Monday, September 21st, 2014. 8:16 pm

I slowly opened my eyes. Dark. The lights were out in my room. I sat up and looked to my side where Ara was sleeping peacefully. Warm.

I looked at the time. 8:16. There wasn't really much to do now. I was still feeling a bit weak and did not feel like breaking any more bones. I laid down once more and turned over to the side so I could see Ara. I stare at her. It looked like she was crying. Her face was slightly red with puffy eyes. I guess she didn't plan on leaving from the beginning. So many things have happened recently. Everyone's changing so suddenly. I wonder what's really going on.

... Even Conwell is acting strange. In fact, he hasn't spoken to me ever since Elesis came to get me. I wonder why. I wonder if Eun is still awake. Then again, how would I go about that without waking Ara. Ugh... if only we had a special secret channel or something.

I assure you that we do.

Oh... well that's convenient.

I am sure we established this very early on.

Early on was a long time ago.

So, what do you want to ask? I am fairly sure I will not answer.

That's very helpful to hear. Well then, I'll be staring at Ara then.

Hmm... acting very reserved now aren't we?

Well... I'm just not sure what to do now.

Sigh... humans sure are troublesome.

Yeah. I have no idea how you can deal with Ara all the time.

Eun chuckles.

And you aren't doing that as of now?

Maybe.

Hm.

Monday, September 21st, 2014. 10:01 pm

That was our last exchange. The night went on as I stared at Ara's sleeping face. For some reason, I did not feel tired in the slightest. Most of the fatigue from before seemed to have disappeared. But moving a lot would hurt pretty bad regardless. A few times I thought about poking Ara to wake her up. By that time though, it was already 10:01. You know, now that I think about it, no one has shown up at all in the past 2 hours. I've been awake for 2 hours doing nothing. This has to be a new record for me.

A thought occurred to me just now. I've only actually ever thought of Ara this entire time. I pretty much forgot about everyone. Rena... Rena?

Where is Rena?

She wasn't here when the gang first visited me. She couldn't come for some reason. All of a sudden, my stomach is not sitting too well. I can't get up though. But I feel like something bad will happen if I don't go now. I can't go though.

What is happening. Everything is definitely changing. I just want to know how and why.

Is this what it means to be weak and powerless?

Okay, now I'm just being a downer. Ugh. Whatever. I'll just not think of anything and look at Ara.

I'm so bored.

Monday, September 21st, 2014. 10:20 pm

?'s POV

So... what are you going to do now big sister? You've pretty much gone through every scenario in your head. You've had a long time to think hard about this. There's only until the tournament until they execute their plan.

I know...

You should decide now. Being on the fence is just going to make the moment harder for you.

Why is destiny so cruel.

It's just not you who can change it. Only he can.

... Please, guide him well. Don't let him become me.

Well, I'm not one to keep promises. But, I'll try my best. I assume this is our final goodbye.

I... yes. This is goodbye.

Good night, old friend.

I look up at the pedestal. The drug that they concocted for me is there. As long as I don't resist and let it flow through my entire system freely, everything will be done. I will not be able to come back. I walk slowly towards the potion. A bright, vibrant pink color. It was a plain flask with grass knots around it. My body felt hot. It was burning. Telling me not to do it. But my mind was already made up. I picked up the flask and unsealed the cap. I took one more look at it and saw my reflection.

Often times, I would always look at myself in the mirror. I always saw a different face than what I expected. Rather than a confident, happy sister, I saw someone who was chained down. Other times, I saw a little girl who wanted to run away. Rarely did I ever see a vision of me being truly happy. I don't think I was ever happy with myself. All I ever felt was contempt and disgust. All I ever wanted was to see my beloved brother be happy with his life. Just to see him proudly say his name and show to the world who he is. But I guess that's too much to ask for. Even now, all I could see is a girl crying uncontrollably, screaming...

Stop. Don't die.

I wonder... is there such a thing as hell.

I would take the first class there.

I chugged down the potion. I dropped the glass and heard a crack. My vision started to blur out. I couldn't keep balance. I felt nauseous. I...

You know. I wonder... if I was lying about my true feelings now.

Monday, September 21st, 2014. 10:45 pm

Ketsuragi's POV (If you do not remember, read the chapter 'meet rank 9'.)

"So, why were we called here?"

The Knight of the Round had a sudden meeting set up. Everyone gathered in the usual meeting room. Everyone but Elesis. It seems that the Principal came as well.

"Anyone got an idea of why we're here? Or are we just gonna wait until the Principal wakes up?" Knight of Seven, Lucas Answorth.

"Jeez, someone's got an attitude." Knight of Five, Ivan Green.

"Well... while we wait. How have you guys been." Knight of Four, Atsuko Hariyama.

"Three back to back missions of patrolling and hunting. Eh... nothing too exciting." Knight of Eight, Jacob Taylors.

"You should not be belittling the job you were given Eight." Knight of Ten, Mia Albrecht.

"At the same time though... he was also given a small region to cover. So it really was nothing much." Knight of Two, Beom-seok Im.

"Hmph, you guys banter on about the simplest things." Knight of Three, Meiying Li.

"Oh sorry your majesty, maybe we need to talk about something more fanciful for your tastes?" Knight of Six, Eva Marshall.

The principal watched on peacefully as everyone started up random conversations. Time passed. The door to the room soon opened. Elesis walked inside.

"Welcome back, Elesis." The principal greeted her. She turned her heads towards him. Her face was blank. It felt like there was just nothing. The principal frowned sadly and looked down.

"I see. It has come to that." The principal slowly looked over at us.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make. It concerns the upcoming exhibition tournament. I have... along with Elesis, planned something more special this time around."

The atmosphere suddenly became dense. Although the principal's tone was still soft, we all felt an unnerving chill. Most of it was from Elesis.

"You see. There is much more to this tournament than just simply the students and the Knight of the Round. Even more so than the entire school. Far more than the country. I had hoped it would not be this way. But there is not much choice for us."

"Hey, stop it with this ominous bush beating. Get to the point!" Lucas was getting impatient.

"Under certain circumstances, Elesis has offered herself to be a pivotal sacrifice. She will be an important component in a ritual. However, this ritual can only be properly done under the condition that she is killed by a worthy adversary." The principal laid it out without hesitation.

Everyone ceased movement. I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"Right now, Elesis has deliberately destroyed her spiritual and mental state. She is now equivalent to a puppet. With no will of her own, she cannot act without order."

My heart felt extremely heavy. I was out of breath. "What are you talking about sir?" I questioned.

"Geez, and I thought I was a joker. But I guess the principal is just a grand jest! Seriously, I honestly believed him for a moment!" Eva acted as if this was a joke. I don't think she is believing herself.

"I am not joking." The principal reaffirmed his statement.

"That's absurd. Why would Elesis be a part of a ritual. There's no way she would willingly give up her life. Even then, a sacrificial ritual? That is of the forbidden arcanum arts. By law, it is strictly prohibited. Ivan got irritated.

"Even more so, what kind of ritual requires such odd instructions? Elesis dies to someone stronger than her? Right now she is the strongest knight arguably in the country. Who could even match her strength. Beom-seok added.

"Regardless of what you think, all of this is a fact. Either way, Elesis has already accepted her fate. If you don't even want to begin reasoning with me, one proof is already here." He points to Elesis.

"That... that's absurd. That's insane! No way!" I looked up. Atsuko was slowly walking towards Elesis. Standing in front of her, she touched her cheeks.

"Elesis. Hey... you..." I could hear her ask if this was just a joke. But I think she knew, coming straight from the principal's mouth, this was no joke.

I could see Beom-seok clenching his fists tightly. He was bleeding.

"A puppet?" Atsuko whispered, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Elesis... kiss me." Atsuko said it firmly.

Elesis closed in on Atsuko and kissed her. It went on for 3 seconds and Elesis moved back. Atsuko was in total despair. Normally, if she asked for a kiss then Elesis would flick her forehead and lightly peck it. This was completely uncharacteristic of Elesis. She collapsed onto her knees.

Eva went over to Atsuko and helped her up.

"Why..." She lifted her head up with distant eyes. "Why Elesis?"

"That... I cannot say for now. The meaning behind everything, you will all just have to accept."

"Bullshit! You really expect us to eat that?" Lucas outraged.

"Please. If I could tell you, I would. However... it would hinder us." The principal turned his back on us.

"Guess we won't know who 'us' refers to as well?" Mia questioned.

"The tournament will be held next Monday. It will consist of the standard rules and bracket system. However... this contingency must stay in place." He turned towards us once more. His eyes were visually dark. As if black mist had covered them.

"If Elsword is to make it to the crucible and fights for your positions. You must not win. You will all fight to your full potential. However, convincingly lose at the end."

Everyone was just dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. It was buffoonery.

"Why does that matter?" Lucas was more furious now.

"Because I said it to be. Now listen well. I will not accept any back talk from any of you. All of you are to proceed as followed. If Elsword makes it to the crucible and fights you all, he will fight Elesis. If he doesn't, then that is what fate has decided." His tone became more aggressive. No one else had the gall to refute. "No one needs to know the reason. Just know that it is for the better. This is all I have to say." The principal leaves the room.

"Hey... this is just a prank right? This isn't happening." Atsuko's mind was breaking. "Maybe this is a dream? A nightmare right? I... just have to wake up. Hey, this can't be real right?"

Mia walks over to Atsuko and slaps her. Atsuko looks up at her.

"Did it hurt?" Mia asked with an apathetic look.

"Yes..." Atsuko was shaking.

"Well then. I guess you aren't dreaming."

Atsuko silently cried. Eva hugged her.

"What is wrong with you?" Eva snapped at Mia.

"I would ask the same to you all. The principal has given us an order, but all of you are letting your emotions override your duty."

Eva seemed to have a rebuttal, but disregarded it and sat Atsuko down on a chair. It's understandable though. Mia did have a strange attitude towards everything. She was basically a mindless soldier herself. She never went against the principal's words.

"Well this is just great now. Our group leader is now a mindless sack of bones and meat." Lucas was also not really a happy camper either. "I guess we can have some entertainment now though." He made himself at home and laid down on a couch. "Hey, do a silly dance for us!"

"Don't do it Elesis." Right as Lucas made that request, Beom-seok dismissed it.

"Hey man, what's the big idea? We might as well make the most of this moment before she's really dead." Right as Lucas finished, Beom-seok grabbed his face and smashed it against a wall. The wall collapsed. Lucas slowly stood up and blood ran down from his head.

"You bastard. What do you think you're doing?" He had a twisted expression. Beom-seok looked down on Lucas.

"Alright guys. Just calm down already. There's no need to start hitting each other." Jacob tried to intervene. A loud sigh followed.

"Honestly. Are you all just a bunch of children? Can you not calm down and for once have some form of sane thought?" Meiying finally spoke after all this time.

"Oh, well sorry princess. Didn't mean to disgust you with our commoner behavior." Lucas sarcastically remarked.

"Listen simpleton, instead of arguing and abusing our fallen friend, how about using our brains? I will not sit here content without knowing the reason behind all of this." Although she usually just says snobby things, she's actually being rational right now. Lucas sighs.

"Fine, okay. Let's play detective for now." I think Lucas is truly bothered by the situation. He's just not showing it. "On a side note, a few of you are awfully calm about this whole ordeal." He was referring to most likely me, Meiying, and Jacob.

"Well, I will applaud you for trying to shift attention. However, I am not so weak-minded to just sit down and start crying over something like this." Meiying gave her thoughts.

"Hey, you gotta stay positive right? Besides, there's just no way you can just destroy a person's mind right? There has to be some kind of caveat to it." Jacob indeed had a positive mindset.

"I... just don't know how to react." My honest thoughts. How do I react to this. I never really talked to any of the Knight of the Round outside of missions. We never shared any real connections. I only respected Elesis for her prowess. Not really a stretch to say I do not know even one single fact about her that isn't related to combat.

"Whatever. Look, if we're gonna really investigate this, we need to be quiet about it. I'm sure the old man even knew that we know, we cannot let this information leak out." Beom-seok said.

"Yes. If word of this got out, there will be a huge conspiracy. No one could predict what would happen." Meiying agreed.

Everyone but Atsuko and Eva nodded in agreement. Atsuko was still having trouble. Eva quietly comforted her. I took a deep breath.

"Alright then... where do we start?"

I awake. I return back to the place, as usual. I see the white speck that I saw last time. It was large. It seemed to be attached to me. Whenever I walked in a direction, it followed close-by. I went back to the routine as always: walking around with no true sense of where I was. Interesting enough, nothing happened this time. I just walked around aimlessly with this white speck of light. I felt at peace somehow. Nothing how I felt when I was alone. It was a pleasant feeling. Eventually, my eyes started to close. I lowered myself to the ground and fell asleep.

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2014. 7:36 am

Elsword's POV

"Elsword, are you ready to go?" I hear cheerfully call out to me.

"Yeah."

Rena had came to pick me up. It was still a bit early in the morning, but this wasn't so bad. I had already brushed my teeth and clothed myself. Just had to get my bag before we left. I exited my room to see her waiting outside.

I was still a little concerned about her random appearances and disappearances. I made a resolve today to ask about it. I think now would be a good time. We still had an hour before classes.

"Hey Rena... sorry to spring this question now. But, where were you yesterday?" Rena's face had a strange expression for a split moment. She then turned to me with a genuinely confused face.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's nothing big but, you weren't there with everyone else." I tried to not really be too specific. It would sound a bit blunt.

"Ah..." Rena looked really sad now.

"I mean, it's not that bad. I wasn't really bothered by it or anything... but you know." I scratched my head, trying to comfort her.

"No. I should have been there. I'm really sorry Elsword." She bowed towards me.

"It's okay. I just wanted to know why you weren't there, that's all."

"I see. Well, I had some family issues recently. They just happened to escalate that day." She looked down with her hands together.

"Family issues?"

"Yeah. It's not too important. Just a thing that happens often." She smiled and shrugged.

I felt a bit uneasy about that statement. But if Rena wants to leave it at that, I think it's fine. The remainder of the time, we just talked about miscellaneous topics. Just a few mundane things about how everything is with training. Some things that happened the past few days and the incident with my sister. Then the tournament...

"How do you feel about the tournament next week Rena?" I asked her.

Rena gave me a strange expression like before.

"Well, it is an exciting opportunity for everyone. Especially you Elsword." She once again smiled. But it was a little weaker this time.

"I guess so." We both stayed quiet for a while. Rena gripped my hand tightly. I responded the same.

Until class started, we both walked around the school campus in silence.

The next few days were rather ordinary. I haven't been able to find my sister anywhere. Concern grew within me, and Conwell refused to respond to me. Eun kept me company, refusing to really give any advice about my troubles. Instead she humored anything I said to distract me. Other than that, Rena and I spent a good deal of time together. Raven and the others seemed to be preparing for the tournament. Not to say that I did not set aside a lot of time for the tournament as well. I would often soar with Ara and Rena.

The days continued like this. I decided to eventually not care about Conwell and Elesis. I just wanted to prepare myself so I can beat up those knights of the round. I want to show results for my training.

Although, there is something that chills my back every now and then. What could it be?