The Guild Ranking Ceremony Trial One(pt.2)

Nikolos Frost paced the guild master's box anxiously as he picked glass from his bleeding hand. Though his adrenaline made it, so he hardly felt a thing.

"Master Master Frost! Your hand!" Cena exclaimed in concern. "Let me take care of it."

"It's fine" Frost replied as he froze his wound shut. "I shouldn't have done that. I let my emotions get the better of me."

"You don't say." Meline teased. "You good meow?"

"Until you made that stupid pun I was. If what Kiris said is true, I can't allow my emotions to control me like that. I have to stay focused and watch the ceremony. Maybe he's mistaken." Frost answered in a doubtful tone as he focused even more intently on the ceremony.

 "You should know Niko; I will figure out what's got you so stressed. And when I do, I'll make them regret doing so." Meline said with fury as she cracked her neck.

"I wish it was that easy..."

********

There it was, right before me, the flag of the rank two guild standing tall atop a hill perfectly illuminated by the sun's golden rays. Yet there wasn't a soul guarding it, it was completely vulnerable.

"I can just take it right?" Aceil asked quizzically as he stood inches from the flag.

"Wait." Okami warned, her attention drawn to her surroundings. "Someone is nearby. And he's no pushover. It's your decision Kenki, but be careful."

"Aceil take it." I commanded making my decision.

"Roger that." Aceil replied as he grabbed the flag.

But as soon as he did, he had to immediately raise his Tanabo to block a barrage of high velocity throwing stars.

"Heh, how rude." Aceil said with a smirk. "Here's hoping I can return the favor."

"He's here." Okami warned as she conjured several bronze leaves to orbit her. "Kenki, you may wanna get out of here and capture the flag for us."

 "No. I prepared for this. I've got an arsenal of runes to try out." I said as I transformed my pen into a blade preparing to test out my new runes.

"Let's hope they're enough. Asuma." A voice echoed around us.

Even though the voice was distorted I immediately recognized it as a member of Azure Ursine.

"Oh, it will be. Ibu." I replied, eager to prove my strength.

********

Meanwhile in the middle of a large flat grassland where the grass was tall enough to tickle my calfs, was a single golden flag, decorated with a sword between a crossed bow and harp surrounded by members of Lunastray.

"Talk about awesome! It's right there! We can just go and-" I attempted to say as I lunged to the flag.

"Wait." Shade said stopping me in my tracks both verbally and physically as his hand caught my jacket, preventing me from engaging further. "Lunastay's members are being awfully cautious, it's possible the flag is booby-trapped." 

"He's right Robius. Let's wait and see." Nosora said siding with Shade as we watched Lunastray close in on the flag.

"And let them steal our point? No way!" I said before activating Bolt Dash and running to the flag at full speed after Shade let down his guard.

I watched as the faces of Lunastray warped into those of terror as I raced through the grasslands. Little did I know, they weren't afraid of me. 

Just as the flag entered my reach, and the very tips of my fingers made contact with it, an explosion of force launched me a fair distance back.

"You moron!" A Lunastray member cursed at me.

It only took a second for me to realize why.

The thundering voice of Cion the announcer echoed throughout the stadium.

"Incredible! The Golden Chariot has simultaneously captured the flags of Azure Ursine, Kin of Bestia, and Specialty Maid! They are now in first place with three points tripling the points of second place Kin of Bestia's measly one point!" 

"I should thank the fool who attempted to steal my flag." A voice spoke from the cloud of dust created by the explosion. "You saved me a long walk."

As the dust settled, I beheld a man with slick white hair and sky-blue eyes, he dressed himself in a bright colored, outdated, nobleman's attire and was armed with a small stiletto dagger.

"Don't mention it. Here soon me and my friends are gonna make you regret it! Right Shade, Nosora." I shouted eagerly. Only to see I was still alone. "Oh, come on guys."

Even the members of Lunastray soon ran from the guy leaving me completely alone.

"Oh, sucks to be you. As a kindness I shall explain who I am. My name is Sieg Torikkusatu, son of Sonju Torrikkusatu, I am the only Beta of the Golden Chariot and the strongest Runist in Rexia known throughout the land as Rune Lord Sieg." He said ending in a formal bow.

"Oh yeah. My name is Robius Frost, I don't have any fancy titles, but I imagine I will once I kick your ass." I said ending in a one finger salute.

Lightning began to course throughout my body almost as full of energy as me. It ran through every nerve and muscle I had empowering my every step.

"Lightning Cloak. It's on now Sieggy."

********

"These is kinda messed up you know." Nosora whispered as he and Shade remained concealed from Sieg. "Shouldn't we be helping him?"

"No. Our plan doesn't change, I owe a lot to this guild, if I hope to ever pay off my debts, I need to deathly effective. Robius will be fine, even if he can't win, it would look bad for The Golden Chariot to bully him. We need to wait until that guy is distracted, he's probably not expecting someone of Robius' strength, so he'll be surprised when Robius' makes a move. And that's when we strike." Shade explained without taking his eyes off the fight for even a second.

"I hope you're right." Nosora said with doubt in his voice. 

********

Meanwhile Lilac's opinion of the little pervert had quickly changed.

"You're just as bad as Jex!" She shouted with flushed cheeks as she nocked an arrow enchanted with ice waiting for the boy to slip up.

"Oh, come on darling, I'm not that bad." Jex said as he scanned his surroundings for any trace of the vanishing boy.

"You really think now is a good time to be fighting amongst yourselves?" The pervy shota asked as he leaned against our flag. "Pretty immature if you ask me."

"Look who's talking pipsqueak!" Jex shouted as he conjured a fireball at the kid's location only for it to anticlimactically dissipate on one of the many trees surrounding them. "Is he trying to piss us off?"

"It feels more like he's testing us." Lilac corrected as she released her arrow into a tree. 

At least that was as it seemed until Jex noticed the arrow pinning the boy's cloak to the tree.

"Hell of a shot" Jex complemented.

"You guys proud?" The boy's voice asked. "You've stripped a child, congrats you're a bunch of felons now."

"Oh, bite me you bastard." Jex's smile soon disappeared as the Draconum Familia flag did the same. "When did-"

"I'll be taking this, you guys are strong for sure, but until you get over your inability to pay attention to your surroundings. I'm afraid we can't depend on you for what comes next and so I need to make sure we don't lose." The boy's voice echoed around the duo, and they knew they had no hope of finding him.

"Well, that sucks, we just got outwitted by a naked child." Jex said completely stumped. "Let's hope the others are doing better."

"Whewie! I think I notice some kinda rivalry between Specialty Maid and Kin of Bestia. Specialty Maid has captured the Kin of Bestia's flag! They are now tied for second place! Isn't this so exciting!" Cion announced with spirit, invigorating the anxious audience.

"This isn't looking good for us." Jex said stating the obvious.

********

"So how do you think Robius will do?" Kukiri said as she perched on Nikolos' shoulder seeming to appear out of thin air.

"He'll be fine... Wait, when did you get in here?" Nikolos' asked in confusion as held the fox in front of him.

"Kiris smuggled me in, he's actually a pretty decent dude. You're not gonna snitch out on me, are you? You know I can't watch the fight from the audience, I'm too short." Kukiri pleaded with a sparkle in her eye.

"Oh...my...God! You have a talking fox!" Meline squealed as she attempted to abduct Kukiri from Frost, who dodged her pounces with ease.

"I beg of you Master Master Frost. At least allow me to pet her fluffy tail once." Cena asked as she knelt to the floor with formality unbefitting her odd request.

"You see what you've done Kukiri? You've got them started again!" Nikolos exclaimed hopelessly.

"It's good to see you as lively as ever old friend." The speaker was an aged man with a round belly, and a scar going down his left eye, an eye which was concealed by an eyepatch with a blue bear crest on it. He also wore a long cloak with the very same crest sewn into it's back.

"Tuma... Master of Azure Ursine. I must admit I was surprised to see you competing in the ceremony." Nikolos' said still holding Kukiri like a sack of potatoes.

"As I'm sure Kiris has already mentioned. There's more to this ceremony than it appears. They are after the Council of Exorcists. Remember what happened in Merkia, we can't allow that to happen again we're need all the help we can get..." Tuma said as his eyes homed in on the guildmistresses.

"No, we can't get them involved. Not unless we absolutely need too!" Frost shouted after he sat Kukiri down.

"You still haven't conquered your anger I see." Tuma stated as he sat in another chair and watched the ceremony with Nikolos. "Remember Niko, just as badly as you want to protect those you care for, they want to protect you. Telling them the truth is the safest way to do things. But it's your choice."

Meline, Cena, and now Kukiri all looked to Nikolos eagerly awaiting an explanation.

"No, not yet. Not till I know there's no other option."