[ToG] Muse: Book 1 [Song of the Beginning]

Chapter 6 Naufrageous

The chibis are so cuteeeee (*'ω｀*)

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Naufrageous: in a state of danger or ruin; threatened

In which it's the literal meaning since everyone who participate will be in a state of danger, in a way; I guess.

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The third round will now begin!

"All right! Let's go, triple turtles!"

The other teams were oozing with confidence. Each team had a representative that was confident in their particular ability now that it's only a speed contest to get the crown... Or at least that's what they think.

I have a wand that controls Shinsu

-a rubbery body

-super fast jumps

The three regulars thought to themselves. Just when they thought they had this battle and started to launch their attacks, a strong gust of wind blocked their way along with their vision. The wind soon dissipated, revealing Khun in front of the throne with the crown in his hand. He was wearing a confident smirk, his clothes still slightly ruffling from the wind.

He positioned the crown on top of his head, almost wearing it as he said "Okay, game over... But that wouldn't be interesting~" he finished with a teasing tone before putting the crown into his bag.

"What's that dumb turtle talking about?" Rak asked Bam and Evolet while pointing at Khun.

Both of them sweatdropped, not really knowing what to answer so they just replied, "Who knows?"

Khun flaunted his knife, daring the other teams to attack him for the crown. "Come on. If you beat me, I'll give you the crown."

In that instant, the three regulars from earlier thought of the same thing. 'Jerk! Kill him! I'll beat you into shape!'

They all started attacking one by one. The one with a rubbery body straightforwardly rushed to Khun but was blocked with his briefcase. Bearing the wand, the girl launched a Shinsu attack on Khun. He only turned, opening his bag and letting the Shinsu get sucked into it. The littlest regular with fast jumps tried to assault Khun's leg. Khun dodged with ease, doing a jump flip and landing gracefully on the floor. As soon as he did, he took out a crown from his briefcase and threw it while saying, "This is too much work. Here!"

The crown flipped a few times before it landed on the floor and Khun sat down on the throne. The regulars' attention was already on the crown as Khun said, "Fight among yourselves." with a relaxed tone.

‘Has Khun... always been like this?’ The rest of his teammates thought while watching this unfold with a dumbfounded expression. They could see small devil horns on Khun's head as he smirked nonchalantly, clearly amused yet uncaring of the scenario he caused. However, as the others were fighting; Evolet's expression also changed into that of a smirk. She tugged Bam along with her to the throne where Khun was already waiting for them. When they arrived and Bam had safely taken his seat on the throne, Khun laughed at the regulars that were still fighting mindlessly amongst themselves.

"Oi, oi, you still haven't noticed?"

The others' attention was back on them. The sight they were greeted by was Bam sitting on the throne with Evolet standing behind him and Khun on their left, the crown in his hand. Stares were on the crown in his hand, as the regulars tried to figure out how.

"Blue turtle, you're having all the fun! I'm bored!"

Ah, Rak didn't want to be left out from the fun. Khun only apologized half-heartedly to him before turning back to the regulars. In Shibisu's team's room, Shibisu himself was watching the game with fascination. He started breaking down Khun's plans, explaining it to the other two in the room that weren't really listening to him, the tension still heavy from what had occurred earlier. Khun threw the crown to Bam who fumbled over it before it ended up in Evolet's hand who just shook her head in fondness over Bam's clumsiness. Khun opened his bag and flipped it, countless duplicates of the crown falling from the upside down briefcase.

"Abracadabra, it's the fun and amazing duplicating magic bag."

The regulars could only stare in wonder, not able to comprehend what was happening. It was only after there was a pile of crowns in front of Khun, that the bag stopped duplicating it. Khun shook the briefcase for good measure before holding it at his side, a hand on his waist with a relaxed posture. The fake crowns crumbled into dust before their own eyes. The others' protests were ignored as Khun climbed up to sit on the large throne's armrest. In rage, the regulars teamed up for the moment to charge at Khun. They were pushed back by the laughing crocodile-man who was happy to finally get some action as he screamed out "Don't touch my prey!"

Rak threw his spear toward the regulars with amazing speed and power, leaving a trail of wind and dust when it pushed the regulars away. The spear embedded itself deep into the wall, making a crack. All of the opposing teams were on the floor, unable to fight anymore.

"Stupid turtles." Rak said with a finality in his words.

Khun nodded to Evolet and she repeated the action before she proceeded to crown Bam. Bam looked up to Evolet who was grinning.

"That's one victory, my king." She had said it half-jokingly, half-serious. Bam hurriedly hunched his head, trying to hide his full on blushing face. Khun was staring at Evolet with an unidentifiable look on his face. Bam scooted over, making some space for Evolet to sit so that she was sitting between Bam and Khun. Then Evolet moved her gaze to Khun, suddenly saying that she will take care of the next round herself. All three boys were against it for different reasons.

Hands making a surrendering pose, Evolet tried to convince them. "It's okay. I won't even move from this spot, I promise. Besides, I can't use this skill in the 5th round... So I'd rather use it now than let it go to waste."

Khun raised an eyebrow, tempted to ask why. He didn't need to. Evolet already started explaining it. "It's a... large scale skill. But it's not really fit for situations with a closed area full of people because it can lack mobility at times. Or rather it's more of lack of discrimination honestly..."

Khun stopped her before she could ramble on any further. He took into account what she promised, smirking as he closed his eyes laid down his head on her lap. Like he expected, Evolet didn't show any signs of blush or fluster; only confusion evident on her face. Khun let out an exasperated sigh. "Just to ensure that you keep your promise of not moving."

Hearing that, Evolet only nodded cheerfully since it means Khun allowed her to take care of this round. Rak was protesting at how unfair that only the purple turtle gets to do the action this time all the while munching on the chocolate bars Khun gave him. Bam tried to calm him down, saying that he'll also be able to do so in the last round, all the while keeping an eye on Evolet and Khun.

"Hey, blue turtle. So that bag isn't an infinite chocolate bar dispenser?" Rak asked curiously.

"What kind of limited functionality is that?" Khun retorted, unimpressed.

Bam joined in the conversation. "But a bag that can copy anything is amazing."

"You mean a bag that can also copy." Khun corrected Bam.

Finished eating the chocolate bars and with the next round coming up, Rak stood up and stretched. "You know, you're a real brat, blue turtle."

"What?"

"You really wanted to show off that bag, didn't you?"

"No, idiot. I just wanted to tell that lizard not to underestimate us."

Bam was touched by what Khun said. It was only a moment after that Lero Ro announced the start of the fourth round. Evolet stiffened, eyes already darting around to see how many teams were participating. Only two teams were out of their room. Evolet breathed a sigh of relief since it was only two teams. Bam was watching in worry. Khun was just waiting to see what Evolet would do. Rak was antsy, raring to get some action.

As one team was trying to make an alliance with the other team to beat them, Evolet closed her eyes in concentration before snapping it open and she looked up. Seeing that, Khun also moved his attention in the same direction. What he saw was a single Baang, albeit bigger than normal and it seemed unsteady. He didn't have any time to register how, as Shinsu rushed out of the baang and flooded the room. The teams that went out were having difficulties to move in the dense Shinsu, trying to swim but to no avail. Their own team was safe, inside a dome Evolet made beforehand so that they didn't get flooded by the Shinsu. The three of them were impressed, they didn't know Evolet was capable of this. But she wasn't done just yet.

She raised up her hand to the front, as if holding something up; then she muttered it faintly that only Khun and Bam could hear it.

「Come, Amos.」

The space distorted in front of them. A white armored eel slowly swam out of the distorted space, making the regulars widen their eyes out of shock. They know they were doomed. Inside his lighthouse, Lero Ro stood up abruptly and banged the keyboard with his hands. He hadn't expected an Anima to show up, and how was she able to control a white armored eel when she's still an F level regular? Questions were swirling through Lero Ro's and the regulars' head; with the exception of the two teams that are currently screaming for all they're worth. Evolet cracked a smile, joyful to meet Amos once more. Amos also seemed happy to be able to swim in Shinsu. Sighing at the regulars' scream, Evolet asked if Amos would be willing to deliver them back to their rooms.

"Amos, would you be kind enough to send them back to their respective team rooms?"

Amos nodded, maneuvering through the Shinsu expertly as he whipped the regulars back to their cubes with his tail. After that was done, Evolet praised him and the Shinsu in the room slowly receded as Amos disappeared back to the distorted space without a trace. The regulars were still staring in shock, the teams from earlier probably traumatized. Bam was the first one to break the silence, saying how amazing Evolet was. Rak also reacted after that, insisting that he needed to fight against Amos. His request was promptly refused by Evolet who didn't want Amos to get hurt. Khun smirked, this was getting so interesting. What other secrets are they hiding, what else are they capable of? He definitely picked the right people to go up the Tower with.

Getting up from Evolet's lap, he took out the handkerchief that had previously slipped through his hair and changed his hairstyle to that of a ponytail. He was going to reveal his trump card in the last round, he wants to go up the Tower with this team. And soon enough, the fifth round started. The first move was made by a girl wearing a unitard and a mask. She skillfully handled her dual-bladed gold long staff, getting rid of the other teams near her efficiently. Khun's trump card, or rather the team he made a deal with put up a good fight but... So much for his trump card. Now only three teams were left standing; Bam's team, the team from the other location, and the unitard girl's team. Holding her bloodied staff, the girl looked at Bam's team. Khun and Rak readied themselves.

"It's coming, Gator!"

"I know!!!"

Rak didn't need to be told. Letting out a battle cry, he parried the attacks from the girl. It didn't even last long as the girl maneuvered cleverly, almost hitting Rak on the head if it wasn't for Evolet's Shinsu shield made just in the nick of time. But the girl managed to get past Rak, heading towards the throne where Bam was sitting with Evolet standing protectively in front of him while conjuring up shields here and there to cover Rak and Khun. Evolet clicked her tongue when she saw the girl heading their way. She wasn't the best at combat but... Desperate time calls for desperate measures. Evolet tried her best to evade and block the girl's attack, all the while still maintaining the shields since Rak and Khun were also up against their own opponents. But as the girl's swings became faster and heavier, Evolet was eventually caught off guard. There was an opening near her leg area since she was more focused on her upper body's defense. The girl didn't waste the chance and assaulted Evolet's left calf with a solid swing.

The girl expected Evolet to falter, and she did. What she didn't include into her calculations was that Evolet only faltered for a moment but she didn't fall. Evolet immediately launched a counterattack, making a Baang and propelling the girl with a stream of Shinsu. The girl had also managed to deliver a final attack to Evolet's right shoulder in the nick of time as she was pushed away to a distance but not reaching the wall, skidding to a stop soon enough. Bam was staring at Evolet with worry, Black March in his hands but not knowing what he could do to help without dragging Evolet down. Evolet wasn't minding any of her injuries almost as if they weren't there, still in a stance for attack. The girl once more rushed back to her, but to Evolet's surprise; a cloaked girl from the unknown location team repelled the attack and fended off the girl. Her cloak had fallen off in the process, revealing a short brown haired girl with striking yellow eyes.

After that the teammates of the brunette also went to the throne, both standing near it yet not showing any intentions of stealing the crown. One of them even stated it explicitly. Bam raised up a bit from his spot behind Evolet when he heard the cloaked member talking, familiar with the voice.

"Rachel?" He asked hopefully.

No reply. Bam was about to ask again, but his view was blocked by the bigger team member that was standing between them menacingly. Meanwhile, Khun and Rak were having a conversation in the midst of their battle; coming to a conclusion that the other team wasn't interested in the crown to say the least.

Evolet's attention was averted to the unitard girl once more as she heard a scream from the brunette whose shoe heel just broke. The girl was heading their way. Evolet readied a rather decent sized shield with the intent of protecting Bam fully without moving from her spot. But to her shock, the girl switched directions abruptly and aimed for the cloaked member. Widening her eyes, Evolet tried to cast a shield. The girl was faster, the gold staff hitting the cloaked girl's head; making the hood fall and revealing that it was indeed Rachel.

As the girl prepared to strike again, Bam leapt off of the throne; frantic to reach Rachel and protect her. Khun and Rak watched in horror of what Bam just did, shouts of don't. Evolet couldn't reach far enough when Bam's sleeves slipped out of her range. She wasn't fast enough to conjure another shield with how this was going and as her panic rate shot up; mouthing a desperate NO when Bam jumped between the firing line and the Shinsu inside him was going rampant. It all happened so suddenly; but when one end of the staff connected with Bam's head, something inside the both of them snapped. The Shinsu inside Bam raged, going out of control as it attacked the girl who injured Rachel; blinding the participants momentarily with its light. Still, Evolet always knows where Bam is. So she reaches out to him, suppressing his Shinsu down and making a temporary seal on it, with all her might despite how she was also trying to restrain the bloodlust inside her. She couldn't go out of control here, not when Bam was already doing that.

When the light died down, Evolet was cradling Bam to her chest; both unconscious on the floor. The unitard girl's mask broke, revealing wavy red hair and an injured eye from the Shinsu outburst as she screamed in pain. The crown had crumbled away from the same Shinsu outburst. And the Crown Game ended without a winner. Only one question went through everyone's mind.

What... did they do?

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A/N:

Yeah so... I was actually planning to split the story into several books and make it a series, as you can see from the previous title "Book 1". Yep, that idea just went out of the drain. Simply because I think the contents will be too short per book. I'll consider separating it into series when it gets too long. And I just realized in a way this story is slow burn. Note the "in a way", cus it's mostly because Eve is dense and unaccepting of her own feelings. It will last until like... the end of The Hidden Room arc. That's when most of Evolet's secrets, situation, etc. will be revealed. You, or rather we are in for a long run. Happy reading peeps :D

P.S.: Almost forgot but I'll change the cover, later :v dunno when I'll have time, but sometime :D