“Are you going to give us your answer now?”

“Hmm…… You’re the only people who can understand me.” Triggs stated. He added,

“And I’m also curious about this movement of yours; I want to learn more about it, and I also want to take part in it.”

After hearing the words, a smile formed on Calla’s face, “Does this mean…”

“Yep! I guess I’ll join you!”

“Yey!!”

Calla hugged Triggs again.

Lae also joined in the celebration, “Well… I guess this is official - Welcome to the group, Triggs!

“Thanks, Lae.”

Meanwhile, Zaine was just silently sitting on the ground.

As they celebrated, another person came and walked in with his wobbly feet. He was holding a plastic bag in one of his hands.

As the man strode, the glass bottles inside the plastic bag rattled at each other like a wind chime.

“Ey yow, Man! You’re vack!” the man greeted.

“Kuya Otto, Kuya Otto!! Triggs finally joined us!” Calla stated.

“Oh!?” Excited, Otto pulled Triggs closer to him and wrapped his big arms around Triggs’ shoulder.

“Vwelcome, welcome, Man! Enjhoy, enjhoy!” he said in a slightly slurred speech.

Observing how Otto behaved, Lae knew instantly, “Hey, Kuya Otto! Are you drunk again?”

“Noh, noh…….. Just… *hick*... A little tipsy.”

Lae sighed.

“Uhh… I juhst drank halfv a bottle of M.P. Redder Brandy. Gehe… *hick*...”

“Just half a bottle?”

“Okhay, maybe a fvull bottle!” Otto replied.

“Bvut it doesn’t matter! What’z important iz this Man’z finally one of uz! Gaha!” he uttered before smacking Triggs’ back with his gorilla palm.

The smack made Triggs crouch a little. “Uhh.. Yeah! Thanks!”

“Kuya Otto, you should sober up. Lola Vega will be pissed if she sees you like that.”

“Gheez! Vwe’re still having fun here!”

Zaine finally stood up from his seat. “Kuya Otto… Let’s have a duel.”

“Woah-woah! Iz that how you vwant to have fun, Man?”

“Let’s have a duel. Ate Maia gave me a new Word. I want to practice it.”

“I guess that’s one vway to sober up! Okay! Let’s dzo it!”

Zaine nodded his head.

Concerned, Triggs asked, “Uhm… Aren’t you going to stop them?”

Lae sighed again, much deeper than the last one,

“They do this quite often. And when they do, you can’t stop them.”

“I see…”

“Go, guys!” Calla cheered. “Just don’t try to kill each other like the last time, okay!?”

“Did-did I hear it right? Kill each other?” Triggs’ stuttering response.

“Yep! Kuya Otto almost crushed Zaine’s skull. Hehe…” Calla replied with an unfazed smile.

“Wha-what!?”

At that moment, Triggs knew… the decision he made earlier… would bring him on a wild ride.

“Uhh… Just what the hell I got into…” Triggs muttered.

The two fighters went to the wider area of the garden. Triggs and the 2 girls spectated from a distance.

Otto and Zaine stood on their grounds - a few meters away, facing each other.

“Before vwe start, just let me dzo my thing!”

Otto grabbed the two unopened bottles of liquor from the plastic bag. He opened both of them.

And with the bottles in each hand, he simultaneously poured the liquid to the ground.

“What is he doing?” Triggs asked.

“A ritual!” Calla answered. “He is offering the liquor to Kuya Dhan.”

Lae expounded, “Like us, the Giyas also have Their own personalities and interests. Some of Them give Blessed Words for free, but some give conditions to Their Favored Humans.”

“So… I assume that the ‘liquor ritual’ is part of the conditions Dhan made with Kuya Otto?”

“You’re correct, Triggs,” Lae replied. She explained further,

“Kuya Dhan was once known as the God of Grandeur and Luxury. He likes to indulge Himself in liquor and alcohol.”

“I see…”

“For Him to give effectivity to the Blessed Words, Kuya Otto must offer Him drinks every now and then. The more elegant the liquor is, the more power will be given to the Blessed Words.”

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“Hmm… Interesting.”

Otto was finally done pouring all the liquid to the ground.

“I’m reahdy now!” Otto shouted at Zaine.

“Ok.”

“I know that 2 bottles of M.P. Redder is not enough to satiate you. But please, help me on this one, Dhan,” Otto prayed.

Without further ado, Zaine made his first move. He brought out a single karambit and,

“VELUM!”

He turned invisible.

Meanwhile, Otto stood firm on his spot.

“I’m not confident with the two bottles I offered; I mustn’t waste any power. I should conserve every crystal I make,” he thought.

“OPULENTOS PRINVELAMEN!”

Crystals sprouted and covered Otto’s torso, forming a hip-length body armor.

“I may be no match with Zaine in terms of speed, but I could at least predict his attack pattern.”

He chanted another Word,

“OPULENTOS GLADEVIS!”

A crystal one-handed sword formed in his right hand.

Otto observed something;

“The quality of crystal in this sword is no good at all! I can feel it!”

He felt regret, “Ugh shit… I knew I shouldn’t have drunk that 1 bottle. I should’ve left it for the offering”

“But anyways!...... Covering only my torso will leave my other body parts vulnerable. But it also means increasing the probability of predictable attacks like…”

“REVELO!”

CLAAANK!!!

“Ahn Attack to the Head!?” Otto mocked as he parried Zaine’s attack. “Too pwedictable!”

“VELUM!”

Zaine turned invisible again.

“By covering the largest part of my body, Zaine’s target would be limited only to my exposed parts,” Otto thought.

“After my head, of course, the next most obvious target would be…”

“REVELO!”

CLAAANK!!!!

“...My legs!!!”

Otto deflected the attack again. He counter-attacked with a punch to Zaine’s gut.

The punch was so powerful that it made Zaine curl in pain.

“As long as I keep this pace, he will eventually lose his patience. Hehe.”

Otto continued taunting Zaine, “Come ohn! Try hardzer, Man!”

Realizing that Otto was predicting his attack, Zaine had to step back and think of another strategy.

Zaine put his karambit near his mouth and whispered something to his weapon.

Confused, Otto shouted, “Hey! Vwhy are you kissing thzat!?”

Suddenly, Zaine threw the karambit at Otto.

“A Weapon Throw aimed at my neck? You know I could just deflect that, right?”

Confidently, Otto held his sword near his neck, preparing to deflect the incoming projectile.

“Heh, I got this one!”

SLAAASH!!!

“Aaack!” Otto growled in pain as the karambit grazed him and wounded his leg.

The attack made him get down to his knee.

“What the heck!? I was sure that it was going to my neck. It just disappeared and changed its trajectory!”

“REVELO!”

“Shit! My head is open!”

Out of reflex, Otto quickly raised his arm to cover his head from the incoming kick from Zaine.

BLAAAM!!!

The kick landed at Otto’s arm, making him lose grip of his weapon. The force of the attack made the sword fly away.

“Oh, shit! Oh, shit!”

Otto hurriedly stood up and rushed to find his sword. He looked around and found it lying on a patch of grass.

“Found ya!”

Just before Otto could grab the weapon,

“It disappeared!!”

He looked again and found it near Zaine’s foot.

Zaine stomped on the crystal sword and,

CRAAACK!!!

It shattered to pieces.

“Dzam it, Man! You didn’t havhe to break it!”

Otto tried to conjure another weapon,

“OPULENTOS ARMA!” he chanted.

Unfortunately - this time - no crystals were manifesting.

“OPULENTOS ARMA!” he repeated.

Still nothing.

“Ugh… Damn it, Dhan! Is that all you could give me in exchange for the 2 M.P. Redders?”

“Dzamn it!” Otto uttered.

He tried to negotiate with Zaine, “Could vwe please stohp thiz now, Man? I’m too drunk fohr thiz.”

“No.”

“Oh, come oohnn…”

Their duel continued.

That time, neither of them was holding any weapon.

“He’s useless without his karambit. I shouldn’t let it get to his hands again.”

Otto looked around to find the karambit that was thrown by Zaine a while ago.

However, Zaine had the same plan; he was also searching for his weapon.

Shortly after,

“Found it!”

The two of them found the weapon at the same time. They raced to get the karambit.

The location of the karambit was nearer to Otto. Obviously, he would be the one to reach it first. However,

“It disappeared again!”

And not just that, it seemed like it changed its location again - near Zaine.

Zaine picked up his karambit and prepared to make his move again.

“This could be the new Word he was talking about,” Otto thought. “I need to figure out how it works…”

He tried to analyze it,

“Not only could he make an object disappear, but he could also change its trajectory or position.”

Zaine put his weapon near his mouth, seeming like he was whispering something to it again.

“Oh, shit! Here he goes again!”

Zaine threw the Karambit again.

By observing the projectile's trajectory, it seemed like it was now aimed at Otto’s unwounded leg.

Otto prepared for the attack,

“If that’s how it really works, then it just means he was not really aiming at my leg…”

Otto assumed that the weapon would change its trajectory again and would hit his other most exposed body part - his head.

So, he stooped down, trying to evade the incoming projectile.

However,

SLAAASH!!!

“Graaaa!”

Unexpectedly, the karambit grazed Otto’s other leg.