September 25. Two days before the concert.

I slammed by gauze wrapped fist into the sandbag. I quickly struck it with multiple blows, before bringing my fist back for one final strike. My fist hit the middle of the sandbag, breaking the chain and sending it flying. It slammed into the wall, sliding down onto the ground.

"You're really strong." Yui noted.

"Thanks." I replied, rubbing my fists. "Are you sure it's alright for you to be here?"

"Well, I've got nothing else to do right now." Yui replied. "Are you nervous~?"

"I'm perfectly fine." I replied.

"You broke the chain again Ken." Goku said, walking over.

"You need stronger punching bags." I stated.

"No, you're just ridiculously strong..." Goku sweatdropped. "Are you sure you don't have a Tier for enhanced strength?"

"No, I don't." I replied, shaking my head.

"God damn." Goku responded. "And you're still so skinny."

"Well, the Tiers give a small passive boost in strength." I stated.

"Yeah, I know that." Goku nodded. "But for the amount of Tiers that you have, you're still quite strong."

"I guess so." I muttered.

I'm not nearly strong enough. After all, later this school year a Demon King is going to try to invade our world. I can't exactly match up to a Demon King right now.

I don't think I'll ever be able to match up to a Demon King, honestly. But I'll try to get as close as possible.

"Why are you so determined to be strong?" Yui asked.

"You could say...there's some people I want to protect." I replied.

Myself. The world. Oh, and my friends too I guess.

"How cheesy~" Replied Yui.

"Shut it." I said, rolling my eyes.

Yui giggled. I don't like how she's acting around me. There's no doubt that she's has some sort of interest in me, and I have no idea why!

"I still can't believe you know and can talk so casually to THE Yui Yosei." Goku stated, pinching his nose. "First it was Irene, and now her."

"Is it that surprising?" I wondered.

"Of course it is! She's the most popular idol in Japan!" Goku revealed.

"Seriously?" I asked, looking to Yui.

"Yeah..." Yui sheepishly replied.

"Really? This loli?" I asked once more for reassurance.

"Hey! I'm not a loli!" Yui growled.

"Tell me that when you're older." I replied.

"I'm the same age as you!" She shrieked.

"Really? With your size, I was mistaken." I stated.

"I'm not short!" She denied.

Not exactly the size I was talking about...

"You really are an interesting kid." Goku grinned.

"Whats with you all of a sudden?" I wondered.

"Nothing, nothing..." Goku chuckled.

I raised my eyebrow at my instructor. I seriously don't understand what anybody in this world is thinking.

"Ken, let's have a spar." Goku stated.

"Huh?" I replied. "You wiped the floor with me last time."

"It'll be a good way to see how much you improve. Besides, don't you want to impress your girlfriend?" Goku grinned.

Don't you tease me too.

"We both know that isn't possible. One word; Irene." I replied, slightly shivering.

"Ah, true." Goku agreed with me, also slightly shivering.

"Irene?" Yui asked. "What do you mean?"

Don't tell her-!

"Ken's engaged to Irene." Goku told her.

"Oh." Yui gasped. "Huh..."

Yui seemed to go deep into thought.

"Anyways, you stand over there, and I'll stand here. And for this match we'll use our Arcana's." Goku stated.

"...wait what?" I wondered.

Goku's shotgun appeared in his hands. The barrel started to glow red as fire built inside of the gun.

"Are you crazy?!" I gasped. "Do you want to burn the whole place down?!"

"Heh. Don't worry." Goku chuckled. "I may be Yakuza, but I wouldn't burn my own Dojo down."

"Are you crazy?!" Someone else yelled the same thing I said.

Suddenly Goku was punched in the face, making him fall down onto the floor, Arcana disappearing. Yui and I stared at shock at Amber, who stood above her father.

"S-she just punched him!" Yui gasped.

"Amber! A sneak attack?! That's not fair!" Goku replied.

That shouldn't be your reaction, you maniac!

"I want to fight him." Amber stated.

That's why you called him crazy?!

"But we've already fought." I noted.

"No, but with Arcana's this time." Grinned Amber.

These two are too similar...

Well, this should be good practice. The only way to get better is to verse people who are better than you. That's the only way to learn. It also helps get me closer to the next Tier...

"Uh...Ken...?" Yui asked, utterly confused.

"That's his daughter." I replied.

"Ooohhh...." Yui gasped, still confused.

Two orange colored gauntlets appeared on Amber's hands. They went all the way up to her elbows, and were sharp and jagged. If I remember correctly...

Amber's Arcana; Hephaestus. A Rank. Tier 5.

Dangerous.

"Alright." Amber grinned. "Show me what you got."

Her gauntlets suddenly grew small spikes, making the already dangerous weapon even more dangerous. This is the ability of one of her Tiers...

I can't let her hit me. I can only imagine the pain that it would inflict.

Amber quickly rushed at me, bringing her fists up. I summoned Loki, quickly dodging all of her strikes. To try to block one would leave me open for the oncoming ones. I'd have to wait for her to stop her assault before I could do anything.

As she finally stopped her dangerous assault, I swung Loki at her face. She blocked it, grabbing the sharp blade of her axe with her hands.

It did no damage to them whatsoever. As expected of a Tier 5 Arcana. I brought my foot up, swinging it at her stomach.

She let go of my axe, jumping backwards to dodge my kick. Unfortunately for me, I don't possess as many damage-based Tiers as Amber does. This makes me have a big disadvantage in attacks.

If only to prove my point, two small steel daggers popped out of the gauntlets. I have no idea where they came from, but that's magic for you.

She threw each one at me, but I quickly deflected them out of the air with my larger blade. Seeing that it didn't work, Amber opted to use a different strategy.

She lit her gauntlets on fire. Her element also happens to be fire, and she also doesn't seem to mind the possibility of burning the whole Dojo.

Like father like daughter, I guess.

She dashed at me once more, but this time with her flaming, spiked gauntlets. You know what, let's fight fire with fire.

I ignited Loki on fire, swinging him straight towards Amber. Surprised at my forward approach instead of my usual dodging, she barely avoided the attack in time.

She brought her hand for a punch to my head, but I barely blocked it with my axe. However, the force of the punch was strong enough to send me sliding backwards.

Can you even call this a spar anymore?!

Amber rushed me, sending a flurry of punches. I was barely able to block them with my axe, sliding further back with every strike.

At this rate I'm going to lose! I have no way to counter her attacks! I won't be able to continue blocking!

Amber slapped my axe away, readying a final punch to end it. If she hits this, it'll hurt like a bitch! No!

I barely brought the axe in front of me, hoping in best wishes that it could block the strike. But then something happened.

The axe started to morph, changing form into a black shield. Amber's punch hit the shield, harmlessly bouncing off.

"What the hell?!" She gasped.

The shield then started to morph again, changing its form to a large scepter about as tall as I was. It was very fancy looking, with a crescent end at the top shaped like some sort of reptile like beast with curled horns.

"Ahahaha! Finally!" I heard Loki shout in my head.

What the hell is going on?!

"I'm finally back to my true form! If I didn't disguise myself as Fenrir, then this is how you would have summoned me!" Loki stated.

"You unlocked Tier 5! All that training you've been doing this month has worked!" Loki cackled. "One of my favorite abilities! Shapeshift!"