Players nearby turned toward the commotion. Even Rita, who had been about to jump down from the stands, stopped in place.
Queque could not hold back.
"I thought you two hated each other. The way you’re talking makes it sound like you’re close."
NightFury, who had recently lost to Mistblade, grumbled, "You said she didn’t care about winning or losing."
Maple Syrup curled her lips. The smile was full of mockery, yet Rita caught a faint bitterness in it.
"She really doesn’t care."
The hand gripping Mistblade’s wrist turned pale from the force. Maple Syrup’s voice carried a strange restraint, as if she did not know who she was really speaking to.
"Because in her mind, she can lose to . Lose to soone everyone can see is weaker than her. People will only wonder about her motives. They’ll be surprised she made a mistake. But no one will ever question her ability."
"But she doesn’t want to lose to BS Rita or Isolated Isle Lightchaser."
"She needs to deepen her understanding of her divine talent before facing you two."
"So she can win."
"In her eyes, only battles against you are aningful."
One of them had once fought ten opponents alone in Quiet Mountain.
The other was a fighter the gods themselves had warned them to be wary of.
Lightchaser was so special that Uncharted Star Sea would not even allow her to call anyone her teacher.
A common flaw among the strongest.
They always look toward soone stronger.
"And there’s more."
Maple Syrup tasted blood in her mouth.
"Snowfield invaded Forest Sea once. You pity . You think you owe sothing."
Her voice sharpened.
"So losing a match to doesn’t matter. Isn’t that right?"
Mistblade’s expression finally shifted.
She looked genuinely curious.
"How did you figure that out?"
The Moon Fox did not deny it. She believed she had hidden it well, both in her conversation with Wither and in her answer during Player Relic.
Maple Syrup tightened her grip further. Her voice remained steady. She refused to lose control at a mont like this.
"You were too perfect," she said quietly.
"You fought with everything you had. Every thod, every technique."
"You were protecting my dignity."
A subtle kind of superiority.
Like the way Mistblade once hovered high above Forest Sea, silently overlooking the land.
Mistblade watched her in silence.
After a long mont, she sighed softly.
"Why did you have to expose it?" she asked. "Wasn’t it better this way?"
"I deepen my Prisoner."
"You deepen your Four Seasons."
Soone who often says responsibility should not be influenced by personal feelings is usually the one most affected by those feelings outside of responsibility.
She would never lose to Wither.
But if she had a safety net, losing to Maple Syrup truly did not matter to her.
The two stared at each other.
Light flickered again between Maple Syrup’s brows. Her emotions churned. No one knew which season she was experiencing now.
Mistblade allowed Maple Syrup to keep gripping her wrist with near bone-breaking force.
Until Divine Ga intervened.
The two players who had not yet entered the arena were instantly teleported to the clock arena.
Rita did not look up at the stands.
She had no intention of discussing Moon Foxes and Oak Owls here.
Though she was fairly sure Maple Syrup would never again speak calmly with Mistblade.
Instead, Rita asked another question.
"So in Player Relic, did you lose to on purpose?"
Mistblade sighed.
"What do you think?"
At that ti BS had been on the brink of collapse. She would have been insane to move the Moon Foxes away then.
Rita’s mood brightened imdiately.
"I knew it."
Mistblade looked slightly disappointed.
"So you still haven’t found your divine talent word?"
A golden lightning sword and a white flower blade appeared in Rita’s hands.
"That depends on whether you can push into a corner."
Mistblade answered by charging forward with twin blades.
A third blood mist blade floated beside her, moving with eerie autonomy as it launched attacks of its own.
Sword and blade clashed again and again.
Lightning and blood mist devoured each other in waves.
Rita’s Absurd Story guaranteed full damage reflection.
Mistblade’s Accomplice in the Mist nullified attacks whenever she blocked.
No wonder Maple Syrup had questioned reality earlier.
Every spell Rita cast was instantly seized by Mistblade using techniques taught by Deceitful Bloom and thrown back at her.
Rita frowned in disbelief.
"You weren’t this strong during joint training!"
Their desks had been right next to each other. Knowing that Divine Instruction would end in a tournant, Rita had closely observed all potential opponents.
Mistblade had placed first during training and had asked Deceitful Bloom about divine talent words.
But she had never been this smooth in combat before.
She was even trying to control Rita’s golden lightning.
Mistblade looked just as surprised.
"You don’t hide your strength?"
Rita’s raised brows slowly lowered.
That was impossible to argue with.
She stopped hesitating.
Her two swords crossed as she activated Caged Bird.
She needed to push Mistblade’s health down quickly while her own was still nearly full. She had to force Prisoner out as soon as possible.
The golden lightning sword and the white flower blade spun and slashed.
A pale golden mist instantly filled the entire clock arena.
White petals floated inside the mist.
A storm rose suddenly, sending petals spinning wildly.
Then lightning began to fall.
Every flower bird detonated in a small explosion.
There was nowhere to escape on the clock arena.
Caged Bird covered an enormous area. The attack density was terrifying.
More importantly, control could not be stolen. The core magic runes of the skill were embedded directly in Rita’s twin swords.
If Mistblade could not block it, she would take hundreds of hits within seconds.
A snowflake-shaped glow lit up between Mistblade’s brows.
One third of the snowflake was now illuminated.
Her plan had succeeded.
She was no longer the powerless Moon Fox who had watched Snowfield crumble.
Only annihilation on the level of Uncharted Star Sea could make her feel fear now.
Only that kind of terror could make her experience the helpless pain of Prisoner.
Though the waiting period during Maple Syrup’s execution decision had lasted less than thirty seconds, those thirty seconds of darkness were enough.
In that mont, she awakened the second ability of Prisoner.
Warden.
A shadow identical to Mistblade stepped out from her body.
At the sa ti, several crimson chains descended from the sky and bound Mistblade’s original body in place.
Dark Mistblade ignored the lightning already falling from the sky. She grabbed the blood mist blade from Mistblade’s hand and rushed toward BS Rita.
Caged Bird had already finished activating. Rita no longer needed to maintain it.
She stared at the incoming Dark Mistblade and the original Mistblade standing unhard in the lightning storm.
Soon the arena echoed with her shout.
"Why am I losing health when I hit her? And because of the reflection I’m taking double damage?!"
Bound by crimson chains in the center of the arena, Mistblade answered calmly.
"Because right now, I’m the Warden."
"And you are the escaped Prisoner."
"In the order of a prison, no one can resist the Warden."
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