After a lunch break, everyone waited excitedly as the climax of the tournament was upon them.
"Mannnn, I wish it was us!"
Bennet slumped back on his seat between Kitayuu and Hu Tao.
"Hehe, maybe you should have trained harder," Hu Tao teased.
Bennet stuttered, "B-but I was up a-against Keqing!"
He blushed as he looked down, twiddling his fingers, "Did I at least do well?"
Hu Tao put a finger on her chin and looked up, thinking to herself, "Hmmmm, why?"
"W-well, remember your promise"
"Ehh, you see... You didn't exactly beat Keqing..."
Bennet jumped up, now starting to get impatient, "Oh, come on! You never said I had to win!"
Hu Tao smirked, "Oh fineeeeee, I guess we could have dinner together..."
Bennet's eyes lit up with excitement. Meanwhile, Kitayuu shifted as far as he could, and Barbara rolled her eyes in annoyance, "When will he stop?"
Bennet dashed in front of Hu Tao and leaned in very close, "YOU REALLY MEAN IT!?"
Hu Tao started playing with her hair and bit her lip, "Yeah, together with your friends at the post-tournament dinner!"
Bennet fell back in defeat, whilst Hu Tao burst out laughing. Kitayuu didn't notice and was deep in thought, 'I have no idea how to tap into that power again... was that fight with Raiden just a fluke?"
He tried searching deep and closing his eyes, but he wasn't getting anything. Kitayuu sighed in disappointment as Bennet slouched in his seat with equal disappointment.
Down in the waiting room, Raiden stood surrounded by chairs and tables that had been shredded into small bits like sand.
The moment he heard the door handle turn, he fired a wind blade at it that was quickly caught in his own mother's palm.
Ei looked around the room and dispersed the wind blade by closing her fist gently, "You do know that I will have to pay for the furniture that was destroyed here, right?"
Raiden didn't reply; all he did was stand frozen in place. He couldn't even look at Ei, but his eyes were wide with fear and anger.
"Do you really think you can beat that girl?" Ei said as she circled around him.
Raiden's jaw tightened, and Ei felt his fists clench as his energy started spiking.
"You also do realise that you almost killed that Kitayuu boy. If I had not come in, then he would be dead by now because of you"
Although he couldn't express anything out loud, Raiden's mind was in chaos, 'And so what? I came here to win, I don't care about Kitayuu, no one does! He's just wasted potential standing in my way. In fact, all of them are just piles of rat shit!'
Raiden looked angrily at the doorway as he saw Ei's back facing him as she was leaving the room.
'I will beat Keqing and show everyone here, including you, that I will become the strongest one day. You will admire me, you will respect me, and you will fear me as I do to you now!'
Before taking one last step out of the room, Ei stopped in her tracks and waited for a while. Raiden stood still, staring at her backside and waited for her to turn around and say something,
"I hope you don't disappoint..."
Without another second, the Raiden Shogun stepped out and headed back to her seat, just in time for the final two contestants to walk their way out.
