Chương 47: Perspective

"Are you insane?!" Gray yelled, his voice cracking as his eyes snapped down to the gore pooling across the pavement. Shota's mouth curved into a frown.

"What? No 'thank you'? I saw you guys were in trouble, so I decided to help!" A shadow slid across the street. High above, a woman dropped toward them, silver feathers cutting the air as wings unfurled from the back of her steel-plate armor. She landed softly, one last beat of her wings kicking up dust, then folded them flat against her back. Gwen Altair. Nabi instantly responded to her presence. Her dimensional ring flared, and a thick wooden club solidified in her grip. She charged.

Shota scratched his cheek, watching the assault close in with open fascination. Gwen's eyes went wide, and she darted behind him for cover. He rose from his hovering throne of blades, and with a twitch of his fingers, the three levitating longswords snapped into an upward diagonal formation in front of him, steel glinting as they formed a makeshift staircase. Nabi flashed him a quick thumbs-up without breaking stride.

Her shoes rang against the steel as she sprinted up the suspended blades, vaulted over his head, and brought the club down on the crown of Gwen's skull with a crushing bonk. Warning: engaging in combat is strictly forbidden. 100 Contribution Points have been deducted from both the guardian and the key holder. Warning: engaging in combat is strictly forbidden. 100 Contribution Points have been deducted from both the guardian and the key holder. Warning: engaging in combat is strictly forbidden.

100 Contribution Points have been deducted from both the guardian and the key holder. Warning: engaging in combat is strictly forbidden. 100 Contribution Points have been deducted from both the guardian and the key holder. The warning flashed on the screens for everyone present.

"Why didn't you stop her Shota, instead of helping her?!" Gwen snapped, clutching her head as she lunged forward to wrestle the club from Nabi's hands.

"I thought it'd be funny," Shota said, shrugging.

"And it was. But that's enough games." A fourth longsword tore out of thin air and plunged between the two women, shattering Nabi's club into splinters and forcing them apart. The blade missed Nabi by inches. Gray surged forward and yanked her back by the forearm, pulling her away from Shota.

"Nobody asked for your help, Shota," Gray muttered, hiding halfway behind Nabi's frame.

"I had the situation handled." Shota's smile thinned into a narrow stare.

"Handled, you say? Tell me, was getting skewered through the spine by that bulky warrior's charged thrusting ability part of your master plan?" Gray's brow furrowed.

"What? No, that makes no sense. The warrior was holding the keycard. His abilities were disabled for the round." Shota crouched beside Rosie's corpse and reached into the blood-damp lining of her robe. His hand came back out a moment later. In his grasp were seven key cards. Gray froze.

"…But I saw her cast her shield spell. Her staff lit up!" Nabi extended an arm, and her scarlet scythe snapped into place in her hand. A crimson glow pulsed off her palm, but no blood flowed out to coat the blade in its usual plasma armament.

"The nullification on our cores isn't absolute," Nabi explained.

"There's a short buffer where you can attempt to activate an ability before the System shuts it down. That shield projection spell wasn't Rosie's ability. It was Ethan's. This was their plan from the start: sell the illusion of a helpless, terrified mage, and keep you distracted until the warrior gutted you from behind." She placed a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Shota here just saved your life… and my Contribution Points."

"Yeah. Thanks, I guess," Gray murmured, avoiding Shota's gaze.

"So, what's with the tension between you two?" Shota asked, turning to face Gwen and Nabi. Nabi spread a hand toward Gwen.

"Let's start with why the pigeon despises us 'Earthborn' so much." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I owe you no explanation," Gwen spat. She spun away from Nabi, one silver wing snapping out to strike her across the back like a whip.

"Can you just execute her, Shota, so we can be on our way?" Shota seized Gwen by the shoulders and spun her back around to face Nabi.

"Now, now. It's only fair to educate them about this planet's politics. Tell them where your resentment comes from, Gwen." Gwen let out a weary sigh and coughed lightly into her fist.

"Astorian's are forced into the class they're born with." She glanced sideways at the wings spreading from her back. Then her sharp gaze cut between Gray and Nabi.

"And then there are you two. Conveniently gifted classes with unlimited potential, the sort with a history of reaching the Kaiser Rank. All you have to do is blindly follow the road your mentors paved for you until you reach the pinnacle. You earned absolutely none of it." Gray stepped past Nabi, closing the distance between himself and the armored knight.

"Did you conveniently forget that we were thrown into a survival game on our first day and forced to fight other Awakened with Kaiser-ranked classes?" His eyes narrowed.

"And who are you to talk? You received the class of a Kaiser too, didn't you? Except you two were trained for this competition from a young age, then teleported into these games with an overwhelming edge through your connections, like spoiled rich kids." Gwen gritted her teeth hard and her hand snapped to her hip. She drew her longsword in one swift motion, the blade hissing free of its sheath and aimed straight at his throat. Gray was already moving.

Planting his lead foot into the asphalt, he engaged his core, steadied the sheath in his off hand, and ripped Tobari free in a reverse grip. Steel clashed against steel, the parry ringing out in a sharp clang.

"Flawless execution, Gray! Now take her head! Remember, she can't fight back without enacting the penalty!" Nabi cheered from the sidelines. She had somehow procured a a pair of blood-red pom-poms, and pulled them from her dimensional ring, shaking them enthusiastically.

"Relax," Shota said, raising a hand.

"Nobody is killing anyone." He glanced down at the two corpses sprawled on the pavement.

"…Never mind." The longsword launched out of Gwen's grip. Tobari followed suit, tearing free from Gray's grasp. Both weapons shot into the air, spiraling around one another before dropping neatly into Shota's waiting palms. He ignored Gwen's sword entirely, lifting Tobari toward the sunlight. He tilted the dark steel from side to side.

"It really is you," he murmured, his voice losing its playful edge for a fraction of a second.

"Give that back," Gray demanded. He extended an arm, mentally latching onto his Soul Blade. Shota's grip tightened, and he fought the magnetic pull, but the connection between master and sword proved too strong. Tobari tore free from Shota's fingers and flew back into Gray's hand.

"Mr. Kotetsu crafted that, didn't he?" Shota asked, tracking the flying blade.

"Gozen? He basically did, yes," Gray said, eyeing him warily.

"Here, take these." Shota conjured a throwing dagger from thin air, looping the seven lanyards holding the stolen key cards around the blade. With a twitch of his finger, he sent the dagger straight at Gray's face. Normally, Gray would have panicked and thrown his arms up to shield himself. But Nabi's habit of hurling weapons at his face had conditioned him well, and the dagger didn't even make him flinch.

It stopped a mere inch from his nose and dissolved into blue mana, the lanyard dropping neatly into his waiting hand.

"You can't be serious, Shota," Gwen muttered, eyeing the keycards.

"Gray needs them more than we do," Shota said, shooting him a grin and a thumbs-up.

"I expect to see you on the outside. If you don't crack the top 100, I will personally buy out your contract, enslave you, and make your entire existence a living hell. Okay?" He held up an okay sign, cheerful and without a trace of sarcasm. Gray scowled and slowly raised a thumb.

"Yeah, you don't gotta worry about that." With a rush of wind, silver wings erupted from the back of Gwen's armor. She dipped her knees, drove downward, and launched herself into the sky with a single powerful wing stroke. In seconds she reached the sky, her wings beating without a sound. She hovered high above the city streets and waited for her partner to make an equally dramatic, flashy exit. Shota narrowed his eyes at the floating Gwen.

With a click of his tongue, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking down the street. High above, Gwen's proud posture slumped in mid-air. Defeated, she drifted down to hover just a few feet above Shota's head, trailing him without a word as he strolled toward their destination. Gray lowered his gaze from the retreating silver bird. Down on the asphalt, Nabi was already scavenging the bodies. She patted Rosie's robe down.

"Meh. They have nothing good on them besides their dimensional rings." Prying a silver ring from the dead mage's stiff finger, she tossed it over.

"Here, take one." Gray snatched the ring from the air and slid it onto his finger. Inside the void storage, there was nothing but a couple of health potions tucked into the corner of the cube. Nabi unfolded a piece of parchment she had withdrawn from Ethan's ring. Her eyes scanned the text. A second later, her face twisted in disgust, and she crushed the paper in her fist, chucking it over her shoulder. Curious, Gray walked over to the discarded ball, picked it up, and unfurled the crumpled paper. Rosie is red.

Violets are blue. I wish this level would last forever, As I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. Nabi watched him read, clearly waiting for him to share in her violent revulsion. Instead, a heavy, sinking frown settled over his features. She pushed herself up from the pavement.

"Why aren't you cringing?"

"The poem is cringe, don't get me wrong," Gray murmured, his eyes lingering on the ink.

"But as conniving as these two were… they were still human. I wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they started a fight, but reading this? It just puts things into perspective, you know?" Nabi looked at him like he'd just sprouted a second head.

"What are you, a pussy? Stop personifying their backstories. You throw all of that away the second you draw steel. So how about you put that into perspective during your next fight, hmm?" She stepped beside him, patted his back gently, and flashed a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. The gesture carried absolutely no warmth.