Ena's yawn echoed through the silent, icy walls of her base.
A sigh escaped her lips as she sat with her shoulders against the wall, looking everywhere her eyes took her until they landed back on the black flag with a half-moon.
Time had passed since Isaac's departure. Although she never liked Isaac, she also never liked not insulting someone.
Although that doesn't particularly mean she missed him, rather, she missed throwing insults at a person now that she was by herself. And, knowing herself, she wasn't really the type to insult herself.
But other than the timid boy, Haruo hasn't visited the base point once since the test began.
However, even without him, the accumulation of points still skyrocketed by a few thousand.
[172,008 points accumulated.]
The string of numbers atop the flag is visible only to its owners; meanwhile, if a foreign team wanted to view or at least estimate it, they'd have to do so through the flag symbol.
10,000 points = crescent moon.
100,000 points = half moon.
1,000,000 points = full moon.
What happens when it passes a full moon? Ena has no clue.
All she knew was that she was bored until both of them came back.
"Hah…" she sighed.
"…!"
Ena's eyes fluctuated as she heard a familiar voice ring through her ears.
{Ena…!}
Wasting no breath, she stood up quietly and carefully exited through a shattered window. For the first time since the test began, she had finally stepped out of the building, but rather than feeling pleasure, she felt uneasy.
That was because their base was completely vulnerable. But more importantly,
Haruo called out to her instead of entering the base.
In just a few minutes, she had spotted that voice. Far in the distance, she saw the familiar ashen hair that first caught her eye.
And not too soon after, his figure disappeared into an alleyway. With careful steps, she landed near the corner.
Thud! Step! Step!
After a few shaky breaths, a familiar side profile came into her view. Haruo's side profile.
Pant! Pant!
Haggard breathing came from the five-meter gap between them.
Crimson blood trailed down part of his pale neck, mixed with the occasional sweat that poured from his ashen face. There, she saw the heavy bags under his eyes as he continued to rest.
Without missing a beat, she hurried to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, the same spot on the coat where his blood was steadily soaking in.
His hoarse voice was muffled slightly, but enough for Ena to understand what he was saying. "Where's Isaac? Is he at least defending the base point?"
"… He just left thirty minutes ago."
Haruo scratched his head before straightening his back.
"Where did he go?"
***
CRASH! CLANG!!
Sparks of metallic fire flashed through the building's windows as destruction slowly made the field below them.
A bead of sweat dropped from Isaac's collar as he struggled to escape the semi-pure's pursuit.
Isaac lost his breath amidst the scent of dust and dull iron; until, in one moment, the figure he had reluctantly observed had vanished from his view.
A shrill filled Isaac's back.
"ARG!!"
SHINING!
Isaac didn't even realize it. His body moved on its own, and with a single glance, he saw his whole ear fly forward.
The familiar embrace of blood trickling down his skin, trickling to his jaw and dropping to the cemented floor.
Just as he was processing this information, another strike was already there to greet his face. At the presence of her sword, he ducked and let the blade swing past him.
Tatiana's eyes widened as her blade glided above Isaac and crashed into the wall.
Cracks appeared after her sword touched the wall. That one sign was enough to make every strand of hair on his body stand up.
He dashed out through the open wall to escape the woman's wrath.
Tatiana retracted her blade and glared at the figure's back. She sighed to herself before repositioning herself in a stance. Putting all her weight into her legs, she lunged down with him to reach for his collar, only to miss by a hair's breadth.
Isaac gritted his teeth as the wind flew past him. The reflection made by the windows followed his descent as he grew closer to the ground floor.
'I need to go back—'
Not a moment later, his entire body followed his instinct and swung a full turn.
CLANG!
What met his blade was the same one he had nearly died to. Tatiana had followed him down.
'…!'
Gritting his teeth once again, he took a deep breath before his pupils emitted a faint glow.
Beads of sweat poured down Isaac's face as he slowly quickened, accelerating until he had reached an unnatural speed. And in one moment, Isaac had fallen so fast that he had landed on the ground floor. Nearly twice the average descent…
"Tsk," clicked Tatiana.
Huff! Huff!
By the time Isaac reached the ground floor, he was completely breathless. His glasses were turning foggier with each passing breath.
He rested for a second; however, even that was cut short, for Tatiana appeared instantaneously beside Isaac.
The same blade that nearly cut him was on its way to his throat, and this time, he had no way to escape it.
'I-I can't dodge!!' Isaac screamed internally.
Though Tatiana's strike wasn't nearly as dangerous as her last, that logic only applied when Isaac was still energized. He had just used his ability; one more and, without a doubt, he'll die from burnout.
'So this concludes it! I'll die without contributing to—!!'
Before he could even finish his thoughts, a hand pulled the back of his collar, narrowly avoiding his decapitation.
To see who pulled him, he rolled his eyes back and saw a pale figure pointing a gun at Tatiana's head.
'Haruo?!'
Click!
A single string of energy sprouted from the tip of the gun and began devouring its path with its light until it slowly diminished. In just a second, the area ahead was completely gone, along with Tatiana, though it wasn't hard to say she used her ability to escape.
But, aside from the semi-pure, what Isaac saw was the destruction that continued all the way to one corner of the building.
"H-Haruo!" screamed Isaac. "How did you—"
"Stand up properly; there are more important things to do right now than talk," Haruo replied, releasing his collar.
He quickly removed his glasses before returning his grip to the handle of his blade. "Be careful of the enemy! Her ability is something like mine!"
"… Don't worry about her, just focus on finding their flag for now."
"Huh—"
Before he could process what he meant, Haruo once again grabbed him by the back of his collar and flung him towards the building ahead.
Just like before, no words escaped his lips as Haruo grappled his collar once more and threw him back to the building.
Haruo followed Isaac's figure until he vanished into the building. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
The coated boy twisted his hips towards Tatiana.
Click!
A massive wave of energy escapes through the muzzle. As soon as the energy dissipated, Haruo's pupils shifted to the corner as light footsteps entered his ear.
"I didn't expect you to be my enemy this early on." Tatiana's voice cut through the silence.
"Well, that happens when you're in the same test. Not to mention, I don't really like unnecessary fighting." Haruo turned to face Tatiana. "I was hoping to avoid people like you the most."
"Well, I guess our similarities end there," Tatiana whispered, her blade pointing at Haruo.
Without wasting another word, Tatiana vanished from Haruo's sight.
In that very instant, Haruo flatly rested his blade to his side, blocking Tatiana's sudden attack.
CLAAAAAANG!
The white-haired boy slid a generous distance from the impact. Luckily for Haruo, he had blocked her strike before it could slice him completely.
"ARGH!" Blood spurted from his mouth.
However, that didn't mean he completely avoided injury.
'I couldn't let Ena heal me completely. Just the impact alone was enough to damage me considerably,' thought Haruo.
'Isaac needs to hurry, otherwise we'd both be dead!'
***
Isaac accelerated through the dark hallways, although Haruo had never given direct orders; seeing his expression was enough to give him a general idea of what he implied.
'Where's that flag!' Isaac screamed internally as beads of sweat kept pouring from his face.
Isaac knew that his time was limited. Haruo was strong; however, in just a glance, he could tell he was severely fatigued.
Whatever time he had, he had to use it correctly. Otherwise, both he and Haruo would have to spend their last breaths within this building.
His shadow ran through room after room, then floor after floor, relentlessly searching, until…
Exactly on the next floor, inside a room with a broken door, was the half-moon flag planted. He crashed his foot to the ground and leapt toward the flag, his glasses reflecting nothing but that one object.
CRASH! CRACKLE!!
Thousands of shards shattered in all directions in the room.
"…!"
Isaac turned his head to meet the cause, but before he could, he felt a heavy force slowly push his side, ragdolling him into the nearest wall.
"Urgh!" spat Isaac. 'What the…!? Did Haruo lose already?!'
After a few quick breaths, he saw a blurry figure who blended into the dark. Only after he regained his vision did he see the golden locks contrasting with the dark room.
'No, that isn't her. Who is that?' Isaac thought.
The figure turned his head, and there, two sets of jewel-like eyes lit the room. Two different hues.
Theodor didn't bother to acknowledge the intruder's presence and only set his eyes toward his flag.
Isaac watched as Theodor hastily planted the remaining flags near it. And soon, one by one, the flag bearing the half-moon symbol absorbed each of them, filling the other half.
Once every flag disappeared, Isaac's body had stopped overheating from his own ability and charged at the semi-pure with his Katana.
As the attack rushed in, Theodor summoned his spear from his mana storage and swung at Isaac.
With great agility, Isaac carefully pulled away from his attack and slid under his spear in a single motion.
"…!"
He stretched out his arm and quickly grabbed the planted flag from Theodor.
Theodor gritted his teeth as he looked at the man who had stolen his flag. In retaliation, he twisted his hips counter-clockwise, redirecting his spearhead back towards him.
Isaac grabbed the handle of his short blade from his waist and charged it to deflect Theodor's attack.
CRRRKKK! SHATTER!!
Amidst their contact, his short blade exploded into shards that scattered around the room—one of them lodged itself into his own shoulder.
'JUMP!!' he screamed internally.
Isaac, slowly losing his momentum, pushed himself to leap through the broken window that Theodor had used to enter the building.
Theodor clicked his tongue at his sudden departure—he planted his spear like a pole vault, then used that spear to drag himself to the window he had once used as an entrance to follow the awkward boy.
Yet, despite shortening his distance by a mile, it was still too short to reach Isaac. Theodor hastily changed his grip and pulled his arm all the way to his back.
He sharpened his gaze on the rapid figure, and then…
Whoosh!!
Isaac descended from the height once more until a large force drove right through him and lodged itself in his body. He had been pierced by Theodor's spear.
Although the pain was unbearable, he gritted his teeth, and with all his might he shouted:
"HARUO!!!"
Both Tatiana and Haruo flinched at the sudden sound. They lifted their heads and saw the descending silhouette of Isaac.
Isaac gripped the flag in his hand and threw it toward Haruo. By the time Haruo realized the situation, Tatiana was already ahead of him and had teleported near the thrown flag.
Tatiana reached out her hand. But was stopped.
On her leg was Haruo's grasp, pulling her down, before he used her body to pull himself closer to the flag, dragging her down along the way.
Using that momentum, he snatched the flag and landed softly on the ground. He turned around and saw Isaac's figure struggling to stand on his knees.
"RUN!" was the last thing he said before the spear had taken his throat from behind.
Haruo nodded his head before placing all his weight onto a single leap forward.
"You're not going anywhere."
Tatiana had tried to intervene in his escape; however, before she had a chance to, Haruo had frozen her hands stiff, delaying her attack just enough to get past her.
"Sorry, but like I said. I'm not fond of fighting."
"I do."
A voice left Haruo unprepared. With his free arm, he blocked Theodor's attack just in time, but the same could be said for the attack Tatiana had made towards his arm.
The impact had broken Haruo's arm.
"AGGGHHH!!"
Haruo rolled a fair distance, trying to maintain his stability. Yet, he had failed to do so, making him stumble on his knee as he caressed his broken arm.
He breathed heavily before retrieving his proper vision, and only then did he see the two siblings circling him as he sat on his knee.
'Of course… What did I expect?' thought Haruo as he glared at the two.
His eyes redirected his vision past Tatiana's figure, and there, he saw the lying corpse of his teammate. 'What a waste of a sacrifice.'
'I'm too tired to keep this up… at least Ena is still alive.'
With that one final thought, he steadily closed his eyes.
The siblings rushed simultaneously towards the injured boy, and with their synchronized attack, they slashed from both the back and front, leaving no possibility of his return.
[You have died.]