"What they did was complete bullcrap!" Onyx's forehead crumpled so roughly, his eyebrows almost became one. "Jackasses! Shitty fucks."

Up on the guildhall's second floor, the party was reporting what had occurred to Master Chrisholm. Sadly, the man was being just as stoic as he always was. "As guild master, my primary purpose is to make certain all quests the guild accepts are completed by its members." Master lifted a foot onto the railings he was sitting on, perching like a gargoyle watching their party, with blank stone eyes. "That said, I don't really care who or which party finishes whatever quest."

Onyx growled. "Are you being serious?! What? You're just gonna let them off?!"

On the first floor, that blond boy and his party, occupying an entire table, were whispering amongst themselves. Devilish eyes peeking at the commotion upstairs.

Master Chrisholm twisted to see them, which, having been noticed early, prompted the group to pretend as though they were looking elsewhere. "Coral Crown violated no rule."

Shadows of death itself dimmed Onyx's face. "You've gotta be kidding me. How do you expect us to be on top if you're gonna let them make fools of us like this?!"

Faolan, Alia, and Kirin, listening from the steps, all perked up.

Master Chrisholm blinked. "I see. You haven't told them yet."

Alia gulped and walked over to see Onyx's face. "Haven't told us what?"

Master Chrisholm called forth a long link of chains and surrounded everyone on the second floor. After a clink, they were all in the silence of his fire warmed office. "I'll be leaving you to discuss this in private." Master then walked into a portal that disappeared right after him.

"He wants us to fight in the Guild Games," Onyx whispered.

"So?" Faolan crashed onto a sofa. "Sounds like good news to me. I think that ought to be something we'd all enjoy. But from what I know, only Coral Crown's eligible to join. Isn't that right?"

"He corrected that. It's the top party that's participating."

"Exactly. Coral Cr--"

Alia let Onyx sit down on a couch. "Unless we can surpass them on the leaderboard."

Kirin placed a shy fist onto his chest and a cold palm by his cheek. "Umm. I'm really sorry. What with all the shouting and angry energy from all of you, I've been hesitating to ask these questions floating in my head. What's the Guild Games and who were those guys from earlier?"

"Ahh." Faolan gazed with apologetic green eyes. "Forgive us. We've totally been overlooking the fact that you're new."

Alia sat by Onyx. "Months ago, Master Chrisholm attended an annual assembly with all the Kingdom of Swords' guild masters and the god king, His Majesty, Eudon. It was then that the master outed Master Sumpa and the other leaders for the dishonorable ways they've been running their guilds just so they could call themselves 'the biggest and most powerful.' However, having no sufficient evidence, he had thought of only one option to prove his claims."

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Faolan crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "To show the kingdom that Harpe's ways are what must be followed and that the guild is what belongs at the top, Master Chrisholm proposed an interguild competition he called The Guild Games."

"An event the entire kingdom could witness to see which guild is truly the strongest and most powerful." Alia raised a tutoring finger. "There were several rules established."

1. The guild must be represented by their top party.

2. The party must select only five members to participate.

3. The participants must be between 18 to 30 years old. (Notice: Blond boy can't join.)

4. Any weapon, armor, and magic may be used during the tournament.

5. Parties unable to continue fighting or that surrender shall be eliminated.

"Sounds simple enough." Kirin tapped his face. "So then, the people from earlier.... They're our guild's top party?"

Onyx clicked his tongue. "As much as it pains me to say, yes."

Wismer Atage: a long-haired knight in ocean blue armor, who owns a sword embedded with a Water Gem. So long as his hands were in contact with his weapon, he's able to manipulate all forms of water, be it solid, liquid, or gas.

Skell Ahii: a knight whose hair and armor glowed in the dark. Gossips said he had glowshroom genes inserted to his body when he was a baby. With a sword powered by a Jellyfish Gem, his offenses came in various slimy, jelly, paralyzing forms.

Axle Barnes: titled The Current. A pink-haired man, who was kind of cute, and wore male armor that Kirin actually admired. With a Stream Gem on his sword, he's able to create attacks sharp and powerful enough to slice through solid bone.

Oldred Bach: the second in command of Coral Crown. With thick green hair and overly flexed muscles. A summoner mage who specialized in sea beast taming. When push came to shove, he used physical strength to resolve his problems.

Nebby Posei: the proclaimed leader of the Coral Crown party. With yellow hair and a tiny physique always hidden under adult-sized clothing. He was a twenty-four year old (probably a lie) shota who used Sponge Magic. A rare form that enabled the user to collect magic power and reuse it at a weaker stage.

"The leaderboard is determined by the amount of money earned by parties from taking quests. Since harder, more dangerous requests often pay more to entice guilds, Master Chrisholm figured that should be the fairest pointing system. It's why Katrina isn't allowed to disclose reward information."

"Because otherwise, parties ought to just choose the ones that pay most." Kirin bobbed and bobbed his head.

"Wow. You surprisingly understand fast."

"What?! Did you really think I'm just some complete moron or something?" Kirin blushed.

"Yes."

"Kyaa!" Kirin dropped to his knees.

"One thing." Faolan opened his eyes, meeting Onyx's with serious glints. "Surpassing the parties presently over us, Blaring Sentence, Pastel Blood, and, heck, even Coral Crown, should not be impossible if we work hard enough together. What I still don't see a reason for was your evident anger after leaving this office this noon."

Onyx clawed the sofa, gathering fabric and cotton in his palm. "Master Chrisholm also said... he'll be disbanding the party if we don't reach the top by three weeks."

An air of concern filled the room.

Suddenly, all their hearts beat faster than their lungs could supply oxygen.

The party? Disbanded? So soon after Kirin had just joined.

If they failed...

The party would disband.

Only if...

...only if they failed.

"I get it. Well, then..." Kirin crawled closer to the coffee table and extended a hand over it. "Let's reach the top in three weeks!"

Faolan stared curiously, then, realizing what Kirin was doing, put his hand over the trap's.

Alia smiled and was about to join when Onyx intervened and caught her wrist.

"If you join, they're both gonna force me to join in on this cringy bullshit too." The knight bowed his head to hide his expression. "Just to be clear, I agree to do our best. But this hand thing's just rubbish."

Kirin giggled.

Faolan chuckled.

And their party spent the next five minutes suffering to breathe because of laughter.