“What’s our ETA?” Sylvia asks me as she jogs to my right, holding firmly onto Talyndra who still hasn’t woken up.

I look down to my watch, a frown on my face. Unfortunately, all it displays is an arrow and a timer counting down. “Honestly? I’m not sure. All it’s giving me is a direction and a countdown until the feature shuts off.”

Sylvia sighs. “So we just keep running then.”

I sigh too. “Pretty much.” I try to sound casual, but the length of the trip is beginning to weigh on me too.

For the past thirty minutes, the two of us have been running through the frozen tundra as indicated by the guiding arrow. Again, as [enlightened], ordinary cold isn’t enough to stop us, but it’s still far from pleasant. As we ran, we encountered a few [echoed], but nothing we couldn’t avoid or fight off, nothing we couldn't handle, for now at least. The longer we’re out here, the more apparent it becomes. We’re not running aimlessly, but we definitely won’t be able to run indefinitely. I’ll wear down, and no matter how resilient Sylvia is, she’ll wear down too.

That is, if Sylvia hasn’t already reached her limit. While I hadn’t noticed before because of my sheer awe for her and the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I realized during those few scuffles that she did not escape the previous encounter unscathed.

The wounds she bears are shallow, but they’re still there. From the slight, nearly imperceptible awkwardness in her stance, it seems she injured her leg during the fight. I also noticed that she seems to be more protective of her right side, indicating that she has been hurt there as well. If we had a booster on hand, I would have advised her to take one, but we’re not that lucky unfortunately.

‘Well, that’s just speculation. If she really is hurting, she’s d*mn good at hiding it.’

I doubt she would tell me even if she really was in pain. Sylvia isn’t the type to complain, especially to someone who’s not an ally. After another fifteen minutes of incessant running, something begins to bug me. Feeling increasingly bothered by the burden that Feyrin poses on my back, I turn my head to look at Sylvia.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that these two haven’t woken up yet?” I ask her, narrowing my eyes at Talyndra on her back.

Sylvia looks over her shoulder. “...Now that you mention it. It’s been over forty minutes hasn’t it?”

My concern supported by Sylvia, I stop running and set Feyrin on the snow. “If Loerlai could put people to sleep for nearly an hour, he’d be number 1 in the academy wouldn’t he?”

Sylvia then gently sets Talyndra down. She then crunches next to her. “Indeed… Perhaps their prior exhaustion exacerbated the effects?”

I grab onto my sharpsong. “That… or there may be other reasons.”

‘Enough rest for you.’

In a flash, my hand finds its way onto my sharpsong and I bring it down onto Feyrin’s neck. Sylvia’s eyes expand wide as she realizes the intent of my motion. She attempts to grab hold of her warchord to stop me, but she’s far too late. Splitting the air in its path, my instrument has but one goal, to make Feyrin’s rest eternal. When it finally finds its target, however, my strike hits nothing but snow. His body shifted away from the tip of my sharpsong, Feyrin’s blood red eyes look up at me.

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His lips turn into a grin and he jumps to his feet. “You’ve got me! I was planning on using you as a mount a tad bit longer, but it seems that won’t be possible!”

He pats his body suit down to remove the snow that has latched onto him and points to Talyndra. “For the record, though this may be hard to believe because of the way you perceive me, this was her idea.”

I roll my eyes and turn away from him to look at Talyndra. She still hasn’t broken the act. “You can get up now, you’re busted.”

She doesn't reply.

“I’ll strike you too if you don’t stop messing around.” I say.

Feyrin chuckles behind me, his grin nearly audible. “I suggest you do as he says Lady Snowflower. Had I not moved, I really would have been eliminated there. As the lowborn say, he’s ‘for real’” He muses.

Finally, Talyndra stirs, her movements slow and deliberate. She slowly opens her eyes, stretches and lets out a long, exaggerated yawn. Looking disoriented, she speaks to Sylvia when their gazes finally meet. “Oh man, how long have I been out? What happened?”

‘What an actress this one…’

Sylvia only offers a tired smile, and puts her warchord back over her shoulder. “Let’s… Let’s just get back on track, Davon is waiting…”

`

—

My feet covered in mud, sinking into the damp ground with every step, I cut through a thick amalgamation of vines obstructing my vision. It does not take me long to get to the other side, and there, I finally see her.

‘Finally!!’

On the other side of the natural barricade created by the vines, six other trainees enter my line of sight. They seem to have found themselves quite a nice spot within this dense tropical jungle. Unlike its surroundings, the dirt in this area is rather dry, providing good footing. The grass is just as tall here as in any other part of the jungle but at least it doesn't seem to hide any [echoed] ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

On the left, Ugo, Camille and Ray are discussing something, inaudible from where I stand. On the right, Sophia has her arm wrapped around Davon’s neck, Sylvia’s team leader, and Ivana is not too far from them, fiddling with her watch.

‘Oh right, I had almost forgotten Ivana was part of Sylvia’s team. I wonder who brought her back.’

It doesn’t take long for Sophia to notice us entering the clearing.

When she hears my foot press against the ground close to her, her head whips around to look at me and a smile appears on her face. “Ah! The last of my payments have arrived!” She says.

Still holding onto Davon, she walks toward the remainder of Sylvia’s team and I with a confident stride. Talyndra is the first to take notice of her team leader’s condition. In fact, she wasn’t exactly happy with their situation when I explained to her as we were making her way here.

‘She said she would show Sophia not to mess with her if I remember correctly right?’

Once she sees Davon’s state, Talyndra immediately raises her sharpsong and begins manifesting her tamed [echoed] “Let go of our leader you devious witch!”

Before they can fully manifest, however, Sophia places her hand on Davon’s face, who squirms under her touch. “H-hey!” Davon gasped, his breath fogging under the cold.

Like a plague, frost begins to spread from the place where her finger comes into contact with his skin. Then, with her other hand, she waves her finger to Talyndra. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you… I can eliminate him much faster than your pets can reach me, and then you’re left with no leader.”

Talyndra immediately stops in her tracks. Her face reddens and she appears to be furious, but truth be told, there’s nothing she can do. She glances helplessly toward Sylvia, who takes a step forward, and lowers Talyndra’s instrument

With a sigh, her gaze meets Sophia’s. “I heard you struck a deal with our leader?”

Content, Sophia lets out a chuckle and lifts her finger, decreasing the torment on Davon. “That’s right! Now that everyone is here, I’ll take the points I was promised. 100 points per head, and since there’s four of you, that’ll be 400 points please.”

Sylvia’s expression hardens, now far from her usual warmth. “That’s simply too much, and you know it.”

“Ah. You must not care that much about this guy then.” Sophia says, before inching her finger toward his cheek once more.

“L-lady FullCastle please! We can regain these points!” Davon says, shivering under Sophia’s touch.

Sylvia ignores it all, the threat, and her teammate’s plea, as though it was inconsequential. She has something else in mind, but I do not know what yet.

“I have a better offer for you.” Sylvia says, decisiveness in her tone.

I’m not sure if anyone else notices, but she takes a quick glance at Ivana, still sitting behind Sophia, who nods when their eyes meet.

‘Are they discussing something through Ivana’s ability? I’ll see what she has to offer before deciding whether it’s worth informing my team about it…’

Sylvia then makes her offer. “400 points is simply too much to just give away. Instead, our team will help you reclaim the flag and complete whatever event we were brought here … at a cost of twenty percent of the points you gain.”