"No chance of winning?"

King Badru terribly wanted to rebuke. But seeing as how the other party was the White Imvubu, he chose to keep quiet instead. He had watched Adia grow throughout the years ever since their parents died, and she worked hard even amongst the special forces and the warriors they had in their army.

​​

To say that Adia had no chance of winning against her protege was truly a bit hurtful to his feelings. But alas, Badru could only look towards the commotion below, towards the event that will decide the fate of this nation's grandchildren and future. Some might consider King Badru's thoughts an exaggeration, but for him, this was truly the most important event in decades.

If Adia wins this match, then she would have the chance of becoming Charlotte's protege, probably the greatest honor this country can achieve.

Badru could only hope that the White Imvubu is wrong in her assumptions.

"Are all of you ready to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event!?"

Badru's worried thoughts were then interrupted by the roars of the crowds. Van, who had just finished stretching his legs, looked towards the horizon. The stretch was about 5km, and once couldn't really see the finish line on their position.

The stretch was filled with obstacles like huge boulders and some rough roads, and if he wasn't mistaken, there was also a small hill covering from afar.

Van then looked towards Adia, who was now also focusing on the horizon, her eyes completely only seeing the prize at the end. But sadly, Van may not be aware of her System's level, he was sure that Adia was slower than him. Perhaps it was arrogance… but Van was sure of it.

And as Van was lost in thought, a short but loud explosion erupted through the air, signaling the start of their race. And to Van's surprise, instead of going for the stretch, Adia rushed towards him.

Van's eyes instantly glowed as a trail of lightning emerged from it, swiftly and casually avoiding Adia's fist that was threatening to flatten his face.

And as soon as he was able to avoid her fist, Adia ran away, not following her attack, and instead chose to finally go for the stretch, leaving Van behind on the starting line.

"..." Van could only let out a sigh as he watched Adia make her way through the horizon. Weirdly enough, Adia was starting to more and more remind him of Harvey. Maybe it's just an Enhancer thing?

"The Princess just got a head start and is now leading the race, everyone! What is the little protege of the White Imvubu going to do!?" The announcer of the race seemed to be turning his voice even louder, getting the crowd even more frenzied as their Princess was already leading at the start of the race, "Mr. Va-an seems to be in shock, everyone! He still has not moved from his spot!"

With the crowd going crazy, and with the cameras pointed at him, Van's eyes once again finally glowed as he instantly disappeared from his spot. And without even a few seconds, he was already beside Adia. Van, however, did not pass her and just stayed slightly behind her.

"W… What the!?" Adia could not help but slightly leap to the side as Van suddenly appeared beside her, the shock on her face was obvious for everyone to see. It didn't help that there was some sort of huge car following them on the side, pointing a big camera towards them.

"I thought you were a Mage-type!?" Adia expressed her laments.

"I lied," Van replied as he slightly turned his eyes towards Adia. Van's [Time Perception] skill wasn't even turned on, as he thought this would be a good time to practice his speed without relying on his [Time Perception].

The two were about to pass the area of the stretch where huge boulders, even bigger than the two of them combined, littered the area, only allowing one to go through the cracks. Adia, though, thought differently. She just decided to take the boulders head-on, ramming her shoulders through them and allowing her fists to obliterate any that blocked her path.

But that wasn't the only thing she did. She quickly turned around, clapping her hands similar to what Charlotte was doing.

"Dodge this!"

And as soon as her palms made contact with each other, a small shockwave rippled from the hands, throwing the different sized debris of the boulders that she smashed through. The debris and small rocks almost showered Van's entire body.

"..." Van could only let out a small breath as he turned on his [Time Perception] skill. As much as he wanted to practice it, being injured here will put him out of the race. The debris rained down on Van almost endlessly. The barrage of stones only stopped as they finally passed the boulder area.

But as Van was about to exit the terrain, he caught the last pebble that was going for his head, swiftly throwing it towards Adia as he rotated his body while still moving forward in superspeed.

"!!!"

"Eeek!"

Adia could only close her eyes as a deafening thunder snapped through the air. However, before the small rock could hit her body, it burst into pieces, almost letting out a sizzling noise as it did so. The only thing that Adia could feel was a slight heat wafting through her face.

"W… what was that?" Adia could not help but mutter as she opened her eyes.

"..." Van also didn't expect that something like that would happen as he too, stood still in confusion.

"Tch!" Adia was in shock, but still, seeing as Van also stopped running, she took this chance to gain distance from him once again as she ran through the stretch.

Van, on the other hand, was leisurely looking at his hand, wondering what the heck just happened. He remained like that for a few seconds before once again following Adia, staying only slightly behind her.

Adia attempted a lot of things after that, even trying to fight Van head-on and forgetting about the race. But alas, whenever she thought that her attack connected, Van was already behind her.

"Damn it!" Completely frustrated, she stomped her foot on the ground, causing the earth to erupt into spiked, creating a sort of sharp wall blocking Van from the stretch.

They were already only a 3rd away from the finish line, so Adia put everything she had on her legs, each of her steps slightly changing the terrain behind her.

Van, on the other hand, still just casually ran as he closely stayed behind the Princess.

"Gaaah!" Adia screamed her frustration. They were only about a hundred meters away from the finish line, so she decided to abandon everything, pushing her legs to the limit and leaping towards the finish line with all her might.

A smile could not help but creep on her face as the distance between her and Van grew. He probably didn't expect that she would burst through and go even faster as the final seconds of the race ticked.

With only 20 meters away, Adia's smile was fully grown as she decided to turn her head to look behind her. But as soon as she did so, a trail of golden light blurred past her.

"Wha…"

And due to her shock and the sudden breeze that slapped her face, her momentum was breached, completely causing her to lose balance in the air as her whole body spun uncontrollably.

"Eeeh!" But still, her foot successfully landed on the ground, however, due to her lack of balance, her right foot blocked her left, causing her to stumble violently. Adia gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, waiting for the slight pain that will follow as soon as she makes contact with the ground.

The pain, however, did not come. The only thing that surrounded her body was a sort of warmth that wrapped around her.

"...Are you alright, Ms. Adia?"

Adia blinked a couple of times as she opened her eyes, and the first thing that she saw was Van's face. This was probably the first time she was seeing the entirety of Van's face, as he always had half of it covered by his hair.

And seeing the scar adorning his left eye, Adia could not help but think of how manly he actually looked. And without meaning to, the memory of Van's proposal emerged from the depths of her mind.

"...Miss Adia? Should we call for a healer?"

"I… I'm fine!" Adia quickly pushed Van away as she tried to regain her footing. Van was a lot smaller than her, but even then, he was able to lift her up like she was just paper.

"So you really weren't a Mage-type?" Adia slightly harrumphed as she looked at Van straight in the eyes, "That was very cunning, as expected of the White Imvubu's protege."

"Well… That's not really because of--"

Before Van could finish his words, Adia suddenly grabbed his hand and raised his hand in the air. And as soon as she did so, the screams of the crowd that was almost 5 kilometers away from them whispered to their ears.

The people in the car that was following them also got out, carrying almost 3 cameras and pointing them towards the two. The announcer, who Van was seeing for the first time, also got out of the car and immediately started shouting on some sort of… black stick.

"What an amazing but very short race, everyone! But as you can see, even though Princess Adia led the match the whole time, it was Mr. Va-an's silent but deadly approach that won the race!"

The announcer then pointed the black stick close to Adia's, "What can you say about your match, Princess Adia?"

"I lost completely," Adia said with a sigh on her face, her hand still holding Van's, "This race, as well as my hand, has been won by Va-an...

...I accept his proposal for marriage!"

"...Wait what?"