For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

5. The Great Symphony

No one's POV: 

"Well?" the Defender tested, towering over the smaller boy. 

Meanwhile, Alec stared up at him in fear, practically trembling under the taller boy's shadow. A few seconds passed before someone in the crowd raised their voice, startling everyone in the room. 

"Hurry up!" they shouted.

Others began to chime in, too, making Alec even more nervous. 

"Come on!" 

"The ship's about to dock!" 

"I came here for a fight, not a staring contest!" 

"Yeh!" 

The Defender rolled his eyes at the crowd's complaints and lowered his voice so only Alec could hear. "Where's your weapon, little boy?" 

Alec tried to keep his best from his teeth chattering and backed away slowly with his hands raised defensively. "I don't have any weapons." 

"No weapons? How stupid can you be, challenging me to a duel and not having any weapons?" He folded his arms. "That's quite the death sentence, you know." 

Alec's stomach churned. "You were the one who challenged me! Not the other way around!" 

He scoffed. "Yeh, whatever. You better come up with something quick, or else I'll—oof!" 

Something hit the back of his head, causing Alec to jerk back as the Defender rubbed his hand through his spiked hair. A tiny stone leaped along the floor before coming to a stop next to Alec's shoe. Alec looked up as the Defender darted his head back towards the crowd, his face furious. "Who did that?!" 

People in the crowd side-eyed each other, looking around for someone to blame. The defender suddenly spun around and grabbed Alec by the collar of his shirt, raising him from the ground so his toes barely hovered over the floor. 

"That was you, wasn't it?!"

"N-No it wasn't!" he stammered. This guy was stronger than he thought! "Put me down! You're ch-choking me!" 

"That's the idea, pinhead!" he growled.

"Elliot put him down!" someone called from the crowd, causing everyone to turn their heads. They all met the eyes of a girl, her voice strong. "Let him go!" 

Everyone just stared, and didn't know how to react. And then, just like what happened to Alec, the Defender snickered, and lowered Alec back to the ground, though still had his grasp on his shirt. "First a little kid, and now some girl?" He laughed. "What're the odds? It really can't get any better than this!" 

"Leave him alone!" she exclaimed, stepping through her peers to face the Defender head-on. She shoved him away and pulled Alec aside, shielding them both with her staff. "Back off," she said, glaring at the Defender. 

Elliot narrowed his eyes, but chuckled in slight amusement, almost like what he was witnessing was hilarious. "Do you think that your stupid staff is going to stop me?" He flexed his axe, and in a swift motion, he swung it into one of the fallen chairs, chopping the legs clean off. "Your staff will become nothing but bits, so think twice before coming between me, girlie." 

The girl's lip twitched, silent for a moment. Elliot continued to taunt her, smiling wickedly at her. 

"Come on! If you're dumb enough to stand a chance, then try me!" 

Soon enough, the crowd was going wild again, even throwing taunts at the girl themselves. Alec stared around fearfully. If he hadn't confronted the Defender, then none of this would have happened. He glanced towards the door, leading to the deck, and then back to the mage girl beside him. "You don't have to do this," he mumbled to her. "Let's just leave." 

The mage didn't respond, staring hard at the roaring defender. Then, after a few more seconds, the girl raised her voice again. 

"Elliot. I accept your duel!" 

"What?!" Alec verbally exclaimed. "No! You can't!" 

The mage ignored him, and Elliot met her eyes. If you were looking close enough, beyond the surprise on his face, you could see a sliver of hesitation. But put that aside, Elliot's Cheshire grin revealed itself again. 

"Alright then! Let's battle." 

"Hold on!" she said. "I want to make a deal with you." 

Elliot raised his chin, intrigued. 

The girl pressed a hand to her chest. "If I win, you stop this 'arena' at once!" 

"And if I win?" 

"Whatever you want," she replied. "Do your worst." 

"Ha!" Elliot looked around before nodding to her. "Alright. Get in here." 

The crowd started cheering. They were finally getting the fight they came here for! As the mage followed Elliot into the ring, Alec grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Please don't do this."

The girl looked down at him before turning away. Alec tried to reach out to her again, to do something to make her change her decision, but the crowd's hollers drained out his voice. There was nothing else he could do but watch. Unless he... 

No. Or, well...maybe...

There was no time to decide. The duel was starting. 

The ring was small, as the captain's chamber wasn't that huge. But, since the two in the ring were first classes, it seemed to work out. In one corner was Elliot, the defender, holding his dull axe in his hand. In the other was the unnamed mage, wiping her hands on her sweater before holding out her staff, already in stance. As someone in the audience started counting down to zero, Alec hid his eyes. He couldn't watch. 

Someone hit a gong. The duel began. 

Elliot made the first move, grasping his axe as hard as he could before swinging it over his shoulder towards the girl, aiming to miss. The mage dodged the blow, and with the curved end of her staff, latched around the handle of the axe and pulled, pulling the axe along with the defender before throwing him against one of the tables of the ring. Elliot shook his head and looked up at the girl in shock. Or was it amazement? 

But he wasn't about to go down that easy. Jumping back up from the ground, Elliot jabbed the butt of his axe against the girl's stomach. Using her staff, the girl blocked his attempted attack and pushed him back towards the edge of the ring. Elliot, his forehead sweating, bared his teeth. Tightening his grasp on his axe, he aggressively spun it around, aiming straight for her neck!

The mage ducked just in time and tripped the defender over with her staff. His grip on his axe weakened when he fell onto the floor, and it clanked beside him. As he reached for his staff, he pulled back when the mage's staff shoved in front of him. The mage stood over him with a straight face, though her eyes were hard, her breathing heavy. 

"He yielded!" someone shouted from the audience.

"He yielded!" said another. 

Elliot looked around frantically, his face going pale. "W-What? No! No yield!" 

"He yields!" the crowd semi-cheered. "He yields!"

"The mage wins!" 

"Woohoo!" 

Alec looked back up and felt instant relief. He looked around at the audience before looking at the center of the ring. And what everyone said was true! The girl was the only one standing, her staff still centered near the defender's face as he shouted "No fair! Time out! Rematch!" But no one listened and congratulated the mysterious girl. 

As if this commotion was enough to finally grab the attention it needed, a few of the crew members darted down into the captain's chamber and told everyone to get out immediately. With a massive groan, the audience flooded back out into the deck, Alec being pushed along with them. Once out in the open sky, he spun around before spotting the mage and forced his way through to get to her. 

"Hey, wait!" 

As he pushed his way through the crowd and was now finally out in the open, he spun around again. 

She was gone.

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[Word count: 1298 words]