All three of my remaining teammates look at me upon hearing my words. Sylvia and Alex immediately nod, then promptly return to what they had been doing a second prior. Clay, on the other hand, is a bit more skeptic. After hearing my command, he frowns, seems as if he is on the verge of retorting, but then decides against it. I’m not sure what series of thoughts went through his mind during that sequence, but in no less than a fraction of a second, he has decided to trust me.

I can’t help but smirk at this display. Who would have thought I’d give orders to someone from a noble family one day.

With them now only waiting for my signal, I focus, and wait for an opportunity. I see the hair flail around, batter my allies’ instruments and tear through the battlefield. Despite not being told, it seems they’ve all understood that they must keep protecting me until the signal is given. In doing so, more wounds appear on their bodies, their stamina and their reserves of flow approach a critical level, and their determination may even break soon.

However, all of that doesn't matter to me, my mind is on something else. Using every drop of concentration I can muster, I block out all ordinary sensory input. Though my eyes are open, I do not care what they show me. Though my ears function, I do not pay attention to what they register. Instead, I use my very soul to sense the flow of Tianna’s [melody]. It’s a new sensation, perhaps awakened by the realization I’ve just had, but I feel a faint connection to her. By trying to truly understand her [melody], I feel as though we have grown much closer.

Eventually, I sense the opportune moment coming. I grip my sharpsong tightly, and manifest my aegis close to me, ready to strike. The closer the right moment draws, the more nervous I become. Will this work? Have they put their trust in me for no reason? Will they be disappointed if I fail?

A deep voice reaches my ears. “Unnecessary thoughts.” Alex says without a change in his intonation, as if it was the most natural thing to say.

I snap my head in his direction in shock, but he does not bother to turn to look at me. I don’t know how he noticed, but his words strike true. Wishing to cleanse my mind, I shake my head to dispel the negative ideas. He’s right, all of that does not matter. I can worry later, right now, I need to focus.

As I regain my composure, the moment I had been waiting for draws near.

‘One more second..’

“Now!” I shout.

Upon hearing my signal, all of my teammates completely disregard defense and rush towards Tianna. Even Clay, whom I imagine must feel strange at the idea of obeying one of my commands, does so without an ounce of hesitation. Tianna, now faced with what appears to be a senseless charge by the four remaining second quarter trainees, seems confused. A soft frown forms in-between her eyebrows, and she speaks to us.

“I-I even gave you a bit of time to talk amongst yourselves and this is what you came up with…? T-That’s disappointing… sigh… O dearest, you can put an end to this now.”

Just as her hair raises and prepares to attack my teammates, I strike my aegis, and a very particular sound is emitted from it.

‘Harmonic destruction’

The noise resonates throughout the battlefield and Tianna’s expression turns into one of slight surprise. I’m sure she realizes that I’ve done something, but she is likely unable to know exactly what. Regardless, she decides not to stop her attack in their tracks. In practice, she has made the right choice. With no way to understand my attack and no time to figure it out, the best option is to follow through and hope to break through whatever it is that I am scheming. Unfortunately for her, however, that is exactly how I had predicted she would react.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

With no interruption, the hair furiously flies towards me and my teammates. As it heads for them, I give my comrades simple instructions:

“Just slice through it, trust me!”

Left with no other choice, they do as they’re told, and to their surprise, their instruments pass through Tianna’s hair like a hot knife through butter.

She expands her eyes in shock but I do not give Tianna time to understand this situation. I direct pureflow to the muscles of my legs and perform an explosive leap towards her, catching up to my teammates who had a slight head start. As it stands, I have a second, maybe less, before the effect of my ability wears off. Before that, one of us must at least inflict a wound upon her, as Zora did to Ronald.

When my feet touch the ground again, All four of us are but a few steps away from Tianna. She attempts to protect herself by forming a defensive sphere around her, but we cut through her hair with ease. The protective barrier around her falls to the ground, lifeless. It appears she cannot not control hair that is not directly connected to her scalp. With her defenses rendered inoperable, I am able to take another step towards her which means that soon, my sharpsong will be at her throat.

Unfortunately, Tianna does not make it that easy for us. I come to truly understand that it is not without reason that she has managed to achieve the second stage at such a young age. She truly is a genius. She may not understand what is happening, but she immediately adapts to her predicament. Instantly, strands of hair intertwine and overlap, weaving themselves into a much sturdier construct. She must have come across opponents who could sever her hair in the past. Hence, she has developed a way to deal with such opponents, which I imagine is what I am bearing witness to right now.

The now much dense and thicker strands of her aim for all four of us. I’m afraid we’ll have much more trouble cutting through those even without the durability enhancement she imbues them with. With his left hand, clay touches the ground, causing it to turn liquid and effectively destroying Tianna’s footing. She stumbles, which allows all of us, but Clay, to avoid the woven hair which had been heading straight for us. Unfortunately, he had to stop moving to perform this feat, making him a sitting duck for Tianna’s attack. He is hit in the chest and sent flying back, but thanks to his effort, Sylvia, Alex and I manage to take another step. A few more inches, and one of us will be able to strike her.

At this point, my ability’s effect could wear off at any moment. In truth, It might have worn off already. Should Tianna have any other tricks up her sleeve, our efforts may be rendered pointless.

‘Just let us have this…!!’

In this instant, out of the three of us, Alex’s warchord is the quickest. If nothing stands in its way, it will be the first to come into contact with Tianna, and judging from its trajectory, he plans to strike her right shoulder. Before that can happen however, something difficult to even imagine happens. Tianna raises her fists, wraps it in her hair, forming a brass-knuckle like gauntlet, and hits Alex’s warchord, shattering it in a million pieces. The deafening noise of the special material used to manufacture instruments breaking resonates throughout the battlefield, and in a split second, Tianna turns to me to do the same thing once more.

‘D-damnit, I can’t dodge this!’

I grit my teeth and prepare for impact. While she aimed for Alex’s warchord for her first attack, her fist now seems to be headed straight for my face. I imagine she must want to make me lose consciousness to end the effect of my ability. I wish I could tell her it only lasts for a second or so, to avoid having my skull fractured, but I doubt I’d have time to convey the message.

As the fist grows larger, approaching my face rapidly, I accept my defeat and close my eyes.

‘We… did our best..’

Yet, betraying my expectations her fist stops, without even grazing me. All I feel on my face is the wind pressure generated by her punch. I hastily open my eyes and my gaze shifts to Tianna. As I try to understand why she stopped, I notice something strange in her eyes. They have turned cloudy and unfocused. In fact, she appears to be in a trance. Realizing that I know what is happening to her, I look to Sylvia, who, it seems, has been whispering her enchanting tune for Tianna to hear from the moment she got past her defensive perimeter.

In the heat of the action, I was not able to discern the sound, but I now hear it clearly.

“Alden, it’s now or never, we won’t get another chance like this!” Sylvia says, hatling her humming.

I raise my sharpsong in the air, and Sylvia does the same with her warchord. It’s over, there is no way she breaks out of it before we finish our swings, or so I thought, until now. With a slight delay, Tianna’s hair stabs her through the foot, and she breaks out of the trance. I am taken aback for a moment, but do not let it destabilize me.

‘It’s too late!! She still can’t evade this!’

Despite our assured victory, Tianna’s expression turns into one that is warm and comforting. Something resembling a mother seeing her child take its first steps. With a breathtaking smile and a soothing voice, she says: “That was quite good… you win.”

Then, an invisible force sends us all flying back.