Later, Liebe and Alysa continued on their date as they went around the lakes, seeing the sights. Later, they sat for lunch.
Alysa said, "What do you want to try?"
Liebe said, "How about anything that isn't fish?"
Alysa said, "Same here."
After lunch, as they were walking around seeing the fountain, they spotted Licht and Mia dress shopping.
Alysa said, "Looks like those two are enjoying themselves."
Liebe said, "Want to do what every normal friend does and spy on them?"
Alysa said, "And take whatever little privacy they were supposed to have?"
Liebe said, "Yeah. You know what? Let's not do that."
Alysa said, "OK. And we have our own shopping to do."
Liebe said, "Yeah. We need a new set of formal attire. Not to mention some shoes for me and a new pair of heels for you."
Alysa said, "So what colour are we going with today?"
Liebe said, "Does black sound good?"
Alysa said, "Yeah. A black dress does sound good."
As they went their own ways together, not bothering Licht and Mia, they returned to their room around 6:30 PM.
Liebe said, "Time to get ready."
Alysa said, "I hope it looks OK."
Liebe said, "You look great."
As they were ready, Licht said, "You guys ready?"
Liebe said, "Now go check on Mia and the others."
Licht said, "Sure." As he went to Mia and Elizabeth's room, Licht said, "Yo, Mia, Elizabeth, you two ready yet?"
Elizabeth said, "Yeah, but Mia is a different case."
Licht said, "Yo, Mia, you ready yet?"
Mia looked at the mirror and murmured, "Is that really me?"
Licht said, "Umm, yeah."
Mia said, "I look like an actual princess."
Licht said, "Umm, well, yeah."
As Mia went without her glasses, they were walking to Liebe and Alysa's room.
Licht said, "I do hope Elizabeth isn't too much trouble."
Mia said, "Of course not, sir. It's rather a pleasure to have her as a friend and be roommates. It's a nice change of pace for me to have someone other than Nikki as a roommate."
Licht said, "That is good to hear. It is good to see she is growing up."
As they reached Alysa's room, Licht said, "We're back. M and the others are also almost ready."
Liebe said, "Good to see you are on time."
Mia said, "Umm, Fleet Admiral, does this look OK?"
Liebe said, "Yup. Looks like our 18+ Disney princess actually turned into a princess."
Alysa said, "You look great."
Mia said, "Admiral Licht helped me pick the dress."
Liebe said, "I can clearly see that. It appears my money was spent wisely."
Mia said, "Umm, sir—"
Licht said, "He's the one who paid."
Mia said, "I'm sorry, Fleet Admiral. Please forgive my failure to express gratitude."
Liebe said, "It's alright. But where else do you think Licht gets his salary from?"
Licht said, "Yeah, that."
Alysa said, "Licht and I go through our salaries like butter."
Liebe said, "Yeah, bad habits, I suppose."
Licht said, "Oh, by the way, Liebe and Alysa, you two look amazing. The matching stuff looks something—the black and golden yellow pattern looks nice."
Liebe said, "Thanks."
Alysa said, "Yeah, we took 3 hours and a few local fashion specialists helped as thanks to help."
Licht said, "And you guys get free stuff? Damn."
Alysa said, "You two look great too."
Liebe said, "Yeah, the matching white and sky blue. Are you two on a date by any chance?"
Alysa said, "Liebe, that's rude. Of course they are on a date."
As Mia looked down and towards Licht's outfit, just to realize what she had done, as a commoner she bowed to Licht and said, "Forgive me. I didn't know I was committing such a grave crime. Please forgive me for ruining your kindness, sir."
Licht said, "Sure, no biggie."
Liebe said, "Since you didn't ask so far, just ask for the date thing."
Licht said, "What?"
Alysa said, "Do it, or else."
Licht said, "What? No. Dating is weird."
Alysa said, "Ask for the date and compliment her, or—"
Licht said, "Please, romance isn't my thing."
As Alysa stepped on his foot with her heels, Licht said, "My feet!"
Alysa said, "Do it, or the other foot joins."
Licht said, "Understood, ma'am. Mia, would you like to join me tonight?"
Mia said, "Umm, are you asking me on a date, sir?"
Licht said, "Umm, yeah. And please don't say no. Alysa will kill me."
Mia said, "Of course, sir."
Alysa said, "Compliment her."
Licht said, "You look nice. I just love the wavelength of the blue."
Mia said, "What is the wavelength of blue?"
Licht said, "I don't know."
Liebe said, "Dumb should have limits."
Later, they went to the royal castle, where Liebe and everyone were treated as distinguished guests of the king. As they danced and enjoyed, afterwards they were before the king.
The king said, "You are the ones who saved our nation. You deserve to know this."
As everyone in the banquet removed their masks, they all turned into monsters. Some were even Quetzalcoatl.
Liebe said, "No wonder."
As Team Liebe formed a circle with their backs towards the center, Licht said, "Everyone get ready."
Liebe said, "Now this is a surprise."
The king said, "Please stop. We mean no offense or harm towards you."
Liebe said, "Sorry, what?"
The king said, "We aren't humans, but we bear no hatred towards humans either. Please do not harm us."
Liebe said, "OK." As Team Liebe stood down.
The king said, "We may be monsters, but please forgive us."
Liebe said, "Wait. The Zenatal was created to fight monsters. No wonder it was heading to the capital to kill you."
The king said, "We are aware why it wanted to end us."
Liebe said, "Sure, it's OK."
Licht said, "Well, monster or not, the food is great, so I'm going to eat."
Liebe said, "Sure."
The king said, "You don't want to kill us?"
Liebe said, "Not really. Seems like unnecessary work."
As they all enjoyed themselves at around 11 AM, Liebe and Alysa were outside.
Liebe said, "Looks like it's getting late."
Alysa said, "Yeah. Let's get going. It's about 7:30 in Eldoria, right? So we should be in time."
Liebe said, "Shouldn't we change first?"
Alysa said, "This is fine."
Liebe said, "OK then." As he snapped, a portal appeared.
Gelda appeared from a portal and said, "Lord, you asked for me? And might I add, you two look exquisite."
Liebe said, "Thank you. Let's get going."
Gelda said, "Of course. Spatial Magic: Astral Gate." As they went to the restaurant.
Lilith said, "Umm, you two look handsome and lovely. I'm so glad I got to see my son and daughter together."
Liebe said, "Thank you. Let's sit down."
As they sat down, Lilith said, "You two look nice. Finally deciding on getting married and settling down?"
Liebe said, "No, there is still time for that. Like 5 or 6 years."
Lilith said, "Of course, of course."
Liebe said, "How is your elbow and knee?"
Lilith said, "All healed now."
Liebe said, "I'm glad to know."
Lilith said, "So how is everything?"
Liebe said, "OK, I suppose."
Alysa said, "Great."
Lilith said, "Good to hear. So basically about your match—"
Liebe said, "Mother, I know what you will say. Either you will say you can't make it, or you will say you will make it and then not appear."
Lilith said, "Of course not."
Liebe said, "Mother, I'm not stupid. Eldoria is 3 hours 30 minutes behind Hazen in terms of time zone, and our match is at 7 PM, so 2 PM there. How will you make it? I'm no fool."
Lilith said, "What? It's not like that."
Liebe said, "I know. It's alright. You tried or something, and that's OK or something, I guess."
Lilith said, "I will be there. I promise."
Liebe said, "Please stop trying to offer false hope. And now, a new question. I have been hearing some rumours, and one of them caught my attention."
Lilith said, "Which one? That I'm beautiful? Or I look 22? Or I'm still one of the strongest?"
Liebe said, "How goes your plan to threaten Hazen to delay my match by a day?"
Lilith said, "What could you possibly be talking about? And who would tell you that? I would never—"
Liebe said, "You didn't cut the call before planning with Gelda."
Lilith said, "Oh, that—that—umm, we scrapped it."
Liebe said, "Thank you for taking the bait."
Lilith said, "What? Now?"
Liebe said, "I lied. You cut the call. But I thought, why were you so sure you could make it? And here is what I thought. So I just left some crumbs in my words, and you took it, Mother."
Lilith said, "How did you know?"
Liebe said, "I'm a tactician, Mother. It's my job to think 3 steps ahead. And thanks to your low IQ, it wasn't that hard to figure out, now was it? It's simply basic diplomacy and negotiation to force someone to give them the info I need. A few lies here and a few words there."
Lilith said, "Wait, so you didn't know?"
Liebe said, "Of course I didn't. It isn't my job to know."
Alysa said, "Now that's evil. How does that head of yours work?"
Gelda laughed and said, "Huh! Take that! I taught him that!"
Lilith said, "I really do hate you, Gelda."
Gelda said, "And all the credit goes to me."
Liebe said, "Now then, Mother, here are the tickets. Come if you want or whatever." Then Liebe and Alysa left.
During the match of Gaia vs Zen, Lilith did in fact come to watch and cheer on Gaia, even though unfortunately she could watch 5% of a 1-minute match since the victory was basically given to Team Liebe as a diplomatic gift, with Gaia gaining a bit of experience. The next round was easily won by Mavia, while the one after that was easily won by Licht. Lilith could barely watch any matches. The 5th round was an easy win for Liebe, with the 6th round ending quickly by Licht's hands.
Finally, it was the 7th round—the semi-final round. It was against Baladia and Team Dread Saber. On the other side was the Empire vs Aldina, with Warner leading Aldina.
Who knew our victory in the World Championships would cost me everything? Who knew a mere 3 months after the battle for Hazen, I would lose it all? My status as a hero. My love. My team. And would be reduced to a mere traitor from a hero.
Either way, it's a decision made for the sake of the ones I held dear. The world yearns for a hero, even if it meant I needed to lose everything to birth that hero—the one who will dive into Purgatory itself for Alysa Bouduin. The one who will be her odr.