Afghast pressed his palm against the escutcheon of Aguinaldo's prison. The large keyhole seemed to suck in his Musk like a vacuum.
Meanwhile, the trainees were petrified by Afghast's transformation. His body became gooey, like clay being molded.
Sir Antonof was dismayed with himself for not stopping the fight between the two when he noticed intense tension building up.
"I was expecting a friendly sparring match, but it seems something more intense is happening than I anticipated," he said while observing Afghast's changeover.
Erewhen couldn't move from his spot. He had faced Afghast's embryonic transformation before and admitted it was chaotic.
Everyone could see that Afghast was gradually developing bones, and the orange clay was taking the form of a human. His wings were made of pure bone, a terrifying sight to behold.
"I've been waiting a long time to get out," Aguinaldo said, stretching his fingers as he got accustomed to his new body. However, he suddenly remembered his agreement with Afghast and immediately looked for Erewhen. "Look at you, you were so brave earlier, and now you're shaking? You look like you're about to wet yourself."
"Who are you?" Erewhen snapped.
"I am Aguinaldo, and I'll crush you myself!" Erewhen didn't notice Aguinaldo suddenly appearing in front of him.
Aguinaldo was about to claw him with his sharp, fiery claws, but Sir Antonof shielded him. Sir Antonof's arms merged into a diamond-shaped crystal shield.
"I know you're not Afghast, but I won't let you hurt my students," Sir Antonof said. Suddenly, Sir Antonof's fingers broke off and swarmed around Aguinaldo like insects.
They released tear gas, but Aguinaldo flew above it. Sir Antonof's arms transformed into a crystal bazooka, and he bombarded Aguinaldo. When the air was filled with crystal, he stopped the bombardment.
When the crystals shattered, he didn't expect Aguinaldo to grab him and playfully toss him in the air. Aguinaldo threw Sir Antonof up high before opening his enormous mouth. He swallowed him whole.
Aguinaldo touched his stomach, savoring the meal.
"Too bad I couldn't eat you because I'm allergic to you," he said, looking at Erewhen.
The trainees agreed to work together to take down Aguinaldo, but before they could do so, Aguinaldo splattered them with a burning gelatin, encasing them.
Erewhen didn't expect Aguinaldo to move so quickly. Then, Aguinaldo punched him with a hammer-like blow, causing Erewhen to lose his balance and fall to the ground like an uncontrolled aircraft. Aguinaldo was able to produce glass shards of fire.
As Erewhen tried to control himself in mid-air, Aguinaldo followed up with another punch that felt like a rocket launch. Before he could even hit the ground, Aguinaldo was waiting for him, casually whistling and humming, ready to kick him again and send him flying upwards.
Aguinaldo even clapped his hands, and then estimated in his mind how far Erewhen had flown due to his kick.
"It's so much fun when you can fly, isn't it? Many people dream of having wings, but don't worry, with just one kick, your fleeting wish to fly in the air will come true!"
"He broke off my Eyesore Curse," Erewhen muttered to himself, covering his painful left eye with his palm.
Meanwhile, Aguinaldo summoned fire glass shards that formed a house, and soon, more houses appeared, forming a village.
He flashed a taunting smile at Erewhen before hurling the flame shards at him.
"You're lucky because I didn't hold back on my attacks."
Erewhen couldn't dodge the flame shards and fell onto the concrete platform. The severe damage and the force of his fall left him blacked out.
Aguinaldo checked on Erewhen's condition and booted him, but he didn't get a response.
The trainees were still stuck in the scorching gelatin, unable to move. When Aguinaldo's stomach started to hurt, he vomited out Sir Antonof.
When Afghast opened his eyes again, he saw the door of Aguinaldo's prison slowly closing. He also saw him walking towards the darkest corner of his cage.
"What did you do?" Afghast asked uncertainly.
"As I said, I just gave a lesson to the one-eyed kid." Although Aguinaldo's voice was baritone and raspy, it was laced with satisfaction. "That's all I did, so don't worry about it."
"It seems like you did more than what we agreed on to Erewhen. You went overboard."
"I've been locked up for a long time, so I was excited to use my abilities. And what I did probably provoked his anger towards you even more, but he's good to use as a punching bag."
When Afghast opened his eyes again, he saw his co-trainees sitting and being given a healing potion by Nurse Mushu's clones. Nurse Mushu, on the other hand, was casting a healing spell on Erewhen.
Afghast thought that his actions would get him into detention, but instead, it seemed like showing his strength was commendable.
Instead of being feared, his co-trainees were more impressed with him, except for Matrix. Despite their rivalry, Afghast still decided to visit Erewhen at the clinic while he was resting. When Erewhen regained consciousness, he avoided eye contact with Afghast.
"Now we're even," Erewhen said, looking in a different direction.
"It sounds like you want to imply that we need a final fight to determine who's really going to win between us," Afghast replied casually, but in a way that suggested he wanted to end their rivalry.
"When that happens, I'll really give it my all," he said, looking Afghast straight in the eye.
"I know you're strong, Erewhen. You're a tough opponent, and I'm glad I've met someone who challenges my abilities."
"At first, I didn't like you, but when you made me feel fear again, well, you impressed me. But that doesn't mean we're friends. We're still rivals, and there's still going to be a duel between us."
"If that's the case, I'll look forward to the time we'll fight again."
Erewhen couldn't help but smile vaguely at Afghast's response. Although their initial impressions of each other weren't great, what happened had slowly formed an allegiance between them.
Afghast was heading back to his dormitory when he bumped into Matrix. At first, he was puzzled why Matrix was standing in front of him with a friendly expression. Matrix approached him and put his arm around his shoulders.
"Don't you have anything to do tonight?" Matrix asked him.
Afghast immediately removed Matrix's arm from his shoulders, suspicious of Matrix's actions.
"Your actions are strange, Matrix."
"Okay, I know we have tension between us, but can we put that in the past? I feel ashamed of what I said to you, but it's not the end to start a friendship, right?"
Afghast didn't say anything.
"I don't have anything to do tonight, why?" Afghast replied.
"We're having a get-together in our room. A drinking party, that kind of thing. We've been stuck inside for a long time and it's been a while since we've been able to let loose and have some fun, so we thought we'd initiate a boys' party - and all the guys are invited - and this party is exclusive to men only."
Matrix's plan seemed fun, so Afghast agreed to join him. That night, Afghast headed to Matrix's room with Comtalc.
When the door opened, they were struck by the sight of Matrix, Xenomim, and Gismuth's room transformed into a beerhouse.
What was surprising was where they got all the party supplies. Erewhen's presence inside was unexpected.
"I thought you were at the clinic recovering?" Comtalc asked Erewhen.
"No exceptions to this party, so Matrix's group brought me from the clinic. Actually, they kidnapped me."
Matrix, Xenomim, and Gismuth welcomed Afghast and Comtalc as they arrived.
"Where did you guys get all this stuff?" Comtalc asked.
"We traded with the Larkansas. We pooled our training incentives and exchanged them for beer and other types of drinks from different timelines," Gismuth explained.
"These LED lights hanging on the wall were made from the 1980s, and the music you're hearing is a vinyl record from the 2000s. Those things are expensive, but it's not hard to negotiate with the Larkansas," Xenonim uttered.
"Not just that, we also bought from them a strange green powder called Boomslang," Matrix added. "It's a kind of powder that when you take it, you feel like you're floating in the stratosphere."
The male trainees' fun began. There are no rules in High Periphery that prohibit this kind of fun.
Afghast saw Matrix sprinkling the green powder and when Matrix sniffed it, he seemed to feel immense relief.
Then Matrix sprinkled the powder in front of Afghast.
"Sniff it," he ordered. At first, Afghast hesitated, but driven by curiosity, he imitated what Matrix did earlier. When he sniffed the green powder called Boomslang, his system seemed to go hysterical.
His heart felt like it was going to suffocate, but then he felt relief. He couldn't help but giggle. Both he and Matrix were laughing without reason.
When he felt like he was floating in the air and couldn't feel the things he was touching, Matrix started his next plan.
Afghast's world darkened when Matrix put his head inside a sack bag.