Tao’s words weren’t heard by all.

  In a place as loud as the tavern, even if those watching had gone quiet out of respect, the clamor of a bustling crowd drowned his voice. Chairs scraped against the floor, mugs clinked together, and laughter erupted from distant tables. Tao’s words were swallowed whole by the noise, leaving only fragments to reach a few attentive ears.

  Those who knew Beric, and who had been watching carefully from the beginning, were among that select few.

  The Elders spoke in hushed voices among themselves. Volk drank heavily, his brows knit together in worry. Merilda and Cedric ate in silence, though that silence occasionally broke into hushed bickering. Nearby, the group of teenagers watched with unease.

  While Adam the referee should have shared a similar reaction, since the person that owed him his drinks had finally spoken up, he had momentarily taken a break and paused the match to receive what he was owed.

  Yet for those that remained, Tao’s words didn’t land as hard as the growing desire to understand one thing.

  How had Beric ended up like this?

  “This doesn’t look good,” Zachary muttered, his eyes flicking between Tao and Beric as if afraid of what he might notice next.

  “What happened?” Kaelyn asked.

  “Tao saw through it,” Mayern said, nodding as he spoke. “That’s the only way things could’ve gotten this far.”

  “Hello?” She asked a bit louder.

  “At what point?” Nyra asked aloud. “Was it seen through before the game even began?”

  Kaelyn crossed her arms as she stepped closer to Corven, her irritation barely contained. “Do you know what’s going on?”

  “N-not really,” Corven answered, avoiding her gaze.

  “Hmph.” Kaelyn looked away, clearly annoyed. After a pause, her voice softened. “......Sorry again for what I did.”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” Corven replied quickly. “I’m not angry at you.”

  Kaelyn turned her head aside. “You better be.”

  Malo noticed the exchange and rolled his eyes.

  Then came the familiar pat on his back, sharp enough to jolt him from his thoughts.

  “It’s not looking too good for our friend Beric,” Jain said calmly.

  “What do you mean?” Malo asked.

  “I have reason to suspect Tao managed to see through Beric’s trick of lowering his guard,” Jain explained. “And once Tao realized how intelligent Beric actually is, he used that against him, forcing him to overthink every move.”

  Malo stared straight ahead, his expression blank.

  Jain sighed, realizing his words weren’t landing. “Alright. Let me put it another way.”

  He leaned closer. “Basically, little bro, Tao can predict and control Beric’s moves now that he’s fully analyzed him.”

  “What?” Malo frowned. “That’s possible?”

  Jain let out a quiet breath. “There’s something I learned a long time ago. The easiest people to outplay in this world are geniuses.”

  Especially in fights.

  “Unlike those who act on impulse or play outside the rules, a genius is predictable. They’re restricted by their own logic, by their own pride of believing that they can win cleanly.”

  Seeing Malo’s expression hadn’t changed, Jain grew slightly irritated. “In simple terms, if you can think of the best possible move in their position, chances are they’ll think of the same thing. And if you’re prepared for it, you stay in control.”

  Malo shrugged. “That makes sense.” He hesitated. “But pride? You’re saying Beric has an ego?”

  Jain paused. “Geniuses tend to take pride in their gifts. At the very least, I’d assume Beric holds his intelligence in high regard.”

  Malo shook his head. “Beric’s not like that.”

  Jain glanced at him. “How do you know?”

  Malo didn’t answer right away.

  After his fight with Beric, he’d felt something a kindred spirit. Someone strong enough to endure pain but not so detached that they couldn’t understand it.

  “He’s strong,” Malo said slowly. “But he knows he can become even stronger. Maybe he’s proud of what he’s achieved. Maybe he’s disappointed that this is all he can do right now. But neither of those things are enough to stop him.”

  Malo clenched his fists. “A will like that can’t be ruined by ego.”

  As he spoke, memories resurfaced.

  Beric’s tenacity. The effort etched into every movement. The mastery of his combat skills. The way he smiled—not arrogantly, but genuinely—each time his hard work paid off during the fight.

  And more than that, Malo remembered the rain.

  Beric had kept going even as it poured. Even when he didn’t feel the same pain, he still chose to bear it. He chose to finish the fight.

  “He’s cool,” Malo said quietly. “Really cool.”

  To him, Beric wasn’t just strong.

  He was a role model.

  And somehow, in his own eyes, a friend.

  “He’s not going to lose here.”

  Malo had known the others for years, yet this connection had formed instantly. And it was strong.

  It was because Beric wasn’t some untouchable genius that they’d been able to fight like that. What began as a required event meant to impress others had become something else entirely, as it had become a battle between two boys strong enough to smile and grit their teeth through the pain.

  That was all Malo had ever wanted.

  And even if things wouldn’t change overnight, if the storm still lingered for years, he knew what to do now.

  Rather than hide away and wait for it to pass, Malo would stand tall.

  He would keep fighting in the pouring rain, protecting what he still had.

  Because of that belief, Malo felt deeply thankful to Beric.

  “Beric is stronger than Tao,” Malo said at last.

  And me, he added silently.

  Jain didn’t respond right away. Instead, he smiled. “I see.” Then he scratched his neck, his tone shifting. “Still, things are looking pretty dire. I honestly don’t see a way for Beric to—”

  “You’re good,” I said.

  Every mouth around us went still.

  Their conversations cut off mid-word as they turned to look at me.

  “You’re so good at this that, honestly, you have to be cheating.”

  You go MIA just like that and come back with this? What the hell are you doing?

  Tao frowned, clearly unimpressed. “This again? Like I’ve said, if you can’t prove it—”

  I raised a hand, cutting him off. “Oh, no. That’s not what I want to talk about.”

  That seemed to catch him off guard.

  “What I actually want to bring attention to,” I continued, “is how well you hid it.”

  “How I hid it?”

  “I mean, that’s your whole gimmick, right?” I leaned forward slightly. “Using subtle things. Tapping your fingers. Making weird noises every now and then. Marking cups. All these possible ‘cheats’ that, when someone calls them out, turn out to be nothing.”

  A few people shifted uncomfortably.

  “It’s like you do it on purpose,” I said. “Just to make them doubt themselves, to make them fall deeper and deeper into that pit of despair.”

  “What are you—”

  “It worked on me, for sure,” I interrupted. “I kept thinking I caught you, only to realize every time that it was just another trap.”

  I gestured vaguely between us. “A lot of the people you’ve played probably stopped trusting themselves altogether. Or rather—”

  I counted on my fingers.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “—their five senses. Taste. Smell. Hearing. Sight. Touch.”

  What are you yapping about?

  I raised a finger. “But then I thought, what if it wasn’t one of those five?”

  Tao narrowed his eyes.

  “What if, this whole time, you’ve been using the sixth sense?”

  “........The sixth sense?” Tao repeated.

  Sys exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.

  “It’d explain a lot,” I said. “Why sometimes you seem to read people’s minds. You’re really good at it, too. So either you’re insanely lucky, you’re cheating, or you’re just skilled at it.”

  “I don’t understand where—”

  “Ah, Tao.” I smiled. “This is exactly my point.”

  I straightened up. “The sixth sense is basically an extra sense tied to the supernatural. You know, like psychics. Seers. Mind readers.”

  “And,” Tao said carefully, “you believe I’m using this…....‘sixth sense’?”

  “Not only that,” I continued, completely serious, “but I think you’re using it to talk to ghosts to help you cheat.”

  Sys covered his face with his hands.

  Tao froze.

  “………”

  Then—

  “Hah.”

  He burst out laughing, loud enough to turn heads from nearby tables.

  “You think I’m speaking to spirits to cheat?” He shook his head, still laughing. “I thought you were smarter than that, and yet—”

  “Ugh, you’re right.” I facepalmed myself.

  “Huh?”

  “That was definitely a stretch,” I admitted. “There’s no way that’d work anyway. We’d be able to sense it.”

  Tao stared at me, visibly unsettled. “Yes?”

  “Oh well,” I sighed. “I guess I’m going to lose here.”

  I didn’t say anything after that.

  Dude what?

  Then I brightened.

  “Oh! But speaking of ghosts,” I said suddenly, “do you want to hear a ghost story I once heard?”

  Yo, this is not the time for some Scooby-Doo nonsense—

  Tao blinked. “A ghost story? Why now?”

  “Come on, please?” I said, putting on a playful grin. “It won’t take long. I promise. Besides, Adam isn’t going to be back for a while.”

  Maybe he was trying to figure out what I was planning. Or maybe he thought things had already gone too far for me to pull anything now.

  Either way, he eventually sighed.

  “Fine,” Tao said. “I will listen to this ghost story.”

  I clapped my hands together.

  “Great!”

  I cleared my throat. “The hero of this story, let’s call him Casper.”

  Yep, we’re getting copyrighted.

  “Casper?” Tao repeated.

  “Casper.” I confirmed. “Casper was just an ordinary boy, but when he was sleeping late one day, he woke up suddenly. He didn’t know what it was that woke him up, but that’s when he heard a creaking noise from outside his room.”

  I hunched my back as I told the story, lowering my voice.

  “At first, he told himself it was nothing. He lived in an old house, and he had heard such noises numerous times. But the sound came again, slow and deliberate, like someone putting their weight down carefully, step by step.”

  “Casper then shot up in bed. He looked around the dark room that was slightly illuminated by the pale glow of the moon spilling through the window. And as he breathed shakily, he listened. Another creak. Closer this time.”

  “Swallowing hard, Casper slid his feet onto the cold floor and opened his bedroom door. But when he looked, he found that the hallway was empty. There were no shadows moving, no doors ajar, but only the long stretch of wooden flooring and the outside faint cries of birds that thrived at this time.”

  “But, despite the ordinary sight, the feeling that something unordinary was here remained. And so Casper walked through the house anyway—past the bedrooms, past the living room, and the kitchen. Every light stayed off throughout this walk, and every room remained the same.”

  “Relieved, he made his way back and returned to his bedroom, already feeling foolish for being scared.

  I paused as I took on a fearful look.

  “And that’s when he saw it. Something in the window.”

  Tao coughed.

  “There was a shape, no, a face. And Casper froze. Because pressed against the glass was a distorted, pale figure. But that’s not all. Its eyes were too wide. Its mouth stretched unnaturally, like it was grinning and screaming at the same time. The face seemed twisted, wrong, as if it didn’t belong to anything human.”

  I leaned back. “Casper then stumbled backward at the sight, his heart slamming against his ribs. He raised his hands defensively, unable to look away. And the face moved. It moved exactly when he did.”

  “Confused and trembling, Casper took a cautious step forward. The face leaned closer too. He lifted his hand slowly…….and the thing in the window lifted its hand the same way.”

  I snapped my fingers. “That’s when realization hit him. The glass wasn’t a window acting as a portal for some ungodly creature to enter. It was a window acting as a warped mirror. The moonlight had affected his reflection, stretching his features, hollowing his eyes, turning his own fear into something monstrous. The terrifying face staring back at him wasn’t a ghost at all.”

  I chuckled. “It was himself.”

  That bum ass story.

  Tao didn’t speak.

  But others did.

  “Huh? That’s it?” Zachary called out from behind me, sounding more confused than impressed.

  “It's not horrible.” Nyra said, giving a small nod, as if she were rating it.

  “I’ve heard better,” Kaelyn added flatly.

  “His story was based on you,” Malo muttered under his breath.

  Mayern snorted, barely managing to stifle a laugh.

  “What did you say?” Kaelyn snapped, her glare sharp enough to burn.

  “He got you good, huh?” Mayern started. “You should—”

  He stopped mid-sentence.

  “What’s up?” Jain asked, noticing his sudden change in behavior.

  Mayern didn’t answer. He only raised his hand and pointed. "Look at Tao.”

  Everyone followed his finger.

  Tao sat there, frozen.

  His face was pale. The confidence he’d carried earlier was gone, replaced with something never before seen.

  He looked shaken.

  But why?

  No one knew.

  Well.

  Except for one person.

  Why’s he like that?

  Sys looked at me.

  Beric, what did you do?

  “Are you okay?” I asked, tilting my head. “You don’t look too well.”

  “I…” Tao swallowed. “You—”

  I leaned forward slightly. “Was my story really that scary?” I tapped a finger against my chin. “No, it couldn’t have been that.”

  I paused, as if thinking.

  “Or,” I smiled faintly. “Was it something I said?”

  Tao’s eyes widened. “You—”

  That was when I grabbed my cup and tipped it back, chugging the rest in one go.

  With a refreshed sigh, I lowered it. “Wow. That’s a really good drink.”

  I glanced around casually. “Since the game hasn’t started yet, you don’t mind if I get more, right?”

  Before Tao could respond, I raised my voice.

  “Sarah!”

  And as if she’d been waiting, Sarah appeared immediately at my side.

  “Refill?” she asked brightly.

  I handed her my cup.

  “Oh, Beric.” She glanced over at Tao, likely assuming he wanted one as well. But when she saw the confusion on his face, her cheerful smile faltered, just slightly.

  “Sarah?” I prompted.

  “Oh, my apologies,” she said quickly, turning back to me. She refilled the cup, forcing her smile back into place.

  She handed it over.

  “Thank you,” I said, slipping her a bronze coin. “This juice you serve here is really great.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, though her eyes flicked back to Tao again.

  I knew you’d do that.

  As I lifted the cup, I made sure to tilt it just enough.

  The juice spilled, splashing against my clothes.

  “Oh man,” I said aloud.

  Sarah’s head snapped back toward me. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

  She raised her hand and cast a spell.

  Drying magic.

  In an instant, the stain vanished. No trace was left behind, not even a shadow.

  Sarah looked pleased. “There you go. Good as new!”

  “Wow, thanks!” I said, handing her another bronze coin. “Your cleaning magic is really fast.”

  “Mhm!” She nodded proudly, pointing at herself. “Leave it to this clean freak!”

  I tilted my head, feigning curiosity. “But that makes me wonder.”

  “Wonder what?” she asked.

  I lowered my voice so only she and Tao could hear.

  “If your cleaning magic is this good, why do you need to keep cleaning my cup?”

  Sarah froze.

  “If you can remove a stain that easily,” I continued calmly, “then your magic wouldn’t be so ineffective that my cup would need to be cleaned again and again.”

  Beric?

  I shrugged. “Now, if you’re a self-proclaimed clean freak, it would make sense for you to keep cleaning it.”

  “But the problem is,” I met her eyes. “Why does it need to be cleaned in the first place?”

  Her smile was gone now. Only two scared wide eyes met me.

  “We’ve seen how quick and thorough your magic is,” I said softly. “So why would stains still remain?”

  I let the silence stretch.

  “Unless,” I added, “you’re not really cleaning it completely.”

  I tilted my head. “You leave behind smudges on purpose, just enough to justify coming back.”

  I paused. “But then why?”

  Sarah didn’t answer.

  “Are you hiding something?” I asked. “Using this routine to cover up-”

  My gaze shifted briefly to the tray that held the cups.

  “What you were doing with that tray?”

  At moments like this, when someone is cornered by something that can’t be brushed off, most people look for an escape.

  Or if there’s none,

  They look for help.

  Sarah turned to Tao.

  Tao stared back at her, disbelief written plainly across his face.

  If that’s who you look to first,

  Then I’m right.

  It was then that Adam finally returned.

  “Hey, sorry guys.” Adam said with an obvious slur in his voice. He clapped his hands. “How about we finish this up?”

  He paused as he looked at Sarah and Tao. “Are you two okay? Did I miss something?”

  Sarah’s eyes stayed on Tao.

  Tao didn’t look back.

  “Sarah? Did you need something?” Adam asked.

  Sarah didn’t answer.

  It was only then that Tao shook his head.

  And only then, did Sarah try to fake a smile again. “I should be going.”

  With a confused Adam left behind, Sarah quickly left.

  “What was up with her?” Adam asked out loud.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Beats me.”

  “Uh huh.” Adam then pulled out a coin. “Beric, did you say heads?”

  “I did.”

  “Okay, and Tao, making sure, you’re fine with Beric choosing the sides?”

  “I…..I-” Tao couldn’t form a full answer as he kept looking down.

  “Tao?” Adam asked once more.

  “It’s fine, isn’t it?” I asked with a cheerful tone.

  Tao slowly looked up at me. “..........Yes, it is.”

  Adam nodded his head. “Alright!” Adam looked a lot more relaxed and cheerful after his drinks.

  With a flip, the coin was released up into the air.

  Every set of eyes were probably fixed on it.

  Only mine and Tao’s were set on each other.

  I smiled at him.

  “And the side is…….” Adam said as he caught the coin. “Heads.” He declared after revealing it.

  “Beric will choose first.”

  And so, the final round began.