"Oi, oi. Are you sure to let him leave like that, Ellen?" Phyrill complained while hiding behind Sihan.
Sihan simply moved to the side to show Phyrill's body if Ellen wanted to beat him up. The impact of Ellen's second personality seemed to influence Sihan too.
Theo, on the other hand, didn't care much since he also hated to cooperate with him.
"This is not going to work if there is no coordination. We can somehow handle it with Theo's clone, but the problem remains the same. There is also a possibility of us losing, so what should we do?" Phyrill asked Ellen.
Ellen had yet to answer his previous question, so she also didn't answer this one.
Instead of Ellen, Sihan focused on Theo since he was the one planning their strategy. "What is your opinion?"
Theo glanced at Sihan and contemplated. "It's surely troublesome, but nothing can be done. Even if there are only four of us, I will try to work it out."
"I guess that's the only way." Phyrill nodded in agreement.
However, Sihan seemed to feel Theo had yet to finish his words, so he asked, "And?"
"And?" Phyrill furrowed his eyebrows before giving another thought.
Neither Phyrill nor Sihan would expect Theo to say something so cold as they widened their eyes and opened their mouths when they heard the next words coming out of his mouth.
"And…" Theo took a deep breath and faced them with a serious expression. "If Laust makes one strange move, I would like all four of us to kill him first! Even if we keep winning, it's probably to remove him for good."
The room fell silent as the atmosphere turned heavy. Even Ellen frowned, feeling Theo shouldn't do something like that, but she also knew where he came from. Theo became this ruthless due to the deep grudge between them.
Instead of lecturing him or something, Ellen walked toward him, circling around the couch.
Phyrill quickly changed his hiding spot while Sihan maintained his calm.
Ellen stopped behind Theo as he raised his head, ignoring the two peaks between their faces. He looked Ellen in the eyes, showing he had no interest in that regard. "Are you going to lecture me because of what I said earlier?"
Ellen suddenly smiled. There was no anger in her eyes, but her current condition made her smile look even more terrifying. "Theo… Would you like to help me punish a problem child?"
Theo gulped down and pondered over the matter since he didn't want to disturb the match balance.
"Don't worry. It won't disrupt our coordination." Ellen waved her hand, trying to convince Theo.
After a few minutes, Theo finally nodded his head. "What is your plan?"
"To punish a rude kid, there is one thing that you need to do…" Ellen made a huge smile and said something disturbing, contrary to her smile. "We need to put him in his place."
"O-oh?!" Phyrill thought Ellen wanted to convince Laust by talking to him, but he realized Ellen was still angry. "Dark Ellen."
"Do you say something, Phyrill?" Ellen narrowed her eyes and looked at Phyrill, who quickly disappeared behind the chair.
"No, Ma'am!"
Theo shook his head helplessly. Phyrill wouldn't change even in this situation, so he just classified him as someone beyond redemption. He then looked Ellen in the eyes and asked, "What do you want me to do?"
Ellen lowered her body and put her mouth next to Theo's ears, whispering something to him. It took her two minutes to explain everything, making the others curious about what she planned to do.
Meanwhile, Theo's expression kept changing, finding a huge change in her manner and plan.
Ellen appeared to have been holding back this whole time behind that laziness.
When Ellen released him, Theo let out a long sigh and glanced at Ellen, "You know what… I don't particularly agree with your method, but it doesn't mean I won't accept it. Let me give it another thought and revise the plan a little bit before explaining it to you. You don't mind, right?"
Satisfied, Ellen closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. Once she opened her eyes, she revealed the same lazy eyes that didn't have an interest in this world. She only smiled and gave a thumb up to Theo. "Good. I will be waiting for you."
Sihan turned off the system and told the system that they would be leaving soon. Ellen patted Theo's shoulders from behind while saying, "Alright. Since we are done here, do you want to have another training or rest for today?"
"I'm good for another round." Phyrill raised his hand while adding a condition. "As long as I don't need to fight the Demon Witch, I will do it."
Surprisingly, Ellen didn't flare up anymore and nodded. "Good. How about you, Theo?"
"I don't mind."
Ellen then turned to Sihan and simply looked at him for a few seconds before saying with a smile. "Alright. Sihan is fine too."
"…" Sihan's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't correct her or something.
"Let me ask them whether we can use another room since this place will be used for the competition." Ellen quickly made her way out to ask them, leaving the three guys above his head.
"Theo, what did she say to you?" Phyrill couldn't contain his curiosity and hurriedly asked.
Theo shook his head and refused him. "Well… How do I say it… I don't feel like I want to offend her."
"Ugh. Why are you so mysterious about it? You make me even more scared." Phyrill made a weird face and became a good boy when he heard someone come.
Ellen magically returned within less than a minute, saying, "Alright, guys. I have found a room for us. Let's go."
The group ultimately left the room.
…
One week later.
After another week of training, Theo felt he had been ready for everything. If he didn't meet Alea this time, it just meant they were not destined to be teammates.
He went to school and met up with his teammates before finding Laust Lange hiding in the corner of the building alone.
Theo couldn't care less about him for the time being since what he wanted to know was the next pairing.
"Theo," Ellen called him while pointing at the screen.
Theo turned around and raised his vision, finding their group as well as Alea's group.
B30, D55, E2, F1 and F3 in B-001, B-002, and B-003 Versus B5, D1, E4, J2 and F10 in B-021, B-022 and B-023.
"We have finally found Alea. It's time to hunt the so-called genius." Theo smiled.