"The player with the axe, what's his name?" Corvus asks the other Guildmasters.
"That's Tide," Crash replies, "I've run into him a couple of times."
—The Guildmasters—taking notes on the current tryout match—discuss each surviving player in detail. About seven players remained, fighting for their right to become a Slayer. Jay was standing in front of Blaze and Sandra, seemingly stopping Tide from launching a powerful attack. Helmet is indifferent about the situation.
"Hey, isn't that Jay going up against Tide?" Crash says to Helmet, pointing a finger at Jay, "He's gonna lose if he doesn't get out the way."
"Yeah, I know." Helmet replies coldly.
"He's gonna die immediately from that move Tide knows." Crash says.
"Yeah, I know." Helmet replies coldly.
Rayna has been silently taking notes on Jay's entire fight against Tide, making a detailed analysis of Jay's success rate.
"He has a 2% chance to live this attack if he stays there, but why isn't he just moving out of the way?" She says.
"It looks like he's made allies, which he's protecting," Corvus says.
"But there's three of them in total, including him, so only two of those players will actually move on if they somehow make it to the final three." Crash says, "Why would he do that then?"
Helmet looks on as Crash asks him that question. The answer was evident to him, but to the other Guildmaster, it would be an excuse.
"He has heart." Helmet says, "He wants to succeed while bringing those around him up as well."
"That's plain ignorant! He must know by now he can't win." Crash says, "Plus, didn't you hear what Tide said earlier?"
The Decimation's playing field, along with its contenders inside of it, contains microphones for the audience to listen in to the players. Stan also commentates on what is going on through the use of these microphones.
Tide's deal to Jay was heard by everyone in the arena, which made it obvious that he saw everyone as lesser than him. Helmet knew Tide was strong, but his attitude was an issue in and of itself.
"Yes, but Jay doesn't know for certain that it's a trick yet." Helmet says.
"It's a ploy to get inside of Jay's head," Rayna comments, "You can tell just by the way Tide worded the deal earlier."
Corvus was standing out of his seat, spectating this match with a sense of teaching, trying to see where players went wrong. Jay would be killed if he took the deal, and he would be killed along with his allies if he stayed put.
"Tide's got them in a checkmate," Corvus says.
"Yeah, especially since Jay doesn't have an Aspect as Helmet said earlier," Rayna says.
"But you knew that already before I said so, didn't you?" Helmet says, turning to Rayna.
Crash and Corvus stop their trains of thought and peer over to Rayna, who Helmet had just thrown accusation on.
"I know he trained before the tryouts, although I wasn't present during any of it," Helmet says, "But something tells you've met with him."
Rayna glances over at Helmet with a blank expression. It looked like she had a lot to say but continued to keep a lot to herself.
"I'm not sure what you mean, but I met a player a week ago in Spahn who told me he didn't have Aspect. It must've been him."
"Hmm," Helmet thinks for a moment, "What was he doing in Spahn?"
"Probably training, like you said."
"Yeah, probably..." Helmet says.
There was an awkward silence as Helmet and Rayna calmed down the hostility that popped up out of nowhere. To calm everyone down and to bring back good spirits, Crash nervously scrolls through his game menu. Then, he chooses something from his inventory and pulls it out.
"You guys want sushi?" Crash asks, holding up a raw fish.
"Ew, gross! That smells so putrid!" Rayna calls out.
The other Guildmasters laugh as Crash puts the fish back into his inventory. Then as everyone goes back to grading each player in the current match, Crash uses his «Echolocation» on Tide.
'So, you must've told him about preloading, huh?' Crash echoes.
Helmet visibly is stunned for a moment. He wasn't expecting Crash to be in his head like this, let alone ask him a question like that.
'If I did, would you tell the captain?' Helmet thinks.
'No, but did you actually teach him how to use preloading?' Crash echoes.
Helmet shakes his head slightly for Crash to see.
'All I did was tell him the phrase.' Helmet thinks
'Visualize and execute?' Crash asks in Helmet's head.
'Is there another phrase out there? Of course, I told him that one.'
Helmet and Crash talked over Jay's potential over Crash's echolocation some more while Corvus sat back down to spectate the match. Jay still hadn't moved from his position.
'This will be interesting to see play out...' Corvus thinks.
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
"Tide has struck a deal with The blue swordsman Jay! Will he take it? Or will he stand his ground and fight?" Stan announces.
The audience in the stadium cheered every prospect in the match, giving more emphasis on Jay and Tide's altercation. The air smelled more and more like junk food as players started to get snacks they could take out of the stadium after this last fight. After two other matches, everyone was growing an appetite.
From the bleachers, Axel and Ivy, along with Kira and Dillan, watch Jay's match in awe, not hungry at all. Tide was one of the strongest players that they had ever seen, which was a big deal. It seemed like Jay was pinned up against a wall.
"I've never seen a water Aspect as intense as that before," Ivy says.
"Yeah, and wielding that axe really makes him an unstoppable force," Axel replies.
Jay was standing in front of Blaze and Sandra with only part of his sword being functional, with the other having despawned from being separated from the blade for too long. Kira and Dillan were both super emotional for Jay, more than they expected to be.
"That's suicide! Don't just *STAND* there! Take his deal!" Kira yells.
Kira had never really appreciated a party member like this, but knowing he doesn't have Aspect and he's gotten this far seems to throw her standards over the edge. She wants Jay to win this.
"Jay!!! *DON'T GET INVOLVED*!!!" Dillan yells.
Dillan's heart pounded in his chest. Jay was smart enough not to get caught up in his own emotions, right?
Axel and Ivy are worried just like Kira and Dillan are, but for their own reasons. They knew deep down what Jay was going to do because they've seen this play out before.
"He's not going to move out of the way." They both say at the same time.
"What?! How do you guys know that?" Dillan demands.
"What do you mean?!" Kira asks.
It seemed like the only way for Jay to move on in this qualifier was to get out of the way, whether Tide was going to keep his side of the bargain or not. That Geyser move was just too powerful for Jay to handle and would surely kill all three players.
"He's gonna try and protect those other two players," Ivy says.
"But why?!" Dillan says.
"You, of all people, know why!!" Axel bites.
Then it hit Dillan all at once. He recalls back to the first section of the tryouts when he would get stares from players all around him. They wouldn't let Dillan hear the end of it, reminding him that he got KO'd in less than a minute in his first-ever "professional" fight. Everyone ridiculed him.
Except for Jay.
"I-I guess you're right..." Dillan starts to say, "When I was at my lowest, he helped me get right back up. It was a small conversation we had, but he did the best he could for me to feel better about myself."
Kira looked away from the Dillan, trying not to sound like she cared, although she did.
"Hmm, I do think going out of his way like that for you was slightly dumb," Kira remarks, looking at Jay crouched over in the arena, "But he does have a knack for extending a helping hand."
"Hell, me and Ivy wouldn't have gotten our referrals if it wasn't for him!!" Axel says.
"Yeah!" Ivy agrees, "He won't give up on someone just to fulfill his personal goals!"
Jay was the one who captured all three referrals from Helmet when he offered to give them out to the three friends. Although she doesn't know it, Ivy's last sentence would've resonated with more truth had Jay been able to hear it. The whole point of becoming a Slayer—to Jay—was to help out someone he loved and keep her safe. It was more evidence that Jay would inevitably not move out of the way, although doubt was present considering Tide's deal.
The party knew Jay couldn't take the hit if he stayed where he was, but everyone routed for him regardless. He had part of his weapon still intact, which meant the fight wasn't over. An optimistic view won't help Jay, considering the remarks from other players surrounding the party.
"He can't be serious, right?"
"Just surrender!"
"Get out of the way, you noob!"
"*TIDE*!!" "*TIDE*!!" "*TIDE*!!"
Everyone around the party seemed to think alike, putting Tide in favor of Jay. The party continued to look on in fear and excitement for their friend.
Then, Tide unleashes Geyser, with Jay still standing in front of Blaze and Sandra.
His friends all jump out of their seats, afraid for him. The large torrent of water rushed to him like a bullet to its target. Jay had his eyes closed, seemingly bracing himself for the impact. Blaze and Sandra look up to see him standing still in front of the water's wake.
Axel and Ivy are silent as they spectate Jay. They recognize this exact scenario before, seeing him standing in front of Sandra and Blaze, who were regaining their strength. It resonated powerfully in their hearts.
'Just like before...' Axel thinks.
'Just like that day...' Ivy thinks.
It reminds Josh and Isabelle of how they met Jayson.
Before 'Jay' even existed.
Before they were even in middle school.