DEFEAT

  Game 4 ended with the Valkyries on the losing side. The writing was on the wall all along, so nobody was too surprised by this result.

  heless, this did not stop some members from throwing a tantrum.

  "Unbelievable! Simply unbelievable!" elia exploded. "We lost the entire game because of your peasant-quality decisions, Karen!"

  "Excuse me?"

  "No, I will not excuse you. Yuilty as charged!”

  "Guilty with what, exactly?"

  "For example, what was that pitiful split-push you attempted at the end there?" elia demanded. "Instead of helping us defend, you were God-knows-where doing God-knows-what! And, as expected, you didn’t achieve anything at all!"

  "Well, I'm SORRY f to find a way to win in that hopeless ass game," Kareed. "We were doomed anyway if we only stuck to defense, so I tried to find a way to attack. Their eeam was focused on pushing Mid, so I thought I might be able to pull a fast one on them."

  "And, that went very well, didn't it?" elia rolled her eyes.

  "Hey, for the record, at least I took dowower,” Karen argued. “That's already more than you've ever achieved in that game."

  "How dare you!" elia hissed. "If you call that joke of a push an achievement, then I’ve made tless of those!"

  "Oh yeah, I know which ‘tless achievements’ you’re referring to." Karen snorted. "Remind me, how many times did you die in this game? Was it ten? More?"

  "It was only five!" elia barked back.

  "Five deaths? Damn, you be handing them out like free like dy."

  "S-Susolence!"

  The bad forth went on the whole time while the team was on its way back to the waiting room. Clearly, none of it did any good for the team's shaky morale.

  Fiona knew she had to put a stop to this but she could not find the energy at this point. This pattern has repeated so many times today that it felt hopeless.

  Fortunately, there was somebody else in the club who had the authority to lecture these brats.

  "I see you two are very eic despite the fact you’ve just lost.” BAM! A shinai struck the floor as the girls ehe room. This instinctively made everybody drop what they were doing and focus on the figure in front of them, Ms. Nakajima.

  “Hmph.” elia scoffed. “I was simply lecturing this oner about the terrible mispys she itted.”

  “Bitch, you mispyed at least ten times more than I did!” Karen argued. “You died five times! FIVE! Are you suicidal or something?”

  “What!? it’s eous to even imply such a thing!”

  “elia. Karen. Calm down. Now.” SWISH! Nakajima swung her shinai out of the blue! The bde was aimed straight at the troublemakers!

  “W-Wah!?” “A-Ah!” The two girls jumped far apart. The lightning-fast swing was no joke. It might have been strong enough to cut a boulder in two.

  Of course, on paper, there was o be this scared. Nakajima did not really aim at the girls, she sliced through the air between them.

  heless, the ssh produced a gust of wind that hit both girls. Just from the impact, they could clearly tell this strike would have crushed their bones if it ected.

  “I see you’ve quieted down. Good” Nakajima nodded. “Now, drop and give me a ten!”

  “Say what?” elia groaned.

  “Seriously now…?” Karen sighed.

  “Yes, seriously. , chop-chop!”

  “Fine…” Karen dropped onto the floor as instructed. “Owo. Three…” She had a thhly dissatisfied expression throughout the exercise but she followed the instrus to a T.

  This iakajima-style punishment for misbehaving brats, so Karen was already used to it to aent. Besides, Karen already did push-ups as part of her daily exercise, so ten push-ups on demand was no sweat.

  Oher hand, elia was vehemently against all of this. “Hmph, why should a noble such as myself o do such base things?” She lifted her . “But, I see you’re enjoying the workout, Karen, as expected from a oner. So, how about you throw in another 10 for me as well?”

  “Keep dreaming.” Karen fihe push-ups and jumped ba her feet. “, get down, girl. Or what, are you scared your arms ’t hahat ‘’ of yours?”

  “D-Did you just imply I’m fat!? T-The nerve of ohese days…!” elia seethed. “Just you watch!” If that oner could pull this off, then surely elia could as well!

  She approached the nearby carpet and pced her hands down. After all, there was no way a noble like her would be toug the bare floor with her hands.

  “Here goes!” elia quickly went down and up. She fihe first couple of push-ups in a blink of an eye! In fact, she was going so fast that she was bound to tire herself out quicker than necessary…

  “A-And, another…!” She clearly started struggling by the time she reached the 8th push-up, but she pretended everything was alright.

  “E-Eight! Guh…!” elia went down... and then just stayed there. She pushed against the carpet with all her strength but her body refused to go up.

  "Pft, what's wrong?" Karen ughed. "Where's your 'noble muscle' at? Haha!"

  "I-I'm merely charging up my rength, that's all!" elia gritted her teeth and forced her ag muscles to plete the two remaining push-ups. A noble had to finish her job properly, after all.

  "Alright then," Nakajima tinued. "I trust this helped you relieve some excessive energy? Now, let's talk about the game you’ve just pyed."

  "Ugh..." elia made a face amidst her ragged breaths, and the rest of the team reacted simirly. Fiona was the only one fag the master, as she believed she had nothing to be ashamed of.

  "elia, I’ve warned you many times, but you're still overextending too much," Nakajima criticized. "I believe I told you to py safer and not let the enemy rile you up. Seems like the advice went in one ear and out of the other."

  "Not at all," elia objected. "I followed your instrus to a T, did I not?”

  “Oh? Is that what you believe?”

  “Yes, it’s a fact. I didn’t engage in many fights in the ne, did I?"

  "Hmm. That's true, actually," Nakajima agreed. "I probably give you a B+ on that front."

  “Huh? Not an A+?”

  “No, not quite,” Nakajima said. “You still ged into fights in the ne, but at least they usually happened when Fiona was nearby. So, most of them were passable, just not ideal.”

  "Hmph, so you’re saying I passed with flying colors."

  “I did not say that.”

  "Well, of course a noble such as myself would be able to handle such a simple task, ohoho!”

  “... sure.” Nakajima didn’t feel like lingering on this point. "Oher hand, when it es to team battles, you deserve a D at best."

  "E-Excuse me!?" elia gasped. "T-That ot be!"

  "Sadly, that’s how it is," Nakajima said matter-of-factly. "How many times did you run ahead of the others a yourself killed?"

  "Well, I pyed Knight, so I had to take the frontli was the hing to do.”

  "True, you were pying a frontliner. But, a good frontliner knows how to not overextend in the middle of a battle and when to retreat."

  "Of course." elia nodded. "So, as a profit frontliner, I did my work fwlessly!"

  "In that case, do you mind expining the five deaths on your record?"

  "Ack, that's..." elia's fidence received a heavy blow, but only for a brief moment. "Well, some of these situations were unavoidable. For example, there was that one shrewd py that caught me and Lua in the middle of rotating to Mid. Even for a noble such as myself, it was too much to fend the enemy off in that 2v3 position."

  "True, that one was a fine py by the eeam," Nakajima agreed. "It was very much possible to survive that enter, as Lua proved. But, at least I chalk that up to skill issue."

  "S-Skill issue!?" elia twitched. "I'm not a skill issue pyer!"

  “Oh, then how do you expin the fact Lua made it out alive?”

  "Surely, the enemy focused on me!" elia cimed. "And, that's uandable. It was in their best is to dethrohe noble first, ohoho!"

  "Sure, we leave it at that for now," Nakajima said. "Anyway, that only expins one of your five deaths. What about the other four? For example, that time you charged in alone against their Ranger and Vanguard?"

  "Oh, you mean that 3v2 situation?"

  "Yes. It was a solid defensive position, at least until you made that move ahe enemy double-team you."

  "T-That was..."

  "You got carried away, didn't you?"

  "N-Not at all! I just wao thhly drive the invaders away, that’s all," elia cimed. "Besides, that duo of oners was taking us lightly! We had the numbers advantage, yet the enemy refused to retreat even after we reduced their HP so much! So, we were obligated to teach them a lesson."

  “In short, you got carried away.”

  “How so? I was simply punishing them for their overextension.”

  "The thing is, their side had the ne advantage, so they weren't obligated to retreat," Nakajima expined. "Besides, it's likely they were fishing for that kind of opportunity there, seeing as the ‘duo of oners’ iion was Aegis and Athena."

  "For the record," Fiona interjected. "I clearly stated that our purpose there was to defend, not to start a terattack. Right, Andria?"

  "Yes, that you did,” Andria firmed. “You made it crystal clear that you had no iion of turning that situation into something more.”

  "And there you have it, elia," Nakajima said. "Both of your allies uood that you only came there to defend, but for some ungodly reason you decided to rush in."

  "I-I was sure we could un attack there..." elia lowered her head i for a moment but soon bounced back. "Besides, wasn't it their fault for not following up on my attack? We surely would've overwhelmed the enemy if we rallied together!"

  "True, you probably would’ve been fine if you moved in as a group," Nakajima said. "But, evidently, your teammates weren't prepared to attack. And, knowing you, you failed to coordihis py with them, right?”

  "I-I suppose so..." elia finally accepted defeat, but only for this part alone. "Fine, I admit I didn't py that oimally."

  “That’s putting it lightly.”

  “Hmph.” elia scoffed. “Unfortunately, even nobles are humans, so they make mistakes on rare occasions like these. However, surely that’s the extent of my blunders in that game.”

  “No, that’s only one of many,” Nakajima argued. “After that, there was that time you were defending Bot alone against two oppos. But, instead of hugging the Golem the whole way through, you stepped out of its area for a moment and that cost you.”

  “Err, that was…”

  In this unfiving fashion, Nakajima went over every single death. She expined iail what mistakes elia itted in every py.

  Of course, elia argued back every siime without fail. And, every siime, Nakajima won the argument and made the girl own up to her mistakes, at least as much as it ossible with elia.

  This is taking too long. Nakajima g the clock. I po let them rest as well, but it won’t be possible at this rate. I really o get better at cutting elia’s nosical arguments short…

  It was always a pain to lecture elia on her mistakes. No matter the topic, the girl was always 100% vinced she did nothing wrong.

  In a way, it was brilliant. elia made it so annoying to accuse her of anything that people simply didn’t want to do it anymore. It histicated way of dodging criticism.

  Of course, Nakajima didn’t let it pass. It was crucial to lecture this girl properly so she outgrow her issues. And, speaking of brats that had to be lectured….

  “, Karen.”

  “Oh snap, I k was ing…” Karen sighed. “Seriously, elia, couldn’t you buy me a little more time?”

  “Hmph, I don’t recall when I became your servant.” elia scuffed. “If a noble like myself deserves to be lectured, then a oner like you must be lectured tenfold!”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Karen rolled her eyes. “But hey, coach.”

  “MASTER,” Nakajima corrected.

  “Right, right, ‘master’.” Karen rolled her eyes again. “Anyway, the break is almost over and we didn’t actually get to rest at all.”

  “True.” Nakajima nodded. “It’s sad, really. No matter how many times I point out your and elia’s mistakes, you two keep itting them. So, it seems I must keep hammering the lessons even at the expense of your break.”

  “But, we o rest, right?” Karen turo the rest of the team. “Like, how are we going to py well if we’re tired as heck?”

  “That’s fair,” Nakajima agreed. “Everybody besides Karen take a break for now.”

  “Huh? What about me?” Karen asked.

  “You stay right here and listen to what I have to say, young dy.”

  “Fuuuuuuu…” Karen’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, hit me with it, doc. My body is ready.”

  Karen accepted her fate and braced herself for the worst. At the very least, the rest of the team will be able to get a breather, so her sacrifice won’t be entirely in vain…

  DarkestCymore