The volleyball scrimmage kicked off. Naturally, the one who insisted on being the first server of the match was her than elia von Galen. She grabbed the ball before anybody had the ce to objed positioned herself at the baseline.

  "Fiona La!" elia thrust her fioward the other side of the court. "I challehee! If you truly sider yourself a noble on par with myself, the's see you stop my elegant serves!"

  "Very well," Fiona replied. I should have no problem stopping your serves, provided they successfully head in my dire in the first pce.

  She kept that part to herself but everybody on the court thought the exact same thing. Anybody who watched elia's warm-up today could tell how fickle her aim was.

  With that said, this shaky aim was troublesome for Fiona’s team in its own way. Life would be so much easier for the defenders if elia aimed her shots at Fiona as she decred.

  "Hey," Daniel interjected in a low voice. "I'm just making sure here, but you're not actually pnning to aim at Fiona, right?"

  "Huh? Of course I do." elia puffed her chest. "I am a noble, after all. Once I've sent a formal invitation for a duel, there is no going bay word."

  "Well, I guess it’ll be fine." Daniel shrugged. It's not like her shots will go where she wants them to, anyway.

  Not a single soul on this court believed that elia's decration of war had any substao it. But, oher hand, the girl herself? She was vinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that all her shots will properly find their target.

  "Listen up," Daniel addressed the others. "Those of you on the front, I suggest c your heads, just in case."

  "Haha..." The girls smiled nervously and did as the captain instructed.

  There was already one infamous case in whiebody received the full force of elia's serve and it didn't end well. So, better safe than sorry.

  WHISTLE! The coanouhe start of the game.

  "Brace thyself, Fiona La!" elia tossed the ball into the air and leaped toward it, like a leopard trying to catch a bird in mid-flight! She swung her arm and struck the ball with all her rength!

  BAM! The usual ominous sound exploded across the courtroom. The loudness alone was enough to make some of the receivers lose heart, yet they had no choice but to stand their guard against the ining missile.

  “A-Ah!” One of the girls yelped as she tried to receive the inieor. BAM! The ball mercilessly smashed her hands and slipped to the side. It had no iion of going bato the air.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. The ball nded on the floor and jumped a few times befoing silent.

  “S-Sorry…” The girl apologized for her blunder.

  Her teammates forted her. “It’s okay, don’t worry.” “Yeah, these serves are super hard to receive.” “And, they hurt as hell, too.”

  There was some truth to their words. elia’s serves were just as fierce as her spikes, so they were rather difficult for most girls to stop.

  However, it was no excuse to sweep the failure uhe rug. Every mess-up like this costs a point for the eeam, so nobody should treat suts lightly.

  "elia's serves are indeed intense," Fiona said. "On top of that, they often have a spin to them, so do not rush to receive them. The high speed might fool you into thinking the ball will soon hit the floor, but the spin often makes it ge trajectory shortly before that."

  "Yeah,” the girl agreed. “It's like the ball tried to escape my receive at the end there..."

  "Correct, that is what usually happens when you try to predict the trajectory ahead of time,” Fiona said. “Therefore, against elia’s serves and spikes, it is better to observe the ball for a little longer and adjust your position accly befoing for the receive."

  "I-I'm not sure I’d be able to receive it in time if I wait..."

  "It takes practice," Fiona agreed. "For now, just keep this in mind the ime you try to receive her serve or spike. Even if you fail again, the most important thing is to learn and improve from each attempt."

  "Right. Thanks!" The girl nodded with a smile.

  But, will this advice be enough? Fiona wondered. I give her all the advi the world, but I ot trol how much of it will sink in, or how it will improve her future pys.

  Fiona could only sigh at this aspect of team-based games. No matter how well she uood the game or how well she pyed, the oute of the match was not going to depend on her skill alone.

  In volleyball, there were six pyers on the court and each of them could potentially mispy at any time. Fiona could advise them at every step and cover for their mistakes as much as humanly possible, but there was a limit to how much a single pyer could achieve in a team sport.

  Not to mention, there was also the team's morale to sider. A pyer's motivation was just as important as their teical skill, if not more. Therefore, Fiona was not allowed to be too harsh oeammates during the game itself, as that had a ce of l morale and further hurting the team’s odds.

  All she could do was give basic advice while staying on good terms with her teammates. Truly, it was quite the hurdle.

  While Fiona was menting the situation, the pyers oher side of the court celebrated. At least, most of them did.

  "I-I missed..." elia muttered. How could it happen!? My target was clearly her than the La s, yet the ball went in a totally different dire! What a blunder!

  For better or worse, it seemed like elia was the only one who had a problem with this development. The rest of the team rejoiced.

  "Nice serve!" "Wow, that was one heck of a killer!" "I doubt I'd be able to receive that."

  The team sang praises for elia's noble serve even though it was pletely off the mark. But, maybe this was fine? After all, only elia knew for certain whom she was really targeting.

  "O-Ohoho! Did you burn that brilliant serve into your memory ?" elia asked. "Behold, such is the skill of a true he ball moved exactly as I a and vanquished my target!"

  The rest of the team nodded in agreement, but there was an obje from the other side of the court. "BS! I’m calling BS on that!" Karen shouted from the other side of the court. "Weren't you aiming at my sis? That wasn't even close! Your aim is dogshit, haha!"

  "hat does a oner such as yourself even know!? Hmph!" elia crossed her arms and lifted her . "I did say I will challenge Fiona, but I didn't say WHEN. This first serve was just a warm-up."

  "Yeaaaah, I'm totally buying that."

  "Just you watch!" elia thrust her finger. "With this serve, I shall obliterate the entire La family!"

  "Damn, did you girls hear that? This lunatic just fessed she gonna attempt murder in broad daylight, haha."

  "Enough idle chatter." The coach whistled, urging elia to proceed to the serve.

  Just you watch, Karen! elia squeezed the ball tightly and took a deep breath. With this serve, I shall surely strike down the Las!

  She tossed the ball high into the air, then ran up to it and jumped with all her might. Every cell in her body was burning with the desire to smite down Fiona La, her eternal rival!

  BANG! It sounded like a gunshot. elia hit the ball like there was no tomorrow, p every fiber of her determination into the strike!

  The bullet darted toward the and nearly crashed into it, but fortunately, it went just a little above. Naturally, the target of this lightning-fast attack was her than... Karen!?

  T-That's not where I aimed!!! elia cried internally.

  But, what's done was dohe disobedient ball decided it would rather strike down the “younger sister" first. Well, either way, this should bring elia oep closer to asserting the von Galens' dominance over the Las!

  But, will it really go that smoothly? As frustrating as it was to admit, Karen wasn't the easiest of prey.

  But, of course, it will be fine! elia was vihat lowly servant will not be able to withstand the fory noble serve!

  heless, the pleb tried to resist her fate.

  Alright, I see that dang spin! Karen carefully followed the ball's trajectory while moving toward it. She had challenged enough of these quirky serves by now to know what to expect.

  Agh! Shit, this spin is such a pain in the ass! Karen gritted her teeth as she struggled to predict where the ball would nd. It was flying so fast, yet it was also swaying to the right.

  But, how much to the right will it actually go? This thing was like a dang baseball curveball or some shit, even though this was supposed to be volleyball!

  It was no wohe irls always struggled to stop these tricky serves. sidering the speed, it was really hard to see the ball at all, much less its spin

  However, Karen retty adept at stuff like that, probably because she dabbled in some baseball before. So, pared to baseball pitches, elia's serves were a slowball at best.

  Here! Karen got into position. Her observation and predi were fwless! The ball leaped toward her hands as expected.

  I did it! Ez! Karen grinned. "Take that, you snobby ass- ack!"

  BAM! The ball crashed into her arms with all its might!

  Even though the velocity had nothing on baseball pitches, the ball itself was hel bigger. As a result, the attack packed quite the pund it didn’t bounce off Karen’s hands as ly as she wanted.

  “Gah! You little shit…!” Karen cursed as the ball ricocheted to the side. , go up! Go up! Up, I’m telling you…!

  As, the ball refused to take off. It fell on the floor and rolled away.

  “Fuuuu!” Karen cursed at the misbehaving ball. To add insult to injury, it decided to roll toward the worst target possible.

  “Hmm.” Fiona picked up the ball. “How unfortunate.”

  “Geh!” Karen almost choked. “S-Sorry, Sis! The spin was real wild and stuff, so it kinda just jumped away, haha…”

  “Yes, the spin was there as usual,” Fiona agreed. “But, to me, it looked as if you read the trajectory correctly.”

  “Well duh, of course I did.” Karen puffed her chest. “I mean, I’ve dealt with like billions of her serves by now, so I know how to read them and stuff.”

  “Yet, you failed to properly receive it.”

  “Ack, well, that’s…”

  “What should I make of this, I wonder?” Fiona’s eyes were filled with disappoi. “Could it be that my own sister is g practi receiving? Despite how critical the teique is for volleyball?”

  “W-Well…” Karen gulped. “I wouldn’t say I’m ‘g’ it or anything…”

  Actually, it was exactly the case. pared to the rest of Karen’s skills in volleyball, her receives left much to be desired.

  Normally, she was doing a fine job hiding this fact because serves and spikes weren’t that strong in girls’ volleyball. But, on a while, when she had to deal with truly strong attacks, that’s when Karen’s defe all exposed like this.

  “This will not do, Karen,” Fiona criticized. “I always tell you to take your receiving practice seriously.”

  “Yeah, and I practice that stuff just like everything else. Really!”

  “Well, it is clearly not enough,” Fiona asserted. “It seems you need supplementary practice.”

  “Eeeeeeh? Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Fiona nodded without mercy. “Hmm. I suppose you could start by practig receiving for an hour after school time. Every. Single. Day.”

  “Whaaaaaaaaa???”

  “Is there a problem?”

  “Well, we have Mancers practice today as well and all…”

  “True,” Fiona nodded. “How is that a problem, though? It is not like your day will e to an end after that. You will still have many hours to spare.”

  “That’s true, I guess…” Karen caved in. There was no winning this argument, she already khat. For somebody like Fiona, whose entire schedule acked to the brim, the idea that a person might want to use their free time for leisure didn’t eve.

  And so, Karen submitted with a sigh. "Okay, maybe I'll practice a little..."

  "Good girl." Fioed her younger sister's head.

  "Meow~" Karen poured like a kitten.

  Unfortunately, as fun as this exge was for Karen, it didn't ge the fact that the enemy had scored yet another point. The game had barely started and the score was already 2-0. And, sinobody had broken elia’s serves yet, the terror of her explosive attacks will tinue...

  DarkestCymore