It was quite the atmosphere, you wouldn't even believe me if I said some of the students on this cruise could level buildings. There was something for everyone, a pool, courts for different sports, and even a PC room! It seemed like there wasn't going to be anything terrible happening today.
If only that was true, though.
"It seems that the Cruise Battle will start soon, don't worry too much though, it'll still be in around ten minutes." Although Ophelia said that, he wasn't worried. He was more numb than before at the moment actually.
It seemed the longer he was in his body, the more control the passive skill took him over. And Astram couldn't just [Soul-Swap] all the time to help Bael, the skill... actually had a 3 day long cool down.
[Skill: Soul Swap (Rank: A+)
Swap the person who controls the body, between the two souls. Both parties must agree on the swap, if one party is knocked out the other can take control if there are enough "uses". Every three days, two uses will be provided, the number of uses does not exceed two.
Uses: 0]
Bael had also analyzed this fact but had decided that this is a better turn of events for his skill to take over. As it would help him get a good grade on the "Cruise Battle" no matter how weak he was.
'Hmm, so it seems soul swapping for some hours doesn't relieve your mental burden all that much... if I swapped in for a whole day, you'll probably have a day of less numbness as well. This is very interesting indeed, if only I could have done research on the soul and mind before!' Astram although caring for Bael, showed his care for research as well. Not that Bael minded all that much.
"So why exactly are you just standing here with me?" Bael asked, feeling slightly awkward with her just standing around him. He analyzed thoroughly... that this was getting him unwanted attention.
Some of the guys that passed by him, even some of the girls, stared at him with varying expressions, envy, cheering him on, confusion, anger, and some other expressions that don't need to be mentioned.
"I would say because it's nice to be around a serious and handsome guy, but you would see right through me, wouldn't you? Fufu." Bael truly analyzed and thought that this teasing is specific to her personality, he didn't need to look any deeper.
'Like I was saying before, if you need ANY tips, you can have faith in this humble Archmage... and the mage of woman's hearts-' Bael firmly wished God would come to smite the old man... Actually, he might, if Bael asked nicely.
"I'm so close to you because of the "Partner System" that'll activate on the smartwatches they gave us. Whoever is closest to you after the announcement is your partner whether you like it or not, that's an important piece of info that I got, since you could be thrown into a battle with someone you don't even know!" She did her signature laugh and went back to standing next to Bael in silence.
Why was Bael standing there, instead of doing something? He felt too awkward with her around and all the stares that would come from it would annoy him. Due to this constant feeling, his emotional numbness wasn't kicking in fully...
He wished it did instead, but luckily, he once again analyzed it would fully activate in a perilous situation, like the one that was about to start.
"Attention! This is the captain of this cruise speaking! As I have been instructed to tell you all, the "Cruise Battle" is now starting! The Rules are simple, and the moment I stop explaining them the battle will start. Now listen close so you don't suddenly lose, the person closest to your watch who also has another watch the same as you, is now your partner and will be indicated on the screen! They will untighten slightly on your wrists for the content of this battle, is stealing those watches in any way you can!" With the announcement suddenly sounding, everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing, and many were put into a daze at the sudden change.
They were being given no time to prepare for what was ahead, right after all the fun they were having! A few students wanted to drop out.
"If someone steals your watch and holds onto the screen for three seconds, it counts as stolen! If your partner still has theirs, they or you can steal it back and do the same thing. But! If both you and your partner had their watches stolen, you are disqualified. Horrible, I know! Instructors will be on watch so if anybody is about to take any type of fatal or serious damage, they'll step in! But that doesn't mean you can go crazy, as you will be reprimanded for those actions... Now, let's start the count down!!!" Everyone looked at their watches and then looked at their partner. They quickly got ready for what was ahead for them in this battle, and started to look around to size their peers... and to reap their rewards from them
"5!"
Bael wondered...
"4!"
Why didn't they mention the scoring system?
"3!"
Since he could be wrong, there are three choices as to why they didn't.
"2!"
You probably don't even have to steal the other team's wristband for a good grade of some sort, you just need to keep yours without it getting stolen! Was one of them.
"1!"
Or maybe there's no grade at all? It didn't matter, Ophelia smiled, and Bael's serious face only grew more stoic. They got ready for anybody who may come at them first...
"Go go go!"
But nobody went after them?! Bael noticed it was because of Ophelia's influence that nobody went after them immediately. It seemed nobody in the vicinity wanted to mess with someone of a higher status, it also seemed like no one in the area was ballsy or possibly talented enough to fight against her...
"Ophelia, why don't we go hunting instead?" He looked at Ophelia, unknowingly giving a small smirk.
"If you look at me like that I can't say no, you know?" She smiled and quickly took off, going for one of the groups whose back turned to us.
Bael was genuinely surprised at Ophelia's speed, it didn't even look like she was trying that hard to reach it either. The only reason Bael could follow her with his eyes was because of his [Analyzer] ability being put to work. Bael quickly scanned his surrounding and found the fastest route to follow her.
Although not stated before, Physical Rank: E+ in terms of normal people, actually isn't so bad. It's around the level of pro-Olympic athletes in terms of overall physical capability. He was glad he had at least this much.
"Hup!" Bael took a quick sprint and jumped on top of someone's head, who was distracted from a fight with another student. The other student gave Bael a thumbs up and took this opening to get the student's watch.
Bael had actually analyzed most people in his vicinity before the battle had started! The person who gave him the thumbs up had a very competitive nature, which was easily seen from his desire to win in even simple games like volleyball or swimming races.
The two Ophelia were after, seemed like decently sized fish to catch, they definitely weren't the bottom of the barrel.
One was a girl with green hair, wielding wind magic to disturb Ophelia in her battle with a red-head mage who was doing her best to attack with quick-fire attacks, sometimes even incorporating physical combat to fight her off when she gets close. The wind mage was holding her weight by using more firepower whenever she got close to the redheaded girl.
But even after all that, they couldn't leave a scratch on Ophelia, her swift moves with her sword, paired with simple but powerful magic bullets to slow down most of the redheaded girl's magic and using her sword to nag skillfully at her watch.
The two seemed to be swearing in their head 'Why did Ophelia come after us?!'.
'It seems like she doesn't even need help, this young lady is quite scary, smiling while pushing back two combat mages alone! Their synergy isn't even that bad either...' Bael could only agree, he had a slight chance against the two mages, since although with good synergy they had a simple pattern that they always followed. They were especially disciplined in this pattern, so it seemed they didn't know how to be creative mid-fight.
If it wasn't a talented individual like Ophelia... They probably would have amassed a decent amount of points.
"Haha! Bael, I'm having fun you know? I don't want to leave you out, so I won't mess with the wind mage. She's up to you!" The wind mage seemed nervous and looked over at Bael. Bael's extremely stoic face only served to deter her mental state in this fight, she was extremely nervous.
Bael was glad she was already nervous, that 40% chance of looking bad and losing his facade of a strong person in front of Ophelia would be lost. Keeping up the facade of a prospective student was well within his interests, although some downsides, came with upsides.
Bael quickly ran at her, dodging any of her wind magic, as it seemed when she was nervous she could barely aim in the first place! It was even worse that she was using wind bullets while nervous. Bael quickly took this chance to duck under one of her attacks, and sweep at her legs!
Knowing what the objective was, he went on top of the mage and stole the watch swiftly. The [Analyzer] ability comes in handy for an easy steal.
'Bael... You're making the girl blush, you should probably move.' Astram deadpanned, spiritually at least.
"Oh." He hoped no onlooker thought of something else in this situation.