Dorothy was not feeling good, not good at all. Her eyes gazed intently at the hole from where that ominous tentacle – which had made her lose the match by touching her – had sprouted. Looking at that, she had the unbearable urge to simply stomp that place.

  She never thought Noah would win. Even if she had such heavy handicaps, she planned to moderately beat him up and then magnanimously declare this a draw.

  “I was careless.” She released a sigh, filled with both frustration and regret.

  “Already searching for excuses?” Noah goaded her and Dorothy had to hold herself back from smiting him on the spot, once more. It took her everything she had in herself to not drown the snickering man in a storm of endless lightning. She did not take losses particularly well. After all, she rarely lost.

  “My shield should have detected you no matter what.”

  Since Dorothy knew, it was impossible to keep her guard up all the time… Most of her shields were set with a mechanism to detect malicious intent and automatically react appropriately to such intent. It did not matter how small that intent was; nothing could be hidden from her detection skills; she was sure of that.

  She had other more sophisticated shields set to react to protect her from things that did not project intent, such as machines or AI-powered beings. Nevertheless, she had not activated them during this fight. After all, there really was no need to activate them.

  However, such thoughts did not matter now. Words such as carelessness or mistakes were nothing but excuses and as much as she hated losing, she hated giving pitiful excuses even more.

  Noah had achieved his victory fair and square. She had underestimated him and he had used that thoroughly to his advantage.

  “You are right. I lost.” She repeated her declaration of defeat. This time with a more lighthearted smile.

  Defeat was distasteful but in this case, it had been worthwhile.

  Noah laughed hard, hearing her admittance. “This might be one of the most pitiful victories I ever had.” One was dirty and tired, the other was showing not even the slightest blemish. Her breathing was hardly disturbed, and her leisure was unmistakable.

  Noah shook his head. He may have won this wager, but in reality, he had lost the battlke. Utterly and completely. Unable to even draw a single drop of blood from his opponent.

  The two fighters gazed at each other, both wearing similarly complicated expressions. In the end, Dorothy chose to break the uncomfortable and awkward silence first.

  “How did you accomplish that?” She was curious. By all means, Noah should have been unable to win this fight.

  “I just erased all intent to attack.” Noah shrugged, “When I was throwing my spears at you, I noticed that you would sometimes activate your barriers even without noticing my attacks. This made me think there must have been some automated system in place that lets you detect and respond to attacks. I tried different things. I first changed the speed of my attacks, then modified the weight of the different spears, and I circled you to observe all your possible reactions.”

  “And you managed to notice that intent was the key?”

  “Not really. To be honest, I gambled more on speed. My goal was never to beat you. I simply had to win the bet. So I changed my approach. Since I realized that you keep talking about calculation power so much, I wondered what would happen if I overwhelmed you. But then, could I do so alone?”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  The answer was evident. There was no way Noah could surpass the calculation speed of Dorothy in her territory with his current capabilities.

  “So I gave you the illusion I was going for that plan when in reality I was going for a more discreet attack.”

  Dorothy looked deep into his eyes but then shook her head.

  “You are lying. Your intent to beat me was unmistakable. Burning bright like a sun in the night sky. You wanted to win. Not just the bet. This is why the current situation is even more incomprehensible. With such a powerful desire, it should be impossible to hide your intent. Unless you had two different minds.” Dorothy was sure of herself in this case.

  “So once again, I will ask. How did you accomplish this?”

  Noah could see that his bullshit wouldn’t fool Dorothy. However, there was no way he was going to reveal Eve's existence to her. Now was not the time to let her in on his most deeply guarded secret. That was why,

  “Well…” Noah smiled as he placed a finger on his lips. “Let’s say it's a secret.”

  Dorothy swore she had never wished to punch someone so much in her entire life. She gritted her teeth, using all her willpower to smile, but it came out more strained than she had wished.

  “Well. A bet is a bet. Let it not be said that the Queen of Oz does not keep her word. What is your wish, Noah?”

  Noah approached Dorothy and stretched his hand toward her in a handshake. Dorothy was confused at first but she did the same and shared the handshake with him.

  Noah laughed, “My wish is simple. Let’s fight again one day. No limits. No handicaps. I will fight you and at that time, I will win the battle completely.”

  Dorothy looked up, her eyes showing her confusion.

  “You are wasting a precious opportunity. You could ask me to give you a planet or a noble title. You could ask for a more powerful mecha or even an entire star system. Are you willing to give up all this just for the right to fight me again?”

  “Of course.” He showed no hesitation.

  “Why?” She asked.

  “If I make you mine, everything you have will also belong to me anyway.”

  A smile crossed her face, “And you believe you can make me yours by beating me in a fight?”

  “No. I believe I can make you mine by showing that you can rely on me.”

  “You are quite the male chauvinist, it seems.”

  “Let’s say that I am more of a traditionalist.”

  “I didn’t know traditional men ran naked in the cold.” Dorothy giggled as she looked down but Noah was unconcerned.

  “You should try one day. Running around naked is a very liberating experience, you know?”

  “Sadly, I am not as shameless as you. Nor do I think I can ever become that shameless, so I will pass.”

  They exchanged light banter. Looking at them, one would hardly think that they had been fighting a few moments ago.

  “You didn’t show this bravado when we were dancing last time. Why now?” Dorothy was curious. This was a night full of curiosity. Every time she thought she understood Noah, he would show a new unexpected facet of himself.

  “I am not interested in settling down now. I have many things I need to do, see, and experience for myself. I also have the confidence to stand alongside you one day. But, as I am now. I would be nothing but a burden. My pride would not allow that.”

  “So you can only fall for someone weaker than you?” She asked.

  “I can only fall for someone equal to me. Though of course, if you are just interested in a fling, I will gladly accept.” He gave her a deep stare, his eyes filled with a different kind of hunger than usual.

  This time Dorothy chose to take a step back, “Well. We have all the time in the world.”

  “Heh, who is the coward now?” Noah snickered as he turned around and started walking toward his Mecha.

  When he reached the foot of Shadowblade, he stopped and spoke over his shoulder.

  “I am a sore loser, you know?” Noah spoke quietly, “I may have won. But this entire fight was pure humiliation. It was also a great lesson. You made me realize how truly lacking I am. This is why I added one more goal to my ever-growing list.”

  Noah's voice was filled with pure confidence. “I am going to leave soon but I will come back and on that day, I will bring you down. No matter what.” Those were the last words he uttered before entering the cockpit.

  Dorothy watched as Noah left with his Frame, “People from Earth have an odd way of declaring courtship. Even the Gor’Khath are not as brutal.” She muttered to herself but she could not hide the twinkle in her eyes and the smile on her lips.

  This was a novel experience and she was relishing every moment. When the Shadowblade vanished on the horizon, she released a sigh and observed the state of the place where they fought.

  “The Black substance vanished.” She had noticed when Noah was retrieving it but she did not comment. Everyone had their secrets after all. She already had a certain inkling of what it was. But she had no interest in digging deeper.

  He would tell her if they became close enough.

  For now though— ?Rewind?

  Her eyes glowed and a magical circle in the form of a clock appeared all around her. All her surroundings seemed to go backward under her control and a few seconds later, the entire place was pristine. As if it was never destroyed in the first place.

  “With this Crow won’t scold me at least.” She looked at her work with a satisfied expression and then vanished on the spot.

  This night was definitely a very fruitful one. The future looked infinitely more bright.