June XX14

“Congratulations to Dove for achieving the highest score in the exam.” Stated the professor as she distributed the results for the first examination of the first-year students. Dove, with a smile on her face, confidently received the exam.

“Amazing! Was she highest in our class only or for the entire batch?” asked a friend of Dove’s.

“Dove, at 117 over 120, got the highest score in the whole batch. Second was Hawk from the morning section who got 114. Another person got 105 and everyone else got below 100. Majority got around 75.” Elaborated the professor.

“Maybe you should hook up with him.” Stated the same friend aloud, causing everyone to start teasing her.

Dove remained apathetic. Her friends were shipping her with a guy whose face she didn’t even know. Not even slightly annoyed, she played along and laughed with her friends. Dove knew that by the day end, the shipping would only come here and there, so she just let it be and enjoyed. Dove told herself that she would check his Facebook to see what this Hawk guy looked like.

On the same day, Hawk and his friends waited patiently for the jeepney they use for commuting to fill up. Hawk stared at the air with a blank expression on his face.

“What happened? Can’t move on from losing to that Dove girl. Or are you falling in love with her?” Asked one of his friends.

“Cut if off with the shipping, I don’t even know who she is. Well, since she got the top, she probably looks like a nerdy bookworm.” Replied Hawk.

“Not really. She’s petite and cute. Beauty would be better than the average.” Replied another friend who knew what Dove looked like.

“I just recalled. Weren’t you into petite girls?” said another friend.

“I’ll check her Facebook later. You guys satisfied now?” replied Hawk as the group cheered to his reply.

In the end, both Dove and Hawk forgot to check each other’s Facebook accounts; however, this marked their first acknowledgement of one another’s existence.

Present Time; Dove POV

“You seem deep in thought.” Stated Kin, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yeah. For some reason, I suddenly recalled when I first realized Hawk’s existence.”

“You better not let that distract you.”

I unsheathed Icebrande and replied, “You need not worry about it.”

Unlike Hawk who had to slowly transfer the Snowflakes before bursting down Kin, I pretty much had to burst down Kin whenever. However, Hawk had a better plan: to make Kin run out of Mana. While we weren’t sure about Kin’s Mana pool, Hawk and I were confident that I would definitely outlast his Mana Pool due to my relatively lower Mana Costs compared to most Players.

Kin immediately shielded himself with his roots. I used my Fade Strike into Fade Walk combo I utilized against Blitz. Kin lost 18% of his Health. He immediately healed back up with Enrichment Roots.

Considering that Kin’s root shield Ability had indefinite duration and powerful effect, it’s Mana Cost would definitely be extremely high similar to Snowflake Paradise.

As soon as he could move, Kin rushed at me to which I responded by running. Due to my higher speeds, I easily outran him. Once Fade Strike my combo was up, I used it. Losing 18% of his Health, Kin healed back up immediately.

I would repeat the process until Kin ran out of Mana; however, without any way to tell the opponent’s Mana as well as the strategy being very obvious, Kin could easily pretend to no longer have Mana. There was no way method to outmaneuver this. Kin would likely stop healing himself once he had only two left.

After three more repeats, I had Mana for four Abilities. Kin stopped healing himself. I charged in at Kin. Kin defended easily despite my best attempts to break through. The difference in skill changed everything. Unlike Hawk and Blitz who were naturally inclined to offense, Kin’s prowess in defense made itself apparent.

Even worse, Kin didn’t counterattack and left no opening. Even when I had a clear opening, Kin chose to remain as the unmovable wall guarding attack after attack.

Canary POV

“Why is nothing happening?” I asked watching Dove desperately trying to break Kin’s defense.

Hawk sighed before replying. “If Kin tried to fight back, Dove could take advantage of her higher speeds as well as her Abilities mobility to hit Kin. Assuming Dove never gets a regular strike up, she can only outdamage natural regeneration with her combo. Fade Strike alone breaks even or dealt 1 or 2% net damage in the end.”

“But Kin can’t win if he doesn’t attack.” I objected.

“Kin doesn’t need to attack. He would wait forever if needed. He has higher stamina than Dove. Also, Dove is consuming far more stamina by the second.

After a few minutes of failing to land an attack, Dove leapt back and sat on the ground.

“What are you doing?” asked Kin.

“If you’re not going to attack then neither am I.” Dove replied.

“Alcor! There are no rules about time limit. So, what if we decide to wait forever?” Kin asked in a voice everyone could hear.

“There are no rules regarding it.” Replied Alcor.

Kin sighed before finally telling Dove, “Fine. Let’s make a deal. We should go all out on the offensive at each other. That would be advantageous to you.”

“And what would be at stake should we break the deal?”

“Nothing but our honor.”

“Deal.”

Dove grinned and immediately stood and charged back. The two swung their swords at one another, clashing multiple times.

Kin’s skill with a sword proved itself superior as he finally made an opening. Dove dodged the swing her combo and landed 18% at Kin. After returning, Dove landed yet another hit at Kin for 10% of Kin’s Health.

Dove back stepped to create distance, but Kin pursued and landed an 18% hit at Dove. Despite Dove’s best attempts, Kin landed another attack before Dove could combo again for another 18%.

Finally, Dove manage to strike Kin for another 10% before dodging the counterattack with her combo. Kin replied with two strikes before her Abilities could cooldown again. Kin activated Enrichment Roots to heal himself, but the immobility allowed Dove to cancel out the regeneration with her own attacks.

The battle continued for a while before the two traded blows. Dove was down to a third Health while Kin was down to less than half. Dove needed one more strike along with her combo before win. On the other hand, Kin required two hits.

Despite this, both Players followed their deal and went all out on each other. As soon as Kin pushed Dove’s sword away, he swung vertically at her. Dove dodged with Fade Strike without Fade Walk. This placed a time limit on Kin. He needed to win before Fade Strike cooled-down. By the time, Dove had exactly enough Mana to execute her combo.

Dove blocked the counterattack as the two displayed their skills. After ten seconds, Kin got the better of Dove and landed a strike at Dove before barely avoiding the counterattack.

On the twenty-seventh second, Kin forced his way to a position which neither could block or avoid the other’s attack. Dove immediately recognized this and attacked as well.

In the end, it came down to who would land their attacks first.

Dove POV

DEFEAT!

The words before my eyes saddened myself as the quiet crowd awaited the dust to settle.

I was pretty sure I exchanged some words of congratulations with Kin.

I was pretty sure there were massive cheers during massive cheers during the awarding.

I was pretty sure we went to eat dinner and went straight to bed after.