"Hahahaha!" Scott laughed when he realized Theo was weak. "This is our power difference. Even if our levels are the same, you won't be able to defeat me."
"…" Theo gritted his teeth and quickly stood up. He pointed his spear toward Scott and made eye contact with Alea, who seemed to struggle to help him because of Hontar. As he was about to leap toward Scott, he stomped the ground as if making his location known.
To everyone's surprise, Theo's shout echoed in the field. "Alea! On your right. He is coming for you!"
Both Scott and Hontar were bewildered as the latter quickly glanced to the left to confirm it, only to find he got fooled by Theo.
As for Alea, she simply watched Hontar's facial features to know the answer. The moment she saw him lowering his guard, she matched Theo's lie and broke free from Hontar, making her way toward Theo.
"Don't lie!" Scott became angrier and planned to kill Theo in this strike to stop Hontar from getting distracted.
And before Scott hit Theo, Alea appeared between them, stopping Scott's sword, giving Theo a chance to thrust his spear, stabbing Scott.
Unfortunately, Scott managed to react and step to the right, making Theo miss his heart and ending up grazing Scott's side. But to show that he didn't pretend to be weak, Theo kicked him on the chest, launching him several feet away like Scott did earlier.
He changed the grip of his spear and planned to throw another one before finding Hontar coming from his side to kill him first before Alea. It was at this time, Theo instinctively stepped behind Alea, exchanging their position and let Alea take the blow.
Theo then leaped toward Scott before he could recover and kicked his face, launching him again.
Seeing this, Hontar decided to take one step back and covered his sword with a torrential wind.
Alea found his intention and swung to the side, sending a crescent-shape fire toward Scott. "Flamming Ge-Sword."
"Wind Burst." Hontar, on the contrary, hit the ground as all the wind on his sword burst out. The shock wave flew toward Theo at a faster speed than Alea's, so it hit Theo first.
But since he saw Alea's flame lined up with Scott, he decided to take a step forward as a translucent white-colored hexagram appeared. The hexagram was twice as big as his body, so it should be able to protect him.
"Elemental Shield."
"!!!" Hontar widened his eyes in amazement as he saw how Theo's barrier stopped his shock wave. Scott obviously gained enough time to recover and planned to attack Theo from the back, but this was the reason Theo took one step forward. "Watch out!"
He cleared the line between Alea's Flamming Ge-Sword and Scott. When Scott was about to hit him, Theo twisted his shield and protected himself from getting hurt by the explosion while watching how the blast killed Scott. Unfortunately for him, it also meant Theo would be hit by the full force of the shock wave, crushing him and ultimately blowing him away to the wall.
Bang.
His body was stuck on the wall as his body got covered with blood.
Hontar was surprised to see Theo acted like a man to block that attack with his body. He thought, 'Did he just use his own body so Alea could kill Scott?'
However, Alea didn't share the same opinion as she asked inwardly, 'Why did he do that? He should have just used it by taking one step backward and my attack will cause a huge explosion when hitting Hontar's strike, killing that Scott in the process.'
Alea couldn't comprehend his intention anymore as if Theo just reset himself to the previous him, who knew nothing about battles. 'What are you planning, Theo?'
With this thought occupying her mind, Alea decided to get rid of Hontar as soon as possible. Alea raised her sword and slashed downwards.
As one would expect from a top ten among the third-year, he managed to react to her swing and blocked it with his sword.
Alea read his movement and sent a low kick to his right foot.
Hontar reacted to this action as well and raised his foot to block the kick with his knee before pushing back Alea's sword.
Suddenly, something entered their Awareness as both of them couldn't help but turn their eyes, finding a spear coming toward Hontar's head.
"!!!" Hontar gritted his teeth and threw his head backward to avoid this spear. Alea didn't let this chance go and stepped forward, swinging downwards with both hands to get more power.
"Ha!"
"Sh*t!" Hontar cursed as his sword got struck down until it planted itself on the ground as the swing continued, cutting his body diagonally.
A blue screen then appeared in front of her eyes, saying, "Congratulations on winning. Your group, Theodore Griffith, has gained the chance to pick the next teammate. Logging out in 3…2…1…"
The system just transferred their consciousness out of the systems right after the battle ended.
As soon as they came out of the training capsules, Alea had a serious expression on her face, glaring at Theo as if she didn't agree with this kind of setting. She walked toward him and grabbed his shoulder, asking, "Why? This is the chance for you to get your own revenge, Theo! Why are you pretending to be weak?"
Theo widened his eyes in amazement. "Wow, to think you would say it like that… I'm impressed. Anyway, my revenge can be postponed, but winning and getting into the tournament is once in a lifetime. I just want to show you that my head is clear and won't be clouded by revenge. And it's surprising to hear those words from you, considering you have been a good girl until now."
"I'm a good girl, one that defies logic. But that doesn't mean I don't know good and bad. There is always enough and that one is enough." Alea shook her head in disappointment and raised her voice. She was just frustrated to have her teammate get looked down on by people.
"Are you sure you are older than me? I am looking at the bigger picture here, you know."
"I know…" Alea clenched her hands, gripping his shoulders even tighter. Yet, her hands began shaking as she stuttered. "I'm just frustrated. You deserve better."
Theo smirked and asked, "Do you know what my master told me about this?"
Alea frowned and shook her head.
"It's whether you get the last laugh or not. This is not the last." Theo smiled and looked at the table where he could choose either Hontar and Scott to be their next teammate. He gently put down her hands and tapped on Hontar. "And let me show you how I will get the last laugh."