Kojo stood on the improvised tennis court, explaining the rules to the girls. He told them, or rather showed them sports by dropping it directly into their minds. The king and queen were also interested, and after 30 minutes, had a makeshift court built. Kojo also used his Arcane Threads to make tennis clothes for them. Their well-shaped bodies fit closely into them, and Kojo couldn't help but stare at them, a bit of drool dripping out of his mouth.
(Pervert.)
Kojo returned to his senses and wiped his mouth. He then proceeded to explain.
"Okay, so the goal is to hit the ball over the net and—"
Sasha interrupted, "Sounds simple enough. Let's play!"
Koniko grinned. "I'll show Sasha my serve."
Sasha smirked. "Bring it on."
Adriana sat and observed the match with Sharone, while Lin acted as the referee.
As the match began, the spectators watched in awe.
Sharone was, however, lost in her own thoughts. She'd been to Sol in order to gather information about the Apostles of Doom, but even his vast information network couldn't get anything besides rumors and legends.
"It's said that it is very difficult to become a member," Sol said as they sat alone at a table. Lin and the others had gone over to check out Sol's latest products while Sharone did the talking.
"Even if you do get initiated, it's very hard to get out. I was able to get info from a lady whose great-grandfather had been a member before he'd mysteriously passed away."
"Grandfather, which means they've been at it for quite a few generations," Sharone said, rubbing her chin.
"But how'd they manage to maintain secrecy for such a long time?"
"I don't know? What I do know is that the man in question used to do this ritual where he'd spill some of his blood as an 'offering' to whoever it was at the head of the organization," Sol replied.
"The life of a being is found in the blood. If I had to guess, then that ritual was a life force transfer. It's a ritual to transfer a little bit of one's soul energy or life force over to a receiver and can be used for various purposes, from amplifying one's own power to extending one's lifespan to temporarily resurrecting the dead. It is a Curse Magic form," Sharone said.
"Which means these people use curse magic. The girl also mentioned something about him muttering something about the Dark Apostles and 'the resurrection of their lord.' My guess is that these Dark Apostles are the heads of this group, and they've been gathering small bits of life force from their followers in order to resurrect someone," Sol theorized.
"There have also been a number of cases of kidnapping and human trafficking. The network goes beyond the boundaries of the continent to others. It's not confirmed if the two occurrences are connected, but it's not an impossibility. Then there's Decorum. They were involved with the first attack on the city. We don't know if the two groups are working together or if it was a coincidence, or even if the entire Goblin nation has formed ties with the cult. That's how in the dark we are," Sol added.
"To go through the trouble of hiding in the shadows for generations with such a thoroughly thought-out plan, then they must be trying to revive someone extremely powerful and extremely dangerous," Sharone thought out loud. She sighed.
"What a pain. Well, in any case, thanks for the info; you've been a really big help, Sol," she said, getting up.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I got another piece of information. It's about the Necrolionic Federation. They're searching for a certain someone, and they're going to great lengths to find the person. A word of advice as a friend, watch yourself."
Even as the match between Sasha and Koniko had started, she was still engrossed in her thoughts. She could smell the scent of a vampire on Kojo when he returned the previous evening. And that bite mark....
She'd have to put measures in place to ensure that he was safe and beyond the reach of her mother. She bit her lower lip.
A large explosion brought her back to reality.
Sasha was using her spatial manipulation abilities. She was creating localized spatial distortions in order to deflect the torrent of Koniko's relentless attacks.
Sasha's racket seemed to blur, moving faster than the human eye could track. Loud booms and small shock waves were created as their movement moved faster and faster.
Kojo sat in awe. In tennis, the goal was to prevent the ball from touching the ground in your designated area while tossing it toward your opponents to get the advantage. But nah, not this time; they threw those rules out the window and instead hit the ball with such force that it'd shoot toward their opponent like a bullet out of a gun, as if actively trying to kill each other.
Kojo didn't know what was going on anymore. Whether this was a sport or a warzone. Kojo wondered how Lin was standing there unbothered. He could see that she'd raised a barrier around herself to monitor the match, but that raised another question. How the hell was she able to keep up? Her eyes moved, taking in every movement and every play, a look of scrutiny on her face. She was still cute though, in her skirt and cap, Kojo thought, admiring her, but that was not helping the situation.
Sysia wasn't helping either. She was in Kojo's head yapping about the various physics theories they were using in the match.
(She's exploiting the Alcubierre warp drive concept, creating a bubble of spacetime contraction.)
"Wait, isn't that the warp drive theory for space travel?"
(Aha.)
"Then if that's the case, then?..."
(Sasha's accelerating the ball more than half light speed. The shockwaves are not as a result of breaking the sound barrier but aftereffects of the ball colliding from one racket to another.)
"Aye yo," was all Kojo could say. He'd given up at this point.
"But how am I able to keep up with them though?"
(...)
"Sysia?"
Sysia just sighed but kept quiet.
Kojo glanced over at the King and Queen. He'd had Eden erect a barrier around them so they were unbothered by the shockwaves.
He wondered if they could make any sense of the phenomena unfolding before them, but they seemed content, so he decided against asking.
He turned back just in time to see Koniko counter a powerful play with her heat manipulation, generating intense thermal energy. Using thermodynamics, she was able to accelerate her overall speed in order to keep up with Sasha.
(She's applying the zeroth law of thermodynamics, equilibrating temperature differences.)
"Yeah, I noticed."
"You think heat's going to stop me? Space itself is on my side!" Sasha taunted.
"In that case, I guess I'll just have to melt your space," Koniko retorted.
The air around them distorted, reddish streaks of lightning began flashing around randomly.
(Energy waves are interacting with the atmosphere. Their use of Arcana reinforcement is causing quantum fluctuations, affecting local spacetime.)
A bolt of red lightning struck a spot a little too close to the onlookers.
"Referee's warning! Keep it slow down!" Lin shouted, but they were too engrossed in their match that they didn't hear. They exchanged grins as the match intensified.
"Game on!" Sasha exclaimed and hit the ball with all her might, causing it to shoot forward.
"Time to turn up the heat!" Koniko shouted and charged forward, her racket glowing with thermal energy. She accelerated, reaching the edge of the net before the ball crossed over to her side. Sasha, sensing danger, teleported to the front lines and swung her racket, the two putting their full force behind their swings in order to end things.
Their rackets clashed, the ball zipping back and forth between them until it floated in between the two rackets, vibrating. The rackets of both Sasha and Koniko bent backward as they were being pushed, repelled by the force of equilibrium acting on the ball as a result of their energies clashing. Red lightning began to strike the areas around them indiscriminately, the ground under them beginning to melt.
"Spatial Awareness and Predictive modeling. Sasha was using her ability to sense space to attack, while Koniko modeled and created defense by predicting Sasha's moves through modeled simulations, all in a fraction of a second," Sharone murmured her assessment of the match. She also noted Lin's exceptional gravity control. She smiled as she'd gotten an idea. She'd found the solution to her troubles.
(Koniko's harnessing thermal expansion to propel the ball. Sasha's countering with gravitational waves,) Sysia noted.
(Energy density is off the charts.)
The rackets shattered, and the two fell backward, landing in a sitting position. The ball blasted off into the air and landing in the hedges behind where Kojo and the others sat.
"Match draw!" Lin declared.
Sasha and Koniko began laughing.
Sasha grinned. "Rematch?"
Koniko nodded. "Next time, I'll show you my true heat."
Kojo quickly got up. "Hey, hey, time out. Before that, I think we need to revise the rules."