"Rae," Arthur walked slowly toward her. "I thought you'd be helping your team, not running toward the flag on your own."
"I guess you don't know me enough." Rae smiled as her white scarf surrounded Jonah. "If I did as you told me, I would be playing into your own hands. I knew you were up to something, but I had to know what exactly."
"Smart," Arthur raised his hands and started clapping with a smile. "I still don't understand one thing. If you doubted me, why didn't you try eliminating me when we met earlier?"
"Are you trying to stall for time?"
"Yes."
"Alright, it's because I didn't want to choose the easy way," Rae said with pride. "I wanted to find out your plan and foil it."
"As if you can eliminate me, to begin with." Arthur's lips arched upward in mockery. "I was the one to defeat the Great Knight before you intervened."
"Are you bitter about being beaten to a pulp?" Rae grinned at him. "If you think you can take revenge, go ahead and try."
"I'm bitter about betrayal and cowardice, you're a fine example of both." Arthur used his art to control his mana that started surrounding his body. "You act high and mighty, but you're nothing more than an insecure kid trying to prove their strength."
"I'm not trying to prove anything." Rae scowled at him. "I have no reason to prove anything to anyone."
"Isn't that why you rushed on your own to grab the flag? To prove you're not a failure who can't function in a team? I've seen that firsthand when we worked together against the ancient knight."
"You bastard!" Rae gritted her teeth as her eyes turned into blood-scarlet. Her hair rose like her scarf as Jonah looked out with worry at Arthur, imploring for help.
"Yes, I'm a bastard." Arthur shrugged. "But that's something I can't control. You refuse to grow up from thinking that everyone is your enemy." Arthur provoked further as he saw the scarf retreat into Rae's possession.
"You have no idea what you're talking about…" Rae's voice was muffled and Arthur flinched when he saw tears form in her eyes. Two red pools of scarlet glowing water looked at him with both rage and sorrow that he couldn't fathom.
It was then that Arthur knew he had taken it too far. He thought these provocations meant nothing to Rae, but she appeared in front of him with her scarf turning into a glove.
From the silk-like texture it had, the scarf crystalized into a glove that made Arthur feel oppressed with its power. With haste, he threw a barrier and turned used his iron-skin skill to block with his arms crossed.
Rae's fist came like a cannonball and Arthur flew away like a broken kite. He crashed into the wall that Moli built but didn't stop flying and crashing into the walls of the maze behind him.
When he finally stopped, Arthur examined himself and found that his arms were bleeding but no fracture was made. Rae appeared above him with the eyes of a demon and her leg descended on Arthur like an ax.
'I guess I have no choice,' Arthur frowned and breathed in. Using the back of his hand, he changed the direction of the kick and it descended on the ground to leave a giant gash in the earth.
Before he could counterattack, Rae's fist was already inches away from his face and Arthur slipped partially into his shadow for the punch to go above his head.
Without a pause, he punched toward Rae's chin but the scarf unfolded and blocked his attack easily. Their eyes met for a second and Arthur could see the signs of tears around her eyes.
"I'm sorry for what I said," He whispered and Rae looked at him silently, her eyes still blood-scarlet. It was a few moments of stillness later that her eyes went back to their normal shade.
Without saying anything, Rae walked away from him and Arthur had to take himself out of the rabble. She headed directly toward Jonah with her scarf floating on the tips of her fingers.
"I know how to work in a team and that's why I'm winning this." She struck toward Jonah who tried to dodge but couldn't do it in time. The moment that her attack connected; Jonah disappeared from the world along with the flag. There was another silence before Rae turned to look at Arthur with a blush. "You fucker…"
Arthur coughed as he cringed. After the dramatic words of Rae, she fell into another trap of their plan. However, this wasn't thought of by Arthur. He had no intention of using Jonah's ability like this, it was Jonah's idea to run away with the flag and only leaving a decoy here.
Even though he wished to keep Jonah's ability a secret, it was unrealistic for Jonah to follow his wishes. If Jonah didn't show his worth to the college, he would compromise his future. On the other hand, Jonah would feel useless.
"Where is the flag?" Rae gritted her teeth and asked. "Where is it, you shrewd piece of shit!"
"I have nothing to do with this," Arthur raised his hands. "I have no idea where it is at the moment. I'm not the leader and I don't get much information."
"You wouldn't tell me even if you knew."
"That's true. After all, we would lose."
"You want to win that much? Over a silly class?" Rae looked at him coldly.
"I have my own goals." Arthur shrugged again. "Winning today is one of them, another is to make enemies." He grinned.
"Well, you did one hell of a job at that." Rae laughed. "Now, I'll beat you to a pulp until you tell me where it is."
"You have ten minutes left." Arthur raised his bracelet and a giant countdown appeared in front of it. "I think you should start looking for it."
Rae went quiet and her mouth turned into a thin line. She looked around and the students that were lying around has already gone out of the field. She looked back at Arthur and studied him closely before turning away with a humph.
As she took the first step, she tripped and fell face forward. Arthur stood behind her raising his hand as ethereal restrains worked to coil themselves around Rae.
"You…" Rae's face turned livid as she glared at Arthur with a face full of dirt. "How dare you!" She broke the restraints easily but Arthur was already creating more of them to stop her.
"I'm sorry, but I fear that not even Arlo can stop your rampage," Arthur said with a smile. "Just lose this, you have already lost yesterday."
"That's exactly why I'm not losing today!" Rae shouted and broke the restraints as Arthur created them. After breaking a dozen or so, Arthur noticed that she went limp.
"Hey, are you okay?" He approached her only to hear her stomach growl like a hungry beast. He looked at her face and she looked in pain. "Are you hungry?" He remembered her words that she needed to eat a lot.
"Shut up! This has nothing to do with you!"
"As your current captor, I disagree. I think I'll just eliminate you for now."
"As if I would allow you to!" Her scarf appeared around her body and her stomach growled louder. He heard her muffle a groan and he felt bad, just like the time he felt bad for a wounded animal.
"I'll give you something to eat as long as you promise to leave the flag alone."
"You wish."
"Just say okay, we both know your body is weak at the moment. Do you want me to eliminate you? I'm sure it would decrease your ranking."
"… fine." She said through gritted teeth. Arthur undid the restraints and placed a plate of barbequed steak, that he had in his subspace, in front of her.
Rae seemed to be thinking of escaping, but the aroma of the meat made her stomach beg for food again. She gritted her teeth as she turned her scarf into a knife and cut through the steak.
Arthur sighed and sat beside her as she ate. He looked at the sun sitting high above them to signal the approach of noon. They would have one theory class after this and they would be done for the day.
Jerano's curriculum is more intense than he realized it would be. Now that he had shown his strength, he would wait as the culprits behind the disappearances make their move.
"Oh, I eliminated Arlo," Arthur mentioned and Rae paused her eating and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Impossible. You can't have done it that easily." She said with a smudge of sauce around her lips. "Unless…"
"Yup, a sneak attack. I disguised myself as a Nightfall member and struck him when he was transforming."
"Yeah, that transformation is dumb." Rae chuckled. "But you're one hell of a sneaky bastard. If you're this strong, why is your ranking so low?"
"I sucked at my writing exam. I left most of the paper blank."
"You could've just guessed."
"We tread the path of explorers, that of life and death. I can't choose things blindly. It would be worse than leaving it blank. At least I can learn things if I don't know."
"Even still, you could've gotten a higher ranking than 165th," Rae said with her mouth full of meat.
"You get a lot friendlier when you're eating… I don't need to." Arthur stood up. "I prefer to be looked down on than to be placed under a microscope." The bell rang to signal the end of their class.
[Daybreak Dorm Year 1 won. They have defended the flag from being stolen. Every student needs to leave the maze now. Anyone with injuries can use their bracelet to issue an emergency call.]
An announcement came and Arthur turned to Rae who was still looking at him while sulking. With a grin, he waved his hand goodbye.
"I've won again."