leaning forward like a teacher about to scold a perplexed student.
"Okay, picture this. Aura is your base. That's the fuel. Muti is what happens when you shape that fuel through a Spoke—fire, water, lightning, whatever. Stack 'em right, and boom—new technique."
"Boom?" Kai asked.
"Boom," she confirmed.
(Cut to the arena.)
Boom.
Rafael clapped his hands again, sending a geyser of flame straight across the floor. Rin leapt back, one hand brushing the ground, the other flicking Tetsuba's hilt. The blade stayed sheathed, but his aura rippled outward, distorting the flames into ribbons.
"See," Aria continued, voice overlapping the fight like narration, "a pro doesn't just throw power. They layer it. Think of it like music — aura for rhythm, Muti for melody."
Rin blurred forward, weaving through the firestorm.
"Different Spokes, different instruments," she said. "Elemental's loud, Martial's clean, Psychic's weird. You follow?"
Rin ducked under another flame arc, his Viatra lines glowing brighter. Each of Rafael's moves slowed in his vision — aura trails mapping patterns seconds before they happened. Rin pivoted, caught Rafael's wrist, and drove an elbow into his ribs. The fire scattered harmlessly.
"Stacked aura," Aria continued, tapping her finger against her temple. "That's how you burn without burning out."
Lila blinked. "So when he—"
Rafael roared, pulling free and slamming both hands to the ground. A massive flame pillar shot upward, shaking the deck.
"—does that!" Lila finished, eyes wide.
Kai tilted his head. "That's... not peace."
Back in the arena, Rin slid out of the smoke, clothes singed, patience thinner than air. He straightened his collar with a sigh.
"This is getting annoying."
Rafael smirked. "Then quit dodging."
Rafael, broad-shouldered and scar-skinned, bared his teeth. Fire ran down his arms in veins of molten orange, shaping into twin blades that hummed in the air.
Rin's left eye flared again, brighter, blood-red lines splitting the haze.
He lunged. Flame blades met floor tile, slicing through aura residue like butter. Heat shimmered so thick it bent the light.
Rin stepped through it. Smooth. Minimal. The fire missed him by heartbeats.
He didn't even draw a weapon—because he hadn't brought one.
Another blade cut past. Rin pivoted, palm grazing the man's wrist to redirect the swing. The blade veered off course, biting into empty air.
The crowd flinched.
"No," Rin said quietly. "You should."
Rafael snarled and swung faster. Fire streaks weaved around him like wings, shaping into a spear, then a greatsword, then a dozen hovering knives. Each burned steadily, perfect control—no scorch, no recoil.
"That's how your brother fights, too?" Rin asked.
Rafael's jaw clenched. "Don't say his name."
Flame burst outward in a shockwave. The knives shot forward, all angles and fury. Rin ducked between them, one hand brushing the deck, aura low and calm, the other tucked behind his back.
He twisted, turned a miss into a counter, and flicked two fingers up.
Air cracked. The after-shock from his aura sent a pulse that blew the knives off line, scattering them like ash.
The crowd gasped. The floor around Rin steamed where his aura brushed it.
Rin straightened, eyes narrowing. His tone dropped flat. "You done?"
Rafael's grin faltered for a second—but pride killed hesitation. He crossed his arms, flame swirling again, this time condensing into a single pulsing orb at his chest.
"I don't quit. I ascend."
The orb pulsed, orange deepening to gold. Fire roared up around him, spreading symbols that crawled across the deck in a ring.
"Maga God—!"
The deck tilted — not physically, but under pressure. Til Rin's aura pressed outward, the faint shimmer of heat bending space. The audience murmured, feeling the drop in air like gravity tightening its grip.
"Did he just—" someone whispered.
"He's stacking," another said.
"Spirit and Martial. He's... merging."
Rin stepped forward once.
Soul Bloom — 影花 Kagebana.
The air around him exploded outward like a compressed wave, fire scattering like petals caught in the wind. Rafael skidded back, eyes wide.
"What—what was that!?"
The crowd broke into whispers, half awe, half terror.
Rin turned toward the exit, still dry as ever. "I was just looking for the bathroom."