The Author's POV

-Swooosh!

Quietly moving around the buildings, Amanda made sure to always be within a one hundred to a fifty-meter radius of Arnold. Just as Ren had told her.

Along the way, she, along with Donald, made sure to only subtly hide their presence. Just about enough so that the opposing team could spot them if they used a skill or looked carefully.

...This was one of the things Ren had specifically told her to do.

Honestly, this was much harder than Amanda thought it was because if she was too obvious the other team would notice that something was wrong, and if she hid too well, the other team wouldn't find her and thus be unable to deduce that Arnold was the code holder.

....what a troubling situation.

Still, since Amanda said she would do it, she tried her best.

Gripping tightly onto the handle of her bow, Amanda glanced at Arnold below her and quietly climbed higher up in the buildings.

However, just as she was about to reach the top of the building, sensing something, Amanda shifted her head to the right as the silver body of a blade flew past her.

-Swooosh!

Narrowly avoiding the blade by a hair breath, Amanda suddenly somersaulted backward as the tip of a spear penetrated the area she was previously in.

-Kacha!

Whilst still in the air, with a cold face, Amanda extended the string of her bow. Shortly after, as two blue translucent arrows materialized on her bow, she caught sight of two individuals, one with a spear and one with a blade. She soon released the string of the bow.

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Like a bullet, the two arrows split the air as they quickly made their way towards the two individuals.

-Clank! -Clank!

Staring at the incoming arrows, standing in front of the individual holding onto the blade, the spear user, using the body of the spear, quickly rotated the spear in his hand and a whistle arose.

Thereafter, the loud sound of metal clashing reverberated across the surroundings.

"khhh..."

Taking a couple of steps back, the spear user couldn't help but grunt as he felt the impact of the arrows clashing against his spear.

Staring at Amanda in the distance, the spear user, John Redgrave couldn't help but say.

"Damn, you're just as strong as the rumors say"

Softly landing on the ground, Amanda coldly glanced at the two individuals before her.

...skilled.

That's the first thought that came into Amanda's mind as she stared at the two of them.

Although the clash had only lasted for a brief moment, from the way they coordinated and how they managed to quickly react to her arrows, the duo was definitely not simple.

Unbothered by Amanda's unresponsiveness, staring at the youth next to him that wore small-framed glasses and had short blonde hair, John moved forward as he once again thrust his spear towards Amanda.

"Dante cover me"

Thereafter, synchronizing with John, the other youth called Dante leaped forward like a leopard and quickly arrived beside Amanda.

-Kacha!

With John's spear aimed at Amanda's face, Dante followed up by slashing towards her waist.

Like this, Amanda suddenly found herself in a disadvantageous situation as the flow of the battle was currently in the duo's hands.

Although she was avoiding most of the attacks coming from the duo thanks to her flexibility and agility, from time to time, she would use the frame of her bow to defend against some of the incoming attacks resulting in the loud sound of metal clashing.

-Clank! -Clank!

The loud sound of metal clashing resounded across the space where Amanda was in.

"Your pretty good...but for how long can you keep up?"

Staring at Amanda, John smiled as he increased the intensity of his attacks. Dante followed suit.

Thus, for the next minute or so, as Amanda fought with the duo, the longer they fought, the more she found herself at a disadvantage as her hand started to become number with every single clash.

Frowning, Amanda could only grit her teeth and try her best to dodge and counterattack whenever she had the opportunity.

-Swhooosh! -Swhooosh!

Although Amanda was strong, because she was currently fighting in close quarters, her real advantage was taken away from her.

...It seems like her opponents knew her weakness well.

-Swooosh!

As she once again narrowly avoided the spear and blade coming from her front and left side, Amanda quickly glanced towards Arnold and Donald in the distance. She wanted to see how their situation was.

...and what she saw made her heart sink. Both Arnold and Donald were currently in a similar situation to hers.

Although it seemed like Arnold wanted to help her, his opponent seemed to be constantly harassing him from the distance.

It had to be noted that the opponent Arnold was currently facing was a bow user just like Amanda.

Arnold's worst enemy and weakness.

Although the archer that was attacking Arnold was nowhere near as skilled as Amanda, because Arnold didn't have any long-ranged attacking methods, he was currently unable to do anything.

...thus, although Arnold wasn't hurt from any of the arrows coming in his way, because he was constantly being kited, he was unable to come to help her. Seeing this, glancing to her right in Donald's direction, Amanda saw him fighting against another person.

His situation seemed to be a little bit better than Arnold's, however, it still wasn't good as it seemed like he was evenly matched with the opponent.

The battle would definitely not be decided anytime soon.

-Kacha!

Thrusting his spear toward Amanda, John shouted.

"Where are you looking around for when your opponents are right in front of you?"

Narrowly avoiding the spear, Amanda turned right as a blade slashed in the direction of where she was previously standing.

-Clank! -Clank!

As John and Dante once again increased the intensity of their attacks, briefly glancing at Arnold and Donald below, a triumphant smirk appeared on John's lips as he looked at Amanda and said.

"Everything is going just as planned, your teammates won't be able to help you anytime soon. Moreover, with Jin and your reinforcements being too far from your location, the only option you have is to lose"

The more he fought, the greater the excitement John felt.

...he was finally going to do it.

He was finally going to beat the arrogant Jin Horton and the cold princess Amanda.

He was going to accomplish a feat that no one thought he could've ever achieved before. The more he thought about it, the more excited John became. After this, everyone will definitely remember who he was. John Redgrave.

Coldly staring at John, Amanda indifferently muttered

"you talk too much"

-Bam!

Seeing that the current situation couldn't go on, stomping her feet on the ground as fine miniature crevices appeared on the ground beneath her foot, Amanda distanced herself from the duo. Thereafter pulling the string of her bow towards her lips, a blue hue surrounded her body.

-Vuam!

Shortly after, in a matter of a couple of seconds, the glow around her body intensified at an alarming rate. She was prepared to end things quickly.

Staring at Amanda in the distance, opening his eyes wide, John cursed as he shouted.

"Shit, she's using a skill, stop her!"

Coldly looking at the duo, Amanda softly said

"Too late"

-Swoooosh!

Releasing the string of the bow, Amanda's arrow shot down like a comet hurtling towards the duo as the arrow's velocity reached its limits. Even though Amanda's rank was suppressed to G rank, that didn't change her proficiency in her arts nor her skills.

[[E] Apollo's descent]

A skill that enables the user to conglomerate the mana in the atmosphere towards the tip of her arrow releasing along an arrow that could devastate anything within ints vicinity upon contact. High mana consumption.

"Crap"

Staring at the arrow hurtling towards them like a fallen star, John couldn't help but curse out loud. Thereafter, seeing that he couldn't do anything about the situation, gritting his teeth he briefly looked at Dante before softly saying

"Dante you know what to do"

Staring at John, a faint smile appeared on Dante's lips before he quickly ran towards the arrow. As he moved closer towards the arrow, he couldn't help but laugh out loud as he looked at John before shouting.

"...once this is over, you better buy me dinner at the restaurant of my choice or you-khhhaaaa!"

Thereafter, as Dante moved towards the arrow, a massive yellow hue revolved around his body creating some form of shield around him. Shortly after, before he could finish speaking, John suddenly saw Dante's body colliding with the arrow.

-Boooom!

As the arrow came into contact with Dante's body, a huge explosion reverberated across the surroundings as the windows and the already worn-down buildings started crumbling down.

Standing on the ground, John found himself completely unharmed as the area he was in was completely unscathed...at least for a couple of seconds. Shortly after, John saw Dante's body slowly turned into light particles as he disappeared into the air.

[Your teammate Dante has died]

Gritting his teeth, ignoring the blue text that appeared in his vision, John tried his best to ignore the situation and activated his movement art. Thereafter, he appeared right next to Amanda and trusted his spear towards her.

-Kacha!

"huh?"

Caught off-guard, barely reacting on time, using her bow, Amanda managed to block the attack, however, due to the sheer amount of force and strength put into the attack, Amanda's body flew and crashed against a wall.

-Bam!

Feeling her back crash against the hard wall, Amanda couldn't help but groan out loud as she let go of her bow.

"khh..."

A couple of seconds after she hit the wall, letting out another pained groan, Amanda was left in a daze. As her eyes regained a bit of clarity, staring at her bow that was a few meters away from her, Amanda tried to move towards it...however, before she could get close to it, a foot stepped on it and kicked it towards the opposite direction of where she was causing her heart to sink.

"Not so fast..."

Arriving before Amanda, after he made sure to kick her bow as far away from her as possible, with the tip of his spear pointed toward her face, John ferociously glared at her.

"It's over"

Staring at the sharp tip of the spear, Amanda froze on the spot. Thereafter, understanding the situation, Amanda lowered her head in defeat.

...she had failed.

Although this wasn't the first time Amanda had failed in her life...the bitter aftertaste of her loss made her unable to say anything.

She was too arrogant.

Never had she expected her opponent to willingly sacrifice one of his teammates just to defeat her.

She was too complacent and arrogant. She had let her achievements get to her.

Had this been a real battle, she would've died for real...as her thoughts paused there, Amanda closed her eyes and waited for the opponent to finish her.

Ignoring Amanda, turning around and glancing below him, John soon caught sight of Arnold and Donald still being in the same situation as before.

"Hmph, it's over"

Turning his attention back towards Amanda who still had her eyes closed, John strengthened his grip on the spear. Thereafter he slowly started speaking. As he spoke, his voice became louder with each word he spoke.

"...You see, we may not be as talented as you guys are...but that doesn't mean we don't want to win. You probably think we're crazy, sacrificing one of our teammates just to win against you guys..."

"but that doesn't matter. This is the drive that we lower-ended people have. We will do anything in our power to win! You and Jin's arrogance is what caused your downfall. Blame yourselves for losing!"

As he spoke, staring at Amanda who had her eyes closed throughout the whole time, John realized that his opponent wasn't listening. Thus, raising his spear in the air John prepared to finish off Amanda.

"This is then end for-

-Bam!

However, just as John was about thrust his spear towards Amanda, in the distance, a loud explosion reverberated across the surroundings. Thereafter, appearing next to Donald, Ren's smiling figure could be seen holding onto a youth by the edge of his collar...he soon turned into light particles.

[Your teammate Nicholas has died]

Briefly staring at Arnold and Amanda, Ren couldn't help but say

"hmm...am I perhaps interrupting?"