The mont Maple Syrup emptied her glass, Rita saw the resolve in her eyes.
During their duel, she had confird countless tis that Maple Syrup truly ant to kill her—but so part of her had still hoped otherwise. Maybe Maple Syrup was forcing her to quit the ga? Maybe there was another reason?
But even now, outside the match, that killing intent hadn’t faded.
The last shred of wishful thinking inside her was torn apart. Surrender was no longer an option.
And then, at last, the long-delayed chi of a newly awakened skill sounded in her mind.
[Nesis] (SSS): "Fate drives us toward each other, again and again, until one of us decides to kill the other." When you encounter your destined Nesis, both of your attack power increases greatly, and all attributes 10%. When a battle begins between you and your Nesis, any skill effects—positive or negative—used by any other player that affect either of you will automatically link and apply to both. A Nesis battle should always be fair. Fight to your heart’s content!
Rita opened her status panel. All her attributes jumped by ten percent.
Even though she wasn’t currently fighting Maple Syrup, not even in the sa area, the effect was already active.
And it wasn’t just her attributes—her physical damage, magical power, and critical damage had all doubled.
Rita’s expression turned strange. She glanced at Maple Syrup—and at that sa mont, Maple Syrup looked back with an equally conflicted gaze.
Was this supposed to be a duel or a forced partnership?
Rita turned away. Whatever. She’d already drunk the [Forest Sea]. They weren’t friends anymore.
As she looked elsewhere, her eyes briefly t Mistblade’s. There was pure pride and joy there.
But... was it real? Had Mistblade used [Endless Autumn: On the Chessboard] again?
Rita pressed her lips together and quickly looked away. She wasn’t inviting Mistblade to the bathroom ever again.
The audience was still celebrating, still replaying the match’s highlights, but Rita didn’t leave the pillar of light. She opened the Fun Match reward nu.
—Select one player. You will permanently copy the skill that player used most frequently in this match.
It wasn’t nearly as extravagant as past champions’ rewards. No 100 free stat points, no legendary equipnt.
But depending on the choice, this could be even better.
She had used [Cri Simulation] during her ti-stop to analyze every skill in play for this very mont.
Her target was... Crab.
At the end of the ti stop, she had used [Mont of Reversal] to swap her own [Spring Pumpkin] with Crab’s [Gift of Nature].
Just for that mont of exchange, she hadn’t even used [Endless Autumn] to cleanse her curses or debuffs.
Still, with the stacked buffs from [Waste Guide], she’d been able to push through.
And since she had been marked as disadvantaged against Crab, the reversal had succeeded.
Crab had been using one skill over and over—[The Wind Doesn’t Speak].
If her guess was right, that was what caused the faint ringing of wind chis throughout the battle.
[The Wind Doesn’t Speak] (SSS): "The wind says nothing, but when it passes, you always know it’s there." When you activate this skill, whenever wind passes through your location, it brings you the active buffs of the 500 nearest targets. Due to loss in transmission, each buff’s effect is reduced to 10% of its original power. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Duration: 5 minutes.
Even at just ten percent efficiency, five hundred buffs was five hundred buffs. Stacked together, the volu alone was monstrous.
And since it lasted only five minutes, Crab would have been using it constantly—making it almost certainly the most frequently used skill of the match.
Of course, there was another possibility—that divine relic–linked skills couldn’t be copied at all.
But even knowing that, Rita couldn’t resist gambling.
She selected Crab.
Imdiately, her ears filled with harsh noise—wind roaring, static crackling, fragnts of distant voices she couldn’t make out.
Five minutes passed with no response.
Just as disappointnt began to settle in, a notification appeared before her eyes.
[Congratulations, player ■■ Rita, for obtaining SSS-grade skill: The Wind Doesn’t Speak.]
...
"So the Divine Ga itself is BS-Rita’s biggest protection, huh?"
"No, it’s legitimate. The will of ’Howl’ itself granted permission."
"You sure about that?"
"Positive. Foolishness and I were there when we asked. Captain, Drumr, and Bitter Cup were all present. Captain protested, but that was the Divine Ga’s official ruling."
"Completely by the book, then. Copying a divine relic’s skill is allowed if the player selects it properly. The only real question is how she could use it without having [Whalefall in the Wind], since that relic is normally required for the skill to function."
"And the answer?"
"I told you—the lingering will of ’Howl’ agreed to it."
"Captain must be thrilled. If [Whalefall in the Wind] hadn’t been downgraded to SSS rank when Crab got it, BS-Rita would’ve just picked up a god-tier ability today."
"Did you two punch Captain when he started complaining?"
"What? Why would we? I’d have filed a complaint if he didn’t!"
Boiling Orange watched Deceitful Bloom leave with a stormy face and turned to Foolishness. "I didn’t imagine that, right? She ran faster than you?"
Foolishness gave him a long, unimpressed look. "Who ran? I’m just going to watch the chaos."
Then he left too.
Boiling Orange: "..."
Ashveil: "Clown."
Ironclaw: "Who?"
Stonefang: "Not saying."
Boiling Orange: "..."
...
Half the audience had already left when Rita finally descended from the light pillar.
She barely landed before Crab lunged at her.
"Give back my skill! Who wants your stupid pumpkin?!"
Rita twisted aside just as NightFury dove from above, its attacks flaring across the arena.
"You give back [Whalefall in the Wind] first!" NightFury growled.
Rita dodged again, sidestepping both of them. "Team match. You two have groups yet?"
Crab and NightFury both hesitated. Technically, yes—but their "teams" were just loose alliances of ungrouped players. Cannon fodder squads, really.
Rita pressed her advantage. "Co on. Let’s work together for now. You both know we’re better off cooperating in the team match. Your [Whalefall in the Wind] is with Crab, Crab’s [Gift of Nature] is with . Makes sense to coordinate, right? Whether we get everything back or not, at least we can make use of what we have."
She paused dramatically, then raised a hand, palm out, blocking their path as her tone sharpened. "And most importantly—"
"Teaming up makes it way easier to stab each other in the back later and reclaim our stuff."
That argunt was flawless.
Crab and NightFury froze for a second.
Then, perfectly in sync, they both said, "Deal."
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