Prospounae and Asphela were the first ones to attack, they charged and the Paladin together and started to attack alternately, with easiness Seraphim avoid them while slowly recoiling. He started to swing his wings of fire in front of him to distract them, when they tried to dodge the wings, he would punch them away. He sent Prospounae flying with one attack and then rushed at Asphela, she quickly turned into lightning and ran back. Seraphim stomped his foot in the ground and made a mud wall rise behind her, she crashed against it and before she could react again his punch opened a hole at her skull. At the same time Valon, who was invisible, concentrated all of his mana in his hand and tried to pierce Seraphim's armor in the chest, aiming for the heart. When his fist reached the Paladin, Valon thought that he got it but the image of the Paladin in front of him vanished into flames and appeared above the mud wall; Seraphim was falling to crush Valon when Thysíla came in and pulled the Paladin away. Mikael and Onami followed their friend and started to attack the enemy, Mikael with the two cleavers and Onami shooting from far. \\
The bow Idiofyel made for the armor Onami has a special and unique skill, it is capable of pulling part of the mana held by its user and place everything available in a very small point at the arrowhead. It is accompanied by four arrows, if the cavalier misses the target, the mana at the tip will disperse through the rest of the arrow and will make it float back to the quiver it was before the shot. Onami's aim is not the best in the world but she just started. \\
They boy tried to hit countless blows but not a single one of them touched Seraphim's plate, his blows were still very slow and uncoordinated. The only reason why Seraphim did not end the boy's life was Onami, who risked a shot every time Mikael finished an attack. Asphela was watching the fight from outside, when she remembered that they had three lives each she put on Asphela, opened the door and charged at the Paladin, attacking him along with Mikael. Her first attacks passed near him but still did not touched the plate; Mikael changed his method to help Asphela in her attacks, instead of aiming at the head and the body of the Paladin he focused his attacks at the limbs, so he could not avoid Asphela's charge. Holding the rapier to pierce her target, she turned into lightning and charged once again. Seeing that he could not avoid the next attack, Seraphim used his wings and blocked Asphela's view of him and Mikael. When she reached the target, her sword penetrated Mikael's heart; while she could not see him, he unarmed the boy and held him in the sword's path.
The Archduke is a complete Paladin that was approved in all of the RDPE tests, he has abilities that go from curses to healing. One of his many skills involves using his mana as an infrared thermometer, he can feel changes and small temperature spikes in a certain area around him. That is why when Valon tried to sneak on him again, he instantly grabbed the cavalier's hand and pierced the boy's head with his fist, killing him.\\
In that moment, one of Onami's four arrows as able to hit the Paladin and pierce his arm. Seraphim stared at her started to run in her direction. Prospounae stood between both of them and defended her as much as he could from Seraphim's attacks, it was necessary three punches for the Paladin break through the boy's defense. The first one was with his right hand, Prospounae defended with the lion. The second one was with his left hand, Prospounae defended with the eagle and bashed the Paladin with the lion right after. In the third one, Seraphim's right hand started to shine like the fire in his wings, the punch overpassed the lion as if it was made of plastic. He killed Onami and Prospounae right after. Asphela was far away waiting for Mikael and Valon to come back so they could attack Seraphim at the same time. \\
Right before Seraphim could kill Thysíla, Valon saved and healed her while Mikael and Asphela engaged in attack. This time Mikael used Kentaurus and the Diamond Limbo to attack only the legs of the Paladin. While attacking, he screamed Neró to generate thick water whips that, together with the lightning torrent created by his sword, made Seraphim create another mud defense to protect himself against it. At the same time, Asphela attacked with her rapier in lightning form; she aimed at his neck, trying to cut off the Archduke's head but he ducked and avoided the attack. Prospounae and Onami returned and rushed to attack Seraphim again; the boy got closer to the enemy and just like Mikael and Asphela, he ceaselessly tried to bash his shields against the Paladin and deal damage to him. During one of the attacks Seraphim was able to grab the back-side of Toliman and push it into Prospounae to break through his lion shield. Mikael was already without balance after hitting the shield, the Paladin kicked him in the back and threw him at the path of an arrow fired by Onami; the arrow pierced his armor in the belly, drilling until the other side; it was not fatal.\\
From far away, Valon was looking at the fight. He said something to Thysíla, who immediately joined the others in the fight, but since her armor did not have a weapon, she did not get too close to the Paladin.
After Valon joined the actual fight, the cavaliers slowly started to surround the Paladin. Valon told Mikael his plan through the mana pulses, he wanted to immobilize Seraphim's head allowing Onami to fire an arrow at him. "Since Onami's attacks were the only ones capable of piercing his plate and deal actual damage to Seraphim, one arrow to the head should kill him" Valon said. Seraphim smiled.\\
The Paladin looked around to know how the cavaliers were positioning themselves. Asphela was right in front of him, ValonVorum at his right and Thysíla at his left. Behind him, at a great distance, was Onami; and in his path to the archer was Prospounae and Mikael. Onami shot the first arrow, he dodged. Asphela ran to him as if she was going to attack but before her sword actually reach the Paladin, she stopped and held the rapier in the ground. Seraphim, who was waiting for the attack, stood paralyzed staring at the cavalier crouched in front of him. In the second he stopped, Prospounae pushed him and Asphela jumped holding the rapier in the same position it was before. The tip of the sword ran from the groin to the helmet of the Paladin but it only damaged the part where it first touched the plate. Following the attack, Mikael created an ice wall behind him and Thysíla punched him in the belly, pressing him against the wall. When his back reached the wall, Mikael made another one in front of him, slightly immobilizing him. Onami shot another arrow directly to his head, he dodged by tilting his head to the side. She shot another one but slightly to the side, he did not move this time. Thysíla was going to jump on top of the ice wall to hold his head in the place when the Paladin screamed and busted through the ice wall. The shards of the wall were thrown in all directions, Thysíla, who was the one closest to it, had her eye pierced by one of them. It reached too deep in her head and it froze her brain, killing her.\\
Seraphim opened his wings and took flight, Valon opened his and followed him but the Paladin turned around, flew over him, grabbed his wings and pulled them back while pulling Valon's body with his feet. One of his wings snapped and he fell in the ground. It was not fatal. Seraphim took a deep breath and then said to the ones bellow him: \\
—I am starting to think that I underestimated you... You guys actually surprised me. So now that all of you died at least once let's change things a little. So far, I only used warrior moves, a little magic here and there but only for defense. From now on I will also use magic to attack so prepare yourselves.
Seraphim lifted his right hand to his chest and a small ball started to appear above it. It was extremally shining, almost like the sun. When it started to grow, the brightness decreased. The six cavaliers stared at it; Mikael wondered if it was a fire ball but, usually, in fire balls, at least the ones he saw Exoutius do, the fire would not be so contained as it was in his hand. It was a perfect sphere shape, it looked like the fire inside it was fighting against itself, as if it was about to burst out. When the sphere became the size of Seraphim's torso, it stopped growing up. The Paladin smiled and unleashed the attack.
All of the cavaliers in the ground died. After the attack reached the ground, the heat of the explosion vaporized everything near the impact point and burned all of the other things that were relatively far. They were reborn and looked through the glass of the fighting area; it was full of steam and mist from the water the was vaporized in the attack. When the steam started to dissipate, they saw Seraphim flying there, calmly waiting for them to return. Mikael and Asphela looked at each other and then at ValonVorum.\\
—What do we do? — Asphela asked him. \\
—I don't know. — Valon looked slightly desperate — Was that the attack he used against you in your duel?\\
—I... don't think so. The one he used against me was way faster. I think if it was this one, I would remember.\\
—So... does that mean that... he has another attack that can kill all of us instantly? — Prospounae said.\\
—Yes. — Mikael answered. \\
From inside the glass Seraphim shouted:\\
—What happened? Did you guys give up? \\
They entered the fighting area and Mikael started to talk.\\
—Are going to explain to us what was that attack? \\
—What? The fire Nova? Did you like it? — The Paladin asked with a giant smile on his face.\\
—Fire Nova? I absolutely love it. Will you teach it to us? — Mikael said and used the Diamond Limbo to attack him with a lightning torrent. Asphela charged at him at the same time. \\
He flew slightly higher to avoid Asphela and then made his wings disappear, kicking the girl in the back and sending her to the ground like a meteor. While he attacked Asphela, Mikael was able to hit him with the lightning attack, making him fall on the ground close to Asphela. Thysíla followed the attack by jumping and kicking the Paladin the belly; when her foot touched his plate, the Archduke's body vanished in flames and he reappeared far away. Seraphim closed his eyes and took a long breath, his wings started to grow to an abnormal size. Prospounae rushed to him but the heat emitted by the wings started to cause serious damage to him; he forced himself to continue but the lion shield started to melt while he was holding it, making him stop his charge. From a "safe" distance, Onami shot two of the three remaining arrows she had, the other one was stuck in Seraphim's arm. Both of the arrows burned down before they could reach the Paladin.\\
Seraphim wings were now almost as big as the arena they were fighting. He started to move them and surround the whole place with it, creating a fire vortex around them and forcing the cavaliers to concentrate in a specific area in the middle. Slowly, the area delimited by the fire of the wings was getting smaller, in an act of despair, all of the cavaliers started to attack the Paladin. Asphela was the first one to reach him in lightning form, but before she could perform an effective attack, the heat Seraphim was releasing burned her to death. After her death, Seraphim finally opened his eyes and started to rampage. The cavalier closest to him was Prospounae, who saw the herald of death coming to him at full speed. With no chance to defend himself, his head was severed and his neck was instantly seared due to the heat of Seraphim's attack.\\
When the rest of the students saw what happened to Prospounae, they stopped charging. Valon looked around to see if there was a chance of escape from the fire vortex; he looked at Mikael, who also was trying to find a way out. The soul thief looked around to see if there was a point where the fire wall was slimmer, he did not find any. When he looked at his hands, remembered the dream he had and the well where he found Kentaurus and Toliman; he instantly ran to the fire wall and created a half moon shaped ice passage in it. Unfortunately, the only ones able to reach the passage were Mikael and Onami. Valon and Thysíla were shattered by Seraphim hands right before they could escape.\\
When the two remaining cavaliers turn back to watch the vortex from the outside, the flames started to extinguish, leaving only the Paladin in the middle and the remains of another student in his hands.They were lost. Onami had only one arrow and Mikael knew that Seraphim could use another magic and erase both of them. The Archduke cleaned his hand and then turned to the two survivors.\\
—This is fun. I should come here to "train" you more often. — He said smiling. \\
—Fun is not the word I would like to use... — Onami whispered.\\
—Since you guys were able to escape this last cage, I am going to give you two another present. I am going to show you another magic. — He lifted his right arm and pointed the palm of his hand to them — Thinking about it, the present is only to Onami since Mikael already had the chance to see this one.\\
Mikael instantly shouted for Onami to hide behind him, lifted Kentaurus as high as he could and screamed Gi. From Seraphim's hand a giant beam of light and heat was fired. It was destroying everything on its way, the ground was burn down and the water in the place was evaporated; the rain did not even touch the ground. The protection Mikael made was dealing surprisingly well with the attack, he reinforced the barrier with an ice wall behind it preventing the rocks from melting. The beam was wider than Mikael's wall so the only way out for them was wait until the attack worn out. Suddenly, a fire Seraphim emerged from the beam at their left side and pushed Onami in the fire with him. Before Mikael could act, another Seraphim emerged and tried to do the same with him, he held the Diamond Limbo and tried to cut the enemy who vanished into flames with the contact of the sword. At that point, the beam stopped and Seraphim was at the same place where the attack started.\\
—Oh, look at that, you survived... I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you learn very quick.\\
—I'm glad you noticed. I will be using these attacks you showed us today in no time too. Do you have any other attack you would like to show me while you have the chance to defeat me?\\
Seraphim started laughing.\\
—You are hilarious kid... If one day you are able to hit me with one of the attacks I used against you today... I will give up and declare you the winner. But you will need to actually deal damage to me with it...\\
—Is this a challenge? \\
—Maybe. You see, from the arsenal of attacks I can use, there are three that are my favorites. The first one is the Sun Beam, the one that I've just used. The second one is the Fire Nova, the one that I used against you all earlier. And the third one is Inferno.\\
—Will you use this one now? — Mikael asked with great interest.\\
—No. This one I only use in especial occasions. There are only Two people in the entire world who have seen this attack and are still alive today. — Seraphim appeared behind Mikael and punched through the boy's chest — I'm sorry boy, but you won't be seeing Inferno today. \\
When Mikael noticed, the Seraphim he was looking to this entire time was another of his fire images. While pulling his arm out, Seraphim whispered:\\
—If you still want to talk with me, I will be in my office during the morning.\\
They left the glass in the arena and found the other cavaliers there waiting for them. Prospounae and Asphela had a frightened look in their faces while staring at the Archduke. \\
—You guys are getting a lot stronger than I expected — Seraphim said with a gently smile in his face — If you keep training like this, I will have some serious problems next time... \\
—You say that but you killed us eighteen times — Asphela said — and it didn't look like you were having a hard time doing so. \\
Seraphim laughed. \\
—That's because I have way more combat experience than you. I get used to see strategies like the ones you guys used it today. — He turns to Valon — You are very observer, but you need to be a little more cautious about the way you communicate with your allies. When you told them about holding my head so Onami could shoot it with an arrow, you also told me. I could understand the way you were communicating without a problem. — He turns to Prospounae — You are very vulnerable to magical attacks, if you intend to be a good front line for your allies you need to focus more of your energy in your shields. — He turns to Asphela — Your attacks are extremely fast, so fast that sometimes not even you can follow them correctly. It is very easy to take advantage of that and counter attack you. — He turns to Thysíla — Your instincts are great and your attacks are strong, but you need a weapon otherwise you will never defeat someone by yourself. — He turns to Onami — You need to train your aim and know when to attack even more efficiently. If you had shot a good arrow in the right moment you could have killed me many times today. — Onami's eyes shinned, Seraphim turned to Mikael — You are focusing in too many things at the same time, trying to learn every new thing you see and not actually committing and developing any of them. You use the cleavers as a bruiser, the sword as a mage and those ice creations as an architect. I understand that you have many interests and you can learn fast but, instead of trying to learn all of them at the same time, focus on one and then, when are you done with it, go to the next one. You will be way stronger this way... I think this is all. Good night to all of you, and don't train too much, it can be bad sometimes.\\
The Paladin left the arena. Later in that same day Mikael went to Seraphim's office to finally talk with the Paladin. He knocked on the door but no one responded. He knocked again, still no response. Mikael looked down and saw a distinct light coming from inside the room, it was orange and red, nothing like the sun he is used to. He slowly opened the door and saw Seraphim there, with the left arm, wrist and hand of his armor equipped, he was standing up and still with his palm pointed to an opened chest on his table. His hand was shining orange and the content inside the chest was responding in red. \\
Mikael got closer and called Seraphim who stared at the boy for a single second and then went back to what he was doing. The cavalier, slightly confused, tried to look inside the chest but the brightness was too strong; he stood up for a while and then sat down in one of the chairs of the office, waiting there until Seraphim was finished. \\
After a couple of minutes, the chest stopped shining. When Seraphim noticed, he also stopped; the Paladin lowered his arm and then sat down in his chair, taking a big breath of relief. He turned to the boy and, before he could say anything, Mikael said: \\
—What was that? \\
—This? — He said pointing to the chest. Mikael nodded — It's an egg. — He turned the chest towards his student. \\
Inside it, he saw a gigantic egg; bigger than his head, almost the size of the chest. The boy stood up to look at it from above but Seraphim pulled the chest towards him; Mikael remembered the reason of his visit and sat down once again. He deeply stared at the Paladin as an engorged silence fulfilled the room; when Seraphim closed the chest and looked at him, the boy started. \\
—Why did you asked Idiofyel to make this armor for you? \\
Seraphim thought for a while and took a deep breath. \\
—Because I wanted an armor with certain abilities that my current one does not possess. \\
—You wanted one that could give a power that you do not have... \\
—Well... not exactly. You see, that would be forbidden — Mikael frowned — I do have all of those powers, but I wanted to reach them more easily. \\
—Idiofyel told me that I shouldn't use the armor at a full power. \\
—Indeed. This armor has many powers that you don't. The cleavers are an example. If I remember correctly, so far in our elemental classes the only elements that you could use were... Actually, last time you could only use ice. And ice is not even one of the elements you need to pass in the RDPE. \\
Mikael lifted his hand and made a small ball of water in his hand. \\
—I'll get there... Eventually... \\
Seraphim laid back on his chair. \\
—Why did you asked Idiofyel to make an armor with no personality for you, knowing that it is forbidden? Were you so afraid of being rejected by the armor? \\
The Paladin smiled. \\
—I was. I requested a very specific type of armor that could serve all of my objectives. — He leaned forward — Imagine that armor rejecting you and falling into the hands of another cavalier. \\
… \\
—I guess it is true... — Seraphim continued — "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it". \\
—There are some other things that I would like to know. \\
—Please, continue... \\
—What did you ask for Idiofyel? What type of "abilities" Mikael has? And, what objectives do you have that needed such specific type of armor? \\
Seraphim stared Mikael with deep blank eyes, as if his consciousness left his body for a couple of seconds and then returned. He corrected his posture in the chair and then started to talk. \\
—I... will not answer... any of these questions. — Mikael did not look surprised — I won't tell you what the armor can do because this is something that you need to discover alone. If I tell you what kind of powers the armor has, it will be like giving the precise instructions of what you need to do to use the armor, making you dependent of it. What you should do is use the armor to make the powers you already have stronger; like those ice walls and tunnels you made during our training earlier. Instead of using the cleavers to make frail dirt walls, why don't you train to make your own ice walls stronger? — Mikael kept soulless staring to the Paladin, without saying a word or showing interest — Ice is not exactly a common element. If you focused more of your training in it, you would be an extremely strong Cavalier by the end of the year. \\
Seraphim stared at Mikael, who still had no reaction. The Paladin started to get angry. \\
—My opinion has not changed — Seraphim continued — Before the armors ceremony I told you that you should go only to the classes in the Warrior Major Division. After seeing what you did today, I can say that, without a doubt, you would be way stronger focusing only in those. — Mikael did not answer, Seraphim started to talk louder — Your attacks using water and lightning were basically useless. They were easily defended or avoided and did not even gave an opening for your teammates to abuse. — Mikael kept staring in silence until Seraphim screamed — Hey, are you listening? \\
—No. — Seraphim was enraged — I guess you won't tell me why you need the armor. Sooo... I'll be going now.