The engines of the airbikes roared as they waited for the starting signal behind the shimmering starting gate. I could feel the excitement building up inside me as I looked over at the floating stadiums stretching out before me.
Let's check my bike for the last time.
It was a black bike with silver linings ordered specially by my Aunt. I really owed her a lot.
[<You are repeating the same thing for six months now but you still didn't pay back anything.>]
Shut up!
I will eventually!
"Are you ready?" I looked behind toward my teammates.
Milleia, Jayden, and Carla. They were all geared up and ready to go, with their eyes fixed on the track ahead. They all had a feeling that this race was going to be epic and there was definitely that hint of excitation in their expression. Well, honestly Airbike was my favorite sport so I was also excited.
"Of course!" Milleia nodded seriously with her helmet but it was only cute from my perspective…
"Always, Edward," Jayden grinned with his hands on the handlebars of his blue bike. Milleia and Jayden were commoners, they obviously couldn't afford such luxury of Airbikes so they could only borrow them from the Academy.
"Who do you think I am?" Carla smiled as well. "I am a Duke's daughter like you."
The common point between all of us was that we all loved that sport so even during the training we weren't dozing off and took it seriously.
"Oh my, Edward?"
I glanced on my left, on the next cabin reserved for another group. From it, Layla's face was peeking out.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with a teasing smile.
"Nothing. I just wanted to take some breath of air," I scoffed at her.
"You really have the gall to take part in the race, Edward," Ronald, who was sticking close to Layla, snorted. "You better give up if you don't want to lose pathetically. Your chances of winning are very low, you know."
I couldn't help but smirk at Ronald's statement. "I'll still have better chances of winning than you getting a confession from Layla," I retorted, enjoying the look of anger on his face.
"B-Bastard!" Ronald clearly wanted to beat me up.
Milleia, who was next to me, pouted and grabbed my arm. "Edward, please don't provoke them."
Elona, my sister, also chided me. "Brother, why must you antagonize everyone?"
"He started it though?" I replied as a matter of fact.
"From the beginning?" Elona raised a brow.
I realized then that it was my fault for starting the argument with Layla months ago.
My bad.
I admit.
"Be careful Elona! Ronny and Johnny don't care about you! They are bastards who wouldn't hesitate to throw you off the bike if it means making Layla the winner. Don't trust those twisted creepy stalking freaks!" I warned my little sister as a caring elder brother.
"B-Brother…" Elona was embarrassed at my caring words blended with mocking ones against her teammates.
"E-E-Edward…?" Milleia was dumbfounded at my words.
"Pfffft! Ahahaha!" Carla burst out laughing and held her stomach.
"Pffft-" Jayden barely kept his laugh from leaking.
Layla giggled at my words. "Don't take his words to heart, brother and you as well Ronny."
John just stared at me while Ronald glared at me furiously.
"I will beat you off of your bike, Edward! And you as well Alfred!!" Ronald threw a glare on the group on my right before concentrating on his bike.
I turned to my right and saw Alfred's group.
Their group was calm and collected with Alfred in the front. With his golden bike and helmet, he looked really picturesque. What a showoff.
Alfred glanced at Ronald for a second before shifting his gaze to me. "You better go all out, Edward."
"No thanks. I just want to qualify, that's all," I shrugged my shoulders. I mean, as long as I am qualified to be in the elite team, it was alright. No need to exhaust myself for such a simple race.
Alfred's lips twitched at my lazy words. Shaking his head, he looked back ahead of him.
"..."
Oh, Thomas was glaring daggers at Jayden who was quarreling with Carla behind me. Milleia was trying to stop them in vain.
I waved my hand to Thomas to annoy him even more but the latter's eyes were still on Lyra and the one who showed reaction to my wave was the pretty girl in their group. If I remember, her name was Nisha. She was also a first year. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly as she looked at me and her face turned beet red.
Sigh…
What a sinful man am I.
[<I don't know if this was a good thing that you learned about your appearance...>]
[It is definitely not a good thing. His arrogance is only growing by day.]
Ignoring Cleenah's and Jarvis' words, I squeezed the handlebars of my bike.
"Are you ready?!" A third year was going to be the commentator.
A countdown appeared in front of us above.
I started my bike and a whirring sound rang. Following that, everyone else started their bikes.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"START!!!"
The announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, signaling the start of the race. The airbikes took off, their sleek frames gliding effortlessly through the air. I felt the wind rushing past me as I picked up speed, my heart pounding with anticipation.
As they flew through the twisting and turning void track, I could see the other groups in my peripheral vision. Alfred's group was hot on their tail, determined to overtake us who were slightly ahead. As for Layla's group, they were even more ahead of me. We were currently in the second position with Layla in first and Alfred, third. The other groups were all behind us.
"Come on, guys! We can do this!" Jayden shouted, trying to break the tension.
"We don't need your encouragement, Jayden," Carla snapped back, her voice laced with irritation.
I grinned, knowing that Carla was just being her usual tsundere self. Jayden's expression twitched before he focused on the race, trying to maintain our lead.
I looked in front of me.
Ronald was flying alongside Layla, determined to protect her from any harm. He was madly in love with her, and he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to her during the race, it was the only reason. Layla, on the other hand, was focused on winning, her eyes locked on the finish line.
Elona was the one in the front two meters ahead of Layla…the Falkrona unique mana was reputed for its speed of activation and channeling, that must be the reason. Their formation was a 1-1-2 with Elona in the front, Layla behind, John and Ronald behind them as protectors. It was the perfect formation for their cheat group….
"Rain of boulders!" Ronald smirked and raised his hand. Dozens and dozens of boulders appeared in the sky and fell right to all of us.
Fuck!
He was really the worst opponent in the BikeRace with his earth ability. Thankfully we weren't driving on the hard ground otherwise he could have altered the field.
"Milleia!" I called out to Milleia.
"I'm on it!" Milleia, while driving with only one hand, raised her free hand and a blue dome appeared above us. The boulders bounced and were repelled.
Nice.
"Shit!" Tituan from Alfred's group who was behind us, cursed.
"Thomas!" Alfred shouted unperturbed. His eyes were only on us in front of them.
"Yes!" Thomas raised his hand and several dozen vines appeared out of his hand. The vines expanded above his group until forming something like the roof of a greenhouse. The vines caught the boulders one by one, wrapping them in green.
What is he…
"!"
Shit!
"Carla! Jayden! He's going to throw them to us!" I warned them in panic.
"W-What…?"
"He is still using those creepy vines?!" Carla, who knew Thomas since childhood like me, spat before creating a sword of wind in her right hand. "You! Are you dreaming?!" She woke up Jayden from his stupor.
"I-I'm ready!" Jayden said and a blue lightning crackled around his arm.
"Dodge that, Carla!" Thomas, worryingly warned his fiancee as he threw the boulders with the vines to us…or more like to Jayden?
"Answer to my call, blades of wind!" Carla waved her hand shining in green and and a dozen of wind blades shot out toward—not the boulders but the vines controlling them.
"What?!" Thomas let out as the boulders started to fall before even reaching us but still some managed to reach us and headed toward Carla.
"Thundering Lance!" Jayden threw a long crackling lance which pierced the boulders in instant, shattering them to pieces and even the pieces were reduced to smithereens by the particles of lightning.
"Are you okay, Carla?!" Jayden drove closer to Carla, clearly worried.
Carla shifted her gaze from the crackling air to Jayden. "Of course…I am." She muttered in a low tone before lowering her head. "Idiot."
Damn…
She really has fallen for Jayden…
I'm sorry Thomas…
