Free Web NovelChapter 89: A Game?
Mahirah folded her arms tightly.
"Why did you turn on the squad yesterday? Let’s start with that."
Apollo stared at her for several seconds.
"Turn on the squad?" He asked. "Why would you say that?"
Mahirah almost laughed.
Not because it was funny. Because it was infuriating.
"Why would I say that?" she repeated.
The events of yesterday replayed vividly in her mind.
***
The battlefield around Vault Four had been in complete chaos.
Wind screamed through the clearing.
Earth pillars burst from the ground.
Fire streaked overhead.
Shields formed from nothing to protect.
Twigs and branches abandoned their trees and shot through the grounds like spears.
Students crashed through bushes and tree trunks as Abilities collided from every direction.
Squad 11-A and Squad 12-D were locked in a brutal struggle.
Mahirah barely noticed any of it because she had her hands full.
The senior in front of her was fast.
Ridiculously fast.
His foot struck toward her ribs.
Mahirah twisted aside.
The kick skimmed past her shirt.
She immediately copied the speed she had witnessed.
Her body accelerated.
She drove a punch toward his jaw.
The senior blocked.
Their fists collided.
The impact echoed.
He grinned.
Mahirah’s face grew harder in determination.
Then both vanished.
Leaves exploded into the air as they exchanged a rapid barrage of attacks.
Punch. Block. Kick. Counter.
The senior’s strength wasn’t normal.
Neither was hers anymore.
Every move he showed her became another weapon in her control.
The fight only became harder because of it.
The senior swept low.
Mahirah jumped.
He followed with an elbow.
She copied the timing and answered with one of her own.
The collision sent both skidding apart.
The senior lunged first.
His shoulder slammed into her chest.
Mahirah was launched backwards.
She flew several meters before landing cleanly in a crouch.
Her head snapped up.
Apollo was standing nearby.
Watching.
Just watching.
"Why are you standing there?" she shouted.
Apollo looked down at his leg.
Then wriggled the foot strapped inside a walking boot.
"I’m an invalid." He informed her.
Mahirah’s eye twitched.
Before she could answer, the senior charged again.
She shot forward too.
The ground cracked beneath both of them.
They met halfway.
Boom.
Both locked hands.
Neither moved.
Muscles strained.
Dust rose around them.
Mahirah gritted her teeth.
"Apollo!" she yelled.
The senior pushed harder.
She pushed back.
"Why are you being such a jerk when you could help without even batting an eyelid?"
Apollo tilted an ear in her direction.
"What?"
Mahirah stared.
"I can’t hear you. It’s so loud. " He said.
For a brief moment she considered abandoning her fight entirely just to punch him in that blasted leg of his.
Instead she shouted,
"Use your Ability, damn it!"
Apollo hollered back immediately.
"I can’t hear you!"
Mahirah nearly exploded.
Then—
A distant chime echoed across the battlefield.
Seventeen hundred.
The Vault opened.
Everyone froze. Just for a second.
Then the reaction came instantly.
"THE VAULT!"
Students surged forward.
Squad 12-D broke into a sprint.
Squad 11-A immediately moved to intercept.
"Heidi!"
Seth’s voice cut across the battlefield.
The bushes near the edge of the clearing shifted.
A figure slowly emerged.
Not from behind the foliage.
From within it.
As though part of the forest itself had come alive.
Heidi Nyreth.
Squad 11-A’s Scale Carrier.
The gloomy girl stepped out from her camouflage and began heading toward the Vault.
Walking.
Not running.
Walking.
Like there wasn’t a war taking place around her.
Her squad members erupted in blind fury.
"Move faster damn it!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"HEIDI!"
Then disaster struck.
A member of 12-D exploited the distraction.
A blast of compressed air slammed into Heidi’s side.
She was thrown violently across the clearing.
And suddenly everything changed.
The seniors smelled weakness, using the vulnerability and surged forward.
Their attacks intensified immediately.
Students from 11-A were driven backwards.
Thrown down.
Overpowered. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Apollo!" Someone cried out desperately.
And more voices immediately followed.
"Apollo, help!"
One after another.
Apollo stood completely still. His expression had changed.
His eyes had become cold. Focused. As if he were facing a decision no one else could see.
He narrowed them slightly.
Then a long breath escaped from him.
And then—
He looked away.
***
Back in the present, Mahirah was furious. Her hair seemed to have curled even tighter in the last few seconds.
"Why?" she demanded again.
Apollo stood a few meters away, looking past her.
The forest stretched around them in every direction.
He studied it calmly.
"The forest is beautiful." He said.
Mahirah stared.
"What?"
For a moment she genuinely couldn’t process the answer.
Then her jaw dropped.
"Because of a forest?" she asked incredulously. "You abandoned your squad because of a lousy forest? What if we had gotten completely knocked out?"
Apollo looked mildly confused by her outrage.
"The squad is more capable than that."
Mahirah’s eye twitched.
"Do you feel even the tiniest bit of remorse?"
Apollo appeared to consider the question seriously.
"We won." He glanced at the trees. "And the forest is intact."
Mahirah lost it.
She lunged.
Her fist shot toward his face.
Apollo sidestepped effortlessly.
The punch cut through empty air.
Mahirah immediately threw another.
And another.
And another.
Apollo avoided every single one flawlessly with ease.
Just small shifts and turns.
The two of them began circling through the clearing.
"How can you even say that?" Mahirah shouted between punches.
Apollo ducked.
"If I hadn’t pushed myself yesterday—"
Another punch.
"We would’ve lost!"
Apollo leaned away.
"You’re impossible."
Punch.
"Selfish!"
Punch.
Apollo stepped aside again.
Mahirah suddenly noticed something. Despite the walking boot, he was moving far too smoothly.
Far too quickly.
"Invalid?" she yelled, infuriated. "Invalid my foot!"
By now they had gone almost full circle.
Apollo found himself backed against the same tree Mahirah had been abusing earlier.
"I don’t get it!" she shouted.
A final punch flew toward him.
"What’s the use of having an Ability if you never use it?"
Apollo moved. The fist missed him completely.
It was about to smash into the bark.
His hand shot out.
And caught her wrist.
Then smoothly redirected it downward.
Mahirah froze.
Silence settled between them.
She was breathing hard.
Apollo wasn’t.
He waited. Letting her catch her breath. Then he released her hand.
His expression was completely serious now.
"This is a school trial." He said. "With students."
Mahirah said nothing.
"Wouldn’t it have been more selfish if I used my Ability just so my squad could win a game?"
He took a step closer.
Mahirah instinctively stepped back.
His eyes were cold. Not angry, just cold.
"If something truly terrible had happened yesterday," Apollo said quietly, "who would’ve taken responsibility?"
Mahirah opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
"Answer me." His voice remained unnaturally even.
Mahirah held his gaze. Her breathing had become uneven for an entirely different reason.
Apollo looked down. "You don’t have the answer."
He sighed.
Then when he raised his head again, the coldness was gone.
And there was the usual boredom.
"Don’t interfere."
He turned and began walking away. After a few steps he stopped.
"Oh and," Apollo glanced back. "The berries weren’t poisonous."
Mahirah frowned.
"It’s a different species."
He continued walking. A few moments later he disappeared between the trees.
Mahirah remained where she was. Regulating her breathing. Trying not to think about anything he had said.
Eventually her eyes drifted downward.
The scattered berries.
She walked over, crouched and picked one up.
It was smooth. No irritating hairs. No warning colors.
No sign of poison at all.
Mahirah stared at it for several seconds. Then groaned and rubbed her forehead.
"Unbelievable." she muttered.
