Chapter 26: Before Disaster
After what had been an unexpected advertisement of their team, Team Shadow Liege had been immediately confronted by the Slayers. At the head, stood a female with short black hair, golden eyes, and dark chocolate skin. Her outfit was like that of a female pirate but it was quite revealing.
Behind this female stranger stood a total of five other players who were also feminine. It seemed that their team was only made of female players.
"It's nice to meet you, Team Shadow Liege!" Greeted the female player. "My name is Sadie and this is my team known as the Slayers! We're currently the #1 team!"
No one from Team Shadow Liege gave a response. Instead, everyone simply looked at Shade as if expecting him to give an answer. However, Shade simply ignored Sadie's greetings before turning around and walking in the opposite direction.
Sadie could hardly believe her eyes. She had made the effort to greet them, yet they had ignored her. It was quite disrespectful.
"Oii! What the hell?! I'm speaking to you, Head Reaper!" Shouted Sadie taking offense.
Despite this, Shade still did not respond. He continued to walk away with the others following his lead.
"Do you think that it's a good idea to ignore her like that? She might become offended and try to pick a fight," warned Maria.
"I don't really care. We've already drawn too much attention to ourselves. I'm not interested in gaining more than we already have," replied Shade.
Just then, Sadie and her team ran towards them. Aggressively, she then grabbed onto Shade's shoulder, demanding his attention. This was before Celia and Arora quickly got in between them with their weapons in hand. They wouldn't allow Sadie to even touch Shade.
"I apologize but we can't allow you to touch Shade. Please leave us alone!" Warned Arora.
"You should listen to her. We're not trying to get into a fight so early. Though, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to die at the hands of a beautiful girl such as myself," bloated Celia.
Upon seeing this, the members of Team Slayers also got their weapons in hand, ready to defend themselves. This forced Maria and Rondo to do the same as well. However, Shade remained calm with his hands stuffed away in his pockets and his eyes glaring back at Sadie.
"What is this?! All I was trying to do was greet you bunch! Do you think that you're better than us or something?!" Cursed Sadie.
"I agree that it was a little rude of us to not say anything but are you going to start a fight over something as trivial as that?" Questioned Rondo.
"Urgh..! Damn it! Shut up, you dumb boy! I was trying to show some respect to that leader of yours but he obviously doesn't respect us! I don't tolerate disrespect!"
Slowly, Shade then turned himself around with an annoyed look across his face. Things were starting to get out of hand.
"Who the hell said I was the leader?" He asked.
"W-what? You aren't the leader..?"
"Actually, I'm the leader..." Interjected Celia.
Sadie then calmed herself as she analyzed the situation. She realized that she had made a grave error.
"I see... I must apologize then. I thought that the famed Head Reaper would be the leader of his team. I shouldn't have assumed like that."
"Well, whatever. I'm going on ahead."
Once again, Shade then turned himself around and began walking away. Celia and the others then proceeded to follow but they were stopped by Sadie once more.
"Wait! I don't understand... I was quite relieved to hear that this woman was the leader of your team. But why do you all follow this man despite him not being your leader? Can he not allow the young lady to assume her position as leader without taking it from her?!"
Again, everyone from Team Shadow Liege then came to a stop except for Shade who continued to walk. They believed that they needed to clear the misinterpretation before they continued.
"Shade, wait! I think we should see what they want," noted Celia.
"It doesn't matter, Celia. Take a good look around you before you make such a decision."
Celia then did as Shade instructed. She carefully analyzed her surroundings before realizing that many other players around them were watching their dramatic confrontation take place. It wasn't a good look.
Shade had initially told them not to draw too much attention to themselves. It was already bad enough that they had been advertised to every other player in the town. A confrontation with another team wasn't helping their situation.
"I see... I didn't even notice..."
"It's fine. We have more important things to focus on right now. We don't have time to make conversation with another team."
Everyone agreed with Shade. Once again, he had made a claim that was hard to deny. Following this, they all continued to walk away, leaving Team Slayers behind.
However, this did not bode well with Sadie. She viewed the situation as a disrespectful act that shouldn't be tolerated.
A few minutes later, Team Shadow Liege settled inside a small motel which they had quickly purchased. Normally, it would be best for them to stock up on items before anything else but they needed to get out of public view for a while.
"So what do we do now?" Asked Arora.
"I need you all to stay here for a while and try to figure out what the Second Stage is about. I'm going out for a bit," replied Shade.
"What? Where are you going?" Asked Maria.
Shade did not respond. Instead, he adjusted his gear before opening the door to leave the room.
Shade had not mentioned it to them but he had seen something quite odd while they were out in the town. He had noticed that a few players had been hiding within the crowd as if to spy on them. This was part of the reason he had been so eager to get out of public view so quickly. Shade believed that the players who were spying on them were from the ME Organization. He was going to find them. Little did he know the danger that awaited him.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just going out for a bit."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone