Chapter 27: I Trust You 

A sharp “crack” split the air.

The bullet slammed into a camouflage-draped brick, its casing bursting free in a puff of powdery earth-elemental magic stone. 

Lyte, with his near-A-grade composite attributes, dodged the shot with effortless grace, his movements fluid as water.

The obstacle course of the arena was a labyrinth of complexity, its myriad barriers cloaked in camouflage fabric. 

By slipping into its shadows, one could, for a fleeting moment, evade Ahei’s relentless pursuit.

“Keep straight,” came the urgent whisper. 

“We’re close to the balloon at the tent zone’s heart.”

Noi clung to Lyte like an octopus, her senses razor-sharp as she scanned their surroundings. 

In this moment, she was his eyes, her words the compass guiding his every step.

Having studied the map, she could just barely discern the critical paths leading inward. 

If left undisturbed, they could reach the central zone in three minutes flat.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

A barrage of bullets blanketed the path Lyte was about to tread, forcing him to stumble back, his blind steps faltering. 

At Noi’s direction, he veered to an alternate route, his heart pounding in rhythm with their desperate pace.

As the overseer, Ahei knew the tent zone like the back of his hand—a mastery far beyond Noi’s cursory glance at the map. 

His intimate knowledge of the terrain allowed him to strike from unexpected angles, ambushing and sniping with ruthless precision. 

Noi’s eyes ached from the strain of tracking his relentless assaults, her focus stretched to its limits to keep up with his rhythm.

Lyte darted between obstacles, his magic surging outward. 

When it brushed against structures, it sent faint ripples back, allowing him to construct a hazy mental map of the scene. 

This fragile model helped him interpret Noi’s frantic instructions, grounding her words in the chaos.

“Two o’clock, he’s crouched low!” Noi’s voice was a whipcrack of precision, pinpointing Ahei’s position.

Lyte’s mind raced, calculating the bullet’s likely trajectory. 

With preternatural instinct, he moved before the shot even came, dodging every round with uncanny finesse.

“Damn it, how is this even possible?” Ahei muttered, stunned.

He’d never witnessed anything like it—a blindfolded boy dodging bullets based solely on his partner’s callouts, never once stumbling into a wall. 

Ahei wore a blindfold too, but for him, it made no difference. 

With or without it, his focus was unshakable, honed by his sensory ability—a kind of inner sight that mimicked the hard-earned instincts of a martial arts master. 

For Ahei, awakened to this power, such mastery came as naturally as breathing.

If Ahei knew that Lyte, at just sixteen, had already breached the limits of a martial grandmaster, he’d have cursed him as a freak beyond imagining. 

Even in his wildest fantasies, Ahei couldn’t dream of such monstrous talent.

Ahei shifted to his next ambush point, rifle in hand, but this time, he was the one caught off guard.

“Five o’clock, hit him!” Noi’s voice was icy, her focus absolute.

The moment Ahei’s rifle barrel peeked over the brick wall, Noi spotted it. 

Trusting her implicitly, Lyte pivoted without hesitation, his twin pistols gripped tight. 

With his exquisite control over magic, he calculated Ahei’s likely position and unleashed a salvo toward five o’clock, emptying his magazine in a storm of gunfire.

“Ping! Ping! Pang!”

Ahei recoiled as shards of magic stone dust from the shattered bullets grazed his head, stinging like a swarm of bees. 

Without the protection of leather armor, he was just a B-grade weakling—hardly able to withstand a direct hit, which would’ve left him writhing in agony for hours.

“Damn it, how are they in so much sync?” Ahei growled, his plans crumbling.

With Noi’s sharp observations amplifying Lyte’s prowess, the boy seemed even deadlier blindfolded than with his eyes uncovered. 

Their synergy was unreal, forged in a mere week of knowing each other. 

How could they mesh so perfectly?

It was time to get serious.

Ahei propped his rifle on the wall, spraying bullets to force Lyte back behind cover, reclaiming his advantage through sheer terrain control. 

Lyte, undeterred, swapped out his pistol’s magazine with practiced ease. 

This wasn’t his first time wielding a gun.

In a past life, he’d ventured to the Wutas Continent, home of the Star Alliance, to quell an invasion from the Sin Domain. 

As thanks, the Alliance’s research institute crafted him a pair of lightweight magic-energy pistols. 

Though he rarely used them, their devastating power and portability had led him to train briefly in marksmanship.

Carrying Noi on his back, the boy stumbled toward the central zone. 

Ahei’s sporadic appearances were caught by Noi’s hawk-like eyes, and Lyte’s rough but effective gunfire forced him back into hiding time and again.

Then, by chance, a bullet aimed at Noi’s pale shoulder was intercepted by Lyte’s own body, impacting a dull thud against his flesh. 

In that moment, Ahei glimpsed a weakness to exploit.

Of course—strike at the heart of what he protects.

A sinister grin curled Ahei’s lips as he shifted his assault, targeting Noi alone. 

If the bullets came for Lyte, he could dodge with ease. 

But when they threatened the girl he shielded, a misjudged angle could leave her wounded.

“Ugh!” A small bullet struck Noi’s smooth back, a dark bruise blooming instantly.

Her stifled groan shattered Lyte’s heart.

Gritting his teeth, he threw himself in front of the next volley aimed at her, barely scrambling into a three-sided barrier for cover.

“I’m sorry… I’m just a burden,” Noi whispered, her eyes rimmed with red as they caught a moment’s respite.

She longed to use her light-based energy to heal Lyte’s wounds but  the rules barred her from doing anything beyond observing and directing. 

Breaking them would mean disqualification. 

Instead, she gently touched his chest, as if her touch alone could ease his pain.

“Don’t worry, Vivi,” Lyte said softly. 

“I’d be far more broken if you got hurt.”

Ahei’s ability seemed to blanket the area, dampening Lyte’s magical feedback to a mere sliver of its range. 

Without that limitation, Lyte could’ve unleashed his full power and crushed Ahei without effort. 

But he was no longer the supreme warrior of old—without his peak strength, no ability could stop him from locking onto Ahei with sheer will alone.

Ahei crept closer to the three-sided wall, certain of victory. 

To ensure Lyte’s demise, he swapped his bullets for live rounds and downed a potion to boost his physical prowess. 

From the start, his orders were clear: kill Lyte, spare Noi.

Inside the enclosure, Lyte’s tousled hair brushed against Noi’s neck like an affectionate golden retriever. 

His voice was calm, soothing. 

“Vivi, where do you think he’ll come from?”

Ahei’s footsteps drew near, then fell silent, likely stalking for a way to breach their sanctuary. 

Noi took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping the surroundings before locking onto a notch in the upper-left corner of the wall. 

She grasped Lyte’s broad hand, guiding it to point at the spot, and whispered so softly it was barely a breath against his ear. 

“There. He’ll come from there.”

Lyte said nothing, but he sensed Ahei’s imminent attack. 

He slipped his fingers between hers, their hands interlocking—a silent vow: ‘I trust you.’

As predicted, Ahei emerged. 

Lyte’s pistol fired before Ahei’s rifle could, the bullet striking true.

“Agh!” Ahei’s scream echoed as the enhanced pain, despite his potion, sent him tumbling from the wall. 

His rifle slipped from his grasp, lost somewhere in the chaos. 

Unarmed, he faced Lyte, whose magazine was now empty.

“He’s right in front of us, Lyte,” Noi said, her voice steady despite the tension.

Lyte squeezed her soft hand gently. 

“Don’t be afraid. I’ve got this.”

The boy aimed his empty pistol at Noi, and with perfect understanding, she drew a fresh magazine from the strap on her thigh, sliding it into place.

“Click.”

The gun was loaded.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Shot after shot rang out, Ahei’s howls filling the air. 

The blindfold hid Lyte’s eyes but not his fury—he was avenging Noi’s bruise and the pain searing his own chest.

“Damn it, I’ll take you down with me!” Ahei roared, hearing the click-click of Lyte’s empty magazine. 

Ignoring the rules against close combat, he drew a sharp dagger and lunged at the blindfolded boy.

Noi’s face hardened, a rare glint of killing intent flashing in her eyes. 

A dagger—gifted by Simon—materialized in her hand, the slaughtering witch of her early days in this world resurfacing. 

She poised to hurl it, but Lyte’s hand closed around her wrist.

“No, Vivi!” he urged, sensing her unmasked intent despite his blindness.

Ahei’s dagger came, but it never touched Lyte’s skin. 

The boy’s magic, honed by his boundary-breaking skill, seized the blade—and Ahei himself—in an unyielding grip.

“You broke the rules first,” Lyte said, his smile elegant but his amber eyes, now uncovered, blazing with fire. 

“Don’t blame me for what comes next.”

Ahei tried to beg, but a fist—amplified by Lyte’s full strength—crashed into his face, shattering his nose into his skull. 

Without magic, it was Lyte’s final mercy.

The crowd gasped. 

The medical team meant for Noi and Lyte now rushed to Ahei’s aid.

Lyte unbound the straps holding Noi, and as she touched the ground, she ignored her own vivid bruises, pressing her hands to Lyte’s chest. 

Warm, tingling light energy flowed from her, healing him.

“Anywhere else hurt?” she asked, her fingers probing his now-unmarred chest, searching for overlooked wounds.

Lyte  tapped the bruise on her back, making her wince. 

He chuckled, “Vivi, you need to take care of yourself first. I’m pretty tough, you know.”

Once Noi tended to her own injuries, Lyte  led the way, his sharp gaze parting the crowd like a blade. 

Noi, in her swimsuit, walked confidently through the corridor of onlookers, stepping into the monitoring room reserved for victors.