𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 || 𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐱 𝐅! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝟓

➨ You... lost.

The team had just been a split moment too late and you didn't break the crystal in time. Magna did deliver the final blow, but he didn't do it quick enough. Without looking at him, you knew it was going to mess with him for a while afterwards.

"Damn it!" And there it was. A slight crack in his demenor.

The effects of Xerx's spell was wearing down now, and you took a moment to observe the aftermath. Kirsch was on the ground out of commission, for the second time you'd have to guess. Sol was still shook up at the fact that her seamless plan was pulled apart. And Magna... was holding himself together.

The three people you could see from the winning team; Asta, Mimosa and... him. Their fourth guy was missing, maybe he was knocked out somewhere. Wouldn't be surprising but even if that's the case even he'd get to move on in the matches.

As moments passed by, you watched as Mimosa rushed over to Asta who was on the ground, moving in slow motion. You nearly forgot that you did that to him while trying to stop him from doing the inevitable. Or really–winning the match.

"Asta." You called out to him as he sluggishly rolled on the ground. "Sorry, stay still for a second."

The only way that you knew to remove your own effects was to dispel it yourself. Kneeling down next to him, you pressed your hand to Asta's forehead and absorbed the ill mana that was coursing through him. It wasn't like you were healing him, you obviosuly couldn't remove anything else that wasn't inflicted by you. But you bet it was a lot better than letting him sleep it off. Which is really the only other way it could probably wear off.

"All good?"

"Aw yeah!" He jumped up on his feet and flexed his arm. "Sweet, you rock! And hey, you put up a really good fight, throwing my sword like was really risky, I thought I'd miss it!"

He was way more incredible than you think he realized. Aiming that precisely when he couldn't see straight at all. Well, the target was huge so you're sure it aided him. But still. That heavy ass sword was another obstacle.

"Nice job." You congratulated them. "It's earned and you definitely deserved that."

You were more upset at yourself that you couldn't do anything else to get the win.

Then another voice from behind you barked an order. "Who the hell cares? Fix me too."

Xerx.

It was only right. So you did. Making your way back to him on the floor and bending down. The mark was on his stomach so you swatted his own hand away so you could replace it with yours. Similar to the process with Asta, the mana flowed back into you.

"Do I get any congratulations?"

You retracted your hand from his skin. "You should be fine now." You took a step back from him and scanned him over briefly while actively ignoring his question.

He grinned and kicked and pushed himself up off the ground. "Thanks. Now then, would you like some advice from the victors? I can give you so many pointers about where you screwed up."

"I don't think I want to hear it."

"I'll tell ya anyway." He stepped in front of you. "Actually, you weren't that bad. Maybe if your useless ass teamates would've helped a little more you wouldn't be wallowing in your defeat. You actually managed to nearly stop that shrimp from breaking your crystal. Man, I almost thought you were a threat."

If everything that came out of his mouth was going to be an insult was there really any point to stick around much longer? He won. So he's going to drag that around you every chance he gets. It sucks because he actually wasn't all too bad himself. He must've been forced to work together and not alone this time.