Chapter 309: Smile

Seeing Laust coming toward him, Kazunori remained calm as if he wasn't his opponent. He only pulled his bow.

Laust raised his sword to block his attack, but Kazunori took him by surprise as he leaped to the left.

'What? He is leaving the arena?' Laust widened his eyes as he saw Kazunori releasing his arrow before he touched the ground.

The arrow flew straight at Phyrill from his blind spot.

"Phyrill!" Laust shouted in panic before a woman emerged from thin air. "Invisibility!"

Mami, who just made her appearance, smiled and punched Laust's on the stomach, blowing him away from the arena. "I'm sorry, but we need this win."

Bam.

"Laust and Kazumori are out!" Diego announced.

Meanwhile, Phyrill just got pinned to the ground by Kyoichi. That arrow threw off his balance, resulting in Kyoichi throwing him to the ground.

After that, he saw Mami's arrival and made a weird smile. "It seems this is the end for me. I'm not planning to get hurt."

Mami swung her dagger to hit him, but Phyrill already said, "I give up."

Diego grasped her wrist to stop her while announcing, "Japan wins!"

"…" Mami remained silent while looking at Phyrill. She couldn't do the same thing as Theo planned to do earlier, which was the same.

The cheers erupted as Phyrill chuckled. "You are scaring me right now. Luckily, it's not PTSD."

"…" Mami couldn't understand what he meant and simply glanced at her teammates, wondering if they understood.

Unfortunately, none of them had an answer for her. Phyrill had come to Laust, asking him to return together.

"I guess we fail." Phyrill chuckled and asked, "Did you notice it too?"

"What?" Laust frowned.

"I mean, do you feel deja vu when fighting her?"

"…" Laust looked away. "Well, a bit."

Phyrill smirked as he noticed Laust's change. Normally, he would remain silent, refusing to answer, but after getting the blessing, he seemed to have matured a bit. It was as if he managed to control a bit of his anger.

Phyrill cheekily laughed and said, "Right? I thought Theo was my opponent. A beautiful but cunning woman… I guess a Kitsune is a perfect person to bless her."

Although he didn't want to admit it, Laust also understood that the battle might not go according to Theo's way as there was someone the same type of Theo as their opponent.

After returning to the waiting room, Phyrill waved his hand to Theo. "Theo, that woman was so scary. I thought I fought against you."

"…" Theo furrowed his eyebrows and looked down, falling into deep thought.

"Is that so? Then our guess is right. It's a bit trickier than fighting Ignazio." Alea squinted her eyes and asked, "Did you find anything from the other two?"

"Not really. The archer one is similar to that of a pawn, but his skill is quite good. However, I don't think I can lose against him." Phyrill shook his head and glanced at Sihan. "What do you think about the fighter?"

Sihan closed his eyes for a moment as he never thought it came down to this. Theo and Alea had shown their strength to the world, while Phyrill and Laust's blessings were powerful enough to be noticed by many. Even Ellen's Dual Wielding had become well-known.

Only him who had the chance but failed to take it. Sihan felt unlucky in this competition because people would think he was trash that Theo randomly picked as his team. He didn't want to return with this, since his life might become too horrible because of Theo's popularity.

In order to prevent this from happening, he needed to do something spectacular no matter the cost. Still, if he ruined this match with his selfishness, he would be condemned too. Sihan was truly on edge.

After considering it for a while, he answered, "The swordsman's ability is around my level. There seems to be no trick or whatsoever."

"As expected, the ones we need to watch out for are Masahiko and Mami. The former had quite sharp observation skills while the other one was Theo's Female Version." Phyrill sighed and asked, "Depending on the arrangement, this match will become harder than we originally thought."

"Ho? Than you originally thought?" Ellen made a teasing smile while saying cheekily. "You have become a bit arrogant after getting some attention, no? How about you become like Theo?"

"What?" Phyrill snorted and said, "I was just trying to praise my teammates' abilities."

"Right?!" Ellen made a smug smile.

"Kh. I'm going to beat you."

Ellen stuck her tongue out and hid behind Theo. "Theo, what's the plan? If we lose, Phyrill is going to beat me up."

Theo let out a sigh and opened his eyes. "We are going to wait until the time limit before coming out."

"Hmm? No one will mind with that arrangement, but for what?"

"I have my reason." Theo shook his head, too tired to explain.

"Then, will you fight in this round or me?" Alea asked.

Theo paused for a moment, making everyone curious. An evil smile suddenly appeared on his face.

…

Japan's Waiting Room.

A few minutes later. After sending their participant, Masahiko asked, "So, what should we do after this? Should we proceed according to our original plan?"

"It's a shame that we can't injure Phyrill in the previous match, but with this, I'm sure that either Alea or Theo will appear in the next match. You sure have your fun in the other block, but now that you meet me, it's time for you to admit your defeat, Theodore Gr—" Before she finished her words, she dropped her jaw to the ground with eyes wide open.

She simply couldn't recover from her surprise because what she heard and saw were just too much to take on.

In the arena, Sheira finally announced the participant as both of them had made their entrance at the last second.

"Here they are! Representing Japan is this man, Umeki Kyoichi. I am looking forward to his admirable swordsmanship." Sheira paused for a moment and turned around. "On the opposite side is this man. He has been in the shadow for too long and this may be the right time for him to show his might. Thersland Team's Sihan Raskaka!"

In that instant, Mami dropped to the ground with veins bulging on her forehead. She wanted to spat blood because of her anger, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was. "What the f—"