"You'll all spar!" Lucius exclaimed, his voice ringing directly through our heads as everyone's expression turned with excitement. Izame looked back. "Are you excited for this? Why are you grinning?"
"Uh... no," I replied with a nervous expression.
"Then why are you getting nervous? I always knew you were a psychopath," she sighed. Where she stood not even a second ago was suddenly empty.
SLAP!
"Ow!" Suddenly, my head got smacked from behind, leaving me leaning over from the strong recoil. As I turned around, holding the back of my head, I saw nobody behind me. Turning back around in confusion, I was met with Izame bent over to the right, grinning and waving.
"This woman..." I muttered, visually irritated. I closed my eyes, but caught a quick glance of her making a mocking face, sticking out her tongue. My eyes were now fully shut. I took a deep breath and opened them, staring at Izame—her back now turned to me—with absolute hatred, like she had committed an atrocious crime against me.
TAP TAP. A hand tapped my right shoulder. I reverted my gaze and looked to my right.
"You good, Silver?" Makoto asked in confusion.
"What do you mean? Everything's great!" I looked back in front of me and balled up my fists. "It's better than ever, actually," I replied with an ominous grin across my face.
"Totally. If you say so," Makoto smiled. SIGH... (Yeah, Izame definitely pulled another prank on him,) Makoto thought in his mind, letting out a stressed sigh.
"Now, I will explain all the rules set out for this tournament! First, you must disarm your opponent to be claimed victor. Second, you will have a 5-minute time limit to defeat your opponent. And third, I suggest you do anything to WIN! Now, PREVAIL MY STUDENTS!" Lucius declared with pure passion.
"Alright, calm down there. You're getting too passionate—you're not even fighting! But you know who is? SILVER VS MAKOTO!" Soul shouted out loud.
"And he said I'm too passionate?" Lucius questioned.
"Now for the fourth rule," Nemu ordered. "You can pick any weapon we have placed in the armory. Since we are all connected, we'll be able to spectate through both of the fighters' eyes via psyche manipulation, but do not worry—you will not be able to feel one another's pain because it's just a simple connection through which we can communicate and see out of. I will now put you in a visual channel, but I'll separate the fighters so you can only see from their eyes and not speak to them, nor can they hear you. Now, Silver and Makoto, make your way to the armory, choose your weapon of choice, and make your way back onto the field to begin."
As they both walked off behind me, I turned around, placing my hands parallel to my mouth, and yelled, "You both better give it your all!"
Silver smiled, turning around as he pointed at Makoto and yelled back, "Izame, you should tell that to Makoto cause you know I will!"
As he spun back into place, I got a glimpse of both of their joyous smiles. That was the happiest I've seen Silver in a while over these past few years. I couldn't help but look at Yuki and smile, as she beautifully did back.
"Is something wrong, Izame?" she asked me.
"No, why do you ask?" I wondered, replying back.
"Because you're crying," she said with a comforting smile, as I felt a stream of tears wash all over my face.
"No, I'm just..." SOB... "...so happy, you know?" I replied to her.
Just as I thought that memorable moment was over, I heard a yell: "Silver's going down!"
It was Makoto, staring into the sky as he placed his arm around Silver's shoulder. I took a quick glance as they entered the building; Silver put his arm around Makoto's shoulder in return.
"We'll see about that," he said, his gaze shifting to Makoto as Nemu switched his communication channel and moved the rest of us to the visual channel.
PITTER-PATTER... Upon entering the building, they walked straight ahead through the long, narrow hallway, footsteps echoing as they still held onto one another as a way of showing respect. As we watched them enter the armory, both Silver and Makoto let go of one another and went their separate ways.
Lucius's orders echoed in my mind: "When you've entered the armory, choose whichever weapon you'll fight with."
I looked around the room, filled to the brim with all kinds of weapons. I knew this academy was pretty huge, but I didn't expect the armory to be this massive! My face began to flush with excitement—it felt like there were endless choices!
"Let's see, what weapon should I choose?" I pointed to every weapon, naming all of them: "Swords, spears, guns, knives..." With each name, I got more excited until I got to the last one. "And... the best of them all: SCYTHES!" Just by looking at it, you could tell it was meant to reap souls.
"Geez, Silver, stop staring at the scythe like a psycho," Makoto stated, letting out a heavy sigh.
Regaining my composure, I replied with a chuckle, "Calm down, I'm just having fun."
"I know he can't hear me, but can he relax?" Izame groaned through the channel.
"It looks like Silver's finally losing it," Lucius added, slightly concerned.
"Haha! It looks like he just really likes scythes," Soul laughed.
SCHWING! I unsheathed the scythe from its stand. "Anyways, what weapon will you pick?" I asked.
He walked past me, taking a good look around. "I've decided." CLINK! He picked up an ornate spear. "I'll take this spear," Makoto declared.
"Good choice, it fits you," I commented, looking over. "But before anything, I've at least gotta try mine out once," I said, my eyes widening as I adjusted my grip on the scythe, proceeding to spin it around my arm and wind up a slash.
"WHAT IS HE DOING?!" Everyone in the channel collectively screamed.
Makoto turned around and spotted me mid-swing. "SILVER, DON'T!" he yelled, launching forward in an attempt to stop my swing, but before he could, I swung.
FWOSH!
A strong gust of wind blasted forward, hitting Makoto head-on. THUD! The sheer force knocked him straight off his feet and onto the hard ground.
"Woah, this thing is pretty good!" I exclaimed.
Makoto scrambled back up. "PHEW..." came the others' collective sigh of relief. "I'm surprised you didn't break anything, idiot," Makoto said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"You just gotta trust me, man," I giggled as I looked back at him.
"NO ONE TRUSTS YOU!" they yelled in perfect sync, including Makoto.
"Alright, my bad. I apologize." I walked forward, turned around, and bowed.
"Relax, it's fine," Makoto stated.
"No it isn't! You know I would be having to pay for them right now!" Lucius boldly declared.
"Sounds like you're struggling financially," Yuki teased softly.
Lucius went dead silent.
"He's quiet cause he knows it's true!" Soul cackled.
"I can't even reply..." Lucius muttered.
AHAHAHA! Yuki and Soul laughed.
"Let's head out, Makoto." I gestured my hand toward the exit.
He nodded back. "Yeah."
Walking through the hallway in silence, we made it outside. As we both walked out onto opposite sides of the track field, standing directly across from one another, I turned left and stared for a second. "Is it just me, or can I barely see our supervisors from here?"
"This field is just massive," Makoto pointed out, standing across from me. "I wouldn't even try."
"You're right about that. But why did you bring a training sword?" I asked.
"I'm of course not gonna use it to fight, but I was thinking about using it as the cue since we have no one to count," he said, holding the wooden training sword in his hand.
"Good idea," I replied.
SWOOSH!
Makoto threw the wooden sword high into the air. "I'll throw it up, and when it hits the ground like this—" he paused— CLACK! the wooden sword tumbled through the air and landed flat against the track.
Walking over, Makoto bent down, snatched the wooden sword back up from the track, and turned back around. He strode back to his original spot directly across from me, gripping the hilt firmly. Pointing the tip of the sword directly at me, Makoto declared, "It's on!"
With a sharp flick of his wrist, he hurled the wooden training sword straight back up into the sky with incredible speed. FWHHH-SWOOSH!
STOMP! We both quickly dropped into combat stances.
"No hard feelings, correct?" he questioned.
TICK... TOCK... My mind slowed down. The airborne sword fell as if in slow motion. As I stared, I answered, "Of course not."
"It's finally about to start!" Yuki squealed with excitement.
As the sword got midway to the ground, aligning with him, I saw Makoto's grin and I saw Silver's grin.
THUD!
The sword landed right side up, edged deep into the track.
WHOSH! WHOSH!
We both immediately dashed in. In this slow-motion-like state my mind was in, I spotted a single raindrop in front of me. (Is it starting to rain...?)
KA-BOOM!
A blinding bolt of lightning struck, deafening the arena. Before being blinded for a mere second, I got a glimpse of it impaling the sword right between us.