The hallway right outside of the training hall in the manor Scarlet’s suite is in

Anthony can’t help but wonder when the last time he had a date was as he walks through the hall of the manor with his hands in his pockets, wanting to get some training done in the training hall before he heads off to the club with the others. But when he gets inside of the training hall, he pauses at the sight of Scarlet’s team standing there with four of them – the girls – all inside of a magical reality set up specifically for the training hall. Leaving the one guy – the Druid, if Anthony remembers correctly – standing alone in the training hall just watching them fight each other on the main screen.

Or rather, watching Scarlet fight the three girls one on three while clearly winning without much trouble.

The Druid turns to look at Anthony after hearing his entry before nodding.

Anthony nods back while walking up to him and stopping to watch the girls fight.

On the screen, Scarlet can be seen blatantly ignoring the shields made by Arabellia – whose title he believes was Mystic Guardian – as she cuts the poor girl down, tearing her claws without mercy straight from her neck down to her hip, making the censor go off, blocking anything important before the girl grits her teeth and is sent flying. But she doesn’t die, instead seeming to set up a barrier around her wounds to stop the blood from leaving.

Good use of her barrier magic. And the Scarlet Wolf is just as vicious as ever. Doesn’t even go easy on her friends.

“Actually, I believe she is taking it easy on them,” Artoria – Anthony’s fae and the sister to Tarankar – suddenly interjects, making Anthony narrow his eyes.

Really?

“Look closer,” Artoria says, and Anthony does so. “See how she isn’t using that skill of her that boils a person’s blood? You yourself know how painful that was, and you were at around the same level as her at the time judging by mana levels. How do you think they would feel having it used on them since she so clearly overpowers them?”

Anthony winces at the thought.

Yeah, guess she is going easy on them. Which just makes things even more bizarre.

“Just how strong is that girl?” Anthony mutters out loud, only for the Druid to answer, “A lot stronger than the rest of our team, that’s for sure.”

Anthony glances over at the man who hasn’t taken his eyes off the screen as he continues, “At this point we’re only holding her back, since going to the more dangerous areas in the Fractures would put our lives at risk. And having her fight at our level would just stunt her growth.”

“So that’s why she’s leaving the team?” Anthony asks, remembering the interview he had seen a couple days ago. The one that was cut off by the Demonic Assault.

The Druid shakes his head and turns to look at Anthony as he answers, “That was part of it, but it’s mostly just her wanting to go solo.” He makes a strange face. “Because that girl really doesn’t like working with others, even if she’s still pretty decent at it.”

Huh. She really is a strange one.

“You’re one to talk,” Artoria says with a tone that makes it hard to tell if she’s joking or not.

Anthony just decides to ignore her as he smirks in the Druid’s direction and asks, “So how is it?”

The Druid frowns at that and responds with his own question, “How’s what?”

“You know,” Anthony says, jabbing him with his elbow. “How’s being the only guy in a team of four girls?”

Anthony immediately bursts out into laughter after seeing the sour look that appears on the Druid’s face.

“Please stop…” the Druid mutters, sounding slightly despondent has he covers his face. “I already get enough grief about it from my classmates and the internet, I don’t need another person…” he trails off when he realizes Anthony hasn’t stopped laughing. “You’re not gonna stop laughing, are you?”

“Nope!” Anthony shouts, still laughing. And he continues laughing for several more seconds before calming down and reaching his hand out while saying, “Call me Anthony. I don’t think I’ve had a laugh that good in… well… a month?”

The Druid snorts at that but accepts the handshake and says, “Call me Michael.”

Both Guardians return their attention to the screen as Scarlet begins finishing it up, basically throwing around the other three and acting the part of a powerful demon in this training exercise without even realizing it.

“Makes me wonder if I could ask her to help my team by acting like a strong demon…” Anthony mutters, to which Michael just snorts again without saying anything.

“But seriously,” Anthony suddenly says, turning back to Michael again. “Have you gotten together with any of the girls in your team? There has to be plenty of opportunities for that. I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”

Michael makes a face before sighing.

“Seriously? None of them?” Anthony asks, his eyes widening before he puts his arm on Michael’s shoulder and says, “Come on! All of them are beauties! Just look at Scarlet, not to mention Inferno or Mystic Guardian!”

Anthony notices a shiver run through Michael from his contact on his shoulder, which makes his lip quirk up in amusement.

Michael turns to look at Anthony as he asks, “Do you know any of them?” and without giving him the time to answer, he continues, “Scarlet couldn’t care less about romance. All she cares about is fighting. And besides,” he gives Anthony a deadpanned look, “she scares the crap out of me sometimes when we’re in combat.”

So she even scares her own teammates? I just thought that was the populace being frightened by her merciless nature… not that it affects how much they seem to adore her. She does have the beauty and cute points for that, especially with those ears.

“A passing note Tarankar mentioned to me is that if you ever try touching her ears, you will probably lose your hand,” Artoria interjects into his thoughts, making his eyes widen at the clear threat.

Note to self. Don’t mess with her ears.

“And Belle is already in a relationship, so even if I had any interest in her, she’d be a no from square one,” Michael continues, sparking a tiny bit of Anthony’s interest with the mention of the Mystic Guardian in a relationship. “But Denise? I don’t know…”

“Oh, so there is one you like?” Anthony prods, his grin immediately growing wider, only for it to freeze stiff when he hears Scarlet’s voice asking, “One of what?”

Anthony immediately feels Michael turning even stiffer than himself, the Druid’s face paling slightly as they both turn to find the girls now back in reality, seemingly not having heard the rest of the conversation judging by their mere curiosity and lack of any embarrassment or other stronger reactions. In fact, most of them – except Scarlet who has her usual neutral expression, albeit with a bit of suspicion painting it – look rather worn out, even if they were only fighting in a magical reality.

“Nothing, don’t worry,” Michael immediately says before swiftly changing the topic. “So how are you feeling about our team now?”

Scarlet narrows her eyes and looks between the two, briefly glancing at Anthony’s arm that quickly leaves Michael’s shoulder before she answers.