*Ulissis*

I shifted my gaze toward my left as I felt another pair of eyes on me. Aida had turned her attention from Eien to me. She slammed me with her whip. Apparently magic items could still hurt me as I was sent flying.

I grunted and pushed myself up and continued running even though I felt as if I had just been hit by a barrage of needles. I had to make it to the finish line, I had promised my friends that I would. I was always relying on them to help me, it was time that I did something for them. I didn't want to fail them now.

Eien charged at Aida. She moved aside causing him to slam into me. Eien yelled as soon as he made contact with me. "What in the world? Get out of my way, wimp!" His form shifted between that of a kitsune and a human. He moved away from me and his form stabilized.

Aida's eyes were wide. But it wasn't Eien she was looking at, but me. "What was that? I've never...you're not a normal mage after all?"

I smiled. "Sorry Eien, but I'll take it from here."

Eien coughed out blood. He glanced up at Ashynna who was still here. "Please take over for me," the prince said.

"I would love to," she said. She stepped into the track and watched as the others ran past us. "This is first most a race." She ran past us at the same speed she began the race with.

Aida and I ran after her. I took one final glance at Eien who was being attended to by the same medic who had helped Alban attend Alto. Two hurt in this event...this had long stopped being a simple race. As many had gotten badly hurt during this race as had fighters in Kyuu Seishin and Wahkan's match in the last event.

Aida ran faster than before and caught up to Ashynna. She whipped her but Ashynna caught the whip in her hands. "Foolish behavior from one of the ones I've searching for." She glanced back at me. "Watching you two fight is irritating."

"Who in the world are you to say that to me?" Aida said. She pulled back her whip, cutting Ashynna's hands. She snapped her whip again but Ashynna dodged this time.

"We're behind now. Yuzuki is well ahead," Ashynna said. She was right, Yuzuki was about to hand her baton to the final member of Celas, a brown haired girl who greatly resembled the boy who had handed Yuzuki her baton.

Aida stopped running and slammed her hands into the ground. Tree roots rose from the ground and grabbed several participants. Orion and Ashynna dodged the attack. The blue-green haired woman from Mina and Elliot also avoided it, as if they knew where it would come from. The attack surprisingly didn't hit me.

"Ventus Draco," said a member of Rio's team. A wooden dragon destroyed the root. "I heard that H.E.H. had several strong members...is this what they meant by strong?"

Aida snickered. Fine roots appeared out of the larger roots and grabbed the Rios member. "Stupid Rios are so full of themselves." She walked over to the boy and pulled up his head. She touched his neck. "Any last wishes?" The boy's wind dragon slammed into her. Sending her flying.

The boy ripped the roots. "My team may be losing, but we aren't weaklings either!"

I ran on ahead while Aida was left with the Rios boy. Orion while slow compared his teammates, was still leading the group. Luckily, Eien's ice and Aida's roots had given me a chance to overtake the others. Overtaking Orion wasn't going to be too hard.

I gasped for air and fell to my knees. The stinging sensation on my back intensified further. No, why now... I'm so close. I need to... make it.

Aida had soon caught up and handed over her baton over to the same guy who had hurt Alto. I looked back and saw the Rios boy drenched in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed near the heart.

Medics were quickly trying to heal him to save his life.

I hands shook. No, this wasn't a game. Not with those people around.

"How can you be so cruel?" I yelled as I tried to stand up.

"Shut it," she said. "In this world the strong gain respect, the weak don't." I glanced where Eien had hit her. She raised her hands over her chest. "Hey pervert, where are you looking?"

My face became red. "I wasn't looking at...alright I was, but not for what you're thinking about. Your wounds, they're gone."

She looked at me as if puzzled. "You're an odd guy, how can you talk so calmly with me? Weren't you saying that I was cruel and immoral a moment ago? Are you a sociopath?"

"Are they quiet?"

"No, some of them can act like your average extrovert, and when I say act I mean as in playing the role of one. At first glance you look like a quiet person."

"He does," Arima said. She looked down at me and held out her hand for the baton. "I'll take over from here."

"B-but."

My childhood friend smiled "No 'buts'." She took the baton from me and began running.

Aida chuckled as she watched Arima run. "So foolish of her. Does she think that your team still have a chance at earning even bronze?"

I curled my hands into fists. "D-don't you dare laugh at her!" I yelled.

Aida squatted down to my eye level and grinned. "Your persistence is intriguing, although it's futile." She reached a hand out and wiped some of my blood off my back. Her eyes widened as soon as she sniffed it. "You're part angel... great-grandson of the Angel of Light." She chuckled and stood up. "So your genes aren't that bad after all. You Ulisses, have the blood of divinity in your veins!"

I glared at her. "Th-that doesn't make me any more special than others. One is more than their genes." I had never seen myself as more special than others, rather the contrary if anything. 

She laughed and walked away, leaving me alone at the edge of the lake between stadiums.

I glanced up at the holographic screens floating overhead and saw that Elliot was quickly catching up to Wahkan's runner. Orion though blocked every attack from him as he ran toward the finish line.

The athletic looking young man from H.E.H. sent sonic waves towards the two. The two of them avoided the attacks. The boy was soon in a three way race with the two of them.

Arima was running dry. It was a good thing that we allowed our seniors to skip this event. The three of them strided over the finish line nearly at the same time. Everone back in the stadium seemed shocked. The three participants walked over to the announcer and showed off their hands. On each of their hands was a number, with Elliot having a two, Aida's teammate had a three, and Orion had a one. Ashina crossed over getting a five, followed by Arima who got a four. Iah's teammate got the number six. Rio's final person got a seven, last place.

A light covered everyone teleporting them over to the finishline, well everyone but me. The announcer looked at me in one of the screens, mystified. "Can you come over, Ulissis?" she asked.

I tried to stand, but couldn't.

Suddenly, someone warped in front of me. It was our president. Bruno grinned. "How amusing, to see you in this state." He held out a bottle. "Use this, it should help heal those wounds and restore some of your stamina."

I glared at him.

"What, I'm trying to help, but if you don't want it then fine."

"Wait!" I yelled. "Fine, give me the ointment."

He put it in front of me and warped away. I opened the ointment bottle and found a green oily substance inside. I dipped my fingers into it and tried to apply it over my back but I couldn't reach the very spot that Aida had struck.

"Need help?" I glanced up at the sky and saw Arima on a bubble.

I lowered my head and nodded.

Arima gasped. "I'm surprised that you could've ran... this wound looks pretty bad," she said before applying the stuff. I tried not to scream as she did do. It hurt, it really did.

The bubble she came on surrounded the two of us and carried us over to where the others were.

"Ulissis, you're crying," Yen said as soon as we landed. She handed me a water bottle. It was nice of her, to help me out even though we weren't on the same team. I was lucky to have friends like her. Same went for Adela and the others.

"I'm feeling better now, though. The ointment is working fast," I said. And it was, the pain was vanishing fast. Whatever ointment Bruno had given me, it had to be of extremely high quality. Which meant it had to be made of rare stuff. To use such an item on me who he hated, he truly did wish for us to get as much medals for Sefa as we could. Because surely, that guy didn't have a single altruistic bone in his body.

Arima walked around me and held her hand out. I took it and stood up.

"Alright now, it's time to hand out the medals." She summoned four bronze medals. She gave the medals to Arima and me, as well as a bronze badge.

"We're fourth place though," I whispered.

"What do you think this means?" Arima whispered back. "Could one of the top three have cheated?"

The announcer summoned silver medals and a silver badge and handed them over to Aida and her teammates. She then moved to and gave Xian's team gold medals and a golden badge. Finally she came over to Wahkan and summoned platinum medals and a platinum badge.

"No way," I heard Aida say.

"Congratulations, Wahkan!" the announcer said. "You won the race without using a single spell."

Yen smiled. "We did it!"

Orion nodded as he fell back to the ground. "Y-yeah! I didn't think we would be first place!"

She and Yuzuki nudged him. "See, all those training sessions you did with us worked out for the best!" Yuzuki said.

Yen chuckled. "Yeah, else you would've fainted."

Orion's face reddened. He chuckled and said, "Y-yeah, probably would've before making it past the first half mile."

Lei and Kun ran over to the track and hugged their sister. "I can't believe it, you actually won us a Platinum badge!" the boy yelled in unison.

"So they do exist," Nyima said, smiling. "I guess that the Huo's weren't lying."

"Hmph, I'll be sure to win us one of those," Ayawamat said, chuckling. "If the sister of the wimps can do it, so can I."

Yen stuck out her tongue at him.

Wanikiya sighed. "We're on the same team for this yet still competing against one another..."

I stared at the third and fourth medal in my hands.

Arima nudged me forth. "You want to go check up on Alto don't you?"

"Yes, let's go and give him and Alban their medals."

She smiled. "Alright, let's go." She staggered forward. Her breathing was very heavy. She must have pushed herself to her limits to win the bronze medals around our necks.

"Do you want to lay down and rest?" I asked.

She put an arms around my neck. "No, I want to give these to those two too." Her face became red. "Would you mind helping me get there?"

I laughed and handed her the water bottle in my hands. "Want to have a drink?"

She smiled and took it without hesitation and drank quickly.

"You didn't drink from that did you?" Nyima asked as she watched us.

"Huh? I did, why? I washed my mouth today plus I'm not sick so she should be fine."

"Not everyone cares about indirect kisses," Iah said as he walked over to Nyima. He looked over at us and chuckled. "Or do you? Looking at you two like this anyone would think that you two are an item."

Arima let go of me. "On second thought I'll walk on my own." She staggered forward as if dazed.

I grabbed her by the arm. "It's fine, you can lean on me for help," I said. "I got it. Put your arms around me again and hold on tightly."

She looked at my back and hesitated. "But your wound."

"The pain is mostly gone now, thanks to that ointment," I said, smiling. "Now, get on. Alban and Alto are waiting for us!"

She sighed and did as I said. I lifted her up to give her a piggyback ride.

"U-Ulissis, everyone is looking," she cried out.

"You care too much what others think," I said, sighing.

"S-should I really be hearing that from you?" she snapped.

I chuckled. "I guess you're right, but please let me do this for you. It's my fault you had to run more than we had originally planned."

"A-alright," she said, smiling. "You know, Uli."

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Remember how on our way back home from Nine Petal, you said that you didn't think you had grown?"

"Y-yeah, what about it?" I asked, keeping my eyes ahead.

"I think you have grown. You're... more dependable."

I chuckled. "Well, thanks." My face felt warm. I had never thought of myself as such, nor heard one say that before. So it made me happy, especially to hear it from her.

**Solar Note: Overall thoughts on this chapter? :3 Surprised by the results?**