Noctis Noir

"Really? I'm seriously fighting a support priestess?" Frisk said in disbelief when he had a good look at his opponent.

"Be careful not to underestimate me, or it will lead to your demise." Pio simply smiled.

"Heh. Well, this battle will end fast."

"I beg to differ."

The Black Rose members were quiet. They simply sat with serious looks on their faces. Astrid wondered what was on their minds.

"I brought dumplings!" Amelie cheerfully took out the dumplings she packed and passed one to each member. "I made them extra large too."

"Thanks Amelie." Luna received her share.

"It's Chris! Chris! Please call me Chris!"

With a loud voice, the valkyrie commanded, "Commence battle!"

Without wasting a second, Frisk hurled earth bolts at the support priestess. Pio didn't bother evading. She simply took all the hits then healed herself.

"Soon, your mana will deplete and you won't be able to heal yourself anymore. I'll just have to keep firing and make you use up all your mana," said Frisk. He readied his strong area of effect earth spell, Terra Reform.

Pio laughed and buffed herself with spells that decreased damage and increased agility. "Let's see you try to kill me."

Pio smiled. "Keep going. I have enough magic stones for Ebullience."

Frisk realized it. Ebullience required very little mana because it relied on magic stones. As long as Pio had magic stones, she could heal herself as much as she wanted. He had to kill her fast.

"I suppose I should attack next," said Pio.

"You? Attack?" Frisk laughed.

"I may take a while, but I can kill you."

Pio ran to Frisk to close the distance. Frisk immediately activated Stone Wall to keep her away, but he was still standing within her casting range. She stopped in front of the wall and cast a series of debuffs: decreased movement speed, decreased attack, and lowered defense. He expected her to cast the priest's only offensive spell Heaven's Light next, but she didn't.

"Not going to cast Heaven's Light?" Frisk asked.

"I didn't learn Heaven's Light."

"A true full support priestess, huh?"

"How are you able to hit hard using a priest's mace?" Frisk was flabbergasted.

"I'm not using a priest's mace. This mace can be equipped by all classes." Pio replied while still hitting him.

Frisk desperately tried to cast his ultimate attack, but the cast time was doubled thanks to the agility debuff. His health was down to 40%. He couldn't even run away because his movements were slowed down considerably. Just when his health was at 15%, he finally finished casting the spell. Pio jumped far away from him and did a last minute Ebullience as large earth spears rained down from the sky. One hit from a spear took out 90% of her health. She had to heal quickly every time she was hit. After the last spear hit her, her mana was drained to just 5%.

Fisk laughed. "Now you have no more tricks up your sleeve. Once your debuffs wear out, I'm going to finish you off!" The moment the smoke cleared, he stopped laughing.

The audience too was in deep shock.

"My word..." Lyria pulled out her binoculars and aimed them at Pio.

Luna looked away in embarrassment, while Astrid remained silent.

"What? Why is everyone shocked?" Amelie was confused.

"This can't be..." Gaylord was devastated.

"My beloved Pio... is a... guy..." Gaylord fainted from shock. Potato used the limited edition fan she bought from the robot maids to fan him.

"Well... umm... This is awkward," Frisk said to break the silence.

Pio did his best to hide his embarrassment and once again ran straight towards Frisk. "The debuffs are not going to wear off anytime soon! I maxed them!" He struck Frisk with enough force to land a critical attack, throwing the mage to the ground. He continued hitting until the mage's health dropped to one.

The valkyrie's booming voice filled the arena. "The winner is Pio of Black Rose!"

The moment the announcement was made, Garth smiled. The rest of the Black Rose members cheered and chanted Pio's name from their seats.

Lyria was still in deep shock. "I don't believe this. Pio actually won."

"Actually, I'm more surprised about the fact that he's actually a guy," said Astrid.

"Yeah, what Astrid said," Luna followed.

"Any other interesting fights today?"

Lyria checked her menu tablet for the list of matches. "No other familiar name for today's set of matches."

"Should we head back to the guild headquarters?" Luna asked.

"Yeah. I'd probably get bored watching all these matches."

"I'll stay here and take notes," said Astrid as she pulled out her notebook.

"Don't overwork yourself."

"We'll be having steak tonight!" said Amelie with a smile. "Time to do a bit of shopping!"

The girls left the amphitheatre except for Astrid, who stayed behind to take notes on useful strategies they could apply in battle. After around five minutes, she noticed a presence beside her.

"Sphinx," she said his name.

"Smart move back there, Astrid. Thanks to you, all the information I painstakingly got from you is now useless." He waved his notebook.

She laughed. "Looks like you'll have to find a better strategy."

"Your guild better make it to the team battles. I want to fight you and your guildmates."

"No promises, but we'll do our best."

"Here." He threw her a piece of folded paper.

She caught it. "What's this?"

He stood up and placed a finger to his mouth. "Our little secret. See you around, Miss Guildmaster." He turned invisible and walked away.

Astrid carefully opened the paper and read its contents:

Don't trust the Knights Alliance.

The message made Astrid a bit uncomfortable. She folded it up again and slipped it into her pocket.