Chapter 249: First Labour

"Now everyone! The break time is over. It's time for the third round to start. Each team basically has five minutes to choose their representative, so without further ado, we shall call the participants!"

"Uoh!" The cheers erupted.

"Who will come out first?!" Sheira shouted in excitement, waiting for the first person to come out.

Soon, all people's eyes were glued to a certain figure coming from Italy Team.

Their hearts were pierced by a blazing lust that put them in a trance.

The first one to make their appearance was none other than Italy Team's Agata.

"We have Agata on our side. Her beauty aside, her power is also overwhelming. Now, how will Thersland respond?" Right after she finished her words, she noticed someone coming out on the opposite side. "Oh! In response to Italy Team, Thersland Team has sent their leader, Alea Eilric! They have fought in the first round… Is this the legendary revenge match? Will Alea be able to defeat Agata and reclaim her honor? Or will Agata defeat Alea in order to regain their momentum?"

Agata stood in the middle of the arena with a calm expression. Next to her was Diego, acting as the referee.

They both looked to the other side as Alea gradually came.

"We meet again." Agata smiled and waved her hand. "So, have you thought about my proposal earlier?"

"Proposal?" Alea frowned.

"Give Theo to me. I can take care of him better than you." Agata stuck her tongue out as she already knew Enrica had invited Theo to their country.

"…" Alea's eyebrows twitched. "I believe that is his decision, not mine."

"That's good then." Agata smiled.

"If you come here just to talk about it, then you should give up right now. Maybe he will be happy with your thoughtfulness?" Alea made a smug smile after attacking back.

"That's certainly interesting." Agata nodded in agreement, but she ended up shaking her head. "But it's certainly inappropriate."

"…" Diego simply closed his eyes when he heard these two were fighting for a man. He wondered whether their priority was on the man or the competition. Though, Agata was more to a role she used to entice Theo to come to their country while Alea seemed to only be responding to Agata's taunts. Deciding to put a stop on them, Diego said, "Since the two sides are ready, I declare. Match starts!"

Alea quickly raised her sword while Agata leaped backward to gain some distance.

Alea didn't let her escape and hurriedly waved her sword. "Inch Slash."

Agata took a step to the side and let the Inch Slash cut anything, including the ground next to her. The distance was far enough to avoid it anyway.

Her index fingers and thumbs joined together, forming a heart symbol as Alea's became the center of that symbol.

Realizing Agata would attack her mind again, Alea quickly approached her with caution. "Now that I know you are going to mess up my mind, I won't be influenced by you anymore. Prepare yourself."

Much to her provocation, Agata remained calm and retracted the "love" gesture, letting Alea approach her.

Alea soon waved her sword down to cut her, thinking Agata was surprised. "This is the end."

"I think you are missing one verse of Aphrodite." Agata smiled before a pink sphere covered her hand as she grabbed Alea's sword as if it was a glove. "Love Glove."

"!!!" Alea widened her eyes in surprise as she tried to pull her sword away, but the resistance was too powerful.

In other words, Agata actually had a powerful strength behind her weird skills.

Alea then recalled all Aphrodite's myths. Everything leaned on her being a Goddess of Sexual Love and Beauty, but there was indeed one version where she was portrayed as a Goddess of War. It was when she was in Sparta. With the epithet "Aeria", meaning "Warlike", she was depicted in full armor like the war god, Ares.

Before she could pull away, Agata sent another punch to Alea's stomach.

"Gah!" Alea spat a mouthful of blood before getting blown away. Fortunately, she didn't lose consciousness and her mind was still clear.

Landing on the ground safely, Alea hurriedly raised her sword while calming her heart down.

*Pant*

*Pant*

Alea observed Agata, who seemed to have another side of her. Instead of a gentle and mature look, Agata showed a fierce and sharp gaze as if she planned to devour her in this battle.

"I wonder why Thersland didn't give the leadership to Theodore? Nah, I'm just gonna call him Theo from now on." Agata playfully asked as a smug smile planted on her face.

"That's because I'm stronger!" Alea leaped forward and raised it above her head, preparing to swing it any moment.

Knowing another attack like Inch Slash would be coming, Agata quickly summoned the same heart balloon that would explode the smokescreen to make her hallucinate.

However, Alea had seen through this move. Instead of attacking her, she had one more way to counter this attack.

Meanwhile, Theo recalled what she said earlier when watching Alea from behind the screen.

…

A few minutes ago.

"Tell me one thing that makes you think you can win against her."

"It's…" Alea took a deep breath and said, "It's something equal to your clone. I have a few of Twelve Labors."

"!!!" In that instant, Theo realized what she meant by Twelve Labours. It was obviously God of Fortitude, Heracles, twelve labours.

Theo had seen all her Blessing Skills other than the one she received from Hero Rank, along with eight other skills. The fact she said it "a few labours" made him realize it was compressed into one single skill.

Just like him, who could be treated as two people, Alea might have the potential to have more than ten skills.

…

And when the pink heart almost reached her and exploded to influence her mind again, Alea came to a halt and gathered all the air to her lungs before releasing all of it along with a high-pitched sound.

"First Labour. Great Lion Roar!"