Hide and Seek - 7

A/N: I don't know if anyone noticed in the last chapter.

But Hoh says God with a small g. "god."

While Quant says the word God with a capital G. "God."

~~~

~~~

Winston looked at the two people who were tied up behind paracule and the other spear bearer. It was evidently they had taken hostages to put pressure on the ranker.

Without wasting any time, the two spear bearers hurriedly told Hoh to collude with them, which he was happy to do.

"Mr. Quant. If you resist, I can't guarantee the girl's life..." He said, his hand shaking in nervousness.

Winston clicked his tongue and looked towards the Spear Bearers.

"Annoying." He said.

Then, his figure turned into an after image. His body, enhanced with shinsu dashed at full speed towards the spear bearers who stood 80 meters away, reaching their position in a little less than a second.

The spear bearers, in a frenzy tried to go for the two hostages, onto to freeze midway.

Freeze spell of a trickmaster!

Winston stopped in front of them and kicked them in the head, promptly knocking them out.

Then, he looked over towards the ranker who raised an eyebrow at his impressive display of speed.

"I was hoping to meet you." Winston smiled.

Quant smirked. "Is that so? Want to try your luck?"

"Luck? That's a whole other domain." He chuckled. "I prefer testing myself against destiny. That's more in my domain." Winston held the spear in his hand and took a combat stance.

Quant looked at Hoh who stood pointing a knife at Rachel's neck.

"Are you really going to do this? Your teammates life is at risk you know?" He asked.

Winston looked over at Hoh. Just then, as he was about to freeze Hoh and free the girl, a voice called out from the side.

"Mr. Hoh? What are you doing?"

With the voice, a young boy emerged, his figure covered in crimson.

All these interruptions are getting annoying... Suddenly he shivered. Coincidences, coincidences... should I be wary of a certain quill? Winston joked in his mind, feeling a chill travel up his spine at the remembrance of the first volume of Lord of Mysteries. The first volume really triggered a lot of traumas of illogical things. A couple being Pregnant Woman and Coincidences.

With Bam's arrival, the situation turned awkward for Hoh, who, at first stammered over his words.

Then, as Bam continued to question him and drew in closer and closer, Hoh eventually began to scream at him, demeaning him for his 'talent' and 'luck'.

Eventually, as things turned bad, Hoh pulled back the knife and plunged it deep into Rachel's back.

Rachel let out a muffled scream as Bam pulled back his steps in fright.

"If you want her to keep breathing, stop those two!" Hoh yelled at him.

"Hey. Don't you think this has gone far enough." Winston's voice came from behind Hoh at the moment.

Hoh suddenly felt his hair stand on edge and he pulled back the knife in order to slit Rachel's throat.

However, at the critical moment, he suddenly felt his blood turn cold. His movements slowed down and his body lost all its heat, turning as cold as ice.

His eyes trembled as he struggled to make sense of the situation.

A strong hand held the back of his hair and pulled him and, throwing his frozen body to the ground.

Crash!

"Aurgh!" Hoh let out a small scream in pain as he stabilized his body and looked back, only to see Winston towering over him.

Sweat poured from his face as he looked into the almost dead and cold eyes of this... demon.

"W-what are you?" He stammered.

Winston didn't answer. Suddenly, he pulled back his leg and kicked Hoh right in the face, causing blood to pour out of his nose and mouth.

Then, Winston smiled at him.

"Your plan has failed. Now stay put. We'll deal with you later." He said, and then, he walked back towards the ranker, out of the safe zone.

"Shall we begin now?" He asked with a smile.

Quant chuckled.

"Is that remote reverse flow control? It feels a bit different but I can feel the shift in the shinsu." Quant asked in intrigue.

Winston smiled.

"You can detect that?"

"Of course! A great scout can always tell the subtle shifts in shinsu." Quant nodded. "But your reverse flow control doesn't seem so refined. Want me to give you some tips?" He broke out with a toothy grin.

"I certainly wouldn't mind them."

Suddenly, Quant rushed straight at him, in his hands, a small ball of light gathering up.

Winston prepared himself, the spear in his hand ready for combat.

Just then, a vision rapidly surged into his mind. He saw Quant's palm touch his chest, the baang flowing into him, and then, all his movements seized while Quant retreated back.

Seeing the vision, Winston didn't do anything as Quant approached and slammed his palm into his chest. Quant raised a brow at Winston not dodging the attack and saw him smiling. Seeing his wide grin, Quant chuckled.

"Regulars these days..." He muttered and jumped back. "They keep getting crazier."

Winston felt the shinsu that flowed inside him turn chaotic and out of control, even his spirituality. And then, the shinsu stopped.

He felt his body freeze up and cease all kinds of movement, not even being able to move a finger.

And then, with some effort, he seized control over his flow and got rid of the stiffness.

"That baang I gave you, can you feel it?" Quant asked, to which Winston responded with a nod.

"Replicate the same flow in an attack using a singular baang. If done correctly, even a baang with only ten Soo can freeze a regular for a few seconds. Though you recovered quite quickly, taking less than a second."

Winston remembered the flow he felt inside his body, remembering the intensity through which it streamed through him. For some time, he experienced something breaking down inside him and fusing with his spirit to some extent. He smiled.

"I think I got it." Winston looked back, feeling a gaze at the back of his head and saw Endorsi walking towards them with the sword of the sword-wielding fisherman. Behind her, Bam laid sobbing while holding onto a bloodied Rachel, all while a lone body stayed on the ground, a knife sticking out of his chest.

He... committed suicide? Winston raised an eyebrow.

At the corner of his eyes, he saw Serena who had freed herself walking over towards them, limping as she did so.

He turned his attention to Endorsi.

Winston smiled at her.

"Well well, if it isn't the princess." He said.

Endorsi smiled, "Shall we take the badge now?" She said, holding up her sword.

"Take the badge? Just you?" Quant laughed.

Finally, without a word everyone involved took on a combat stance.

~~~

Serena sat beside Hoh looking at the three people that were getting ready to fight.

Bam, who was kneeling beside Rachel got up and looked towards the three figures.

Serena stole a glance at Hoh and her eyes held a sad expression.

People lose their reason to live when they lose something they cherish...

Serena looked at the battlefield again.

"Doesn't like suck, Hoh?" She called out, knowing that no one was hearing her.

"The world doesn't care when I'm losing. But when I try to make others lose, it stops me. Isn't that unfair? Hoh?"

Winston held the spear in his hand and dashed straight at the red haired ranker. Endorsi took it as the signal and also dashed forward with speed not too inferior to that of Winston.

Quant strode forward by a single step, getting too close to Winston for him to attempt a stab and not close enough to attempt a kick or a punch.

Winston suddenly smiled and a bright light flashed in front of the Ranker's eyes, causing him to close them.

Trickmaster spell, Light!

Endorsi who was at the side took advantage of the opportunity and slashed with her sword.

"Narumada! Ignition!" She yelled.

Then, a flux in the shinsu around them came.

Winston jumped back in time, narrowly avoiding a large explosion of Shinsu that came with the sword strike.

"Are you trying to catch me in the collateral?"

Winston smirked.

Endorsi chuckled at his words.

"Are you going to be caught even?" She inquired.

Winston shook his head, looking towards the ranker again.

Slamming his fingers together he activated Spirit vision to see the shinsu flow and read the ranker's moves.

"Actually, I can't remember a time where I had to fight seriously. I always made excuses; saying that the world was unfair."

Winston eyes widened imperceptibly, the same smile on his face still. The ranker walked out of the large dust cloud that had been made due to the shinsu explosion, his figure remained completely unscathed.

"You're tough." Winston commented.

"400 years in the upper floors. The shinsu has stopped my ageing and made my body tougher than steel." Quant laughed boisterously. "Though I have to say, having to face an ignition weapon, especially in the hands of a Jahad princess wasn't something I was expecting."

Without another exchange of words, they all dashed at each other. An explosion of waves happened in Winston's eyes, overlapping with his normal vision, outlining the next moves to be of everyone in his line of sight.

However, Winston quickly noticed a problem.

The shinsu... it doesn't seem to be moving as much with his body. Normally, as the body moves through the shinsu, waves outline the movement that will be followed. However, his case in a bit troublesome.

The three engaged in a two versus one battle, their figures rapidly phasing about the battlefield.

Freeze! Winston yelled in his mind, at the same time, casting the reverse flow control he had just learned. Quant stopped suddenly, his figure stuck in an awkward moving of jumping up from the ground.

Endorsi moved forward without wait, quickly igniting the sword and slashing down towards the ranker.

"But then, I always regretted not having fought with my life on the line."

Boom!

Crash!

Another bout of explosion happened, and with it, the ranker dashed out of the dust cloud right towards Winston.

"You're troublesome! I'll deal with you first!" He yelled.

Winston smirked.

Just as Quant was about to reach Winston, he stopped and leaning back.

Whoosh!

A baang whirled past his face, smashing into the wall at the far end, leaving a football sized depression.

Quant looked sideways, where a bloodied and battered boy stood with his hand stretched towards him.

Without giving him anytime to think, Winston moved again.

Freeze! And Stop!

Quant froze again, and with that, Endorsi dashed from behind and Winston from the front.

"What would have happened if I had taken the risk despite the dangers? What would have happened if I had at least tried?

"It might just have been a life full of losses, but my heart wouldn't have been so empty right now... I would have at least been happy."

Quant who was frozen quickly seized control over his body again, an action that took a blink of an eye. Even Winston was surprised by his recovery speed.

However, that time was enough for Winston to get right up and personal with him.

They both engaged in a rapid fist fight. Endorsi slashed her sword at Quant. Both Winston and the seeker ducked under it to avoid the hit.

Then, Winston muttered something.

"I have a feeling she's more into targeting me and you..."

"I felt the same as well." Quant agreed.

For a moment, Winston was at a loss of words. He was only joking, but getting Quant's confirmation seemed to be a wake up call.

Tumble! Winston concentrated his spirituality and cast another one of the trickmaster spells.

Quant's footing trembled and he slipped forward.

"So we need to keep on living...

"Because eventually... in that long life that we have ahead of us, maybe, just maybe we'll be able to find something of meaning. Perhaps, we'll find one or two reasons to keep going won't we?

"Like them..."

Quant slammed his hand into the ground, supporting himself up and throwing himself into the air.

Just then, a beam of light impacted his back, throwing him forward.

A baang of shinsu, thrown by Bam!

Quant clenched his teeth. At the ground, Endorsi yelled out the name of her weapon again.

"Narumada! Ignition!" Shinsu roared around the sword, as if given a strange consciousness that promised nothing but pain to all that touched it.

Then, she swung the sword.

A brilliant slash of light travelled through the air, going right at Quant who still hovered mid air.

Just then, the shinsu around him reacted. It whirled around his body, the waves altering his posture mid flight.

In the blink of an eye, his body completely turned around in the air, avoiding the slash altogether.

As he landed onto the ground, Quant suddenly felt his body freeze up.

"Got you!" Came the voice of Winston Heath.

He dashed out as the maximum speed he could muster. As his hand was about to reach the badge, the ranker took control over his body and his eyes turned to look at Endorsi who stood some distance away.

Without missing a beat, the shinsu around him reacted again, the waves piling about and facilitating his movements.

Immediately, his speed which was comparable to Winston turned at least 3 times faster.

Whooosh!

His figure dashed right past Winton, leaving a trail of dust behind it, rushing straight towards the Princess who held the badge!

Suddenly, Winston smiled.

Shaaaaa!

Fiiiiiiiii!

The sound of a rope being drawn suddenly rang out, prompting Quant to stop in his tracks as he reached Endorsi.

His eyes widened as he looked towards his coat.

The badge silently hung to his cloak. However, slowly, it disappeared into a mystical illusion!

He hurriedly looked back.

Besides Winston floated his reel inventory, atop which was a hook that held the badge of the ranker.

With a smile, Winston spoke.

"Checkmate!" With that said, he pressed the button.

Serena quietly looked at them with sad smile.

Then, she looked at Hoh.

"Why did you have to die... when you have a full life ahead of you..." She shook her head as her hand closed the still open eyes of Hoh.

Beeeeeeeeeeep!

["Team A failed! Team B passed!"]

~~~

A/N: This was a somewhat difficult chapter to write.

Anyway, its about 20% longer. Let me know about any misspells in the chapter.

So, throw some stones. And leave a review please.