"Well, let the fight begin!" a referee shouted, his voice echoing across the vast training grounds.
From the high balcony, Helios and the twelve leaders of the Seeker organizations—their faces obscured by shimmering runic magic—looked down at the arena. Below, the tension was thick enough to cut.
"Well, children, aren't you going to bring out your summons?" Sara said in a mocking tone, a playful smirk dancing on her lips.
"Who are you calling kids? We are older than you!" the Vis leaders shouted back, their faces flushing with indignation.
In a blur of movement, one member drew a heavy broadsword summon while another unsheathed a jagged dagger summon. The remaining ten Vic leaders stood frozen in a defensive circle, eyes darting, waiting for the slightest opening.
The dagger-wielder vanished, reappearing instantly in Sara's blind spot. He slashed downward, but the world suddenly turned to molasses. Sara's eyes glowed as she exerted her will over the chronos stream.
"How interesting, it's been a while since I've fought Seekers," Sara remarked casually. She stepped gracefully out of the way of the frozen blade, then let time flow normally again.
The Vice-Leaders stumbled forward, hitting nothing but air. He spun around, teeth bared. "You rabbit! Why can't you stay still?"
"Her ability didn't affect us," Helios noted, his voice sounding raspier and more coarse than usual.
"We told you this, Leader," Ray interjected, his gaze fixed on the girl below. "She can control an area's time flow, not the whole world. Only a few Seekers in the Sun and Moon era could almost do that."
The swordsman lunged, swinging his blade in a wide arc. A spiral of blue energy erupted from the steel, screaming toward Sara. Once more, she pinched her pocket watch, slowing the projectile to a crawl and stepping aside with bored elegance.
"It seems like she can't attack, so she's not going to win this," Helios said in a cold, detached voice. His piercing red eyes tracked Sara's every move.
"She's going to win. She hasn't used her spiral energy abilities yet," Nova countered, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Spiral energy abilities?" Helios asked in a questioning voice.
"Yes, spiral energy ability," Riku explained, leaning against the railing. "You can manifest weapons with your spiral energy or do things like putting it on your sword or hand."
Helios watched with renewed interest. "What spiral ability does Sara use?"
"Wait and see," Nova said, his fox mask tilting slightly as he watched the spectacle unfold.
Below, Sara slowed time once more. In her grip, a shimmering blue sword manifested out of pure spiral energy. Reaching up, she undid her blue tie, pulling it from the collar of her suit.
"This thing is suffocating me," Sara said. She tossed the tie toward the ground. In the slowed state, she walked calmly up to the dagger-wielder and delivered a brutal, calculated slash across his chest.
"Can anyone escape her ability if they are stuck in it?" Helios asked, his voice growing even more gravelly.
"Only you have escaped her ability so far, Leader," Nova said, casting a meaningful look at Helios.
When did that happen? Helios thought, a sharp ache hitting his temples. He searched his memory but found nothing but a void.
"It happened when that guy possessed your body, human," Circlet's voice answered inside his head, sounding bored.
In the arena, Sara moved to the swordsman. With two swift flashes of blue light, she slashed his legs off. She exhaled, releasing her grip on her pocket watch.
The two men collapsed instantly, the air filling with their agonized screams.
"Don't be such crybabies. You're Seekers; you can heal the injuries using spiral energy," Sara said in an annoyed voice, looking down at them with a frown.
Grimacing, the two began to channel their energy, their flesh and bone slowly knitting back together. Sara gripped her blue energy sword tightly, her eyes scanning the remaining leaders.
"Anyone else want to fight?" she challenged.
"No! We didn't want to fight from the start!" one person blurted out, his voice shaking.
"Who is so dumb to fight the Goddess of Time?" another added, bowing his head in a respectful voice.
Sara blinked, her sword flickering out of existence. "Then why did you do this?" she asked in a confused voice.
"It was just to convince those two and their organization's leaders, I think. And to see if your leader is strong enough to lead us. You guys didn't want your leader to fight, so we just went with Vic leaders," another explained.
"Boring," Sara muttered, looking frustrated.
She turned and marched off the training grounds, climbing the stairs to the balcony with her tie crumpled in her hand. She brushed a stray strand of long white hair behind her ear as she approached.
"I'm back, Leader," Sara said.
Helios looked at her, and suddenly his face started turning red. He jerked his head away, his long black hair falling forward to cover his face while he was blushing.
"You okay, Leader?" Sara said in a confused voice, leaning in closer.
The twelve Seeker organization leaders stepped forward. "Well, it seems like you are the Alliance Leader," one of them declared.
Helios took a deep breath, forcing his expression back into a mask of cold indifference. "Thank you for letting us win," Helios said, looking at the Leaders.
"We really didn't want to fight. Sorry about that," one of the leaders replied.
"Are you going to remove the rune magic on your faces?" Helios asked.
"Not today, Alliance Leader. Maybe later."
Later that night, Helios stepped out of his car and walked toward the entrance of his mansion. As the doors opened, a small figure greeted him.
"Welcome home, brother," Luna said while smiling brightly.
"You should be sleeping, Moon. Why are you awake?"
"I was just waiting for you," Luna said.
"Go to sleep, Moon. You need sleep to grow up," Helios said, patting her head before walking up the stairs.
Luna watched him go, her crimson eyes glowing faintly in the dim hallway light.
Helios reached his room, changed into his pyjamas, and collapsed onto his bed. Today was a great day, he thought, staring at the ceiling. Then, an image of Sara adjusting her hair flashed in his mind. His face turned bright red once more as he pulled the covers over his head.