"Alright. First things first. Battle stations."
I took a breath and pointed between the two of them.
"I will take the vanguard and draw attention. Kenth, you stay in the middle ground. You are the backbone of this team. If things get messy, I retreat into your range."
I glanced at him. "Speaking of which. What is your optimal shooting distance?"
Kenth touched his earring. With a faint pulse of crimson light, the handgun unfolded into his palm. The metal shimmered with scale-like patterns, the barrel shaped like a dragon's open maw, the scope narrowing into a slit pupil that tracked movement even while idle.
"If I am stationary, fifty to seventy-five meters. If I am maneuvering, around a quarter of that," he said.
I nodded, locking it in my head.
"Good."
I turned to the last member of our team.
"And you, Princess. You defend our home base. I know it is pointless to ask, still you can handle that, right?"
She did not even look offended.
"Pointless question," Solaris replied.
Fair enough.
I turned toward the field and brushed my thumb along the ring.
"Laedingr."
Dark light spilled out, wrapping my forearms. Chains coiled and clicked, half metal, half leather, alive with compressed force.
Heather's voice rang from above.
"Battle starts in ten."
I flexed my hands, then struck my palms together once, sharp and loud to shake the nerves loose.
Kenth stepped forward. The timid edge he usually carried was gone. His posture straightened, eyes steady, breathing slow.
"Six."
I moved beside him and matched his stance.
"Five."
I let the chains writhe in the air.
"Four."
"Bottom middle first," I muttered. "Your childhood acquaintance would hate you if you went after her immediately."
I flicked my eyes toward the top left base, where Azalea resides.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Start."
We bolted.
Kenth ran beside me for a heartbeat before slowing, boots digging into the turf as he slid into position. I heard him click his tongue.
"I did not take you for a delusional," he said, a grin tugging at his voice.
"I prefer Autistic, it sounds a bit classy," I shot back, already accelerating.
As I ran, I scanned the field.
Azalea's team was moving on top middle, Waffel holding their home base. From the top right, Nagi was already pressing forward, spearheading a frontal assault, trying to pinch whoever was the unfortunate middle top group. Maku stayed behind, defending. Cwal was nowhere to be seen, which was exactly where he was most dangerous.
Tasora and Finster still had not moved.
Tasora just yawned.
Finster stood beside her, tense, probably the one insisting they wait.
Good.
That meant we could move.
When I hit the edge of Kenth's effective range, I called out, "Cover me."
He stopped instantly. His handgun glowed as thrum flowed into it, silver highlights flaring across crimson metal. His red hair lifted slightly from the pressure.
Seeing him ready, I reinforced my legs and kicked off.
The ground exploded beneath my foot as I launched forward.
Three defenders waited at the bottom middle base. Two women, one man.
The brown-haired girl with short hair and a heavy mace charged first.
I reinforced my palms, slammed them into the ground mid-stride, and blasted myself upward.
"Kenth!"
"Boom!"
A deafening shot cracked through the air.
The mace girl raised a shield just in time. The impact skidded her backward, boots carving lines through the grass, forcing her back into their own circle.
"Tsk!"
I could not take all three head-on.
An arrow hissed past my ear.
I twisted midair. The second girl, twin tails, pointed ears, already drawing another arrow.
No time to reinforce.
I snapped my chain forward and hardened it around my hand.
"Clang."
I caught the arrow bare-handed.
For a heartbeat, I tried to enhance it.
Nothing.
Damn.
I hurled it back instead.
She backflipped effortlessly, landing light as air, already charging another shot. This one gleamed with concentrated thrum, ominous and heavy.
She released.
"Oh fu—"
"Bam!"
The arrow shattered mid-flight.
Kenth's shot tore through it cleanly.
I grinned and dove.
The guy rushed in with a dagger.
Slow.
My chains snapped forward, wrapped his arm, and yanked him straight toward me.
The elf girl released another heavy shot.
I twisted, dragged him into position, and let physics do the rest.
The arrow punched into his chest.
I noticed right then upclose that the arrow she shot was blunted.
He gagged, emptying everything he had eaten today onto the grass.
I flung him aside and recoiled.
"Urg. Gross."
Still, the base was being contested; it was progress.
"Move in!" I shouted.
Kenth broke from his position and sprinted toward me. I planted myself between the remaining two, chains snapping outward in short, violent arcs. I was not trying to win. I was buying time.
The mace girl recovered first. She came in low, sweeping, forcing me to jump back. I twisted sideways, let the head of the mace pass where my ribs had been, then kicked off the ground again. The elf did not stop firing. Arrows hissed past my shoulders, my legs, my head. Each one forced me to adjust.
I started drifting deliberately. Small steps. Half turns. Always placing the mace girl between me and the archer whenever I could. Just enough to be annoying.
An arrow skimmed too close, and the mace girl barked something sharp over her shoulder.
Good.
They are making more mistakes.
I took advantage of it.
I circled wider, chains lashing out, striking the ground, the air, anything that made smoke and dust. I need the archer rushed and her aim sloppy.
Another arrow flew. The mace girl had to jerk sideways to avoid it.
The archer clicked her tongue.
Her next shot hesitated.
Then she changed tactics.
She slung the bow low, rushed me instead, arrow clenched in her hand like a blade.
She was skilled. I would give her that. The arrow jabbed for my throat. I knocked it aside with my chain, felt the impact ring through my arm.
The bow came up next, swung like a club. I ducked, felt wind shear over my head, then rolled across the grass.
I came up on one knee and nearly caught the arrow in my eye.
I leaned back hard. The tip grazed my cheek. Warmth followed.
Blood was dripping down my chin.
Yeah. This was getting dangerous.
I looked back and smiled. Just a bit more.
She pressed in, eyes sharp.
That was when the pressure changed.
A sound like thunder cracking in half tore through the air.
The archer froze for a fraction of a second.
Kenth slid into range, boots skidding within the circle, handgun already raised.
His presence was heavy.
The archer twisted away instinctively.
Too late.
A shot slammed into the ground beside her foot, close enough to blast her balance apart. She stumbled. My chain wrapped her wrist and yanked.
I pulled her in and drilled aright hook into her molars.
She hit the ground hard.
The mace girl roared and charged again, desperation creeping into her swings.
"BAM!"
Kenth fired once more. Not at her, but at the ground she tried to step into leaving a small bullet hole crater with smoke fizzing out of it.
A soft, clear, emotionless voice echoed.
〈 Home Base Status: Revera Team – Contested (Salinin Team) 〉<30><29><28>
"Stop. We are occupying this base," Kenth said coldly, gun leveled at her forehead.
"You are in no condition to continue."
He did not blink.
"But I will not stop you. Step forward if you believe your reflexes are faster than my trigger."
Her face darkened. The bravado drained out of her eyes, replaced with something small and tight, like a cornered animal.
She glanced back at her teammates. First, the boy who was still coughing violently from the blunt arrow lodged in his chest. Then the girl I had punched into the dirt.
Her shoulders sagged.
She turned, helped them to their feet, and began retreating.
"Do not think this is over," she said, forcing the words out.
Yeah. That is exactly the kind of line you should never say.Congratulations. You just cemented yourself as a side character, I thought.
I tapped Kenth lightly on the back.
"Nice shot earlier, You saved my sorry ass. On the other hand, how did you know I wanted them not incapacitated?" I asked.
"Because you never detonated an explosion directly on them," he replied without hesitation. "I assumed you wanted them mobile."
"Sharp eye," I said, glancing at the defeated trio resting at the edge of the field, struggling to recover.
My gaze drifted back toward the center of the arena.
Still yanwing and completely relaxed.
If that monster moves, we need every variable we can keep in play.
The emotionless voice continued counting.
<5><4><3><2>
Until it stopped.....
〈 Home Base Status: Revera Team – Contested (Salinin Team)(Team Satou) 〉
!!!!!
"Duck!" I screamed.
We dropped just in time.
A blade screamed through the space where our heads had been a moment ago. Our strands of hair floated down slowly.
"Oh yeah," a voice said lazily from above.
"It notifies you when another team starts contesting the base."
I already knew who it was.
I stood up, straightened, and watched a familiar figure appear out of thin air.
"For once in your life, can you appear normally?" I muttered.
"Wouldn't appearing normally defeat the entire purpose of an ambush?" Cwal replied.
Kenth stared at him, eyes wide. "What… where did this bastard come from?"
I let out a long, tired sigh.
"You will get used to it."