The Azure Phantom King

And so it begins

"Is that everyone?" Asked Edward. "Yes sir!" we said. I looked at Zelo who had the biggest smile on his face. Before we gathered here, he told me that he would become an Elite and isn't taken no as an answer. "I'll become the strongest Elite out there! No one's gonna stop me from becoming one, and if they do, let's just say they'll regret doing so!" The words lingered in my head. Zelo is really determined to become an Elite. With that kind of determination, no doubt he'll become one. "Eckhardt!" Edward exclaimed. "Huh?" I said with a blatant look on my face. "Did you hear what I said?" He asked. Everyone's eyes fell on me. "Um.." I looked to Zelo for an answer. He just looked at me and laughed. I gave him a glare that said: "Remember this."

He chuckled and covered his mouth when Edward turned his attention to him. "And what would be so funny?" He asked Zelo who was looking down. "Oh...I just remembered an old joke," he lied. "Oho? Indulge me," Edward said in menacing tone. Zelo fell silent. Edward sighed. "If all your gonna do is play around, get out," Edwarned warned. Zelo and I looked down in shame. "As I was saying, for the first test, you must hit at least 5 targets with a killing blow with a ranged weapon of choice.

If you do not have one, we will provide you with one," Edward said. Everyone took out their ranged weapon. "Is everyone ready?" Edward asked. We nodded. "Good! Zelo your up first." "Eh? Why?" Zelo complained. "Oi. Who's the one goofing off?" Edward reminded.

"Hmph."

Zelo walked behind the line. There were 20 targets set up and he need to at least hit 10 in 10 seconds,, while moving. "Your time starts when yo-" Zelo had begun shooting. He shot targets left to right until he ran out of arrows. "Gah!" He exclaimed. He had shot 15 targets and he had 4.24 seconds left. "Good job Zelo. You have the highest score right now." Edward complimented. "Anyone wanna change that?" Edward asked the group. I looked at the group and they all had the same expression: Surprised. I've known Zelo for 17 years.

We've been rivals and best friends since. I respected his skills and he respected mine. I saw the smirk on Zelo's face. He probably wants to laugh in their faces, but he had some respect. I chuckled and raised my hand. "I'll change that," I said. Zelo cocked an eyebrow and chuckled as well. "Ready?" Edward asked. I nodded. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Those aren't targets. They're enemies. My eyes shot open. I took aim and fired. Aimed and fired. Left to right, they fell. I kept firing and it seemed all my shots hit.

As I reached for another bolt, I couldn't grab anything. I had ran out. Running out of arrows or bolts was the worst thing possible in a ranged fight, but that doesn't mean you ran out of ranged weapons. Quickly I threw my repeater crossbow at a nearby target and it hit it right in the chest. I turned around and there was an impressed look on almost everybody except Edward. "17 hit not including the crossbow throw," Edward said. And you had 4.25 seconds left; .01 higher than Zelo's, and you hit more targets. Good job."

I grinned and walked over to Zelo. "Don't even say it," Zelo said. I chuckled and put my arm on his shoulder. "Y'know, this is exactly why we're rivals and best friends," I told him. "We were best friends ever since we were 5. Only reason we became rivals was because of a test," he said. "Sorry, but I couldn't stand getting a score lower than you," I told him.

"Whatever."

After everyone was done with the range weapon test, we were put together by the girl participants. After everyone was gathered, we were able to choose our team of four. Of course Zelo and I formed a pair. I saw a familiar face in crowd. "Wait right here Zelo," I said. Before he got to say anything, I was already gone. I made my through the crowd to her. "Yo," I greeted. She looked toward my direction and smiled. "Hey, you're the person who gave me directions," she said.

"Ye-"

I felt cold iron at my throat. "What's your business with her?" A menacing voice said. "Onee-san!" The girl exclaimed. In all honesty I was scared brainless. I didn't even sense her presence at all. The person behind me put away the dagger. I put my hand on my throat. "Sorry about that," the girl said. "It's uh...cool?"

"So, you guys are siblings?" I asked crossing my arms. "Yup! Oh, I forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Winter and my sister is Tsukimi." She said. Tsukimi was definitely the oldest. She was tall, had icy blue eyes, short red hair like her sister. She's also very scary.

"You guys are polar opposites," I said. Both of them giggled. "We get that a lot," Tsukimi said. "Yo, what's taking you so lo- Oho, what do we have here?" Zelo said smugly. "Two beautiful women. I see why you ditched me,eh Eckhardt?" "Shut up Zelo. We need two more team members," I said. "Ah! We were too!" Winter said. "I guess we found our team," said Zelo.

Zelo walked toward Tsukimi. "Hey there pretty." "Huh?" Tsukimi said glaring at Zelo. "Hm? Oh, I was talking to myself," he lied. "Ew, what a narcissist," Tsukimi said and walked away. I laughed as Zelo walked toward me pouting. I sighed. "You have problems," I told him. "I know this." I pat his back. "Get ready. They're about to announce the fight soon." Zelo smirked. "We're going to win this!" Zelo boasted. I smiled, but something feels weird. It was like I was being watched. I started to get a little paranoid. "You alright?" Zelo asked. "Yeah....just spacing out," I replied. I was definitely being watched.