Meeting

It's foggy outside the ship, and Flare just woke up from her slumber. Last night, Boyd trained her until after midnight, which made her sleep like a log. Boyd is still sleeping on his hammock next to hers, and Weiss is missing from his. So, Flare assumed that he was already awake. Flare washed her face with clean water, and put on her armor, then…she realized that both the armor's gauntlets were missing. It's been at least five days since they departed from Echo Bay Harbor, and Flare could feel the strength she'd built.

Last night, before they went to sleep, Boyd told Flare that until their arrival, Flare was to help the ship crew as part of their training. He had asked permission from the captain, but clearly, Flare didn't take it lightly. For all she knows, some of them might try to abuse her in any way possible and will force her to do dirty things. Boyd told her to remain calm and remember her training.

"What part of this is training?" Flare fumes, irritated by the idea.

Boyd remained silent at that moment, and bumbled;

"Hmm…Mmm…"

"What happens, if you are to face a very tough enemy, one that you know that you will lose?" he asks.

"I'll get stronger, and beat the enemy next time I see him," she replied.

"What if it was your only chance? Be it a person from the shadows that is very hard to track, or a more experienced foe. What if it would be a battle to the death? Will there…be a next time?"

Boyd asks again.

His inquiry went straight into Flare's mind, and Flare couldn't answer.

"I'll ask help from W…"

"What if Weiss wasn't there? Instead, you have maybe 2 or more random strangers that you just met. Can you ask for their help?" Boyd asks.

"…"

"I…I…"

"I think you can already deduce what is the point of this training, yes?"

Flare sighs, still unhappy about the suggestion.

"Can you work well with random strangers in such a short time?" Boyd asks again.

"If someone, or a group, is mocking your efforts, would you stand your ground? Or would you let them be in hope that it will pass?" he continues.

His questions linger on in Flare's head as she walks to the upper deck, although she still disagrees with the idea.

"Have faith, my friend. You'll see," Flare could hear a voice that for some reason, disgusts her.

"Well, well. It seems that our esteemed contender has designed us with her presence!"

Flare, for some reason, wore her full armor, instead of simple clothing to help the sailors. Her gauntlets are still missing, but she decided to forget about it for now. At first, some of the sailors thought that she would just be a nuisance, probably because she was a woman. So, they decided to test her by telling her to carry 4 crates filled with metallic objects. It's usually a job for two men to carry a single crate down to the cargo deck. Some of the sailors giggled a bit as they watched her observing the crates. They are laughing because most of them know that it would be an impossible task for one person.

"Heh, like I won't stand for any of this bullshit!"

"So what if she's gotten permission from the captain?"

"I won't have no woman doing my work. The moment she sets foot here, I'll bully her right away!"

That's what Cross had in mind and bribed the first officer of the ship to do, until…

"…!"

"…!"

"!!!!"

Cross just saw Flare carry two boxes at once by herself and casually walked to the cargo bay. The two crates are still a bit heavy for her since nerves are appearing on the back of her hand while she is carrying it. Nevertheless, that's when she carried two of them all by herself. So, without a doubt, one crate would be easier, which left the second officer in shock. This, of course, irritates him even more, scarring his prideful nature.

When Flare finished carrying the crates, the crew welcomed her with open arms, and even showed her the basics of seafaring, from scrubbing floors to hoisting the sails. Bit by bit, a smile forms on her face as she begins to get along with the crew, which makes Cross furious. His plan backfired completely, and it further added to his vengefulness.

Then, during lunchtime, before Flare could go down to the lower deck to grab some food, suddenly, she was pushed from behind. It was a strong push, but she didn't trip forward. She did however lose her balance and woggles around at the middle of the deck before regaining her balance. Before she could turn around, she quickly bends her back to dodge a sudden machete attack. She managed to stand on her ground as she flipped backward and stood up properly. The man who was trying to kill her, was Cross, filled with hatred and rage as he cursed Flare.

"This is ridiculous…" he hisses.

"…It is all-It's all your fault!"

"This bastard…" Flare murmurs, quickly unsheathing her sword strapped to her waist.

"How low can you get? Attacking a woman from behind and then trying to kill her!" Flare mocks Cross.

"If I'd crushed you earlier, I could be spared from this embarrassment. It's all your fault!" Cross growls as he lunges towards Flare with two machetes in his hand.

Flare quickly dodges to the left and tries to slash his side, but Cross manages to block her counter by using the side of the blade as a shield as he is landing.

"This time, we'll fight with our life on the line, woman," Cross groans.

Suddenly, he just pulls out a necklace from underneath his shirt. There are two tags tied to the necklace. One of them displays his name on it, while the other, has a hole cut through, creating the shape of a star. That particular tag had some kind of dark green-colored markings around it, which puzzled Flare since she had no idea what that was or what it even meant. She stopped, puzzled as to what was happening, but Cross just smiled.

"Good…"

"Now, you know who I am. Loathe me, little girl. Fall into grief and despair and…" Cross gloats with pride.

"Be quiet," Flare utters.

Her body is slightly glowing, her gold circuits are on, and the wind begins blowing harder. Instinctively, Flare used her circuits to accumulate and pressurize the air surrounding her to her entire body, before suddenly lunging forward, towards Cross with amazing speed. Her speed marveled at everyone on the ship, except for Weiss, who was just sighing. Cross couldn't even see where she was, until the blood gushed out from his chest, and Flare was already in front of him, ready to strike.

She manages to scratch Cross's front chest with her sword. Cross couldn't even react properly. Before he could attack Flare with his machetes, Flare instantly smacks his face with the hilt of her sword. The hit caused a loud 'crack' sound as Cross was blasted to the port side bulwark of the ship. The wooden bulwark broke into two when Cross crashed into it, which again, amazed the contenders, but there were a certain few on the deck who were exactly observing the fight. Flare is just standing there, just looking at the bewildered Cross.

"You, don't you know who I am? I am a…" Cross gasps.

Flare didn't even bother to hear what he was saying. Instead, she just lunges forward again, sword in hand, prepared to kill the man with her own hands, until…

"You can stop now, captain," Weiss states, holding her blade with his bare hands.

"You…yes, yes that's it. We can…" Cross grins.

"You shut up, geezer before I hack that grin on your face," Weiss threatens the man.

Blood began to ooze out of his palm, still holding the blade. Flare immediately snapped out of it as her eyes turned back to normal. Her murderous gaze disappears.

"Please…" Weiss whispers.

Despite Weiss's outer lack of motive, for some reason, Flare could tell that he was worried, which puzzled her for some reason. She sheathes her sword and walked away after apologizing to Weiss. As the sell-sword follows her, suddenly, Cross, who's already beaten, lunges towards Flare, enraged.

"YOU'LL PAY!!" Cross shrieks.

However, before the man's machete can even reach Flare, Weiss simply grabs the man's wrist mid-air while he is still lunging towards Flare. Weiss quickly presses the wrist to disable Cross, making him drop the machete from his hand. In an instant, Weiss punches the man's gut and slams him to the floor. While the man is still dazed, Weiss grabs his collar and drags him to the edge, near the bulwark. Again, in a split second, he punched Cross's gut.

"This is as far as you go. Piss off," Weiss states, before throwing the man off the ship, into the sea.

The ship captain didn't even think to stop the ship after he saw everything. He felt a bit glad when he saw Cross get thrown overboard and kept on chuckling. The other contenders didn't even say a word, and everything returned to usual, except this time, most of them had new-found respect, or fear, regarding the two of them. However, amid the large group, 4 people have been observing the fight since it started, assessing their opponents from afar.

____________________________________________

--Image--

https://ibb.co/s2BgKSs - Weiss Throws Cross Overboard

____________________________________________

…..

That night, the captain called Flare, Weiss, Boyd, and the four people to his cabin for a little chat. Flare was the last one to arrive. Once she opened the cabin door, she immediately took notice of the five unknown contenders standing in front of her. She observed them all starting from her left.

The first one is a little kid with black and silver hair. The kid is wearing a simple casual attire, compared to the others who are wearing their own sets of armor. His blue eyes are just observing everyone in the room, including Flare.

Next to him, is a red-haired woman, wearing an 'eye-catching' light armor that exposes a part of her voluptuous figure.

She is annoyed by the fact that Boyd, who was resting on the captain's hammock, is snoring.

Then, there's the old, wrinkled captain with white hair underneath his captain hat.

The man next to her is wearing a long, black cuirass. His blonde hair, brown eyes, and glasses make him the 2nd person that stands out amongst the rest. He has a locket hung to his neck, symbolizing that he is a religious man from the Divine Faith. However, the man next to him is the standout among the rest. His face is painted white, while his cheeks are painted red. T

he man is wearing a jester's attire, with the pointy shoes and bells attached to his hat. His presence alone made everyone a bit uneasy, maybe due to his creepy-looking face when he looked at someone. Weiss is standing next to the door, probably itching to go out of that room, since it would probably just be a waste of time to him. And then…

"Zzzz….Zzzz…."

There's Boyd.

The captain is sitting at his desk right in front of them, observing them all one by one.

"My name is Captain Walker," he introduces himself.

"First, I want you all to tell me your names," he states.

Without the slightest hesitation, the brown-haired kid shot his hand upwards.

"My name is Jojo!" he introduced.

"Solaris," the red-haired woman next to him scoffs.

"Isaac."

"People call me Jester. I prefer Roland," the jester smiles.

"The name's Weiss."

"I am Flare."

"Zzzz….Zzzz…."

"Why are you becoming a contender?" Captain Walker asks again.

"Hey! If you are not an examiner, you can't just boss us around!" Solaris retorts.

"Just answer the damn question," the captain replies.

"I heard that this place is a fun place to train," Jojo answers cheerfully.

"Hey, Jojo!" Solaris calls him.

"Huh?"

"You're not supposed to answer that question!" Solaris told him.

"Why not? Why can't I just tell him why I'm here?" Jojo confusingly asks.

"How many times have I told you that you can't just give someone a straight answer?" Solaris reminds him.

"I agree with Solaris, but I disagree with your reasoning," Isaac states.

"What?"

"A simple way to avoid such a pesky question is to give a plausible lie. In essence, the kid knows how to lie better than you do, Pyromancer Solaris," he adds.

"Tch!"

"Yes, I do know you. It's hard to not remember a woman with ostentatious fire moves," he continues.

"So says the man from the Church, the Great Reverend Isaac," Weiss opens his mouth, his eyes focused on the man.

"I went to a few of your sessions. Now, what is a man from the Church doing here?" Weiss adds.

"Heretics should be punished, and I have been assigned by the Church to capture heretics from that island," the reverend answers, putting his hands on his chest as if he is introducing himself.

"Now, after all that talk about lying…" Solaris tries to mock Isaac.

"He is still lying."

Instantly, everyone turned silent and faced the man.

"Now, now, why would people always assume that people will tell the truth when they are told to? Such a peculiar way of thinking, isn't it? That just shows how naïve you still are," Jester Roland responds to Solaris's futile attempt to mock Isaac.

"You should be careful, missus. I'm afraid that you might be the first one to die in the arena," he smiles, gazing at Solaris, and then Flare.

Solaris was about to flip out, but her instincts reminded her that she was no match for the man in front of her.

"Jester Roland. Previous champion of Knight's Mausoleum. Would've remained champion, if you hadn't killed the guard and got your ass kicked by Underworld King," Solaris attempts to taunt the Jester, while everyone remains silent.

"Oi, oi, is this woman signing a death wish?!" Flare thought in her head as she watched the scuffle.

The others remained silent, until…

"Huuuu….ARGH!" Boyd loudly yawns, interrupting the scuffle as he repositions himself on the hammock and continues sleeping.

"Hey, sailor!" Captain Walker called the sailor who was standing outside the door.

The door quickly opens.

"Yes, capt'n?"

"Tell Quartermaster Mayes that all 8 of them passed, while the rest failed," Captain Walker announces.

"Huh?"

The announcement simultaneously puzzled everyone inside the cabin.

"W-What do you mean?" Flare asks.

"You still haven't figured it out? This is an exam, this journey," he answers, belittling everyone.

"What?"

A rough wave smacked the starboard side of the ship, but Walker's answer somehow nulls everyone inside the cabin from feeling its effect.

"There are as many contender wannabes as there are grains of sand at the beach. The Knight's Mausoleum management bureau simply doesn't have the time and resources to review all of them. It may be a pit of death, but they don't want weaklings to give a petty fight."

"So, they hire people like us, ship captains, to trim the fat," Captain Walker explains.

"Huh…seems like it's a bit civilized after I left," Weiss thought in his head.

"I've already notified the board that everyone else on the ship, including that useless dog, Cross, had to withdraw. My examiner has already assessed everyone on the ship to help me with that," he adds.

"Examiner?" Flare and the other murmured.

"If they can't handle some storms and seasickness, added with pressure from some monsters onboard the ship, they wouldn't stand a chance against the contenders at the arena," Captain Walker justifies his actions.

"However, there's still a chance of you failing."

"In other words, you only proceed to the main exam once my examiner passes you. So, don't you think that you can just easily set foot on that island…" the captain reminds them.

"So he says…" Jojo teases Solaris, slightly irritating her.

"…But still, who is this, 'examiner', you speak of?" Flare asks.

"Should've told us sooner," Solaris bickers.

Right after she asks, Boyd again yawns loudly and repositions himself on the hammock.

"…"

"You? Uncle Boyd?" Flare quickly puts two and two together.

"Zzzz…."

"Zzzz…."

"You mean this old fart!" Solaris yells.

"Wow, this old man must've been so tired. I could hear his snore before I even entered this cabin," Jojo spoke to Weiss, offering his hand.

"Jojo, pleased to meet you," the kid smiled.

Weiss on the other hand, remained stern, probably seeing the situation as awkward.

"Hurry up…" Jojo whispers, taking a glance at Captain Walker, who's focused on the ranting Solaris.

"Don't you know? They'll disqualify you from contending if you don't show some kind of weird sportsmanship," the kid adds.

Flare is just standing next to Jojo, hands on her hips, staring at Weiss. For once, she does agree with Jojo.

"The reason why most of the other contenders were kicked out is because Uncle Boyd deemed them unworthy, and they would be better off somewhere else," Weiss replies.

The answer shocked Jojo, and for some reason, he was pouting.

"N-Never mind the minor details…" Jojo mutters.

Suddenly, Jojo just jumps and tries to forcefully shake Weiss's hands. Weiss quickly dodges most of his erratic handshakes, but Jojo remains persistent as he says;

"Come on! Shake hands!"

"Wh-What are you doing?" Weiss flustered.

"Get away from me!"

"Haha, never thought I could see you like this," Flare giggles.

"It's not funny!"

Meanwhile, Reverend Isaac and Jester Roland are just looking at them.

"What are those kids doing?" Isaac asks himself, puzzled.

However, the jester just smiles while licking his lips.

When Jojo finally managed to shake hands with Weiss, Weiss just took it half-heartedly with an indignant face.

"When you were beating up that guy, everything was just like, 'Swoosh!', and "Zoom!", and the 'Bam!"!" Jojo praises Flare with a bouncy attitude.

"Huh?"

"…And then you were like, "Wham!", then "Boom!", and then "Splash!"!" Jojo turns to Weiss.

"Uh....thanks?" Weiss utters.

"…Although most people couldn't see what you did," Jojo adds.

The kid's tone suddenly changes from bouncy to a more sinister, serious tone. His sudden shift reminded both of them to always be on their guard, since everyone participating in the arena is mostly likely a master, a monster, in their own right.

"Don't worry about it now. If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation, Big Bro," Jojo reminds Weiss.

"Delayed-action stabbing."

"Hmph," Weiss smirks.

Flare is perplexed by all of it, but chose to remain silent.

"Good thing that Cross fellow always wears a tight belt above his waist. Weird, actually, for a known raping predator like him. It was easy to push a very small blade through the fabric and he won't even feel it."

"The belt would've bound the flesh together when it was tight. Whether you chose to let him stay on board or you tossed him overboard, he will die nonetheless once he takes off his belt. You chose the more gruesome death though, letting him open the belt in the open sea. Excess salt can damage his inner tissues even more, causing an infection. Not to mention, sharks may probably lurk around the area when they smell blood," Jojo states.

"Impressive. I hope we get to meet each other in the arena, Jojo," Weiss continues to smirk.

"Why thank you," Jojo returns to his bouncy mood as he bows blushingly.

Flare just stares at Weiss when Jojo leaves and decides to watch the ranting Solaris.

"Y-Y-You…"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter anymore. I am already a killer, I've already spilled blood with my hands and end lives," Weiss interrupts.

"However, it doesn't mean that you have to follow in our footsteps."

"Killing someone will undoubtedly change you for the worse. So, I'm begging, Captain Flare, don't you ever think about killing someone. That part is my job as your knight," Weiss reminds her, before walking away.

He didn't even give me a chance for Flare to speak up. Deep down, Flare wanted to just smack him in the face, but somehow, something was preventing her from doing so. For some reason, during their journey to the Knight's Mausoleum, she feared him, and she didn't know why. Perhaps, it was already there since she saw him nearly killing the Executioner. So, she remained silent and decided to watch Solaris, who had been ranting straight for at least two minutes.

"What about this old geezer sleeping around playing funny!" Solaris rants, pointing at the sleeping Boyd.

"Can you at least calm down, woman? Your attitude is all over the place," Isaac utters, annoyed.

"He's right, Solaris. After all, we passed because of him. Then, in the arena, you can go 'Bwoosh!' and 'Fwaah!' like you always do," Jojo supports Isaac's view, bouncily.

"Tch! I know that I'm just annoyed that someone here has the authority to judge us, that's all," Solaris clicks her tongue.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Captain Walker cackles hysterically after watching them bickering with each other.

"I like you guys," he adds.

"I'll take full responsibility to bring all of you in front of me to the port closest to the Knights' Mausoleum," Captain Walker states.

For a few seconds, the cabin turned silent.

"... Thank you…"

"Thanks, I guess…"

After the brief meeting and once all of them were dismissed, the Captain lights up a cigarette and begins smoking. The captain sat on his chair next to his bed, watching Boyd dozing off on the hammock.

"…Looks like you got your hands full taking care of those two, and I wouldn't have thought that boy would be back here," Walker utters, puffing out smoke.

"Zzzz….Zzzz…."

"Yeah, yeah, pretend to sleep. Smartass," he chuckles.

"…But as your friend, I have to remind something to you, Boyd. Well, whatever you call yourself now."

"This is…kind of weird…"

"Look, I just wanted to say this. It came to me when I saw those two you are with."

"…"

"I think I can tell what are you trying to do for them both, and I am not asking you to stop, but…"

"Maybe going behind their backs is not the best idea. Sometimes, when two kids are fighting, an old man has to slide in to ease it. People usually say let them handle it themselves, but sometimes, not even us old ones have the answers," the captain states.

"I know your stubbornness, but I also know that you can understand what I am trying to convey here."

"…I understand. You're doing a little bad, so you can do a lot of good."

"However, sometimes, the bad is real bad, and the good…it can come with one hell of a price."

"Whatever you do, I know you'll make the right choice," Walker adds, smiling as he smokes and goes to sleep.

"…"

"Thanks, old man."

That's the last voice the captain heard as his eyes slowly shut in for the day.