Iviri Tac Rixy's Story

The bathhouse of Hayslem city would find itself visited by Demor again, who by happenstance, had managed to find out that Iviri's brother was a private detective. So, inviting Iviri to the bathhouse again, Demor waited in the locker rooms, hoping his young friend would show up. It had only been a few hours since Demor's visit with the Aschen IIA, and though he wasn't given a specific consequence of what would happen if he failed to find evidence of Montrose's whereabouts, he didn't necessarily want to find out. Being tied to a chair while naked and being yelled at and hit wasn't fun at all. At least, not to Demor, and not in that particular circumstance.

Sighing as he disrobed and grabbed a towel, Demor headed once more to the massage tables, to take place in one of those mind-blowingly relaxing massages that he had taken part in last time he was here. All he had to do, was wait for Iviri to show up again. Hopefully he wouldn't have to wait too long.

It did not take long for Iviri to arrive at the bathhouse once more, however it was in a bit of a different situation then he might have expected. That was because instead of being alone, he was with someone. Someone far younger then him, but looked eeriely identical.

That was because he was Iviri's little brother, Ixian. He was also one of the strongest Rixys out there. As for why they were coming to the bathhouse...they were both covered in a strange green goop.

"Let me guess....Eldritch Horror attacked Astrius Academy, you two got involved in the fight, now you need a bath?"

"Close. It attacked Millenium Plaza" Iviri corrected, as the two went into the changing area. They put their clothes in a section that designated them to be washed and cleaned, got some towels, and then went to shower the green goop off, before they entered the general bathing area.

"This place...makes a lot of sense" Ixian said, as he drooped the towel over his shoulder instead of covering himself.

"Ixian! Cover up!"

"Why?" Ixian said, not really getting why anyone would be so bothered by it.

"...why cant you just learn common sense...it was bad enough when you attracted all that attention fighting off that huge mercenary force in that one town, but cant you at least try a bit harder to blend in?"

Ixian just looked at his brother with a confused look, driving Iviri further into frustation. Given they were both clones of the same person, one had to admire how different they turned out.

Demor perked up at hearing Iviri's voice, and propped his head up as the lovely massage therapist ladies and the strange tendrils worked their magic on his body, his face one of bliss. "Hey~! Iviri! Over here!" he called out, waving a hand towards the boy and his brother. "Good to see you again... who's this~?" he asked, looking to Ixian, not caring that he wasn't covered. Then again, neither was Demor.

"Glad you came by - I was gonna try and find you anyway, I need to talk to you." He said calmly.

"Oh, Demor! Nice job in the Grand Magi Games" Iviri said, while Ixian had a sort of mischevous smile remembering them as well. But all that passed as they walked towards Demor. Ixian was the youngest and smallest brother Demor had encountered so far, but as he approached...Demor could probably sense it, deep down. A great and vast darkness and danger, something that often only accompanied people who had killed in the past, and who could do it professionally.

"This is my little brother, Ixian. Ixian, this is Demor" Iviri said as he introduced them. Ixian however seemed facinated by Demor's tail, and ran over to grab it. "Ixian! Dont grab people's tails without permission! Sorry bout that Demor, but when he isn't working, he tends to be like this. Anyways, what did you need to talk about?"

"Oh, Demor! Nice job in the Grand Magi Games" Iviri said, while Ixian had a sort of mischevous smile remembering them as well. But all that passed as they walked towards Demor. Ixian was the youngest and smallest brother Demor had encountered so far, but as he approached...Demor could probably sense it, deep down. A great and vast darkness and danger, something that often only accompanied people who had killed in the past, and who could do it professionally.

"This is my little brother, Ixian. Ixian, this is Demor" Iviri said as he introduced them. Ixian however seemed facinated by Demor's tail, and ran over to grab it. "Ixian! Dont grab people's tails without permission! Sorry bout that Demor, but when he isn't working, he tends to be like this. Anyways, what did you need to talk about?"

Demor's tail helped him with his natural affinity for kids, or at least kid-like people. As Ixian ran up to try and grab his tail, his tail would move to try and grab the boy in return, coiling around his body and picking him up playfully while Demor noted the slightly killer look about the boy - many people weren't as they seemed here. He looked to Iviri and smiled again. "He's fine, don't worry about it." he said.

Moving on, his face became a little more serious. "I did some digging... and found that one of your brothers is a private investigator of sorts?" he asked. "I'm in a bit of a pickle... and I need the help of an investigator." he explained.

"Okay. Just...dont provoke any weird competitions from him. He can get pretty serious sometimes with those...by the way, Ixian...I could have swore I saw you at the Grand Magi Games actually..."

"I didn't participate!"

"I am going to have to ask you about that later" Iviri said, before looking back at Demor. "Ah, yes! Not surprised you heard of him, he is a very well known detective these days. Of course, all that public attention often gets people to come after him, but...he always ends up out smarting them. Last bounty hunters that went out of him, he apparently messed up so bad, they are still in therapy bawling their eyes out".

Iviri had gotten a little off topic, but that last part was very impressive...and maybe also concerning. There were a number of bounty hunters who were hardened sociopaths and psychopaths after all, so to reduce some of them to going to therapy was terrifying in its own right.

"I have his phone number if you want to call him" Ixian said, taking out a cell phone from...hold on, where did he get that from? And why did the phone have a case styled like a white ghost?

Demor listened idly, and with his tail, set Ixian down back on his feet. It was at that moment, coincidentally, that his massage ended, and he was able to get off of the table, using his tail as a sort of chair, curling it at the bottom to form a base before lifting himself up, and crossed his legs, lowering himself until he was comfortable. He set his towel on his lap.

His predatory eyes settled upon the phone, and then Ixian. Where did he conjure that phone from? Narrowing those eyes, Demor examined Ixian curiously, looking at him with more detail, sensing out what sort of magic he could conjure. The Male Drachini was silent for a moment while he considered it.

"Can you call him? I'd like to talk to him." he said. Truthfully, Demor didn't entirely know how cell-phone's worked quite yet. He could figure out a regular telephone, and had one in his apartment, but he rarely used it.

Demor's plan was thus: He knew where Montrose was last seen, but after that, he didn't know how to proceed. He'd let the professional track her down, and then figure out the rescue plan himself. Granted of course, that he could meet the time-deadline that the Aschen agents had given.

"Alright" the two brothers said, as Ixian began to dial. Once he did, and he set it to speaker.

"Welcome to Starnet, your calling network throughout the stars. I am the Artificial Intelligence that monitors and maintains this cellular network. Please hold, your brother is currently in the middle of presenting his deduction on who murdered a man and stole his award winning top of the line violin made from Elderwood, and which had strings created from a dragon".

"That is...an oddly specific hold request message".

"Thank you".

"...and it responded".

The phone let up some elevator music, before it was picked up.

"Ixian?! What is it?! Are you okay?" the voice asked, shocked, before he calmed down a bit. "Wait, you are not calling me to ask for another loan to buy another sniper rifle, right?"

"Nooo! Iviri is here with me, as well as this one guy who..."

"Needs a mystery solved?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Honestly, not that much of a deduction. YOu would be surprised how many times this happens...anyways, so what is the mystery?"

"Oh yeah..." Ixian said, looking at Demor. "You never told us, what do you need investigated? If its how to get into a place, I can help you here! One of my specialties is siegecraft and enemy deployment!"

"An Aschen Admiral has gone missing." Demor stated flatly. No point in hiding anything. "Long story short, she went missing outside a local VR Arcade, and I was the last person anyone saw with her. I need to find her and rescue her before I am in turn made to disappear. At least, I think that's what they'll to me." he explained.

"My name is Demor, I'm a friend of Iviri's and I participated in the Games recently. The Admiral's name is Amelia Montrose." he went on. He paused for a moment for the information to sink in. "Can you help me? I have a limited window to find her... I wager about 68 hours now."

He paused again, crossing his arms and lowering himself further on his tail, adding more to the coiled base he was balancing on. "If you want... I can give you some pictures of what she looks like." he stated one last quick thing before sighing. Besides the talk of cost of hiring him, Demor didn't really have anything else to discuss.

"I see....An Aschen Admiral huh? ANd her name is Amelia Montrose....and 68 hours? I see, probably some secret police or secret spy service then. Some pictures would help though, especially for what she was wearing. If I know what clothes she was wearing, that would help. Anyways, it sounds interesting, so I can help. Also can help you disappear if it comes to that. But first off...I need to know from an outside source, and not Ixian who has no concept of love or Iviri, who is too timid to speak of such things properly...but how hot was she?"

"Ivera?"

"This is important. FIrst, we have to establish motive. The Aschen are infamous for being Anti-Alien, and so in response, there are a lot of extremist groups that would love to get their hands on her. However, most of those groups operate off of Terra, and dont have much of a pressence on Origin. That said, due to the influx of refugees from the war, it is entirely possible she was abducted by someone, or a group of people even, who held a grudge against hte Aschen for the chaos and hate they have caused. But we also cant immediately leap to that conclusion".

"So then, you were asking if she were hot because..."

"Because the Aschen are known for gene manipulation, and I heard they manipulate their people to be breathtakingly beautiful. If its an Admiral, its likely more so, but I have to account for personal taste, hence why I asked Demor who had seen her in person. Also, I need to know how tall she is, her build, and such. If she is bigger, the amount of ways to carry her and transport her would be limited. Also, Ixian. Since you are currently closer to the site of abduction then me, I need you to hack into the city's security system. They probably tried to avoid being detected, but to move a person without being noticed, they would need a vehicle. Living things dont tend to fit will into trans-dimensional storage devices, and since they went out of their way to abduct her, they shouldn't have killed her and then stored the body".

As Ivera's mind went to work, even though Demor could not see his face, the way he talked and the way he thought was already pretty impressive.

"...hold on, did you say a VR Arcade? Nevermind that, we can rule out refugees. They are more recent, and if the Aschen operatives cant track her, that means knowledge of the city. In other words, someone local. Locals have not had much interaction with the Aschen, so they have not had the opportunities to form bias and hate. In other words, the chance of a hate crime is astronomically low. Also, you recently participated in the Games? So this happened in Questrios then, right after the Games, when there would still be a large population of visitors in Questrios. Yet, they got her out without witnesses?"

There was an audible sound of a drink being sipped, and some tapping.

"Okay, there are a few possibilities I can think of right off the bat. I will be there soon to narrow things down, but until then, I suspect it could be one of a few organizations. First off is Spiral, a terrorist organization known for all sorts of crap. They are also believed to make a lot of money off of their crimes, so its possible that they kidnapped her to cause chaos, and also maybe to sell to someone who does want an Aschen Admiral. There are also local crime lords. SOmeone as beautiful as her, its possible a crime lord desired her so much they kidnapped her and dragged her off to be his, or her, personal...well, you get the idea. I suppose its also entirely possible she came across one by chance, casually insulted him or her, and they abducted her to fill out some sort of revenge fantasy. At this point, I can still only theorize, but there is an extremely high probability she is still in Questrios City. Well, what do you think? Anything else you might know that we can add to the situation?"

It had become pretty clear why Ivera Rixy was known as a Master Detective now.

Demor let the detective work his magic, nodding along to the points he was making. The kid was smart for damn sure. No question about that in the slightest. At the question of whether or not she was hot, Demor let out a small chuckle. "Yes. I found her very attractive." he answered. His tail shifted, and so too did his sitting position while he leaned back on it more.

So it had to be someone who was local to the planet, and someone with enough power and know how to keep the Aschen IIA off of their tail. Or at least, far enough away from their tail to lose them - if only temporarily. Luckily for the Aschen, Demor wasn't going to just get reputable information, he was going to find her. He'd made it his mission. Idly he could sometimes feel the eyes of the IIA operative on him, watching him, but he ignored it, and focused on the here and and now.

"I've got some pictures if you'd be interested in meeting up... we could discuss payment as well. Assuming you operate like any other Private Investigator or Detective." Demor said as Ivera finished his half-rant half-deductions. "Though to be honest you've given me enough information for me to act on my own and find her myself." he said. Demor had a few ideas of what could be going on with Montrose's disappearance. A beautiful, high-ranking Aschen Officer? Many would kill to get their hands on her, many would do more to do worse to her. That made her valuable, and worth a lot of money...

Clearing his throat, he waited for Ivera's answer.

"Nah, I will take the case. This seems interesting, and also somewhat problematic down the line. Besides, it also seems rather concerning that someone is able to so easily kidnap someone off the streets like this" Ivera replied, as various moving and rummaging could be heard in the background. "That said, there is one thing of note. If you know this person, that means you were in contact with this Admiral at least once to make significant contact right? In that case, there might be more then one organization watching you right now. As for payment, that all depends on what happens and how well the investigation goes. Besides, you dont seem like someone native to Origin either, so we have a better chance if I handle it".

At the same time, the sound of wind could be heard on the other side of the phone, indicating he was outside, and maybe running.

"So, should we meet up at the scene of the crime, or before? Or do you want to focus on losing the people who are following you?"

"I really dont think anyone has followed him here, Ivera..."

"Nope, thats wrong Ixian. Something like this, he is absolutely being watched right at this moment. If you are where I think you are...use the secret back exit".

"...there is a secret back exit?"

"There is always a secret back exit, but this time I am not just referring to the employees entrance, nor the underground sewer access, nor the roof access. I mean the one they set up far in advance and concealed using both magic, tech, and just generally intelligent thinking for super VIPs like Royalty".

"I go here more then you....how do you...nevermind, its you. Of course you know this" Iviri replied, sighing and giving up on understanding how his brother knew all of this. He then turned towards Demor. "Well the good news is he is interested, so it should be fine. Just, dont be surprised if you dont always immediately get what he is saying".

Demor considered his options before shrugging. "I'll meet you at the VR Arcade she was last seen at. As for Secret Back Exit... You two can use it if you want. If I don't want to be followed, then they're not going to follow me." Demor was casual with his tone, but at the same time, he wasn't messing around. Despite his relaxed tone, his stance and body language dictated something else. As seen in the Grand Magic Games, he could easily and consistently move at speeds too fast for the human eye to comprehend, even when in dire circumstances such as low magic power, or even injuries to his body.

He rubbed Iviri's head affectionately as the boy stated that he wouldn't understand what his brother was saying sometimes, and smiled. "Don't worry about me, Iviri. I'll be alright." he smirked. "You two enjoy the baths... I'm off to meet your brother." he said, his tail stretching and bringing him to his feet, allowing him to walk away towards the locker-rooms where he could get dressed, and then walked out the front door. On one hand, it was smart to try and find a secret back door, but on the other hand, the Aschen likely knew where the VR Arcade was anyway, so they'd inevitably find him again anyway.

First, Demor went to his home, grabbing a picture or two of Montrose for Ivera to use in the investigation, before heading towards the Arcade in Questrios

"Hello everyone! This is your favorite super reporter, Trisha Adlers, here today with a few others in the commentators box over here! First off, we got the kid with the strats, the big blaster, Iviri Rixy!"

"...how did I get dragged into this?"

"And on my other side, we got the doc with the glasses, the teach with the skills, the one who is at the top of education, Dr. Simon Azler!"

"I also got knighted recently, so I have another title".

"Seriously?! Alright then, as the contestants are gathering on the starting line, lets give everyone an overview of the enxt event!
This event is a race, but is it a normal race? Heellllll nau! Its a race with obstacles, traps, monsters, and other hazards! And also, it is a race that will be involving gates! Dr. Azler, can you explain the gates to us?"

"Yes, developed by one of our brightest students and teachers, Milo Mills, they will detect the unique bio-signature of all the participants to confirm they have passed through and are the right person! We have scattered them randomly across the course, so you cant just teleport around! You gotta run the actual course!"

"Oh ho! So they gotta go for the long haul then!"

"Indeed! Now, we have hired some extra help as well to provide some....randomness...to the event! So everyone, be ready for anything and everything! And that includes each other! Just remember that if you stop to do a full fledged fight, others will leave you in the dust! Now then, Ms. Adlers, please tell us about the Race Zones!"

"Alright! There will be at least five gates in each zone, and there will be five zones to race through. Zone One: The City Zone, will have our contests race through the city landscape! Zone 2, the Jungle Zone! After running through the final gate of a previous zone, they will be transported to the next zone instantly! So from City to Jungle in the blink of an eye! After that, we have the Desert Zone, and then the Winter Mountain Zone, and then finally....the Mystery Zone! We wont know what is in it until someone reaches it! That is right people, a zone of mysteries where we wont know what happens!

"Alright! It looks like with the end of that, everyone is ready to start! So, on your marks...get set....GOOOOOO!"

Right as go was said, seven different dragons that were ridden to help oversee and guard the event roared with multi colored breath, taking the place of the pistol that one would expect to be fired.

And in that moment, a bolt of lightning was seen rushing on ahead. It made weird curves and turns isntead of a direct line, but there were others who flew up into the air like Cyrus, and others who ran at top speeds and had the wind bend around them to reduce or negate air resistance like Jaune.

As for Ixa, he had created ice skates on himself and skated towards victory.

"Haha! Sucks for all of you! I have super speed!" one man said as he rushed past everyone, gaining a high position in front....until suddenly, he hit...well, nothing. It looked like he hit solid air.

Solid Air Barriers? Well okay then...

"Akamaru! Level 3, Jet Boots Equip!"

"GOt it!"

Suddenly, advanced spiritual boots appeared on Shinku's legs, and he jumped over hte invisible wall....only to hit a floating invisible wall. He quickly recovered and landed though, and kept running.

"Follow me, Alt-Shu!" Emerin said as he grabbed his friend's hand while creating portals for them to run in and out of to speed up their pace.

"Astral Acceleration!"

"Lunar Leeway!"

And of course, it looked as if....Astral and Luna were competing with each other compared to everyone else, again.

Rivyan meanwhile just seemed to glide along normally....when suddenly, a strange sniper bullet came out of nowhere! A barrier appeared and protected Rivyan from it, but it was also a stun bullet and would only stun someone. For a long time though.

Rivyan looked back at the source, only to see it was hidden behind numerous cloaking spells and mana disruptors. Still, he had an idea of who did it...

Meanwhile, Ixian was on his invisible platform with his sniper rifle out.

"Well, I guess that should be expected. No matter, I get paid a bonus for every single person I take out, so lets rack up that reward money! Yeah!"

Ixian motivated himself, and then begna taking pot shots at other members of the races.

And meanwhile, Azaken seemed to be...keeping up well enough also.

Demor hung back for a second, watching everyone move, and run into some invisible walls, as well as get sniped. Interesting. A zoned Race, eh? Very well. Crouching, he readied himself and then took off. There was nothing but a cloud of dust from his spot. His tail flicked out, and he was gone. High-Speed Cameras, or people who were trained to recognize and perceive extreme-speed movements would be able to see him, but normal people would only be able to see him in between steps, where he had to make contact with the ground, and slow himself to make minor course corrections. Watching the people in front of them, particularly the boy arcing across the world as a bolt of lightning, Demor was able to follow them and for the most part avoid the invisible walls that littered the field.

Eyes widening as his senses over-lapped, he stopped suddenly, using his momentum to spin himself on his toes, his hands pressing against the surface of one of those walls to get a good feel for it. His tail lashed out, and he vanished again, moving, finding another wall directly in his path, and using it as a spring-board. "That was too close...." he thought, mixing his own heightened speed with an Arc Flight cloak, and therefore using that to further enhance his speed and sensory abilities to dodge the invisible walls, darting between them in arcs of lightning, sometimes seen, sometimes not.

Regardless of that, however, Demor was quickly closing in on first place.

A race it can't be that easy... Rayia looked around at the others. Then the roar of Dragons. The racers where off and many right into a invisible wall. Rayia let out a laugh at the fools.

Rayia opened herself to the force sensing what lay ahead she charted a course through the barriers. Using the force she began to increase her speed. But then a shot rang out.

Rayia looked to where the shot came from a man on the air? She focused her force sight seeing the platform in her mind's eye she attacked with the force gripping at the platform and pulling it down.

Rayia didn't wait to see if the sniper fell to his doom or not she had a race to win after all..

“I miss being able to shower…” Brand sighed as he caught sight of the blocks. Arguably the most irritating effect of his heavy use of pyromancy was his weakness to water. Drinking it was fine but when it got on his skin it tended to drain him. Luckily he didn’t sweat and had no need to clean himself up after the first round, and besides, he could have just incinerated any dirt on himself.

Scanning the room, he noted to that he’d spotted a few other fire mages during the performances, and lightning users too. Although they seemed like popular magic types, some of the mages had really stood out in the crowd.

As these thoughts stewed in his head, he ambled over to the table and foraged himself a modest plate of food. He didn’t want to lose whatever he ate now halfway through the next round after all, and he had a pretty average appetite when it came to it. Speaking of which, if the next round was going to be a race he had some planning to do. He thought about what strengths and weaknesses he might have as he chowed casually. Speed and agility would probably be involved to some extent, and he had those plenty, so he was feeling pretty confident on the whole.

When the time came for the next event to begin, Brand listened intently to the speakers explaining how the trial would work. Sounds interesting enough, he thought to himself, until one phrase metaphorically sucker punched him in the face. Winter Mountain Zone.

“Oh no.” he remarked. Water being cold and solid as well didn’t help much. If it had just been a contest of speed he might have been able to blast himself through a snowy zone, but with the gate mechanic, it was clear he was going to have to actively explore the area.

As the starting signal sounded, he shook his head clear (as best he could, anyway) and launched off. If he was going to struggle later on in the race, he reasoned, he should get as far as possible now by powering ahead of-

“OOF!”

Brand clutched his head as several mages left him in the dust. He looked around wildly as he tried desperately to get his bearings. “Huh? Wha-?” he noticed the same tragedy had befallen another hapless mage nearby. Curious, but in a hurry nevertheless the pyromancer prodded the air in front of him. It felt solid. The pyromancer shook his head in frustration and burst into flames, shifting into his knight form and charging ahead.

Bam.

He didn’t fall over this time, but the impact did not help his attitude. He kept going, and kept hitting or near-missing the barriers along the way. He was falling even further behind. This is hopeless, he thought, there's no way of getting ahead, how is it so - then he did something that surprised him. He stopped, wondering why he’d done something so idiotic and then found himself standing still and thinking, much to his own horror.

Suddenly his whole demeanour changed, the frustration was gone, and for a second it was if he didn’t even notice how many mages were overtaking him every second, a few even giving him funny looks. He ignored them, and set off again. The pyro-knight leapt up and glided low through the air, holding one palm out, which he used to project a small but constant gout of flames ahead.

Onlookers might soon realize what he was doing - as he neared a barrier, the flames would hit it as if were a normal wall, making them visible to him and allowing him to figure out a safe passage through the obstacles. Gradually, as he began to overtake some of the more inept mages who kept getting hit by the invisible walls, he would pick up more speed, getting more used to this method, until he was quickly climbing the ranks back toward the middle of the race.

Altian felt a little bit better after the handshake. He wanted that reassurance that no matter what happened, even if they would be forced to compete against each other, their friendship wouldn't ride on the result. But then again, he never had to worry about that with Emerin. He was about as carefree as people could get. His power usage was a direct representation of that. So why did he ask the question? Was it for his own reassurance...or perhaps it was his own reminder to not take this competition so seriously? He did value his friendship over everything else, but there was still a small nugget of competitive spirit within him that wanted to go as far as he could in this competition.

There could only be one winner, after all...

There wasn't enough time to unpack everything battling inside of the bookworm as the PA system blared and the next event was announced to begin shortly. He stayed by Emerin, of course, as they walked back out into the center of the stadium where the next event would begin.

And it was a race he hadn't expected...mostly because it was to be expected. He knew that the Grand Magi Games got crazy and that no two years were ever the same in design or structure, but this felt like he was overthinking the process a little bit. The gimmick (apart from the traps and obstacles they would be racing past) were these gates scattered in each zone that allowed the contestants to progress to the next one. And they weren't specifically situated at the end, so teleporting past all the obstacles would be a waste of time. But he steeled himself and prepared his mentality as he nudged Emerin with a grin.

"Hey Emry-Shu. Ya think we're gonna go through Ezra Desert?" he asked, knowing that if they did, that would be a huge advantage for them.

"I dunno, Alt-shu..." Emerin replied. He did not know the full scale of the race, but he was interested in seeing where they would go. That said...he looked down at their clothes. "However, we are both overdressed for the desert, and underdressed for the cold...well, if we keep hurrying maybe we can pass through before it affects us!"

And with everything explained, the dragons roared and the race was on. Emerin led the way, taking Altian's hand as he started whipping up portals for them to pass through. They passed through the first one with ease and appeared just in time to see the super speedy man run smack dab into the invisible barrier. He couldn't discern exactly what magic spell was being used in the moment as there were several that could allow invisible barriers to exist. But he did have a quick tactic to get around it.

"Try short distance portals," Altian suggested as they went, "Randomly placed throughout. Make the distance no less than a few feet between. That way, we aren't missing anything except walls."

It wasn't a foolproof strategy, though. There was still a marginal chance they would be running into the barriers. But now that they could cut the space they were travelling through down and Emerin had the energy supply of a demi-god, they could keep this up until the walls weren't a problem anymore. With each portal Emerin created, Altian stabilized with a little bit of his own energy, controlling it to ensure it wouldn't collapse on them as they went through each one. He'd heard many stories of portals doing that to people and causing surprise paraplegic conditions to the caster and that would be the dumbest of ways to go out.

"Too much energy," he noticed, "Try using a little less magic. Remember, if you can control this energy, you can be efficient with it."

And that was something he'd told him before. They helped each other out as much as possible, constantly trying to better one another through various ways. Emerin usually tended to overcompensate, creating powerful torrents when a simple rainfall was required. Meanwhile, Altian tended to underperform, his focus on efficient mana use resulting in putting too little mana into the spell. But they both had tips and tricks to help bring out the best of their other and this was no exception.

"Alright! Lets do this!" Emerin stated, and began to use what he liked to call Portal Dash, which involved creating several portals in a row, never fully materializing out of any of them instead of just opening two portals over and over again. Interestingly enough, he had not even realized he was doing this, or that this was not actually what Altian had told him to do technically. Emerin was not the best with directions, which resulted in Altian usually being in charge of navigating them, and it appeared much like a blur of energy in a way.

In truth, Emerin was kind of doing what he told. The theory of Portal Dash was practically identical to what Altian had told him, just with a different result. There only difference was control. With Random Short Distance Portals, Emerin would have far better directional control then with Portal Dash, and it would be harder to track his movements. But with Portal Dash, it was like creating a tunnel of portals, only the tunnel was litterally being created right in that moment and disappearing in the next, allowing only Emerin and Altian to travel through it.

Naturally though, Emerin had little knowledge of this and would need Altian to point it out to him later, as he thought they were just running through as he created the random portals immediately, like running through a lane.

And then, that was when Emerin sensed it...

"Alt-shu! Duck!" Emerin shouted, not realizing that with what he was currently doing he did not actually need to shout that. As they might appear to others as a comet of energy flying around and forward, they would duck as they passed one of the cars...or, what they thought was a car, but suddenly transformed and tried to suckerpunch them! And if that was not enough, Emerin suddenly noticed they had to dodge as the streetlights began shooting out lasers randomly!

All of that caused him to forcibly dodge, which allowed two others to pass them...and then suddenly, fall into holes that opened up as they ran across them and down into the ground.

"They are really going all out!"

"So, who are you all rooting for?" Trisha asked with energy. "Any favorites you think you will win?"

"I-I dont think that we are allowed to have favorites..."

"Dont be so shy! And of course we are allowed to have some opinions of our own, so long as we try and talk about everyone! Its the judges that have to be impartial, not us!"

"I...I see..." Iviri mentioned.

"So, who is it? Who is it?"

"Ummm...Well, I kind of know too many people in the Games to say".

"Oh relax, I am sure you wont hurt their feelings!"

"I really cant though..." Iviri mentioned. He really did know too many people participating. There was Demor, Ixa, Rivyan, Nao, and a couple of others. Iviri knew quite a few people.

"Awww. What a buzzkill. What about you Doctor?"

"Oh no, I am not opening that can of worms either. A lot of my students and alumni are participating. I only wish them all good luck".

"Haaaaaaaaaa...."

Meanwhile, in the race...

Astral and Luna were neck and neck, near the upper middle, or lower upper groups. They probably could be going much faster, but they were constantly clashing with each other, making it difficult for either of them to get near the lead.

Meanwhile, Ixa was gliding forward, and occasionally create a shield of ice to stop Ixian's stun bullets. At the same time, Nao who had shot out in the beginning was nearing the first gate. He had passed through all the checkpoints, so now it was time to enter the first of the transport gates.

It was easy for him to move fast inside a city, especially one he knew the layout for, but now...now was where it would get tricky.

At least he was able to avoid or run past the robots that got in everyone's ways. And so, having passed through all the Checkpoint Gates inbetween the start and the Transport Gate, he went through and...

"You have got to be kidding me! Full Charge Kick!" he called out as he spun himself around in mid air and delivered a kick to a very large snake that had been waiting right at the gate. The electrical burst stunned it momentairily, but this left Nao in a free fall. It appeared the Transport Gate from City Zone to Jungle Zone did deposit into a jungle...but the cave was near the edge of the cliff, and according to the signs and navigation robots that pointed the way, everyone would have to go down the cliff anyways. After all, the next gate was miles away deeper into the jungle.

As Nao landed though, he soon realized roughly where this Zone was, or what it was based on. Some of the swampy jungles to the north, full of peril such as sludge pits, murky water, and quicksand. And those were the normal threats. There was also something known as Sinking Grass, which was like Quicksand but looked like a grassy patch of land. The only difference in how you could tell what it was was that the grass was a slightly different shade of green, and that there wouldn't be anything in it.

There were also giant serpents like what he encountered before, as well as trees that had tops that would shoot out weird tendrils, wrap them around creatures that could fly, and quickly pull them into it to be eaten. Interestingly enough, it only seemed to target creatures that could fly though. You could tell what they looked like from leave shape, size, branches, and the fact you would see a spot that looked like normal bark from the sky...until it opened up and shot those tendrils at you to pull you in and swallow you.

And then of course, there were Murkwolves, Killer Moles, Deathromas (flowers that spew poisonous gas), and so on.

As for what he landed in, it was a Sinking Grass pit. It had already started to swallow up his shoes, but he had no intention of sinking, or running the entire race barefoot, so he let out a powerful electric charge. Unfortunately...Sinking Grass was essentially made of Earth and Rock, so it was fairly useless. As a result, he took out a piece of cloth, and ran electricity though it. This caused it to take the shape of a sword, which he used to cut up the ground as he pulled his sleeve up a little and shot a grapple hook out of a gauntlet device on his arm. Combined with the disruption of the ground, he was able to pull himself up.

"Alright then" Nao said as he surveyed the surroundings. "Lots of trees in the way, not organized nearly like the streets so I wont be able to move as fast in lightning form. Lets just do short zaps from branch to branch for now. I definently do not want to be airborn here. Leaving aside the Skyhook Trees, pretty sure I saw some flying creatures up there that would eat people who tried, and fighting all of those things would just slow me down".

And with that, he began zapping from branch to branch, moving quickly as possible while avoiding any Stickybark trees, which were trees so sticky it was better then military grade glue or duct tape.

Meanwhile, Cyrus who had been flying at top speed sped around the corner in the City zone as he saw a few others enter the Transport Gate to the Jungle Zone before him. Confident in his wings and speed, he rushed right through...and because he was flying, did not fall off the cliff as everyone else did. He also did a barrel roll to avoid the snake, however...

"GRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR".

"Uh oh?"

He panicked a little when he saw two flying serpents hop out of the forest to try and eat him, as well as spotting several things that looked like Skyhook Trees.

"This seems extremely prejudiced against people who can fly!" Cyrus complained as he began to take evasive measures.

And back in the City Zone, Jaune and Shinku were also making their way towards the transport gate along with their Armor Spirits, while in Level 3 forms. Jaune was in the lead, but Shinku had been using bursts of fire to keep up. Still, they were not anywhere close to being in the top ten yet.

Well, maybe they were a little close given how many holes they had seen triggered, but they didn't know for sure. Still, they were not out of the race yet either.