Volume Two: Life and Death at Speed in the Northern Realm - Important People

Inside the Square Tower, the three began to speak in hushed tones.

"Hey, hey, hey, why didn't we wait until everyone left before coming in... Now things are in trouble?"

"How should I know? I only came in because I saw you two idiots come in."

"Are you all idiots...?"

Seeing the three whispering, Emilia became even more annoyed. The four of them were originally going down to the lower level to find Ally, but they unexpectedly encountered a bonus point on the way, and now there were three people causing an awkward silence.

"What are you two whispering about... Ugh, it's so annoying!"

The three ignored them and continued whispering to each other.

"So what should we do? We're already exposed to everyone."

"Pretending to be just passing by... that probably won't work. If some bastard finds out this place has been vandalized and it gets back to them, we'll definitely be suspected..."

"Then, kill him?"

Killed.

Geronimo uttered those two words casually.

The chance of being exposed is less than one in ten thousand.

Yet, in order to eliminate this extremely small chance, he was able to seriously consider the worst option. "Murder."

Upon hearing this suggestion, Payne—

"Oh yeah, you have that trick up your sleeve too! Even though you always look so cocky, you're actually pretty smart when it counts!"

As if suddenly realizing something, he readily agreed.

Meanwhile, the four members of the Abidal Beauties Team showed no sense of crisis whatsoever.

"Hey, these three are acting weird... Fine, if they won't leave, we'll leave."

"We should have done this a long time ago. Didn't we need to find Ally and the others?"

"Amy has matured a bit too."

They echoed each other's words, then turned to leave, but—

"Ladies, could you please wait a moment?"

A handsome young man named Geronimo, wearing a hoodie, approached politely.

"What's wrong? I can't get an autograph right now—"

"Could you please go and die?"

Geronimo interrupted Tani Hana Mei, saying this.

"... ha?"

"I said, can you all just die?"

He repeated it again.

"You three! Get out of here!!!"

The first to react, Tani Hana Hibiki, pulled the three apart, reached her hands into the air, and drew a greatsword as tall as herself. She took a deep breath, gripped the sword horizontally, and pushed off the ground with her toes, closing the distance in one breath—

"... Um?"

Something's not right.

Sensing the unusual sound, Geronimo swung his greatsword forward, but dodged it.

This is not because Geronimo is particularly skilled in physical combat.

The problem lies with Xiang.

A sense of incongruity.

Xiang looked at his hands in confusion. As he lunged forward, he slashed horizontally. He had done this move countless times since he was a child, and he knew it by heart. But this time, something just felt off.

If I had to describe it, it would be the feeling of "having more things to think about."

Why do these movements, which are clearly memorized by my body, suddenly feel... strange?

No, it's not a matter of being unfamiliar with each other.

More fundamentally, something has changed.

Then— "Huh?"

Something new appeared on her fair hands.

Without warning, dark green patches suddenly appeared between my fingers.

It looks like it's growing directly on the skin.

I touched it with my hand; it's a little fuzzy.

It's almost like--

"... It's moldy?"

The next moment,

Dark green mold spots spread across Tani Hana Hibiki's hands.

"Faster, faster!!"

In the dim void, Sirius transformed into a rocket, nose up, and ascended in a straight line.

Soon, we'll be able to get back to the third level through that previous pit.

At first, the three of us were a little confused, but now our mood is getting heavier and heavier.

A sense of oppression.

Not far above, near the crater, an extremely terrifying sense of oppression arose. This oppression was like sticky tentacles, piercing the skin, wrapping around the heart, making one feel nauseous.

"We've found them!"

Suddenly, Givinia shouted, her usually composed face showing extreme panic.

"How are Emilia and the others? Tell me quickly!"

"It's hard to say the specifics, but in short, it's very bad!"

"Then we need to hurry—"

"Don't go!"

"What did you say!?"

"Don't go! There are three of them, and each one is extremely strong! They're probably more dangerous than any of the other contestants!"

"So what!" Ally's eyes were bloodshot; she looked like she was going crazy.

"If we go rashly, we might get ourselves into trouble!" Faced with the angry Ally, Givinia did not back down.

"Ally, you're the captain! Don't act rashly because of personal feelings!"

"..."

For a few seconds, Ally shut her mouth, and then--

"It's fine with other people, but Emilia..."

It was a trembling voice, as if it might burst into tears at any moment.

How many years ago was that?

The first time her father took her to the competition venue, she met him as a guest watching the game.

"She is Abidar's next heir," her father told young Ally.

"Abidar has been our rival for many years, so you mustn't be worse than her," the father added.

Of course, she didn't understand these things at such a young age.

She was simply stunned by the beauty of a girl her own age.

She thought to herself, "It would be so wonderful to be friends with someone like that."

Then, I ran into a snag.

The other person had absolutely no intention of becoming friends.

Ally, whose good intentions were rejected, immediately turned them into hostility.

"Although I hate her, I hate her the most..."

The two young and highly ambitious individuals quickly came to regard each other as lifelong rivals.

They drive with the intent to run someone over, practice relentlessly just to be better than their opponent, and argue to the point of almost coming to blows over a difference of a millisecond.

Every day is truly childish yet turbulent.

But why?

Why was I so happy back then?

Whenever I compete against her, I feel as bright as the spring sunshine.

Just thinking that her opponent is her makes me feel that I can easily solve any difficulty.

He cared about her more than anyone else.

A lifelong nemesis.

A lifelong rival.

A lifelong friend.

So--

"... But, Emilia's words... I really can't just ignore them!"

For the first time, Ally opened up to us.

"Well..."

Givinia shook her head helplessly.

"Well, there's nothing we can do then. Since the captain is so insistent... what about you, A Ye?"

The other party is most likely a member of the organization.

If those three are monsters like I. B., even if I'm more than twice as strong as before, I probably wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.

But--

"Alright, you can't hide forever. It's best to get this mess over with as soon as possible."

If you don't have any impressive achievements to show for yourself when you meet Haoyue again, it won't look good.

And so, we made our decision.

Only Ailin's face showed a hint of sadness as she silently looked away.

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