13 month series? Jahad's daughter? Black March and Green April? Winston muttered inside his brain, failing to comprehend the topics and falling behind in the conversation that was being carried out.
Strangely, even though the cage Anaak had bombarded was at the other side of the arena, Winston and his teammates were able to hear them without problem.
Winston secretly stole a glance at the expression of his two other teammates, who seemed more surprised than confused.
"So she's a princess of Jahad. No wonder she was so strong." Amon said aloud.
Zarhan quipped along, "And she has the Green April no less, one of the weapons crafter personally by Ashul Edwardu and bestowed by King Jahas himself to the princesses." He said.
Inwardly, Winston became more confused than anything.
King Jahad? There's a King to the tower? And this... Ashul guy... Interesting. Winston nodded to himself.
"But isn't the Thirteen month series weapons only meant to be bestowed to ranker? How could a regular on the floor of tests have it?" Amon inquired, looking towards Winston.
"I knew it was weird for an ignition weapon of such caliber to be on the test floor!" Zarhan screamed from the side.
"That's what I was wondering." Winston closed his eyes and nodded sagely.
"More importantly." He pointed. "What about that boy who holds the Black March. Don't you think that's even weirder?" Having listened to the conversation Anaak and the other team had, he had been made keenly aware that a anyone else aside from the 'Princesses of Jahad' much less a man was not supposed to be able to get such weapons.
Amon's expression turned thoughtful. "Didn't he mention Yuri Jahad? Does she have a connection to Bam?" He mused.
Winston's eyes turned a bit misty.
He didn't know who Yuri Jahad was! How was he expected to continued the conversation?
Simple. He wasn't.
"That wouldn't matter now, would it?" He glanced at the arena again.
"I think we'll be participating in the fourth or the final round." Winston declared.
Soon, the third round began.
Lero ro counted down from 5, and with that the third round of the crown game officially began.
~~~
Bam's team participated in the third round. Four other teams participated alongside them, all vying for the crown within haste.
However, the blue haired boy, Khun, as Winston had heard his name was, showed incredible wit and planning capabilities; effortlessly fooling all the regulars that participated.
He's dangerous... Winston mused, narrowing his eyes. His eyes also wandered to the small bag he held in his hand; Manbarondenna, it was called.
Incredible feats of cunning and not too shabby in combat himself. Bam doesn't seem to be too troublesome, but his weapon might prove to be the most bothersome thing of all. Then, his eyes overtook the gigantic mass, the hulking crocodile that was in their team. Rak Wraithraiser.
Khun is adept at combat, yet his excellence is in his cunning. The crocodile is particularly hard to handle. His skill in handling the spear seems too troublesome to deal with. Winston racked his brain, trying to think of a viable plan for the situation.
His eyes wandered towards his equipment, which included a steel broadsword and a bow and some arrows. He sighed.
I might need to experiment a bit with ritualistic magic after this... never know when charms could come in handy. He shook his head, focusing on the situation at hand.
Logically speaking, with a team of their strength level, most competent teams would choose to participate in the last round. And as of now, only 6 teams are left for participation; meaning there's no trouble of not getting a spot in the last round.
The general level of strength of the regulars can be handled. Regulars like the crocodile and then lizard seem to be rare exceptions. And since it will be the last round, all the teams will be agitated and fight amongst themselves. Suddenly, it all clicked in Winston's mind.
If we manage to snatch the crown in the 4th round, holding the throne in the last one would be easier than snatching it amid the chaos. For a moment, Winston remembered Klein the Fool who made use of chaos as an escape route. Heh, but there's no telling what might happen in such a chaotic situation. Too risky. I can't miss out on the opportunity.
Winston shook his head and looked towards his teammates, who at this point were also looking at him intently, waiting for him to make a decision.
"We'll participate in the fourth round." Winston declared as if a King commanding his subjects. A smile graced his lips.
"Finally! Some action!" Zarhan yelled, spinning around the spear in his hand. On the other hand, Amon looked a bit nervous, his figure fidgeting under his clothes.
And just in time, Lero ro started the count.
"All regulars who wish to participate in the next round, press the buzzer within 5 seconds!"
Winston looked towards the arena with a smile, thinking of the possible courses of actions he could take to snatch the crown.
However, at that moment, his eyes caught a strange detail.
Khun took out a piece of blue cloth from his bag and tied his hair back, making a small ponytail out of his otherwise free flowing blue hair.
What? Winston, for some odd reason felt weirded out. Khun had clearly shown himself plenty capable of combat without tying his hair back. Why would he do so now?
At that moment, he felt something was wrong.
The countdown reached 3. Seeing Zarhan who was about to press the button, Winston quickly leapt up and held his arm in an iron grip.
"Wait!"
What could be the reason? His eyes scanned Khun's figure once again, then, his eyes landed on the bag.
Wait a minute... his eyes narrowed. It's possible for living things to be shrunk and stored as well! Remembering the blob like being getting sucked into the bag, something clicked.
"What are ye doing?!" Zarhan yelled, tearing his arm away from Winston's grasp.
"We won't be participating." Winstin said, his expression dead serious as he looked at the leisurely Khun who sat alongside Bam on the throne.
"Why?" Amon said. He had already taken out a short short and was ready to fight if needed be.
"Just intuition." Winston said.
His thoughts could be wrong. But things that could fire off the intuition of a beyonder were not to be ignored. Intuition warnings were hidden information from the surrounding spirit world; if such a thing even existed in the place known as the tower, Winston didn't know. But he knew better than to simply ignore such a thing.
"If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. We'll just participate in the next round." He said with conviction.
Zarhan clicked his tongue in annoyance while Amon returned the short sword into it's sheath.
Tiiiiiiiiiiiii!
The alarm sound rang out and the teams were taken out of their cages.
3 teams participated in the fourth round.
~~~
The 3 teams, like the previous rounds tried to collude together to take down the current team occupying the throne.
However, something unexpected happened.
One of the teams attacked the other!
The other team having not expected such things to happen fell down quickly, putting up little resistance.
All while Khun himself, along with Bam sat on the throne in leisure.
The remaining team tried to go for the crown, however, it seemed that they were plenty weaker than the crocodile, with all three of them having been defeated in mere moments.
As the happenings in the arena concluded, Amon and Zarhan looked at Winston with widened eyes.
"How did you know?" Amon asked in amazement.
"That's the neat part. I didn't." Winston smiled.
"What kind of nonsense is that?" Zarhan expressed his doubts. Hearing his words, Winston simply shrugged. "I have keen observation skills." He said.
"Yeah right." Zarhan snorted, his scowl clearly expressing his thoughts on the matter.
Winston could do nothing but shake his head. It was truly due to his keen sense of observation and derivation of information that the Marauder potion provided him that he had been able to even notice the small signs of strangeness with Khun.
As for how his mind could even cook up the exact situation with such accuracy? Winston could not say. Perhaps it was the surrounding 'spirit world' or whatever passed for that here helping him with the revelations.
Intuition is a scary ability. He mused.
Soon, the other team headed back to their cell without any want to fight with Bam's team, making them progress to the final fifth round.
"Well, that's our queue." Winston said.
"You sure?" Zarhan quipped sarcastically.
"Positive." Winston chuckled.
And then, as Lero ro announced for the teams to press their buzzers, his hand moved towards it.
"5!"
"What's our plan of action?" Amon asked suddenly, his disposition a mix of nervousness and conviction.
"4!"
Winston pressed the buzzer, still having his eyes glued to the arena. This time, he didn't sense any sort of discomfort. However, there was a sense of foreboding he felt.
"Simple." He said.
"3!"
"Use the chaos to your advantage. With the small fishes gone, the sharks will be arriving at the last stage." He smiled.
"2!"
"The more fighting that ensues, the better will be the chances to steal the crown." Suddebly, he looked behind him at Zarhan.
"Can you take the crocodile?" He asked.
"1!"
Zarhan grinned. "Damn right, I can!"
Tiiiiiiiiiiii!
With the sharp sound of the alarm, the door to their cage slowly swung open, sparying some smog into the cage.
"You guys." Winston continued, walking out of the cage. The steel broadsword was flung over his shoulder and the bow and the quiver was attacked to his back through a cloth strap.
With eyes flashed for a moment as he tapped his ring finger and thumb twice.
"Just need to make an opening." A cold expression appeared on his face as his eyes met that of Khun's.
Winston smiled at him in challenge.
"I'll steal the crown myself." He declared.
~~~
Lero ro sat in his lighthouse that floated atop the entire arena, quietly overlooking the crown game. The inside of his lighthouse was bathed in a golden glow, deeply reminiscent of the evening sun.
His eyes were focused as he looked on at the participants of the current round.
"A princess of Jahad, an irregular and an unknown regular all together in the same team. Then there's Khun and his two teammates. And finally..." As his words drifted, his eyes riveted themselves to the figure of a tall young man with black hair.
"Winston Heath..."
That boy gives me a strange feeling. I can't quite put my finger on it... as he observed the man, suddenly, he felt something click as he walked into the arena.
There it is again... that feeling. That strangeness... Suddenly, he shook his head.
"The tower is indeed a large place. Many regulars with strange abilities can arise." He continued, speaking to himself.
"Then... how far will this batch go, I wonder?" He said.
For some unknown, inexplicable reason, he suddenly remembered a quote from a certain friend of his. A very frivolous princess to be precise.
"Everything in the Tower, I say. Everything in the Tower is subject to change! That is the only thing that will last forever in the Tower!"
Unconsciously, a smile blossomed on his face.
~~~
A/N: Throw some stones.
Also, tell me your thoughts so far on the story.
Cheers~~~