A couple of minutes pass since Isabel and I entered the break room to wait for our party members to regain consciousness. The experience of being thrown around the stage like a toy and the feeling of pure power from Luke’s Blazing Soul replays over and over again in my head.

I sigh and lie down on a couch, and as soon as my body relaxes, I start to feel the aftereffects of the battle I endured. My ribs start aching and my legs begin feeling like jelly.

I might throw up here…Hold it in, Rin!

I groan and turn over onto my side to face Isabel. Turning over hurt me a lot more, but I knew it would hurt again to turn back. Isabel was sitting still with her head down low. I felt like I should say something, but I wasn’t sure if anything I could say at the moment would help.

I finally manage the courage to sit up and speak to Isabel, but as soon as I open my mouth, the break room door swings open. Isabel’s lifeless expression turns to one full of fear as Luke walks into the break room with his two Spirits behind him.

Luke takes notice of Isabel and shakes his head. He walks over behind Isabel and comes to a stop delivering a soft karate chop on Isabel’s head.

“You’re a fool.” Luke simply says.

“Hey! What gives you the right to-” I stand up with some pain to defend Isabel, but Luke cuts me off short by pointing at me.

“Silence Shielder, you’re under-leveled, aren’t you?”

“…”

“It was obvious with the way you fought. Using your flaming shield to attack rather than defend proved to be a surprise to other Summoners, but I saw past that when I noticed how reluctant you were to use your shield to defend.”

I remained silent in annoyance that he was right on the mark.

Luke turns his attention to Isabel, “Your obsession with attacking Spirits has come to bite you back, hasn’t it?” He scoffs, “Well, even if you had your Spirits at a higher level, you still wouldn’t beat me when it came to tactics.”

Isabel uncharacteristically remains silent as Luke proceeds to head for the exit. He places a hand on the doorknob, and I decide to not let this smug jerk get away without a fight.

“You say that I’m under-leveled…” I turn to Luke.

Luke stops and stares me down out of the corner of his eye, his expression deadly cold enough to send a shiver down my spine, but I continue.

“You act like you’re all tough and mighty, but you didn’t technically beat me, did you?”

“Oh? How do you mean?” Luke asks, a hint of surprise on his face.

“Well… even though I’m under-leveled, I withstood all of your attacks and remained conscious until the end.”

Luke’s two Spirits’ eyes widen in shock and they take a couple of steps towards me, but they are stopped by Luke who outstretched his arm. Even though the room was already silent, the atmosphere felt much quieter, as if the room magically became soundproofed.

Then, Luke begins laughing out loud, shocking his Spirits even more. Luke gradually regains his composure and smiles.

“I look forward to our rematch in the Summoner Games one year from now on,” Luke gasps for air and opens the exit door, “Get stronger Shielder, the next time we meet, you’ll regret taunting me.”

Luke exits the room with his two Spirits right behind. I sigh and collapse back onto the couch.

That…was pretty nerve-wracking.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Isabel quietly mummers, “He doesn’t forget these kinds of things.”

I turned around to respond to Isabel, but words failed to come out of my mouth as soon as I laid my eyes upon her dejected expression. I knew she wasn’t in the mood to talk and that the loss to Luke had taken a pretty big toll on her.

After suffocating in the awkward atmosphere for a couple more minutes, the door swings open, and a bunch of people with animal ears and white coats enter the room. At first, I wasn’t sure who they were, but as soon as they began checking on my party members, it was pretty clear that they were doctors.

“They’ve taken a pretty big hit despite wearing liquid armor.” A doctor with bunny ears informs Isabel and me, “You’re free to return to your room and we’ll transfer your party to the infirmary.”

Isabel silently nods and slowly makes her way out of the break room. I watch in silence, unsure whether I should follow her immediately or let her have time alone.

As I contemplate my choices, I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around to find a nurse with what I assumed were fox ears looking at me with a concerned look.

“I’ve seen many Summoners with her expression before.” The fox nurse sighs.

“…”

“I’m sure you’re well aware that losing is never easy for everyone, but right now, she’s incredibly lucky that she has one party member still conscious.”

“She is?”

The nurse nods, “A lot of Summoners suffer from defeat and have no one to comfort them afterward, but with her, she has you.”

Now that I think about it, this really meant a lot to Isabel…

A warm feeling spreads throughout my chest, and I sigh.

“Yeah, you’re right. As her Spirit and party member, I have a duty to carry out when our Summoner is feeling down. Right?”

The nurse nods and smiles.

With an idea of what I should be doing now clearly in my head, I head to our room to find Isabel. I finally arrive at the doorstep, and I take a deep breath. I gently open the door…

However, as soon as I enter the room, Isabel was the first one to speak.

“Rin, we need to talk.”

* * *

“There’s been an agreement for you to transfer to Aquaria’s party for free.”

“…What?”

“I believe I made myself clear, Aquaria and another party member of hers have agreed that they would be interested in bringing you to their party.”

I was utterly speechless and unsure of what I should be feeling. Apparently, after the match against us, Aquaria had gone to Isabel to offer a Spirit transfer request.

“Isn’t that great, Rin?” Isabel continues, “You’ll finally get to be with a Summoner who’s well rounded in both offense and defense.”

“Isabel…” I pause, thinking carefully about what I should say.

Yes, I believe that Aquaria might know how to use me and my shield in a defensive role better than Isabel, but is that really a reason for me to get transferred?

Sure, maybe back then, I had initially wanted to be in Aquaria’s party, I even wanted to run away in general at one point. However, after spending over half a year with Isabel and the others, there’s no way I could easily leave them just like that. In the weirdest way possible, I've grown attached to this unbalanced and quirky party that I've been summoned to.

“Isabel, I don’t want to leave this party.” I decide to say, “We’ll just work harder to beat Luke next year.”

Then, catching me and my heart by surprise, Isabel begins sniffling.

“Why… Why did you try so hard!?” Isabel yells, tears forming in her eyes.

Weren’t we all trying our best?

“W-what do you mean? We were all aiming for the win…right?” I ask.

“You experienced Luke’s strength yourself from the start, didn’t you feel helpless?” Isabel shakily speaks.

I pause momentarily.

“I…did.”

“You, see? That’s completely my fault for not appreciating you when I summoned you.” Isabel sighs, “Aquaria would treat you better…She would know how to fit you into her party!”

I know that…but still…

“Why are you still okay with me? You’re better off without me!”

Hearing Isabel say that set a bomb that had been ticking in me. I lose all calmness and begin arguing back in frustration.

“Isabel!” I yell as I grab her shoulders, “How about instead of asking why I am trying hard, why don’t you ask yourself why you aren’t trying harder!?”

Isabel gasps and widens her eyes in shock.

“How old are you, 8? Stop acting like this, it’s unlike you!” I yell in frustration, “One loss and you’re ready to call it quits? What happened to being the strongest Summoner and beating your brothers?”

Isabels begins sobbing as the tears eventually start streaming down her face. I stop myself for a second but quickly regain my stance. I take a deep breath and calm myself down.

“I promise to get stronger, Isabel.” I continue, “I don’t want to give up on you and everyone else. I know we don't have the best relationship, but it'll only leave a bad taste in my mouth to have my time as your spirit end like this, so please don’t give up on me.”

“Rin…”

“One day, Isabel…” I pause, “I swear, I’ll make you acknowledge me as a Spirit you can’t replace. I’ll protect you and everyone else.”

Isabel remains silent as she slowly leans into my chest. With my arms still on her shoulders, we found ourselves in an awkward hug. The silence between us was heavy as the only noise that could be heard were the cheers of the crowd and the sobbing of the girl in my arms.

“Th-thank you, Rin.” Isabel finally speaks into my shirt, “My brother is just so strong that I felt…incredibly scared.”

“Isabel, I’ll get stronger so that you won’t have to get scared anymore, alright?”

Isabel doesn’t reply, but after a while, she stomps on my right foot and pushes me away.

“Ow! What the fuck was that for!?” I crouch and clutch onto my foot.

“Stop treating me like a child, I’m 21 you know!”

Wait, this whole time…she was older than me!?

“Rin, look at me.” Isabel softly says.

I look up at the girl, no, the woman standing before me with a refreshing smile now on her face.

“You better keep your promise to get stronger, understand?”

I chuckle and stand back up.

“Of course, but you didn’t need to stomp on my foot, did you?”

“It wasn’t a case of whether I needed to or not, I just wanted to.”

“You’re evil.”

Finally, I hear it. Isabel’s laughter.

It was a cute laugh, but there were tears still in her eyes. I’ve decided for myself that from this day onward, I’ll protect two things. Isabel’s dream to become the strongest, and my promise to protect everyone important to me.

I’ll become stronger and protect my party, that’s what I want to do.

* * *

It took another two days before my party members were cleared from the infirmary, and in those two days, Isabel and I had watched Luke absolutely demolish the rest of the competition and go on to become the crowned winner of the Summoner Games.

I couldn’t help but admit it, Luke was on a completely different level. What annoyed me, even more, was that he didn’t seem to go all out on the other Summoners that he faced, only Isabel.

I mean come on. It isn’t fair that I was the only Spirit that got tossed around, right?

The celebration and the parade for Luke lasted for another two days, and by now, my party members were all healed.

The first night when we were finally all together was slightly awkward with many apologies and everyone unsure of what to say to one another, however, the next day, I could almost feel the newfound courage and motivation from everyone to become stronger.

“Let’s go level up right now!” Hilde exclaims early in the morning.

I groan on my makeshift bed on the floor, “Isn’t the banquet for the Summoners today though?”

“Hilde is right, we should skip the banquet and get levels as fast as possible,” Isabel says as she grabs a towel and prepares to head to the bathroom.

“But the banquet! Food! I want to eat yummy food!” I protest.

I soon realized that I was the only one still in bed.

Hilde was tugging on my blanket, Roy and Liz were chatting away while eating some breakfast, and Isabel had just entered the bathroom.

“Rin.” Isabel sternly calls out to me from the bathroom, “Did you already forget your promise to me?”

I cover myself into a blanket cocoon, “I can do it after I have a delicious banquet!”

“We’re heading for Udren, the powerhouse nation of Drakons as soon as everyone has taken a bath.” Isabel continues, completely ignoring my pleas for Michelin star meals.

“Let’s get ready for another adventure, Rin,” Liz says as she begins helping Hilde pull on my cocoon.

“We’re going to be sparing a lot more, Rin!” Roy calls out.

“Come on, Rin! We’re going to have fun!” Hilde finally removes me from my cocoon.

“Stop ignoring me! I just want to eat good food!” I cry out in agony.

The room is filled with laughter as I begin chasing Hilde who’s stolen my blanket from me.

Yup, these people around me are more than just my party members, they’re my friends. I have a desire to protect them, and even though I will regret not joining the banquet, I will do everything in my power to grow stronger and protect everyone in this room.

Come on Udren, I’m ready for you…

After Hilde gives me back my blanket! I’m still sleepy!

END