Chapter 896: The Plan Begins
"And the winner is... The Frost Dragon Squad!"
As the host made this announcement, O'jog looked at the two unconscious Dragons-both of whom had given him a rather close fight.
Closer than he had faced in an extremely long while.
'Did I go too far?' He wondered, watching as they were whisked away in spine boards by the paramedics specially prepared for the event.
O'jog knew they would be fine. After all, unless a contestant was dead-which was against the rules-the healing technology and Magic that they had was enough to resuscitate anyone in due time.
Still... he couldn't help but feel a little bad for going overboard.
'And then there's those two...' He eyed the female Dragons that followed the paramedics as they exited the stage. 'They weren't defeated by D'aru and L'ester, but instead surrendered after R'ai and Luc'ia were defeated.'
Their decision was very logical, considering the fact that the two of them couldn't win against the Frost Dragon Squad on their own-not when O'jog had defeated their young dark horses.
'Still, I expected some hesitation or animosity before and after they surrendered...'
But neither was the case.
They simply walked past O'jog and left the stage-almost as if they were in a hurry. "Ahh... how embarrassing! Our first fight for the day and we ended up being unable to defeat our opponents." D'aru interrupted O'jog's thoughts with his loud voice.
He didn't have the usual cheerfulness that previously dripped from his lips anytime he spoke. It was obvious that he was quite frustrated and a little angry that he had fought a battle like that-one that didn't involve him winning.
"I didn't expect the White Dragon Squad to have people who matched us in strength." L'ester added with a grumble.
Even the usual emotionless L'ester was upset.
"Was it just me, or did it honestly feel like they were leading us on... like they weren't using their full power during the fight?" He added.
"What?" D'aru glanced at his comrade in surprise. "How is that even possible?"
"I... don't know."
At this point, the calm Dragon General wasn't so composed any longer. "Forget it. Forget I said anything."
O'jog remained quiet as he looked at the two, and then reflected on a lot of things by himself. He didn't think that the two students were holding back on him-not that it was possible, to begin with. However, something about their defeat felt too easy.
'Is it because I used the [Divine Growth]? Or maybe... they were out of energy? Yeah... that actually makes a lot of sense.'
With a heavy sigh, he decided to take his mind off the strange fight he had with the White Dragon Squad. As soon as he heard the host announce the next team, he prepared himself to go back to his usual routine,
And if anyone dared to break him out of the streak again... they would regret it.
"... BEGIN!" The host's voice rang out, and as the enemy team scrambled in their organized formation, doing their best to take out him and his teammates, O'jog scoffed slightly and shot them a cold look with his blue eyes.
Just like the others, they were going to fall through the aid of a single move.
'[Perfect Expansion].'
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After applying the emergency treatment for the two patients, and supervising the visit of their teammates, the nurses and doctor finally left the Infirmary in order to watch the next match and attend to any injuries that were bound to be incurred.
As a result, Rey and Lucielle's room soon became empty.
"Looks like the coast is clear!" Rey beamed, rising from his bed as he shifted his gaze to Lucielle, who was also doing the same.
"Whew! I was wondering when they would leave." She smiled back.
They both chuckled, albeit not too loudly.
"I don't know why, but Kat'erin and Shai'ya are standing outside. Are they guarding us while we rest, or waiting for us to recover so they can visit? I have no idea..." Lucielle smiled, turning towards Rey.
"Looks like our seniors really care about us."
He returned those words with a funny look, shaking his head as he silently made an evaluation of what was happening.
'I expected those two to sustain injuries and lose as well, but they just surrendered after we
lost.'
As a result, they were going to be supervising Rey and Lucielle, and that could be bad depending on how one looked at it. If they walked into the room at any time, it could jeopardize the plan that had been in the making for months.
'But... what if they were in the infirmary with us and ended up recovering much faster? Wouldn't that also give rise to the same problem? I see that now...'
He had thought everyone would have their private rooms, but it seemed a large space was dedicated to each Squad, so the two Dragon girls would have been nuisances anyway-not that they couldn't be dealt with one way or the other.
It seemed Lucielle read his mind, because her next statement assuaged him of his fears.
"The doctor ordered that they not disturb our rest, so I don't think they'll be barging in
anytime soon."
"Hm. You're right."
"Besides, we'll be leaving the Dragon Continent after your super secret mission, right? By the time they even start suspecting what's going on, we'd already be long gone."
Once again, Lucielle wasn't wrong.
Rey still wasn't sure how long it would take for them to properly set up the Magic within the Chamber of Ancients and teleport Alicia home, but he already had an estimate in mind, and they were still within schedule.
'After this is the battle of the Lords, and I'm sure it will take quite some time...'
"We should start leaving now." Rey jumped to his feet, stretching a little before burning up his current attire to reveal his dark cloaked outfit-courtesy of Emil.
Lucielle did the same, albeit with Magic.
"How?" She asked.
"How else?" In that moment, space around them distorted, and Lucielle felt herself being pulled towards Rey and away from the infirmary.
"Hang tight."
He held onto her, and the swirling blue and black spatial vortex quietly danced around the two
of them-concealing her blushing smile from view.
A few seconds later, they had completely vanished from the room.
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
The plan is now officially underway! What will happen from this point on? We can only
speculate!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and anticipate this Arc's conclusion.