Christine stopped by at Yiernoshi's house the next morning to inform her that she would be skipping school that day. When Yiernoshi demanded an explanation, she mumbled something along the lines of 'last-minute training with Marian'.

Christine wasn't the only one ponning school. Yiernoshi was too.

At that particular moment when Victoria, Jeanine and the others were beginning their lessons, Yiernoshi was training at the cliffs.

Sam was perched on a rock.

"Let's start the third phase of training! Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"The third phase is for the final form of controlling the Dying Will, referred to as 'Passing the Zero Point of the Dying Will."

"Zero...point?"

Alene smiled.

"Finally, we are moving on to that legendary move, which only the First was capable of."

Sam nodded.

"First of all, to learn how to control the dying will in hyper mode, let's have a spar. The two of you, go into hyper mode."

She gestured at Alene and Yiernoshi.

"All right."

Alene swallowed a pill, and winced.

"It's harder to bear than I thought..."

A huge blue flame, bigger than before, ignited upon Alene's forehead.

"I'm ready!"

Yiernoshi closed her eyes and concentrated. A moment later, an orange flame every bit as big as Alene's appeared on her forehead.

"Let's go."
-----
Marian reached into the half-empty cardboard box next to her and extracted a few paper planes.

She set them in motion.

"Go on, destroy them all!"

Christine punched.

"Ahaha~missed one!"

"Shaddap!"
-----
That night, Alene and Yiernoshi walked to the school together.

"Alene, are you alright? You seem to be staggering."

"Yup, I'm fine. It's just that today is my first time going into hyper mode, so I feel tired."

Se Ern, Victoria and Jeanine were waiting at the school gates.

"Yo."

"Eh? Where's Christine?"

"Dunno, thought she'd be coming with you."

"Maybe Marian held her back. Perhaps her new move is incomplete."

"But if she doesn't appear, the Cheddocheezaria will win by default!"

"Exactly."
-----
"Hm? Today's match is indoors?"

The judges were already at the battle field. Standing next to them was a girl in a long black leather trench coat, a navy blue shirt, and cargo pants.

"If the Guardian of Storm from Yiernoshi's group does not arrive by the time the clock reads 11 o'clock, the Cheddocheezaria wins by default."

They all glanced at the clock. 10.59 pm.

The second hand moved closer and closer to the '12' marking.

Then suddenly, the wall exploded.

"Sorry for the long wait, Fourteenth! Christine has arrived!"
-----
"Because you arrived before the arranged time, we acknowledge you right to participate in this match."

Christine issued a general affirmative.

The judges nodded.

"Then now, we will explain the battle field. The battle field tonight is the entire third floor of the school building. This includes all the classrooms, and the library. However..."

She was interrupted by a huge blast of wind, which smashed a few windows, and turned over a lot of furniture.

"In various places on the field, we have placed this hurricane turbine. The hurricane turbine has four openings for producing wind. It is a storm device that can blow super strong wind randomly from the four openings. If you are hit by the wind directly, you may be blown outside."

"What?"

"That's overdoing it!"

The judges pointedly ignored the protests.

"Also, this match has a time limit. Unless either of you can complete the Ring of Storm 15 minutes after the start of the match, the time bombs installed in the hurricane turbines will explode one by one, blowing up the entire floor."

The Storm Guardian from the Cheddocheezaria grinned.

"Either way, I'll probably have a lot of fun with today's opponent."

The judges clapped their hands for attention.

"The Guardians of Storm, please come forward. All others, please proceed to the bleachers beside the school building. We have set up giant viewing screens there."

Yiernoshi sighed, and reluctantly left.

"Christine...don't die, alright?"

Christine nodded.

The judges stepped forward.

"Then, the battle for the Ring of Storm, Christine versus Bella. Begin the battle!"

Bella tossed a cylinder to Christine.

"Here, catch."

"Eh?"

Before Christine could react, it exploded in her face.

"Dynamite?"

Bella grinned.

"That's right~"

Christine punched towards Bella. Raising an eyebrow, Bella ducked, just out of range of Christine's attack.

"I warn, you, don't play any trick. Do you know who your opponent is?"

"Grr..."

Christine bounced a small ball in her palm. Pulling her arm back, she launched the ball, and it sped like a bullet towards Bella.

"Hm?"

Bella didn't dodge. She didn't need to. In an instant, a strong wind blew, sweeping the ball away.

"The hurricane turbines!"

Bella smiled.

"As the Guardian of Storm, of course I'm sensitive to wind."

Christine scowled.

"I'll beat you! I will not let shame taint the name of the Fourteenth's right hand!"

Bella laughed a creepy laugh.

"Shishishi~you can't beat me...because I'm a princess."
-----
"Three minutes have passed."

Bella flung an assortment of explosives at Christine.

KABOOM.

"Christine!"

Christine was crouched on the floor, bleeding profusely.

"Is it already checkmate? Ushishi~is that all you can do as a Guardian of Storm? Your boss can see it too."

For the Fourteenth...that's right.

Christine slowly crawled into a standing position.

"I may be a loser, but I'll never let any shame come to the Fourteenth!"

Bella laughed.

"Really?"

She threw another lot of explosives at Christine.

Christine pulled back her arm...and...

With one punch, all the explosives were destroyed.

"Now it's your turn."

She punched again. Bella ducked again.

"Shishishi~I can read your attacks easily. I know the range that you can attack. It's useless."

Christine didn't respond, except to punch again.

Bella dodged.

"Ushishi~how pathetic-"

Before she could complete the sentence, she was thrown off her feet by Christine's second punch.

Bella stood up slowly, swaying slightly on her feet.

"It's not over yet, y'know."

She launched another set of bombs.

Christine sighed.

"It's over."

She punched twice, once with each hand, one after the other.

The shockwaves created changed the course of the bombs, and they headed back towards Bella.

"What...?"

The bombs exploded. Christine bent over the now-unconscious Bella and pulled off her half of the ring.

"I win."

At that very moment, an explosion racked the building.

"Huh?"

The judges' voices issued from the speakers.

"Since the time limit has passed, the destruction of the hurricane turbines has begun."

"What?"

"There are 30 seconds remaining before the explosions reach you."

"Wha-"

30 seconds was not a lot of time to react. Before Christine could form an adequate response, the hallway she and Bella were in blew up.

"Christine!"

Yiernoshi stared in shock at the viewing screen.

Sam nudged Yiernoshi.

"Look."

A battered figure stumbled out of the debris.

Christine.

She looked up blearily.

"I did it...Fourteenth..."

She held up a ring.

Seconds later, she had collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.
-----
Hini bent down and picked a heavily injured Bella from among the wreckage.

Chip, her face and torso covered in white bandages, let out a sigh.

"With two wins to none, I hope tomorrow's match goes well."

Seet nodded.

The judges stepped forward.

"Since the ring was taken by Christine, we recognise Christine as the victor. We will now announce the line-up for the next match. Tomorrow's match will be..."

"...The battle betweeb the Guardians of Rain."
-----
"Yo."

Mun stepped out onto the rooftop.

"Looks like you'll have to fight tomorrow. How do you feel?"

Claire smirked, raising her tonfa.

"Come and find out for yourself."