- A Little Earlier -

(Yu An Xue's Perspective)

The match has just begun. For a moment, I considered just staying exactly where I was, waiting for the others to come to me. But after some thought, I decided that would be too cowardly. And so, I ventured into the slums, my pulse rifle, Oculus, in hand.

All was going well, until I suddenly heard foosteps coming from directly in front of me. I narrowed my gaze and raised Oculus, aiming down sights, waiting for the stranger to turn the corner.

But when she did, it wasn't in a threatening way. Instead, she had both of her arms raised, as if expecting I would be here.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" she cried, and I hesitated, not pulling the trigger immediately.

"What...do you want...?" I asked sharply, keeping my tone quiet.

"Listen. I want to form an alliance with you," the girl - Xiang Peng - proposed.

I tilted my head, ever so slightly. "An...alliance? But...this is a...free for all."

"O-Okay, just hear me out!" she quickly exclaimed, realizing I was about to pull the trigger. "I know, Old Man Leng said this was a free for all. But that's because the actual preliminaries will be of a similar fashion. That being said, however...there aren't any rules saying we can't team up with someone else, no?"

I paused.

That's...true.

"...And you want to...team up with me? Why...?"

"Hm? That's because we're both rifle users, of course! You have a pulse rifle, I have an auto rifle. We're destined to be allied!" Xiang Peng replied with a bright smile. "Well, that, and...uh, you were the first person I came across."

I'm...guessing the second reason is the real reason. But either way...I suppose having a teammate wouldn't be too bad. As for who will be the final winner...I can worry about that later.

I slowly lowered my gun. "...Fine. I am...willing...to form an...alliance."

"Sweet! Then...who do you want to get rid of first?" she asked curiously.

"...Does not matter. Whoever...we run into...first."

"Okay - first, take this," Xiang Peng said, handing me a earpiece.

I frowned. "What's this...for?"

She grinned smugly. "I know Old Man Leng already gave us each an earpiece, but everyone can hear that channel. This one is a private one between just you and me. Oh, but don't ask how I got them."

I was skeptical, but took it anyways, and stuck it inside my free ear. Both my ears were now plugged. "I...can't hear the outside...that well...anymore."

"That's fine...because I'll be telling you where enemies are coming from," Xiang Peng chuckled. "Here's how things are going to work - I will stay close to you, but discretely. I will keep a constant eye on your blind spots, and alert you to any dangers."

"What...about you?" I asked.

"Don't worry about me," she replied with a casual wave of her hand. "My Ancestral Mage title isn't just for show. I'm confident they can't find me - hell, they won't be able to even think that we would form an alliance in the first place."

"..." I fell silent, and turned around. "Fine."

"Heheh - looking forward to working together with you, Yu An Xue," Xiang Peng said, concluding our conversation, before disappearing once again, to locations I didn't know. I trusted her to keep an eye on my blind spots though, so she had to be somewhere close by.

Taking a deep breath, I gripped Oculus even tighter than before, and continued my way through the slums in search of the others, now with an ally on my side.

*****

- Present Time -

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

How does she know that I'm up here...? She doesn't have a Psychic Element affinity, last I checked.

I looked around, trying to see if I accidentally set off some traps she laid out beforehand or anything, but couldn't find any. And then, I realized.

My Third Eye was picking up on another presence - very faintly, but still there. She was quite a distance away, and seemed to be using some kind of concealment technique. But alas, nothing could hide from my Third Eye. Deciding that Yu An Xue was too troublesome of an opponent right now, I changed direction and began heading for the other presence.

I leapt across the roofs, keeping a constant lookout for Obsidia's location, and made sure to stay out of her line of sight. Eventually, I got tired of this, and just went back on the ground, using Vanishing Shadows to traverse faster through the slums.

After a while of chasing this presence, I finally found myself staring straight into her back - Xiang Peng's back, to be particular. She was on top of a roof, using some kind of...binoculars? She appeared to be looking out at the direction I had come from.

"Where the hell did he go?" she murmured. But for some reason, it felt like an act to me.

Narrowing my eyes, I slowly raised Ace, pointed it at the back of her head, and pulled the trigger.

But the moment before I did, she suddenly spun around, and threw something - a smoke grenade.

My eyes widened, and I cursed, before covering my face. "Tch...!"

"Haha! Fell for it, didn't you?" the girl said smugly. "You're mine now!"

I heard the mechanical sound of a gun being pulled out.

Panicking won't do me any good here.

Realizing that, I stayed calm, closed my eyes, and used my Third Eye to determine where my enemy was. Said enemy was currently to my 12 o'clock position - in other words, directly in front of me.

I raised my hand out, and prepared for the barrage of bullets.

However...sucking them in didn't work.

W-Wha-

Damn it! I forgot these aren't normal mana-generated bullets! These are special fake ones that don't do any actual harm-!

*****

(Xiang Peng's Perspective)

I let out a deep breath after emptying my entire mag's worth of bullets into the smoke cloud, where Xuan Kai was trapped in. It was a brilliant plan - one I had thought out from the very beginning.

First, I would find someone as an ally, and have them lure someone in. Then, I would purposely have that someone notice me, by making a noise or something similar. Xuan Kai had somehow detected my location without me needing to do either of those things, which worked in my favor.

Next, when they came for me after deciding my ally was too much of a problem - as I was watching their blind spots - I would pretend I didn't notice they were there...then suddenly spin around and drop a smoke grenade on them. This was the gadget I had picked out from Old Man Leng's wife's shop, after all...I wanted to test it out immediately.

"Whew...he should be eliminated now, right?" I murmured, waiting for the smoke to disperse.

I walked closer, and waved a little. "Hey hey, Xuan Kai? You dead or something? Haha! Good one, I switched out the bullets. Most you'll get is a few bruises tomorrow after waking up."

But I received no response.

Oh...did I piss him off? Haha! That's amusing.

But what awaited me when the smoke finally dispersed a little (not completely) was not the defeated face of a boy. Instead, it was a smug grin, and in front of him was a weird translucent black screen of some kind, emitting a dangerously ominous black and red energy. Then, suddenly, before I could even react to this shocking scene, a volley of bullets - the same bullets I had just shot at him - came flying back towards me.

"W-Wha-" I cried, but it was too late to dodge or do anything. I didn't have the insta-casting abilities of Xuan Kai, after all.

The bullets hit me on several different parts of the body - the shoulder, the chest, the stomach, and the arms. Soon after the impact, red gas began emitting from the locations where he struck me, and I collapsed onto the floor of the roof, defeated.

"Ah...damn. You got me good," I muttered dejectedly.

The boy before me shook his head. "Nah. I should be saying that to you. That was a well thought-out plan...but unfortunately, not enough to defeat me."

I chuckled quietly. "Yeah..."

Then, Xuan Kai turned around, preparing to leave, but I called him back.

"Hey, Xuan Kai?"

He looked back at me, ever so slightly. "What?"

"...Thanks. For not hitting the face."

He snickered, and leapt off the roof of the building.

Ah....did I really just lose against a 14 year old boy, two ranks below me? An Ancestral Mage just got defeated by the hands of an Intermediate one. Oh man, if I tell those guys back home in Fragment about this, I can't even imagine how hard they're going to laugh.

Welp...it is what it is. Looks like...I've still got a ways to go.