“What the hell was that?!”

“Our flag! It’s gone!”

“We’re supposed to compete against someone like her?! That’s impossible!”

Chaos had consumed team K after the mysterious woman from team X had popped out of the blue and stolen the flag from them head on and within a fraction of a second. To say that the silver-haired girl was strong would have been an understatement. She was monstrous in comparison to the majority of team K. At least when it came to speed.

Ignoring his team’s arguments, Zexus had been staring at the scoreboard in the sky ever since their flag was taken. He waited, watching the clock for the moment the score changed.

“Four minutes.” That was how long it took for team X to receive their point and the chattering behind him to become even more clamorous. “I should factor in the possibility that she rested on the way there. Her speed was impressive, but she didn’t have so much mana that she could keep her Ego active permanently. Everything has a price, and even the most efficient Egos have a limit.”

At the same time, a single beeping sound was elicited by the flagstand before another flag arose from the underground, ready to be taken once more.

“Seems like a team can only have one flag at a time. Good to know.”

Zexus walked over to the door his team came through and examined the foliage in the direction the girl emerged from. Just as he suspected, a path had been made, running across the curved dome wall. “She followed the edge, knowing that the flag would be at the other team’s entrance.”

He stepped back around to the trail running into the forest. If the girl was clever, she would have made many loops around the arena to throw off pursuers. However, something in his gut told him that the silver-haired adversary may not have been the brains behind team X. Her demeanour was what Lavenna used to be when they were children. Lazy and unmotivated, but pushed forward by an external force.

“I wonder what motivates her?” Zexus pondered as another gust of wind blew past him. Despite not being ready for the sudden attack, his eyes caught the visage of the silver-haired figure coming from the same trail she had escaped to last time.

Stealing the flag, the speedster disappeared into the forest for a second time within the span of two seconds. She was not so fast that she was untraceable, but still quicker than anyone could realistically react in the given situation.

“Hm…looks like she’s maybe four times faster than the regular human.” Zexus assessed, remaining in his spot as he tried to get used to the silver-haired girl’s movements and formulate a plan to deal with her.

The speedster would come around for a third, fourth and fifth time; and still he remained unmoved. During this period, one of his team members would try to call him out on supposedly being ‘useless despite his rank’, but one glance from Zexus sent the man on his way.

By the time the fifth point was awarded to team X, team K’s atmosphere was understandably at an all time low. Their spirits were crushed, a victory was but a dream. Some had even headed out, shouting their intentions to steal the opponent’s flag.

“If the one who captures the most flags in each team is guaranteed to move onto the next stage, then I’ll just bet on that! Who’s with me?!” Gregor had reasoned, followed by more than half the team.

Out of the six, the only two Zexus found noteworthy were Magor and the seaweed-haired man. The former left after announcing the same thing as Gregor, although with a bit more distaste at the supposed ‘weakness’ of the humans. On the other hand, the latter was particularly curious, as he seemed to be tagging along more out of amusement than belief in the race to be the one with the most flags captured. He was difficult to read, and that perplexed the amber-eyed man.

“A wild card.” Zexus thought, finding it to be the best way to describe the seaweed-haired male. His high rank, at least out of the fifty thousand participants, was what made him dangerous. “I should keep a better eye on him. But first thing’s first.”

Moving through those who were departing like water around rocks, he made a beeline for one specific individual among those who remained.

“June.” It was the first time Zexus had spoken with any of them, and the dark-haired fifth-ranker was visibly taken aback by the sudden callout.

“Y-Yes?” She stammered, nervous. Despite her age, it seemed she was a shy one unlike the older Asad who simply stroked his beard on the sideline.

“I’ll be playing defense until the next round.” Zexus said cryptically, much to the woman’s confusion. He did not bother to explain what he meant since it would have been a waste of time and it was not a particularly important detail. Thus, he moved on to what he needed from her. “Can you use your Ego to build a dome or box around our flag?”

Recovering quickly, June nodded after a moment of thought. “I can do that. Magor actually also suggested that but will that really stop that girl? I’ve heard that speed-based Egos grant their users more resilience and even strength in certain cases.”

“She’s well-informed. Was she a mage?”

“I don’t need her stopped. I just need her slowed.” Zexus answered, taking a stand near the flag. “Make sure to enclose both myself and the flag.”

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His gaze swept over the rest of his team. Asad had a thoughtful expression on his weathered face while the other man looked at him in befuddlement. “I’d like to ask something from you three as well.”

A minute later, Zexus found himself trapped inside a box of rocks. What otherwise would have been complete darkness was illuminated by the light from the flag.

“Are you alright in there?” He heard June’s muffled and concerned voice reverb through the stone.

“I’m fine.” He replied, taking a seat.

Now, he simply had to wait.

“This is such a pain.” Vex complained inwardly as she raced through the forest towards the opposing team’s flag for the third time...or was it the second? Either way, she was getting sick of running. It was not physical exhaustion that got to her however, but moreso the feeling of mana being drained out of her Soul.

She felt as if the moisture was being sucked out of her mouth, leaving behind a barren wasteland devoid of life. It was times like these that she could not help but wonder if the Gods actually existed, and if they did, what was the point of them?

Why could she not be blessed with infinite mana? Why could she not be blessed with an Ego that did not consume mana? Why could she just not feel like dying every time she ran a few miles with the Ego?

“Why can’t living just not be a pain?” The silver-haired girl wanted to pout, but could not find the energy or will to do even that.

Instead, she focused on getting to team whatever-letter-it-was’ ‘base’ and steal their flag for the sixth time. There was no particular reason for her continuous visits, aside from the fact that it was something to do. As much as she disliked being tired, being bored was so much worse.

Wanting to survive through painful experiences? She could relate to that.

Living a life without a single interesting thing? That just sounded like Hell.

Speeding up, Vex soon arrived at the location of her target. However, she found herself skidding to a stop upon catching a glimpse of the scene that awaited her.

“Huh?” Vex tilted her head, confused as she spotted only three people guarding a spherical collection of rock where the flag should have been.

“Um…is this an ambush or something…?” She asked, completely at a loss.

“What do you think?” The dark-haired woman taunted, waving her hand and causing a wall of pebbles to rise. It was obvious that she intended to use them like the buckshots of a blunderbuss. That said, Vex’s intuition told her that the defensiveness of the older woman meant that the others were really gone. Not that it mattered even if they were there. Numbers meant nothing, and out of the three, the only person that felt like a potential threat was the old man with his fiery tendrils. Even then, that would only be an issue if she were caught, which was almost impossible.

After all, she was the fastest there was.

“The flag must be hidden in there.” Trusting her gut instincts and without hesitation, Vex injected her mana into her Ego and dashed forward.

Quick as the wind and giving no time for her opponents to react, she shot past the three defenders, brushing past the aflame vines and the wall of pebbles with indifference. Once through, she jumped forward and brought her heel down to crush the dome.

Thanks to her Ego, both her speed and resilience were heightened greatly, and the stone caved in easily from her strike. However, just because her physical state was heightened did not mean her mental traits were as well.

“Huh?”

From within the dome of stone, she felt something take hold of her ankle. Taken aback by the sudden grip, her vision blurred as she was swung in a wide arc and the air was sucked out of her lungs. Despite being unable form a comprehensive thought, whether by instinct or her subconscious mind, Vex channeled all the mana she could into her Ego. A boost of adrenaline shot through her body then as her speed became double of what it previously was. With that newfound power, she trusted her heart and twisted herself to deliver a backheel kick to whoever or whatever was holding her.

Her strike connected, but the grip only loosened slightly. Thus, she spun the other way and kicked again.

*Crack*

That turned out to be a mistake for her bones, as pain enveloped her big toe. There was no doubt it was broken, but Vex felt that it was a small price to pay for the release of her other leg.

Disregarding the agony, she tried to back away, only to be caught up in a pincer attack by the other three. The flaming tendrils came from her left, the buckshot of pebbles from her right. The last man came from behind, intending to tackle her.

“Hm. What a pickle. But too bad.” Vex’s eyes flashed with a cold light. “I’m pretty fast.”

In a flash, three blows were delivered to three stomachs, and the trio toppled over like dominoes while Vex retreated to the tree lines without a scratch from their attacks. As the adrenaline wore however, she could not help but be reminded of the first injury she had suffered in a long while.

“What in the Seven Hells and Heavens grabbed me…?” The silver-haired girl mumbled, staring hard at the shattered dome, not even sparing a glance at the three people keeled over on the ground. She felt a little guilty for punching the old man, but reminded herself that she was in a competition.

“There’s someone in there, right?”

One second passed, then two. After another three, a figure would emerge from the darkness. She had seen him before, the tall man with dark hair and eyes that burned like hellfire. With the moonlight casting a shadow over him, he seemed like a real demon, especially with the strange, empty feeling he exuded, at least from her perspective. It was as if he did not actually ‘exist’. A phantom made physical by some dark magic. Then again, even dark magic used mana, and this man had none! Egos probably hated him, but Vex only felt curious.

“Who’re you?” Vex asked in a lackadaisical tone, pointing a finger at the man who had assumedly grabbed her in the fraction of a second she had slowed down. “I’m Vex, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

While the other three did their best to get up to their feet, the amber-eyed man inclined his head at her politely. “I’m Zexus.”

He did not seem intent to battle despite the trickle of blood flowing from his mouth, which made Vex all the more interested. Usually, people who were struck would run at her in blind rage. “Did you plan to catch me or something?”

“That was the idea. But my preparations have clearly fallen short.” He said in a calm tone that was soothing and threatening in equal amounts. Wiping the blood with the back of his hand, he looked up at the scoreboard and the timer. There was ten minutes left on the clock. “This match will likely be our loss.”

“I mean…” Vex scratched her head. “That much was obvious from the get go.”

“You never know unless you try, but for someone like you, I’d be a fool to try without more time to prepare.” Zexus reasoned with a shrug, his expression remaining stoic.

“He’s not very…emotional, or maybe he’s just bad at expressing himself.” Vex noted, feeling an odd sense of kinship with the man she had just met. “Zexus, huh?”

She had never been good at remembering names. It was not that she had a poor memory, but that it was simply too much effort to. That said, she could not help but feel that the man before her deserved at least that much.

“Well, if you’re not gonna bother trying anymore, then I guess I can just head on back now.” Vex announced, shocking the three supporting members of Zexus. She paid no attention and kept her eye on the latter. “I feel like it’s too much work trying to go past you so…”

The amber-eyed man nodded. “See you around.”

Vex smiled. Not only was he quick to catch her meaning, but he also didn’t hold a grudge and was quite smart for not messing with her. She liked him. “Catch you later.”

As Vex vanished into the woods, stumbling a bit with her broken toe but still quicker than a horse, Zexus found himself taking a seat by the broken dome. He exhaled softly and massaged his bruised lower face. Somehow, the girl had struck him perfectly in the jaw twice, the second time periodically knocking him out. Her kicking power was certainly no joke, especially with her speed.

“I wonder if she actually aimed…?”

“Are we actually giving up?” June took a seat next to him with a hand over her stomach. She was still reeling from the hit, with bits of her lunch now strewn across the surrounding dirt.

“Do you want to fight her again?” Zexus questioned back.

“Not particularly.” The older woman let out a pained chuckle. “But forfeiting doesn’t feel good either.”

“That’s a matter of perspective.” He replied. “Just think of this as a test.”

June tilted her head in question. “What do you mean?”

Zexus looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Now I know who’s reliable. As for the rest, you’ll see soon enough.”