MVP: Miss Noir

Summer, 13:05

Location: Theo's Villa

"Again!"

Victor shouted as he executed a single-leg sweep towards Leo, which he narrowly avoided by jumping. But as he rose, he felt a rush of air at the back, and he instinctively bent backward and raised his arms to deflect the incoming flying kick.

"Ke Ke Ke… you guys are good! Now it's my turn!" Leo let out a derisive laugh as he mocked them.

While trash-talking, Leo maintained his footing with deftness and threw a straight punch at Victor, keeping a watchful eye on Theo in case of a sneak attack.

As soon as he felt the punch connect, without missing a beat, he spun and performed a back kick at Theo, who leapt into the air to dodge.

As if expecting Theo to dodge, Leo rotated his lower body, stabilised his footing, dashed forward a little, and performed a strong punch, which Theo was unable to block mid-air, and was thrown back.

Though both of them managed to block Leo’s attack, they couldn’t land a hit on him. Now that Leo had created enough distance from both, Theo and Victor immediately fell at a disadvantage.

Beep…Beep…

“The 20th match has been concluded with Sir Leon as the winner, a ring-out finish. No injuries detected. New match will be starting in 30 seconds”, Ai-Chan announced.

“As expected, can't compare in raw strength with you!!” Victor said as he took a few steps back and entered into a fighting stance once more.

Leo replied with a smug grin, "I would be surprised if you guys can compare to me with raw strength."

"Tsk… thrown out again… It seems we have to change some tactics. Noir! Come here! I know you are waiting for this moment. You have my permission,” Theo shamelessly involved Noir, who immediately entered the room as if waiting for this moment.

Victor looked at Theo with a deadpan expression at his shamelessness, but still asked Noir to enter the combat area, “Come inside the ring, let's see what you can do too.”

As soon as she heard it, her eyes lit up as she slowly entered the ring and looked at Leo with a condescending gaze, while licking her paws.

"Heh... One more won’t make a difference. If I can beat you both alone, I can beat you three alone, too", Leo said in a cocky tone.

Theo muttered, "We will see about that!"

“Brother Leo, you should never underestimate someone…”, he added while adjusting his specs.

“30 seconds are over. Countdown will begin now!”

“Starting... 3… 2…1… 0”

As soon as the countdown hit zero, Victor charged at Leo, ducked down, and executed a double sweep. Leo managed to dodge the first sweep but lost balance on the second because he had never expected a double sweep. He immediately tried to find his footing, just in time to see Theo dash at him with his upper body in a basic strong punch stance.

Not on my watch...

Hastily, Leo predicted where Theo’s punch would land, sidestepped, and bent his already unbalanced body. His eyes widened when he saw Theo grinning, the basic strong punch stance shifting into a double jump kick. He never expected them to use the feint twice in a row, especially with such coordination.

Hmph…

Leo, with his extreme dexterity and experience, managed to change course again, but realizing he couldn't avoid or dodge it, he chose to defend as best he could, completely ignoring someone far more eager than both Victor and Theo combined.

As soon as the match had started. Noir, who had been waiting for this moment since the first spar, didn’t hesitate before dashing into a successful blind spot, and that was Victor’s shadow, and somehow this whole thing was completely ignored by the trio.

The moment Noir saw Leo ignore her and sidestep to avoid Theo’s punch, she sprang into action. She came out of Victor’s shadow, dashed at an extreme speed, and again successfully hid in Leo’s shadow without being noticed by anyone.

When she noticed Leo had again changed course to avoid the jumping kick, she immediately grabbed onto the moment and jumped, climbing onto Leo's body from his leg. She quickly reached his chest, offered him a contemptuous smile, and used his chest as her springboard and jumped into mid-air, whipping her tail at his face, before Leo could even realise what even happened.

"Fuck!"

Leo's first reaction was to change the course again or take one hand to block Noir’s attack, but then he saw that Theo’s momentum was much more than one hand could defend against, so he chose to defend against Theo’s kick and take Noir’s sweep, which would not cause any pain.

Leo did a basic block and took Noir’s full force, but he never expected the sweep to be so powerful; he was slammed to the ground with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Beep…beep…

AI-Chan’s cold and cute voice once again sounded, “The 30th match has been concluded with Sir Leon’s ring-out. MVP: Miss Noir. Final score: 18-12. Slight injury detected… checking conditions… light bruise detected. Next matched paused… continue?”

“…No, this was the last!” Theo spoke as he looked at Leo, lying on the ground.

“Accepted… Final winner: Sir Leon”, Ai-Chan declared as her voice once again faded.

"Hahaha! Bwa hahaha!” Victor laughed while wiping his tears.

“Absolute cinema! Hahahaha,” Theo bent over as he continued to laugh. "This was fun... hahahaha the last slap personal!... I swear!... he deserved it",

Victor and Theo laughed as they collapsed on the floor.

“Fuck you… You guys are nasty!” Leo groaned, massaging his jaw. “And where the hell did you guys learned to do feint, double sweep, and other moves?!"

“These are the moves from the video games we played... You have also played with us,” Theo said as he stood up and went to the kitchen to get some water.

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, yes… it was quite familiar... But still, it’s not like it was the first match.... why did you guys only do it at the last match, and what the hell was that teamwork I didn’t see you guys discussing at all!"

“Well, I don’t know about Theo, but I was trying to pull this off since the first match,” Victor said, accepting a water bottle from Theo. “I guess you need good body control to pull this off… tsk… I didn’t even get to use the rest of the moves at all.”

“As for me, you see, I was wearing the AR contact lenses, so I was analyzing your style while comparing which move would be best and could be coordinated with Victor for maximum effect,” Theo added as he passed a bottle to Leo. “I had already figured you out in the last match, but my timing… was a bit off, so you won. This match was simulated to be 30 seconds long, with Noir landing the last blow—it ended in 7 seconds.”

“Hah... but still, this combat exercise is only half successful!" Theo lamented.

"Huh... half?" Leo was baffled, ‘After all this shit, you're calling it half.’

Victor shook his head and spoke, “If I am not wrong… he is talking about our objective for Combat... the energy control was not achieved... well… if it was so easy, then there would have been no problem at all."

“Yes... Energy control. I was trying it since the first match, but I can’t even feel the energy at all. I guess everything from novels and anime can’t be applied…” Theo nodded with a sigh and then looked at Noir, who was grooming herself. “Ah… by the way, Noir's last tackle was epic... I didn't know she had such good fighting instincts... your otaku cat is... truly something…”

“Yes, it was totally out of expectation... I mean, who would think about using shadow to blend into the blind spot and launch a decisive attack…” Leo muttered.

“So, now what?"

"Sleep! I am mentally exhausted!"

***

"That was a nice nap!” Victor rubbed his eyes, stretching.

"Yup... and now we will improve our gadgets."

"Well then, I will do gym after all, l am not a tech guy." Leo walked towards the gym while muttering.

“No, no, no... where are you going? Victor and I will be working on improving the gadgets. You will work on reforming the basements, and don’t worry, AI-Chan will help you!" Theo said, handing Leo a tablet.

"…"

“Now go! Victor, come, you are better at designing than me, help me pick a new design for the mask,” Theo spoke as he yanked Victor toward the lab by putting his hand over his shoulders.

“I… sigh,” Leo sighed.

As the trio busied themselves for the unforeseen future, that which had been forgotten began to resurface once more.

***

Winter, --:--
Location: Kermadec Trench, New Zealand;

After the widespread adoption of clean nuclear energy, humanity's energy issues were largely resolved, together with the pollution problems that had plagued Earth for centuries. After the governments of the world united, new challenges emerged, but many long-standing issues faded into history. With this again came a new age of exploration, although few areas remain untouched to this day.

Now with the pollution gone, the poles reclaimed their original severity, becoming once again the coldest regions on Earth. Most expeditions failed to survive the extremes, so exploration turned oceanward... which was still one of the great mysteries.

The Kermadec Trench, one of the world’s deepest trenches, and it’s still not been fully explored yet. A volatile ecosystem surrounded its base: tectonic activity, underwater volcanoes, and seismic disturbances made it nearly impossible to study.

In the depths of this trench, where sunlight still cannot reach, lies a cave, but strangely, the water itself is repelled from the cave. The walls of the cave, which are carved with numerous ancient murals that look chaotic yet have a strange beauty, pulsed with dim light. These murals continued to the end of the cave, where everything is connected to a statue.

The statue was of a man; he almost looked alive. At first glance, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a statue or someone frozen, if not for the stony surface. His features were calm, composed, eyes closed as if in deep thought or rest. The lines on his face were subtle, worn by age but not harsh. His hands rested gently on his lap, fingers slightly curled, as though he had only just sat down.

At this moment, as the glow begins to get absorbed into the statue, little by little, almost imperceptible cracks begin to appear on its surface. Little by little, the cracks begin to grow, but the speed at which they is growing will require quite a bit of time.

The silent statue, which should have remained monotonous for who knows how many years now, began to come alive little by little. A translucent white gas began to release from the statue’s cracks as it took a humanoid shape and began to touch the walls.

How long has it been? Has the time finally come?

Did ‘Ether’ return to this barren area? Hmm… but these murals didn’t seem to be absorbing ether from the cosmos but from the Earth… but how is this even possible? The world tree had died… the core cracked… even deities had to abandon this region. The prophecy did say it ‘ether’ will return again, but this situation…

This situation is somewhat out of expectation, but still acceptable… let’s check the energy first and see what the situation is.

“Shit. fuck… ouch—ouu—ouu—I almost died! This is chaos energy! How the hell is it producing chaos energy?”

Hmm… Now this proves that the world tree has not revived, at least.

What had happened? Ah! I don't care, let's minimise the absorption. I don't want to die from chaos pollution.

No point fretting. At this rate, I will need a minimum of 2 years to get out of this hibernation… at that time those fogies will wake up too… hahaha chaos is coming… I hope the world tree can be revived soon, otherwise I will have to get into hibernation again… sigh…

With a tremor that rocked the nearby islands once more this month, the cave became quiet, and the already dim light got faint as the pulsation rate slowed significantly.

***

Spring, --:--,
Location: Sahara Desert, North Africa;

A huge bird glided over the dunes and settled atop a craggy sandstone cliff.
It didn’t seem to belong here. Everything—lizards, snakes, and even insects began to flee, as if something terrifying had come.

The bird stood at least two meters tall, not even counting its long, trailing tail. Its head resembled a twisted fusion of vulture and eagle, but sharper, more refined, and predatory. A shallow depression sat at the center of its forehead as if something was there.

Strange patterns ran across its body, pulsing softly beneath feathers that looked anything but natural. The feathers shimmered in the harsh sunlight, catching strange hues. Its talons clutched the stone with a metallic rasp, each claw glinting like forged blades. Its eyes were a solid grey, cloudy, with no pupils... yet they moved as if observing everything.

The creature tilted its head, turning slowly, until something caught its attention far in the distance. It froze. Then its head jerked again, locking in. It had found something.

***

Somewhere across the desert, inside an artificial tent reinforced with field tech, a group of researchers had taken shelter from the heat.

“Nina, what do you think about this fossil and tablet we found?” asked a man in dust-covered cargo gear, his voice a mix of excitement and confusion.

He wasn’t particularly tall or muscular— just an average person worn out under the sun. A thick beard covered his jaw, and a pair of square glasses constantly slipped down his nose. “The desert hides more secrets than we thought... even now. The scanner can’t tell the age or even the classification. Look at this—it’s showing unknown.”

He gestured at the VerDex— a bulky rectangular device, with butterfly wheels under it. Its screen flickered as it ran another scan. The VerDex was a breakthrough invention from global scientists, designed to catalogue and classify any living organisms, murals, and fossils by referencing a nearly endless database. It is a perfect device for archaeologists and other similar kinds of research groups.

“Well, I’m a geologist,” Nina replied, crossing her arms while looking at the tablet and the fossil, which is a bone. “But I can at least confirm that the ground wasn’t deep enough to hold fossils like that. It's a little strange.”

A young voice called out from the outside of the tent. “Hey, guys! Come here! I found something... It’s a bird, and a huge one! The VerDex doesn’t recognize it either. I don’t think it’s from around here either. We might’ve just discovered a new species!”

“Maika, stop your daydreaming. That thing is probably just a mutated kori bustard; we have seen those around here more than a few times. In one day, we have already found three things as unknown. Is it even possible? It's probably broken.”

“Mike, seriously, look! Take the binoculars!”

“What is it? I saw nothing.”

Screeeeeeeee—

Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek tore through the tent, numbing their minds in an instant. All the equipment buzzed as the tent began to malfunction and disassemble itself, exposing the research group.

“What the hell was that?!” Mike stumbled back, pressing over his ears as his ear bled.

The girl with the binoculars—Maika—froze. Her eyes were locked on something above the tent. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Then—

A shadow.

Just for a second. Something blurred through the air.

Another metallic shriek followed, and a spray of dust filled the space. No one had time to scream.

Michael, who was yanked into the air like a rag doll, only saw something blurry. He tried to use his voice to activate the emergency com, but his voice never came through.

Nina looked at her boss, only to see his headless corpse standing. She blinked. Before she could react, her vision shifted, and the next thing she saw was Alina’s corpse forming above her boss's body, and many others she recognized. Finally, she saw a headless body similar to hers standing still. Boss!—

then… black.

Silence returned to the desert once again as if nothing ever happened; everything looked normal, only that is if the half-dismantled tent and the numerous equipment lying around in that area could be ignored.

It looked as if a sandstorm had just blown over, scattering all the instruments; no traces of humans could be found, as if they had just vanished in the air. The coms began to buzz once more…