There were many girls who didn't get the ce to participate in the volleyball scrim, so Daniel had plenty of substitutes to choose from to repce elia. All of them were eager to set foot on the court and show their skill in front of the coach. As such, there was no reason to worry about the new substitute’s motivation.

  With that said, the team’s morale as a whole was already in shambles. Clearly, they could already see the fast-approag defeat. To make things worse, they must have felt like there was nothing they could do about it.

  Ohe score reached 24-17, there was very little Daniel's team could do to turuation around. Furthermore, it was Fiona’s turn to serve yet again.

  "I am aware that the match is drawing to an end," Fiona said. "However, I would appreciate it if you challenge my serves with everything you have. Remember, the main goal of a practice match is to improve, not to win."

  "Yeah," Daniel said. "We pn to stop it at the first one! Right, girls!?"

  "Yeah!" "Let's cut it off." "Hopefully..."

  The responses varied ihusiasm but it was clear the girls had no iion of throwing the game. Even if their fighting spirits were reduced to a shell of their former selves at this point, the girls were heless going to challenge Fiona's powerful serves.

  "Good." Fiona nodded in satisfa and headed to the baselihen, she fired her serve!

  "I-I'll get it!" the new substitute shouted as she dashed toward the ball. Even though Fiona aimed it toward the edge of the court and it looked like a potential out, the girl insisted on going after the ball.

  Good. Fiona nodded in satisfa. It seems like she aying attention.

  "G-Got it!" the girl announced as she successfully bumped the ball into the air. It was not a perfect receive by any means, but it was heless impressive that she hahis difficult server so well on her first try.

  "Great job!" Daniel got into position to set the ball. She had to make this opportunity t!

  The received ball was swaying to the side, which made things a little difficult. However, this was the best Daniel could realistically expect from a receive against Fiona's serves, so she had to make this work…!

  Careful now. Don’t rush it. Daniel gulped as she carefully observed both the ball and the team’s advang spikers. Unfortunately, her teammates were a little slow in transitioning from defeo offense so a quick was impossible.

  elia is such a ve spiker in times like these. Daniel smiled wryly. She always dashes to the before anybody else. The sed the ball is received elia is already there, ready to spike anything that’s thrown at her.

  The only other attacker in the club with the same level of speed was Karen, who was unfortunately pying on the opposite side of the court today. So, Daniel had no choice but to cook something up in this critical moment.

  Let’s try to fake them out. Daniel carefully examihe two spikers approag the . One of them was he ter of the , whereas the other was going for the far edge,

  They're probably expeg me to set to the middle because that’ll lead to a faster attack. Daniel deduced from the positions of the enemy blockers. It’s a gamble, but let’s go for a slower attack here.

  Daniel passed the ball toward the ter of the . At first g looked as if it was directed toward the spiker in the middle. The enemy blockers bought into that narrative without thinking twice.

  "No, you don't!" Karen and anirl jumped to block the path of the middle spiker. Their response was swift and anized, possibly arranged in advance by Fiona.

  But, too bad! Daniel grinned. You got pyed!

  The spiker ier swung her arm, vihat the ball was meant for her. However, she missed it! But, her geempt to hit the ball served as a great distra.

  While everybody was busy watg the swing and miss, the ball tinued flying toward the far edge of the he spiker over there was a little surprised at first but she jumped toward the ued ball regardless.

  This improvised spike wasn't too powerful, especially not when pared to elia's explosive attacks. However, there weren’t any blockers in sight to intercept the attack. What’s more, the girl did a great job aiming the ball at a difficult spot on the court.

  And so, that's how the untested ball quickly made its way to the floor... or not!? BUMP! The enemy libero touched the ball a few timeters away from the floor!

  "Phew! Barely made it!" The libero sighed in relief. "Would've never made it in time if not for that tip."

  It was her than Fiona who advised the libero to mark that position in case the spiker in the back would be the oo go for the kill. On top of that, it was Fiona who instructed Karen and the other blocker to guard the middle of the court so tightly.

  With all these preparations, Fiona sealed off the enemy’s main lines of attack. And, while all of that took pce, she herself was moving from the baselio the .

  "Here." Fiona raised her hand. "I'll put ao this."

  "Alright!" the setter responded without fail by carefully tossing the ball in Fiona's dire. It was a slow set, way too slow to Fiona's taste. This gave the enemy plenty of time to react.

  Fortunately, the eeam was uo assign any blockers in time. They had just finished p their everything into an all-out attack, so it took them a moment to switch gears.

  Meanwhile, Fiona spiked the ball from the back of the cainst the unprepared oppos. This should serve as the decisive shot to end this game.

  "Don't even dream about it...!" Daniel dashed to defend. She was the closest to the se and the first to notice Fiona's iions, so she was the only oh a ce to foil this attack…!

  Tch, I won’t reach it by running! Danie gritted her teeth. Then, I'll just slide from here! I have to at least touch it, no matter hoard the receive is going to be…!

  But, was a sloppy receive really going to work? Against one of Fiona’s attacks?

  Your enthusiasm is well-pced. Fiona nodded. However, it is over.

  Daniel successfully reached the ball by sliding across the court. Her hands touched it just before it hit the floor, but all this receive achieved was bumping the ball farther away from the court.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. The ball bounced a few times before rolling away. This sighe end of the set.

  "She really holds nothing back, huh..." Daniel sighed. She could've at least let us have this oo let us feel like we've improved siarting the set. But, I bet the thought hasn’t even crossed her mind.

  Fiona La showed mercy to her friend nor foe. But, she was equally harsh on herself during training, so it was hard to hate her for any of this.

  "Game set!" The coanounced. "The final score is 25-17."

  To nobody's surprise, Fiona's team won by a siderable margin. In many ways, this was almost a one-sided beating. heless...

  "Good game, everybody," Daniel said. As the captain, she had to be a role model food sportsmanship despite her actual feelings about the game.

  Fiona followed up on that attitude. "It was a good game as a whole. However, there were a few problems I would like to point out."

  "Sure, go ahead..." Daried to smile but she wasn't sure how good of a job she was doing. She's totally going whip us, isn't she? Haha...

  "First, I would like to address how irresponsible it was to puch burden on elia. You made her spike far too often, almost causio faint."

  "Yeah, that's true," Daniel admitted. "She just kept begging for the ball and her spikes are actually that good, so I just felt obliged. But looking ba it, the whole thing was really thoughtless of me."

  Normally, Daniel would be more atteo such details. As the setter, she had to keep tabs on how mas she made for each attacker. It was her responsibility to bahe load oeam.

  Jumping for a spike was the most physically taxing move in volleyball. Having elia repeat it over and over was bound to break the girl. It would have broken anybody.

  Of course, as a veteran, Daniel knew all these things. Then, why did she put elia through all these hardships anyway?

  I guess I felt hel pressured, huh. Daniel smiled wryly.

  Fag Fio like climbing an impossibly tall mountain. To tackle this challe was necessary to push everybody to their limits and beyond, or else the team had no hope of winning. At least, that's how it felt.

  It ressure. Daniel rationalized. I shouldn't have given in to it.

  After this bit of criticism, Fiona had a few more things to say about the individual performance of ead every girl on Daniel's team. Somehow, the La Princess was capable of paying close attention to everybody on the court while simultaneously fog on her own pys.

  And as always, Fiona was equally harsh toward ally and foe alike. She had no she of criticism toward the performance of her own teammates. Even Karen found herself on the chopping block.

  "Without a good receive there will be , and without a set, there will be no spike," Fiona said. "Surely you uand that much, Karen?"

  "Yeah, yeah.” Karen rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. That's the basics."

  "Correct, these are ihe fuals. That is why you have to master them to perfe."

  "But, out of these, I'm the best at spiking. And, I 't spike when I'm the receiver, sooooo..."

  "That is no excuse to be sloppy,” Fiona said. “You ot cover up for bad receives with your spikes. Therefore, I stand by what I said at the start of the game."

  "What was it, again?"

  "That you must gh extra practi receiving. You start with one hour a day, but I would personally reend at least two hours every day."

  "Geh, that again?" Karen made a face. "Um, yeah, sure. I'll sider it..."

  "You meant to say that you will DO it, right?"

  "Y-Yeah, exactly that, sis..." Karen gave in against her older sister. There was ing Fiona when she was this serious about something.

  On that note, Fiona's lecturing came to an end. Ironically, the biggest troublemaker dodged everything by being asleep.

  But, knowing sis, I'm sure she'll deliver that lecture iime. Karen snickered as she imagined elia being cooked alive for all the nonsense she pulled throughout the game.

  And so, the scrim was over. In many ways, it was Fiona's one-man show. And, it was simir to how things often pyed out during Cssmancers practice too…

  DarkestCymore