Sophia jumps up, excited. “Finally, some real action! Ugo, which one of them is closest, let’s go there right now!”

Ugo, hastily checks his map. “About 10 minutes south of here, if we take the Bassline there’s one dot that isn’t moving. Whoever that is, they’re probably waiting for us.”

“Great, what are we waiting for?!” She replies with a wide grin.

In a hurry, Ugo extinguishes the campfire, but once again, we do not erase the traces of our presence. We leave the wooden plates, ustensils and the wood used to build the campfire. As we prepare to depart, Camille approaches and speaks to the group.

“B-before we leave, I wanted to address that matter”

All of our attention turns towards her. We know what it is she wants to talk about. It’s something we had discussed before the start of the competition. Camille presses the mute option on her communicator to avoid any interception and continues.

She looks down in surprise at her watch. “Oh.. it looks like I only have thirty minutes now, but that’s okay… I caught a few voices here and there throughout the day. From what I heard, I’m fairly certain it's only one team. I recognized Lance Wolfe’s voice distinctly and two others from that same group, Isolde Halloway and Esme Grimm… Oh yeah, and uh, I used approximately thirty points throughout the day...Eavesdropping is not cheap, it’s approximately one point every second. If I could have, I would have listened more, but at the same time I didn’t want us to go bakru-”

“Wait Wait, when was the last time you caught something?” I ask, making sure that my statement is ambiguous enough to not alert the pursuers, since my communicator is not muted.

“About an hour ago, right around the time we started eating.” Camille answers.

‘So they’re close…’

Before we entered the designated perimeter for this event, Camille was tasked with a very important mission.

We intentionally left very obvious remains of our battles so that others would come after us. We wanted to be followed. Camille’s task was to identify the pursuers using the communication officer’s perk of being able to eavesdrop on another team’s conversations. This plan was based around one special ability of Camille’s. We discovered, while we were preparing for the event, that as much as she talks, she listens, and strangely enough, she remembers every voice she has ever heard before.

With this in mind, the five of us built an extensive profile of every participant in this event, that we then memorized to the best of our ability. This was done by watching a great amount of weekly showdowns and many sleepless nights. Before the event even started, we had already agreed that more than a few teams would go for a player vs player route rather than aim for the [echoed]. We thought that, instead of waiting to be ambushed, we could knowingly incite others to attack us. Our plan was to look as if we were weakening ourselves by fighting the [echoed] incessantly, while making it easy to follow us by leaving clear signs of battle behind us. Then, if we used Camille’s voice recognition ability and her communications officer perk, we’d be able to anticipate and counter the ambush.

Camille continues. “This would then mean that they’re accompanied by the Vale brothers, making their [melodies]...”

She rubs her temples trying to remember.

“Body double, mimicry, short range teleportation, light generation and darkness generation respectively. Perfect for an ambush…”

Sophia mutes her communicator as well, her expression turns serious. “If you heard them around an hour ago, this must mean that they’re close.. Out of curiosity, what’s the range of the communication hijack?”

“According to its description, I-it has a 1km radius.” Camille replies

“I see…” After taking a short pause to think, she makes a decision. “Here’s what we’ll do, we’ll find the mysterious figure and begin the trial. With the Bassline, we’ll arrive before them, and I doubt they’ll be able to interfere once the trial begins.”

“Afterwards though, there’ll be trouble.” I say, still trying to remain ambiguous.

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

If these guys have been waiting for an opportunity to attack us, but still haven’t found one, they must be getting impatient. I don’t know yet just how challenging this special event will be, but chances are it will be the absolute best moment for them to ambush us. Truth be told, if I were them, that would be the window of opportunity I would aim for. They’ll be in perfect condition, but we’ll be exhausted from not only the relentless fighting throughout the day, but also from the special challenge.

Ray presses on the horn of the Bassline to attract my attention. Once he has it, he raises a thumb in the air and offers a confident smile. “We’ll manage!” He says from the Bassline’s driver’s seat.

I smile back awkwardly.

‘I admire his positiveness, but I can’t just cross my fingers and hope for the best. I’ll have to think of something.’

An idea pops into my head, and I grab a plate, within which I stuff four pieces of cooked meat. If I’m right about this, we’ll be able to take our pursuers by surprise.

Finally, Sophia looks at us all. “All those in favor of rushing for the trial, raise your hand!”

Five hands are raised in the air, mine included. Sure, we’ll be in a bad spot afterwards, but for now, It seems like the best course of action.

Since the vote is unanimous, we climb onto the Bassline, and head south of our current location. The scenery as we travel is almost calming. Grass for as far as the eye can see, and I even spot a few [echoed] here and there, who seem to be resting. Their eyes are closed, and their heads are laid against the tranquil ground. The night brings with it momentary peace to the grasslands and tonight’s full moon illuminates our surroundings. Basking in the moonlight’s radiance, a soft glint is reflected into my eyes from the swaying grass. As I look at the stars, I wonder just how this was made possible.

‘Are those real, or are they part of the fabricated arena..?’

This entire area was constructed specifically for this event by powerful [enlightened], but even knowing that, I just can’t help but be impressed at the attention to detail. Is this all synthetic, or real? Did someone with a [melody] similar to Camille’s create this, or perhaps a group of them? If so, how much time and effort did it take? To give birth to an entire ecosystem is a feat of incomprehensible scale. Just how vast are DaiKar’s means? I wonder if the others have had similar thoughts.

When the vehicle stops abruptly, my mind is brought back to the present. As expected, it did not take us long to arrive. Still in the grasslands, we exit the vehicle at the location marked on Ugo’s map and inspect our surroundings. Immediately, I see someone, a single person which contrasts the surrounding fauna.

I point the figure out to my teammates. “Look, over there.”

In the distance, stands a lone figure, wearing a dark cloak covering their entire body. From the curves under the cloak, however, I can tell that it is a woman of rather short stature. I squint my eyes and notice that she is sitting on a chair, which resembles a throne made of bones.

‘I could have sworn that it wasn't there before…’

Without any other real option, we decide to all walk towards her. We do not really concern ourselves with the Bassline as no one but Sophia can make it function, and if someone wanted to sabotage us to the point of destroying it, they’d have to expend considerable effort.

When we’ve gotten close enough, the mysterious woman removes her hood and speaks to us. She wears a small mask covering her eyes. The exterior is black and the part of it which stands over her pupils is of pure white.

As soon as she welcomes us, I can tell that she is straining herself to intentionally deepen her voice. “Welcome, welcome! You’re the first team to arrive. Will you take my challenge?!”

A notice appears on Sophia’s watch.

[You’ve come face to face with one of the mysterious figures: Requiem

Will you accept her challenge?

Yes No]

Sophia presses yes without a moment’s hesitation.

“Great!” Requiem says without forcefully deepening her voice.

She clears her throat, recognizing her blunder. “A-Ahem, I meant, great, I will now explain your trial brave ones.”

‘Wait… I know that voice.’

As I look closer, I notice something like a scar, or at least part of it, around her left eye. It seems like her mask was not able to cover it in its entirety. The more I look at her, the more familiar she seems.

‘It couldn’t be… right? They wouldn’t send her in here…’

She begins her explanation, still faking a deeper voice. “I’ll give you toddlers two choices. You can either choose the test of will, or the test of might!”

‘It is her!! No one else would call us toddlers in such a way!’

Sophia, still with a grin on her face, answers Requiem with unwavering confidence. “Of course we’ll go with the test of migh-”

Almost a second too late, I cover Sophia’s mouth with my hands, and as she struggles to break free, I ask Requiem a question. “W-what exactly does the test of might entail?”

The mysterious figure grins, and grabs an instrument resembling a violin’s bow from the sleeve of her cloak, which confirms my suspicions without a shadow of doubt. “Well… that’s obvious isn’t it? You’ll have to take the access permit from me by force!”

With cold sweat running down my forehead, I firmly grab Sophia’s shoulders, and speak to her a mere inch from her face. Her eyes of pure darkness look straight into mine as I talk to her. “We absolutely cannot choose the test of might you hear me!? That’s Maestro Lauren, my peak’s instructor! You might not be familiar with her, but I am, and trust me when I say that we will not be able to take the access permit from her!!”

Sophia looks at me with a dumbfounded look and her complexion reddens slightly. She hastily looks away and stutters as she tries to answer. “Yyeah, okay? W-we won’t, we won’t!”

I let go of her and turn to the others who seem confused.

“Is… is she that terrible?” Ray asks, perplexed by my reaction.

“Whatever you are imagining right now, it's one hundred times worse!”

“Oh my, it’s that bad!?” Camille says, anxiously looking at me.

“Yes!!” I reply

Requiem shouts at me, clearly angry. “Oi, I can hear you, you know!!? Also, I’m not Maestro Lauren! I am Requiem, the mysterious person in the south!”

I slowly turn around to look at her. “... Maestro, you forgot to deepen your voice.”

She strains her voice once more. “.... I’m not Maestro Lauren!!”

Ugo takes a step forward, pointing his sharpsong towards the Maestro. “You might be a commoner, but you’re one with some sense. We’ll take the test of will… Requiem.”