Devotio

Chapter 4

"Inui, if you pull something like that again, you will be the one participating in drills." Tezuka said amongst the group. The eight groups had all come together after the incident with Echizen and were currently running suicides across the training field. At least most of them were; half of the group passed out due to stopping or not making the time limit and having to drink Penal-tea.

"Honestly Inui, someone could've gotten hurt." Oishi said with a sigh.

"But it was due to the incident that I was able to get the best data." Inui fixed his glasses. "Just from his one attack, I was able to deduce his magical ability is several times greater than we thought."

Momo slung his arm around Inui's shoulders. "Inui-san, we already knew that. Why else would Chargarde be hunting him?" Everyone except Inui nodded in agreement.

"How's Arai-kun taking his defeat?" Fuji asked. Everyone looked to the young male who was currently lying on the ground. Fuji smirked. "Looks like its hitting him hard."

"He's fine. Echizen's attack missed and he merely collapsed from the shock of the situation." Inui answered.

"Was that a pun?" Kaidou asked with a raised eyebrow. "He looks like he's dying." The boy did indeed look like the reaper was standing over him.

"That's probably because of Inui's drink." Kikumaru said. "Just the smell of it makes me want to gag."

"What happened exactly?" Kawamura asked. "All I saw was the bolt come down and when we made it over here, Echizen and his brother were heading back to the camp. Are they alright?"

The group frowned. The only one that saw what happened was Inui and he was no help in saying what he had done to provoke it. They did notice how Echizen looked rather angry when he and Ryoga were leaving the grounds, not to mention the static feeling in the air had just begun to calm down.

"We'll take a break and see what we can figure out." Tezuka said. He then called to the remaining people still running suicides to stop and they would continue later in the day. With that, the group made their way back to camp and to the brother's tent.

While walking through the camp, they noticed that almost all of the bulbs that were stung up were shattered. "Kid must have lost his cool." Momo said as he brushed pieces of glass to the side.

When they got to the tent they could feel a cold chill coming out of it and upon Tezuka entering, he found Echizen, assumed to be sleeping, on his cot and Ryoga sitting on his slumped forward, elbows propped up on his legs while his chin was resting on his hands. "Ryoga-san."

Ryoga looked at Tezuka and saw the ever so slightly confused look on his face. "Sorry, the cold helps him sleep." He knew why Tezuka was there. "Do you mind if we speak somewhere else and let him sleep?" Tezuka nodded and Ryoga followed him out of the tent. They walked through the camp towards the communications tent.

Everyone went to their normal places. "Ne Ryoga-san, how are you able to do that?" Kikumaru asked. "I mean change the temperature in your tent?"

"Ah, it's relatively simple." His tone sounded distant. "Exsolvo Aer." A dull mist started emanating off his body and drifted to the floor. "It's a rather simple spell that doesn't really take any energy and can be stopped at a thought." The mist stopped and dissipated. Ryoga stared at Inui. "Why did you tell my brother to participate in that exercise?"

Inui fixed his glasses. "I needed to get proper data and the best way for that is through combat."

Ryoga's hands were clenched in fists. "Inui-san, I heard you tell them there was no need to hold back. Do you understand what would've happened if his attack hit his opponent?" Tezuka's eyes narrowed. "He still doesn't know his own limits. I know you know this, so why the hell would you allow him to go all out?"