"Kido, Ryudo, Kaido, and Seido! Wondrous Arts of The Way, befitting for the supreme support type!"
They were the king's words, his arms projected outward towards the crowd to invoke a series of cheers and roars for Liora.
She smiled, bowing gently before stepping back to allow herself presence amongst the rest of the heroes.
"Well, are they what you wanted," Rowan asked, turning to put his hand on her shoulder, "I mean, you always seemed like the type of person who would want to stick in the backline."
The meaning behind his words were obvious between the two of them outside of just what king Viral mentioned, her skills being the manipulation of vital energy, flow, boundary, and the soul respectively.
Of the four, the only one the king expressed had any real combative purpose was Ryudo or 'flow', allowing the inhabitants of the world to interact with the elements.
"In all honesty, I kind of hope I also get the typical backline arcana, especially if it means I don't have to rely on this gruffy grimoire all that much."
Rowan's words fell on deaf ears, Liora puffing her chest and turning to look away from him with a small 'hmph' like he was invisible.
Rowan stammered, reaching for words deep within him but finding none in her silence. He'd been lost in what to say--but only for a moment, wishing to breach the distance forming between them.
"Hey, is this about last night? I'm sorry, I just wasn't rea--"
"So, who's next?"
The king immediately cut in, his vibrant bravado for the crowd reaching the heroes as well.
"I'll go nex--" Elias said, pointing his hand up. But he hadn't the time to finish his sentence, getting pushed aside by the person behind him.
"Ah, this is the perfect stage! For the future dem--I mean, for the future hero for this world, it's only right that I have a crowd amassed just for my power! You've outdone yourself, Viral."
Kaia was the next to step up, stomping against the floor with a violent flame pouring from her limbs and searing the ground, scorching the air along with it.
The king had to almost cover himself from its flare, allowing himself composure only through squinted eyes.
"Well, then, Lady Kaia? Do you already understand what you must do?"
"Why, of course! I just stick my hand out like this..."
Carefully, as if her hand were to be singed by a great flame, she lifted her arm past her torso in the direction of the device.
As the same animation of jutting light and four swerving orbs played out, the king turned to the crowd for a moment, waiting for its glow to diminish.
"A quadra-resonant as well, she possesses Kodo, Ryudo, Seido, and Nendo!"
Rowan blocked out the crowd's chants, turning to Elias who stood next to him in disbelief.
He could understand how Elias felt, ramping yourself up to do something and then getting dismissed--just like that.
Well then, perhaps I should go before him, Rowan thought, clenching his chest to try to quell the hastened pace of his heart.
"Alright, I'm up," Elias said, sticking his right arm out as if to hold Rowan back.
Who am I to refuse, Rowan thought, basing his subservience in a half-lie of sympathy for Elias' cowardice, the true reason laden in past events regarding his previous life he wished not to remember.
Kaia glanced back at Elias while she returned to the line, a mischievous grin striking her face.
The king patted Elias on the back, continuing his monologue in a fashion that caused Rowan to zone out, his eyes trailing the many tiles and their connective streaks of cement making up the ground.
Why... why am I so scared of failure? What is going on with me that has caused me to be so fearful? Is it the empty grimoire? I've never been like this, especially to the point that I'm incapable of holding my hands still.
His palms raised just a couple feet from his face, shaking with such intensity that small beads of sweat jumped to impact the ground.
His head tipped to face the grimoire floating by his side, humming with a vibrant 'hrm' as if to respond to his gaze.
There was an unease in the air surrounding it, a thin line of black surrounding--no, trilling along the edges of the grimoire's covers and pages.
It was the first time Rowan took note of it, the surprise in his expression immediately cutting away its presence--fwipping away its existence--and simultaneously, his unease.
"--Ryudo, Kaido, Seido, and Kaizen!"
Rowan's face squelched in response to the blaring sirens emitting from the crowd, heightened by the lack of sound just moments prior due to his inattentiveness.
Elias strolled back to where Rowan stood, turning to face him.
"You're up then, Rowan."
He smiled, bringing some encouragement that Rowan needed direly, but not even that was enough to dispel the unease in his heart.
Haphazardly, he walked closer to the device, the tiles between stretching more and more the further he stepped.
It was unending, but that alone wasn't the end of his anxiety.
His pulse like jaggers cutting through his skin, he jumped senselessly at the king's hand on his shoulder, moving away from him through unwarranted fear, then retracting to try to maintain some of his false composure once he'd seen the questioning gazes from his companions.
"Come on, I'll get great Arts of The Way and then discard this stupid grimoire which has only wrought pain since I've arrived," he whispered to himself, expecting no other to hear him.
"Now, then, we have quite the special one here. Equipped with a wordless grimoire mentioned only in legend--although the heroes are legendary in of themselves--he's an enigma, the result of his commencement completely unpredictable!"
Although the king shouted with excitement, the crowd was anything but. It was disheartening, hearing the resounding roars turn into willowing whispers, but Rowan felt that nothing could bring him down--not even the gods.
Already getting the gist on what to do, he stuck his hand out, shaking off the fear that had once dragged his limbs.
There was a moment of silence, the device doing nothing to act.
Then another.
Then another.
After a few seconds, light began to draw from the device, its runes finally activating in response to Rowan's hands.
It was brilliant, the way it shone across the sky far brighter than any of the prior commencements, enveloping the entire town square with enough light to pass as a small star clashing with the sky.
Pthew...
Instantly, the light fell, revealing just Rowan and the device, sputters flying out from it.
There were no hovering orbs, no sparkling lights.
Just Rowan.
"H-he's..." the king stuttered, wincing away from his words and turning his head as if they were going to strike him, "he's an unblessed."