She knows - 40

That death of Ria greatly unbalanced the balance of the battle, so much so that Team E was no longer able to rearrange its defense, losing only 20 minutes after the start of the match.

[FIRST DAY - WINNING TEAMS

Team A (Pak - Koffie - Katrin - Loftus)

Team D (Hel - Zeto - Yo - Marie)

Team B (Bina - Joè - Hariri - Anna)

Team H (Subara - Garcia - Yuan - Izo) ]

We would play the second match the next day, so we decided to meet the same evening, in Yo's room, to watch the replay of the clash between Team A and Team F, to try to formulate an effective strategy.

Team A, unlike Team E, was much more "complete".

First, we decided to talk about the three least dangerous members of that team: Koffie, Katrin, and Loftus.

Koffie was dark-skinned, tall, and very massive in muscle mass, bald, and with tattoos covering ¾ of his body. Seeing him in action we were able to identify two of his possible powers: he was able to change parts of his body into sand, however, it seemed he could use this power only for defensive purposes, to avoid or cushion the blows received; he could, also, make rock walls of various shapes come out of the ground. In the Team, he had the role of Tank.

Katrin was a very fair complexion and a "light" physique, she was average tall, with blond hair and light eyes. Her abilities seemed to be based on three aspects: "Acceleration", "Slash" and "Misdirection", which made her a very skilled assassin.

Loftus was, on the other hand, a dark green Bestens, shorter than Libert, but with a respectable physical structure. He had a medium-range ability, he could in fact throw spears made of light, and he also seemed to have the typical ability of the Bestens to "play" with other people's minds.

The most dangerous of that team, however, was certainly Pak the "Dollmaker", he had more fame points than me and Hel, which made him the second most FP in the tournament, second only to Hariri.

(Note: I remember PF = FP = Fame Points)

Pak was a very young gladiator, he was only 14 years old, with light brown bobbed hair, and a weak physique. However, his power made him extremely strong, he could, in fact, create and control dolls of any shape, and up to 1.50 meters in height. Of course, this power had a limit, he could only create a certain number of dolls: 7, or rather, the smaller the dolls he created, the more he could create, and vice versa.

Their strategy in the last match was based on advancing all four together, with Katrin wandering through the bush at the start of the match.

A strategy, actually, very similar to the one we had used too.

"They don't seem to have any weaknesses ..." Yo said disconsolately.

In fact, it was true, their team was very balanced, capable both in the offensive and the defensive phase.

"If we could get close to Pak ... maybe we could be able to do something ..." Hel said.

However, there was one detail that made this complicated: the way Team A attacked relied on Koffie in front of everyone taking hits, with Loftus behind him supporting him and Pak behind everyone, within range of their tower, this made Pak the most protected team member.

"Hmm ... maybe I have an idea," Yo said.

"If we did as we did last time ... let Hel wander through the bush of the map, and then, after a few minutes, Hel will draw a straight line towards the tower where there's Pak, attacking him from the side, killing Pak… by doing this their numerical superiority will disappear for at least a while… we will have to be able to make the most of that temporary superiority…"

Yo added.

We all agreed with Yo's proposal, although I, personally, had some doubts about it. Later we also talked a little about this and that, I really liked those moments very much, I thought if maybe those moments were the habit before our world was conquered and before we lost almost all our memories. At about ten to ten, we said goodbye.

[Tournament Schedule - November 3rd

At 3 pm Team A vs Team D

At 9 pm Team B vs Team H]

At 10 pm I received a message from Ri that left me dumbfounded, not so much for the content of the message itself, but for the time.

The message said to go to her office as soon as possible.

After all, she also knew that the following day I would have played an important match, usually she would have given me an appointment for the following day, this could only mean one thing: she wanted to talk to me about something important.

As I went to his office, I tried to think about what she wanted to talk to me with such urgency, my brain could not think of anything.

I arrived in front of her office. The manametric door* was already open.

[* lets in anyone with a mana stamp with authorized access]

'From what I know ... the door usually closes automatically ... or rather, from what I know, you just need to think of wanting to close it to close it ... so either Ri didn't want to close it, or ... '

"Ri!" I snapped into her office, the lights were only half on.

"Ooo! Don't scream- " Ri said as she swayed sitting in her chair and holding a bottle of something alcoholic in her hands.

"EH ?! Are you drunk?" I said more than surprised.

* Hic "Huh? No… I just drank… a little. "She replied visibly drunk.

"Um ..." I wasn't sure how to behave.

'I've never seen her like this ... and I would never have imagined her in this state ... usually she is always very "composed" and serious ... what then, can Slters get drunk? I mean, she must have a high regeneration… even higher than mine… so… what did she drink to end up like this… '

I sharpened my sight at the bottle she was holding.

"97° + Dobhetan 5ml" '… EH ?! 97 ?! And then what is Dobhetan ... '

Ri beckoned me to approach her, I started to sit on a chair, but she, with her hand, told me to go to her side.

Arriving in front of her, she got up from her chair, all swaying, she hugged me to keep herself up. It really smelled a lot of alcohol.

'What- Huh ?!' This embarrassed me and not a little, after all, I was absolutely not used to contact with one of my opposite sex.

Her blond locks of hair fluttered before my eyes.

She brought her lips to my ear, her breath in my ear made me a little bit horny.

* Gulp

"You are part of the Rings, right?" She whispered to me in a serious voice.

'Rings ...' This word reverberated in my head, my blood ran cold and I started to sweat cold.

"Well ... from the reaction of your heart I would say yes ..." Ri said, understanding my upset by the change in beats of my heart.

I stood still, thinking of everything and nothing at the same time.

'it's over ... for me? ... how does she know about the Rings ...'

"So you want to leave me too ... in the end ..." Ri added.

'Um ?! What is she talking about… '

I didn't understand her words.

Ri, without warning, grabbed my head by the hair and pulled it back, making sure I could see her in the eyes, still, her cross-shaped pupils fascinated me, 'she is really close', I thought, and my heart leapt a little.

"I don't want ..." she said, now pushing my head towards her, and my lips towards hers, kissing me '?!'

After that she collapsed, I managed to catch her before she crashed to the ground.

'What the fuck ... it just happened ...'

At that moment I had too many thoughts in my head, she knew about the Rings, she knew I was part of the Rings, and then that last thing ...