With The Wind Doesn’t Speak propping her up, Rita’s state barely closed some of the gap in technique and experience between her and Maple Syrup. It still was not enough. Her shadow betrayed her again. Now Rita was fighting a two pronged assault from Maple Syrup and her own shadow, while also dodging a librarian whose attacks hit like a freight train. The last scene of the Fun Match replayed itself. Anyone who passed near them got caught in the crossfire. Rita burned through one lifesaver after another, unleashed every big cooldown she had, but Maple Syrup simply triggered the Mystic Force she had temporarily stolen from Rita. The skill that had given so many enemies a headache now throbbed in Rita’s skull. "Let me die understanding it. Tell me what killing me gets you." Rita gritted her teeth under the pressure of Maple Syrup’s spearwork. The spear chopped down hard, pressing her dagger away and smashing her out of the air. Before she even hit the ground, Maple Syrup twisted her wrists and drove the spearpoint straight for Rita’s heart. They fell together, the spear almost touching Rita’s chest. "As long as you fail, I can immediately remake the world for the owls." Maple Syrup’s voice was flat. Maybe she decided Rita had not been serious last round. Captain had sent her a clearer warning yesterday. The moment before they hit, Rita blinked to Maple Syrup’s back. Maple Syrup dropped to one knee, spearpoint stuck in the floor. She pivoted in that half kneel, ripped a crack through the stone, lifted, and rammed the spear through Rita’s heart, so hard it nailed her to the wall. Captain had been right. Captain had seen the secret softness buried in her chest. She had taken the Fun Match seriously. She would never abandon remaking the Forest Sea for anyone, but it was true that she kept leaving BS Rita a path to bow out on her own. From Captain’s line If you want to remake the Forest Sea, do not let her get GodDraw77 she had guessed a lot. The war of Lania Kaia invading BlueStar had not fully failed. GodDraw77 was surely a decisive node that could end this game outright. Whether GodDraw77 appeared again after players entered this world tied directly into the war between Lania Kaia and BlueStar. If Rita voluntarily withdrew. If GodDraw77 did not appear. Card Swap would not end early. This strange world where everyone became odd, where there was no war and no hate, could last a little longer. They could be friends a little longer. She could give up the two divine relics that did not suit her. She was willing to delay remaking the Forest Sea and play this dumb friend game a bit longer. Like a cycle repeating, the spear nailed Rita to the wall again, and Rita’s dagger sank into Maple Syrup’s heart again. Nebula Bubble flared and was yanked away by Maple Syrup at once. Not the first time. Maple Syrup had paid to trade for a skill from Pine Bloom that displaced protective bubbles. Maple Syrup’s HP did not budge. Ever since she opened Mystic Force, Rita had not been able to hurt her. Against Maple Syrup, Rita had almost no chips left to play. Besides staying alive, what was left for her to do? She could use Gift of Nature to steal every buff and state Maple Syrup had active, including Mystic Force. For some reason she did not. It was pure stubbornness. She wanted to test her own limits and Maple Syrup’s patience. Yes, patience. Maple Syrup had been trying to force her to withdraw. Most of Rita’s teammates had already abandoned the stands. When NightFury noticed Quex, Pine Bloom and Frenzied Shark bundling up on Crab, she had leaped down to join the scramble for Whale Fall on the Wind. Their bookshelf had already locked. "Withdraw," Maple Syrup snapped. Rita glanced across the wrecked arena. The yellow cactus librarian had been gone a while. They had been fighting almost an hour. No wonder she felt wrung out. Check latest chapters at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽 Only a few dozen shelves were left on the stands. Their fight had chewed through far too many apprentices, whether they meant to or not. Maple Syrup stepped in again. Blood spilled from both of them. She lowered her voice and barked, "Withdraw." Rita looked up at Mistblade on the ninth level again. How long had she been watching. Her left hand loosened. The snowman with no rollbacks left dropped from her palm. It shattered on the floor and melted at once, only the lopsided little head listing and holding shape. She had made that second snowman during a mid fight rest using Waste Guide. It was gone too. Maple Syrup’s forearm crushed against Rita’s throat and forced her head straight, forced their eyes to lock. The third warning came tight with anger. "Last time. Withdraw." Rita finally really looked at her and saw the frustration and conflict in Maple Syrup’s eyes. "One last question," she said. Maple Syrup forced down a flare of anger, maybe at herself, maybe at BS Rita. "Say it." "My wings. Do they have to do with you." "Of course. They are not yours. I will take them back." Maple Syrup’s patience frayed. The corner of her mouth lifted. "Why else do you think I kept going soft on you." Rita’s eyes crinkled. "After you drank Forest Sea, I have been trying these two days to brew another glass. I could not. That drink was an accident from the start. But I found something strange." She slowly lifted her left hand. Three things lay in her bloody, torn palm. An owl feather. A fox fang. A pinch of candle flame. Lightchaser had brought them to her two days ago. Things Rita had left in Golden Hills dorm after disappearing in fourth year. When Maple Syrup’s brows drew together, Rita smiled. "They work as ingredients for Wrong Season. They are food." Maple Syrup did not want to hear it. Rita kept going. "Owlet feather from the Forest Sea. Candlebeast flame out of the dark. Moon fox canine from the snowfields. Wrong Season tags them spring, autumn, winter. Once I realized that, I wondered. If there was a summer ingredient, what kind of drink could I make." Her eyes reddened. "The day before the match, I turned my inventory upside down and could not find anything worthy of summer. I even tried my Summer Snowman. I failed." "But just now I finally understood. Those are pieces of your bodies. I probably need to put a piece of mine in too." All hesitation vanished from Maple Syrup’s gaze. Thunder exploded along the spear. Tree shadows surged across the air like a tidal wave and crashed down at Rita. The next instant, the deep blue helm flared. The figure before her vanished. Rita reappeared on the very top tier of the stands, looking down across the arena at Maple Syrup. That was the farthest possible distance. She had no idea what had happened between her grown self and Maple Syrup, what grudges lay between her and the owls. None of it mattered anymore. From today on, there would not be any. The owl feather, the candle flame and the fox fang floated in front of her. Behind her, the lightwings that so resembled an owlet’s began to crumble piece by piece. It had to hurt like hell. Her face, which had barely changed no matter how badly she had been wounded in the fight, went white in a heartbeat. Her body trembled. Cold sweat beaded her brow. She still bared her teeth and gave Maple Syrup a crooked grin. Flowing fire dissolved into sparks and scattered in the air, a river of starry embers like bamboo green starlight. The wind blew through the feather, through the flame, through the fang. It burned away the mistake, the lie, the hateful things, down to ash. Spring Pumpkin that only truly ripened in autumn. A little summer snowman that melted under a hot sun. A brief hibernation that required spring flowers. Endless Autumn that could be shaken down from any tree in any season if you rattled it hard enough. What was Arisentna if not a glass of Wrong Season. Maple Syrup launched, eyes shaking. She hurled the spear. BS Rita tilted her head and let it pass. The wind from the blade lifted her black hair. The last traces of youth and confusion burned out of that face. Only resolve remained. Orange Red Light Wings, owlet feather, candle flame, moon fox fang. All of it vanished, condensing into a glass filled with liquid that gleamed like flowing sand. A single glass of Story’s End.