Unsure if he just forgot for a moment where he was; or if it was a cry for help, everyone heard Ogda’s confession about the voice. And quickly followed the concerned looks and concerned whispers and concerned questions. 

-” Do you hear it now?" Giol asked, biting his lower lip with worry. His friend’s weird behavior from the past few training sessions made some actions make sense now. Especially how quiet and distracted he was most of the time.

Ogda -”...No, it talks during set intervals, every 1 hour, except between midnight and 8 o'clock turns later. It gives me some respite to sleep then…”

-” Should we lock him up or something? Isn’t he dangerous?”, asked Kira with a dull expression, waiting for the rest to see her point. Brigit clenched her fist, wanting to refute her but couldn’t find the words; Lian, Arim, and Giol ignored the comment and asked the water firbolg to tell them everything the voice was saying: “to lie and cheat”, “to hold only one thought in mind. Anything is disposable in exchange for Lian’s safety”, even Ogda himself.

-'' Holy…pal, that sounds awful”, tried Giol to comfort him. Arim could only think of patting him on his slippery back, while Tommen shared his drink with the water monster. “You’ve done great”, added the bearded human. This helped Ogda feel a bit better, but the one he expected to hear more from stood silent, brooding. “ Lia…”, but she jumped on her feet before he could say anything.

Lian -” Finley, do the girls have to do anything to help you with removing the strain from the powers?” The teen mumbled a bit, taken by surprise by the sudden question; 

Finley -” Usually, the totem extracts the…pain and transforms it into energy. Like photosynthesis, of sorts. But Kira and Mincha can relieve small parts if they touch the dot. At least that’s what the catman said. We never tried it though because I rarely use my ability.”

The girl smiled, and at that moment exuded an aura of determination on her entire being. She finally found a way to gain a win, for both of them. She lifted the hair on her back to show off something she found recently: a gray dot, with signs of discolorations, marking her as someone in a pact. The reason why the two failed to make the one from a few months ago. 

Lian -“ Ogda!”, she then snapped her fingers in his downtrodden-looking face. “ Do you fear the voice?”

He nodded slightly, in all directions though.

Lian -” Do you fear that it has control over you?”, which he denied through another silent nod. The girl then grinned once more. “ Do you fear that the desire to be my familiar is not yours?”

This time Ogda became flabbergasted, while his diamond eye tried to avoid direct visual contact; he was trembling and losing control of his body. A sudden smell of burned clay started to fly from the seats and the area around the water firbolg became more torrid. 

Ogda -”...Something like that…Lian, I’m afraid of what the voice might be. Why do I have it? Where did it come from…Why do I hea…”, he tried to ask in a flourish of panic-inducing questions until he felt her calming palm on his head. What was she so sure about?

Lian -” All of those are good questions, which we’ll resolve in time…even if we’re not pact partners. But before that, let’s settle one thing for once and for all, ok?”

…

The two fighters were caught in the middle of their final attempts at victory, while the rain of dust and pebbles hid their presence from both the audience and themselves. Perren’s illusionary clone disappeared from his opponent’s mind the moment he could no longer concentrate on it because of the shockwave Victor created. Moreover, the teacher somehow lost sight of the two-meter behemoth, and by the time he landed, he started feeling like prey stalked by a hunter. 

Or so Victor wanted to think of himself, but the large stomps his running feet made alerted Perren a while ago from where he’ll attack; From a dust veil tearing itself apart, the large firbolg appeared, thinking he got the upper hand by attacking from the left side- but his poleaxe shattered the ground once more, and this time it worked to his disadvantage. The blast sent Perren back a few steps, but before he could fly back even more, he impaled his rapier into the ground.

Perren -” You’re not the only one who can act rashly, sunflower!”, the teacher cried out, before throwing his shining dagger right next to where Victor stood. Before the giant could even react, Perren’s light attack blasted another hole into the arena, a smaller one than what Victor was capable of, but for the dual-wielding firbolg it was never about the firepower, but the time it bought. Before Victor could even open his eyes and rub the dirt next to them, his exposed neck felt a cold touch. 

Perren was huffing and panting like a dog, and his hands were quivering like crazy, but he could hold steady enough to keep the rapier at his opponent’s neck. 

Perren -” It’s my win!”, he blurted out after a while, which the giant tested out by trying to grab his arm, but the second a finger moved, the cold metal punctured the skin and drew a bit of blood. Not deep enough to hurt him, but to convince him. 

Victor -” Fiiiine”, the giant exclaimed with a shrug and dropped his weapon to the ground. “ I guess you could add this one to the list. Where are we, by the way? Fifty-fifty or somewhere near?”

Perren glanced at him with a frown and murmured at a very low tone. Victor didn’t hear him, making him repeat it. “ You still have 3 wins over me”, the teacher huffed and finally replied. 

-” Yeah! Victory still belongs to Victor! Get on my level you…”

Perren -” Finish that and you’ll sleep in Masso’s office tonight.” to which the giant immediately cuts to blank silence. “ By the way, lunch?” Perren asked, reaching for Victor’s shoulder to help him walk.

Victor -” Yap. I prepared a feast for our recovery afterward. Knew we’ll go a bit overboard.”

Perren -” Sunflower, we never go overboard. It is simply called having a fighting spirit and…”

Victor -” An exchange fueled by a healthy rivalry?”

-” Exactly!”, Perren winked.

.......

-” Ready or not, Ogda, here we go”, Lian exclaimed with a mix of exasperation and avidity; she heard all of the reasons why her next move was dangerous and unwise, but the water’s monster wishy-washy attitude broke the camel’s back for the girl. She tried to remember how she felt when her power activated last time: It was similar to something slithering under her skin, leaving a warm feeling in its trail until it reached the eyes.

Everyone waited patiently, and silently, giving Lian enough space to concentrate…except for Kira who until then protested silently to the whole ordeal. Slowly, though, her comments grew louder and more direct, trying to convince them that they are- “ Ugh, you people are way too dramatic. Doing something stupid like that-” Kira’s monologue got interrupted, though, the moment Lian fell on her knee from a sudden spike of pain. 

Lian -” I’m…not fine but better than the last time”. Which wasn’t a lie, as she asked for Arim’s shoulder to help her stand up. Her legs weren’t shaking as wildly as last time and she didn’t feel like her orbits were burning like they stared into the sun. As for the vision, just like before. The string that linked her, Arim, Zinc, Ogda, and Giol to the sky and the dark ocean was still there. Except that there were others now- Two were coming from the arena, but she couldn’t concentrate on who it came from, only that one was on the right side, while another came from where Masso exited. As for the third-

Lian -” Kira…right? What…did something hap…why do you have the string?” Before she could ask for more, Lian felt whatever vigor left in her leaving her body, so Ogda intervened- He slowly approached a finger towards the gray dot…And nothing happened. Again.  The despair almost caught up to him once more. Then, the dot started to jitter and rotate on her skin, while a tiny dot divided itself from the larger one, a dark blue one which reacted to Ogda. He felt a connection to it, and what was first a sting, quickly became a stream of…something. A soothing energy, that reminded him of the feeling he got from the “foods” he ate.

-” Its…working”, Ogda exclaimed, shocked at the fact. For a moment, all of his worries went away and he felt like something about this life finally fit into a block. A sort of sense was found. “Lian…it’s working…I don’t understand…How do you feel?”

The girl took a deep breath and managed to stay on her legs by herself. She felt “ a migraine and some dizziness…but otherwise perfectly fine. And the vision is still active”. 

While the rest congratulated them on…whatever they just did, Lian couldn’t join them just yet. Something interesting and threatening, as her instinct told her, was right in front of her. Now that she could use her power without the rest of the major downsides, her gaze couldn’t leave Kira. Or, as she could see now, a small vortex of something liquid that was spiraling inside of the coral firbolg. The source of another string. 

Kira -” What are you looking at?” asked the small firbolg, a bit fazed by the two. “ Congratulations, you did the barrel minimum required from pact members. So tell me now, what are you staring at?”

-” Hey, maybe you should calm down ab-”, tried Brigit to help calm the situation.

Kira -” Shut up you blatant case of nepotism and better tell this crazy woman to stop staring at me like that!”

-” Kira…”, Lian blinked and raised her hands. “ How did you get hurt?... Finley?” Since neither replied, she tried to appeal to the last one. “ Mincha…you noticed, right? That your sister isn’t actually better right?”

Silence once more. All three took some steps backward, forming a sort of shield around Kira.

Lian -” Ok, I’ll be direct then. Why do you have a weird black liquid inside of you?”