Chapter 199 :

Episode 39 : Victor (1)

In the middle of the night where the storm outside of the safe zone terrorized constantly.

‘The Rebels' Guild members who rest inside the ice ship, were sleeping peacefully despite the noise and rumble of the hurricane surrounding them.

It was already astonishing to find anyone having a night's sleep within the disturbing vicinity.

And it was also surprising to see a few who weren't resting at all. Fully awake not because of the hurricane, but the built-up thoughts they had in their minds.

"Noelle..?" The one who was awake was Mya.

Moreover, the person who Mya was calling out to was standing casually on top of the ship's figurehead.

Turning around immediately, Noelle became flustered by the unexpected as she gazed at Mya. "M..Mya, you're awake?"

Worried sick for Noelle, Mya walked up to her. "Yes, I wasn't able to sleep.. But why are you standing there? I-Isn't it dangerous?"

"..It's.. fine.."

"If you say so.." Still concerned for Noelle's safety, Mya kept her glance locked on Noelle just in case something bad would happen.

"Why are you awake, Elle?"

"Erm.. My mind is full.. Can't sleep.."

"Oh? M-Me too."

"..Are you perhaps thinking about tomorrow..? Mya?"

"Yes.. Because I'm your next opponent. I'm not even sure if I can beat you, Elle."

"..!? How could you say that? You're strong..! Very strong!"

Hearing Noelle increasing her soft voice, Mya became embarrassed by the compliment.

"I-I'm not.. If anything, you're stronger, Elle!"

"No..! You are!"

"No, you are!"

Whoosh!

All of the sudden, someone from behind spoke up. "Both of you, be quiet."

Sooner or later, Mya and Noelle glanced at the person who was stepping out of the shadow, already knowing who it was by the familiar voice.

It was Frostina.

"Must you be loud during midnight?" Said, Frostina. "If you have time to spare, then figure out how to quiet yourself down."

"I-I'm sorry.." Both Noelle and Mya apologized.

With a stare, Frostina looked away as she was proceeding to leave after scolding the two children.

"Aunt.. Frostina." Mya called out quietly.

It was then that Frostina halted her step, slipping her gaze toward Mya. "What is it?"

"I.. hm.." Fidgeting her fingers, Mya completely forgot what she was about to say.

Without a word, Frostina stood waiting for the child to speak as her patience is quite special to those who are useful to her.

If it were Louis, HwanGi, Noel and Alaine, then Frostina's patience would lessen a lot since she wouldn't spend her precious time over fools.

‘Fools aren't worth my time, only useful ones can receive my time.’ Frostina thought, glancing at Mya who seemed to be struggling to remember something.

To Frostina, Mya and Noelle are unique and beneficial to her and her liege, giving her a reason to wait as long as possible for Mya to speak.

‘Though, I wonder if my liege would wait that long.’

Frostina then averted her glance to the top where a figure was somewhere up there hiding and watching from above.

"How.. How do I rest easily?" Mya impulsively spoke, regretting it afterwards.

Mya with an embarrassing face sneaked a glimpse at Frostina to see if the latter was weirded out by the former's question.

But..

Frostina looked indifferent as always, along with her being silent for a couple of seconds which reddened Mya's cheeks more.

"What a strange question to ask."

"..eep.." Mya made an odd sound as if she was still embarrassed. "I'm sorry for asking that.. Aunt doesn't have to answer it..!"

"For now, come down from there." Frostina gazed at Noelle which prompted the latter to get off the figurehead and back on the deck.

"Tell me the issue."

"I-issue?" Mya asked with her tilted head.

"Of why you can't sleep."

"W-Well, my mind is full of thoughts, and I couldn't close my eyes in peace because of it.."

"Either sort out those thoughts or leave them be, your choice to decide." Frostina answered straightforwardly.

"..?"

"If you can't bring yourself to decide between those two thoughts, there ought to be a third option. If not, make one. Either that or you would prefer failing to sleep from drowning in your thoughts."

"Ah.. Wait, aunt Frostina." Mya reached out her hand midway to Frostina who had started leaving. "Thank you.. for the advice."

Rustling..

Ignoring the sound of the hurricane outside, the wave splashing and the wind breezing pass by Noelle and Mya.

Standing there with no words to say, both of them looked at each other before smiling with a little giggle between themselves.

‘I asked a random question.’ Mya thought and chuckled. ‘And I got a meaningful answer.’

Swoosh~

"What do you think about Aunt Frostina's advice?" Mya asked Noelle as they sat down together.

Thinking for a bit, Noelle murmured. "I.. rather pick the third option.."

"Third option?"

"..."

Noelle became shy. "L..Let's talk to each other.. Is that okay..?"

"I would be happy to talk to you, Elle. It's fun whenever I have a conversation with you and Noel."

Mya somewhat had a bitter smile. ‘Since I have been with adults all this time..’

Seeing that grin, Noelle had a thought. ‘..I.. wonder how she has been in the past. And.. I remembered only seeing adults around her..’

‘I don't have to ask to know why Mya is here..’

Pondering like that caused Mya to wonder what Noelle is doing, prompting the former to call out to the latter.

"Noelle?"

"..! Me too. I like talking with you.. too."

Noelle smiled. ‘For now, I'll do my utmost to be her friend.’

‘Since Mya is my friend.’

In any case, they began to talk about things to pass time, and Mya eventually asked Noelle. "Will you be summoning Crystal here to talk for you? Or will you speak?"

"I.. I'm okay with talking."

Before long, Mya beamed a smile on her face which caused Noelle to blush and grin along with her friend.

In the end, these two talked and uttered the thoughts within their heads to one another until they became extremely drowsy.

Their heads nodding slowly rested against each other as they had finally fallen asleep.

It was certainly a heartwarming sight to behold.

Fwoosh…

When a dozen minutes had passed, someone had dropped off the top of the ship and had landed onto the deck with careful steps toward the sleeping kids.

"Good grief." JoonChul sighed. "Sleeping outside without any blankets would just cause you to feel sick tomorrow."

Filled with tranquility, JoonChul watched as Mya and Noelle were sleeping quietly underneath the night sky.

A glimpse to the past JoonChul had, reminded of the time where Mirai, Raiden and Frostina were resting peacefully just like the sight of Mya and Noelle asleep.

"Kids grow up so fast." JoonChul mumbled while slowly pulling a blanket out of his inventory. "I should be nice this time."

"Sweet dream, my daughter." He gently kissed Noelle's forehead before caressing Mya's hair bangs. "And you too, Mya."

‘Growing up within this world.. May your will to live be strong.’

And with that, JoonChul sat down close yet far from Mya and Noelle, leaning and shutting his eyes there.

Sleeping near these two as a way to protect them if a situation were to occur, JoonChul was being considerate and kind in this moment.

———

Rustling…

Stand straight with their heads high, Noelle and Mya locked their unwavered gazes at each other.

Weapons at hand, body strengthened, position reaffirmed, everything was in perfect condition, including the welcoming weather as well.

"For our last match, we'll remove every single one of the rules." JoonChul solemnly informed, noticing not a change to the two contestants' faces.

"It'll be an all out battle. So fight with everything you got, use every trick you have, and every strategy you could think of."

"Prove yourself worthy of being the champion of this tournament. Mya! Noelle!"

Right after that, Mya and Noelle confidently nodded.

"Then, begin."

There should have been a countdown, but because Mya and Noelle didn't hear a countdown from JoonChul, they were dumbfounded for a moment.

Swish!

The first to get back to her senses was Mya who had fired a rose arrow at Noelle, alerting Noelle in the process.

With an immediate response, Noelle swings her Chakram at the arrow, knocking it out of her way when she suddenly notices a thorny wall launching right at her.

Dodging by stepping away, Noelle gracefully hops onto a snowflake platform as she's able to hover thanks to it.

The wall that Noelle evaded was coming back from the other direction, prompting her to swiftly float up.

Behind Noelle, Mya was unleashing a swarm of arrows to distract her opponent, secretly preparing for the same tactic she did to Crystal.

Once watching through the eyes of Crystal, Noelle knew exactly what Mya was trying to do.

Fwoosh!

Before long, Noelle summoned forth winter upon the surroundings, freezing the potential death traps Mya planted.

Surprised but not as much, Mya ran in a circle to shoot arrows from all directions, sprouting giant flowers on every step she took.

When an arrow was shot, a ballistic seed was firing behind it, forcing Noelle to defend against them.

Not only was Noelle on the defensive side by the constant projectiles coming her way at every location, she had to be aware of Mya's box trap.

‘I knew you were strong after all.’ Noelle nervously smiled while floating past a ballistic petal.

She then unexpectedly dropped off from the snowflakes to slam to the ground which caused the whole field to burst with a chilly gale.

Freezing the ballistic flowers and the sandy ground, Noelle used this chance to fling her Chakram at Mya before disappearing within the snowy mist.

With her guard high up, Mya stood and listened closely to her vicinity, bending down to evade the Chakram.

"Ouch..!"

At that moment, Mya was startled by her legs having frostbite all over, damaging her skin as she quickly spawned her thorny wall for her to step onto without fear of ever freezing from below.

Emerging from Mya's left were literal snow bullets, stunning Mya before she heightened the wall she was standing on.

Mya gulped when she looked down at the wall where the snow bullets poked holes through. "Thank goodness.. Phew."

Swoosh!

"Erkk!!" Bewildered, Mya found herself to be bleeding from her back where a cut had formed. "Where did it come from?"

When asked, Mya's eyes became wide open as she found the answer to her question, shutting herself in a box with the thorny walls.

CLATTERING!!!!

The slashes from frost blades were bombarding Mya's shelter after landing a clean cut on her.

"Urk.." Groaning, Mya bit her lips to endure the pain while ordering the walls to unleash its thorns at the frost blades.

Shooting and colliding, Mya managed to somehow prevent her shelter from crumbling.

But that wasn't what Mya was worried about..

It was the cold breeze that was oozing in from the small gaps in the walls, making Mya shiver from the chill a little.

"..Achoo!" Mya sneezed suddenly as she talked to herself. "Focus, Mya."

Afterwards, Mya unraveled a fog of poisonous gas outside which led to the chilly air to disappear little by little.

On the other hand, Noelle could see the poison clouds flowing out while she was encircling Mya's box with snow bullets, waiting for the moment where Mya leaves.

Clash!!!

All of the sudden, Noelle witnessed a wall busting out from the top of the box, spotting Mya on there as she escaped to the sky.

Not a moment before Noelle commanded the snow bullets to target Mya that the former realized the latter had left something in the box.

"Self-destruct..?!" Noelle gasped, backing away and toward the sky with her snowflake.

BOOM!!!!!!!!

At the last second, Noelle barely made it to where Mya was at, witnessing the ground blowing up into smithereens while plenty of debris blasted everywhere.

With a fast maneuvering, Noelle hopped and dodged the debris like it was a piece of cake to her, effortlessly shielding herself with northern lights from Mya's arrows.

As Mya positioned herself above Noelle, the former took a leap off her thorny wall, aiming an arrow directly at the latter's front.

Astounded by Mya, Noelle was about to dodge to her right when she suddenly perceived a ballistic flower hiding from behind.

‘She didn't leave an opening for me to escape!?’ Noelle panicked when she sensed giant flowers planted in secrecy.

Swish!

Arrow that was shot by Mya, forced Noelle to decide on her next move. No time at all, Noelle froze her hand into solid ice to grab Mya's arrow from piercing her.

At the same time, bullets as seeds were fired from different directions, forcing Noelle to freeze her entire body to better defend herself.

[Player ‘137’ has activated the Skill, ‘Crystal-line’ Lv. MAX.]

Noelle even summoned multiple ice spheres to protect herself, purposely falling down after tying a finest ice wire onto Mya's hand.

"Ehh?!!" Mya was baffled.