Cyn… Selene started to say as tears began welling up in her eyes, but Cynrik swiftly silenced her by raising his left hand.

It’s not your fault. Taking your time to kill off the last three enemies made no difference. They were a full 20 minutes ahead of us. Quickly cutting off the source of blame, Cynrik asserted that Romeoville’s win came from something outside of their control.

-Congratulations, you have completed the Tier-3 Search, Retrieve, Destroy (SRD) Event.-

-Objective One: Locate and Arrive at the Correct Destination.- (Complete)

-Objective Two: Locate and Retrieve the Correct Object *Mana Gem*.- (Complete)

-Objective Three: Destroy all 200 Tier-3 Creatures and the Tier-4 Boss.- (Complete)

-Total time spent to complete all objectives: 8 hours 43 Minutes.-

-Unfortunately, your Opponents, Romeoville, completed all three objectives in less time than you.-

-The Tier-3 Romeoville Team has Broken the Previous National Record.-

-New National Record: 8 hours 23 Minutes.-

For the first time in a long time, every member of MyrkLys was at a total loss for what to say, they had been through a lot together, but this was the first time they had experienced defeat. But one thing was for sure, Cynrik wasn’t blaming any of them for their loss. In fact, instead of blaming anyone, he was the one that took the news of their defeat the hardest.

Although outwardly he didn’t show it, internally, he was running through the entire event from start to finish trying to figure out where he could have done better. But realizing that wasn’t the right course of action, he sighed loudly and concluded that Derrek had indeed done what he feared the idiot leader of Romeoville would do.

The only conceivable way they could have made up so much ground was if Romeoville sacrificed their team members to loosen the load on their Leader’s teleportations.

Holding his hand up and gathering everyone’s attention since there were only 2 minutes until they were kicked out of the VR world, Cynrik motioned for Gabby to teather the whole team together with her psychic link.

‘Listen up; our loss is in no way any of your faults. As the Leader, it falls on my shoulders, and my shoulders alone, do you understand?’ Cynrik stated in an authoritative voice, meeting every member’s eyes as he spoke.

‘Going into this event, I never guaranteed our victory, unlike the previous event, because of the variable known as Romeoville’s Captain. If my guess is correct, he should have sacrificed one or more of his teammates while completing the first Objective, and I had hoped he wouldn’t since it would increase both the speed and distance of his long-range teleportation.’

‘The fact that they beat us by 20 minutes is evidence enough that something of that nature transpired. Now they have 15 points, meaning they are only five points shy of tying us, and if that happens, we get dragged into a Tie Breaker Match. However, since I am very, VERY angry right now, here’s the plan moving forward.’ Reaching over his head, Cynrik pulled up his hood with his left hand and grinned evily in the safety of the shadow cast by it before explaining his new plan.

—

Releasing a stiff groan as he woke up and flexed his muscles in the VR Capsule, Cynrik patted Vii and Sie, who hadn’t gotten to participate in the battle but instead were on surveillance after finishing their task of steering the sled.

“Good work, you two. Have a rest in my Mark of the Tamer; you guys don’t need to fight anymore today.” Handing them both a cracker, Cynrik smiled as they turned into particles and disappeared into his chest.

Then, reaching over, Cynrik pulled the opening latch for the capsule and depressurized it before lifting the hatch and swinging his legs out. However, when he finally emerged, Cynrik’s usually calm and emotionless face twitched…because standing beside their capsules with gloating expressions were all of Team Romeoville, waiting for VSFA to take their positions for the announcement of their victory.

In a similar fashion to his own VR capsule, the hatches of the rest of the team opened, and everyone got out. Once free, the members of MyrkLys moved to the front of their machine and waited with their hands clasped behind their backs, wearing professional looks on their faces.

Ignoring the gloating faces of Team Romeoville, Cynrik patiently waited for the Referee to call him over. Once he did, he didn’t move an inch as the Ref announced Romeoville’s victory in the SRD Event along with their Record Break.

Standing by his capsule, Brance’s keen eyes noticed the slight twitch of Cynrik’s left hand but said nothing. After hearing the plan, he knew better than anyone just how angry his older brother was, so he took a back seat and allowed whatever would happen.

“Congratulations, Romeoville, for your SRD Event Victory. The third and potentially final event will be Accuracy. In this event, two competitors from each team will have to destroy the most targets moving and stationary from a distance before the time expires. The number of targets is unlimited, but the time in the event is set to 5 minutes.”

“As with every event, the use of Recovery items is banned, but there is no limit on how one destroys the targets so long as it is from a distance. But one thing to note, Pets or Tamed Beasts are not allowed in the Accuracy Event….” The Referee paused and looked at Gabby while saying the next bit.

“Miss Gabriella Sanford, please leave yours with a team member.”

Upon hearing this, Gabby nodded politely and stepped over to Brance to hand Milo to him before returning to her capsule.

“Now, you will each have 5 minutes to prepare yourself for the third and potentially final event of Round One; however, before we begin, I want to make you two aware. If Romeoville wins the third event, Accuracy, both teams will have 20 points, meaning we move into the Tie-Breaker Event, Team Battle.”

“Excuse me; I would like to say something before we begin if that is alright, sir.”

Just as the Ref was about to send the captains back to their teams, Derrek raised his hand and boldly spoke up, something even Cynrik hadn’t done as of yet.

Raising an eyebrow, the Referee took a step back and motioned for Derrek to say his piece, but not without warning him about getting out of line with his words.

Nodding his head, Derrek stepped forward, stopping only a few centimeters from Cynrik, and smiled with a mischievous and overconfident expression.

“Good luck, Junior; I hope you enjoyed your time in the spotlight because I will single-handedly rip victory from your clutches and show everyone that all you are is arrogant and full of false claims of glory.”

Derrek’s voice was neither too loud nor soft, but it was clear enough to be picked up by the microphones, meaning everyone watching around the continent heard his words.

Behind him, the Romeoville team snickered as Cynrik looked down at his feet and began trembling slightly; in contrast, MyrkLys was eerily still, as worry could be seen in their eyes.

“Kuekuekue,” the creepy laugh began softly, near imperceptible at first, before crescendoing to a point where everyone could hear it, causing even the referees to shuffle about uncomfortably.

“Kuekue, Tell me something, Kiddo, kuekue, sorry sorry Derrek….” Slowly turning his face up, Cynrik’s hood fell as he exposed the wild look in his eyes to the Romeoville Captain, making the older boy take half a step back, away from Cynrik, who seemed to have lost his mind at that moment.

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