Chapter 217: Take the bait
Seeing him burst out laughing like that, Heinz’s patience finally ran out as he brought out a sword, ready to actually attack with all of his might. He moved his mana and even activated his bloodlust, but Axel kept laughing, with no sign of stopping.
The others backed off even more, and many showed displeased expressions. But it was at this moment that the heavenly voice of the valkyrie suddenly cut through both of their minds like a hot knife through butter.
“Runecaster Axel, I would appreciate it if you and your friend could delay your fight for a bit later, otherwise I’m afraid the professors would get involved.”
She paused for a moment, as the laughter of Axel stopped, even Heinz stopped channeling his mana and retracted his sword. His comical, rage-filled expression disappeared. Axel also straightened his posture and wore a neutral expression on his face, and turned towards her.
She then added, “They might even deduct our points.”
Heinz could not help but grin internally. Every word she usually spoke had an icy edge to it; he had always noticed how her tone would imperceptibly become less icy whenever she spoke directly to Axel. At least when talking in front of everyone.
But this time, there was an undeniable softness in her tone; even the way she said it, it almost seemed like a genuine request. She even added the fact that the Gold Section’s points could be deducted, almost as if afraid he would do otherwise. There wasn’t even a single trace of authoritative pressure in her tone. And it was the first time Heinz or anyone else had even seen her speak that much volume at once.
Axel’s gaze remained fixed on her divine figure and those scarlet red eyes for a few seconds as if judging something. Her eyes also peered into those ocean blue eyes of his. Everyone looked back and forth between the two of them, and an awkward atmosphere permeated the air, but no one dared to even breathe loudly, forgetting all about the battle that had been ongoing underneath, the reason they were there in the first place.
Axel eventually nodded, “Okay, sure.”
He turned to Heinz and shrugged with a smile, “Well, you heard what she said, let’s do this later.”
Heinz nodded without much interest and sat back. They focused their attention back on the battle going on. Everyone, for a moment, looked at the valkyrie again, especially the boys; they were unable to take their eyes off her. But her neutral gaze, which she had looked towards Axel with, vanished.
She glared at them, and everyone could feel the chill down their spine just from her look. Lucien, who was right beside her, had an expressionless face. Nor did he secretly clench his fists or grit his teeth. But that fact in itself made the situation just that much more concerning.
There was a cunning and murderous glint in his eyes as he kept surveying the situation with an unnerving calmness. The situation had already crossed the limit that he was willing to withstand. But now it seems he would have to take matters into his own hands, truly.
Lumina also noticed the strangeness in her brother’s demeanor, but she was in her own mind, and she had previously questioned Sophia about her different behavior towards Axel. But she labelled her interest as pure amusement. She had accepted it at just that. Believing her friend.
But she knew in her heart, things weren’t…so simple. The way she spoke to him, her tone, the words, if it were anyone else, she would have instantly turned them unconscious, targeting them with her bloodlust. Yet, there wasn’t even a trace of annoyance in her.
She bit her lip, unable to hide her anxiety. She stood up and went towards Axel to sit beside him without saying anything to Sophia. While Sophia herself didn’t care about the strange demeanor of the 4th prince, she didn’t even notice it; she only looked at Lumina weirdly for a moment as she went very close to Axel. She didn’t understand why she suddenly did that.
Axel was surprised at how Lumina suddenly sat so dangerously close to him, their bodies touching. He looked at her and asked in amusement, “What’s wrong?”
She looked at him with cute eyes and said with almost a pout, “Why are you two making a fuss like that?”
Heinz gave his friend a long and meaningful look, as he thought, ‘Hehe, damn bastard, you’re rizzing the valkyrie and making the princess jealous. Just wait till we go back. I’m not letting this matter go today.’
Axel obviously saw the dirty look his friend was giving him; he was already having a bad feeling just from the look of that bastard. With a tense face, he carefully pushed Lumina slightly away and straightened her posture. She gave him an annoyed look, but he only smiled at her apologetically.
Axel pointed downwards, “The battle seems to be approaching its end, let’s focus there.”
Then all three of them focused their attention on the place it should be. Unlike the two rounds of battle they had, filled with ups and downs, this one was much more traditional—no fancy tactics, out-of-the-box thinking, or anything. But a simple stalemate, like a battle, is just like how an actual war should be. In fact, this is just how it is supposed to be.
The evaluators are supposed to give them points based on their sectional and individual performance; the winner is supposed to be based on that alone. Of course, Enrick’s section could bring out his runic weapons. But Axel had suggested that he should not use it in the first round. He was pretty sure both sections came to some agreement not to show any of their cards in their first round.
Even in the 2nd round, it’s doubtful that either side would actually reveal much, and it’s solely because they would use all their tricks against the gold section in the final, depending on whichever section wins in the end. But all three did agree on one thing about this round, as they uttered in unison, “How Boring.”
But Axel smiled mysteriously, knowing the next round won’t be the same.
2 days later, the 2nd round of Section A vs B began; this time, Section A would be the defenders, and Section B would be the attackers. This time, there was an undeniable intensity; previously, it seemed they were both in agreement on not going all out.
Interestingly enough, the shock troops of the defenders left a small opening for the attackers’ shock troops through which they could slip through; the defenders weren’t even focusing on keeping the steel door of the fortress intact. As 5-6 siege arrows continuously struck the large steel door, it broke apart in some places.
The attackers also understood that it was likely a trap, a very obvious one at that. To slowly thin out the number of attackers’ shock troops. The sharpshooters on the top floor of the fortress continued to rain down arrows on the enemy sharpshooters’ division. Keeping the usual balance and check.
The Section-B shock troops, despite knowing the small gap left for them to be a trap, had no choice but to take the bait.
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