Chapter 195: And it felt amazing

We were about to receive the cash rewards. I could feel my face leak some of the happiness. I was definitely happy!

"Thanks for that." The cool guy said. "Though I still don't approve of your methods."

We three were standing together waiting for our turns.

"You don't have to. By the way, what are you to Marg?"

This guy was talking to me a lot more respectfully and he was a bit scared too. His speech was still high and mighty though. I guess pride was really something.

"Marg? Marg who?"

Sigh. Should have seen this coming I suppose.

"Eve? Evenlegeline? Ever heard of her?" If it wasn't Marg then it had to be Eve.

The guy looked at me, a bit perplexed, and a second later started daydreaming and making an expression that could only be described as a maiden in love. He wasn't a maiden though. "OF course I know her! She's a divine being. My sister and oh so beautiful. She isn't just divine, no, she's a goddess!" 

Weren't divine beings goddesses to begin with? 

Uh-huh. I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, good for you. We're just friends so don't worry about anything."

Eve a goddess? Yeah, I couldn't picture that. 

He gave me a glare. "Because of you, she lost everything. I hope you're taking responsibility for it." For just that one second he was serious. Of course, I didn't believe it. Eve had her free will and she was doing what she believed: she'd only approached me because she was forced to by her father. Now she was free. I had nothing to do with her decisions. All I was, was a catalyst, nothing more and nothing less. A second later the guy's glare turned to his daydream. "But you don't have to, no, please don't. For now that I have won, I shall take responsibility for her and-" He hugged himself and squirmed. Was he cursing me? Asking me to take responsibility or was he requesting that I don't?

What the hell was wrong with this moron?

Sigh. I guess his relationship with his sister was complicated. 

Anyway, they started to hand over large cheques and boy was there loads and loads of shutters and lights. 

Probably half of the world was seeing this. Maybe mom was seeing this through her work Holo while making her clients wait. I could almost picture her saying 'just sit down, I'll get to you shortly.' Almost made me chuckle. 

Now that I think about it, there were a lot of people who were in the audience, all eyes were on the three of us. Everything felt so slow, so bright. 

This feeling was warm and for once, I felt like I could achieve things if I just set my mind to it. The road wasn't easy, but- I'd won. And it felt amazing.

I got second prize of 80 gold. While the guy in the suit got 100 as he was first. The cool guy- whatever the hell his name was- got 70 gold, being third. Our opponents all got 50 gold each for being finalists. 

This money was good. I'd be able to live with Marg in luxury for six months- assuming I didn't overspend on anything. I wanted to take her to a private tour somewhere romantic and… 'I really should just learn to fly.' 

That way, I'd save on buying expensive tickets and the like. 

Actually, I needed a bank account to withdraw money from this. I guess I'd be meeting mom pretty soon. Maybe I could even buy her a present or two. Maybe I could buy some chocolate while I was at it too? Needless to say, the money was kind of making me feel a lot of things.

"Therefore, Helio, please stay away from her and let me be there. You've already chosen your partner, so don't ruin her life." This guy could actually be humble when he wanted to huh? "Otherwise I won't have a chance." He squirmed again. 

Okay, maybe not. 

Whenever he thought of his sister it was almost like he was going through euphoria or something. 

I almost felt disgusted and impressed at the same time. 

But the ceremony was over and everyone was finally leaving. The stuttering old man never really said anything after that.

The large guy in the suit nodded to me before going out. I nodded back, but I had no idea what that was about. 

My opponents gave me handshakes and I didn't sense any ill intent from them. The kid was really scared though.

Anyway. "Don't worry. She's just a friend to me." With that said, I headed for Marg and Elsa. 

Both were smiling and grinning. 

Before I could say a word to them though, Enira leaped out of the saber and stood in front of me, stealing my lips in a flash. 

"Can we move on? What is up with you and kisses today?"

Enira giggled. "Can I have that?" She pointed at the gift like thing. 

Marg and Elsa were walking this way and neither were in a good mood.

"I actually haven't opened it and don't even know what it is. Moreover, it was supposedly gramps' so no." What if there was his memento in here or something?

Enira giggled silently. "I mean, there's a core in there and you're telling me you can't feel it?"

"Unfortunately, I don't possess that kind of great skill of telling where is what." If I could, that'd be amazing though.

"Oh? I suppose I should have taught you the trick. Anyway, open it." She was being awfully pushy for some reason.

"Here?" I was already in the middle of opening it anyway. 

The stadium was emptying a lot faster than I'd thought it would.

The box opened and there was a piece of crystal inside. It was dark blue in color, almost black. The size was just a tad smaller than one of the individual pieces of Enira's core. When I touched it, I almost felt a slight pain shot through my fingers. It faded the very next second.

I took up the core in my hand. "This actually looks pretty cool. We can make a necklace out of it." And hang it around Marg's neck. It was the perfect shape, so yeah, I could fantasize.

"Yeah, and kill her with its poison. As if her illness wasn't enough," Enira mumbled. "Didn't you feel the poison leaping into you? Maybe healing you right away wasn't a good idea." She pouted. 

"Wait, what illness?"

Marg came forward and stood next to me. "I- how about we have a talk later? I actually wanted to talk to you about something. It wasn't anything major so I didn't feel like you had to know. But, we should talk later."

Wasn't? So, it was now? I didn't know why but that made my heart race slightly. Was she ill? Was it serious? Was she dying? I didn't know why but the thoughts kept on piling up and piling up. 

What would I do without her?

What would my life be without her?

"Calm down." Marg squeezed my hand and reached upto my lips, kissing me in the process. "I'm not handing you over to anyone." She spoke in a very naughty tone and almost made me hot. 

Her lips, her tongue, her everything. She was willing to give me everything, I had to trust her. 

Kissing her kind of almost made something start in me. 

I was kind of out of breath and though I thought kissing her would calm me down, it had the opposite effect. I was anything but calm. 

For the time being, however, I tried to act calm. I definitely wasn't calm though.

"Anyway," Enira took the little piece off my hand. "It's a rare dragon core- something I've been looking for a while now. A bit more powerful than me, so yeah, try to stop me if anything happens." She winked and swallowed the whole thing. The next second she fell on the ground, twitching slightly. 

Sigh. "Seriously, what's wrong with this moron today?"

The stadium was almost but empty. The judges and the staff were gone too. 

The cool guy was actually standing by the door just looking at us.

I checked my saber and it was flickering. 

So, I took my sword from Elsa, unsheathed it, and got ready. "You two, can you give me some space. Hopefully, it won't turn out bad." I had no idea what happened during an absorption phase but- I sure didn't want to take chances.

Both moved behind me. The kid was also here. 

Enira stood up, but her movements were rather artificial. Her eyes were blackish blue and she was leaking something similar to miasma. Miasma was something that came out of Kin- almost like smoke, meaning, this might have gone a bit bad. 

'Oh boy.'

She didn't turn into a Kin right? But weren't Kin humans before they turned to Kin? Though I suppose the other way around could have been possible too, after all, Nelbound was the living proof I'd witnessed with my own two eyes.