Reasons

The next day.

The bell rang across Red Spire Academy.

Training sessions were over for the day.

Cid sat alone on the dorm rooftop.

"Tournament in a year."

"Top three will learn Power Zone."

"Earn a place in the Royal Soldiers."

"Royal soldiers, why would i want that."

Marla's face flickered in his head. Warm smile, bloody throat.

"I didn't come here to serve anyone," he muttered. "I came to get stronger."

He closed his eyes.

The city was too quiet for a kingdom at peace.

Then...

"I figured i'd find you here."

Cid opened his eyes but didn't turn.

Elias stepped up beside him, holding two bottles of water. He offered one without a word.

Cid took it.

Elias sat.

They didn't speak for a while.

Finally, Elias broke it silence.

"You're not joining the tournament, are you?"

Cid didn't reply.

Elias smiled faintly. "Didn't think so."

More silence.

Then Elias sighed, leaned back on his arms and looked up at the sky.

"You know... I'm not doing it for glory. Or for Power Zone."

Cid raised a brow.

"Then why?"

Elias hesitated.

"My dad used to be a noble."

Cid blinked and turned fully to face him.

Elias kept staring at the sky.

"Yeah, he got framed."

"For treason. For spying."

"Stripped of everything."

Cid's eyes narrowed.

"Framed?"

Elias nodded slowly.

"He tried to expose a deal between a Duke and a war profiteer. Instead... they exposed him."

His voice grew quieter.

"After that, something inside him broke. He started drinking, hitting and screaming."

"My mom left. I didn't."

"I stayed. Kept telling myself he'll get better."

He glanced at Cid.

"But he didn't, he just got worse."

 "That's why i'm here."

"I want to get strong enough so i can stop things like that from happening to others."

Cid looked away. Elias's voice wasn't shaky. Just honest.

"You think being a royal soldier will let you do that?"

Elias shrugged.

"Not all of them are bad. Some are trying to change things from the inside."

"I want to be one of those, get a high rank and run a coup."

Cid was shocked beyond belief.

"Coup?"

"Yeah."

Elias stood.

"I don't expect you to care."

"I just thought you should know, some of us are fighting for things we can't fix alone."

Then he walked toward the stairwell.

Paused.

"You're strong, Cid. But don't lose yourself chasing the past."

He vanished into the shadows below.

Cid sat in silence.

The next day. Morning.

The elite classes trained where no one else could see them. High up in thre Iron Hollow, on a mountain.

Only the strongest could survive here.

Elite Class 1, lowest of the top.

Cid stood on a cracked obsidian tile, looking around.

Elias stood beside him, arms crossed, as serious as ever. 

Across from them, a man waited.

Tall, gaunt, scar over one eye.

Instructor Drakon.

"Welcome to training," he said, voice rusted like rusted steel.

"You think you are strong because you passed some entrance trials?"

He stepped forward.

Everyone flinched.

Drakon smiled slightly.

"You're weak. All of you."

"Elite tier means nothing unless you can bleed for it."

"You will meditate four hours every morning. No fainting. No moving."

"If you fail, you don't eat."

"At noon, you spar."

His finger moved to the cliff wall behind him, jagged, sheer, and stretching into the clouds.

"At dusk, you climb that mountain. No gear, no Power, no excuses."

He cracked his knuckles.

"If i catch you slacking... I'll break your legs myself."

A few students gulped.

Elias nodded.

Cid smirked faintly.

"You two... Number 7 and Number 8."

"You're the problem children."

"You've got talent. So I'm going to break you harder."

"Hope you survive."

He suddenly unleashed his Aura.

It hit like a divine hammer.

The ground pulsed.

Every student dropped to one knee. One screamed and passed out. A boy vomited. 

Cid staggered, gasping. The pressure was crushing like a boulder was dumped on his head.

"S...Still sure this was a good idea?" he muttered between clenched teeth.

Elias didn't answer.

But he was still standing, barely.

Drakon's voice drifted back through the storm of pressure.

"Begin."

Three Months Later.

Iron Hollow was quieter now.

Of the 15 students in Elite Class 1 (Cid, Elias and the rest who were already in the school), only 9 remained.

The rest were injured or broken.

Cid stood near the edge of the training plateau, sweat dripping from his jawline. Muscles ached. His cloak clung to his back.

Across the stone yard, Elias dropped into a crouch after finishing his 500th jumping squat.

Instructor Drakon's voice rang out.

"Training cycle's over."

"You've survived."

"Barely."

He paused, eyes cold.

"Now... go. You've got six months to train yourselves."

"No hand holding."

"No supervision."

"If you will return like you are now or just a little stronger. Don't return at all."

Then he walked off, coat whipping behind him in the wind.

No applause, no ceremony. Just silence.

That Evening.

Cid and Elias sat on the rooftop of the dorm again, water bottles clinking between them.

"Feels weird," Elias muttered.

Cid glanced at him. "What?"

"No Drakon yelling in our ears."

Cid shrugged. "I'll miss the threats."

They sat quietly a moment.

Then Elias leaned forward, elbows on knee.

"You know what i've been thinking?"

Cid raised an eyebrow.

"We need more than this," Elias said. "More than just drills and sparring. We need someone who can actually elevate us."

Cid narrowed his eyes. "You have someone in mind?"

Elias grinned faintly.

"Yuri."

Cid blinked.

"That weirdo who has a girl's name?"

Elias exhaled, then shook his head. "I can't stop thinking about that pressure. Like... the world was collapsing inward."

Cid's jaw tightened. "I felt like i was about to be erased."

"Power like that," Cid muttered. "And he's scared of his own shadow."

"He must not have friends."

Elias took a long sip of water. "You ever wonder how someone like him gets that strong?"

Cid's voice was low. Firm.

"I want to train with him."

"He might teach us Aura."

Elias blinked. "You think he'll agree."

"He doesn't strike me as the type who says no directly," Cid said. "And after what he did... I don't care if I have to beg."

"He's Aura was stronger than that of Drakon."

Elias smirked faintly. "You, begging? Now that, I've got to see."

"Dick." Cid rolled his eyes.

Elias looked back out at the night sky.

"I was thinking the same thing, you know?" he said quietly. "If we want to stand a chance in that tournament."

Cid nodded. "Then we need something more."

Elias grinned. "Great so we are asking Red Spire's most powerful, emotionally unstable student with trust issues to train us."

"Could be worse?"

Silence again.

Then Elias stretched his arms behind his head. "Alright. Let's find him tomorrow. Hope he doesn't pass out just from us showing up."

Cid pushed off the railing. 

"If he does, we'll wake him up."

They walked back into the dorm together.

Tomorrow, they'd knock on the door of the strongest.

And hope he opened it.