Twenty minutes earlier….
A young beauty with black hair, appearing to be in her late teens, took cover behind a car.
Her emerald green eyes fluttered all around to survey her surroundings.
She was currently on the sidetrack while two enemies were engaging her in combat from across the street— they were also taking cover behind a car.
From across the street, a chubby guy peeked over the car he was hiding behind and aimed his open palm at the car behind which Amelia was.
–"Ignis Spheara!" the guy chanted out a spell and a big, spinning sphere of red flames materialized before him.
Booom—!!
In an instant, the sphere shot forward and struck the car, exploding with a deafening roar like a good amount of TNT detonating.
Fortunately, Amelia had already moved from that spot. She rolled and got on her knees before grabbing her bow tightly with one hand and placing an arrow on it with another.
"You're dead," she said as she pulled back on her bowstring before releasing it and shooting her arrow.
Fwoosh—!!
Violent gusts of wind twirled around her arrow as it traveled through the air until it struck the car with the force of a speeding truck, blowing it away like a toy.
"Baaah!"
"You bitch!"
The two enemies quickly dodged out of the way to avoid being caught in the destruction.
One of them was a slightly chubby and plain-looking guy, donning a pair of gauntlets on both hands.
The other was a skinny, frail-looking girl with a scowling expression plastered on her face.
Before they could react, Amelia had already nocked another arrow onto her bow.
She didn't give them a chance to even catch their breath as she shot her arrow at them.
This time, the arrow sliced through the air like a hot knife through butter, seemingly unaffected by wind resistance.
Slish—!!
However, the arrow passed through the chubby guy as if he wasn't even there.
"Tsk!" Amelia clicked her tongue in frustration.
"I've already told you," the chubby guy sneered. "Your arrows, or anything else for that matter, can't hit me! I'm untouchable, bitch!"
"No, you're a pig!" Amelia yelled out as she started running in order to find a secure position to shoot her arrows.
"Are you fat-shaming me in this day and age?!" The chubby pig oinked in response.
He moved his legs and his belly jiggled as he performed an action that could only be considered running if he were moving any faster than walking speed.
The girl accompanying him simply shook her head and started actually running to follow behind Amelia.
With each step that she took, her speed grew more and more.
Meanwhile, Amelia took a turn at the end of the street and...
Thwack—!
Collided with someone.
"Arghh!" She clutched her head as she fell backward.
"Oww! You hit my nose!" A familiar voice reached her ears as the person she bumped into cried in pain.
She raised her head to find a pair of bright, merlot-red eyes staring back at her, tears welling up in them.
It was Lucas. He held his nose with one hand, trying to ease the pain, while extending her the other hand to help her.
Amelia took his hand and stood up straight. "Lucas? What are you doing here?"
"You're at a disadvantage, so I came to help," the silver-haired boy explained. "But here you are, attacking your helper."
"Ah, sorry," Amelia replied as she urged him to move and started running. With Lucas following behind, she added, "Run, or they'll catch up to us!"
"Are they strong?" Lucas asked.
"Hell no!" Amelia scoffed.
"Then what's the problem?" He questioned, his forehead creased with confusion.
Amelia briefly slowed down before responding, "They're both Gifteds. The pig can phase through things, and the girl can run incredibly fast."
"Damn!" Lucas widened his eyes, genuinely impressed. "Those are some really good blessings!"
"I know," Amelia nodded. "I'm clearly stronger than both of them, but since it's impossible to hit them, I can't win."
"Did you find any weaknesses in them?" Lucas asked.
"The pig needs three seconds to use his abilities again, and the bitch needs to build up speed. The more she runs, the faster she becomes, but she can only go straight and needs to slow down for turns," Amelia replied while taking another turn as the silver-haired boy followed closely behind her.
"What was your plan?" Lucas inquired again, testing the black-haired girl.
"I was thinking of wearing them out by evading their attacks. Since they're no match for me, they won't be able to confront me directly," she explained. "Once they are too exhausted to use their Gifts, it'll be over for them."
Lucas shook his head. "Amelia, you need to start thinking more strategically. I know you're intelligent, so use that to analyze situations like these."
"What do you mean?" Amelia furrowed her brow, puzzled.
"Think about it," Lucas began. "Why did two opponents come after you instead of one going for the Flag? And why do both of them possess abilities that can drag out the fight?"
Amelia's frown deepened as she realized the implications of Lucas' words.
"They want to stall us," Amelia concluded, clapping her hands together.
"Exactly," Lucas nodded. "It's likely that William has walked into a trap. They're stalling the rest of us to prevent us from reaching him."
"Wait, if you knew this, why did you send William into the forest? Why didn't you ask him to wait?" she questioned.
"Because there's always a possibility that Kai wants me to think it's a trap when it's actually not," Lucas replied. "It's a bluff—a well-executed one at that."
"What will you do if it is indeed a trap?" she asked, seeking further clarification.
"Don't worry about that," Lucas reassured her. "I've already considered every possibility."
"Every possibility?" she repeated incredulously.
"Yes," the young Morningstar affirmed. "Every single one."
"How do you even do that?" Amelia asked, desperation and curiosity filling her voice. "How do you predict the future so easily?"
"I don't," Lucas shook his head. "I simply think everything through. I ponder over every possible thing that could go wrong or spiral out of control. I contemplate all the potential obstacles that might arise.
"That's what I want you to do as well. Amelia, you're intelligent. If you start excessively analyzing every scenario, envisioning the future that can occur—no matter how implausible it may seem in your head—before it actually happen, if you can just do that, then when the situation you envisioned in your mind plays out in reality, it won't catch you off guard because you would have already thought about it.
"Nothing will surprise you, and you'll be able to handle anything. Always remain ten steps ahead of your adversary by anticipating both their moves and your own, and always harbor a sense of self-doubt. Because, as a wise man once said, self-doubt is the best companion of an intelligent individual."
"I—" Amelia began to say something, but before she could, a figure blurred past them and came to a halt a few steps ahead.
It was the skinny girl from earlier. She was now blocking their path.
"Damn, she's fast!" Lucas widened his eyes as they quickly steered around to make a U-turn.
"Oh, seriously?!" Amelia exclaimed when they realized that the chubby guy from before was now blocking their retreat route too.
He huffed and puffed, clearly out of breath from running.
"D-Don't make me run again... I'm warning you!" the chubby guy managed to speak between his ragged breaths. He lifted his head and his eyes landed on Lucas.
"Oh, the knight in shining armor has arrived!" he sneered at Lucas, a grin spreading across his face. "I've been waiting for my revenge!"
"Ahh! I remember you now!" Lucas clapped his hands together as he finally recognised the pig. "You're Jake Stark, the guy with divorced parents, aren't you!"
Jake's chubby face turned red upon hearing Lucas's words. "You know, I used to consider you a friend!"
"Oh, shut up," Lucas snarled. "You were just after connections to the Morningstars. After all, the authorities don't dare mess with you if you have the support of a young lord from the ruling family."
Jake gritted his teeth in fury. "You... You think you're some hotshot just because you were born into a ruling family?! I'll show you–"
"Jake, calm down," the skinny girl named Leia interjected from behind Amelia and Lucas. "Our orders are to stall them here. Don't do anything reckless."
"Stay out of it, Leia!" Jake retorted. "I'll beat this guy until his precious face resembles a fucking pulp!"
Listening to their conversation, Lucas turned to Amelia. "See, I was right. They're here to stall us."
"Hey!" Jake raged, feeling ignored by Lucas once again. "How dare you ignore me!"
Lucas directed his attention back to Jake and tilted his head, a cocky smile forming on his lips. "Sorry, who are you again?"
This was the final straw for Jake. Steam seemed to rise from his head as his face grew increasingly red.
"I'll kill you!" he roared, charging towards Lucas like a raging hippo.
At that moment, Lucas's smirk transformed into a mocking smile as he pulled out a push button from his pocket.
"No, stop!" Leia tried to intervene, realizing that Lucas was about to do something, but it was already too late.
Shing—!!
Lucas pressed the button, and several small orbs around Jake began to glow.
Jake hadn't noticed before, but small marbles were scattered across the street, forming a circle.
And now, in his blind rage, Jake had stepped right into that circle.
Thaaam—!!
"Arghh!" The marbles emitted a bright flash of light and stunned Jake. The chubby guy let out a cry, clutched his head and dropped to his knees as he felt like he had a concussion.
Amelia was quick to capitalize on this opening. She chanted a spell under her breath and the wind started to twirl around her feet.
In a burst of speed, Amelia dashed towards the chubby boy, leaving howling gales in her wake.
Thwaaack—!!
Without slowing down, she closed the distance between her and the pig in a split second and drove her knee to his face, knocking out several of his teeth as he fell backward, unconscious.
"Fuck!" Leia, witnessing her comrade being effortlessly taken down, attempted to turn and flee, but Lucas was already in motion.
The silver-haired boy swiftly summoned his bow, nocked an arrow, and shot it towards the skinny girl.
Thwish—!!
"Arghhaaaa!"
Before she could even take a single step, an arrow pierced through her right calf, causing her to collapse onto the ground, screaming and convulsing in agony.
Using the same spell as before, Amelia swiftly sprinted towards Leia with astonishing speed, reaching her in an instant.
The black-haired beauty raised her right leg high, the wind still swirling around it, and brought it down with tremendous force, executing a flawless axe kick that rendered Leia unconscious as well.
If she wanted, she could've easily burst her head open like a baseball bat to a watermelon.
"Nice one!" Lucas walked over to her, applauding her performance. "It's hard to believe that just a few months ago you didn't even know how to cast a spell."
"What can I say? I've been training hard," she replied, shrugging and flashing a smug smile. "So, what's the plan?"
"With two down and five remaining, I don't think Nero and Anastasia will have any trouble defeating their enemies quickly," Lucas said. "So, you go and assist Chase–"
Tring, Tring—!
Before Lucas could finish giving his instructions, his smart bracelet began to ring. It was a call from William.
Frowning, Lucas answered the call.
"Did you capture the flag?" he asked.
–"Lucas... I-I tried..."
As a strained and exhausted voice came through on the other end, Lucas's frown deepened.
He exchanged a glance with the black-haired girl standing beside him and brought the smart bracelet closer to his mouth.
"William, what's going on?" he inquired.
–"It's... It's Kai! He was already there before I even reached the flag. We fought, but... but he's too strong..."
"He was already there?" Lucas couldn't help but ask again, disbelief evident in his voice. "But he was just fighting me a few moments ago on our way here."
"Really?" Amelia expressed her astonishment. "But then how did he not only reach the Fifth District faster than you, but also make it to the forest ahead of William?"
Lucas shrugged. "I have no idea."
"So, is this not one of the situations you had anticipated?" Amelia inquired.
"Actually," Lucas replied with a smile. "I had a feeling something like this might happen."
Amelia stared at Lucas, her mouth hanging open in surprise, as he casually spoke into his smart bracelet.
"It's alright, William," he said. "You did well. Rest now."
–"....Sorry." With one final apology, William ended the call.
Amelia refocused her attention on Lucas and asked, "What's the plan now?"
"Same as before," he responded. "You'll go and assist Chase. You both will then unite with Nero and Anastasia. Together, you all will try to prevent Kai from reaching the stadium. By that time, his teammates should already be defeated, so you'll only have to deal with him."
"And what about you?" she inquired.
Lucas simply smiled, his tone dripping with self-assurance. "I'll secure our victory, as always."
