"The game will be easy enough: To put it simply, we just have to get on the top of that wall. If you reach the top you win." She said as she drew her sword.
A wooden gladius with four slits on each side. That was the weapon she chose.
At that moment we all heard a loud VOOM as a timer appeared on the wall. It was set on five minutes countdown and started decreasing.
"That's was just what we needed!" Said Mary spreading her arms wide. "The end of the countdown will mark the end of the challenge. Now then..." She looked confident. "I'll be waiting up there. Try to catch up."
The cross on her forehead glowed with a menacing light and with a swift jump, she landed on the side of the wall and kept jumping higher and higher up until she reached the goal.
"Let's see how you can catch up firecracker, or is your mouth the only thing that can move? "
Mary seemed to enjoy making fun of Tada as she looked down on him while making herself comfortable, up on top of the wall.
Her movements seemed natural, we could easily imagine how much effort she put into her training. Her statement of never loosing before wasn't just a bluff.
Although the wall in front of us was a little different than the others, it had several small ledges on it, with closed slits behind them.
Like they looked deep, but there was something bothering me about them.
{Were those ledges here before?} Was what I thought.
{If you don't put your heart into it then you'll certainly fail. I would not need all this training if it was that easy. Isn't that right papa?} thought the girl with the golden pigtails, watching their struggle with a sad look on her eyes as she let a heavy sigh.
"You certainly are skilled I'll give you that" Said Tada as he got ready to run on the peculiar wall.
"One...Two...Three!!" With a rhythmical count, Tada started running building up speed with each step.
He reminded me of those ninjas I've seen in fiction, the ones that can even run on walls like it's nothing. For some reason, Tada was incredibly skilled at climbing like that.
And up, on the wall he was. Running with all his might. The first steps were easy, but by the time he reached the middle and above, things got tough.Reaching the top was out of the question.
As he was about to fall Tada tried to hold on the ledge to his left, the one that was closer to him.
It was futile. After holding on for about two seconds the slit opened and the ledge vanished in the wall. Like the wall had come to life and devoured it.
Tada did not fret, he tried to grab the slit and push himself upwards. Maybe just like that he would be able to keep going.
Lady luck wasn't with his side this time: Immediately after he grabbed it, the slit closed on his fingers.
With his fingers almost cut, Tada screamed and quickly pulled his hand out making him lose his balance.
Tada fell to the ground which caused his pain to grow even worse.
He was missing three nails and one forth that didn't come off completely and was now shaking back and forth as the wind blew.
His arm was broken from the fall. A regular person would have given up, but for some inexplicable reason, Tada looked completely and utterly focused on his goal.
The pain had not shaken him one bit.
"Tada..." I tried to talk to him. But instead of replying, he just continued trying once again harder than before.
On the spot that he fell, laid an unusual substance. It seemed to be some sort of blue goo.
I blinked in confusion. And by the time I opened my eyes again, it was gone, vanished into thin air.
Like it was never there in the first place.
{Come on myself! You can beat her! Make the one so confident in her skills, learn why you call yourself great and amazing. There must be a hole somewhere inside that confidence of hers. That's right! Her movement! Her footwork must be the key!}
Tada was processing all the information he had gathered up to this point.
Figure out her strategy. Find the hole in it and counter-attack. That's all that matters.
That was his way of thinking. Processing even the smallest detail.
{If I recall correctly, She began by jumping to her right, then left, middle, right, left, middle rinse and repeat and she proceeded on jumping with the opposite order halfway through...Wait!!}
Tada's eyes widen. He looked like he found a clue.
He then approached the wall and held a ledge for ten seconds. It didn't vanish this time.
{That bitch...So that's how she did it.}
At that moment Tada put a smile on his face. An angry smile like a kid who finally understood that he was made fun of.
"I get it now. I found my way to victory." Tada took some steps back as he took off the upper part of his tuxedo and tied both ends on his daggers.
He then started running again, And up on the wall he went, using the ledges as steps to gain momentum. Jumping from ledge to ledge without a second to spare.
"I've figured it out you know. Those ledges and the slits as well, they're part of your ability. That's why when I grabbed the ledge before you made it disappear. You took that opportunity to make me fall."
Tada shouted as he got closer to the top. That voice of his irritated Mary who was watching from above.
"Shut up!! There's nothing wrong with using my ability to win. Swordsmen are allowed to use the Saku energy however they please after all. Now please fall for me" She said with a smile as the ledges vanished all at once.
Tada began to fall. Although for some inexplicable reason he kept smiling.
"You fell for it!" He yelled as he threw one of the daggers, landing it inside a slit closer to the top.
"No! That's not possible!!" Said the girl with the golden hair looking at Tada's feat.
Thanks to the dagger he threw, the slit was now stuck and couldn't close fully anymore.
He then used the top of the tuxedo as a rope, to climb up and reach the goal.
"If you think I don't have faith in my accuracy then you must think of the wrong person" Upon reaching the top, the young master mocked his opponent.
"N-no...This can't be happening. I can't lose!!" Mary's mind was suddenly filled with despair, as she remembered a particular object: A surgical bed with rusted cuffs on each side, stained with blood that was residing within a basement, along with a man with straight blond hair, white suit, a pair of goggles and surgical gloves.
"Papa...no..." in her despair she quickly ran and grabbed Soro along with his wheelchair before returning back to the top.
"I won't go down like this" Said the now unstable girl ready to throw the poor boy to the ground.
The cross-shaped mark glowed once more. This time making her eyes lose their light.
It didn't feel like she understood her own actions anymore.
I didn't know what to do. I wasn't fast enough to get to the top and Tada could not do anything with his injuries. The fact that she held Soro hostage made things worse.
As we were ready for the worst everything stopped and silence filled the area.
Mary tried to throw Soro but it was futile. Something kept her from doing it.
Looking behind her we all understood the reason.
Behind her was a tall man. He seemed muscular, with long black spiky hair and dead fish eyes.
He was wearing a black shirt and the word WRATH was painted on his right arm.
He was taller than Mary and was also holding Soro preventing her from throwing him.
"You got a lot of nerve to act so cowardly after losing one battle" Said the muscular man glaring at her with an ice-cold look on his eyes.
"If you are no more than a useless bug then at least act like one and go die" Mary was confused. Who was this guy? Since when he was there? She knew nothing about him but for some reason, that cold look of his gave her a chill down her spine.
That's when she felt it. A kick. That guy kicked her without hesitation, a kick that pushed her off the ledge and towards the ground.
"What!?" Said the girl during the fall towards her death. Looking towards the ground Tada saw various shards of ice scattered on the frozen floor. Who did this and when? Is what he thought. It was then that he understood Mary's fate. It was then, that his body moved...swiftly like the wind.
