The Creatures Series

Sixth Night

Sixth NightCreatures of the Night

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##### Sixth Night #####

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As promised, me and Nono are going to compete our painting skills. And after that, Shrade and me are going to have a duel between fighters.

I wake up that morning precisely at 07.00 AM, take a shower and pick an outfit that I don’t like the most from my closet (it’s not mine either, anyway). By 08.05 AM, I walk out from by room, only to meet Banri on the hallway.

“Did you take a bath this morning?” He asks smiling at me.

“Yup”

“Then how about the kappa? Did he appear again?”

“He won’t be a problem for the meantime, trust me. After you brought him back to me, I trap him inside an object that a kappa will obviously hate. You should have seen him when he begged to me for not leaving him there.” I laugh remembering that back. “He even told me the information that I need to know about the attack and why did they try to kill me and Minny. But after that, I betrayed him. I let it be inside it and just randomly put it somewhere,” I say.

“What exactly it that you’re talking about?” He arches an eyebrow.

I look around, making sure that the hallway is clear before I answer, “The smoking ashtray.”

We both burst out in laughter instanously. I bet that kappa is having one hell of a day right now, being at a hotel lobby and having the heat from the smoking ashes fill his new home. The thought make me laugh harder, and influencing it to Banri.

“By the way, I’m having an art competition today with. Do you want to watch?” He flinches at the thought.

“Sorry, Ar. You’re my friend, but watching you and Nono competing is like looking directly to the sunlight. You two look like you’re so obsessed about killing each other, if I don’t know any better,” he say. “Besides, I’m having another plan as well.”

“Oo, what kind of plan that manage to make my Banri to dress up today? Is it,” I lean in, “A date?”

The (only) response that I get from him as a pinch at each side of my cheeks before I walk out on me.

I smile. “So it is true,” I say with a mixture of dark and sensual tone, holding a smirk on my face.

Walk in to our gathering room, I spot Nono already waiting for me. “So, where are we going to hold this competition?”

“We have a special room in this building, just for painting. Come one, I’ll show it to you.” Nono lead me to the elevator, pressing the button of 20th floor. It takes a few minute before we arrive, but once we’re, my eyes are welcome with the sight of a breath-taking studio.

The room is painted with black, covered with wooden floor. There are rows and rows of painting equipment lined up inside the dark racks, complete with tools like brushes, canvas, drawing pencils and pens, pains from many different kinds and many other rare objects that are usually use for painting matters. Brushes from the smallest to the biggest size. Easy-small to complicated-big canvas. Various of bling. This is truly a haven for artists.

“Welcome to Sorcier’s artist floor,” Nono say while walking past me. I follow him, but my eyes are traveling through every corner of the studio, as far as my eyes let me see.

After I’m finished, I look back at Nono. He seems like he’s talking to me about something, but I don’t pay attention to what he’s talking about.

“What?” I blink.

“I said, let’s get this start”

“Okay. What object are we going to take today? Any theme request?” I crack my head to the right.

“I do, actually. This,” he gesture behind him. I look and wide my eyes.

*

We’ve gain many audience from this room since we’ve started out match. And now is the time for us to present our masterpieces. Nono has the chance to show his first. When he lifts the white fabric from his canvas, cheers are filling the room like an endless echo. I look at his.

“Well, Nono, it sure is such a unique techniqué you use. I adore your lilies. Especially your lighting effect-literally or not,” I compliment him.

“Thank you for your comment, Arsene. Now, let’s see yours,” say Nono. And I want him to take that last words back until he bit his own tongue.

I pull down my cover and.... Wait for it, wait for it.... Let the crazy cheers fill the room until our ears hurts.

Nono is speechless at first, but he tries his best to regain himself. “Wow, Arsene. Just, wow.”

I used the extra stocks of rare items that I spotted before to give mine some 3D effect, with the use of blue and white contracts as my base colors. They say a little gold will never hurt, so I sprang some golden dust on my flower. All combine with my detailing skills. The result? Amazingly perfect.

I smile playfully at Nono, knowing who the winner is.

“Nice try, Nono,” I say patting his back. “But you are getting better. Maybe someday you’ll beat me.”

After the match, Nono say that he want some more time to perfect this technique. So I head along to our floor. Welcoming me back is no other than Shrade, with some of the guys. Crease is playing with her laptop and Arch is reading his super thick book.

“Ready for your duel?” Shrade ask. From his back, Crease asks me, “Who won?” I point myself and she smirk.

“Ready,” I answer.

*

The military training level is located underground, level S3. Shrade has invited a lot of wizards to come and watch our duel. The place is huge and has a high ceiling. There are even bleachers surrounding the center, and that is the fighting stage. It has the size of a football field. While there are no bleachers covering the ground, many training equipment are covering the ground in the south side.

I had changed into a set of sporty dark outfit before I go to the fighting stage. Shrade is wearing a golden pair of t-shirt and sweatpants. Crease poses as our timer, while Arch becomes the referee. But their jobs are not hard at all. Crease just has to ring the bell for when to begin and to stop, while Arch just has to announce who’s the winner.

Me and Shrade are standing side by side by farthest corner, sharing a blank look, getting our serious mode on. When the bell rings, it’s like someone just turned on the switch in us. Shrade breaks the ground with some blocks of earth, with the size of a cottage. He pushes both blocks with his magic at me, aiming for a collision course. I jump high over it so it won’t hit me, but when I look down I can see him smiling.

The blocks crack from the top, forming smaller sharp piece and heading towards me. I form my shadow shield, but it’s too late. I fall to the bottom with my back first. The shards follow me and that’s my end. The crashing makes thick dust forming around me, closing the view from the naked eyes. The crowds are cheering, thinking I have lost. When Shrade lets his guard down, I solidify my form from shadow mode. I’ve been hiding under his shadow since before.

I tackle him to the ground, but he soon turns our position to the opposite. I try to do the same by rolling him, but he’s just too heavy for me. I smirk. Because finally, when his dirty shards are floating around my head as if ready to launch, the ring of the bell echo through the room. Arch’s voice is giving the declaration of my defeat and his win. Shrade smirk to me too before getting up.

“Ready for round two?” He asks.

Good, he’s getting cocky. He walks right into my trap. Now it’s time to beat him. “Always,” I answer smiling.

The second start with the ring of the bell. Shrade start with his earth magic, but I’m ready as I ever am. I turn to fog every time he launch his attack, making all the flying dirty run passes me every time. This makes him frustrated, but we’re not quite done yet. He blows me some more hard earth. When he thinks that the dirt around here is not enough, he cracks some more ground so that more earth come to view. He gathers all of his dirt, towering as many as possible into two high mountains. Then, he launches them at me.

The sound of the crashing earth echo loudly through the room. Thick dust is forming around the place where I once stood, making him actually kind of hard to see whether I’m crushed or not. So he uses his magic to remove the chocolate fog, only to find nothing other than his dirt. He let out a frustrated groan while looking at every direction to find me.

When it’s already too long, I finally let myself out of the underground, still in fog mode. I float behind him and whisper to his ear, “Boo.” He jumps at the second and faced me. He launches more shards, but it’s just a useless attempt. The shards when through me instantly without a single scratch. I laugh naughtily every time his attempt fail, making me want to tease him more. But when I get bored, I trap both of his arms and feet with my fog chain, flying him mid-air for a couple of feet from the ground. All of his magic stops right then. The bell ring right at that moment, with Arch announcing the winner.

“Ready for round three?” I ask him this time while letting him go.

The cocky smirk never leaves his face when he says, “Of course.”

The next rounds, well, not so interesting. He put quite a fight, but his power is nothing against me. So when I get really bored, I tackle him to the ground or air or ceiling right at the very first second after the ring. Arch announces the winner of this duel when the score has get 39-0.

“Got beaten up by a girl, Shrade? That’s very unmanly. But you must have lost your shame right now,” say a voice from the elevator direction. I know bad news is near from that voice.

It’s the Fourth.

“Dhase,” spat Shrade like this guy’s name is poison. Turning to look at the silver-green hair guy that’s followed by his minions, I fold my arms. It’s time that I take care of them.

“Look, if you’re here to insult my friend, then you’re not welcome in here,” I start smoothly.

Then, as if realizing me present for the first time, his cocky smirk grow. “And who is this chick?” I ask to no one in particular as his eyes traveling through my body.

“I’m Arsene. You may know me as a member of Sorcier from two years ago. I just came back over a week ago,” I introduce myself, but not offering my hand to shake. And he just laughs at me. He just laughs at me, like I’m the prettiest girl in the world. His friends join him in chorus.

“Perhaps I haven’t made myself clear,” I say without muttering an apology.

I use my dark magic to create an illusion. In their eyes, my eyes go completely black as the background around us do, leaving only me and them to see. Flames, white flames, start to fill the empty space around us.

[I don’t like the way you all treating my friends like they are trash. I don’t like any of your ways to treat my teammates] , I say to them while fires of hell are roaring through my mouth. [ So if I see any of you guys around me or my friends, I can’t guarantee your lives anymore. Don’t show your faces. Don’t let me catch your eyes. Or I will surely] , I crack my head to a side and smile evilly, [kill you] .

The dramatic effect is necessary, because it is able to create the freaking-out-like-they-just-walk-out-of-hell expressions before they run away from our sight like chickens. My friends laugh and cheer for me. I only smile back and have a group hug.