This Wasn’t A Part Of The Plan

The second round of the tournament has concluded.

Kaito and Rina are still watching the event unfold from Edwin’s shop, as Kaito had just finished picking out his new, more durable bow. Khrom, whose match was later in the round, had won his battle, meaning that the three of Kaito, Rina, and Khrom are still in the tournament.

“Alright, we should really start heading back,” Rina eagerly suggested, not wanting to be disqualified for being late if one of the two’s matches started early in the third round.

“We’re fine,” Kaito responded, having gotten too relaxed at Edwin’s shop. “Let’s at least see what the matchups in the third round are.”

Rina wasn’t too fond of the idea. She was already standing by the door, more adamant about leaving, but she decided to stay in the shop to humor Kaito. Kaito felt overconfident with three of the group being in approximately the top 30 out of 100 participants left in the tournament. Plus, due to Francis using a bunch of skills, he also believed him to be less of a threat.

As the round three matchups began to display, Kaito, Rina, and Edwin looked upon the screen to find who the two’s next foes were.

“Really?” Kaito said, annoyedly, upon finding out who he was matched against.

Kaito’s third-round opponent was Khrom.

Kaito didn’t like this turn of events, as this would guarantee he or Khrom would be eliminated this round. Khrom, on the other hand, who was watching the tournament from the crowd alongside Evona, was more excited for the battle. Khrom wanted to see what crazy idea he could try against him.

“This is why I wanted to leave before the round ended,” Rina complained as she gazed at the screen.

Just as Rina had worried about, the matchup of Kaito versus Khrom was earlier in the round. Now Kaito realized why Rina was so adamant about returning to the tournament. He got up from his relaxed position to accompany Rina in rushing to the colosseum.

“Thanks for the bow, Edwin,” Rina thanked Edwin as they left for the colosseum.

Edwin waved with a smile as he watched the two rush off.

“The little lady seems to be enjoying herself,” Edwin spoke to himself, realizing that Rina is more outgoing now that she’s alongside Kaito.

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Back at the colosseum, Khrom is waiting patiently in the arena. His fight with Kaito is set to go underway, but Kaito is nowhere to be found. Khrom, alongside everyone watching the tournament, has been waiting for a while, and something had to be done to ease the impatient crowd.

With the tournament organizers coming to a conclusion, the announcer started to speak, “S-So due to Kaito not showing up, he will be—”

Before the announcer could finish, Khrom lifted his hand and shook his head slightly, gesturing he’d wait for Kaito to arrive. The announcer thought the issue wasn’t Khrom being willing to wait, but the tourney needing to move on. Something had to be done, whether Khrom wanted it or not.

Just before the announcer could start talking again, Kaito showed up, yelling from the crowd.

“I’M HERE!!!”

Kaito took the shortest route to the colosseum arena through the crowd to make his presence known. Everyone who could hear Kaito turned towards him as he started walking towards the arena from the crowd. When he finally entered the arena, Khrom greeted him.

“I knew you’d show up eventually,” Khrom said with a smile.

Kaito, slightly out of breath, responded, “Thanks for waiting, Khrom.”

As the tournament couldn’t afford to go too far behind schedule, the announcer initiated the battle when Kaito got into position, not giving Kaito and Khrom more time to speak in camaraderie.

“Give it your all, Kaito!” Khrom yelled as the action commenced.

Feeling the energy Khrom gave off, Kaito ran towards Khrom with his dagger. Khrom readied his shield for a block, ready to parry Kaito’s attack, but Kaito wouldn’t fall for it. Before Kaito attacked, he feinted to the side to get around Khrom and hit him in the side.

Despite getting a clean hit, Khrom looked unfazed. Khrom went for a counterattack, punching down at Kaito, but Kaito barely managed to evade it.

In a follow-up attack, Khrom quickly rushed towards Kaito with his shield in front. Despite Kaito being out of rhythm from dodging, he jumped up and over Khrom. Seeing an opening, Kaito drew his new bow and arrow and tried to shoot an arrow towards Khrom. The arrow’s trajectory was sound this time, and Khrom was nailed in the back. Once again, Khrom was unfazed.

As Kaito and Khrom stared at each other in a stalemate, Kaito thought, “Man, I thought Khrom being a mixed adventurer would make this easier, but he chose well in his class. I can’t damage him easily with his improved defenses, and I probably can’t take a hit either.”

As Kaito brainstormed an idea to beat Khrom, Rina walked down the alley of the colosseum crowd to sit next to Evona.

“How are you feeling, Evona?” Rina asked, referring to her loss.

“Rina!” Evona said as peppy as her usual self. “Evona's a-okay! Right now, Evona wants to see if Kaito can do anything against Khrom!”

“He’s struggling to get by Khrom’s defense, right?” Rina analyzed the situation as another one of Kaito’s attacks left Khrom unfazed. “Oh boy… he looks like he has something weird planned again,” Rina concludes, seeing Kaito’s mischievous face.

Khrom and Kaito were intensely clashing, dagger to shield. Running up for another attack, Kaito changed his approach for the upcoming clash. Instead of going head-to-head, Kaito maneuvered around Khrom again and pounced onto his back. Remaining latched onto Khrom, Kaito began striking Khrom as many times as possible.

Khrom, finally feeling threatened, made his move. Khrom swapped out his splitting shield for another one in his inventory. The new shield looked like it was on fire, and was an accurate depiction, as when Khrom activated the shield, he was set ablaze.

Kaito, getting burned, fled from Khrom’s back.

“Geez, how many shields do you have?” Kaito jokingly asked Khrom, as they stood at another stalemate.

“Too many,” Khrom responded, adding to his joke.

Starting to focus again, Kaito thinks, “This should be enough; it’s all or nothing now.”

Kaito, activating his Acceleration skill, sped towards Khrom. Khrom could feel Kaito's intensity and was prepared to face him head-on. Kaito, mid-run, leapt laterally towards Khrom, hoping to overpower and push Khrom out of the arena.

“PICKPOCKET!!!” Kaito yelled, activating his skill.

“Idiot,” Rina embarrassingly said in Kaito’s apparent attempt to steal Khrom’s shield.

In Kaito’s attempt to steal Khrom's shield, he was successful! Unfortunately for Kaito, Pickpocket only works on items within the target’s Inventory skill, so the shield Kaito ended up stealing was not the one he wanted. Kaito grabbed a different shield from Khrom’s inventory, which had a hollow center.

Being weighed down by the hollow shield he stole, the mid-jump Kaito dropped to the ground and slid on it until he was directly in front of Khrom.

“Were you that interested in my shield collection?” Khrom joked as he looked down and smiled at Kaito’s failed strategy.

“Y-yeah, nice shield you go here…” Kaito said nervously, trying to laugh off his failure.

Khrom, taking the battle seriously, activates his flame-like shield and slams it on top of Kaito. An eruption of flames spouted on top of Kaito, and when the fire dissipated, Kaito was completely knocked out.

“Khrom wins!” The announcer said, solidifying Kaito’s defeat.

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After Kaito had fully recovered, the third round was over. Kaito was now joining the three of Rina, Khrom, and Evona, who were watching the tournament from the crowd. As Kaito approached the three, he dreaded what Rina would probably tell him about his failed strategy.

“Oh, Kaito, you feeling better?” Khrom initiated the conversation.

“Physically, yeah…” Kaito responded, trying to avoid eye contact with Rina out of embarrassment.

Evona got up from her seat and started patting Kaito on the head. “There, there, Kaito, everyone makes mistakes.”

“I’d say this was a pretty good learning experience for you,” Rina summarized Kaito’s tournament run. “You did well, Kaito.”

“T-thanks?” Kaito replied, fairly confused at Rina’s kind response.

Kaito was starting to realize that Rina was being kinder to him. A welcome change, but he wasn’t sure if he should expect a kind or stoic response anymore.

The group of four all sat together in the crowd as the fourth round matchups were displayed. With Kaito now out of the tournament, it was up to Khrom and Rina, who also made it to the fourth round, to defeat Francis and win the whole thing. However, things on that front were about to get more complicated.

“Again!?” Kaito complained.

Khrom and Rina were to face off in the fourth round. It was another team elimination. Kaito’s ideal was for everyone to make it as far as possible so they have more chances of defeating Francis and winning the tournament, but luck was not on their side.

“Say, Khrom, any chance you want to forfeit the match?” Kaito asked, hoping to preserve Rina’s energy for the rest of the tournament.

Rina looked at Kaito as if he were crazy.

“Haha, no can do, I take all my fights seriously.” Khrom declined Kaito’s suggestion.

“Good. I’d never want the easy way out,” Rina said, standing up. I’ll give it my all, Khrom, so show me yours.”

“Of course I will,” said Khrom, standing up as the two had a friendly square off.

The tournament’s end is nigh. It would be up to the winner of Khrom and Rina to potentially face off against Francis and win the whole thing!