“Ringed Combat is a one-on-one battle held within a ring to display the maximum limits of one’s fighting prowess. You can either simply force your opponent outside of the ring, receive their clear admission of surrender, and or incapacitate them to a point they can longer continue the battle.” Myeyl explained, removing her bow and quiver, and setting them over on the wall. “There are also no rules except for no dismemberments and killing, but you can use anything else within your abilities as an archer.”

“You say that, but then why aren’t you using your bow?” I questioned, wondering if I should remove my own bow and quiver in case it could result in me cheating again.

“You’ll understand when we begin fighting, but using a bow doesn’t tend to last long in this particular competition.” Myeyl smiled knowingly. “Now come and pick a melee weapon with me, Eyes.” Knowing I’m at least 10x stronger when I’m wielding a bow than a sword, I decided to trust Myeyl that I could use one, and simply kept mine on me while I walked over to pick a melee weapon I could use.

Though finally arriving here at the training hall, Zebeyeyl loudly said “Sorry that took so long you two. But I’m here now, so we can get started—”

“Ah, Farther, perfect timing! We’re over here!” Myeyl called to him, picking-out some dull dual-blades as her weapons.

“I see that. Yet may I ask what you two are doing?” Zebeyeyl inquired, watching me pick a dull training sword as my weapon—being the only thing I relatively know how to use.

“We’re just having a friendly Tri-Style Competition is all.” Myeyl informed him, giving me a little wink.

“Yeah, friendly.” I scoffed, testing the weight of my sword with a few practice swings.

“Don’t mind him, Eyes is just bitter he’s currently losing to me.” Teasingly sticking her tongue out at me. “Though if you wouldn’t mind, Father, could you judge our Ringed Combat competition?”

“I guess I’ll have to if you two aren’t planning to use wooden swords.” Zebeyeyl accepted. “Although I am extremely curious about how the previous competitions went.”

“Oh, well, targeting was broken so we skipped that competition today. But other than that, Eyes won distance, and I won manifestation and manipulation.” Myeyl relayed to him.

“She’s leaving out important details.” I interjected. “I easily won distance, I forfeited manifestation, and she enforced some stupid no practicing rule for manipulation to make me lose.”

“See, he’s just bitter.” Myeyl giggled.

“Well, either way, it’s still impressive to hear you both are on a level that you can utilize such advanced techniques already.” Zebeyeyl remarked, genuinely appearing impressed. “Which brings me to the question, are you two planning on participating in the annual Trinity Archery Competition?”

“We are.” Myeyl boldly proclaimed; explaining “I know neither you nor Odelia have ever cared for the competition or the title to be named the Greatest Trinity Archer, but I believe as Eyes and myself are both the most gifted of the emerging archers in the city, it should be our duty and responsibility as Odelia’s new students to regain her wrongfully tarnished reputation back for her." adding, "And to also erase any doubts of your leadership of our House in the process, Father.”

Zebeyeyl chuckled at her bold words, saying “I never considered you one to care so much about how others perceive us, Myeyl.”

“That’s because before I never had the power to prove them otherwise.” Myeyl reasoned, tightly gripping onto her dual-blades, “But now not only do I feel I have power to—I also have the perfect chance to prove it in the upcoming competition next month.”

Recognizing Myeyl’s willful determination, Zebeyeyl said “Alright; although Odelia may strongly disapprove and scold me for my decision when she returns, I accept your participation in that overly glorified and uninspiring competition.”

“Thank you, Father!” Myeyl jumped in excitement, “I promise I will do Odelia and you proud!”

“I’m sure you will, my dear.” He then turned to me and asked, “Do you feel the same as my daughter, Eyes? A duty and responsibility to return Odelia’s once great reputation back to her?”

“To be honest, I don’t.” I told him truthfully. “I guess I’m just not that selfless or honorable.”

“Ohhh?” Zebeyeyl raised his eyebrow, “Care to elaborate?”

“From how I see it, if you and Odelia don’t care about what people think of you, then why should I, right?” Adding, “However, I do selfishly want to participate in the competition for my own desires—in hopes to definitively state to everyone that I am the best archer in the Kingdom, and in Novus. What comes with that accomplishment, be regaining Odelia’s reputation, or the people respecting your leadership again, Lord Zebeyeyl; that is all just a bonus on my goal to prove my unquestionable greatness.”

Zebeyeyl smirked at my response, “Spoken like a true Trinity Archer. I approve of your reasoning.”

“Thank you… Master Zebeyeyl.” Causing his smirk to turn into a delighted smile.

And suddenly being in a brightful mood, Zebeyeyl enthusiastically clapped his hands together and said, “Alright, let’s get this combat started! Go on and show me exactly what my dear ol’ rival has been teaching you two how to fight!”

Standing within the sparring circle on opposite sides, Myeyl and I prepared ourselves to begin fighting, but a worrying thought suddenly occurred to me. “Hey, Anni! Are you there? I need to ask you a question asap!” I loudly voiced in my head.

“Oh stop with your loud thoughts, Voa, I’m right here.” Annihilation replied. “So what is it? What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Busy? You're in my head, what could you possibly be busy with?” I questioned.

“Hmm...stuff.” She purposely answered vaguely. “Anyhow, are you going to ask me a question or not?”

Noticing we were about to start at any moment, I quickly asked “Okay since this is our first time fighting since your awakening, and now that you are awakened, you’re not gonna force me to kill and annihilate everything we fight, are you? Because if that’s the case, I’ll need to forfeit now before this goes terribly wrong, and turns out to be another bloody massacre for Myeyl and myself.” Figuring Zebeyeyl would kill me if I lost control and killed Myeyl.

“On the contrary, my dear Voa, with myself now awakened, that uncontrollable urge to annihilate something will only befall you on my own volition and chosen whim.” Annihilation divulged, revealing quite an important fact to me. “Now if you excuse me, I wish to continue being busy with my...stuff.”

“Wait, Anni, is that really true?!” But she no longer answered, leaving me wondering if I should take her word or the System’s—recalling the description for her Passive in the Character Menu.

Passive Effect: Any true perceived hindrance and threat against ‘Annihilation’ and her vessel, must be immediately annihilated for the sake of achieving her ultimate and perfect End.

While I pondered how to deal with Annihilation if she does perceive things as a hindrance and threat, all of a sudden I heard Zebeyeyl shout “Commence!” and Myeyl immediately rushed towards me with her dual-blades in hand.

Rapidly firing 5 arrows to test her reaction, Myeyl smirked and easily deflected all 5 arrows—using her blades—while continuing to run forward. Being much faster than I expected her to be, she already closed the distance between us, and naturally forced me to backpedal towards the edge of the ring as I parried and avoided her relentless dual-blade attacks; finishing with a simultaneously downward swing of both her blades aimed across my chest. Recognizing I couldn’t avoid the attack without already stepping out of the ring, I instantly used Archer’s Dash to slide between Myeyl’s legs, and then turned around on my knees to fire a 3 arrow Spread Shot. Myeyl screamed in pain as all 3 arrows pierced her back, and I foolishly hesitated to continue attacking to see if she was alright. But in that moment of hesitation, she immediately turned around and savagely kneed me hard in the face, causing me to tumble backwards to get away from her.

“Oh c’mon, Eyes, is that the best you’ve got?” Myeyl taunted, swinging one of her blades behind her, and swiftly slicing off the arrow shafts sticking out of her back. “You know, if you’re gonna keep holding yourself back because you think you’re gonna hurt me, then why don’t you just give up now and save me all the effort of beating you up, huh?”

Getting up from the ground and wiping the slight blood from my nose, I chuckled in amusement at Myeyl’s confidence, and asked “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay if I don’t hold back?”

“Please, I’ll be as okay as you’ll be when I’m through with you.” Myeyl winked, “So go ahead and start using those flashy Magic Style Skills Odelia’s been teaching you, alright?”

“Alright, but you asked for it.” I shrugged, drawing an arrow from my quiver and casting Element Arrow (Light) on it.

“Ahhh! What the hell is that bright light?!” Myeyl exclaimed, trying to cover her eyes from the intense light but to no use. “I can’t see anything!”

“Thanks to the light resistance I gained from my new High Elf eyes, my main eyes can actually somewhat handle seeing in bright light now.” I happily noted. Then drawing another arrow, I said to her “I’m sorry to end this so quickly, Myeyl, but I think it’s best for the both of us if this battle doesn’t drag out too long.”

Casting Explosive Arrow on the arrow, I aimed it directly at Myeyl’s body, however realizing a direct hit might be too much damage for her to withstand, I instead aimed the arrow at the floor right before her feet. Except the instant arrow flew off the bowstring, Myeyl’s ears unusually perked up at the sound of a mysterious ethereal wind traveling inside of them. And although she was still blinded by the intense light of the arrow in my hand, Myeyl rushed forward, grabbed the Explosive Arrow midair before it made contact with the ground, and then accurately threw it straight back at my face.

“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed, barely moving my head enough to avoid the arrow from hitting my face—leaving it to fly across the hall and explode on the wall in the distance. “Phew, that was a close one.”

“Incredible…" Myeyl muttered to herself. "So this is what the Whispers of Wind sound like when they’re speaking to you...” Keenly listening to sounds I couldn’t hear.

“Wait, did she just awaken her Bloodline of the Wind ability?” Remembering Myeyl’s grandfather Illiveyl could also strangely hear things the wind whispered to him, and notably seeing Zebeyeyl's blinded face be pleasantly surprised to hear those words from her. An unsettling feeling came over me as Myeyl’s blinded, and now grinning face stared directly back at my gaze. “Uh-oh, I have a bad feeling about this...”

“Twin Air Slash!” Myeyl shouted aloud, sending an x-shaped slash of air straight towards me, forcing me to reactively block with my bow and sword.

She immediately followed the attack by quickly closing the gap between us, and performed another relentless combo of attacks, except these were notably much faster than they were before. I tried dashing away multiple times to keep some distance, but Myeyl instantly reacted with her own dashes, and always placed herself in front of me. I avoided and blocked all the attacks I could, but Myeyl’s swings seemed to only be getting faster and faster with every attack she made—to the point I could no longer avoid any of her attacks, and could only block about every 5th attack.

However, while Myeyl continued to relentlessly attack with her blades around herself, they suddenly became empowered with another unfamiliar Skill, and this time she uttered “Twin Blade Flurry.” With swift speed and incredible precision, Myeyl beautifully danced around me with her blades, and before I knew it, my entire body was covered in over a hundred bleeding cuts; as well as heavily damaging my sword, bow, and quiver due to the flurry of attacks—causing my remaining arrows to spill onto the ground.

You have been affected by the Status Debuff: [Bleeding].

“I really did underestimate her, huh.” I thought to myself, smiling as I fell to my knees, and the light of the Element Arrow finally diminished.

Opening her eyes and standing over me sure of her victory, Myeyl said “Unless you want me to knock you unconscious or force you out of the ring, Eyes, I’d appreciate it if you willingly surrendered now.”

“Hah, you think you’ve won?” Standing myself back up.

“Your bow is cracked, your bowstring severed, your quiver sliced open, and your swordsmanship clearly not on a level that can compete with mine.” Adding, “Not to mention your body is bleeding out from all over—meaning you won’t last much longer. So yes, I do believe I’ve won…again.” Sounding almost disappointed by that fact.

I gave her a smirk and asked, “You said we can use anything within our abilities as archers, yes?”

“Yes...?” She answered hesitantly, unsure what I was planning.

“Perfect.” I smiled, pressing my hand on my chest and casting First Aid.

‘First Aid’ has stopped all ‘Bleeding’ within your body, and you are no longer affected by the Status Debuff: [Bleeding].

“Ah, much better.” I said in relief, feeling all my wounds slowly close up and heal themselves. I turned to our judge Zebeyeyl next and asked, “Since this is an ability I have as an archer, it doesn’t count as cheating or breaking the rules, right?”

“H-Healing with your own abilities perfectly abides by the competition’s rules...” Zebeyeyl assured me, staring with as much surprise as Odelia did when she learned I could heal myself.

“I thought so.” I happily replied, using First Aid again to heal myself some more. Then as I quickly turned back and prepared for Myeyl to come rushing towards me again, I was shocked to see she was just standing there and staring at me. Though as our eyes met, I recognized Myeyl had the same frightening determination and resolve in her eyes as she did before, and that's when I realized she was unlike any person I’ve ever competed against before—a true competitor, and someone who’s worthy of becoming my rival.

To the joy and amusement of both our competitive spirits, Myeyl and I continued our amazingly fun battle with each other. While we fought, it was quite clear I was obviously stronger and faster than Myeyl, yet her overwhelming confidence at fighting close range and her flawless footwork was more than enough to counter my speed, and compensate for the difference in our strength. As my bow and quiver were both broken, I tossed them away, and simply threw the arrows on the ground directly at Myeyl. I imbued them with different Magic Style Skills, while using my sword for mainly defending, and First Aid to heal any annoyingly painful wounds. On the other hand, Myeyl carried on displaying her beautiful skills with the dual-blades, and implemented a few punches and kicks into her combos when I least expected it. And at times, it almost felt like I was sparring with Odelia again.

“Damn, I’m down to my last arrow.” Barely avoiding Myeyl’s downward spinning blade strikes with a perfectly timed Sprint, and countering with an incredibly fast turning side kick into her ribs—causing her to recoil backwards.

Clenching her teeth at the pain, Myeyl tried to provoking me in response, asking “What’s wrong, Eyes? Don’t tell me you’ve gone scared just because you’re down to your last arrow, have you?” She then swiftly sent four Air Slashes in my direction.

“They're slow.” I noted in surprise, easily sidestepping and avoiding the slashes entirely. “Well I may be down to my last arrow, but it looks like the exhaustion of battle is finally catching up to you.” I responded, pointing out her heavy breathing, and the multiple arrow wounds I was able to make on her body—while I stood relatively fresh with more than half of my Stamina and Mana still remaining, and my Health basically full.

“Ha! I can keep this up all day, Eyes!” Myeyl boldly claimed, recklessly charging herself towards me again. “Now don’t disappoint me, and fight with everything you’ve got!”

“Haha, what a ridiculous monster!” I smiled, allowing myself to be pulled in by Myeyl’s infectious spirit and excitement, fearlessly charging and clashing swords with her.

Our weapons repeatedly struck one another, one after the other, each time creating small chips and cracks onto the edges of our blades. Whenever we found an opening, we didn’t hesitate to strike. And each time I made a cut into Myeyl’s body, she always retaliated by making two cuts onto mine. Although as Myeyl slowly succumbed to her growing fatigue, I saw an opening and used my last arrow to throw an Ensnaring Arrow directly at her legs. The arrow struck her shin and immediately entangled her legs together, making her lose her balance and fall over, giving me ample time to jump high into the air and bring my sword straight down onto her. Yet amazingly still able to defend herself from the ground, Myeyl quickly brought up her dual-blades just in time to block my sword; however, the moment all three blades made contact with each other, they unexpectedly shattered and broke from the immense impact of the clash.

Startled by the unexpected outcome, we both paused to stare, but we suddenly bursted into laughter at the sight of our broken weapons. After a moment passed and our laughter subsided, we nodded in agreement and tossed our weapons out of the ring, and Myeyl escaped from my bindings after a little bit of effort. We then squared up against each other again, and promptly began trading countless blows. Our fighting-style were of course mirrors of one another—as we had the same teacher—the only difference being that I used an orthodox stance, while Myeyl mimicked Odelia’s unorthodox stance.

We fought for another 30 minutes straight, avoiding and blocking several attacks from one another, but landing dozens of more fast strikes and heavy blows as well. The battle gradually began waning on my body, whilst Myeyl on the other hand was now no longer fatigued after gaining her second wind—reinvigorating her with the energy to continue on fighting. And with that surge of newfound energy, Myeyl astonishingly changed her entire way of fighting; choosing to instead utilize a distinct and unconventional fighting-style consisting mostly of elbows, knees, and spinning and flipping kicks. Though as Myeyl continued to fight with that bizarre style, I noticed Zebeyeyl had expression of disbelief on his face.

Myeyl’s movements were erratic, and incredibly hard to predict and follow, allowing her to land more attacks from the most unexpected of angles. “Fuck, that hurt!” I thought to myself, staggering back from a surprisingly heavy kick from a peculiar position on the ground. “Just where in the world did she learn how to fight like this, ‘cause even Odelia doesn’t fight this unconventionally?” Then all of the sudden while I was focusing on avoiding and blocking Myeyl’s unconventional attacks, a familiar aura slowly began coating her every strike. “Wait, she’s joking, right? There’s no way that’s...”

In that brief moment of doubt, Myeyl’s entire body rapidly became enveloped in a clear and visible aura, unquestionably obtaining herself the Skill: Combat Aura—utterly shocking Zebeyeyl at the sight. “You really are the rival I’ve always dreamed of having, Eyes. One who can push me beyond limits, and strive to reach the unfathomable.” Myeyl gleefully smiled, “Thank you. Now let’s end this!” Without hesitation, she attacked me with full-on aggression, completely confident in her new aura empowered body.

Immediately recognizing the danger she posed in her current state, I smartly decided to keep as much distance between us as possible, thinking “All I need to do is tire her out, ‘cause there’s no way she can fight much longer. But wow, I thought her awakening her Bloodline ability was bad, but her learning how to use Combat Aura is just as bad!”

Our battle painfully continued on for another 30 minutes, with me mainly focusing on avoiding and countering Myeyl’s relentlessly unconventional attacks, and her desperately trying to finish this fight once and for all. Though it was then when she finally reached her ungodly limit. The aura surrounding her dissipated, and she leaned onto her knees heavily panting and sweating out of extreme exhaustion.

“Are you…done yet?” I asked her, heavily panting and sweating myself.

“This…will only end…when one of us can longer fight!” Myeyl tiredly expressed.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I got into my archery stance and said, “Alright. Since you really went all-out for this, I guess I should show you the same respect and go all-out as well.

“I knew you were still holding back.” Myeyl scoffed, standing herself up to accept the attack.

“Yeah, I guess I just didn’t want to reveal the true difference in our abilities yet.” Thinking, “Although you wouldn’t believe how much I’m still holding back.”

“Haha, well bring it on!” Myeyl gestured, encouraging me to truly attack her with everything I’ve got.

“My pleasure.” I replied, forming a simple bow and an arrow with my mana, and using the remainder to cast Charged Arrow—utterly shocking Zebeyeyl yet again.

Though while I charged my arrow with mana, Myeyl showed me a smug and sinister smile, uttering the words “Aura...Shockwave...” And before I could even react, I found myself directly hit by a powerful blast of immense air pressure, helplessly sending flying straight out of the sparring circle and tumbling onto the stone floor. I laid on the ground dumbfounded and wondering what just happened, except appearing right there in front of me was the unequivocal answer to my question.

Quest Failed You have lost the competition, and failed the Quest ‘She Who Can Rival’. Failure: You must now obey any order given by ‘Myeyl Fre’Nddare for an entire day of her choosing.