Chase shot toward the ground like a meteor.
Only seconds after the initial push, he crashed into Gregor.
He screamed in pain, from the force of the attack.
And then after moments of silence, Chase rose from the man's corpse like some sort of god.
The Underbelly was silent at first.
Until a crystal from the cavern's ceiling crashed into the ground behind him, and Gregor let out a pain whimper.
Chase pulled cobalt blade from the man's shoulder, and lifted the blade into the air.
He put a hand on his ear, awaiting the man's next words.
Then Gregor screamed with what Chase had assumed was the rest of his energy.
"I YEILD!"
Of course even under the influence of the potion and the mask, Chase was not going to kill the man.
Then as he pondered the thought of that terrible word, the crowd erupted.
They threw things into the arena, and several were yelling outlandish things.
Chase glanced down at Gregor and noticed something quite strange.
'What in the hell...'
He could see the man's energy draining from his body.
It was so strange that Chase was tempted to rip the mask off of his face at that very moment, but figured that was a very bad idea.
So he sheathed his sword, and sprinted toward the exit just as spectators began to throw themselves into the arena.
Before he could get swarmed, he threw himself into the cage room he had originally came from.
Ripping off the mask, he gasped for air.
When he calmed down, he looked up to see both Dorian and Neo.
He figured he would have gotten some praise, or maybe a thanks for the quick saving.
However, instead Neo backed away, and Dorian gave him a curious gaze.
There was only silence other then the distant slamming of the closed off door.
"Devil indeed..."
Dorian muttered under his breath.
Chase was on all fours, breathing heavily.
"What the hell did you give me..."
Dorian shrugged.
"Actually it was just a potion that would take away your seals temporarily."
He shrugged.
"Which makes me wonder what exactly made your mother of all people, want to seal your affinities..."
Chase's heart skipped a beat at the mention, and he looked up at the two.
"What..."
"What about my mother...?"
Dorian nodded.
"What about your mother indeed..."
Then Dorian padded Chase's shoulder, and handed him a rag.
"You got a lot of blood on your face..."
He pointed out.
Chase wiped his sweaty face only to reveal that both his nose and eyes had started too leak blood.
And then he felt it...
A terrible pain within his soul.
He let out a terrible scream.
Dorian squeezed his shoulder.
"Yup, checks out. You just utterly destroyed an eleven star opponent, which means you probably just used up most of your life force."
Chase looked up at the man with nothing but shock in his eyes.
"El- Eleven stars!?"
He groaned.
"Yup, but don't stress it too much. That ruin on your wrist just so happens too heal life force at atomic levels..."
Chase glanced down at his blood covered Phoenix emblem that had started to glow like it had multiple times in the past days.
"So... I survived a god's presence because of this..."
He croaked in pain.
He probably shouldn't have said that, because Neo swiftly covered his ears, and Dorian had to cover Chase's mouth.
"What did I just say about those jokes!"
He chuckled, while eyeing the shadows in the room nervously.
Then he leaned into Chase's ear, and whispered nervously.
"I'll send a bird to your dorm tomorrow... Write it down, Eternity doesn't like to read..."
Chase looked up in confusion, and then everything else was a blur.
Dorian helped the two boys get out of The Underbelly without being spotted, and when they got out it looked like morning was near.
The three of them stood in the poorly lit halls of Phoenix Academy.
"You have a secret entrance to a school?"
Dorian shrugged.
"Bah! I used too attend this dust bucket."
Chase and Neo both gave him a strange look, and then the man began to thrash around one of his many coat pockets.
"Hm, where is it..."
"Ah! There!"
He pulled out two identical glass vials, with clover-shaped caps on them.
The liquid in them was clear, but also had hundreds of sizzling bubbles foaming at the top.
"These grant you whatever you desire at the moment of consumption, it can be literal or well not literal. Just use them when you actually need something hard to obtain, nothing selfish either like power, glory, or riches."
He said casually, handing the both of them a vial.
"What do you mean?"
Neo asked, raising one of his bloodied eyebrows.
"You will both know... Boy!"
He looked at Chase about to say something, then he shook his head.
"Bah! never mind. But your time is sooner than you think, so when the forest grows cold... you will know when to use it."
Then too both of their surprise, the man vanished out of thin air.
Neo and Chase were left standing alone in the same dungeon they had ended up fighting a mimic, and befriending each other.
"I'm probably better off not asking, the guy told me to just act like nothing ever happened."
He said, wiping blood off of his face.
"Same... You do remember everything right...? Just wondering!"
Neo nodded.
"Yeah, like how I'm never going to a detention again?"
Chase raised an eyebrow.
"Or you could just, ya know not get another detention?"
Then they both erupted into laughter.