As they were allowed entry into the castle and Jaakuna would both tell Emiri that they needed to find Grant and also asked her if anything about the castle seemed familiar to her. She didn’t say anything to him in response, but Jaakuna just knew that something clicked as Emiri would lead him somewhere. They would turn corners, go down some hallways and all the while Jaakuna had a smile on his face. He didn’t know where exactly they were heading, but the fact that Emiri seemed to know exactly where it was made him happy. At the very least, some bits and pieces of her memory were coming back and that made Jaakuna happy .

When she led them to the location that she had been doing, they walked through a door and to his delight and surprise, there was the Roselian Royal Family all gathered — Empress Riea, Prince Grant, Lady Karolina, and dear ol’ Grant — all gathered in the same place. Of course, they weren’t gathered cause they wanted to be, which prompted Emiri to apologize as she stated that she and Jaakuna were merely looking for Grant. Reia, obviously in a sarcastic way, told them to come in and of course ignoring said sarcasm, they did come in. Karolina would ask Emiri how she was doing as she motioned them to take a seat next to her on the couch. They did and Emiri replied with a ‘just fine. Reia would instantly jump on them and asked them what they were doing here and Emiri would repeat her earlier reason and that caught her a look from Reia.

As Jaakuna just looked at Reia with shifted eyes, Lorenzo would cough and state that the reason that Stigma was in such chaos was cause there was a Magicite explosion in Anther. Jaakuna remembered being told that Anther was their largest mine or something of the like. That’s when Lorenzo would state then state that half of the explosion destroyed Anther and that many people in Stigma were blaming Archadia. That’s when Jaakuna’s jaw dropped. Sure the news of the explosion was bad, but he couldn’t believe people would actually think that Archadia would do such a thing.

[b]“There’s no way.”[/b] Jaakuna right out refused to believe it. [b]“Sure, Archadia might have done some shitty things in the past and sure, even till this day, they do questionable things, but even if my brother Roman was put out of commission and that my Grandfather took over or my other brother Vincent, there’s no way that they would approve of such a bold move against Rozarria.”[/b] Jaakuna said in raised voice, and his eyes shifted straight to Reia. [b]“This is your doing, isn’t it?”[/b] He instantly jumped the gun. [b]“You’re trying to start a war so you can sit comfortably in your throne and all the while, you can have anybody who can succeed you to be put to their deaths.”[/b] He said clearly angry. [b]“You even hired an assassin to kill all of us.”[/b] Jaakuna was beyond a point of just being angry at the fact that his homeland was being accused of attacking Stigma. 

-----

It was like the two were some kind of dueling samurai or something. The more that they upped each other, the more that they seemed to be enjoying it. [b]“I take back what I said.”[/b] Savayna whispered to Nadeline, [b]“He might be more like Jaakuna than Jaakuna is himself.”[/b] She told Nadeline as she shook her head.

As Hashmaal would grin at Wesley, the esper just examined Wesley, looking into his eyes, seeing his stance and how focused he was. He did notice that the boy was definitely hurt and he showed exhaustion, he couldn’t help but feel that Wesley wouldn’t win the fight that the two of them were going to continue. [b]“Boy, you are not well. You show signs of physical exhaustion that indicate you will not last much longer.”[/b] Hashmaal would point out.

Surprised by this, Wesley spoke, [b]“What are you talking about? I am just fine!”[/b] Wesley retorted.

[b]“You might think so, but I can sense otherwise.“[/b] Hashmaal shook his head and extended his arm, a glow of orange would emit and a blast of sorts would instantly surround Wesley, healing not only his physical injuries(bruises mostly), and would rejuvenate him to full strength. [b]“There, you are at full-strength. Now, you can come at me without any worries.”[/b] Hashmaal said and saw the surprised look on Wesley’s face.

As the two looked at each other smiling, it soon turned to the expressions of battle as both had serious looks on their face. Wesley would take his stance as he did before and Hashmaal would simply put his fists up like a boxer would. Then, in a speeding dash, Hashmaal went in. His body being surrounded by a brownish-orange aura, mainly around his feet and arms, he went in for several punches, each either being dodged by Wesley’s quick reflexes or being deflected by Wesley’s precision-timing blacks of his sword. Each punch got faster and stronger as each one went on and the same with Wesley. Either he would have quicker reaction time and/or his sword would be able to block Hashmaal more effectively. Even while Hashmaal increased the amount of force his punches would push out, Wesley equally increased his magick to increase his speed and reflexes. It was like a never-ending exchange.

And then the tables turned.

Hashmaal was getting fed up of the exchange that he roared, causing Wesley to become slightly startled by it. Hashmaal then, with one right uppercut, punched Wesley in the jaw and the Dalmascan prince was sent flying into the air, flipping five times before landing on his back. The amount of force that was pressed into his jaw would have killed any normal Hume, but for some reason Wesley did not die. He didn’t even have a broken jaw. Now, the trip he took from the impact to where he landed, that was a different story. He probably bruised a rib or two, but Wesley’s jaw was fine.

As Wesley felt his jaw, Hashmaal smiled. [b]“Good, the seed was planted in time.”[/b] Hashmaal said as if satisfied.

Wesley looked at Hashmaal. [b]“What seed?”[/b] He asked confused.

[b]“Unlike what I told you about The Lion Seal, there is another way that us Espers can elevate our ones to the status of The Chosen Ones.”[/b] Hashmaal said, [b]“I gave you both, and as such, you are worthy, Wesley.”

“And that would be what exactly?”

“You are worthy to summon me.”[/b]

Completely surprised by this, Wesley actually had an expression on his face that implied he was against it. [b]“What are you talking about? In both times we went at it, you got the better of me. How exactly is that me being worthy?”[/b] Wesley asked completely confused.

[b]“You are right. I kicked your ass both times, but this fight was never about you beating me alone.” [/b]Hashmaal said, [b]“I mean, come on Wesley. You might be strong, but I’m the Bringer of Order and the third-strongest Esper of all time. Against me on your own is like you taking on The King of Precepts, which as you might know, would be entirely foolish.”[/b] Hashmaal laughed, [b]“this entire exchange was about me seeing where your true strength was.”[/b] Hashmaal revealed to Wesley, [b]“truth be told, I’m surprised you lasted the first exchange, let alone multiple rounds. You are ready for The Lion Seed and you are ready to become a Full Powered Chosen One.”[/b] Hashmaal said.

Wesley was so taken back by all of what Hashmaal said. He just didn’t know what to think. He was thrilled that he had gained an esper, but he was also slightly angry at the fact that it was all a test to see if he was ready to become a fully-powered Chosen One. Still, Wesley couldn’t help but smile and laugh at the entire ordeal. [b]“Well okay then. How does this work then?”[/b] Wesley asked.

Hashmaal smirked. He would say nothing and instead his body would glow in ethereal orange, to which he would be reverted to his glyph. The glyph would flash three times before disappearing and appearing on Wesley’ right arm, and that was that.