A sudden axe swing came from her left, and Momo ducked to the floor. Her hands nearly slid out from under her against its wet surface, caked with sweat, but she kept her balance as a Singi should. Since she was pre-casting, she was ready to let loose a skill, but she didn’t know which one would be the best to use. Not having time to internally debate it, Momo followed the training instilled into her over the past month.  

A kick came at her, and the Singi pushed herself up using her hands, landing on her feet and barely avoiding a blow that would most certainly have given her a concussion. Still, she wasn’t upset at such a hit because she expected it. This was the finals, and she knew, without having been told, that some people were probably watching with judging eyes. Even if someone wasn’t going to win, they still had a chance to find success if their skills and techniques were what a party was looking for.  

Perhaps that was Riki’s aim? She didn’t know.  

Regardless of his intentions, it didn't matter to Momo.  The only thing on her mind was the fight.

“Magic Missile!” she shouted as she held out her hand. But Riki called her bluff and rushed forward, his feet pounding on the floor that had felt the brunt of many warriors. His shield was at chest level, and he bashed it forward. Unable to roll out of the way, Momo took the full brunt of the attack. She neither screamed nor groaned out in pain. Perhaps it was a testament to the vow of victory Momo promised Servi, but the determined girl kept the agony inside and hastily prepared a second skill.

The words she chanted were for Lucem, the skill Momo had learned without consulting Servi, and the Dwarf didn’t know if it was going to be a decoy or not. The upper Ranks of Warden had to fight with trickery and deceit. If they weren’t blessed, then they had very few skills to rely on. A long time ago, someone came up with the idea of bluffing which skill to use by shouting the name of a different technique. It was a sly underhanded tactic that quickly grew in popularity amongst the more unsavory Warden members.  Later on, it became more accepted until it was well-liked enough to be a strategy nearly everyone used.

The decoy method was effective at any Rank, but it was more so for the beginner Ranks. The lower Ranks would be more likely to have more counters to respond to differing situations, but a beginner didn’t have that luxury. 

“I won’t let you!” shouted Riki, who ran with his eyes covered and shield out. It was a shield charge. Momo was faster and rolled out of the way. As she did, she stopped and dodged backwards, transitioning into a handstand at the last moment, and spun on her hands.  

She connected with Riki’s shield, but that was fine. He blocked it entirely, bashing against the feet that tried to attack him. Momo almost lost her balance but used the momentum gained to spin the opposite way and kicked him in the back of the head. It was a solid hit, and Momo felt something crack.

“GGUH,” he groaned as it seemed like his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Transitioning from a handstand to a roll, the Singi got to her feet and ran to her sword parried earlier in the match when Riki blocked a simple thrust. She didn’t have a good grip on it, and it landed near the edge of the arena. Riki had been trying to bait her to get it, but Momo didn’t fall for it.  

That’s why I needed to learn how to use my feet. If I didn't do any of that extra training, I would've lost this fight.

Once she recovered it, she chanted. “Oh, the Non-Elements above who slumber in a place further than our universe, I pray to you. Grant us your power of Magic Missile!” A colorless arrow of light formed in front of Momo’s hand as she pointed it towards Riki’s body. He wasn’t moving, but he was breathing.  

Choosing to shoot the skill at the ground, it dissipated into Skill Energy that was then reabsorbed by the air. She then moved to Riki’s body and crouched down. After giving him a few pokes, she stood back up.  

“And there it is, folks! A KO by Momo. Give it up for her and Riki for having such an intense yet quick fight. We got to see her handstand-like style of combat once more!!!!! It gets more impressive the more I see it!!! Now then, medics! We require your expert and delicate healing touch in the main arena!” commented Toni.

“Sorry, Riki, I hope I didn’t kick you too hard,” said Momo, who was genuinely apologizing.  

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am. He’ll be fine, but he’ll have a bit of a headache when he wakes up. Good match, by the way. As a Singi, I’m impressed!" said a young boy of around 15. He had silver hair but black ears and a red tail. A tri-colored Singi was a rare sight indeed.  

“Thank you,” replied Momo, who blushed bright red. She walked back to Dineria and the others. Fisher was away talking to his daughters, who suddenly wanted to see him for some reason. Well, that was what Dineria had told her.  Momo didn't have any reason to believe it was a lie because she could relate to it.

Knowing how children are, I bet they really wanted to hug or talk to him. I know I was like that with grandpa. There were a couple of days where I didn't want to be even a meter away from him.  

 “Maybe knocking him in the back of the head will give him some common sense. Good fight, Momo,” Rakkire said before he laughed.

“I never would’ve thought to use the push from that first kick to empower the second one,” commented Desperado.

“Same here. Seems like it’s a flexible way of attacking. Especially with what Dineria taught us. You could transition into a dodge from any direction and come up slashing, or you can roll away and use a skill,” added Srassa, who looked at Momo like she was a teacher.  

“Thanks!” replied Momo, who went red in the face. She looked back at Servi and saw she was still motionless.  

“Umm… I’m sorry I haven’t—” 

“It’s fine, Momo. We know you’re close to Servi, so there’s no need for any excuses. I know if something happened to my cousin, I’d be right there beside him,” said Rakkire. Even though he joked about Riki quite often, he did care for him.  

“That’s right. You want to head back over there, right?” said Silverado.  

Momo bashfully nodded. “I do. I want to be there when she wakes up. I’m a little bit scared she won’t…” 

Dineria walked up and hugged the trembling girl.  

I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was if this can make me….. 

“I promise you she’ll wake up,” gently said the Elf with green hair. Like petting a beloved cat, her hand with the red tattoo slowly stroked the blanket of pink hair that was on Momo’s head. The Singi took a deep breath, inhaling the forest-like scent of Dineria and looked up at her.  

“I’m sorry. It’s just— Ow…” Momo started to apologize again but was interrupted by her mentor, lightly thumping her on the head.

“That’s enough apologizing, okay? You don’t have to say sorry to us because we understand how you feel. We want her to wake up too,” Dineria smiled gently at her cute student.  

Hehe, it’s just like when Servi told me to stop saying sorry. Then I said the same thing to her... At least, I think I did, and now I’m getting it said back to me.   

“Okay. In that case, I’m going to go back to Servi. I wanna tell her about my match. Oh, I’ll definitely watch all of your matches. We all worked super hard to get here,” said Momo, whose tail slowly swayed. Her ears perked up and barely twitched, but relief flowed over her body.

She smiled at her very understanding friends and jogged back to her sleeping friend, who showed no signs of waking up.  

“Servi, I won the first match. I had to fight Riki, and it was tough. If anyone other than Dineria was my mentor, I would’ve lost. You know, her style of combat is just what I needed. It focuses on dodging and rolling to attack, then dodging right out,” Momo talked to her friend as she held her hand. “It was really hard at first since I never rolled like that. Even though the other children in my village all played like that, rolling and tumbling around... Getting dirty and playing in the mud without a care in the world... I wasn't invited.  I was never invited to a lot of things..."

The pink Singi found it hard to talk about her past when her friend could respond, but since she couldn’t, it was like a gate that held her sensitive feelings had opened. It all just came pouring out like a landslide. 

“My grandpa taught me a little bit, but he was getting up there in age and couldn’t move as well as he did. Still, he did all he could to prepare me.” 

Toni came back over the voice loudner and announced the second match. It was two people who Momo didn’t know, so she didn’t want to focus on it. Instead, she kept talking to Servi.  

“I can’t wait until we go on our promotion quest! I wonder where we’re going to go. If I remember right, the Rank 10 to 9 quest involves delivering an item to a Warden office in a nearby town. I guess the nearest one is…..Arcton? I heard it’s kind of dangerous, but maybe those are just rumors. I mean a whole town controlled by the Mafia? First of all, what is the Mafia? Or is it what is a Mafia? I've never heard of that word before, but it sounds dangerous. If it is true, then why are they still around? I would think someone would do something about it if it was real.” 

Momo spoke gently to her friend as the second match came to a quick end. It was two Elves fighting, and the one with red hair used a wooden staff. Sweeping his opponent’s leg, he used both Lucem and Thunder Snap back to back without even covering his eyes and ears from the tremendous flash and crackling thunder. 

“He’s amazing. Even while blind and deaf from the skills, it’s like he knows where his opponent is,” said Momo, commenting for her sleeping friend. The red-haired Elf backed up before suddenly thrusting his staff into his opponent’s stomach. Even though he had armor on, he still dropped to his knees and almost coughed up a lung. With three quick thrusts to the chest, his opponent tapped out and forfeited.

“He’s tough, but I know you would win if you had to fight him. I think I can win, but it’s going to be hard…. You know, we’ve been friends for months, and I still don’t know anything about you. I mean, I know your name, and I know you wear that ring, but that’s all. Maybe we can go to dinner after we get back from the quest? I’d love to know more about my best friend. That’ll be fun, right? We go back to that noodle house and get dango again. It can be just the two of us.” 

Momo watched the rest of the first-round matches, but she wasn't alone. Servi's hand was right there, softly lying on top of Momo's palm. In a manner unbefitting of her unconfident state of mind, the Singi herself believed she could win against the other competitors. This was a far cry from the weak, pathetic cat she thought she used to be. She had realized she was worth something. She had friends who genuinely liked her, a friendly mentor who wanted to see her succeed, an employee of Warden who treated her and her best friend like they were more than just contractors. Sure, she was sad that her friend was somehow asleep, but she knew she would wake up.  

“Once you wake up, I won’t have any other worries. Heck, I’ll probably be so happy my tail will wag like a dog, but I guess that did happen before, didn’t it? Oh, Silverado, Srassa, and all the others won their first match. Even Arty won. But he’s on the other side of the bracket. An employee went around a few minutes ago and handed me a piece of paper with the brackets, so I got to see who I’m gonna fight. That’s when I found out that only Riki was on this side… So that means I have to win the rest of the matches if I want to fight against Silverado and the others. But since they all won, that means they’re going to have to face each other if they want to get further.  Hey, how funny would it be if I fought against Srassa again? I don't know if I can win a second time, but I'll do my very best! And if I have to fight Arty, I'll be sure to win! I'll force him to stop blaming us for Yerue's death."

Momo pulled the bracket out and glanced at it. “Hmm… Blaire's the red-headed Elf with the wooden staff. He’s the next one I fight, which should be soon. I forgot to tell you, but Toni said they’ll be a few minutes in between each round so each competitor could have some time to cool down.” 

Standing up, Momo put the paper back in her seat and did a few stretches. “Servi, my match is coming up, so I have to leave. I’ll do my very best to win, so wish me luck, okay?” 

Momo waited fifteen seconds for an answer she knew she wouldn’t get. Then she smiled. “If you're dreaming, I hope it’s a wonderful one.” 

Just then, Toni came back. He asked for Momo and Blaire to go to the center arena.  

Fight number two is coming up. There are only a few more left. Servi, I promise I’ll win. Momo thought. She made her way there with the clapping and cheering of the audience, acting as her personal soundtrack. Somehow or another, the cute Singi had won the crowd over, but not her own heart.

As she drew her sword, a lonely thought popped into her mind.

Why is it so quiet?