James had played many ranked games on Valorwatch to stay in Rank D and try to move up to Rank C even though he was still a Blessed Rank D. To achieve this goal, he stopped participating in some Fortress invasions during the week, limiting himself to just invading one or two Fortresses a week to dedicate the rest of his time to Valorwatch, since his dream was to have a high ranking in the game, and with that to gain fame - something that would be difficult to achieve just by being a Blessed Rank D.

However, as James played a lot of Valorwatch, it turned out that he played with some Rank D people a few times on the same day, and over time they would create friendships or rivalries just by playing a lot with and against each other.

Recently, James had started to find a very strange player in Rank D matches. This player was actually apparently a Blessed Rank E who, by having a lot of skill and a very OP Blessing, had managed to move up to Rank D even though he had not achieved that rank in the real world. That alone surprised James quite a bit, in addition to earning his respect, since that was the goal he was trying to achieve for a while - moving up to Rank C in Valorwatch while being a Blessed Rank D in the real world just because the skill he had and the importance he had in the team's victory.

In the past four days he had played several games against this Blessed man who wore the appearance of a devil on his account. They both had fire-related Blessings, but because this demon had a lot of mobility and knew how to use daggers with great mastery, James had become an easy target for this Blessed One whenever they fell on opposing teams.

With each match, James got angrier and more and more frustrated when he knew that the devil was on the other team, and whenever he saw the devil on his team he felt happy and confident that the victory of the match was near.

However, today after arguing with Carlos' friend who was late and hadn't looked at him reverently, James connected to Valorwatch and when he saw the boy's nickname he felt a bad feeling. But it was when he connected to the match that James really became concerned, because just after he walked a few steps in the forest they were in, James felt a slight explosion of familiar flames on his back that made him feel a mixture of anger, despair,and disbelief.

He did not believe that he was actually against the devil for whom he had unconsciously garnered a lot of respect. James didn't even have time to react before the devil used his dagger to cut his neck and make the corpse become a pile of shiny particles. This scene was repeated two more times until the game that was defined as

"best of five

" ended in 3x0 for Noah.

When the two disconnected, Noah was acting as if nothing had happened, while James didn't know whether to look down in shame, act as if nothing had happened, or apologize. He had been mad at Noah because he assumed Noah was weak and it was not worth his time to wait for someone weak who couldn't even make it on time, but James' logic was refuted as soon as he found out that Noah was exactly one of the Rank D people he admired and knew it was only a matter of time before that devil would reach Rank C.

Carlos, Mateo and the last boy who had not yet said his name stood looking at Noah in astonishment. As they were not Blessed, whenever they had free time, they spent it on Valorwatch training and having fun as they moved up the ranks. As Rank E players, it was clear that they played with and against the red devil a few times, not to mention that as they liked the game so much, they loved to consume content on valorwatch on the internet, and several times watched videos of players going against the red devil who was becoming famous without even recording videos or making live streams.

Seeing that the red devil, who had so often killed them, or fought side by side with them to win the games, was actually sitting next to them, acting in a relaxed way with an expression that made it difficult to read what he was really thinking, it made the atmosphere of the table of friends a little tense since they did not know how to act with this man that they admired for moving up to Rank D without even having reached that rank as a Blessed.

To put an end to the tense atmosphere, Carlos who, besides Noah, was the least under pressure, said something in an animated tone.

"Brother, I can't believe you were actually Red Devil Lucifer! Damn it! I already played a few games with you on my team and against me, and I also wanted to kill you before, because you were so annoying when teleporting to me and killing me in the game several times. Now I want to kill you because i'm sure you are more unbearable in the real world than in the game, hahaha! I can't believe you hid from me that you had such a strong Blessing!

" Carlos was genuinely excited as he spoke.

Seeing his friend so excited, Noah also smiled and replied,

"I started to realize that people were recognizing me in games, but I didn't think my pseudo-fame was so big that you would act like this. Did you say that I am unbearable in the real world? It seems that I might need to teach you another lesson?

" Noah opened a rare genuine smile on his face while playing with Carlos, before teleporting with his explosion of flames behind Carlos and placing a finger on his throat pretending to be a knife.

Carlos instinctively swallowed when he felt that familiar sensation that had already caused him so much headache in the game now happening in the real world. But when he remembered that the one who did this to him was Noah, the brother he had been with for years, Carlos ignored his instinctive fear and took a glass of water and threatened to throw it back at him.

Noah did not risk being hit by the glass and teleported back to the chair where he was sitting while watching Carlos laugh at him for believing he would be wet in the middle of the restaurant and laughed along with his friend.

The other young men at the table who were a little uncomfortable because they didn't know how to act with Noah, now were a little more comfortable when they saw that he was also a human and that he had fun with Carlos just like them, which encouraged Mateo and the other boy who introduced himself as Kevin to join the conversation and fall in love with Noah as well. As they had treated Noah with good will when he arrived, he treated them well and had fun with them just as he had fun with Carlos.

So the conversation that was supposed to be like an interview with them to find out how strong Noah was ended up becoming a lunch of fun and games where they shared funny stories that they spent inside Valorwatch or things that also happened in the invasions of Fortresses in which Noah had participated.

Since the end of the duel, James hadn't spoken a word to anyone. Not even the lunch that had been served a few minutes ago was part of his attention; he was focused fully thinking about what he should do. Part of him wanted to join the conversation and have fun with everyone, but his pride that was built by being flattered by having a high rank in both Fortresses and Valorwatch did not let him enter the conversation as if nothing had happened.

He was having a mental debate between apologizing and hoping that Noah would accept that everything would return to normal and dispel that strange climate that had appeared, but the other part of him didn't want to let himself do it so he wouldn't be humiliated if Noah refused the request or his excuses in front of everyone. This internal debate lasted for a few minutes until Carlos couldn't stand to see his friend like that anymore and said something.

"You've been in Rank D for a long time, James, but you still knew Noah?

"

Hearing the question addressed to him, James was a little embarrassed but answered honestly nonetheless.

"Actually while he was still Rank F I didn't know who he was, but a few days ago he started appearing in my ranked matches and with time I started to recognize him immediately. After all, it is not every day that you meet a devil who teleports to your back and kills you almost instantly, haha.

" James gave a little embarrassed laugh, but to his relief, the other boys laughed and talked about how much they identified with that feeling.

Noah noticed James' change in attitude and how they would have to work together to win the championship, so he didn't hold a grudge when he knew the other party was sorry for what he did. The main thing he learned from joining an elite invasion group was how important synergy between a team truly was. So as much as they may have started this relationship on the left foot, Noah wouldn't let that destroy the good synergy they might have, especially when he remembered seeing how truly powerful James was within Valorwatch.

"He will be a good ally in Valorwatch, and apparently because he is also a Blessed Rank D, he could also be an ally in Fortresses in the real world,

" Noah thought with an internal smile as he imagined what they could do in the future with this team.

He had liked Mateo and Kevin very much. Carlos he already knew very well. His only concern as soon as he met the group was James, but apparently the only thing James needed was to have someone more powerful than him to hold back the reins of his arrogance to prevent him from destabilizing the team and affecting them negatively.

The prize money for this championship was very good. Seeing the bus break down and causing such an inconvenience for him made Noah consider spending his potential winnings on buying a car. He didn't want a useless car, but he also didn't want a very luxurious car: just a reliable car that he could use to get from place to place and that was at least comfortable.

'Maggy always tells me often to buy something for myself with part of the money I earn. I suppose I can maybe start with that,' Noah thought, wondering what car he might get.

Please read the author notes ↓↓↓