"Oh? Edward! I was really worried about you. I'm really relieved to see you well."
Dylan smiled at me.
Obviously, none of his words were coming from his heart.
I closed my eyes and tried to calm down my desire to beat him up.
How would the Edward of the game handle these kinds of problems?
I tried to guess how the Edward of the first game would react.
Not the one in the second game who was completely insane.
But the Edward of the first game after he joined Ante-Eden. For me, it was the best version of Edward.
Once I became calm, I opened my eyes.
"I'm also glad to be back, huh… what was your name again?"
When I asked with a questioning gaze, Dylan's expression distorted.
The audience and both our teammates had an awkward look.
"My apologies. I know you are one of the guys following Miranda around like a dog, but I forgot your name."
I raised both my hands and sighed.
I could see Jayden and Tyler dumbfounded at my insolent way of speaking.
Sorry guys, but I can't 'act' like a good noble with a guy like him..
"Edward…."
Dylan's smile wasn't there anymore, much to my great pleasure.
"Where's Miranda, by the way? She's probably missing me."
I cupped my hand over my forehead, seemingly looking for Miranda.
On a side note, I already knew where she was, but since she was looking scarily at me, I avoided her gaze.
"I will humiliate you here, Edward."
Dylan spat hatefully.
"L-Let's start."
Theo interrupted.
He was going to be the referee.
In his hand was a silver ball.
"Edward's team will start since they are at a disadvantage."
At least he is declaring that I am clearly at a disadvantage.
"Hmph. He could have a hundred teammates, and he wouldn't win against me."
Dylan snorted.
I ignored him and took the ball.
It was neither heavy nor light.
I played with the ball as Theo spoke about a few more details.
"I repeat, it's a friendly match."
"Why are you looking at me?"
Dylan was irritated by Theo's intense stare.
"You know why, Dylan. Remember who his father is."
"I don't have any shitty bounds with that shitty father, so you can go all out."
I cut off Theo and smiled at Dylan.
"Edward it's-"
"Referee, you are speaking too much. Look, they are getting impatient."
I pointed at the grumpy spectators.
Theo gritted his teeth and stepped back.
I smiled and stepped a few meters back.
A tiny film of my mana enveloped my palm holding the ball.
The ball could now float and wouldn't leave my grip as long as it was in contact with my palm or had my mana imprinted on it. I could easily control the ball, probably because I had great control over my mana, but the problem was my bracers and boots, which enabled me to float. It was difficult to understand the mechanism behind the two artifacts, so I had a hard time moving around.
Theo raised his hand.
I enhanced all my senses and prepared myself.
My teammates, who were finally all there, did the same, but some were already dead before even starting.
"Start!"
I put mana in my boots and jumped.
In a second, Dylan was before me.
I swirled around to go past him, but with his left hand, he struck the ball out of my grip.
"Tch."
The ball flew away for a second before Tyler caught it.
My teammates rushed over, or more like floated awkwardly, and attacked him with their elements.
Seeing fire, water, and wind type attacks reaching him, Tyler smirked and raised his free hand.
"Heracles!"
Tyler's bloodline ability caused me to narrow my eyes.
His legacy/ blessing was inherited from Heracles.
His strength will now increase.
The bracers on his arms shone, and a transparent dome appeared around Tyler. The bracers were engraved with barrier runes. All of us could activate it but it had a cooldown of ten minutes. We could use the braces twice because we had two of them. Any elemental attacks will be repelled and protected by the barrier. To cancel it, you have two choices. The first was through brute force, and the second was using his bracer to cancel another one.
"Too easy."
Dylan snickered.
I put mana in my boots and flew…or I tried.
"Fuck!"
I lost my footing and fell slowly to the ground.
If you fall to the ground, you will be penalized for two minutes.
It was my first time wearing these boots or participating in this sport!
It was normal.
"Jayden! Here!"
Tyler dodged three of my teammates and threw the ball at Jayden.
"Gotcha!"
Jayden rose in the sky and caught the ball.
Then sparks of lightning sizzled around him.
At that moment, I knew he was going to score.
With a 'swoosh' Jayden disappeared in a trail of lightning.
A crackling sound rang out, and silence fell on the field.
"Three points for team A!"
Theo shouted.
I looked at Jayden while awkwardly regaining my balance.
This guy went through our defense, if you can call that a defense, easily and scored in the red ring.
It was the first time for Jayden and Tyler as well, but they were clearly better at flying and dodging than me.
"Ball for the B team."
I looked at the time.
There were still five minutes.
It was a friendly match, so of course it wouldn't last an hour.
"Isn't it already settled?"
"Yeah, I don't see the B team outscoring the A team."
"Well, Dylan is on the other team after all. It's a little unfair for Edward."
As if I were the cliché protagonist, I could hear all the negative whispers.
[<It'll be hard for you to win.>]
I smiled at Cleenah's words.
'I'm not here to win, Cleenah. What's the probability of success, Jarvis?"
[Less than 0,2 percent.]
'See.'
[<Then?>]
'Then.'
Once reaching the field again, I stretched my limbs with awkward movements since I didn't know how to stabilize midair with the rollerblades.
Dylan guffawed loudly, and even his teammates started to laugh. Only Jayden and Tyler were not.
"I-I'm sorry, Edward…"
I patted my clothes without turning around to face my useless teammates.
"You guys know that you will never be taken, right? Maybe the girls, but it will be just limit."
I threw the harsh truth at them.
Even if you don't play a good match, as long you show talent, you could be chosen but you will be apart from the elite teams and I…will never accept that.
"Y-Yeah…"
They bowed their heads.
"If it continues like that, I will be out because of you guys."
I continued as I fixed my clothes.
Yeah, there was no way in hell I would accept that.
"Y-Yes, that's why w-we are sorr-"
"I don't need your apology."
I cut him off.
"You see those guys laughing at you."
I pointed with my head at the useless first years on the other side. They were all already winners thanks to Dylan, Jayden, and Tyler.
I didn't need to turn around to see my teammates angry and annoyed.
"Don't you want to at least destroy their dream before leaving?"
"...."
"I will take that as a 'yes'. The plan is simple."
I smiled.
[<What a twisted smile you have…>]
I ignored Cleenah and told them my instructions.
….
"So Edward? Do you think a last-minute plan will help you make your team win?"
Dylan's teammates laughed again at his words.
These guys weren't even third-rate villains; they were literally mobs.
"My bad, Dylan, I just told them about my previous dates with Miranda because they were quite curious."
"..."
Dylan glared at my teammates, who could just shake their heads in denial.
"Enough yapping, Dylan. Are you the senior here or am I?"
"Shut it!"
"Start!"
At Theo's cue, I grasped the ball firmly and rushed.
I still had a hard time moving.
It was like I was zigzagging because of my inexperience.
No; it wasn't 'like' as I was definitely zigzagging because of my inexperience.
Since I couldn't really stabilize my stance, I chose to ignore it and take advantage of my awkward movements.
"It's over!"
Dylan rushed at me and stretched out his hand to take the ball from me.
I took a step backward, but I let myself purposely fall.
As I fell, I could see Dylan's dumbfounded face.
I was a newbie, and it was hard to recover balance when falling upside-down with my feet above my head.
"You!"
As expected, he noticed.
One of my teammates went below me and caught me.
We both fell to the ground…no I didn't fall, since my kind mate used his body to keep me off the ground.
I looked up while standing on my mat…mate.
All the A team's dumbfounded gaze was on me now.
I was getting too much attention to my despicable act, so they couldn't look elsewhere.
"H-Hey!"
"What?!"
Jayden and Tyler shouted in shock.
Dylan turned around and saw two girls hugging Jayden and one girl hugging Tyler.
When my girls' friends tightly hugged their bodies to their own, Jayden's and Tyler's faces turned red.
Especially Tyler, who froze with a dumb expression.
"!"
I threw the ball at the back of Dylan's head, and it rebounded toward me.
"Where are you looking, senior?"
Dylan turned around and glared at me furiously.
"Y-You! It's underhanded!"
I smiled and rushed to the red ring, guarded only by Dylan's useless teammates.
"Like hell I wil-"
"""Stop!"""
"The remaining three guys on my team overloaded their bracers with their mana and jumped at Dylan."
Dylan panicked when he saw the bracers shining.
An overloaded bracer isn't dangerous, but its effect can overturn a game.
I closed my eyes.
With a 'boom' a bright light engulfed the field.
Nobody could see anything.
"Falkrona Bloodline ability, Celeritas First Wing."
My thoughts accelerated, and my memory of all the people in the field and their locations became fresh again in my mind.
Filling my right boot with mana, I jumped high.
After punching and kicking all the useless guys one by one, I stopped in front of the red ring.
The light faded away.
Only the girls of my team were still floating while still hugging the blushing Jayden and Tyler.
Dylan was there as well.
There were only seven of us in the field now.
"It's a shame, senior."
Dylan turned around, and his face warped in shock as I spun the ball on my index finger.
"Y-You used your own teammates!"
Dylan pointed below me to where my teammates were slumped, exhausted.
Overloading a bracer with mana was not dangerous, but it could lead to disqualification, since the bracer would cease functioning after that and you could also lose control of mana.
"I didn't lose, at least."
It was my first time playing this sport. It was, of course, a friendly one, so it wasn't really intense, but it was fun.
It was fun seeing Dylan's frustrated expression...
I glanced at the clock on the scoreboard.
[Team A 3 VS 0 Team B]
10…
9…
8…
I threw the ball inside the red ring amid the lingering silence around me.