A Game of Tag
1096 Words
"Don't worry. I won't hurt or injure you in any shape or form, as if I have the capabilities to do that in the first place. You can use your rune cards as you please, as long as you capture me."
Yukti's voice were heard by the guests in the secret monitoring room. Rose Crimson, the chairperson of the academy, glanced at them, particularly Christopher Glaives and Celes Marshall. Both of them share the same experience of being assisted by Yukti. Even with her informant, Rose still don't know Yukti as a whole.
Christopher smirked and crossed his arms. He and Celes then uttered the words that made Rose turned her head.
"But, to think that he used the same method huh?"
"Yes. It does bring some great memories."
"I hope that it also works that way."
"Please, it's Yukti we're talking about. I'm well-aware of my daughter's pride. She's thinking about how to smash Yukti at this moment."
"As for my son, he's pretty furious this time. All those words spouted by Yukti right now...the past me would go wild."
The two of them, as well as the others, filled the room with laughter. Rose diverted her gaze back to the monitor, scratching her left cheek.
"You made a lot of connections, huh. As expected of Cory's tactician."
•••
He summoned his rune card. As it floats in the air, he's looking at us as if he's looking straight to our soul.
"This won't do."
Huh? What are you talking about, Yukti?
"I've decided. If ever you succeeded in catching me, I'll..."
He then snapped his fingers and with that spawned eleven rune cards, each in front of us. We stared at the rune card before returning to Yukti.
"I made these cards. They're Disposables, yes, but I can assure you that these rune cards will help you out someday. Don't worry, those are under Dot VI category."
"T-the Dot 6 Category!?"
"That's incredible!"
A Dot VI. Its worth is equivalent to 50000 points.
The Dot System was established to classify the quality of rune cards. This system marked the lowest quality Dot I and the highest being Dot IX.
For him to do this kind of bargain is a great motivation.
That reminds me...
"Er... Yukti?"
"Yes Snow?"
"What would this card do?"
Yukti cleared his throat looked at me with one of his eyes closed and said with a smug.
"It's better to not give you the details about that. It's pretty frustrating on your part if you knew how the rune card works but didn't get it, am I right?"
The rune cards disappeared.
I looked at my teammates.
A competitive lady.
A cute assasin.
A pair of individuals with terrible anger management.
They may be chosen as the elites, but I don't think we'll cooperate with one another. I did a little sigh.
I''m pretty sure that the outcome will be in favor of Yukti.
It's not that I underestimate my fellow students but...how should I describe this?
Facing against Yukti felt like climbing an insurmountable wall.
While I'm a bit distressed, the other students are...
"I'll never acknowledge you as my superior. I'll show why I'm chosen as the First Seat."
"My sheer strength will destroy your confidence senior."
"I'll beat you with my speed!"
"I may be indebted to you, but I won't lose."
"L-let's help and get those cards!"
"Y-yeah!"
See? You lot are missing the point why Yukti did this in the first place. Speaking of Yukti, when I look at him with my tired eyes, he just shrugged, shutting his eyes and sighed.
"We'll start this game of tag after you manifest your rune cards. Come at me in any way you can."
His rune card, which was still floating, got activated and he immediately dissipated in the thin air.
"I wish you luck."
Yukti walked away. We then assembled to startegize our approach to this test. Or so I thought.
"Listen you lot! We will win this if we follow my strategy!" says Edward with a triumph.
"Why would I listen to a doofus?" Roderick mumbled to himself.
However, it's hearable enough to all of us. Pissed, Edward grabbed Roderick by the collar.
"You wanna pick a fight?"
"f**k off."
Roderick's companions didn't participate and instead they decided that they'll stay as witnesses.
I find it odd though. They look so encouraged after knowing that there's an award. What happened to their vigor?
Back to our supposed-to-be strategy meeting, Faze just shook her head and grabbed Janet by the arm. They started walking away while making their own strategy.
Ugh...
•••
It's been an hour since this game of tag started. And I could see that they're struggling in terms of teamwork. Their individual prowess are astounding though.
"Got you!"
Edward, the one who uses his [Blazing Blade] -- a great sword wit fire as its elemental attribute -- launched a vertical strike from above.
He could execute that kind of movement huh? And he's fast despite wielding that heavy-looking sword.
The sword just crushed the ground, creating a little crater. I'm unscathed though.
"Eat this!"
Someone just shot an rune arrow, flying straight at my back. I evaded it by doing minimal movement: turning around lazily. The arrow almost hit Edward but he blocked it with his sword.
It was Roderick who did the shot.
"You piece of-! You're trying to hit me aren't you?"
"It's not my fault that you're in my arrow's direction!"
They kept on ranting while I'm in the middle, standing idly to become an easier target. Just then, a stab from a longsword almost hit me, if it weren't for my good reflexes.
You were trying to kill me, aren't you?
"Is that all Faze?"
"Not yet!"
What she did next was like a graceful dance of a swan. Come to think of it, her mother also wields a sword. This short-tempered lady... she's just like her mother.
"Now, now... I'll rate that four out of ten. As for you miss dagger master, using [Lurk] won't help you."
I stated it as I jumped sideways to avoid Janet.
"Ugh! So close!"
I noticed that Snow's not around. I took a quick glance around and saw her sitting on a bench nearby, exasperated.
"You're not going to participate Snow?"
"I would rather not. You said this is a team fight right? What those four are doing departed from what you said. This TEAM sucks."
That blunt statement of hers stopped the four elites from their actions.
- Writer
