"Uh… I guess you could say I'm better with the attributes Finn and Gareth awakened. The one you might awaken, Riveria, isn't really my strong suit."
Tsuna dragged out his words awkwardly, explaining with a hint of embarrassment.
"The power that Tiona and Tione awakened is called the Dying Will Flame. They specialize in close combat, and their flames—focused on self-enhancement and raw destruction—just happen to be the type I'm most familiar with."
"After all, compared to doing mental work, I'm much more comfortable charging straight into battle."
The combat styles of the Dying Will Flame vary completely depending on their attributes.
Among them, "Mist" is the most distinctive.
Its lower limit can be incredibly weak, yet its upper limit can reach unimaginable heights.
Being able to master Mist is practically a hallmark of a true powerhouse.
Tsuna was something of a halfway master of the Dying Will Flame. He was skilled at controlling it, but far from mastering every attribute's unique properties.
He had understood it, but not yet mastered it.
He could offer guidance, but the finer control still depended on the one who wielded the flame.
"It was supposed to happen much earlier, but my later plans required me to hide out with the Hephaestus Familia, so things got delayed until now."
"Talk about bad luck."
After hearing the full story, Riveria couldn't help but feel that her luck truly was awful—otherwise, things wouldn't have been postponed for so long due to so many random incidents.
But considering what Tsuna had been facing at the time, she could understand why she'd been delayed until now.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Riveria noticed Ais—looking like a child waiting desperately to be fed.
"What about Ais?"
"Ais? She's actually been put last—by me, Finn, and Gareth. We all agreed it's best she doesn't receive this power for now."
"!?"
The words struck Ais like a thunderbolt. She froze mid-motion, eyes wide, as if she'd just been hit by a petrification curse.
I knew it…
Riveria wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Ais was a child with an unstable mindset. The moment she sensed her growth slowing, that restless anxiety would start to eat away at her composure.
And whenever she gained a new power, she could never resist testing it—like a child playing with fire, desperate to confirm her own strength.
Finn and Gareth made the right call, Riveria thought.
Her gaze shifted toward Tsuna.
Age-wise, he and Ais were peers. But when it came to mental maturity, the difference between them was vast.
Ais always charged forward recklessly without thinking about the consequences—acting first, dealing with the fallout later.
Tsuna wasn't exactly a paragon of restraint either; he had rushed in blindly to rescue the four girls from Astraea Familia.
That had been an act of curiosity toward the unknown—but if a trap had been laid, he would have walked right into it.
Let's just say Tsuna is slightly better than Ais.
Yes, only slightly, in Riveria's opinion.
At least Tsuna had the capacity to respond to unforeseen situations. His ability to handle risk was far better than Ais's.
Ais, on the other hand, often went too far—without the ability to pull things back once they spiraled out of control. Her risk management was poor, and her chances of making a mistake were high.
"Ahem! Let's set Ais's situation aside for now—"
That single line from Tsuna made Ais immediately protest.
"Tsuna! I want it too!"
But Tsuna didn't respond to her plea. Instead, his eyes turned to Riveria.
Ais wasn't someone who could make this kind of decision on her own. Whether she could obtain that power or not depended on Riveria's approval as her guardian.
Realizing this, Ais turned her pleading eyes toward Riveria—like a pitiful puppy on the verge of tears.
"Riveria."
Her gaze was so sorrowful that she almost whimpered aloud.
Unfortunately for her, Riveria had long since developed an immunity to that expression. She stood firm, completely unmoved.
"…Tsuna, what kind of power do Tiona and Tione have?"
Before deciding whether Ais should be allowed to obtain it, Riveria needed to understand exactly what this power entailed.
The conversation turned serious. Alise and Kaguya also straightened up, listening intently.
"The Dying Will Flame is divided into seven completely distinct attributes," Tsuna began. "Each is named after a phenomenon of the sky—sun, rain, storm, mist, cloud, lightning, and the most special of all, sky itself."
"The seven attributes correspond to: Activation, Tranquility, Disintegration, Construction, Propagation, Hardening, and Harmony."
"Tiona and Tione awakened the attributes 'Sun' and 'Storm'—that's Activation, which strengthens the body, and Disintegration, which unleashes tremendous destructive power."
"..."
"Gareth's is 'Lightning.' Finn's are 'Sun,' 'Rain,' and 'Storm.'"
"Through Tiona and Tione's testing, we discovered that once someone completely masters their awakened Dying Will Flame, it manifests as an entirely new Skill."
The revelation sent a wave of shock through everyone present.
"That's basically another kind of magic, isn't it?"
Alise voiced what everyone was thinking.
Tsuna didn't deny it. In fact, his own Dying Will Flame occupied one of his magic slots.
"If you really want to classify it, yes—the Dying Will Flame can be considered a form of magic."
He opened his hand, and seven flames—each a different color and form—spun slowly above his palm in a glowing circle.
"For me, the Dying Will Flame is indeed a type of magic—it takes up my magic slot. But for you, once you've received my guidance and mastered it, it won't count as magic. Instead, it manifests as three distinct Skills."
"Also, since your powers are derived through my guidance, the ability you gain won't be called Dying Will Flame, but Dying Will Veins. According to Miss Loki, that's probably because I'm the source of this power."