"Feeling sad because you lost to Lily? You always took it easy when you sparred with someone you knew." asked Peter.
"Not.. really. It's something else that happened after that," I replied as I sat down.
I sat next to Daisy who was poking at my arm and pouting. She must be upset that I had lost to Lily. But hey, at least she get to see her mom in action. I lifted her and placed her on my shoulder so she can get a better view of the arena.
"Colour me intrigued, did you argued with her about the fight?" he asked.
"No. Truth be told, I had no idea as to why she behaved the way she did. I just bought her a drink, some food and told her that I wanted to spend more time with her. But she got mad, angry.. despite looking sad and depressed. I'm confused as to why she said those things," I answered.
"What did she say?" asked Peter.
"Hmm.. something about having a partner, can't spend as much time as we used to, her training takes up most of her time, something like that," I mumbled.
"Partner? Ah. I get the gist of it," chuckled Peter.
"What do you mean? If she have a partner, I understand she wants to spend more time with him. But there's nothing wrong in spending some time with old friends, isn't it?" I asked him.
"Ah, Zen, despite being called a genius, you were always slow to realise the behaviours and interactions of those around you," he sighed.
I kept quiet as I understood what he meant. Daisy was a clear evidence that I sucked at noticing things until someone pointed it out to me. But what can I do? I know I am not perfect, but I strive to be a good husband, father or person. Nothing else really matters to me.
"Give Lily some time. She'll come around. In fact, she is probably regretting what she said by now," smiled Peter.
"Either that or her partner is going to beat me up for making her upset," I chuckled.
"You can count on that not ever happening," answered Peter quickly.
How can he be so sure? Her partner have every right to hate me for bringing down her mood. Sigh, ah well, the announcer had finally appeared on stage and was ready to make his announcement. I passed Daisy a hotdog as she was still sitting on my shoulders. I warned her to not drop any ketchup on my head, otherwise she will have return to her seat. She asked me to pass her the paper tray where she placed it on top of my head. Since when did I became a table for her? The things a father do for her beloved daughter.
"Ladies... and.... gentlemen!! As promised, we will be announcing the secret event that we all had in stored for you. Are you all excited?! Let me tell you, it is my great honour, to announce to you that the true final match is about to begin! If you were disappointed by the previous fight, we have a contestant that is well beloved and renowned to all people around the world. And, she will be fighting with our champion!" shouted Oliver.
Wow.. way to bring my mood down even further. Was my fight against Lily THAT disappointing? I'm already feeling down in the dumps after what had happened after the match. I carried Daisy down and placed her seated on my knees while hugging her from behind. Daisy noticed my weird behaviour and asked what was wrong. I told her everything was fine and that I was just excited to see Rose fighting with Lily. She looked up towards my face and placed her hand on my cheek. She assured me that everything is going to be alright and she will take care of it.
I smiled when I heard what she said. Even though she doesn't know what was going on, she still tried her best to cheer me up which I really appreciate it. I petted her head and she began shaking her head side to side cheerfully.
The announcer had already finished Lily's introduction and she appeared from the entrance. She was dragging her feet into the arena with slumped shoulders. I guess Peter was right after all. She might had regretted what she did earlier.
Do I hate Lily? No, of course not. I still want to talk to her and make amends if possible. She is my saviour who brought me back to life. How can I possibly hate her when I.. still have feelings for her. I can never bring myself to hate her no matter what as she is one of the first friend that I had bonded with along with John. But I guess I should let Rose have some girl talk with her first to shed some lights on her strange behaviour.
Lily stood in the arena while being confused. It is always the champion that appears later than the contestant but she was completely alone inside the arena. She turned towards Peter's direction but noticed I was sitting next to him along with Daisy. With a surprised gasp, she turned away. I guess she was shocked to make direct eye contact with me all of a sudden. A moment later, she placed her hands together and bowed towards my direction. I guess she is asking for forgiveness from me which I am eager to do so.
"Told you," chuckled Peter.
"I can sense the crowd getting confused as to why our champion is alone in the arena. Now hold your horses, allow me to introduce to you the opponent that she will be facing. Coming into fame due to her heavy involvement during the Demon Queen's war, she had continued to make a name for herself by being a saint. Helping folks from all walks of life whenever she can, it is a wonder she had not started her own church or religion by now. I would had been first in line if she had started her own religion. Ladies and gentlemen.. I bring you... the one… the only….. WHITE ANGEL!!" shouted Oliver.
The colosseum roared with cheers and claps when Rose entered into arena with her fox mask and white clothing. Before she headed up the arena zone, she removed her white cape that she had never worn before. As she stood opposite of Lily, she removed her mask and tossed it aside. Lily, who was standing directly opposite of Rose suddenly burst into laughter at what had just happened. Rose with an expressionless face, told Lily to stop laughing as she was just doing what she was told.
Lily tried to stopped herself from laughing but snorted when she remembered the scene. Oliver had announced "Begin" but things were still awkward between the both of them. Rose removed her left glove and began chanting the spell for Focused Blessing. Seeing this, Lily immediately snapped out of her laughter and got serious. She activated Concentration and flicked her wrist. Oh, so she knew how to use Sunder. Had she learned how to use Rend too?
A beautiful gauntlets enveloped her fist up to her forearm. All it took is one look and I knew full well that it is a legendary gauntlets. It wasn't shiny or coated with gold or silvers but it's design is.. unique. It did not have spikes unlike her previous one nor did it looked heavily armoured. But there is a unique pattern on the gauntlet that stood out. Amongst the bluish white colour of her gauntlets, there was a lightning bolt symbol etched on the forearm portion.
I can't believe I got beaten without getting a chance to see her new powers. Now I am invested in this fight. Obviously I want Rose to win because she is my wife. But I do want to see Rose getting pushed around sometimes. Just because she was praised for being a prodigy or gotten more famous than me, doesn't mean she don't need to work hard to improve herself. Am I being jealous? Ehh.. yes. Yes I am.
***
Using focused blessing right off the bat? Unlike Zen, Rose doesn't mess around when it comes to sparring. Sad to say, Zen is actually a horrible person to spar with as he doesn't take things seriously. I really wondered how Rose actually trained or sparred with him in the first place. That's not to say that I'm belittling him or anything. I am sure if we were enemies, Zen is a nightmare to fight against. His fight with Tom had made me realised that he is on a whole other level that all of us. And he had yet to unlock his full potential according to Peter.
Alright, stop thinking about him. I don't understand why are you still hung up on him, Lily. He had made it very clear that he does not want a second wife and I am tired of thinking otherwise. But I don't understand why I can't move on. I am sure there are plenty of great guys out there, better ones even. But I just can't help comparing them to him.
Just.. why? He's not perfect, not at all. He is full of flaws. Talking about weird things that don't even exist, even when he his sleeping! A moron that stole my heart when I was young and just started on an adventure. And to top it off, he chose his little sister over me! Wasn't I his first crush? Didn't he had fetish for female elves? I even made sure to maintain a beautiful figure to meet his standards which he was still ogling at earlier! Argh.. it's so frustrating to even think about it!
Sigh… quit it, Lily. Rose is in front of you right now and she had already finished her casting. I need absolute focus if I wish to stand a chance at defeating her. No more thinking about that asshole any longer. Although, I am really sorry about what I said to him earlier. It was not his fault that I am feeling frustrated and sad that I wasn't chosen. Love is unpredictable after all. I must apologise to him after this. I even lied to him about having a partner even when I don't. Why do I need to make him feel miserable the same way that I feel?
Rose unsheathed her rapier and it looked gorgeous. I am sure Peter gifted her that legendary weapon, the same way that I was gifted mine. He had a whole vault of collections kept in his secret stash that he was willing to give to any of his favoured students. I'm surprised Zen went for a red dragonhide cloak instead of a legendary weapon. Well, what am I thinking. He already had 3 of them. I'm sure if he gets even more then the universe would implode on itself.
Hang on, what is going on? Her rapier looks.. weird? Why is the blade portion a blunt rod instead of it being a sharp blade? Oh, here she comes.
She aimed for my shoulder which I blocked with my gauntlets. I am certain it will not let me down as Peter vouched that this is one of his prized possession and was awaiting for someone suitable to wield it.
"Hey, it's been a while," whispered Rose.
"Hey, yes it has. You doing good? Is he giving you a hard time?" I whispered back.
"I'm doing good. He's fine, you know him as much as I do. We'll talk more later, alright?" she asked me.
"Yea.. we'll talk later," I mustered a smile.
Despite Rose marrying him, she still treated me like her real sister. She never once showed that she was superior or that she was the better woman who won the man. Whenever we talked, she showed her real personality which was warm and kind. How can I push her away after all that we've been through together.
I never really bonded with anyone of either gender this closely before. Sure, there's Zen and John but they are of the opposite gender and there are things that we can never connect with. But it was never with Rose. We can talk just about anything, literally anything at all and we love it. And apparently she became unhinged after she tasted the forbidden fruit for the first time. Was Zen that good? It felt.. normal when we slept together that one time. Maybe it was because I was the one who pounced on him. Sigh, not like I have a chance for it to be the other way around.
I blocked another of her attacks and she leaped back. She warned me that she will be taking things up a notch. I stood ready and she charged towards me. In an instant, she casted Accelerate and Light Blessings on herself which boosted her speed significantly. It was purely luck and combat instinct that I managed to block in time.
Focused Blessing is the perfect state for her as a supporting spell caster. It enhances all of her spell buffs drastically, and it gives her a state where she can be on par with those that uses Concentration. That is what makes it scary to fight against her when she can buff herself with all sorts of beneficial spells and enhance it's potency. I am glad that she had found an alternative to using State of Mind when she couldn't use it.
I am panting horribly now. Her sudden boost in speed is pushing my body to it's limits. I never had high agility in the first place but this is on a whole other level. I shudder to think what Rose is capable of if she uses Grand Blessings or Sacred Wings while Focused Blessing is activated. She will literally be teleporting all around the battlefield or something.
Alright, calm yourself Lily. You had been practicing for this day. A chance to be stronger than the others with your own strength. Rose may be fast but I have a trick of my own. Time to show everyone as to why I earned my new nickname. I bumped my fist together and grinned at her. All bets are off now.