Broken glass and furniture littered the room. What had once been a finely decorated room in a luxury hotel was now a broken, scattered ss. Standing in the middle of it all was a figure with erald-green eyes, her gaze absentmindedly scrolling through her phone.
She sat in silence, her thumb gliding across her phone screen as the articles reflected in her pupils. To Tok—! A knock shattered the silence. After which, a figure walked in. "I'm coming in." Adjusting his gold-rimd glasses, Section Chief White stepped into the room, his gaze sweeping over the wreckage before settling on the figure seated at its center. From his expression, he didn't seem shocked by the sight. If anything, it was as though he had grown accustod to it.
Moving closer to Catherine, he tried to soften his expression. Everything he had to deal with Catherine, it felt as though he was walking on eggshells. Catherine was the ace of the Branch Guild. Her talent and skill were no less inferior than Zoey's, Kyle's, and all the top mbers of the Main Guild. Things were a little bit different in the past. He had more control over her. But with her contract soon to be expiring, the Section Chief had lost most of his leverage. Now, in order to make sure she signed the new contract, he had to make sure to appease her and keep her satisfied. "...Catherine." "....." He didn't get a reply, as Catherine continued to scroll through her phone. He called out again. "Catheri—" "I am better than them." His words were suddenly cut-off mid-sentence. "There's no doubt about it. In terms of skills, I should be better than them. But I wasn't lucky like them. I didn't get to go to Malovia. I wasn't there to gain points and jump into the rankings as they have. And so now... they have the world's attention." "That's true, but you don't have to worry about that. You can show them your true skills in the Congress. This is why we're here. In fact, if you look at the rankings, you actually didn't do too badly for the first round. You placed just a bit behind Clara and Leon. You still surpassed your sister. That's—" "But what about that bastard?" "That bastard?" "That lucky fucker." Catherine's expression turned rather ferocious at the thought of that bastard. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was being shoved shit in her mouth. Thinking about how he had confronted her a while back, she really wanted to cut him into pieces and toss him in so random river. But who would've thought he'd suddenly beco a Paragon? An extrely high-ranked one at that? Just when she thought the surprises were over, he suddenly ranked first in the First Trial. "There has to be a limit to soone's luck." Catherine clenched her teeth. She didn't believe for one second that this was all attributed to his skills. Even if Kyle or Zoey did the sa thing, they also believed it was luck. In her mind, she was the best one in the Guild. "...Oh, him." As if suddenly realizing who she was referring to, Section Chief White's expression darkened as well. Ever since he appeared, Catherine had beco even more unhinged. Not only did he take the spotlight away from her, but he sohow made her even more volatile and harder to handle than in the past. As a result, things beca much harder for the Section Chief. That's why he didn't like him. 'From the mont he appeared, my life beca much harder. I really should've done sothing about him before.' But it was too late now. That figure had grown a little too big. Still—
"There's no need to concern yourself too much about him." The Section Chief quietly reassured Catherine. "He's not going to be a threat to you. I'm sure you're already aware, but because of his arrogance, he's decided to stick with a team that's simply not on the level of the Congress. He won't be much of a threat going forward. You don't have to worry too much about him." "....." Rather than showing any sign of joy or excitent, Catherine's expression remained indifferent. She was aware of the news. Of course, she was aware. Who didn't know about Seth's decision to stick with such a shit team? "Compared to your team, he's nothing. If you're unsatisfied, we can still make so changes. I can—" "I've been thinking." Once again, Catherine cut the Section Chief off. With her fingers drumming against the armrest of the chair, her next words caused the Section Chief's face to change drastically, "If I ask to be on his team, will they accept?" *** The next day. With one day of rest, I was feeling quite refreshed. All teams gathered at the bottom of the hotel we were staying in, as we boarded the buses not long after, and we were escorted to a different building. Throughout the entire bus ride, nobody made a single noise. It was eerily quiet. 'Seems like the rumors going around have affected them a little.' I looked at my team and then looked away. Either way, I wasn't too worried. They did seem even more focused than before. This wasn't a bad change. Thankfully, the bus ride wasn't a long one. It took even less ti than the trip to the arena before we were escorted to a massive building. Rectangular in shape, its tallic fra reflected the sun from every angle as the buses pulled into the parking lot and we made our way inside.
Taking the elevators up, we were greeted by a massive hall where a series of screens appeared at the end of each wall. The layout wasn't much different from the hall at the end of the First Trial.
Soon, the other teams arrived. The tensions rose to an all-ti high as everyone cautiously stared at one another. 'But it's strange.' I looked ahead of . Not towards the other teams, but towards Section Chief White. For so reason, he was glancing at quite a lot. He also appeared to turn to look at Catherine, but she didn't even spare him a glance. 'What's going on?' I was curious, but didn't have the ti to figure it out. "Looks like everyone is here." The Vice-Director arrived, his figure appearing in the middle of the large hall as he smiled at everyone. "Now that everyone here has managed to rest a bit, it's ti for the next part of the Congress to begin." His expression suddenly turned serious, "and also the most difficult part of the Congress. I'd like to express this once again. From this mont forward, things will not be the sa as they were during the First Trial. Death is a very real possibility. Therefore, if anybody here doesn't want to participate, raise your hands, and you can leave." Silence. The Vice-Director's words were t with heavy silence. Nobody raised their hands, or looked like they wanted to raise their hands.
'Understandable considering how everyone here is the elite of the elite in this world. If they were scared of death, they wouldn't be doing this.' "Good." The Vice-Director smiled, his hands interlocking behind him. "In that case, let's proceed with the next part of the trial." The large monitors at the end of the room lit up one by one, displaying enormous titles on each one. "Here's the Second Trial." Vice-Director Vale spoke, his voice booming across the surroundings. "Mist Point — Z"
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