When Crossbow Meets Blade

Chapter 25

It has nearly been a week, and all that Wanwan has been doing is giving Ling the silent treatment. All day, she would avoid eye  contact with him. Whenever she accidentally bumps into him, she would just walk away, not even muttering an apology like she always did.

At first, Ling brushed it off like it wasnt a big deal. He would constantly remind himself, "I probably deserved it." But it has happened for too long, he couldnt tolerate it.

It was a fine Saturday morning, and the Oriental Fighters were getting ready to attend their second tournament match. As they assembled in the hall, getting ready their weapons, Ling stared intently at Wanwan, who was either deliberately ignoring him or really didnt notice him. 

"Its about time I approach her about this.." He thought to himself. He decided to ask her after their match in order for them to focus properly.

They made their way down to the arena. When they arrived, they could see other squads entering the arena. Wanwan spotted a familiar figure walking together with 4 other unknown figures.

"Hana? What are you doing here?" Wanwan ran up to the Scarlet Flower, who was surprised.

Hanabi patted her head and smiled. "Here for a match, obviously."

Wanwan wasnt satisfied with her answer. She noticed Hanabi's outfit was different. Instead of her usual red and black kimono and shurikens, Hanabi was wearing a rather modern, mechanical outfit, combined with the colours green, black and purple. On her back were six eerie looking legs, resembling a spider.

Wanwan felt uneasy about this. She looked at the other 4 people behind Hanabi, who were in matching outfits. All mechanical and of the same colours.

"W-where's Hayabusa? And Kagura?" Wanwan asked Hanabi.

Hanabi's face turned dark. She hesitated to answer, her mouth opening and closing. Just then, a short boy approached Hanabi.

"We'll meet you at the training fields, Nephila."

"Yeah, thanks Octopus." Hanabi giggled at the last word.

Harley grew angry at the name he was called , but was dragged away by Vespid aka Angela before he could burst. Hanabi sighed before speaking again.

"Lets just say... things didnt really work out between those two. And the tension between them was so thick, not even I could break it. Soon enough, everyone went their separate ways, and I... dont want to be left alone again..." Hanabi's voice trailed off at the last few words. She was smiling, but not a happy smile. A smile full of sadness, frustration, regret. Something Wanwan couldnt understand.

Before either one could speak, Hanabi quicky wiped her tears that were forming and beamed at the tiger. "Welp, shoulnt be holding you guys up." Hanabi winked, and turned around to leave. As she walked away, Wanwan stared, her thoughts jumbled up.

"Will Ling and I.. end up like that..?" She thought to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their match was up next. The Oriental Fighters were getting ready in their lobby, waiting for the timer to reach the last second. Zilong was entertaining Chang'e wile Baxia was making sure for the 100th time his shields were in good condition. Wanwan and Ling... still avoided each other.

As the timer counted to the last number, they were teleported to the battlefield, given 5 seconds to make any last minute arrangements. As they saw who they  were fighting against, they werent expecting this.

As soon as he saw the enemy team, Ling's face grew rather pale. Or shocked. As if he had a connection with them.

Wanwan saw his reaction and tried to figure out why he was like that. She glanced at the enemy team. It consisted of Valir, Kimmy, Masha, Estes and.. Natalia.

Wanwan flinched upon the sight of the assassin. Natalia merely smirked and mouthed the words, "I'm not the one in this squad." Before slowly pointing her finger to Ling.

Just then, the announcer announced the start of their match.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

No details are needed to be given to describe how this match went. Of course, Wanwan and Ling were unfocused and disturbed. When one was out of focus, the other would end up giving a kill to the enemy team. 

Zilong noticed whenever Ling was near any of the members of the enemy team, they seemed to communicate through eye contact. Like they were passing messages to one another. Like they've known each other for quite some time. 

The match went on for god knows how long. Thought it was obvious who was winning and who was losing, the Oriental Fighters refused to give up. Wanwan was performing worse that she did last time, with a KDA of 2/6/3. Even Baxia was performing better than her, which was very concerning.

Wanwan seemed to be trying to unleash her anger by fighting. Even if she was low on mana or health, she refused to recall or even regen. She only went foward and tried to attack, which only resulted in her death. The anger in her eyes were like nothing they have seen before. She was dead serious this time.

With everyone with their full set build, the fight was going to its climax. Natalia would always target the poor marksman, who was struggling with her farm.

Everyone wasnt in a good mood, and soon enough everyone grew unfocused. Before they knew it, they were having a teamfight in the middle lane.

Before they could attack further, a sudden earthquake interrupted them, catching everyone by surprise. Some of them stumbled and fell down due to its impact. Ling slipped from a wall he was on and fell, clashing into Wanwan in the process. Without hesitation, Wanwan pushed him away, not caring how hard she pushed him.

"B-Big Bro! I'm scared!" Chang'e cried, holding onto her bunny and clutching onto Zilong.

"Chang'e! Stay close to me!" Zilong shouted, protecting his sister.

In the middle of the lane, a bright light soon appeared on the ground. It grew into a huge circle, growing brigter each second. Then, one half turned dark, forming into a Yin-Yang circle. The light was so bright, everyone had to shield their faces.

Just then, two figured appeared on the circle. Two hooded figures in cloaks, not revealing their identities. Everyone watched in awe as the figures fully appeared.

"Where there is light, there are also shadows." The shorter figure said, her voice telling everyone she's a woman. Though her cloak was covering her face, Wanwan could make out a smile on the woman's face.

Suddenly, a sudden force was pulling on Wanwan's arm. No matter how hard she tried to pull back, the force got stronger. A wave of panic took over her. Her teammates were trying to help her, but another force forcfully pulled them back.

"Wanwan! Take my hand! Now!" Baxia shouted, the bright light still affecting his vision. Wanwan reached out her free hand, but before she could come into contact, the force pulling her suddenly got stronger.

Just like that, she was sucked into the Yin-Yang circle. Wanwan looked back and everything seemed to go in slow motion. She made eye contact with Ling, who was rushing towards her, stretching out his hand. The look in her eyes managed to send a message to him. 

"Please... I'm sorry...!"

Just like that, she and the other 2 people disappeared without a trace.