Ellen and Theo smiled at each other, knowing they managed to win this hard fight.
"Good job." Said Ellen while giving a thumbs-up as she disappeared.
Theo also disappeared from the scene and returned to the training capsule. He then realized there was another problem he needed to finish even though he had won earlier. And that matter took away his joy for the time being.
Sighing, Theo opened his capsule before his eyes intertwined with Laust's.
The two remained silent for a few seconds.
Suddenly, Laust turned around and looked at the others while slightly lowering his head. "I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier."
To show that he was sorry, he quickly opened the screen and chose Alea for the next member since it was the team's will.
Ellen, Phyrill, Sihan furrowed their eyebrows but didn't say anything.
Laust then faced Theo with a serious expression. "I hate you."
Theo had expected this and talked back. "The feeling is mutual."
Laust closed his eyes for a few seconds to calm his heart down. After that, he continued, "Still, I will be working with the team's coordination as long as the plan is logical.
"My Lange Family still wants to kill you, but due to the competition, the family shouldn't be able to do anything yet. Of course, my family wants me to help them to kill you. But… I won't do anything to you until the Grand Gaia is over."
Phyrill and Ellen winked at each other since their relationship had become better while Sihan's eyes became unbearably cold, looking at Laust.
Laust didn't care about their reaction and continued. "If I were you, I wouldn't rejoice first. After all, everything can happen in the future."
Laust turned to the others and said, "I am sorry, but I would like to skip today's meeting and do the rest tomorrow."
Without waiting for their replies, Laust already walked to the door and opened it. When he was about to leave, he stopped and looked at Theo. "Just to let you know… I'll never lose to you again… Theo."
Theo remained silent and watched how Laust left the room.
Without Laust's voice, the room became quiet, so Phyrill broke it with another joke. "Ah, so tense. Still, what did I watch just now? The legendary riv—"
Surprisingly, Sihan was the one who covered his mouth while glaring at him coldly. Even Phyrill couldn't fight back from that gaze, noticing that when a silent guy actually did something serious, he would be so menacing.
…
Room B-21, B-22, and B-23.
Alea and the others left the training capsules at the same time. All of them knew that Alea would get chosen since they obviously wouldn't choose Hontar. The latter also understood that his strength was far below Alea.
Still, Leca felt the frustration and dropped to her knees, complaining out loud. "Why?! How could we lose? We had prepared all the plans possible! We managed to restore Hontar's hand, recovered from our state and turned the situation around. Meanwhile, that Phyrill Hilbert had lost his arm and Theodore Griffith had discord with his teammate! Why?"
"Shut up," Aisha shouted, stopping her unnecessary rampage. She looked at Leca and opened her hands. "If you want to blame someone, it's me! Everything started getting messy because I died."
Hontar shook his head and sighed in defeat. "No. The real reason we lost was due to letting Theodore Griffith live for so long. He managed to wake Laust up from his darkness and turned it to his advantage."
Alea looked at Hontar and closed her eyes, knowing that Hontar might not be the one the instructor was searching for since he blamed someone from the enemy team.
"Still, I can understand why Alea wants Theodore Griffith in our team." Aisha looked at Alea with a bitter smile, knowing that Theo was actually the one who deserved the spot in either the Student Council or Disciplinary Committee, the two big groups that controlled the school order.
"Ah…" Aisha sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I feel like undergoing my training again. The world still has so much to offer."
Before Alea said anything, her image appeared on the screen since Laust had chosen her.
"Alea Eilric is chosen as the 6th team member. Congratulations. Now go to Room B-001 to meet your new teammates."
They saw the screen and clenched their teeth because they didn't like the result. Even so, they had truly been beaten by the opposite team despite having the incomparably strong Alea Eilric. In fact, if Alea were in the opposite group, they would surely win, unlike a certain someone who never doubted his victory.
That certain someone was none other than Theo. He kept trying to develop a way to win while tricking them one after another to buy time for the next move. And Ellen had supported him brilliantly and the plan worked so well.
Alea smiled bitterly and patted everyone's shoulder one by one before walking to the door. As she was about to reach the door's handle, she couldn't help but turn around.
"Whatever you said… It's useless. This may be a cruel thing to say, but this is my last advice to you guys." Alea took a deep breath and looked at them without any emotion. "The world is never fair. This training session truly shows how unfair it is because that Instructor, Radvils, tells us one indirect message."
"One indirect message?" Leca looked at her while her hands were shaking.
"If you don't like the way this world goes, then you should keep winning. Only the winner can set everything right. Instead of waiting to be chosen for an opportunity at the next event, you should aim to be the one that chooses! Whether you want to participate or not, that choice should be in your hand instead of getting someone to place it in your hand."
Alea, for the first time, tried to say something harsh, not an encouragement like she usually did. This was to show them she respected their skills because she could see the talent in them. Lastly, she said, "There are two more matches after this. Get swallowed by this defeat or survive and rechallenge them and me again… It's your choice."