Chapter 161 - Declaration of War

Back inside the Kings' waiting room, Fina was sitting down feeling very much mortified. Her friends were around her trying to cheer the little girl up.

She had lost. Although it wasn't her first ever loss from fighting in a match, she didn't expect to lose to anyone other than her friends from Little Kings.

Yes, it was a conceited thought, but the amount of effort and training that she put in had given her the confidence to think like this.

But, in the end she had lost. And it was to someone who had obvious designs on her best friend's boyfriend.

Her friends were comforting her, and Lucia was even hugging her. When she got back to the room, there were no tears or cries of frustration. She only walked towards her seat and plopped down in silence.

It was worrying for her friends since normally during their training sessions, Fina would be the one that would take the most amounts of losses whenever they sparred with each other. By now they thought that the girl could take on this minor setback, but it seems they were insensitive and wrong.

"It's alright Fina, you did your best." Lucia said in comfort.

"...but...I still lost...and to her..." Fina mumbled.

"!"

Lucia raised a brow in surprise, what did she mean by that? Were these two previously acquainted? Did they have some sort of history before all this?

"What do you mean? Is there some sort of grudge between you two?"

"N-no...nothing like that...it's just...she said something that irked me during the battle..."

"...oh..."

"Ah...no wonder you started fighting so recklessly in the latter half of the match." Cecil cut in.

"...Cel, could you be a little more considerate? She's hurting y'know. Why're you being so insensitive?" Lucia scolded.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's just, although the match seemed to look bleak after Serilla revealed her Intent, it wasn't like Fina was put in any disadvantage. I mean, she's been taking my concentrated Intent all throughout our training, so an untrained Weapon Intent like Serilla's couldn't possibly hinder her in anyway." Cecil reasoned.

"Your point being?"

"Fina lost due to inexperience, that's all. She was taunted during her fight, and she lost her composure, which then led to her losing the match. I should have taken in this aspect when we were training. Sorry, it looks like I didn't prepare enough." Cecil replied with a sigh.

"N-no! That's not it Cecil!" Fina quickly said. "It's not your fault or anything! It...It was my own fault. And just like you said it was also because of my inexperience..."

"...alright, so can you explain why you lost your cool?"

"U-uhm...that... well, it's because...she said something really horrible about Lucia..."

"Huh?"

"...what?" Cecil asked, feeling an unknown rise of anger boiling within him.

"Well...she said something about...taking an important person away from her..."

"What?" Cecil's anger immediately calmed. 'So she wasn't insulted or anything? Jeez, what the heck was I so worked up for?'

"An important person...?" Lucia said in deep thought...then she turned to look at the girl standing next to Cecil and realized. "Oh...I see, so then this explains why this girl is here in our waiting room...right?"

"Y-yeah...actually wait...WHY ARE YOU HERE?! GET OUT!!!" Fina exploded.

"Woah!"

"!"

Everyone in the room was immediately taken aback by Fina's sudden outburst. She was feeling down earlier, but when she saw a certain someone, she suddenly exploded in anger.

"Oh my~ am I not welcomed?" A pink haired rabbitkin girl said airily.

"NO! So get out!!" Fina yelled in response.

"Oh dear~"

Fina turned towards her friend with a worried look.

"Lulu! Shouldn't you be worried?! She's here to steal...him away y'know!"

"...well, I guess this explains things...but I'm glad you were worried about me Fina, ehehe~" Lucia replied with a carefree smile.

"Lucia!"

Serilla Lunarts, Fina's opponent in her earlier match was currently inside the Kings' waiting room. In fact, the person who brought the mortified Fina into the room was actually her.

Fina had exhausted a lot of her mana so she was feeling lethargic, just as Cecil was going to go on stage to fetch her, Serilla had actually flashed towards her side before she collapsed and carried her into the waiting room.

Cecil shrugged at this and let her be, she was lending a helping hand so there was no need to be impolite and reject it. She simply stated that she wanted to help Fina since she very much admired the little girl for her abilities.

Now with Fina's explanation, Lucia and the rest of Little Kings, with the exception of Cecil, had learned about another ulterior motive. Serilla was here for Cecil.

"S-shouldn't you be a little bit worried?" Velicia asked as she turned a wary eye towards Serilla who was standing a little too close for comfort next to Cecil.

Eli had a complicated look on her face. The other side was her best friend, while the other side was a childhood playmate, rival, and a person who could practically be called her sister considering how close they were.

Ainz was meditating and getting into gear since his match was after another 2 matches.

Lucia gave a provocative smirk at Serilla who was standing beside Cecil and said, "Why should I be worried? Considering how dense 'he' is, he wouldn't even get the clue!"

Everyone turned a discrete eye towards the boy in question. Cecil already had a feeling that something was up when he heard the reason behind Fina's lack of composure during her match. He didn't understand, however he was still curious to know who Lucia's precious person was.

But after hearing the ambiguous way they were talking, Cecil felt bored so he went ahead and sat himself down next to Ainz. He was yawning while watching the ongoing match.

Serilla who was standing next to him had a thoughtful expression on.

'No wonder he seemed so oblivious.'

Serilla looked back towards Lucia and gave a sly smile while looking at her smug face.

"What happened if I did this?"

The rabbitkin girl marched in front of Cecil and grabbed his face with both her hands. Cecil had just finished yawning so he was surprised at the suddenness of her action. He thought that it was Lucia at first, but the scent was a little different.

"Huh?"

Serilla tilted Cecil's head upwards to face hers, she bent down and...

"Chuuuuuu~"

She...kissed him. It wasn't the normal lip-to-lip, she even had the courage and audacity to slip in her tongue into the boy's mouth and tangle it with his.

"!!!"

"OI!"

"GAH!!!"

"Oh gosh..."

"Damn! Can't you guys shut uaAHHH—HOLY SHIT!!!" Ainz exclaimed in shock. His meditation had been interrupted by the sudden noise everyone in the room was making. He opened his eyes only to witness the horrifying scene in front of him.

Serilla finished her kiss and smiled seductively at the dumbfounded Cecil. The boy was overwhelmed. He heard from his mother that this kind of activity could only be done between a boy and a girl who were in love with each other.

"I like you, Cecil. Won't you be mine?" She said while leaning closer to him. It seems that she wasn't done with her kiss just yet.

"Wuh?" Cecil's brain had short-circuited that he couldn't give an answer, but he didn't need to. Just as Serilla was about to kiss him again, she suddenly pulled away and brandished her sword.

CLANG!

"...you don't need to answer that Cel..." Lucia said darkly.

"Oh my~ are you finally feeling threatened?"

"..."

Serilla's remark caused Lucia's aura to immediately change from a crimson color to a dark purple color. She was mad—no, she was furious.

"Lucia!"

"Hey!"

Lucia pressed her weapon closer to Serilla. Her katana's blade was closing in on Serilla's neck, but the girl only had that same lazy smile on her face. Her face also had a little blush on it and this caused Lucia to be even more furious.

Serilla was just about to push back, but then she quickly backed away when she saw Lucia's Butterfly flying towards her face.

Lucia didn't pursue her. She instead sheathed both her weapons and quickly turned towards the dumbfounded Cecil.

Cecil was still stupidly staring ahead of him. This caused Lucia's eyes to feel a little pained, but then her eyes solidified, like she had resolved herself for something. Serilla saw this and her two rabbit ears rose in surprise.

"Ohhoo~"

Lucia did the exact same thing that Serilla had done earlier to Cecil. She grabbed his face with both hands, tilted his head up and planted a kiss on his lips.

"!!!" Cecil widened his eyes in surprise.

Lucia pried opened his mouth and stuck her tongue inside and tangled it with his. When she finished, there was a happy expression on her blushed face. She was blushing and for some reason Cecil thought that this expression was...lovely.

Lucia backed up and turned towards Serilla, "Hmph. He's mine!"

"Huhu~ well, take this as me declaring war~"

"Just give up already! He's MINE!"

"Sorry~ but I won't back down, especially since the man I chose is so exceptional~"

The bunny girl sheathed her sword and flashed next to Cecil and began hugging his arm.

"HEY!"

Not wanting to lose, Lucia grabbed onto Cecil's other arm.

"Hands off!"

"No way~"

"CEL!!! Are you okay with this?!!" Lucia shouted at the boy.

"L-Lucia," Ainz said with a pained expression. "I don't think he's listening..."

"Huh?"

"Actually, I don't think he even can..." Ainz continued while pointing at the boy that the 2 girls were hugging.

"..."

You could practically see the smoke coming out of his mouth and ears. Cecil's brain had crashed from the 2 consecutive passionate kisses. First was from a very beautiful upper classmen and then the second was from his very precious friend.

"Cel? Cel?? Cel!!!" Lucia shouted as she rocked him back and forth.

"Oh my~ufufufu~" Serilla continued to hug Cecil while giggling in amus.e.m.e.nt.