Ugo comes down from his flight and lands near me. He retracts his wings into his body and all the fire which had been relentlessly burning all around us is extinguished. When he reaches the ground, I approach him with my hand raised high in the air, expecting a high five. He sees me nearing him and clicks his tongue.
“Damn commoner.”
Regardless, he raises his hand as well and reciprocates my gesture. A clapping noise resonates as his palm meets mine. I can even notice a smirk forming on his lips.
If someone told me a month ago that this would ever happen, I would have called them crazy, but here we are. While his ideals are very problematic, I have realized in the past weeks that Ugo is someone who can change. Of course, changing his outlook on the world is a process that will most likely take time, but I now see that there is a possibility. Even now, he is someone who is able to give credit where credit is due. It wasn’t long before he understood that my victories were not mere flukes which led to a drastic improvement in his impression of me.
Sophia interlocks her fingers and looks in our direction. “I could almost cry, you both have grown so much closer!”
Ugo looks away angrily and clicks his tongue once again. Meanwhile, I roll my eyes and raise my hand to give Sophia a high five as well.
“You don’t have to be jealous, here’s a high-five for you too.” I say with exasperation.
She happily obliges and smiles. “Well, aren’t I lucky.”
Camille and Ray finally reach us from their rear position and both wear large smiles on their faces. Beaming with excitement, Camille is the first to speak up.
“I can’t believe we beat an Echoluminous beast without so much as a scratch!! That makes us pretty strong doesn't it? I’m sure the other groups are probably still struggling with Echothoned beasts, well actually, I have a friend who’s having a hard time beating one, it’s akin to an eel that digs through the ground which is weird because eels swim through water I’m pretty sure, not that I’d know since I’ve never seen one, what climates do they even live in? Surely not this one or eel soup would be a delicacy around these parts, I heard it's pretty good too. What was I saying? Oh, yes we-”
Her voice fades in the background as she keeps on talking. In the past weeks, I’ve learned to let her go on until she tires herself rather than stop her. In fact, whenever I need to speak with her, I’ll stop listening once I’ve obtained the information I need. It may appear as a rude thing to do to someone, but I have already ascertained that nothing she says after the first few sentences is ever relevant.
Unwilling to listen to this any longer, I place my hand in the air and Camille softly taps it with hers without even taking a second to stop speaking, or to breathe really. I feel her soft palm briefly coming into contact with mine before she quickly retrieves it to fiddle with her long red hair. I am quite surprised as this is the first time I haven’t had to aggressively wave my hand in her face for her to realize what it is I wanted to do. Actually, even Sophia was a tad bit confused the first time I suggested this gesture. It makes me wonder if it is all great families that do not understand common gestures such as fist bumps and high-fives.
Ray, who was the first one to get me in this regard, approaches me with a smile and wraps his arm around my neck. “That Flaming Guillotine was impressive man!”
I scoff. “Ha, you’re one to talk, you were about 200 meters away, weren’t you? Yet you still shot through the obstacles, the raging wind, and sent that pellet right into its eye.”
He replies with a smile. “Heh, it wasn’t anything special, the lightfeather clan is known for its good eyes after all.”
I scoff and he releases his hold on me. In good spirits, we head towards the others for our usual post-battle meeting.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
As I look at Ray, I can’t help but admire his prowess as a sharp-shooter. In the several practice sessions we’ve had for the past four weeks, I have yet to see him miss a crucial shot. The way he positions himself out of the sight of his enemies and his ability to wait for the opportune moment before making his move is awe-inspiring.
In fact, everyone on this team is exceptional. Camille’s vast knowledge when it comes to the flora of the world awards her incredible versatility in battle, making her wildly unpredictable and increasing our team’s possibilities many-fold. Ugo’s high mobility grants us a wider range of view while his raw destructive power gives us an indispensable edge in battle. Sophia’s crowd control abilities slow down and trap enemies which give us the chance to set the battle to our own pace. As for me, my defensive abilities allow me to act as the team’s shield which gives them the time to do what they need to do while my proximity with the enemy enables me to respond the quickest should anything go wrong. Of course, all of this is without taking into account the very important fact that every single one of us is a fearsome fighter in their own right. I truly would not want to be a [echo-blessed] beast on the receiving end of our onslaught.
When we’ve all arrived, Sophia clears her throat and she begins to speak. “The competition is in three weeks from now, and our synergy appears to have reached its summit. Therefore, I’d like to talk about more… pressing matters.”
‘Ah, I guess I won’t have to bring it up then’
She continues. “The event awards us points for subjugating beasts, with the stronger ones awarding more points. However… since it is not an immersion event, it goes without saying that there are only so many beasts in the arena.”
Ugo interrupts. “Just get to the point Sophia.”
Sophia’s eyebrow twitches. “You know women hate impatient men?”
Ugo scowls at her without answering and Sophia returns to the main subject.
“As I was saying, their numbers are finite. This leaves us and every other team with three choices. 1 - The safest option: kill a plethora of weaker beasts to obtain as many points as possible without facing a shortage. 2- The riskier option: Aim for the stronger ones which other teams are less likely to pursue immediately, giving us much more time and potentially more points 3- The most assured option: Thin out the competition first in order to leisurely rack points afterwards.”
With a confused look, Camille sheepishly raises her voice. “I-I understand your concern, but won’t the Professors disqualify those who attack other participants since that is not the purpose of this event?”
Ray quickly interjects. “Camille, have you read the event guide given to us a few weeks ago?”
“Yes?” She answers.
“Was it stated anywhere that attacking our peers was prohibited?”
She frowns, trying to remember. As someone who carefully reviewed the guide multiple times, I am well aware of what was in it. As such, there is no doubt in my mind and I answer the question for her. “No, it wasn’t”
Ugo is the next to speak, he wears an annoyed expression. “That much was already obvious, but what do you suggest then? Attack them before they attack us? Only cowards who aren’t confident in their skills would aim to ‘thin out the competition’. I refuse to take part in such childish games!”
Sophia rolls her eyes. “Says the one who tried to team up on Alden on the very first week.”
Ugo’s eyes flare up and he stands up to confront Sophia. Not intimidated in the slightest, she takes a step forward, getting even closer to him. Evidently, if nothing is done, a fight will break out, again.
Feeling forced to mediate, I stand up as well and separate them. “Alright you two, that’s simply not productive. Ugo, you really need to control your anger better, and Sophia, you really need to stop intentionally messing with him.”
Ray comes in between them as well. “Y-yeah guys, let’s just focus on the subject at hand, no?”
With our words, they both step back. This isn’t the first time I’ve been compelled to ease the tension between them. Generally, due to their differences in status, Ugo backs down with a click of the tongue or a grumble, but there have been a few times where that wasn’t enough. It is at those moments, where I have had to get involved. In the most heated arguments, even Camille and Ray were forced to place themselves between the two.
As it happened today, I am always the first one to step up. That is because for a reason I have yet to identify, even if he will never admit it, Ugo is more inclined to listen to reason if I am the one speaking. This contrasts greatly with Sophia, who will back off without much trouble. She will stop with the slightest involvement from either of us due to her simply doing this for her own amusement.
As a testament to that, after mine and Ray’s intervention, Sophia grins and promptly resumes what she had been saying. “What I was going to suggest we do, before I was interrupted, is for us to go for the second option. As we’ve seen today, we are more than ready to handle Echoluminous beasts by ourselves. With one of them being equal to 10 Echoborne ones, it just seems like the better option.”
Her expression turns slightly darker. “However, all I’ll say before we all leave, is that there are some individuals who don’t always play fair and square. So, should the need present itself, don’t hesitate to… eliminate…our dear DaiKar friends, from the competition of course! ”
A chill courses through the air. I’m not sure if it’s because of her [melody] or because of the implication behind her words, but I definitely feel the room temperature lowering by a few degrees.
Following these very ominous parting words, Sophia’s expression returns to her normal playful one and she adjourns the meeting. We exit the virtual world and all begin to head back to our respective peaks. Before I can fully leave, however, Sophia drags me away to have a private conversation.