Fumes POV

I stood in the middle of the plaza, awaiting my opponent. Closing my eyes, blocking away surrounding noises, emptying my mind of useless thoughts.

Opening my eyes, I saw Kin walking forth with a confident stride. It appeared he had some words to say, but I heard not. Only one thing was in my mind: victory.

As soon as the countdown ended, we ran towards each other. As soon as our blades connected, I activated Flame Banner. One of the tips Master Zoe gave me was the activation of Flame Banner when weapons were entangled to force awkward attack patterns. However, even with it, I could not land a single strike during the duration of Flame Banner. On the contrary, I actually lost Health in that exchange. How much? I didn’t know nor care.

I did not back off after Flame Banner. I fought until another use of Flame Banner, then fought during its duration. I fought when it ended, until the words Defeat appeared before my eyes.

Dove POV

Fumes tried his best, but the difference in skill was far too large to overcome. He slowly and depressingly went back to his team, where Zoe embraced him in his hollow state.

“Feels bad…” says Kiwi.

“Sorry to say this, but he did better than I expected.” Replied Hawk.

“Are you serious?” asked Canary.

“Yes. Fumes was in perfect condition without a single distraction mind.”

Hawk waved at us as he went to take his turn for the Duel against Rem. Before we could begin cheering for him he looked back at us and said, “Nine seconds.” After which, he went on to face his opponent.

Those eyes, I remembered them. The first few times I saw them, I paid no attention to it. It only changed that day. During one of our teambuilding activities, we were in the same group. While I have suspicions till this day that he manipulated the groups, I had no evidence and it mattered not. During our meetings, he remained his unmotivated self; however, when the event came, I saw those very same eyes.

The teambuilding was not a competition; it was a massacre. Hawk gave very minimal but very precise instructions; however, by taking into consideration our talents and abilities, he led us to rampage our way through the competition. In the end, we outscored all three other groups even if they combined they scores. Even taking into that they began working together against us on the second-half of the competition. It was then where my view of him changed a bit. While I still tried my best to ignore him since I knew he liked me a lot, when he was alone, he would try talking to me, but I would reply incoherently in fear of what I saw that day.

Thankfully, that fear had long gone in Reality. Hawk would never do anything that would bring harm to us, or so I hope to believe…

Rem stood before Hawk as the countdown started. Rem was a female Wind Swordsman, I guess swordswoman would be more accurate, from Lime Breeze. She was considered one of the three prettiest Players in Naut City, along with Zoe and Silva. Likely of European descent, Rem had wavy blonde hair that reached her back. Her face was decorated by clear emerald eyes, a well-shaped nose, and rosy lips. She clothed her healthy white skin in everyday clothing, I had yet to see her in more formal or fancy clothing. Despite only being slightly taller than me, her proportions were beyond comparison. Her voluptuous chest and round butt were things of envy for me.

Rem used a single Uncommon Rarity Sword. Her sword ability would be around the same level as Hawk (without his analyses and predictions). Her ability Air Slash could be likened to the waves of air pressure you see in fictions. Rem would swing her sword, and a crescent of air would fly forwards at the speed of sound. It had approximately nine seconds cooldown and did Wind Elemental physical damage.

“Nine seconds.” Stated Hawk proudly.

Hawk dashed towards Rem with both swords out. Rem immediately ran at him as well while slashing her sword seemingly at random; however, she was faking Air Slash. Hawk leapt up when they were around a meter and a half apart. He rode the momentum and swung down at Rem, who was barely able to block the attack the left sword. It was only then that sank into my mind as well as a lot of the other audience that Hawk just avoided the Air Slash when he leapt. Icebrande connected for 17% after Rem was in an uncomfortable position after desperately blocking the first strike. Skadi’s Caress cursed Rem, which allowed another two slashed to her body for 11% and 18%. While Rem had a small timing to react, Hawk’s horizontal slash at her would have been blocked barely; however, Hawk kicked her with his left foot as well, pushing himself into Icebrande’s blade for 19% before she could position herself. This opened her for another strike from Hawk due to the mini-stun of Skadi’s Caress, reducing her to a third of her Health.

While the duration of Skadi’s Caress was affected by the Resistance of the target, it should have ended. For the first time, Rem went on the offensive and swung diagonally at Hawk. Hawk evades by rotating backwards that continued to a swing with both blades as he returned back. Rem only managed to block Icebrande and took 13% damage. Rem attempted to create distance by leaping back using the momentum of Hawk’s attack, but Hawk predicted the movement and wasted no moment in chasing after her. After blocking two more strikes, Rem lost to a stab on her chest.

Azure Rain Forces went closer to Hawk to congratulate him. As we approached, we heard their conversation.

Rem fell on the floor and said with a sad smile, “Nine seconds. You’ve become way better since we first fought. It took you around a minute to defeat me.”

Hawk reached his hand out to her to help her stand and she promptly did. “You should improve yourself as well. Don’t just concentrate in getting into Purge’s pants.”

“Shut up! Excluding the acquisition of Icebrande, you only improved so much because you want to get in your vice-Leader’s pants. Or did you already get into it?”

Sigh… thankfully most people are too busy chattering about to hear the conversation, but still there should be some rumor-spreaders in the crowd.

“Good luck against Kin. I can’t wish the same for your vice-Leader though.” Said Rem as she returned to her Party with tearing eyes.

After congratulating Hawk and entering one of the Character houses nearby to finish our prepration the crowd, I asked, “You seem quite close with Rem.”

“I’m the one who recommended her to Lime Breeze. She should have joined around the same time as Razor: the fourth Day in Reality.”

“Oh, what about her got your attention to give effort?” I asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Well, she let me into her pants in exchange.”

Unable to control my emotions, I glared at Hawk and sent a flurry of punches at him. I shouted, “You better be joking!”

Hawk caught my arms and replied, “Of course I’m joking! She gave me information about Zoe in exchange, remember that I wanted to Party with Zoe?”

“It’s always about your girls, isn’t it?”

“I don’t deny I enjoy looking at pretty girls. In my opinion, Rem is the prettiest girl in Naut City since Zoe is not my type and I heavily dislike Silva and avoided her plague. I also don’t deny I had a crush on Rem; however, I promise you I have no romantic interest in them whatsoever right now.”

“So why did you never tell me any of this?”

“It’s uncomfortable talking to you about my crushes…”

As we walked back towards the plaza for her turn to Duel. Before I could take more than three steps, Hawk asked, “Are you still irritated?”

I gave him my best smile and replied, “Not really. The only time I was irritated was your joke about Rem. The rest was me teasing you.”