OUR HEARTS

So there he was, among the remains of ice and stone he solemnly sat awaiting the next challengers. Juggling a knife in one hand recklessly, not even turning to look at it as he stared at the doors before him.

The mysterious figure paused his actions as if stunned with electricity, and then he flung the knife with two fingers, expressionless as it pinnied itself in the center of the ice doors.

He turned his head up, taking a deep breath in. And then, finally, he opened his mouth—

"I'm so fucking bored!" It seemed that he completed his trial too quickly, everyone other than him were still dealing with their golems. At least that's what he inferred from the explosions and rumbling that were going on on the other side of the walls surrounding him.

The double doors made of ice that stood before him likely only opened when receiving the results of the other challengers, whether they completed it or died trying.

He contemplated breaking into the others' rooms and taking care of their golems before stopping himself; they'd need to complete the trial if they wanted to be deemed eligible for the magic at the end.

"But maybe sneaking a peek wouldn't be too bad of an idea…" With a mischievous grin, he tied a rock to the end of an iron rod. He imbued the rock with foresight and connected it to his helmet's mask.

Ivan drilled a small hole into the walls of an adjacent room, sticking his perv-like camera pole into it to observe the situation inside.

𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂! 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃!

"You got this, Claire!" He whispered loudly, making sure he wouldn't take away Claire's attention to the golem in front of her. He watched as she stood with blood on her chin, suggesting she had coughed it up not too long ago.

Like Ivan she cut off the hand of the golem, however she only stood helplessly as it reattached it only seconds later.

In Ivan's opinion her best bet was to directly go for the golem's core, restraining its movements was impossible for her alone. Her vacuum blades shredded whatever it came in contact, but that didn't mean everything that was shredded would disappear.

Even shaved ice can become solid ice with enough time.

"She'll be fine… probably. Let's check up on the others." Ivan removed his little scope before walking to the opposite wall. He drilled another hole and inserted the rod.

𝙎𝙒𝙄𝙎𝙃!

Her claws passed through the golem's packed ice like a hot knife with butter, to be honest it was pretty strange she hadn't cleared the trial yet. But the reason why became apparent as it seemed she began to sympathize with the golem.

"Me and you, we're pretty similar if you think about it! I mean, you're made of ice and I'm like… flesh I think. But we both use a core to operate. So from this day forward you are my little brother!"

'So she adopted the golem huh…'

Ivan just prayed she didn't grow so attached to the thing that she'd be heartbroken when she has to destroy it. 'Felis… maybe I should've been a little harsher with your education…'

He averted his eyes ashamedly, withdrawing his observation tool once more before debating peering any further. 'No, I must find the truth!' In all honesty this was better than sitting by idly dying of boredom.

Canis was the same as Felis, except she earnestly tried to destroy the golem in front of her. Sparing no words she focused on building momentum. The golem had fortified its head to protect its own core.

That meant it was difficult for it to balance itself and even move but it was better than directly dying.

She strengthened herself further, she'd need enough strength to break, slice, and obliterate the ice surrounding the core to solidify her victory. Anything less and she'd likely be up against a golem with a higher alert level than before.

'I have faith in you… Canis'

Nex was Ari, who deftly and beautifully dodged each strike done to her. Unfortunately she didn't possess the strength to just shatter the golem. And not to mention that her flame enchanted chains had almost no effect in this instant freezing environment.

Out of everyone she seemed like the one at the most disadvantage. Ivan worried a bit for her life before admiring her enchanting movements, she spun, did flips, and pranced around on her tiptoes, the flying beads of sweat glistening and drawing eyes to her shining body.

'I'll just put my faith in her, she's no kid to be coddled after all. And she seems to be holding her own. Her conservation of stamina is amazing…'

As much as at a disadvantage she seemed, she never once paused to take a breath, the beads of sweat were representative of how long the fight had gone on but not how tired she was. In that department she was practically just getting warmed up.

Tio just seemed to be toying with her enemy, testing to see how much the voices in her head impeded her ability to fight. Strangely she became serious at the most perfect of times, the rest of the time she was just a big ol' pervert.

"Hm…?"

She seemed to notice his stare, turning her eyes from her melting enemy to face him. She smiled lightly before waving. In response Ivan waved back, despite knowing that his wave couldn't be seen through the peephole that only fit his rod and camera.

Tio then turned back to the golem and with a snap of her finger engulfed the being in unbelievably hot flames.

"She seems to be having fun!"

Ivan took a step back from the wall, moving to another adjacent wall to find the final member of the group that he had yet to observe. That person being the vampire queen herself, Yue.

𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂! 𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂!

He was momentarily blinded by blinding lights of magic, but of course he did not fear it, in fact it only brought him comfort. Ashes, explosions, the rumbling of the walls and ground, each of these created a familiar melody in his heart.

Luckily Ivan had appeared at the very decisive moment, Yue had her opponent pinned to the ground with elemental dragons and gravity magic. The ground crumbled as it attempted to get back on its feet.

But it was futile, with a mutter of her lips a line appeared in the air, almost as if to signify that space itself had been cut, except that was exactly what had happened.

The head of the ice golem was bisected cleanly, along with the core laying in its center.

Seeing no point in staying quiet any longer Ivan applauded.

𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙋 𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙋 𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙋 𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙋

Yue in turn did an elegant curtsy before making her way to the melting wall. A smug smile on her face representing how much she wanted to be praised. And who was Ivan to decline.

"Welcome to the other side, I'm glad you can accompany me as we await the others!" Headpats were universal, an act which can either break or make relationships. The former when done by a creepy stranger the recipient doesn't know.

But if they were done with familiar and close people then they can even strengthen relationships, truly an action akin to magic.

"Mm… they shouldn't be too long." Yue had good faith that the other girls wouldn't be lagging too far behind, and as such she wanted to take advantage of the situation as much as she could.

Alone time with Ivan nowadays was quite rare to her.

"Hm? Y-Yue your eyes are scaring me… don't tell me you wanna—?!"

"Fufufu~"

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"And, what were you two doing while we were out there fighting for our lives…"

"Training… we don't know what awaits us so staying warmed up is a viable strategy! We don't wanna lower our guards too much…"

Claire wasn't buying it, she dropped her usual respectful mannerisms and adorned a reprimanding glare. Her targets? The male and female duo laying next to each other with their clothes in disarray, hair a mess, panting breaths, and flushed faces.

Not to mention Yue's glazed eyes and goofy expression.

"You don't want to lower your guard, you say? What you two have done is so much worse than simply relaxing! It was the ultimate of letting your guards down! Napping would've been better!"

This wasn't the first time she wandered into the aftermath of their battles, as the maid of the house cleaning up each individual room was her duty. So of course she's either ran into the two themselves with their guards down, or the stained rooms they left behind.

'A-Animals!'

"Ahem! While you are correct in admonishing these two, Miss Claire, it would seem the path to the next trial awaits us. Now then, let us go before something unexpected happens."

Tio spoke quite convincingly, earning a thumbs up from Ivan who appreciated the support.

"Fine…. But don't you two think it ends here…. When we get out of this place, so help me I'll…" She didn't need to finish her words for everyone present to get what she meant.

So, hiding the perspiration running down his neck, Ivan stepped foot into the bright portal sitting at the end of the hall.

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It's so hot! Damn the summer, seriously! The only things is good for is long vacations... other than that it is literal suffering! I imagine my whole body feels how sweaty my balls usually are. So, did that put a sick image in your heads? Huhuhuhu!

Despite my complaints I must move on to writing the next chapter, it's almost 10PM and its still so hot. In fact it might be hotter now than it was during the day... Oh yeah, I ordered some cute plushies from my favorite game. But they won't get here tile October, I'll probably put some pics here of the site, who knows~

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