- Growth -
|Next Morning|
Khun was going to hit this young lass if he didn't remember Bam telling him to take care of his sister.
He was sure that Charlotte was the one who said that today was a big day and that they have to get enough rest. Hearing her words, he believed that she was unlike any other Sweet and Sour members and know how important it was to rest so why on earth today she looked restless and tired?
Ah, it was because she was too focused in reading comics and novels that she forgot to rest.
Khun warned her that if this happens again, then he would seriously tear off all her books and burned them right before her eyes and Charlotte who didn't want to have her books destroyed instantly promised him to not sleep late again.
The Growth Tournament and the fight between the FUG Team and the Mad Dog Team started. The FUG Team and the Mad Dog Team were the only one who survived from the all-in catastrophe.
If they could defeat the other teams' spearheads, then they will get more points. Each of the spearheads had their own enemies, but that doesn't mean they couldn't attack others who were supposed to be in the same team with them.
Charlotte sighed and fanned herself, "This is indeed a survival game."
"Yes" Khun said. "Which also mean that you have to be more careful."
"I'm a slayer candidate in disguise. These minor regulars won't be a problem."
"It seems like someone has learn to be more arrogant."
"You flatter me, I learn it all from you."
|Growth's Tournament|
"They really put lots of efforts to build this stadium!" Charlotte said and amazed.
"Well, it's well-known that Workshop did lots of crazy stuffs" Khun replied through the observer.
Charlotte smiled and glanced at the observer, "To seek the reason behind all the existences in this tower....sounds tough." She opened her fan and fanned herself, "But I think that there are some things that should have been kept as secrets."
"Really?" Khun asked, sounded surprised. "Aren't you the nosy type?"
"Like what they said, the lesser you know, the longer you live" Charlotte said.
"Are you afraid of death then?"
The two of them were having their own talk while walking to the battlefield. If they failed to reach the battlefield in thirty minutes, then they will be disqualified.
"Half and half" Charlotte answered. "Sometimes, death would be another form of release. But sometimes, death would be nightmare since when you die, all achievements, money and glory would mean nothing. What matters will be the good deeds and bad deeds that you do in this life time that will determine about your next life."
"You sure learn a lot" Khun said through the observer.
"Of course" Charlotte responded and then cut the leaves and anything that blocked her with the fan on her hand. "See? Don't you think that I am getting smarter?"
"No, you are still foolish" he immediately replied without giving it a thought. "Back again to the tournament, don't you find our enemy weird?"
Each team could only choose one spearhead, but their enemies were actually two spearheads which made it weird. This made Khun suspected about it.
"What's weird about that?" Charlotte asked. "If I am not wrong, the two of them are actually half and half."
"What do you mean by half and half?"
"You will figure it out on your own" Charlotte answered.
"Don't keep those kind of secrets from me" Khun responded in irritation.
Charlotte chuckled when she heard this response, "Seeing you being irritated makes me want to keep it as a secret more."
"Does that mean you are asking to be beaten up?" Khun asked back. "Very well, we will settle this later."
"Don't worry, I could defeat them. Have you forgotten about who I am?" She glanced again at the observer and asked another question, "Why don't we go and summon teammates?"
Of course Khun agreed with her words. This tournament required teammates. But seeing the young lass asking the question first, she must have her own ideas who to choose.
"Who do you want to summon?" Khun asked.
"Rak, Yeon, Akraptor and Quaetro, perhaps?"
Rak was without a doubt strong. Yeon Ehwa was someone who came from Ten Great Families while Akraptor, his umbrella could be useful and Quaetro, although there was something wrong with his brain but his fire control can't be looked down and he was also the only one who could convince Chang.
"Alright then."
|Calling Center|
When Charlotte arrived to the calling center with Khun, she was greeted by their enemies. Her enemies were two short people or perhaps pale creatures with different cloaks. One was in yellow cloak and the other one with blue cloak. They looked quite identical without those cloaks. They grinned when they saw an enemy. And of course, Charlotte smiled happily when she saw them as well.
"Khun, look!" Charlotte childishly pointed to their enemies. "The fish meats have delivered themselves to us!"
"Fish meat?" The Monk who was the leader of the opponent's team echoed with a grin inside his observer. "Don't you think you are overestimating yourself? Show them your power, Lebo, Tebo!"
Lebo and Tebo were the name of the two spearheads who were always together. Hearing their leader's commanding them, they didn't talk a lot and then began to shot shinsu in which Charlotte successfully dodged by jumping backward.
The Monk was quite surprised that the shinsu shot didn't hit her, even the slightest. First shot, second shot and the third shot...when she did nothing but just jumping around and dodging them, those three shots didn't even reach her. She landed again and wiped the dust from her arm while asking: "Is that all you have? I was expecting more."
This made the Monk felt irritated as he commanded both Lebo and Tebo to attack again.
Charlotte who saw that couldn't help but to humph. Haven't they learnt their lessons yet that fighting with the same technique won't work with her? Or it was that the Monk couldn't believe that Xi, the person who was not famous or powerful would be able to defeat their little trick? When she just stood there, watching them attacking her, Charlotte didn't move from her spot while Khun was alarming her to get away otherwise she would be hurt.
She opened her fan again and blocked the shinsu shot. The shot that was supposed to kill her disappeared after it was blocked by the fan.
"W- what?"
"How is that possible?"
Seeing how a plain and white fan was able to block their fan like that made them wonder what on earth was that fan made of? Khun knew that there was something with the fan that Charlotte brought it with her in this tournament but he didn't expect that it would be this powerful.
He suspected the identity of the old lady who gave her that fan. The fan was so powerful that anyone wouldn't hand it to someone else easily. Was it a coincidence that she was helping that old lady or the old lady has been preparing it for a long time? He was getting suspicious.
"Khun" hearing his name has been called, he reacted to it. "Before you ask me why that team has two spearheads right? Then I'm going to tell you now." She shut her fan and then pointed to her enemies who were shocked and stunned, "Those two, they are indeed half and half and together, they are one. The yellow one has always stand on the right and the blue one is always on the left. Do you remember it?"
It took awhile for Khun to recall it, "So that's what you mean by half and half. Which also mean that if you run straight to their blind spot, there is a chance you will win!"
"What do you mean that 'there is a chance you will win'?" Charlotte asked with slightly annoyed tone. As her golden eyes moved and landed on her enemies, she continued, "Without telling you all of this-"
"LEBO, TEBO, KILL THEM!!" the Monk immediately shouted. With their secrets have been exposed when they believed that they showed no flaw, Charlotte must be killed immediately.
"I could kill them within ten seconds!"
Charlotte suddenly appeared on the yellow one's back and then smacked his head hard until his head hits the ground and even cracked the ground. And without wasting a second, Charlotte kicked the blue one until he hits the wall hard as well.
With this, she had defeated both spearheads and gained 500, 000 points for her team!
The monk remained speechless as the spearheads who he chose were defeated in two movements. He really had looked down this Xi.
Charlotte looked at the blue observer again and said with her usual innocent and bright smile, "See? Aren't I getting stronger?"
She was looking for some praises.
".....not bad" Khun had to admit it.
Hearing him saying those words, Charlotte made a wider eye closed smile.
Both Bam and Charlotte used to be the most ordinary people in the Test Floor without any power or skills. They were weak and helpless. Without their teammates to shield them, it wasn't hard to hurt them. In fact, it would be a piece of cake to get rid of them.
But now the same girl from the Test Floor smiling towards him with the bright and innocent smile, asking him whether she had gotten herself stronger or not. Her improvement....seemed to be a little too quick.If she was this strong, then how strong would Bam be?
Charlotte began to summon the teammates. Since there won't be any enemy looking for them, she patiently waited them while talking with Khun who responded to whatever she says. Each teammate needed 5 minutes to be summoned and since they were going to summon 4 teammates, it took them 20 minutes to finish.
And after that 20 minutes, Rak, Akraptor, Yeon and Quaetro had came!
Charlotte had defeated the spearheads who she should defeat. Right now, she and the others could go back and waited in the waiting room for the next round.
But on their way to the waiting room, they heard the notification that Mad Dog surrendered and the Team FUG won. Jue Viole Grace left the team along with the four other members. Ron Mei and Varagrav from the Mad Dog Team will be replacing them.
While the others were surprised, Charlotte felt her feelings were mixed again. In one hand, she felt relieved that everything still goes just like what has been written or drawn in the Manhwa but on the other hand, she felt irritated hearing those words that were nothing but lies.
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Rak shouted. "BLACK TURTLE WON'T DO THAT!"
"That's—that's true!" Yeon agreed. "Although he is a bad guy, he would never betray his team!"
"HE'S NOT A BAD TURTLE!"
"HE SURE IS A BAD PERSON!"
"YOU ARE WRONG, DAMN ANGOLA TURTLE!"
"Brother is not that kind of person" Charlotte said to them, especially towards Khun. "It seems like there is something that we don't know about FUG and Mad Dog. Why don't we go to the waiting are first?"
For this once, she was actually being calm. Khun thought that she would also shout and yell like the crocodile and Angola Turtle. He agreed with her words and told the rest to go to the waiting area.
|Waiting Area|
Charlotte left to go to the rest room for awhile. Before she left, she told Khun that she would go to the Video Room to watch about the match.
Inside the rest room, she washed her face with water and then let out a sigh.
In the Manhwa, Bam was tricked by someone to go to look for the thorn. The thorn was said to be the weapon that Enryu, a famous irregular who turned the forty third floor into the Floor of Death, and it was also the weapon to kill the King Zahard. He was lured and trapped there, waiting to be dissolved in that room where the thorn was kept.
Workshop Battle was one of the events where lots of regulars would participate in it. In this event, they could get lots of items as prizes if they won. And the winner for this Workshop Battle was none other than Jue Viole Grace.
Did they think of her brother as a weapon? How dare they. But even though she was irritated, she could only swallow the anger. She can't be the one who ruin the whole story just because of her emotions.
And besides, she can't forget that she was just a mere fake. She can't take Bam as her real brother. Remember, she was Charlotte Everest, not Twenty Fifth Charlotte.
Using this moment, Charlotte decided to think about FUG's plan. Like what Reflejo said in the Manhwa, this was a well-arranged plan.
Luring Khun and his teammates to the Hand of Arlen was the start where if Khun dies, then his friends would sure come to the Workshop Battle as they knew that Jue Viole Grace was there and will avenge the death of their comrades. They made the wager to broke it. They knew that there was no way that their friends won't be able to recognize them. If they were truly friends, then sooner or later they will be able to discover his identity. Since Viole betrayed them first, then it would give them an excuse to melt him into a weapon so that he would be more "obedient". The Mad Dog and FUG who worked together will win this game and then won the prize, Jue Viole Grace.
Such a detailed plan, it must have took quite long time to be arranged. But it was a shame that this long arranged plan was destined to be destroyed and failed. If this kind of plan failed, then Charlotte was sure that it would be a humiliation to whoever arranged this. If she wasn't wrong, the mastermind must be the slayer who has just ascended to his throne, Karaka.
Humiliating a great slayer who has just ascended to his throne, that sounded really fun for Charlotte. But first, she had to go to greet the snake in the Video Room.
|Video Room|
Khun who watched the recording was filled with questions on his hand. But he was even more surprised when someone discovered his real identity.
"Looking for your missing friend, Khun Aguero Agnes?" A voice asked him.
When he looked around, the one who discovered his real identity was none other than the gambler Miya. Miya was half human and half snake with short blonde hair and blue lips, dressed in purple.
"How....do you know my name?"
"I knew it from the beginning, Mask Man" the snake answered. "Because I am one of the gamblers who FUG planted."
"WHAT?!"
"FUG planted three gamblers in this Workshop Battle. I am one of them" she admitted.
"What the-"
Her snake tail moved around and took off his mask, "You guys have been deceived from the beginning. The Team Mad Dog, the other gamblers...they are all hunters planted by FUG to hunt all of you. You don't have to wear this mask again, Khun Aguero Agnes." Lifting her chin high and looked down on her opponent, she added, "After all, your friend will soon fall into eternal slumber."
A fan was thrown toward her in which she dodged successfully and the fan landed on Charlotte's hand, looking at Miya with glare.
"And there I wonder why I don't see you at all, Nox" Miya said.
"Don't act like we are close, snake" Charlotte said to her. "If you want to leave then scram. But if you want to stay here then don't blame me for being ruthless."
"How scary" Miya responded.
"Try me, snake."
Charlotte watched Miya left and then slamming the door before looking at Khun and walked towards him.
"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked. "Did that snake do something to you? Just tell me and I will settle it with that damned snake!"
"I'm fine" Khun answered. "But Bam, he is in danger now."
"If I say that I have a way to bring brother back, then would you listen to me?" Charlotte asked him.
"Do you have a way?"
Charlotte tapped her fan on her palm repeatedly while saying, "If I say that I have the ability to read the future, although it might not be accurate, will you believe me?"