96TH GEAR - A MYSTERY SELFISH REQUEST
“Abyssal Speed Death Battles?” I tilted my head. It’s quite a handful to pronounce, and I have no idea about that thing especially since he just said it occurred five hundred years ago.
“Abyssal Speed Death Battles are those soul-gambling activities where the Speedmages compete, to win a contract with a demon,” Ericka said.
“That’s… kinda dark,” I muttered.
“It is true, at least five hundred years ago. The empires of the world have banned it, and now it is considered taboo. Nobody knows how it is conducted nowadays, so it has now been lost in time.” Levi said.
“What will they gain from making a contract with a demon?” I asked.
“Anything. Power, money, wealth, you name it. The demons will grant you anything as long as you win against a fellow Speedmage who wishes to have a contract with them.” Ericka said.
“However, there is a catch,” Levi interjected. “The loser of the Abyssal Speed Death Battle will suffer a fate worse than death. They will be expunged and their soul will be trapped in the Abyss for eternity.”
“T-That’s horrible.” Flu cried as she put her hands on her beating chest.
“That is why nobody is doing the contract with the demons anymore for more than 500 years. This scroll predates the worldwide ban on the Abyssal Speed Death Battles, so I suspect this is more than five hundred years old.” Levi said.
If that life-threatening Speed Battle happened more than five hundred years ago, that just means Lilith is immortal as she does not age that much as regular humans. She will also be put above normal mages. She has a vampiric eye, so maybe she is a blood-sucking immortal just like his navigator Count Gaylord Draculus.
“Wait, what about Gaylord Draculus?” I interposed a question.
“According to the records, Gaylord Draculus adopted the young Lilith Nightshade 432 years ago when he got out of prison due to the imperial pardon. From then on, Gaylord Draculus trained Lilith Nightshade to become an absolute nightmare in Speed Battles.” Levi said.
“So Gaylord and Lilith only had each other. Lilith became the inspiration and daughter of Gaylord, and Gaylord became the mentor and guardian of Lilith. That explains the extraordinary trust between these two.” Ericka said as she crossed her arm.
“That’s right, Useless Prez,” Levi said.
<>
Practice for this day ended one hour early, or should I say, we only extended one hour. It’s quite complicated, so let me explain. You see, Flu is always eager for practice that she often extends it for two hours. Today, Flu was slightly demotivated, so we only had an overtime practice of one hour.
The revelation about Lilith's past must have shocked her so much that she's not feeling that motivated in practice. I can easily read Flu like a book, so I decided to ask her for a date after the practice to cheer her up.
It is already snowing so we switched to our winter sweaters and jeans. Flu is exceedingly cute and sexy in her dark fitted sweaters and skinny jeans that I wanted to take her home already, but I have to raise her mood first.
We decided to stop by a fancy pasta restaurant and ordered some meals. I got myself a tonkatsu ramen and Flu got a plate of veggie pasta as part of her diet routine. As our meals are already on the table, I started to slurp on the hot ramen.
“Uwuuuuu…” Flu uttered.
“What is it, Flu?” I asked.
“It’s unfair that you get to eat the delicious meal, and I cannot.” Flu cried.
“Wait, you’re the one who ordered that pasta, not me. I never asked you to punish yourself with a strict diet.” I said.
“But! But! Buuuuut! I have to maintain my diet!” Flu cried with her fists pumped up and clenched. “Uwuuuuu!”
Flu didn’t need to endure all these things as she is still having a healthy body, but, I don’t know. Jeez, I don’t understand girls.
“Just have a taste of it then,” I said as I offered her my bowl.
“Hnnnnngh!”
Flu tried to suppress her urges, and now she is shaking like a broken generator until her brain is short-circuited. Then she took her paper cup full of water, drank it all, and then placed it next to the bowl. She then proceeded to transfer the soup, the stock, the noodles, and the garnish to the paper cup.
“T-This will do!” Flu said as she vigorously mixed the noodle and soup in her paper cup with a paper straw.
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Flu took almost one-fourth of the whole ramen, and I don’t know if it is still under her daily calorie quota for the day since she always refuses to tell me. Flu has been healthily living for the past months, trying to stay away from temptations such as dragonfruit ice creams or even bacon shawarmas.
“T-This is okay, right Coach? Right, Coach?” Flu pressed her face forward.
“Y-Yeah. I think it’s fine.” I said with a forced smile.
This is the first time she broke her own rule, so I don’t quite care if she eats much more than she took from me. I’d even give her my whole ramen if she wanted to.
Flu finally settled down on her seat and rested her chin on her two hands. She looked at me with an adorable smile and sparkling blue eyes.
“Thank you. I love you, Jonathan.”
I almost choked on my ramen. No, I really choked! Some noodles fell on my esophagus without me having to chew them! I even almost drowned in the beef soup!
“Ack! Cough! Cough!” I cried. “T-That came out of the blue!”
“Tahahaha! I’m sorry. I just wanted to say what I am currently feeling right now, even though you have already heard it a million times.” Flu gave a teasing grin.
“R-Right back at you. I love you too, Flu.” I pouted.
To hide my embarrassment blatantly visible on my reddish face, I decided to drink the ramen soup by raising the bowl. After three gulps, I put down the ramen and saw Flu glancing at the transparent glass window, looking at the slow-falling snow.
“Don’t you think we are lucky that we are born in this peaceful place and time?” Flu immediately blurted out a serious existential question.
“I think we’re lucky. If a magicless person like me was born in the medieval ages, I may be a weak NPC, getting ass-raped by goblins and shit.”
“You ass-raped me too last Tuesday,” Flu said.
“Don’t call it like that! You consented!” I cried. “And keep your voice down! There are other people in here!”
“You started it.” Flu pouted.
“O-Oh, I’m sorry.” I bowed after the sudden realization of my fault.
“Tahahaha.” Flu laughed. She glanced once more at the windows, looking at the small raindrops falling down the street as she went back to the topic. “All I'm saying is that we are lucky that we did not experience the Abyssal Speed Death Battles.”
I knew it. The reason why Flu is quite demotivated is because of what we’ve learned about Lilith Nightshade’s past. The horrific illegal Speed Battle is now living inside my head rent-free too, and it is quite eye-opening for our nemesis to have that kind of past.
“Maybe that is why Lilith Nightshade is resulting in dirty tactics during Speed Battles. She wanted to secure the win the very first time she gets to the Checkpoint Tower. She has burnt to her brain that no matter what happens, winning is always the answer. It doesn’t matter if she is enjoying the Speed Battle or not. For her, Speed Battles are the deciding factor of life and death.” I said.
Flu nodded and took a sip of ramen juice (soup) from her paper cup. Then she looked at me straight in the eyes.
“I kind of want to befriend Lilith. I wanted to show her how fun Speed Battles can be, without worrying anything at all. Maybe I could convince her to have fun in the National Speedmage Tournament.”
Flu said those words full of hope in her glittery blue eyes.
I did not speak. I do not want to discourage my girlfriend from her pipe dream of befriending Lilith. That witch lived five centuries ahead of us, and the thought of “Winning Speed Battles is a must, no matter the means” must have already been ingrained in her brain.
But there’s a huge part of my subconscious that believes in the Flu. She changed me for the better. Maybe she can change Lilith for the best.
I don’t hate Lilith that much anymore after learning about her dark past. My understanding of people has widened upon learning about Lilith. Maybe some people are just assholes for a reason, and they all try their best to cope.
<>
We have finished our short date, and we are now walking hand-in-hand in the central street. We tend to enjoy these moments together while taking our sweet time, but the weather did not permit it.
It almost immediately started to rain cats and dogs, and the raindrops are so cold that they felt like hail!
“Aaaaaah! We’re getting wet! We’re getting wet!” Flu cried. We used our bags to shield our heads from the rain, but it is to no avail.
Flu immediately grabbed my wrist, and to my surprise, she started to enchant her Speedmage Shoes with pink stardust mana!
“We have no choice! We have to run!” Flu cried.
“W-What!?”
“Stardust Accel!”
Boom!
The swift start made a sonic blast that scattered the raindrops around us. Flu started to run away from the central district and followed the train tracks that lead to a grassy field outside the city!
However, due to the rain, the visibility is almost zero. Flu was running blindly until she stepped on a big puddle full of mud!
“Gwack!”
“Gahack!”
Those two screams came from both of us as we dived unto the mud. Now all our clothing, bags, and equipment are drenched with a mix of dirt and raindrops! Not to mention, Flu has earlier dived into the dirty puddle head-first!
“Pwah!” Flu raised her head and panted. When she realized that we were all dirty, she started to apologize by bowing repeatedly. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Hahahahaha!” I laughed. “It’s okay, Flu! I kind of find this refreshing that you are still making the same klutzy mistakes even though you are almost perfect now.”
“Eh?” Flu title her head in confusion. "I'm not perfect in any way!"
“Nevermind! But you will still pay for what you have done to me! Take this!” I immediately splashed a puddle right on her face!
“Wah!” Flu cried as her head caught the dirt. She wiped her face and then shook like a wet dog. And then, with a mischievous smile, she splashed dirty water on me! “Take this too!”
“Gah!” I cried. It was a clear headshot to me.
“Tahahaha!” Flu laughed. “This is like what we played when we were kids!”
“Yeah, right.” I chuckled.
I stopped throwing dirty sludges at my girlfriend. I think it is enough to play like a kid, and besides, we are playing dirty water on our hands. We need to drink some cleansing potions right after this as I can’t have my star player getting sick two weeks away from the tournament.
“Hey, Jonathan.” Flu has this smile on her face.
“What’s up?”
“If I become the Speedmage Champion, I have a selfish request.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a secret! I’m still not a Speedmage Champion, so I don’t want to jinx it by telling my request right now. I want to tell it after I won. Just promise me that you will do this request.”
Selfish request, huh? What will she be requesting once she becomes a Speedmage Champion? A diamond ring? A trip to Thisneyland? A brand new Tooyota Magic Cruiser 8-wheel drive!?
“It’s not an expensive request, I promise!” Flu stuck out her pinky finger. “It is something you can only do.”
Well, if she says it like that, then I have no reason to refuse. I locked my pinky fingers with her and then gave my answer.
“I promise.”