Jaden had only fallen in love once in his life. He had been 14, so calling it love was going a bit far. All the same, he had fallen pretty hard. I mean, how could anyone blame him?
She was a year younger than him, but already the same height. Her hair was dark brown and long, and her brown eyes had an ethereal glow.
Why did he always feel the need to describe women as ethereal??
He had met her back when he was still trying to be good at sports, and had played for his school's co-ed soccer team. She was on the opposing team, and while they played it was like they were the only two people on the field.
Jaden's team lost. That girl was a very good soccer player. But it was the way she lit up in the middle of battle, laughing and smiling, that made Jaden fall so hard.
Jaden must have a thing for girls who liked to fight.
He had never actually seen Sofia fight properly before now. She passed out in front of the bug monster, and he had split up with her on the airplane.
In the middle of battle, he could hardly recognize the same hot-and-cold Sofia. Her eyes had a different light shining in them and it was like she was actually having fun. He had to admit it, he liked this version of Sofia.
He had managed to dodge the first round of blasts Sofia fired, and he was even confident enough to try to get in a hit.
He was too confident. Sofia was definitely not Ethan.
She grabbed him and flipped him to the ground. She was lying on top of him. Too close.
With a little flush, Sofia jumped backwards.
She waved her hand towards him and another volley of blasts were sent flying. Jaden's Invisible God was working well, and his reflexes were just fast enough to dodge.
Except!!
Hitting Jaden had not been her goal! Jaden didn't have time to react! The bullets ricocheted off the wall into each other and hit Jaden directly in the arm where Ethan had hit him before.
She didn't miss anything. This was the difference between a try-hard and a true fighter.
Jaden fell to one knee. His arm was burning, he could hardly move it. He had to get the upper hand, fast.
"You're holding back."
Jaden snapped up. Sofia was staring at him, not impressed. How could she tell!?
"You can't win like this."
The words swirled through Jaden's mind. He knew it only too well. Every muscle in his body was aching to transform into God Mode. His system was flashing red.
[ALERT: Fighting not recommended]
[Recommended action:
It would be so simple. So why did it seem like the wrong choice!?
He remembered Crisanto's look when he sent him flying against the wall. He remembered Emperor Zil's confident smirk.
He would win as he was. God Mode wasn't an option. He thought hard, thinking about what Azi had said about Sofia. She was really good at support…but what was she bad at again? That's right, she wasn't good at close combat.
So Jaden had to get up close.
Jaden ran up to Sofia. He tried his best to ignore the pain in his arm. Sofia gave a slight gasp as he grabbed her around the waist. This close, any shot to hit him would hit her as well. It was dangerous, but he was counting on it working.
"Stupid! What are you doing! This isn't a fight!" Never had she sounded more flustered. She angrily started punching his chest, but her punches weren't that serious.
"I'm trying to win."
Jaden suddenly realized it didn't really look like he was trying to fight. Rather, it looked a lot more like he was trying to make a move on Sofia.
Now this was embarrassing.
Sofia tried to pull away, and a gun shot straight at Jaden's head. Jaden bent down, pulling Sofia with him. The two of them moved across the circle, surrounded by a rainfall of gunfire just narrowly missing its mark.
To an outsider, it looked more like a deadly dance than a proper fight.
At this rate, no one was winning.
Although, if one looked at it from another perspective, maybe they were both winning. As they weaved in and out of Sofia's fire, she pulled away while Jaden pulled her closer. However, the two of them were gazing deep into each other's eyes, neither one really wanting the moment to end.
Jaden had only fallen in love once. That girl had been a ball of fire, shooting across the soccer field.
Sofia wasn't a ball of fire. She was ice, cold, powerful, and beautiful, falling from the sky with an ethereal glow.
Jaden seriously couldn't stop using that word.
It seemed only too wrong that both times Jaden fell in love, it was when he was on the battlefield…
And then Sofia stopped trying to get away, and instead leaned in so close their faces were almost touching. She closed her eyes, and the two of them leaned closer into each other and Sofia parted her mouth softly…
This was Jaden' victory.
And then he saw the gun in Sofia's mouth.
Hold on, what!? Jaden couldn't have seen that coming. It was just too stupid.
"Did you think they could only appear in my hands?" It was a cold, factual, statement.
He heard a gunshot.
Jaden was bleeding, lying on the ground. He was losing too much blood. Where had she shot him?? She wasn't actually trying to kill him, right…?
Sofia leaned down. She was cold and cruel, and had never looked more beautiful. Everything was fading in and out, but Jaden heard her speak clearly.
"My one request. Activate God Mode."