"I'm telling you, girls, it's a bad idea," warned Amelia.
"Why are you saying that? I think it's a good opportunity," retorted Celine.
"I also think the same," said a pretty girl with long black hair, eyes as dark as night, and a petite body.
This girl was named Marina Eswald and was one of Alex's cousins.
"It's the only opportunity we have left if we want to become the head of the branch. Why do you keep trying to make us drop out?" asked Talia.
"It's just that... sigh, I'm giving up. I already warned you. If you insist on fighting Lilia, then don't come complaining later," expressed Amelia.
She had been trying to convince her three friends since yesterday that fighting Lilia in a hand-to-hand battle was suicide. However, none of them took her warning seriously. It wasn't that they thought she was lying; it's just that they couldn't see what threat a person not even at level 1 could pose to them at level 4. So, despite her warning, all of them decided to fight Lilia.
If Amelia had straight-out told them that even she or her brother couldn't take on Lilia in hand-to-hand combat, then there might be a chance of them abandoning the idea. However, Amelia didn't, or rather couldn't, share this information with them for the simple reason that she was certain that her brother was excited to see the others being beaten black and blue by Lilia.
He was already 'mad' at her for what happened with Scarlett yesterday. She didn't want to do something that would ruin his fun today. That's why she just warned the girls about fighting Lilia. But they assumed she was doing it just because she didn't want one of them to win against Lilia and boot her brother from his position as head of the branch.
Alas, they were far from the truth.
'I can only hope Lilia won't be too harsh with them' sighed Amelia.
As they talked with each other, the girls arrived at the location where the battles were going to occur.
Instead of the competition happening in the arena, the hand-to-hand fights against Lilia were scheduled for the training grounds.
Pushing the door open, the girls noticed that the training ground was already filled with people, and they were actually the last to arrive.
Everyone was standing and chatting; the only one sitting was Lilia, who could be found in a meditative position in the center of the arena.
"Alex isn't with you?" questioned Madison with a frown when the girls entered.
"No, he hasn't arrived yet ?," asked Celine.
"And here I thought that maybe the new head of the branch would be someone punctual," sighed Abigail.
"He isn't Grace's grandson for nothing," chuckled Victoria.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Grace asked in irritation.
"Now, now, ladies, don't get into an argument," said a voice coming from the training ground door.
Everyone's eyes twitched, seeing Alex approaching them with a beach shirt, shorts, dark sunglasses, and carrying a bowl of snacks with him.
'Does he think he is on vacation?' wondered each one of the people in the training grounds.
"Fortunately, today is your last day as the head of the branch. If not, imagine our 'representative' coming late; that would be an embarrassment," sneered Nox.
Alex smirked at his taunt and replied, "Main characters are always late; where's the fun in coming early."
"You? A main character? Don't make me laugh; at best, you would be a main loser," spat En.
"Said the one who kneeled in front of me and my woman for forgiveness," retorted Alex.
En gritted his teeth but refrained from speaking further. Meanwhile, Alex walked towards Lilia and stood above her sitting figure.
Lilia opened her eyes to find Alex extending a hand toward her; she took it and stood up.
"Those who want to fight Lilia, step forward!" exclaimed Alex.
The instant he said this, all the participants of the competition beside two stepped forward.
'Amelia, I can understand; she knows Lilia's real strength, but why isn't this one stepping forward?' thought Alex with a surprised expression.
The one who didn't step forward was none other than Sillas, the very one who fought with Amelia in the semi-final. Considering the fact that he even got to the semi-final, many thought that he would try his luck, but it seemed that for some reason, it wasn't the case.
"Well, one less competitor, I guess," whispered Marina.
'Interesting,' thought Alex before glancing at Lilia.
"You remember what I said, right?" he asked with an evil grin.
Lilia nodded her head, "of course."
"Good," Alex turned to the contestants, "Each one of you will have a fight with Lilia, and as agreed, the one who manages to defeat her becomes the new head of the branch. Sort it out among yourselves to decide the order of appearance," said Alex as he started walking towards one corner of the training grounds.
'Hm? The girls aren't here,' remarked Alex as he scanned the crowd of people present.
He could understand why Scarlett wouldn't be here, but the others being absent was surprising.
'Ah, my little gem is here!' thought Alex, spotting Violette walking in the same direction as him.
'Why are the others not here, I'm-' as she was walking and pondering about the fact that none of her sisters were present, Violette felt a presence next to her.
Before she could react, she found herself being hugged.
"Why are you alone, my little princess?" asked Alex as he rubbed his cheeks against Violette's.
"Hey! You startled me; warn before doing this sort of thing," exclaimed Violette.
"It's just that you seemed so down that I couldn't resist hugging you, but if you want, I can leave you alone," said Alex with a disappointed voice.
"I never said that," replied Violette in a soft tone.
'Hmm? I was sure that she would try to distance herself,' thought Alex, surprised.
In the past few years, Violette had refused any kind of physical or emotional contact with him, so he was certain that she would scream at him to leave her alone before storming off.
"Are you feeling sick?" asked Alex with a serious expression as he used his hand to touch her forehead.
"No, why do you ask?" wondered Violette.
"It's just that normally, you would have shrugged me off while screaming something along the lines of 'leave me alone, old man,'" replied Alex.
Violette's cheeks flushed red, and she lowered her head in embarrassment, muttering softly, "I won't do that anymore."
"Wait, did I hear you correctly? Perhaps you are really sic-"
"I'm not sick! And you heard me correctly!" exclaimed Violette loudly before coming to a stop, remembering that they were in public.
Her face flushed even more, and she lowered her head again.
'It seems like she wants to sort of mend our relationship, why?' wondered Alex, seeing the way Violette was acting.
'I will ask one of the girls later; for now, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that my little princess wants to be close to me again,' thought Alex with a large smile.
"Do you want to watch the battle with me?" asked Alex.
Violette nodded her head.
"Then come with me," said Alex as he dragged Violette with him.
When they were far from the training ground center, he materialized a chair of smoke and sat on it.
"Here, come sit on daddy's lap," said Alex.
Violette glared at him.
'Perhaps that was too fast,' thought Alex with a bitter smile.
He created another chair of smoke just next to him and told her to sit on it, which she did.
Alex then glanced toward a man who was leaning on the wall of the training grounds and called out, "Hey, Sillas, come here!"
****
Author here again.
As I announced yesterday, the Discord channel is ready, but there is still no one in there.
Go check it out right now!
Oh, I almost forgot. I will start editing the first chapters next week. I was still new to writing when I made those chapters, so I will be editing them to erase the errors. Don't worry; I won't make changes too drastic, just enough changes so that there won't be inconsistencies.