Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Hearing the sudden offer, Evin stole a glance towards the girl beside him. Observing her facial expressions, Evin found unconcern and then annoyance. She didn't mind Dagan's proposition, and she was also worried about something.

Since the other side showed her stance quite clearly, Evin didn't mind speaking on behalf of the two sides.

"That sounds good enough, I don't mind picking one card. Is that alright with you, Bella?"

"Sure, I'll pick first, since I was attacked first."

"But wouldn't the attack be impossible if they weren't aiming for me in the first place?" Evin joked.

Bella raised her eyebrows at Evin and smiled. "Well, that depends entirely on what card you'll pick. If it's the one I want, then I must be adamant on picking first." There was none of the previous worry in her face now.

It was obvious which card here was the best one, so they both knew they wanted the same thing. And they weren't so distant to fight over it, so Evin proposed a much easier method.

"Let's just decide by throwing a coin," Evin said and pulled out a silver coin.

"Heads," Bella shrugged and let Evin throw.

The coin swirled in the air for a second, before landing between Evin's hands. Without further delay, Evin revealed the coin and saw the Empress' face greeting the two. The winner was set.

"I'll pick the Find Card Card," Bella said smilingly.

"Sigh, then I'll pick the Castle Card," Evin followed.

Dagan gave them both their desired cards and started to bid his farewells. "Well, good luck to you two in the test… And I hope you keep this a secret, but I'm rooting for either of you to become the Helm, instead of Decatur."

"It feels weird to hear that from someone who planned to ambush me half an hour ago."

"Well, that was just me trying my best to perform well in the test. I'm not aiming for the position of Helm, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't do my best."

"Hmm… I was always curious. What did Decatur promise to you all for capturing me anyway?"

"Full tuitions for anyone involved, but not more than 3000 gold."

"So at most 10 people," Evin muttered.

"Yes, but that wasn't really the reason why we attacked you," Dagan said cheerfully. "We knew that you had just cleared a trial and was searching for another one to go to. If the ambush was successful, we could've just laid back for a few hours and collected the loot from two trials at once. The gold from Decatur would just be a little bonus for our efforts."

The boy's shameless recounting of his plans surprised Evin, but he couldn't really say he wouldn't do the same in the other's shoes. But it was still weird for him to be discussing each other's betrayals so casually.

'Maybe it's because the Helm's Worthy is just a test so the actions we take in it don't feel as real. Every student could just do whatever they wanted to each other, and even if they were confronted by their victims later on, they could just say they did it to win the test.'

Evin felt that there was something important in this line of thought, but Bella interrupted him from the side.

"Let's go."

Evin nodded, and the two made themselves invisible before heading southwards. Contrary to expectations, the two ran towards their destination. Bella could fly, but her skill on the subject matter was subpar at best, despite Evin's efforts in teaching her.

As they walked, Evin asked her some details regarding the trial in the mountains and understood that the biggest challenge inside was managing one's mana usage to solve the trials inside while also keeping oneself safe from the oppressing heat of the volcano.

But from what Evin heard, the trials themselves weren't that difficult to overcome. The hardest room had four tier-2 insect type mana-beasts, which, by Bella's words, seemed specifically raised to withstand high temperatures, like all the other enemies there. There were many locations in the World were mana-beasts strived, but a volcano definitely wasn't one of them.

Anyhow, comparing the difficulty between the Tunnels and the Volcano, Evin could kind of guess how difficult would the 'unspoken area' would be. The place would most likely have a dangerous environment that Evin would need to be wary of and would also have a tier-3 as the final boss. Maybe a peak tier-3 as a surprise for the students.

In that case, it wouldn't be so difficult to conquer the place, especially with Bella at his side. But, just as Evin was about to talk about his plans regarding the test, Bella stopped and turned to him.

"I don't want to challenge this test with you."

"What?" Evin was shocked by the words, as he wasn't really expecting something like this.

"I know that if it's us, we can probably breeze through every trial without much effort. And perhaps after we're done with the Island we can have a duel between us to decide who gets the position of Helm, but I don't think that's the right path forward."

The words would sound arrogant in the ears of others, but Evin was confident in being able to achieve such overwhelming results if he joined hands with Bella. Even if the two were to compete against all the Academy first years, Evin felt they could hold up their own. Obviously, they would get wiped out if they were to fight them all in one place, but the test this time wasn't just about fighting prowess, so the two definitely had a chance.

'The only reason Bella would refuse is if she thinks that this isn't the path to becoming the ultimate winner.'

"I'm explaining myself to you now because we have a good relationship and I know that you've been spending your time trying to contact me… but the next time we meet, I'll greet you as an enemy."

Without giving him any chance to speak back, Bella started floating and flew off into the sky.

"Wait!" Evin shouted, trying to warn her of the incoming ketricite shots, but the girl adamantly refused to look back and flew faster and faster.

Not even ten seconds later, she began to get bombarded by the grey projectiles, and Evin started to fly towards her. Bella wasn't as adept as him at flying, so she wasn't able to dodge all the projectiles coming towards her. A cloud of grey exploded in the sky and from inside it, Bella dove towards the ground.

Thankfully, Evin was already floating below her, ready to catch her before she fell into the trees. The Palace was still shooting ketricite at his location, so he quickly flew down to the ground after his collision with Bella.

As he put her down, he noticed she was much lighter than he imagined, almost as light as a small animal, but he understood why after thinking a bit. To make herself weightless, naturally, she had to affect her entire body with Qanatohm's energies. So when she was bombarded by the Palace, the World energies on her skin disappeared, but the ones she kept inside her body were still active.

'Huh… My mind's getting easily distracted again,' Evin reprimanded himself, before focusing his attention on Bella.

The girl looked fine, but Evin could see that her ears and cheeks were turning red. Evin was shocked at the sight of Bellaslayn Borna feeling shame, but decided that it was inevitable in this situation. She had staged such a dramatic departure, but only 10 seconds later, she had to be rescued by the person who she left behind.

Bella acted in a tough and responsible manner most of the time, but after interacting with her for such a long time, Evin inevitably noticed some of her more childish traits.

"I wanted to tell you that the Island doesn't allow students to fly high in the air," Evin said, deciding not to mention what happened just now.

"Ahem… I see. Thank you for the information," Bella replied, clearing her throat. "But I still think we should separate."

"I agree as well."

"Ah-" Bella exclaimed, clearly surprised by Evin's answer.

"If we team up and wipe the floor with the rest of the school year, it'll leave a bad taste in my mouth," Evin explained with a confident laugh. "And despite how I look, I'm also gunning for the position of Helm."

"Is that so?" Bella showed a refreshing smile. "Then I wish you good luck on the test."

The awkwardness in the atmosphere was gone, since they both knew each other's stances now. With this exchange, they could separate without feeling unsure of each other's thoughts on the matter. It was definitely better than Bella running off after shouting out her opinions one-sidedly. There was no need for further farewells, as the situation wasn't really one that required something like that.

'It's not like we're going to war or something like that…' Evin smiled wryly as he watched the girl disappear into the woods in a light jog.

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