Kira let out a squeal of delight when she started to log into Landasy Reality. She appeared in the middle of the hall and then quickly opened the guild menu, checking who was online.

To her surprise, and disappointment, only a few people were on. She sent Orion a message. ‘Hey, where is everyone? The tournament starts in like twenty minutes. Right?’

She received a message from him a few moments later. ‘I warned you it was short notice. Besides, we’re not a PVP guild.’

‘Did anyone sign up other than you and me?’ she sent back,

‘A few people. Ervent is giving it a shot, me of course. Archinos is joining as well, he’s another dragon player. Quill, because of course he is. Gretchi, you’ve done some stuff with him.’

‘I have?’ she asked, sending the message back. While they’d grabbed some people for dungeons, she couldn’t remember either Archinos or Gretchi.

‘Another fae player. The quiet one.’

Kira gave a soft sigh and rolled her eyes. That didn’t exactly narrow it down. A lot of people they joined with tended to be quiet. Now that she thought about it, a lot of them were like Ervent in her experience. Maybe not quite as bad, but they rarely seemed to talk unless spoken directly to. She supposed they could have just been talking to other chats during, but that always struck her as odd. If you were in a group why wouldn’t you talk WITH the group? ‘Thanks for the information, I’ll kick your butt soon,’ she sent to him.

‘Sure you will,’ Orion sent back.

Kira opened the guild menu and quickly looked up their names. Archinos wasn’t even level capped in his main class. The others were, though. She received an alert letting her know Ervent was trying to start a private call. She accepted it.

“Hey. I hope it’s okay that I signed up for the tournament today,” Ervent said in a panicked voice. “I mean, Orion said anyone who wanted could and I thought it would be okay but then I realized today that you might have wanted the title and--”

“Easy, easy!” Kira said quickly, trying to hold back her laughter. “It’s a fun little tournament, Ervent. I’m not going to get mad at you for trying. Honestly, I’m kind of proud of you. It’s nice to see you going outside your comfort zone. I do hope you understand it’s nothing personal when I beat you into the ground, though,” she said in a teasing tone.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll try not to get upset,” Ervent said in a soft, sad tone.

Kira sighed and rested her head on her palm. “Ervent? I was kidding. You know. Taunting you, challenging you. I don’t really mean it. Come on, trash talk me back a bit. You can do it! I believe in you.”

“Err, uhhh…” She could hear Ervent taking a deep breath, amusing as they weren’t really breathing here. “In that case, good luck. You’ll need it when all you can do is try and stab me with that fancy stick of yours. It won’t even dent my shield, let alone me. Then I’ll drive you into the dirt where you belong.”

Kira wanted to respond, but despite herself, she was actually a little stunned. It was a bit soft, but the follow through at the end wasn’t half bad. Especially for Ervent. “Good job,” she finally said.

“Really? It wasn’t too mean, was it? I mean, it felt really mean and I wasn’t sure that--”

“It’s fine, you did great,” Kira said with a light chuckle. “You’ve got a while to go until you’re a trash talking master, but you’ll get there one day.”

“This is why I don’t like doing PVP much,” Ervent said.

Kira gave another soft sigh and shook her head. “Ervent, you’re adorable. Just be yourself, okay? Nobody cares if you’re a trash talker or not. So long as you’re still you.”

“Thank you,” Ervent said.

“Also, don’t be upset when I thrash you.”

“I won’t. Just don’t be sad if I kick your butt back.”

------

Kira sat in the coliseum, glancing around at the rows and rows of filled seats. Now, they weren’t REALLY filled. In fact, the arena only had a handful of real areas to even sit. One near the head of the coliseum and then a few single seats that were spaced throughout and could be teleported to. However setting up fake bodies in the ‘empty’ seats was easy and gave the place a real coliseum feeling. Hovering above the arena was a massive screen with the names of everyone participating.

Kira, Ervent, Quill, Blueberry, Gretchi, Orion, Archinos and Lowkey.

Funny, she didn’t remember Lowkey or Blueberry entering earlier. Then again, she supposed the two of them might have just been waiting until they knew how many were joining and wanted to balance things out. Down below the coliseum had been emptied of all the training dummies, leaving it as a great, blank field. Up above the screen randomized the names, creating the brackets.

She mentally screamed the moment she saw the first match. REALLY?

Ervent vs Quill.

Already there was a message from Ervent. She quickly accepted it.

‘What do I do? Can I keep him on ignore for this? What if he needs to concede?’ Ervent’s message read.

‘It’s okay, keep him on ignore. There will be an alert if he concedes. Don’t talk to him, don’t say a word. Otherwise he’ll try to get under your skin. Okay?’ Kira sent back before sending a message to Orion next. ‘What the hell?!’

‘What? We’ll fight in the second round,’ Orion sent back.

‘Not that. Look who Ervent is fighting!’ Kira sent to him, her hands shaking with anger.

‘Oh shit. I’ll brb. Talking to him.”

‘You think?’ Kira quickly sent the message back before sighing. She looked at the names again. Blueberry vs Archinos. Orion vs Gretchi. Which left her to fight Lowkey. She quickly opened her guild menu and looked over Lowkey’s class. Another fae. Quite a few levels in angel too. Nothing else of real notice.

A sudden cheer brought her attention to the field. Ervent and Quill had both appeared in the arena. She reached out and opened the viewing menu, making a screen form in front of her. She quickly set it to track Ervent and not go too far from her.

Quill was saying something and, judging by the smug look on his face, it wasn’t very nice. She had him muted, though, so she couldn’t hear it. To her delight, Ervent didn’t react, so maybe the angel had done as she said and kept him on ignore.

Kira was certain of it after a few moments when the smile left Quill’s face and he started saying more things, then full on yelling judging by the way his mouth was moving. She covered her mouth and tried not to laugh when he kept getting more and more flustered with every second. He pointed at Ervent, yelling who knows what.

Then the message ‘begin’ appeared. Ervent didn’t hesitate, she leaped into the air and started casting ray burst from her right hand, sending rays of light at Quill. He was still in the middle of yelling at her and only had a few seconds to move. He disappeared, using the fae’s teleport to quickly disappear and reappear away from the blasts.

Unfortunately for him, he teleported closer to Ervent. The angel dove straight at him, holding her shield out in front of herself. He shot an arrow, though it bounced off the shield and she was in close a moment later, slamming her shield right into his face. He tried to pull away from her, but she didn’t let him. Instead she slashed at him over and over.

Finally he managed to teleport away, though his bow was sliced clean in half. Kira grinned when she saw him opening his menu and trying to get a new weapon. Ervent didn’t hesitate, using the skill crescent slash to cover the distance between them in a moment and then continue her assault. After a few moments he disappeared in a shower of red sparkles and the message ‘Winner: Ervent!’ appeared overhead.

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Kira jumped to her feet and quickly activated the transport system. She went through the rooms for a moment before finding Ervent’s room and requesting permission to enter.

After a moment she was granted it. The world shifted and she appeared in the other girl’s room. “Ervent, I saw the-- whoa,” she said softly, freezing in mid step.

“What? What’s wrong?” Ervent asked, turning to look at her.

“Your room is very pink,” Kira said, looking around at it. The walls and ceiling were off-white, with a thick, white carpet that had to be at least three inches thick on the ground. The bed was the fluffiest, pinkest and most feather covered monstrosity she had ever seen, she half expected it to start growling at her. More than that, it took up half the room in size and the angel looked like it was half eating her. There was a small pink bookshelf filled with comic books she couldn’t identify. A single small, pink table was resting in the corner of the room, with an adorable pink tea set resting on it.

Ervent was staring at her, her face burning with embarrassment. “Sorry. I was just, I mean. It’s just a bit of a fun thing, I guess. Or, err, not a fun thing. I mean, it’s kind of, you know? I just like the color pink is all. It’s a nice color. And I like everything being kind of bright and cheerful. If that’s okay? Sorry. I’m not--”

“Easy, easy, deep breaths,” Kira said, shaking her head. She walked towards the other girl and couldn’t help but notice that Ervent was quickly getting more panicked. Now that she thought about it, she had NEVER been invited into her room before. Was the angel embarrassed by this? “It’s very homey. Nicer than Orion’s room, at least.”

“What’s your room like?” Ervent asked, slowly sitting up. Kira barely resisted the urge to snicker when she realized there were at least half a dozen stuffed, pink animals on the bed, blending into the covers to give it an even weirder shape.

“I don’t actually use mine,” Kira said.

“Really? Why? I thought yours would be amazing. You makes all these different things, like the guild hall. Why not that?” Ervent asked.

Kira sat down on the edge of the bed before quickly reaching out to grab the frame. It was so soft and bouncy she felt like she was going to be tossed out of it if she moved too much. “Because it’s my job. I’ve done a few rooms like this in the past for my bases, but I never actually go into them. If I want to be alone, I just go out of the game and back to the real world. I… err...” She trailed off for a moment before reaching out and lightly patting Ervent on the head. “I guess that’s not really an option for you, huh? Since you’re only Ervent here?”

The angel gave a small nod. “Yeah. Sorry. I’ve never really had a room like this, either. I mean, I HAVE a room back home, but it’s not this nice.”

Kira glanced around the room. Nice was not the word she’d use, but very well. “I see.”

“You hate it, don’t you?” Ervent asked.

“What? No. It’s very you. And I like you, so of course I like it,” Kira said quickly. She suddenly felt very thankful that she wasn’t this girl’s roommate. She never could really get behind all those fluffy, pretty things. Still, if it made her happy then who was she to object?

“Thanks. So, err, the fight. What did you think?” Ervent asked, staring up at her like a puppy waiting for head pats.

“You kicked his butt,” Kira said, a wide grin forming on her lips. “You kicked his butt hard. It was little rough to watch, even. You had him muted, right?”

“The entire time. Thanks for that, by the way. I’ll be honest. When I first went out there, I was so scared. When he started talking I was so close to unmuting him. I wanted to know what he was saying to me, you know? But then I thought about what you said,” Ervent said, her voice firm and solid. “You told me not to. So I didn’t. Then I absolutely kicked his butt and if I can be completely honest, it felt really, really good. Especially after how he used to tell me I just needed someone like him to protect me.”

Kira’s eyes narrowed and she felt her anger towards the boy rise. “You never told me that part.”

“I didn’t? I’m sorry,” Ervent said quickly, inching a little away from her.

Kira gave a soft sigh before shaking her head. “Right. Not important, anyway. Hopefully he won’t bother you after this.”

“He keeps trying to message me,” Ervent said with a sigh. “I have him muted still, but the alerts keep popping up. Do you think I should talk to Blueberry? I mean, he is is his cousin. But what if I cause him more troubles?”

“If Blueberry gives you any grief, then we can both go join another guild, okay?” Kira said with a sigh. “Nobody deserves to get harassed like that.”

Ervent nodded. “I guess. But, I mean… Blueberry knows I’m not really a… you know?” she said, lowering her eyes to the ground. “What if he thinks I should just tough it out? Or tell Quill that I’m not really one?”

“None of his business. And nobody deserves that grief,” Kira said again. “If Blueberry says anything like that I’ll punch him in the mouth and THEN leave to find some better guild with you. Got it? It doesn’t matter who or what you are, you don’t deserve to be harassed by some jerk. Got it?”

Ervent gave a small nod, but the troubled look on her face told Kira she likely didn’t.

“Say it after me. ‘I, Ervent, do not deserve to be harassed.’”

Ervent rolled her eyes. “Really?”

“Do it or I’ll sit on you,” Kira said harshly. “I’m a demon, we have pointy butts.”

Ervent gave a light chuckle before nodding. “Very well. I, Ervent, do not deserve to be harassed.”

“Good. ‘Regardless of what I am, in or out of game.’”

“Regardless of what I am, in or out of game.”

“’And I will not cry when Kira beats my butt today.’”

“And I will not cry when-- HEY!” Ervent yelled before glaring at her. “You know, I might just win! There’s only two more fights!”

Kira couldn’t help laughing now, a hand on her mouth. “Yup. Two more fights. If you can do it, you’ll win. But you’ll need to go up against me. Think you can do it?”

Ervent shook her head. “Not really. But I’ll try my hardest. If we do, you won’t just let me win. Right?”

Kira gave a light laugh, shaking her head. “Really? Do you ever think I’d just let anyone win against me? That’d hardly be fair. But you’ve certainly gotten a lot better than you used to be. Who knows? Maybe you’ll have a shot at it. If you get lucky.”

Ervent flushed before giving a nod. “Thanks. Good luck out there. Is it okay for you to waste your time hanging out here with me? What about your match?”

“Eh, they’ll let me know when it’s starting. I’m more interested in making sure you’re safe after that fight with Quill,” Kira said.

Ervent suddenly went still, reaching out and tapping the air a few times. She gave a nervous gulp. “It uhhh… Blueberry finished their fight. He’s asking to come into my room. Should I let him?”

Kira’s eyes narrowed. “Really? What does he want?”

“He says he wants to talk and apologize. Privately. Is that okay? I don’t mean to be kicking you out,” Ervent said quickly.

Kira shook her head. “No, no. Have fun. I’m going to go watch Orion’s match, then. I’ll see you soon. Send me a message if you need anything, okay?” she said before reaching out to bring up the transport menu and returning to the arena.

To her delight, it seemed the next match hadn’t started yet, a timer was counting down overhead. She quickly sent a message to Orion. ‘Almost time. Nervous? You know if you lose here, that doesn’t mean you’ll be getting out of our fight.’

‘I know,’ Orion sent back.

‘Good. You better kick Gretchi’s butt, then!’

‘Thanks for the words of encouragement,’ Orion sent back, though she suspected they were far more sarcastic than the text could show.

Kira gave a soft sigh and leaned back, watching the timer quickly tick down the seconds. Bit by bit it counted down until, finally, the pair appeared in the center of the coliseum.

There was a light cheer from the automated crowd, though she wondered if it was really necessary. She wondered if she could setup an announcer for the future, so whenever one of them entered the arena it could give them a proper introduction. She bet she could even code it to give some basic stats, like their levels.

The match began and she focused the view on Orion. Gretchi was another fae player and she could almost vaguely remember him. At the very least she could remember the vine and leaf armor he wore. For a moment she wondered why there were so many fae in their guild.

Then again, she supposed it was only natural that fae players would have interest in PVP, the class gave a lot of advantages to it, with the teleport. Orion slowly advanced on the man, his shield held up and slowly being peppered with arrows from the man. They didn’t do much damage, only one hitting out of every five or so, but it was slowly wearing Orion down.

Kira wondered if he really was intending to lose this. Or did the range make that much of a difference? He was only slowly making his way towards Gretchi, while the fae kept backing away and using his fae step to teleport even further whenever the leviathan got closer.

Kira sighed and shook her head. “Figures,” she said softly. He was going to lose without even taking a single swing of his mace. How pathetic. She considered sending him a message, but worried it would distract him.

Then suddenly Orion brought his mace down to the ground and charged. Gretchi teleported away, of course, but the moment he started a path of ice formed at Orion’s feet and spread out towards the fae. Gretchi let out a startled yelp and tried to keep his footing, giving Orion the seconds he needed to charge in and get close.

From there it was a slaughter. With the distance covered, Gretchi never stood a chance. After a few moments the message ‘Winner: Orion’ appeared overhead.

Kira leaped to her feet and pumped a fist into the air. “Woo! I knew you could do it!” she yelled, not that he could hear it. She quickly sent him a small message. ‘Had me worried there. See you in the next round.’

‘Cocky, aren’t you?’ Orion sent back.

The demon reached out and tapped a new message that popped up, asking her if she wanted teleport when the timer was done. Only one more fight to go in the first round, hers. There was no way she could lose now. Another fae on top of it. She already had a plan, though. A bit of arrows and teleporting wasn’t going to be enough to stop her.