Today was Sebi’s first major match at the Hexagon. His fluctuating moods were initially the subject of his teammates’ worries, but he seemed oddly calm today.
While in the preparation room, Sebi sat at a corner and was listening to music. Bellona was stretching as she exchanged questioning looks with the others, especially Necomir, who unfortunately shut his mouth and ignored her.
Helpless, Bellona looked at Akhenaten who just shook his head. Why were these people acting so weird? She was just worried for her team and their condition, why did they want her to shut up?!
Chunmi moved in to pat her back.
“Alright,” Necomir finally stood up and clapped his hands. “Team prep.”
Sebi took off his earphones and walked over to huddle with his teammates. His face was really serene, those who looked at him and knew what was happening these past few days would definitely think it was a bit spooky.
Almost like… a silent volcano before it was about to erupt, although that wasn’t very scientific since volcanoes don’t abruptly just spew lava. Nevertheless, it felt that way and one couldn’t help but feel a bit ominous.
“You guys already know our strategies, we just need to maintain a tacit understanding between us, okay?” Necomir began. “Always communicate, do not decide to do things on your own. Kenojuak and her team won’t be easily fazed, so we need to use a lot of brains in this round.”
After a few more words, Necomir dismissed his team and let them do whatever they wanted before the game. He made an exception for Sebi, who he was genuinely worried over since this morning.
“Sebi, are you okay?” he asked as they talked in a corner away from the others. “You’ve been so silent. Don’t keep your woes to yourself. Are you feeling unwell?”
Sebi shook his head. “No, I’m okay.”
There was nothing wrong with Sebi – and that was what put him in such a solemn mood. He had woken up from a weird dream, where a strange ball of light talked to him about his journey through life and death, but it seemed like such a move was a mistake since it only seemed to bring him pain. Destiny, suffering, enlightenment, regrets…
Such a strange dream, but it had Sebi contemplating deeply, especially everything that he had been through.
But contrary to what he had expected, the dream had not bothered him into being unfit for today’s match. Rather, Sebi felt really alive. It was like the dream had opened something in him, loosening the knot that tightly bound his potential.
It didn’t make Sebi feel safe, though.
Such a feeling of liberty over his potential made him suspect that it could be something similar to if he let the entity give him power…
“Remember to tell me if you feel sick,” Necomir reminded him as he reached out to tenderly ruffle his hair. “I’ll personally take care of you.”
“You don’t need to be so considerate…” Sebi helplessly said as he couldn’t control the blush on his cheeks. He really didn’t deserve this boyfriend material treatment!
“Why not?” Necomir mysteriously said as he leaned over. “Who’s more deserving of my consideration than you?”
Sebi’s poor heart was suffering from how handsome Necomir was!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Let’s go!” Akhenaten enthusiastically yelled as he shook his limbs. Necomir, Sebi, Chunmi, and Bellona lined up as they all exchanged a synchronous high five for each other.
The yells from the crowd and his loud heartbeat hindered Sebi from properly hearing what the game official was saying. He could only rely on the rules and regulations that he had learned by heart and hope he doesn’t mess up.
Their opponent team was called Team Pessumeo. From across the field, Sebi could see Kenojuak elegantly striding over, leading a team of people Sebi had known from what his teammates had told them. There was Timofey Elin, a man who can shape and transform metal; Zoe Wang, a woman who can become invisible; Kim Seungyeol, a man who can control water, and lastly…
“Alex has really betrayed me,” Sebi sighed. Alexandra seemed to have sensed their stares from across the dome, so she timidly raised a hand and waved at them in greeting.
“Kenojuak is smart, she recruited Alex who’s currently one of the strongest fire users in the Academy,” Bellona sighed a bit sullenly. “We’ve been practicing, but why do I feel like we’re going to lose?”
“You’re planting red flags!” Akhenaten complained as he hooked an arm over Bellona’s shoulders. “Just calm down, okay? They have Kenojuak and Alexandra but so what? We have Necomir and Decebal!”
“We’ll win,” Chunmi agreed, earning her a fond ruffle of her hair from Akhenaten.
When the last set of rules were being announced, the two teams began to prepare and stood ready where they were. Sebi was quivering – from fright or from excitement, he wasn’t exactly sure. But the adrenaline was something he hasn’t felt before, and it was exhilarating.
And finally, the announcer yelled, “Let the Hexagon Tournament begin!”
Ten players launched into the battlefield and engaged in a teamfight right off the bat.
“The fight today is quite interesting,” the commentator named Haruki began to talk. She wasn’t new, but this was only her second opportunity to commentate, and it was a very stimulating one, at that. “Decebal Yan is a new member of Team Fulminare, and the Academy is very aware of his abilities. But today, he is facing Kenojuak Leclerc, a very strong ice ability user who is experienced. Every team has powerful teammates as well, so it is hard to predict who has the advantage. Let’s watch on to see how this epic face-off ends!
Sebi launched himself towards Zoe Wang, who had sneakily turned herself invisible and was obviously attempting to gank her opponents. As a telekinetic telepath, he didn’t even need to use his telepathy – he was already very sensitive to physical changes around him.
“Don’t think you can beat me easily,” Zoe snickered as she suddenly appeared behind Sebi after he shoved her away from Necomir.
The Academy emphasized on both their abilities and physical strength, thus Sebi cannot bear to just underestimate this person. Assuming that Zoe was about to engage him in close combat, Sebi turned around and lifted a fist.
But instead of Zoe, Sebi found himself facing no one but Kenojuak Leclerc herself.
She was confident of her skills and was a bit cocky as well, thus Kenojuak had not engaged into battle immediately. She took a few minutes scanning the field, before she smiled and began taking off her gloves.
“Kenojuak is taking her gloves off!” Haruki excitedly boomed. “We all know what this means~”
Although the Hexagon was clearly separated from the spectators, people still felt the way the temperature dropped. This was the famous opening to every tournament with Kenojuak Leclerc in it. The temperature would drop, and she’d start making popsicles out of her opponents.
Facing Sebi though, Kenojuak didn’t feel like going all out too soon. She still wanted to have some fun, so she just smiled as she stopped Sebi from punching her by summoning a pillar of ice from the ground, trapping his arm and holding him in place.
“Decebal Yan, we finally meet,” Kenojuak smiled. “Necomir has told me a lot about you.”
Sebi was strong, but psychological warfare was really not his strong suit.
Seeing that Sebi was finally confronting Kenojuak, Necomir led their teammates to hold off the other members of the opposing team.
“So?” he coldly said as he made the ice pillar explode. “Shut up and fight me. Let’s end this quickly.”
“Don’t be so impatient,” Kenojuak batted her eyelashes as she lifted a hand and made her dainty fingers twirl. At her command, the air seemed to swirl into ice and snow, and in the following moments, Sebi began to shiver as frost surrounded them.
“I’m still curious how long you’ll end up in frostbite!”
Kenojuak laughed out loud as she shot ice pillars towards Sebi, who began to levitate and fly to dodge. While Kenojuak couldn’t fly, she created a tall, mountain slope of ice and maneuvered herself in a surfing movement, laughing out loud as she chased after Sebi while shooting ice pillars at him.
“There are so many things happening at once! This is too exciting! ” Haruki exclaimed, her butt raised off her chair. “As you can see, Necomir is leading the teamfight against Timofey! It’s an impressive showcase of wits and display of combat prowess especially with opponents who are all elemental users! Let me drink some water first!”
Haruki was starting to feel a bit breathless. She really should have asked the teachers for a partner!
After a sip of water, she continued, “And look how they are brilliantly keeping the teamfight in one place while Kenojuak and Sebi wreaked havoc! It’s almost like a legendary fight – the fight scene is being highlighted by Kenojuak’s exterior ice landscaping while Sebi is making everything explode into snowflakes!”
Although people thought Kenojuak was giving it her all today compared to past matches so Sebi would naturally lose, this wasn’t the case at all. This fight with Kenojuak was too exhilarating, and even though other people can’t see it, everyone in the Hexagon could feel the potent charge of energy around Sebi. His face didn’t betray anything – not even the euphoric feeling of letting his powers come loose against a formidable enemy.
Kenojuak was starting to feel tense, but her excitement was more profound. Before she could let a rain of hail and blizzard down on Sebi, a barrier around him suddenly burst, throwing her away. Kenojuak was quick to keep herself from being tossed further away by manipulating snow and stopping her.
“Very good!” Kenojuak shrieked as she pushed herself back up to her feet. “You’re good, Decebal Yan! Then, I won’t hold back!”
“What is up with this middle school syndrome-like speech…” Sebi snickered to himself.
Kenojuak suddenly began to glow – it only took a few seconds and the next moment, everyone gasped excitedly upon seeing that Kenojuak had turned into a full person of ice. An elemental ability user was in their most powerful state if they became one with their element, and it was completely rare.
“L-Look everyone!” Haruki was screaming and jumping on her feet. Her career as a commentator was only starting but it was already taking off by this match alone! “Kenojuak Leclerc is the first person in recent years to break out and reach this level of her elemental ability!”
Kenojuak let out a laugh, frosty like her bearing. She had transformed into a being of ice, her skin now a crystalline icy material, with eyes of flaming blue and her white long hair flowing in the air. Her blue lips formed a mischievous smirk before she suddenly released a burst of ice and snow – trapping Sebi in a large glacier-like formation of ice pillars that erupted from the ground. This sort of ice age became too much for the Hexagon, making Necomir, who had the best survivability, able to kick out two people from the opposing side to make up for Akhenaten and Chunmi who had been eliminated. But just as this happened, Timofey engaged in a fight with him.
Four contenders left. Sebi kept breaking the pillars, but Kenojuak would force him down by replacing the pillars with new ones. The fights were so exciting, everyone couldn’t quite decide which fight to focus on so the audience could only dumbly move their heads back and forth.
Using his powers so intensely was draining away at Sebi’s energy even if he was capable of endless possibilities. Kenojuak was much more experienced, and to top it all off, she reached a breakthrough in her ability. Sebi already understood right from the start that he had a great chance of losing.
But he refused to believe in the possibility of losing, and he still does.
“Indeed, no ice can freeze a god,” the entity inside him whispered.
Sebi suddenly felt energy rush through him, so much so that they were threatening to leak out. The leakage charged the atmosphere, dense and crackling that Kenojuak immediately stopped feeling mirth upon realizing that it was all caused by the man in the ice.
“Don’t even think about it!” Kenojuak shouted as she pushed a hand forward and threw thick spears of ice towards Sebi.
But it was futile. Sebi finally burst into energy that made him glow, destroying the ice holding him in place.
“Sebi!” Necomir screamed when he realized there was something wrong. The blast caused a shockwave around Sebi, strong enough to throw the other people in the Hexagon in the air, possibly even killing them if the Player Cores didn’t have a protective mechanism wherein one of its features included triggering a shield around them when they were in danger, and strong enough to shoot through the ceiling and break a hole through it.
There was chaos everywhere as people began panicking from the sudden accident. After breaking away from his initial dizziness, Necomir shook his head to clear his mind and quickly rushed towards where Sebi was.
Calling out for him, Necomir saw Sebi finally fall to his knees before plopping face first on the ground, spent from the burst of his powers. He quickly lifted Sebi up to his front, checking his vitals. The tightness in his throat from worry loosened when he saw that everything was normal, just that his energy space was in turmoil.
Staff members finally entered the scene and rushed around Sebi. He was unconscious, so he had to be hauled up on a stretcher to be taken for medical attention.
“Dr. Wu, what’s going on with him?” Necomir asked the medical staff as he followed after them.
“I suspect this might be similar to what happened to Ms. Leclerc, only that Mr. Yan’s is different, considering his illness before.”
Seeing the distress on Necomir’s face, the doctor sighed in understanding and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I know Decebal’s case well. He’ll be fine. His powers had initially been leaking when he first woke up from his coma. Now he’s becoming stronger because of his developmental setbacks. We should have seen this coming already.”
Necomir nodded and let Sebi be taken away, but he wasn’t very comforted. Somehow, he was starting to suspect his mental illness and the intensity of his powers may have a deeper link together.
He really needed to bring him away for proper help immediately.
Author’s Notes:
These two… writing them makes me feel frustrated because they are both so secretive of their feelings LOL
I also took a damn long time but I wrote two chapters that are longer than usual! Tee-hee~
ahhhh will Sebi win against that entity?
thanks for the chapter <3