And we are moving on to the next chapter right away. Nothing much can be said at this point, really, in terms of where the story is at currently. That being said, there is an important announcement I should make that I will leave for the end of this chapter… for various reasons, but it will hopefully result in more people reading the announcement if I save it for the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party nor do I, in any way, shape, or form, intend to pretend that I do.
"Hello, Endymion~ fancy running into you here, wouldn't you say?" Lotus asked in their usual playful and cheerful tone yet something about it sounded surprisingly eerie. Lotus wouldn't stop there, however, as the black-colored avatar had already raised its right arm high into the air, "Careful, you just let your guard down. You could get hurt if you're this defenseless, you know?"
And then Lotus launched a slashing attack in a downward arc.
"Endymion-san!" Rinko cried out in horror as she watched her partner be slashed by the powerful-looking Black Lotus. As the words left her mouth, however, Rinko couldn't stop herself from being in awe. She knew that Endymion had told her about how fast Lotus was. Or, rather, how Rinko would lose to Lotus when it came to a contest of speed.
Despite this warning, Rinko had hoped that the gap between her and Lotus was a minor one. That Lotus only had the slight edge over her and that Kite could at least give Endymion's old friend a run for their money.
'What am I supposed to do? I did not even see Lotus-san move up close to us,' Rinko frowned as she tried to think of a way out of this mess. Moon, the person who had trained and helped Rinko improve up to this point, was nowhere near in sight. But despite what Rinko's conscience was telling her, she knew that Moon should not be her first worry. Lotus was right in front of her and was the biggest threat to her and Endymion right now.
"I am fine, that attack didn't deal that much damage to me," Endymion responded hurriedly, sounding surprisingly harsh for Rinko's ears. Rinko, however, didn't hold it against her partner; Rinko knew that Endymion must be feeling emotional upon seeing the extent of Lotus' abilities. If anything, Rinko was certain that Endymion must be even more shocked than she was.
"Don't think I will hold back, Lotus!" Endymion warned their friend, and Rinko watched in silent awe as the red-colored avatar ran to move closer towards Lotus. From what Rinko could tell already, Lotus was an avatar that excelled at close-ranged combat. In contrast, Endymion was a red-colored avatar, meaning that Rinko's partner would only do well if there was a significant distance between them and their opponent.
So it came as a pleasant surprise to Rinko to see that Endymion was holding their own against Lotus. Rinko could tell that Endymion was struggling to not fall victim to Lotus' rhythm, but it wasn't as if Lotus had a noticeable or overwhelming advantage, either.
The fight between Lotus and Endymion looked to be relatively even, and that was what shocked Rinko the most. As much as she trusted her partner, Rinko knew that the natural disadvantage that red-colored avatars had in close-ranged combat would be difficult to overcome. Especially if their opponents were well-versed to fight at that distance.
Rinko was shaken out of her train of thoughts when she noticed that Lotus had disengaged from the fight and moved a few steps back. But what caught Rinko's attention the most was that she recognized the distance between Lotus and Endymion.
'Of course… Endymion-san said that Lotus-san not only played with Endymion-san but is also the better player of the two of them. If I already figured out that Endymion-san cannot use Double Impact at a specific distance, then Lotus-san should have known about that a long time ago,' Rinko thought to herself as she tried to think of ways to overcome this gap between Lotus and Endymion. Rinko's mentor was nowhere to be seen so Rinko knew that she had the time to focus on Lotus first.
"Not bad, Endymion. Not bad at all," Lotus said, and Rinko squinted her eyes as she thought about what the black-colored avatar had said. Rinko couldn't tell if Lotus was praising or mocking Endymion, but Endymion's silence was enough of an indication for Rinko to get the hint, "I am glad you are taking this somewhat seriously and that you have improved since we've last fought like this."
"Likewise. I didn't think it would be easy to keep up with you, but you really don't hold back against me at all," Endymion responded to which Lotus laughed a hearty laugh. Endymion waited long enough for Lotus to stop laughing before speaking again, "Don't let that compliment get to your head or Chaos will never let you hear the end of it."
"I'll keep that in mind," Lotus promised, and Rinko was amazed at the calmness and the relaxed nature of this conversation between Lotus and Endymion. The two old friends were having a chat as if their progress in the tournament wasn't at stake, and Rinko couldn't help but feel a little envious. This was what it was like to be playing this game together with a close friend?
With the amount of time Rinko spent focused on her thoughts, she had barely heard that Lotus had said something else again. Rinko didn't hear what Lotus had said, but Lotus was already making a fast sprint towards Endymion.
Silver Kite was already moving before Rinko had processed what she was doing. Rinko's brain registered that Lotus was moving towards Endymion, and Rinko's fingers were already moving in response. With Rinko's commands guiding the silver-based avatar, Kite dove in to intercept Lotus' trajectory.
And took the attack that was originally intended for Endymion full in the chest.
A deadly silence fell on the battlefield as the three combatants took in what just happened. Lotus' spear-like arm was still putting pressure on Kite but, much to Rinko's relief, the damage inflicted was minimal. It was eventually Endymion who would break this silence with a single word.
"Why?"
Rinko took a deep breath after hearing her partner's question in the hopes that the intake of air would help her calm down and think of a response. While she did feel a little calmer after doing so, Rinko had yet to find a proper answer. Why did she jump into the fight and stop Lotus from hurting Endymion more than Lotus already had?
"I… could not stand idly by any longer and watch you fight a losing battle, Endymion-san," Rinko responded, an unpleasantly warm feeling creeping up from the back of her neck. Trying her hardest to suppress being overwhelmed by this sensation, Rinko soldiered on, "This tournament is not a series of two one-against-one fights happening at the same time; it's a pair of two players fighting against a pair of two other players. And as long as I am still standing, I will not just watch and let you simply hurt my partner."
Lotus had retracted its arm and took a step back throughout Rinko's declaration, and Rinko couldn't shake this feeling that she was being judged. As if the only reason Lotus moved away was to take in Kite and come up with the best strategy to defeat Rinko.
"Looks like you got yourself a wonderful partner, Endymion," Lotus said, and while the words were intended for Endymion's ears, Rinko couldn't help but feel warm on the inside. A pleasant warmth this time that came from the indirect praise she had received. Lotus chose that moment to turn to Kite and Rinko steeled herself for what Lotus would say next, "Kite-san, if you are so interested in taking me on, I will gladly oblige. Please do not hold back because I will not hold back, either."
"You have my word, Lotus-san. For both my sake and Endymion-san's, I will face you with everything that Silver Kite is capable of," Rinko said as she tried to think of a plan to face her partner's friend. From what Rinko has seen already, she knew that Lotus was a close-ranged fighter who incorporated slashing and piercing attacks.
'If the extend of Lotus-san's attacks are just that, then I should be able to keep up. Kite-san is based on silver, so I have a natural advantage,' Rinko thought to herself, trying to maintain her composure in the face of her powerful opponent. As she thought of this, Rinko couldn't help but be reminded of what Moon had told her once, 'But if I assume that Lotus-san's attacks are limited to only those two types, then I have already lost. All right… think, Rinko, what should I do here?'
Rinko took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down before deciding on a strategy. She knew that it wasn't likely to work against an opponent like Lotus, but she was going to try. Kite should be agile enough for this to work, so all that was left was for Rinko to believe in herself and her avatar.
Almost as if the two fighters were on the same wavelength, they moved to close the distance simultaneously. Lotus glided a few centimeters above the ground while Kite ran across the dirt as fast as their legs could carry them. Only a second later, the two avatars met in the center and collided spear-like arm with a clenched fist.
Rinko was happy that she could parry Lotus' assault and that she wasn't taking much damage. At the same time, Rinko was also very concerned by the lack of damage that she was able to deal to Lotus in return.
The next thought that popped up in Rinko's mind was cut short as she had to quickly duck under Lotus' other spear-like arm to prevent Kite from losing its head. But this would put her in prime position for Lotus to try and sweep Kite's legs.
The only option left for Rinko was back, so backward was where she went. Once she felt like she was at a safe enough distance from Lotus, Rinko took a deep breath and asked herself an invaluable question: what was she going to do now?
'No time to worry about unnecessary things like that. Focus, Shirokane Rinko!' Rinko chastised herself as she glanced at the corner of her screen. It was a little too early for her to start using some of her stronger skills, but she had to do something to tip the battle in her favor.
Rinko's train of thoughts came to a screeching halt when Lotus suddenly appeared in front of Kite. The distance that Rinko had created for herself was clearly not enough, and she quickly realized that she was… losing.
Lotus was bombarding her with a barrage of jabbing attacks, and it took all Rinko had to try and dodge them all. Left right left right spin duck hop left right hop right left duck left. Rinko's head was starting to spin as she did her dance with Lotus.
And with Rinko's lightheadedness came mistakes. None of them proved to be fatal for Rinko thanks to Kite's innate resistance to the attacks Lotus was using, but it was not good. Not good at all to see how Lotus would land three or four hits for every two attacks that Rinko managed to dodge.
Seeing no way out of this predicament that she found herself in, Rinko… hesitated for a second, but ended up pressing the familiar key regardless.
Kite's amber-colored eyes lit up for a brief second, and Rinko knew that the command went through. She watched in silent awe as Kite knocked both of Lotus' arms to the side, knocking Rinko's opponent off-balanced in the process.
Now that Lotus was completely vulnerable was the perfect opportunity for Rinko's counterattack. And counterattack she did. Kite unsheathed two daggers in the hidden compartments of its arms, holding one in either of its hands and bend its knees. As it did, a bright cyan aura flared from Kite's shoulder, flowing down its arms and out through the blades of the daggers. The energy infused in the daggers made it look like Kite was wielding two swords rather than measly daggers.
Once the weapons were ready, so was Kite. The silver-based avatar sprung to action and leaped towards Lotus, twisting and spinning as it moved through the air. By the time Kite made contact with Lotus, Rinko could barely recognize her avatar; all that she saw was a cyclone of energy drilling into Lotus' abdomen.
As fast as the skill had begun, it ended even faster. A second after making contact with Lotus, Kite's spinning started to slow down before the silver-based avatar came to a complete stop. Once the attack ended, Rinko knew that she had to create some distance again.
Not trusting herself to get away from Lotus without taking an attack from her opponent, Rinko used another of Kite's skills: Dark Sight. With the power of this skill Kite blended in the shadows, becoming invisible to everybody around her in the process. With Dark Sight active, Kite was unable to use any offensive moves during the duration of the skill, but Rinko would remain safe from danger.
Now that Rinko knew that she didn't have to worry about damage, she decided to take in the damage that she had dealt.
"That is impossible! Tornado Spin landed a direct hit!" Rinko cried out the instant she saw that Lotus was still standing. What was even worse for Rinko was the fact that Lotus was still standing and did not seem to be gravely injured by Kite's attack. Rinko, realizing that her emotions were starting to get the better of her, took a deep breath before she voiced the worry that had been plaguing her mind, "Is the difference between our abilities really that big?"
"You are half correct, Kite-san," Endymion responded in a calm yet solemn tone, much to Rinko's surprise. In her little skirmish with Lotus, Rinko had almost forgotten that Endymion was still there; not that Rinko would ever admit to this. Endymion, blissfully unaware of what Rinko was thinking about, turned to face Lotus, "Do you want me to explain, or do you want to be the one to boast about what you did?"
"Please, allow me. I will say, Endymion, that I am impressed you picked up on what I was doing all along," Lotus added the last bit in a hurry before pausing momentarily. When Endymion did not try to break the silence, Lotus took this as a sign that they could continue, "Kite-san, you probably already noticed that we do not see the amount of damage we deal to our opponents in this tournament. We also have no other sense to go off other than sight and hearing."
"Lotus was dodging your attacks, Kite-san," Endymion interjected, stopping Lotus in the middle of their sentence and giving Rinko the bad news. Without waiting to hear Rinko's response and while ignoring Lotus' reaction, Endymion continued their explanation, "Essentially, Lotus timed the dodge to make it look like the skill landed a hit, but it never did."
'Lotus-san… was able to do all of that?' Rinko thought to herself as Endymion's words finally started to make sense to her. And, realistically, Rinko knew that Endymion was telling the truth; the only other explanation was for Lotus to have used a skill to avoid taking damage from Kite, but Rinko never saw such a skill be activated, 'If I can't hurt Lotus-san… then what can I do in this situation? Have we… already lost?'
"You're no fun at all, Endymion. But you're right, that's exactly what happened," Lotus said, and Rinko could already see the triumphant grin that was plastered on the face of Lotus' player. A momentary pause followed though this pause was gone in the blink of an eye, "I think I got a good enough read of what the two of you are capable of."
"I don't like showing my hand and going all out, as Endymion over there can probably attest to, but a tournament is a tournament." Lotus let out a sigh, and Rinko could feel a shiver start to run down her spine. Whatever Lotus had planned for this fight, Rinko was about to find out… and learn whether she was capable of keeping up with her opponents or if she was on the brink of elimination, "Endymion and Kite-san are both amazing players, so it would be disrespectful to the two of you for me to be holding back. With that in mind, I think it is about time we put an end to this. What do you think, Moon-san?"
Amber Moon! Rinko had almost forgotten that her opponent in this match wasn't limited to Lotus alone; Rinko also had to fight the player who had helped her in the game since the very beginning. But where was Moon? Rinko looked around her in panic as she tried to locate her mentor but to no avail. Moon was nowhere to be found and the only things of note that Rinko could see were Endymion and Lotus.
But just because Moon wasn't visible to Rinko did not mean that their presence could not be felt. Almost as if on cue, a bright light enveloped Lotus, obscuring the speedy avatar from Rinko's view.
"What's happening?!" Rinko exclaimed in shock as she watched her opponent be consumed by the pillar of light. It didn't seem to be damaging Lotus, but Rinko knew that she couldn't let her guard down yet; if this was Moon's doing then Rinko had to be prepared for anything. Hesitantly, Rinko turned to her partner and pushed the short question out of her throat.
"I don't know, I have never seen Lotus do this before," Endymion responded, sounding just as concerned and worried as Rinko was. Rinko was about to ask something else to Endymion, but she never had the chance to.
The pillar of light that had consumed Black Lotus had split up into three beams that focused on three different points around Lotus' original position. One of these went to Lotus' front, one to their right, and one to their left. Just as Rinko was starting to wonder what was happening to Lotus she got her answer.
The light slowly faded away, and what remained made Rinko feel like she couldn't breathe for a second or two.
What Rinko saw was Black Lotus standing in front of her, but it wasn't just Lotus anymore. Or, rather, it wasn't just one Lotus that was staring back at her. From each point where the light had been shining on a Lotus was now standing.
Rinko was staring down four different Black Lotuses, each of which were seemingly ready to go for the kill.
"Playtime is over," one of the Black Lotuses said as the four identical-looking avatars moved to stand next to one another. Without wasting another second, that same Lotus added in an eerily calm voice, "Now that we've shown our trick to you, it's time for the real fight to begin. Endymion, Kite-san, ready or not here we come!"
And that is all for today's chapter! As I said at the start of this chapter, I have an important announcement to make regarding Shining Sunlight. My schedule is going to be filled to the brim… not right away, but soon. Very soon. And while I hate doing this, I'd rather slow down the rate at which I upload chapters and have a consistent albeit slower update schedule than risk having an erratic update schedule. Therefore, as of right now, Shining Sunlight will go (back) to being updated once every three Saturdays.
For those of you reading this story in the very far future: first of all, hello, second of all, this probably won't affect you too much unless I am still updating this story when you are reading this chapter. For those of you reading this story as it gets uploaded: here is a quick visual of the update schedule going forward. Chapter 27 will go up three weeks from now (Saturday, 11 September 2021). Chapter 28 will go up three weeks after that (Saturday, 2 October 2021). Chapter 29 will then go up three weeks after that (Saturday, 23 October 2021). And it will continue from there with that pattern until further notice. Thank you for your understanding and patience in advance.
With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!