Chapter 194 :

Episode 37 : Quarterfinals (7)

..Clattering!

"Pfft, this is just hilarious!" Asher laughed out loud as she swung her scythe at Zeon.

Zeon, not in the slightest bewildered by Asher's outburst, shrugged before going back to enveloping Asher's scythe with his chain.

Asher continued, enjoying the fight. "I didn't expect the ridiculous amount of rematches we had had just passed 100."

"50 wins for you, and 49 wins for me."

"Oh ho? If I win this one, then I'll finally beat you with my 51 wins."

"No way, I'm getting this win." 

"Haha, shut up. Why don't we shut our mouths and presume our battle, hm?" 

"You're the one who started this."

As a reply, Asher snickered under her mask, yet her menace was quite noticeable since Zeon had been brawling with her over 99 matches, including this current one which made it 100.

..But right now, it seems that this match won't be able to make it until a hundred rematches.

SWOOOSHHH!

The halberd that was found flying toward the in-between of Asher and Zeon, appeared to be thrown by someone from the top of a tree.

Shifting her glance in a flash, Asher grumbled as she didn't look so happy by the sudden interruption. "What the hell is wrong with you?" 

With quick reflexes and reaction, Asher immediately tossed a disk of portal in front of the halberd to send it right back to its origin.

"I asked for a goddamn truce. Did you lose a few screws in your fucking head that you went out of your way to attack us?" Asher, as calm as she may look, grumbled at the person in the tree.

..No one replied from where she was looking.

"It's almost time for this stage to end, can't you even wait for a couple of days before you come whaling at us?"

..Again, nobody responded.

And Zeon was just standing there, observing the whole situation with a grin on his face as it appeared to be fun to just watch from afar.

"Hah." Asher smirked with an idea. "Long Long." 

..Rustle!

Upon taking a leap off the tree, a red haired man arrived in front of Zeon and Asher as he looked embarrassed by the way Asher called him.

"Oh my, you came just when I called you by that cute nickname. Pfft." Asher chuckled in a teasing manner.

The redhead, Long gazed at Asher, trying so hard not to look embarrassed when his face showed it all. "I dislike that."

Increasing the amount of laughter Asher was having, she couldn't hold her chuckle when she witnessed Long being a complete redhead with his face as red as a ruby. 

"Pfft, haha!! And what are you going to do? Kill me? Yeah right! Man, this is some hilarious shit right here."

Behind her, Zeon was also holding his laughter, letting out a little chuckle quietly by himself.

"Hahah, haa!" As if Asher wouldn't stop laughing, she paused midway. "So, you asshole. What was your plan in targeting us when we agreed on a truce?"

Without a doubt, Long flinched by the unexpected change of mood and atmosphere. 

"Cut him some slack, Reaper. He's just as greedy as a pig like you." Zeon finally talked.

"I don't want my greed to be compared to Long Long's."

A step forward, Long grunted, blushing in embarrassment. "Stop. Not that nickname."

"Not gonna happen, Long Long." 

"..." Long groaned.

"Pfft." Zeon cut Long's silence with a laugh. "Enough, enough. I can't handle this."

"Shit ain't over, keep laughing while you still can. Long Long right here will be standing with a funny look." Standing with a pose, Asher laid her scythe on her shoulders while giggling.

"Fuhaha." Zeon laughed.

Asher and Zeon seemed to be having fun, weren't they? How pitiful Long was in this teasing situation.

Chattering..

"Okay, that's over. I ain't going to prolong that funny shit." Serious mode on, Asher said.

"Phew.." Quietly, Long let out a relieved exhale.

Fluttering…

The ambience earlier was delightful for Zeon and Asher, except for Long, but currently, the atmosphere is just awkward.

Silence when leaves flew by until Asher broke the silence. "Okay, I'm out. Not staying here having eye contacts with idiots when I could just leave. So long, suckers."

Without any delay, Asher hopped in her portal before disappearing to somewhere else which left Zeon and Long standing there.

"Why are you friends with her?" Long asked Zeon, surprising the latter a little.

Zeon, who was cracking his neck to come up with a good answer, responded. "I don't think of her as a friend per se. Like I said in the beginning when you and I met, Reaper is my rival."

"..." Long went quiet as per usual.

‘Does he not know how to talk a lot?’ Zeon tilted his head before shrugging it off. 

‘He's never talked as much when he arrived here, so I guess I should expect short answers or none at all in the near future.’

A sneer formed on Zeon's face when he had a thought. ‘If he's alive in the near future, that is.’ 

‘He did ruin our 100th match. Reaper is pissed and I am as well. I was really enjoying the thrill.’

‘I'll make sure Long pays for the discontinuation of our match.’

———

Fwoosh!

Popping out of the portal, Asher lands on a tree branch before sitting herself down with her scythe stored in her inventory.

"Hm, what should I do now?" Asher asked herself as she watched the cloud. "Pfft."

"What am I saying?"

Sooner or later, Asher takes something like a rock out of her inventory, giving it a glimpse before crushing it with her barehand.

Flickering!

Eventually, a system message arrived with the broken rock dissipating into Asher's body, surrounding her in the process as it disappeared once it's done.

[You have obtained the Hidden Skill, ‘Shadow’ Lv. 1.]

"Oh ho? How lucky." Pleased by the name of the skill, Asher smiled.

By the way, the rock that Asher crushed was none other than the rune stone that gives away different skills.

"I'll try it out later. Too damn pissed and lazy to do it now after the rematch earlier." 

When stretching her arms wide, Asher suddenly noticed a feather falling upon her head.

Curious and cautious as to know what it was, Asher picked up before observing it closely while having a question in her mind, looking around to find an answer.

‘What the damn devil is this? A gray feather? Have I ever seen a gray bird this big before?’

Flipping to and fro, Asher stared at the feather closely which confused her even more as she couldn't remember there's being a bird fittable for this palm size feather.

"Huh.. Welp." Asher said.

She then tossed aside the feather.

..Because she doesn't give a damn.

"Something like those are just foreshadowing bullcraps. I won't be fooled by such a trap." 

In the end, goosebumps arose when Asher took notice of the ground where she was going to jump down to.

It had a line of feathers.. 

As if it was telling her to go somewhere..

Rustling…

Without a doubt, Asher, who was a little uneased, shivered. "Oh hell no. Hell no! What the bullshit is this?"

[Follow it.]

"Wtf. Talking into my head like that?"

Speaking as if she wasn't startled by the voice in her head, Asher smacked her chest to keep her composure.

[Do it. Now.]

As Asher was already frustrated by the half-ass match she did with Zeon, judging by how much she was using swear words, she was more infuriated by the thought of someone ordering her what to do. 

"Don't talk shit into my head." 

[You need to go.]

"What a load of bullshit. I don't need to follow your orders, only mine."

[What a selfish human.]

"Why, thank you for the praise."

[..How intriguing.]

‘The shit is going on here?’ Asher thought while hiding behind her calm face and also her mask, shadowing her creeped out face beneath the calmness. 

‘Holy shit, someone is talking inside my head.’

Anger turned into confusing wrath(?)

‘Holy cow.. Holy crap.. I ain't got enough swear words for this.’ Asher was clearly alarmed.

[So you can keep your composure even though you're in complete chaos inside your head. I see.]

"So you read my mind. I see."

[..Don't be irritating, human.]

"Don't be bothersome, voice."

[..How annoying.]

"How troublesome."

[Looks like I picked the wrong human to be my apostle. Then, forget about this moment, young lady.]

"Oh, I will. Ain't gonna remember this crap ever again." Asher responded without a care as she leaned onto the trunk behind her.

Whoosh..

Slowly but surely, the voice and the feathers disappeared like it never existed, alerting Asher of how powerful that person might have been.

Caressing on her mask, Asher mumbled in a bit of a puzzlement before glancing at the place where the feathers should have been.

"Who was that person? Is there someone with that kind of skill? Mind reading, mind communication and the items disperse or whatever." 

"Haa. Why is everything such a headache? Is this a side effect of someone talking through my mind?"

"Dammit. Too many questions, too many headaches. Forget it! I ain't giving myself a hard time over something tiresome."

Considering all the things that happened today, Asher was definitely having a big headache from the match, Long and now a mysterious voice.

In no time, Asher just tossed aside the taxing questions that she had built up in her head, laying down on the branch to start receiving a good rest for herself.

"Reaper!"

"Fucking…" Aggravated, Asher slammed her feet onto the end of the branch to break it off.

Her intention was to force the branch to drop onto the unfortunate soul who interrupted her nap.

In this case, it was Zeon.

..Thud!!

"Not a warm welcome for me?" Zeon spoke after dodging the fallen branch and had climbed up through his solid air platforms to get to Asher's side.

"Not now, dude."

"Okay, okay."

"What are you doing?"

"Hm? Sitting on the same tree branch like yours."

No words to refute, Asher let out a sigh as she rolled off the branch to descend into her portal, disappearing off to somewhere else yet again.

What a bad day she's having enough for her to lose her mind..

———

After having a feast to refill everyone's stomach from the tournament my guild members were doing, it has gotten quite late.

"Peaceful, isn't it?" I said, ignoring the hectic scenery of the outside where a tornado was swirling.

I am awake because I wanted to. Same goes for my comrades who haven't rested yet.

Quiet yet energetic, Raiden chuckled by himself before he turned to me. "Sensei, did you see how the twins fight?"

"Of course, he did, baka." Mirai replied for me.

"They don't show mercy at all, but it was definitely fun and thrilling to fight against them. It really brings back memories."

"You remembered too much, baka!" 

"Are you unhappy with me feeling nostalgic because I am reminded of that time where you won, but also lost against me?"

"I didn't lose! You just remembered wrong!"

Raiden chuckled while Mirai pouted. It was a sight I wished to see everyday, even if it's a short moment, it felt long to me.

And maybe to them as well.

"My liege." Frostina sat by my side before gazing at me with her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

I give her a smile to reassure her of my health. "There's nothing to worry about, Frostina. Since I have Mimi by my side, including you three."

Suddenly, Behemoth requested. "Meow, Master! Keep giving me pats." 

"Captain, pat me instead~! This scaredy cat doesn't need it." Mirai pouted, glaring at Behemoth who was on my lap.

Raiden uttered while staring at Mirai and Behemoth clashing with their glares. "You two are still fighting to this day." 

With a grin, I thought. ‘Nostalgic. How nostalgic.’

Watching everything unfold before me, this gives me a reason to forget about the past where a certain archangel stole away one of my guild members.

‘Yep, not worth remembering that.’ I mused as I caressed Mirai's head, along with Behemoth.

Slash!!

"Puff!! Ahh! The tornado is still the same as ever.."

In front of me, the voice that didn't belong to my comrades, was reverberating from the sea.

It was a person I was expecting after all.

I didn't prevent the contestants from going all out in the tournament, not just because I wanted to witness the entirety of their powers, but also, to alert someone who I had come across within this island.

"Did you have a bad time coming here, Etheldreda?" I asked while glancing upon the mermaid who came by her turtle.

In spite of her hair looking so messy, Etheldreda exclaimed without a care to her appearance. "..! I found you yet again! ‘Savior of Salvation’!"

"..Oh second thought, Raiden, remove her from my sight."

"Hai, sensei!" Raiden immediately responded.

And of course, Etheldreda didn't like the idea. "Wait, no! I only wish to talk to you. So please!" 

"..." I scowled before sighing. "Fine."

From victorious to alertness to excitement, I didn't expect many expression changes to form on Etheldreda's face.

‘She still looks messy though. Should I feel bad because she's a mermaid? Nah.’ I shrugged with that pointless thought.