Rivals

Headmaster Lalaine frowned at Merchant Bernard's words. But unfortunately, she could not deny it because he was right. Their Warlord Series was indeed outdated.

"Rather than that, I hope your fighters will be more friendly next time. This is just a friendly battle and nothing less," said Headmaster Lalaine whilst trying to hide her displeasure.

"Uh, sorry about that. When in battle, Isaak tends to treat it seriously. As you can see, he hates losing. Ahaha!" Merchant Bernard forced a laugh while rubbing the back of his head.

Headmaster Lalaine side-glanced him. Again, she could not feel the sincerity in his words. This merchant was truly a cunning person.

—hah!

Headmaster Lalaine secretly sighed. Now for the second match, who will be their next fighter? She glanced at Assistant Ann and asked about it.

The assistant told her who their next fighter was.

"I see. That's a good choice," said Headmaster Lalaine after hearing Assistant Ann's reply.

Noticing the headmaster's expression, Merchant Bernard secretly grinned. 'Ufufu. Don't be too complacent, Headmaster. Because our next fighter is far better than Isaak,' the merchant thought.

When Noir arrived at the arena, it was already the end of the first match and the second match had yet to begin.

She saw the Mech M1 Warlord being carried away by a long carrier truck. She also saw Commander Guren on the site along with some personnel from the medic department and Mech Soldier Department.

The person, who she believed was the pilot of M1 Warlord, was put on a stretcher by some medical personnel.

Noir also noticed the odd atmosphere from the audience along with their solemn murmurs.

Just what had happened? Why did that M1 Mech turn out like a piece of scrap? Noir could not help but ask herself curiously. Her brows knitted. It looks like the first match's result wasn't good judging everyone's expressions and the condition of the M1 Mech and its pilot, she thought.

She could not see the enemy though. Perhaps it already came back to its lobby.

She looked around and saw some familiar faces in the audience. One of them was Scarlet's group.

"Hm, why is Scarlet in the audience only?" Muttered Noir, sounding disappointed.

Scarlet was as young as her, but Scarlet's piloting skill was above everyone's. That's why she was the ace pilot of the academy. She became a core member of the Elite Class right after she was admitted here.

"The most gifted, huh…" Noir muttered.

Although it was only a mock battle, this battle was also very important to the academy. Therefore, seeing the most talented person in the academy as part of the audience only was truly a surprise.

Noir came here because she wanted to see how Scarlet fought. But anyway, it was the academy who decided that, so there might be a big reason behind it. Otherwise, she would have not here as part of the audience.

It was just so disappointing when the one you were expecting to perform would not come to perform.

Aside from Scarlet and her group, Noir also noticed William and his gang. Noir averted her eyes immediately right after seeing them. They were not worth her time anyway. And she was sure that William would just brag again about his high mana score which was second only to Scarlet.

But although William's mana score was so high, his piloting skill wasn't so great. That's why he didn't become part of the elite class right away unlike Scarlet.

However, if he would be trained carefully, there was a big tendency that he would achieve greater honor than most students here, especially because of his high mana score.

It was also the reason why some senior students were pampering him now because they knew there was a big chance that he would achieve greater results in the future.

Noir sighed. —Hah~, she looked around and her eyes squinted when a familiar figure entered her field of vision.

Cai!

She called out her name internally.

"Hey, who are you looking at?"

Hearing that, Cai was slightly startled. When she glanced to her side, she saw Noir standing there.

Cai frowned slightly.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"To watch the competition obviously," replied Noir.

"That's not what I mean."

"Then be specific," while saying that, Noir sat on the now empty seat beside Cai.

A student was sitting there just now, but seeing Noir, the student left. Perhaps Noir asked her to leave using her dominance as part of the Blue Delta Clan.

Cai sighed. —Hah~

"If you want to cause trouble again, hold it for a little longer as now is not the right time for that as you can see," Cai said as she looked away.

"What do you think of me? A trouble-maker?! Grr!" Noir gnashing her teeth.

Cai glared at her. "Are you not?"

"Uh-uh—" Noir felt like the words were stuck in her throat.

"I see. So you wanted to ask me for a duel again…"

"That's useless," Noir said in haste.

Cai suspiciously looked at her. "He~h. What do you mean?" Cai asked her.

"I am not part of the Mech Soldier Department now, humph!" Noir pouted.

"….."

Cai fell silent for a second before she said: "I see. That's better for me."

Noir's brows turned V-shaped as she looked at her in haste. "Ora! Don't feel pleasure at someone's displeasure!"

Cai didn't know whether Noir was serious or not with that.

"Stop blaming others for the faults you did," said Cai as she glanced at her.

—Grr!

Noir gnashed her teeth. Noir slumped back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Uh, I see. As expected, I still don't like you," said Noir as she looked away from Cai.

Cai glanced at her and sighed. She said, "Suit yourself."

"Don't ever think you're winning, alright? I will make a comeback later."

"….."

Cai became silent with that declaration of Noir. For some reason, Noir had a strong rivalry issue towards her that's why she acted like that.

Noir had caused a lot of trouble in the Mech Soldier Department so it's no wonder if she got fired from there. And because of the amount of trouble she had caused even though only a few days had passed since day one, it would be a long time before she could return to the Mech Soldier Department. If so, it would be even more difficult for her to be included in the Elite Class Selection Day.

There was an awkward silence between the two after that.

After Commander Guren and the others left the arena, two silhouettes came out from the entrances.

"Finally, the second match is about to begin!" Said the announcer.