Xal drew out a beautiful katana that had been created by the master’s of the forge. Its sharpness was incredible and it was his family's heirloom. The handle and guard were both golden while the blade itself was so white that it shimmered in the sunlight.

“My fellow students, today, we cannot afford to taste defeat,” he cried out. “It is our last year, and we have never felt the shame of loss yet and we shall not feel it now!”

His classmates roared in agreement.

The siren blared as if it was in agreement too. The students of the Myth class all disappeared from their base, charging forth to claim their victory.

Xal’s group was composed of the two females that had been guarding him and then two men who were also in the student council. Anyone who saw their team would know that they had lost without a doubt in the world, Xal’s squad could be dubbed “Hope Crushers”.

Honestly, Xal wasn’t that worried about them not winning this time around. Ever since their freshman year, they had fought against the other classes and won each time, and since it was impossible to have transfers to the sophomore class and up, meaning these were all the same people from the past years.

Sure, they had improved, but Xal had improved too. It wasn’t as if Xal was incredibly arrogant, it was just the truth of the situation. The senior Myth class continued to be the undisputed best of Opinum this century if they lost, that would be far more surprising than their win.

Xal’s group began to move through the forest, they moved at such a leisurely pace that if there was a passerby, they would have thought the squad was simply out on a stroll and not hunting for opponents to face.

“Boss,” one of the male team members said, wearing a lopsided grin. “I heard from Xena and Yarah that you met the freshman transfers that single-handedly wiped out the rest of the classes.”

“It wasn’t single-handedly, the other members of the freshman Myth class were there, too,” a boy with hair that strongly resembled a peach in both color and shape corrected Goofy, I mean, the man who had spoken before, Goofy’s name was Mark.

“Same concept, same concept,” he laughed.

“My team is so unfocused,” Xal lamented. “Xena, listen to them, they’re having such a normal conversation during our battle simulation.”

Xena nodded her head in agreement, but didn’t add anything more to the subject, so, eventually, a silence settled over the quintet as they continued their hunt.

“Stay on watch, we’re far enough from base now that the chances of sneak attacks are extremely high. Especially that crafty leader of King class, he always pulls something out of his ass,” Xal told his team members.

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding, they straightened up their postures and began to survey their surroundings carefully.

The “Hope Crushers” weren’t omnipotent, so, if they were taken by surprise or overwhelmed, it was possible for the other classes to win against them.

For example, the freshman’s had been completely unprepared for a large-scale attack against them, and they would have lost if it wasn’t for the three transfer students that had saved them.

It wouldn’t be the smartest idea to use this tactic again, but it was still a strategy that couldn’t really be stopped. If all the teams formed an alliance against the Myth class, specifically Xal’s squad, the alliance could force them onto their knees.

“I feel as if someone is watching us,” Gus (peach) said. “Maybe it’s one of the other team’s scouts?”

“Who knows, but I feel it, too,” Xal responded. “Whoever they are they don't seem to want to fight, so it might be a scout for the other team, should we take them out?” he whispered the last part so only those around him could hear.

His teammates nodded.

“All right, Yarah and Gus, deal with the scout, the rest of us are going to run ahead and try to take out the King’s base.”

Yarah and Gus both agreed and ran in the direction of the stare while the other three began to sprint to the King’s base location.

In the senior’s version, the bases were of far more importance than the other’s so whoever claimed the base typically got the win. Most classes would have those with the highest defense protecting the base and the highest offense sent to capture the base.

Both jobs were of pivotal importance because if your base was taken you instantly lost the game, and if you simply had everyone guard the base without gaining any points, you would also lose the game.

It was possible for you to reclaim your base, and your team would receive just as many points as if you had gotten a base. Many people had tried to cheat the system by working together to take over, reclaim multiple times in order to gain points, so because of that, it was only possible to take your base back once. And for the conquerors, they could only claim the same base once.

Still, it was a nice cheat when it lasted.

Anyway, Gus and Yarah finally arrived at where they felt the watcher was located. They looked around in confusion, they could still feel the gaze, but nobody was there.

“I’m right here, children,” a woman said in an airy voice as sweet as honey. Gus thought that with a voice like that, she could easily swindle anyone. It was the type of voice that could make someone hand over their wallet without really understanding why they did it themselves.

In short, it was hypnotizing.

It made Gus feel as if the person watching them was very, very dangerous. He didn’t think anyone who sounded like that could only have innocent intentions.

Yarah pointed upwards. “There.”

Indeed, there a woman sat on a thick branch with her long, silken locks of silvery hair blowing in the wind so the strands almost resembled tendrils reaching out to them. Her face was covered by a delicately painted kitsune mask, the only reason they knew for sure that she was a woman was because of her shapely body and beguiling voice.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Now then, I’ll treat you nicely, okay?” she told them as she leaped from the high up tree branch. She landed gracefully on her feet and her hair slowly fell around her as if it was its own being following its own gravity.

Both Yarah and Gus knew that she was hostile, she didn’t emit any type of killing intent, but for some reason, they found themselves afraid of this mask-wearing woman.

Gus pulled his crossbow from off his back and loaded it with an arrow which he then enchanted with his special type of magic that would cause the arrow to explode upon impact. The sheer amount of burst power that Gus had was strong enough to crack even the strongest of shields.

“Yarah, I’ll keep her distracted, you go in for the kill,” Gus whispered so quietly it was hard for the girl standing next to him to hear. She still nodded her head and prepared herself to advance.

Gus released the arrow and it speed towards their enemy, the wind seemed to roar as the arrow cut through it.

Just as the arrow approached her, the woman grabbed the arrow and it exploded in her hand, but she was completely unharmed. Gus swore inwardly, what the hell was that? Dodging the arrow was one thing, but grabbing it was just cheating!

Gus loaded his crossbow with another arrow and tried again, this time, Yarah also went in for the attack, so he was fairly confident that the woman couldn’t deal with it as easily as last time.

Except, she did. She sidestepped the arrow and grabbed Yarah by the scruff of her neck and hurled the young girl into the trunk of a nearby tree.

“If you attack me so straightforwardly, I’ll get embarrassed~” The woman covered her masked face with her hands as if saying that made her even more shy. “Just kidding. I’m only playing with you guys for a little bit because I have to head over to the King class’ base so I can play another game with Xaltiq.”

She seemed to be smiling under her mask, Gus felt as if she was smirking at them.

“Now, come at me seriously.”

Gus raised his crossbow once more, anger welling up inside of him. How dare she look down upon him!

He’d show her the true power of the Myth class’ archer!

Without another word, another arrow was sent whistling through the air.

Fox laughed. The youths nowadays were so interesting!

...

Approximately ten minutes after they had left Yarah and Gus (they took so long because they had to deal with other classes attacking them) Xal and his teammates arrived at the King’s base, and they discovered something very shocking.

The entirety of the defending squad of the King’s base had been wiped out, their bodies were all piled on top of each other and serving as a footrest for the woman seated on top of the pillar that acted as the base. There was a slot for the students to slide a card and that would signify their capture of the base.

The woman seated on the base was wearing a kitsune mask, it was the same person that Gus and Yarah had encountered, even though the three who had just arrived were unaware.

She was rather regal, it was in her posture. Her chin was tilted up slightly and her back was ramrod straight, along with the graceful slope of her neck to her shoulders, she could as well have been a queen of some foreign country.

“I finished just in time, Xaltiq and his team just arrived,” she said.

Xal had a bad feeling about her, he felt as if she was the embodiment of absolute power. He turned to Xena and Mark and said in a low voice, "You two need to get out of here. Now."

Even if he didn't survive, these two didn't deserve to die needlessly.

Xena furrowed her brow. "What? We'll help you out in fighting her. She's wearing the same outfit as us, but she isn't wearing a crest, I think she's an invader. It's our job to get rid of her."

"I'm on her side," Mark added.

“Run, dammit!” Xal shouted as his teammates, he couldn't deal with this right now. “You’re going to be in my way if you stay here.”

“But...” Xena stepped forward, a helpless and lost expression on her face, she didn't understand why he was yelling at them. What had she done wrong?

Xal whipped around and pointed his sword at her. “Run and find Gus and Yarah or I swear I will cut you two down myself.”

Mark, seeing that Xal was not at all joking, grabbed Xena’s trembling shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.” He dragged her away, pulling her far from the danger that was in front of them.

The kitsune mask-wearing woman chuckled. “Are you finished?” she asked, swinging her feet back and forth as if she was a child waiting at the dinner table for food.

Xal tightened his grasp on his katana. “Yes, thank you for waiting, ah... I don’t know your name. Is it all right if I call you Fox?” He was calmer now that the other two were gone.

She tilted her head. “It’s no problem and whatever you call me is fine.”

“Then, I will be your opponent today, Fox.”

“Wait, I don’t know your name either,” Fox said even though she was clearly lying since she referred to him as Xaltiq earlier. “How about I call you ‘boy’?” Fox didn’t even bother fixing her condescending tone.

Xal then shook his head. Why would she? From what he could tell, she had the strength to back up her arrogance. He strengthened his resolve and readied his beautiful katana.