CHAPTER 27: COUSINS

They descended and took a seat at the fourth floor where Xenon was previously seated. They chatted a bit after having their seat. Apparently Jeage was stressed from the wedding ceremony yesterday and got to the amphitheatre very late, catching only the climax of Xenon’s match.

Jeage didn’t think much of Xenon previously and had predetermined to not approach him, because he thought Xenon would inevitably fail and get sent back to the Island where Elsa could deliver her pleasantries herself. But the sight he saw when he arrived at the amphitheatre changed his mind immediately and he sought out to befriend his cousin as soon as possible.

"Do you mind telling me how you did what you did earlier? Your punches and firepower were stronger than what you should be capable of, no offense" Xenon couldn’t help but ask after witnessing his cousin’s might. Even though he didn’t expect to have a good relationship with his cousin, he hoped to maintain a nice position with him at least, so he couldn’t help but want to glean a bit of his secret.

"Oh. I don’t mind at all" Jason who had been searching for a way to befriend his cousin couldn’t help but be joyful that Xenon was not simply disregarding him but also made efforts to converse with him.

"It’s simply a combination of my abilities" Jeage continued. "My first ability, allows me to exhibit the characteristics and abilities of whatever I eat..."

"No way! You’re joking right?" Xenon’s eyes widened in shock as he thought about the endless possibilities of terror and wonders he could bring about if he had such an ability.

"No I am completely serious" Jeage replied. He was impressed by the amount of shock his cousin was in.

He didn’t think too much of his ability beforehand, but when he saw the expression of someone who he deemed very formidable, not only possessing a lightning ability that was known for it’s high destructive force, but also being able to exact a considerable amount of control over it, he started rethinking the might of his own ability.

’Why did I draw the short end of the straw and got some stupid super speed as my first ability while he got something so incredible. In a world where spiritual energy could be used to augment your body, anyone strong enough would definitely be moving at super speed, but being able to get the abilities of anything you eat, that’s unmatched, I would gladly become a cannibal for that ability!’ Meanwhile, an ungrateful Xenon was cursing his luck.

"And my second ability is to create and control flames to my will" Jeage continued when Xenon continued to be silent. He could see a hint of jealousy on his face.

"Oh yeah, sorry, continue". Xenon was woken up from his daze when Jeage spoke.

"Employing my first ability, I ate a peculiar sea creature whose punches were as fast as a lightning strike and carried as much force as well. You see, I can store the characteristics of whatever I eat for up to half a day, depending on the power of the characters and how much I use them, before I lose them, so I just ate the creature in haste while I was coming here without bothering to test out the powers because I was running late.

"I can also stack up the characters of one to three things, depending on the might of each character, so I ate another creature who granted high resistance to pain and one who boosted my body’s durability. That’s why I wasn’t screaming after my arm got twisted, It was painful, but bearable. To be candid, if not for the third character that amped my body’s durability, my limbs would have been torn apart by those punches in a instant" Jason explained.

"I see, your ability is even more powerful than I first thought." Xenon inwardly cursed the system for not giving him Jeage’s ability.

"But equally dangerous. If I hadn’t accounted for the consequences of using an ability in battle untested, I wouldn’t have put up those countermeasures and I would have lost before that battle even began."

"Hmmn." Xenon simply hummed as he nodded his head slightly while cursing his system and his cousin who was trying to be modest.

"So, using my control over flames, I covered my fist with flames before throwing the punches. I was greatly shocked by the power of the punches I delivered and the recoil on my body, but it was too late to stop so I just went along with it and delayed the explosion of the scattered mounds of flames which compressed due to the force of the punches. Then I created an ultimate move on the spot, Solar Impact, which combined an existing move I perfected with the the devastating force of the punch I got from the sea creature. You know the rest of the story." Jeage concluded his explanation.

"That’s incredible, utilising different aspect of your abilities at once, and doing it so effortlessly, it’s nothing short of outstanding!"

"You flatter me, Xenon. In truth, it took everything I had. Using the second and third character I stored to endure the recoil I suffered from those punches alone took a lot out of my body, spiritual energy and storage time, delaying various explosions and combining them into a big one also consumed a chunk of my spiritual energy, not to mention the ultimate move. If not for the healer provided I would be barely standing, not to mention that I had to forgo the first and second character to preserve the third that strengthened my body, in order not to collapse from exhaustion" Jeage explained to his oblivious cousin of the suffering he had to put his body through.

"I understand, but you’re simply understating your might, after all you won and you’re still in one piece after all that. I can’t even compare, not to mention I don’t even have a move, and you have an ultimate move." Xenon was unwilling to back down from emphasising Jeage’s power.

"Are you retarded or what, Xenon. Damn, locking you up in that mansion has dealt damage to your senses." Jeage abruptly retorted.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Are you serious? You have been diseased for 14 years, not having any experience or contact with spiritual energy. Yet, when you got miraculously healed, you not only progressed your Ousia by 2 stages but you also trained hard, managed to control one of the most sophisticated elements within 14 months, you even defeated a formidable opponent with more years of experience with his ability than you..."

"You are the one disregarding your might here, Xenon, you are the monster. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Skye also has white hair and I have first hand experience of her amazing capabilities." Jeage couldn’t take Xenon’s shortsighted behaviour anymore. He didn’t know if his cousin was deliberate or just simply naive, but couldn’t allow him to downplay himself.

Xenon stared at Jeage, his eyes widening when he took his cousin’s words into account. He hadn’t really thought about his progress, but when Jeage pointed it out to him bluntly he couldn’t hide his astonishment for his inhuman progress. He muttered a quick praise for the system.

Before Xenon could reply, Professor Arkham clapped his hands which echoed throughout everyone’s minds to get their attention. He started his announcement.

"With the conclusion of the 42 rounds of 25 battles, Professor Franz, I and Miss Felicity have collated the results and decided on who our academy’s new scholars will be..." He paused to allow murmurs and anticipation build up in the crowd.

"As we have demonstrated earlier, our academy is going to receive lesser students this year due to some unique circumstances. This year Askesis Academy will not be playing the roles of nurses, but rather as masters grooming well off disciples and that has influenced the selection process this year." He paused again to allow the gravity of his words to sink in.

"In lame man’s terms, we’re accepting only the aspirants who are already on the path to greatness, or those who are barely on the path but show a considerable high potential for growth." Professor Arkham smiled bitterly and stepped back for Franz to continue the announcement.

The crowd was completely silent at this time, half of the aspirants had already collapsed to despair as they knew they didn’t make the cut and the other half was clinging desperately to hope. Even Xenon and Jeage couldn’t help but give in to their nerves.

"In accordance to the guidelines stated by Professor Arkham earlier. The three of us, on behalf of the academy, in contrast to our previous admission that ranged between 500 to 800 students, have decided to take in only 238 promising candidates this year." Immediately Professor Franz concluded his statement, the whole amphitheatre erupted in a cacophony of noise.

More than 90 percent of over five thousand aspirants broke out in protest. Professor Arkham did nothing to quell the crowd this time and let the teenagers vent out their anger. He knew the sudden change of the academy policies was extravagant but there was nothing he could do about it, he had his orders.

"This is unbelievable, the slim chance of getting admitted just got much more slimmer!" Xenon lamented, his pale face turning paler.

"If they truly meant what they said about going for people with highest potential for growth, then that means they’ve managed to get their hand on information about everyone of us. If that’s the case, you’ve got nothing to worry about, although the same can’t be said for me, they might deem my abrupt win as a fluke and just dismiss it outright" Jeage expressed his concerns while reassuring his cousin.

"Nah, if I manage to get in, your position is secure. Don’t stress yourself about it too much" Xenon replied in a feeble attempt to assure his stressed cousin.

The hosts did absolutely nothing to mitigate the protests, allowing it to go on for more than an hour before the crowd calmed down by itself. It was past noon now and already stretching into evening. After the amphitheatre was considerably silent again, Professor Franz stepped forward to continue.

"I will now announce the admitted aspirants by calling out their names, from the bottom of the list, to our top student. If your name is called, step forward into the arena and wait for further instructions." Professor Franz announced, holding a large scroll that seemed to be made of golden light rather than paper. The amphitheatre’s mechanism got to work as the 25 raised stages began to recede into the arena floor smoothly.

"I begin!" Professor Franz announced. "Ranked 238..."