"If friendship was all you o reach the finish line, everyone would pce first!"— Midousuji Akira, Yowamushi Pedal

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  "What?" Roy looked at her with a puzzled expression.

  "The intelligenit of Rossvale has discovered your... preference for beautiful girls," Mil expined.

  "What kind of ridiculous intel is that?" Roy excimed, raising an eyebrow.

  "There's o hide it," Mil insisted, vinced of her information's accuracy.

  Cire and the others nodded in agreement. It was irue.

  "I wasn't hiding it... Fine, I admit it," Roy ceded with a shrug.

  "Don't worry, I won't judge you," Mil said, then proceeded to unbutton her uniform.

  "What are you doing?!" Cire and the others rushed to stop her.

  "Holy, it's a good thing we came with you. Otherwise..." Fianna sighed in relief.

  "The sequences would have been dire if we hadn't intervened," Ri added, shaking her head.

  "Trying to seduce him with your body? I won't allow it!" Ellis decred.

  Roy eechless.

  "Do you really have that little trust in me? I wouldn't do anything to her," he protested.

  "You 't be sure about that," Cire retorted with a smirk.

  "You don't have to do this, Mil. You're our ally now," Roy said, sighing.

  Mil's as reminded him of Kurome.

  She was willing to do anything to win the Bde Dance.

  It seemed the Principality of Rossvale wasn't much better than the Empire.

  "Really? That's good..." Mil rexed, relieved.

  She then looked at Roy with a serious expression.

  "What is it?" Roy asked.

  "Roy... you'll have to bend down for me to perform the alliah," Mil expined.

  "Oh, sorry..."

  The "oath" Mil referred to was a ritual performed by Elementalists to solidify an agreement.

  It was often used in situations like f alliances.

  Roy crouched down to Mil's height aended his right thumb.

  Mil pressed her thumb against his.

  "I hereby swear, uhe name of the Elemental Lords, that even if the world fall, I shall not break this oath. If I do, may I be ed by eternal fmes and my shadow turo ash," Mil recited the oath in the Spirit Language.

  And then, as if to seal the oath...

  Chu~

  "...Eh?" Mil stood oiptoes and kissed Roy on the cheek.

  "Wait, is that part of the ritual too?" Roy asked, looking at Cire and the others in fusion.

  "Yes, it is!"

  "The oath requires a kiss to take effect. You 't possibly not know that," the girls replied, annoyed.

  Roy uood.

  But with the girls watg, he couldn't do anything too suggestive.

  He gently kissed the bail's hand.

  "Is this okay?"

  "You're surprisingly gentlemanly," Mil ented, surprised.

  "Ahem, I think the 'surprisingly' is unnecessary..." Roy coughed awkwardly.

  "Let's leave now. Although I've set up a barrier here, it's not pletely safe," Mil suggested.

  They nodded in agreement ahe cave.

  Night had fallen, and the storm had calmed down, though it was still raining.

  Mil looked up at the steep cliff.

  "It'll be difficult to climb back up," she said.

  Without her spirit, climbing the cliff would be challenging.

  "That's easy..." Roy snapped his fingers and used his magic to levitate them, lifting them up the cliff.

  "Amazing!"

  "It's so cool to fly like this!"

  ...

  Cire and the others chattered excitedly.

  Mil observed Roy with curiosity.

  Just then, they heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.

  Roy focused his hearing and noticed the sound of g metal amidst the thunder.

  "Someone's fighting over there!" he said.

  "What?!" the girls excimed.

  "Perhaps it's the Inferno battling aeam. Let's go check it out," Roy suggested.

  After all, the Inferno had chased Mil's team here. If there was a fight, it was likely them.

  Cire and the reed.

  They made their way through the forest, their Elemental Waffes at the ready.

  The sound of g metal grew louder.

  Roy sshed through the bushes, clearing their path.

  They arrived at a clearing.

  "...What?"

  Three girls y on the ground, injured.

  They were wearing the Areishia Spirit Academy uniform.

  "You're... Team Lux?!" Cire excimed in surprise.

  They were also a representative team from Areishia Spirit Academy, their members all top students.

  After defeating the team who wielded a horde of Beast spirits, they had risen to third p the academy rankings, seg their spot in the Bde Dance.

  But now, three of them were injured.

  Roy rushed to one of the girls.

  "What happened? Who did this to you?"

  "It's you... Roy-sama..." the girl mumbled weakly, still scious.

  "Our leader is still fighting in the forest... Please save her..." She poiowards the depths of the forest.

  Then, the three girls dissolved into particles of light aeleported away.

  Having lost their Magic Stohey were disqualified from the tour.

  "Roy..." Cire looked at him questioningly.

  "We're going to save them," Roy decred without hesitation.

  "They're from our academy. I agree," Cire said. The irls nodded.

  The sounds of battle echoed through the trees.

  ...

  ...

  Firls surrounded Lux and the girl with the shield.

  They wore uniforms simir to Mil's, but with a red base and white ats, the reverse of the Rupture Division's colors.

  "You're... the Holy Spirit Knights from the Holy Kingdom of Lugia!" Mil gasped.

  It made sense. Rossvale had been part of Lugia before, so their uniforms were simir.

  "The Holy Spirit Knights... Isn't that Luminaris Saint-Leisched's team?" Ri asked.

  Luminaris Saint-Leisched owerful Elementalist who had reached the final four in the previous Bde Dance.

  The Holy Spirit Knights, who wielded Holy Spirits, were also one of the stroeams on the ti.

  "It's Roy-sama!" Lux and the girl with the shield excimed in relief upon seeing Roy.

  "Are you from Team Scarlet?" Luminaris asked, her eyes fixed on Roy.

  "Yes, so I suggest you release them," Cire decred, crossing her arms.

  "Hmph! You think we'll let such a good opportunity slip away?" one of the Knights sneered.

  "You're Mil Bassett from the Rupture Division, aren't you?" Luminaris said, turnitention to Mil.

  They had e here after learning that the Rupture Division had beeed.

  But they hadn't expected to enter Team Lux.

  The Holy Kingdom of Lugia and the Principality of Rossvale were rivals, and it wasn't unon for such political flicts to spill over into the Bde Dance.

  "Yes, I am the leader of the Rupture Division," Mil firmed.

  "If you hand over Mil Bassett's eyes, we might spare you," Luminaris offered.

  "Mil's eyes?"

  They all looked at Mil's eyes.

  She had heteroatic eyes: one blue and one amber.

  "Mil Bassett's eyes rightfully belong to our try. We're simply reg what's ours," Luminaris decred.

  "What's going on?" The girls looked at Mil questioningly.

  But Mil didn't answer.

  "It doesn't matter. I won't let anyone harm Mil," Roy decred, gently patting Mil's head.

  Mil's eyes widened in surprise.

  She hadn't expected him to say that.

  Shouldn't he be asking for an expnation?

  "Don't worry, Mil. If you don't want to tell us, you don't have to. We're allies," Roy reassured her with a smile.

  Mil's eyes sparkled with gratitude.

  Cire and the others, however, were a bit annoyed by his trust in Mil.

  But they didn't protest. They had more pressing matters to deal with.

  "Mil, stay close to me."

  "Don't uimate me. I'm still the leader of the Rupture Division."

  "I'll leave those four to you," Roy said to Cire and the others.

  "Leave it to us!" they replied in unison.

  The four Knights charged towards them.

  g! g! g!

  Sparks flew as the two sides cshed.

  Ellis, at the forefront, blocked a powerful attack from a Knight wielding a massive battleaxe.

  Bang!

  Although she blocked the attack, her arm went numb from the impact.

  "Impressive! You're not bad yourself!" the Knight ughed, then threw her axe.

  "O my swarm of noal familiars, sughter my enemies!"

  The axe transformed into a swarm of bats.

  "A Legion Spirit?!" Ellis excimed in surprise.

  Legion Spirits were formed from multiple spirits, making them unsuitable for plex ands.

  However, they were incredibly effective against those whled against multiple oppos.

  The swarm of bats desded on them like a dark cloud.

  "I'll hahis!" Cire shouted, crag her Fme Whip.

  The fmes ied most of the bats.

  "Capture those who defy justice! Shackles of Sin!" another Knight ted.

  "What?!"

  A pair of glowing shackles materialized from thin air, binding Cire's hands a.

  She couldn't move.

  "The Shackles of Sin capture those who are careless. The teamwork of the Holy Spirit Knights is unmatched!" the Knight taunted.

  "You may have captured Cire, but you 't do anything else now, you?" Ri sneered, aiming her Ice Bow at the Knight.

  "O fangs of ice, pierce my enemy! Ice Shot!"

  An ice arrow struck the Knight.

  "Ugh..."

  Although attacks betweealists in the Elemental Spirit World didn't cause severe physical damage, they still caused spiritual damage.

  The Knight colpsed, unscious.

  The shackles binding Cire vanished.

  "That was a det tactic, but you uimate the Holy Spirit Knights!" Luminaris decred, charging towards them.

  Although the Holy Spirit Knights were powerful, Team Scarlet was no pushover.

  Moreover, the Holy Spirit Knights only had four members participating.

  With one less fighter, they were quickly overwhelmed by Cire, Ellis, Ri, and Fianna.

  "Damn it! I 't believe we lost here. I'll remember this," Luminaris spat, her face torted with anger.

  She was then teleported out of the arena, disqualified from the tour.

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