Abernathy and Co. didn't seem to know how to react when Lexie walked forward.

They made vaguely shocked sounds along with several other people in the crowd. Lexie heard a few of the onlookers whispering, wondering who exactly she was and why a nine-year-old was challenging Conrad Grace.

I'm eleven, Lexie thought in response but she didn't say anything.

While Lexie didn't typically like being the center of attention, it didn't bother her that much anymore either. It was a necessary evil this time and she blocked everyone out of her mind for now. She needed to focus on this puzzle.

She caught sight of Uncle Max on the way in and gave him a thumbs-up. He was still on his bench and frowned at her, expression seeming to wonder, 'What is this crazy kid doing this time?'. But he didn't move to stop her from entering the field.

As she did, Lexie took the first few seconds to sort through her cards again.

She had to create a mental shortlist so that she didn't have to think as much once she was in the thick of it.

He's going to be faster than any card I pull last minute, she thought, her mind racing. So I better have all my ducks in a row. I need to be more proactive than reactive, make this my dance.

She glanced at the other two teenage boys entering the field. She also thought back to the last team's strategy.

That team had an advantage, in that everyone likely knew each other. She was with strangers. Wouldn't it be better if she hung back for the first minute or so to get a sense of how they moved? She wouldn't want to get in their way and wouldn't want them to get in hers.

The blonde one in front was already striding towards her to say, "What are you?"

"Huh?"

"Come on, quickly. We gotta discuss strategy. Lane is a staffie. You? You look pretty young, are you some kind of mage prodigy?"

Staffie? What did that even mean?

She guessed she would find out.

"I'm a Card User."

The boy stared at her for a second. Anger glinted in his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" he snarled, his voice a little loud. "Why are you even here then?"

Lexie was irritated at his reaction, so she gave him a sugary smile to annoy him more. "I don't know. I thought it might be fun. Am I not allowed to have fun?" She even widened her eyes like Elle Woods did in Legally Blonde when she delivered that iconic, "Harvard, like it's hard?" line.

The wistful memory drifted across Lexie's mind. That movie was Mickie's favorite, and she made Lexie watch it so many times she practically had the thing memorized at one point.

Lexie wondered if there was an equivalent to Legally Blonde on Earth 9. She should look it up at some point.

She shoved those wistful memories aside and returned her attention to Blondie who was still glaring at her. The staffie was also looking at her with confusion and concern like he seriously worried she might be that ditzy.

Blonde finally let out a breath. "Shit, whatever, just stay out of the way."

"You got it," she responded.

She stood back and watched them get in position

Turned out that a staffie was someone who held a retractable, well, staff. He was a weaponist, judging by the blue mana glowing over the weapon he held.

While they got ready, she went back to her card sorting. This would be a great time to use the Rule of Six and Quick Draw but she hadn't affixed a starter deck yet. No matter. She would just keep her shortlist in mind.

She started with a process of elimination taking out <Music to My Ears> and <Fairest of them All>. She didn't think they would do much to help her. <Handy Helper> would be useful but was notoriously difficult to activate. She wasn't eliminating it, just keeping in mind that she would need time for that activation. And it didn't look like Conrad was going to give her a lot of time so that one was going on the 'maybe' list. <All Eyes on Me> also went on the 'no' list, and so did Party Hopper.

Of course, on the likely shortlist were <Hustle and Shuffle> and <Charades Champion> because she needed to read him well and move fast to accommodate for his reflexes. She probably wouldn't be able to catch up even if she skipped safety nodes and pushed a ton of mana into her pathways. Still, every little bit helped.

She also chose <Let's Have a Blast> and <Shut Up and Dance> too. Since Conrad didn't have a mana ranking, his mana pathways might be easier to manipulate. But he could also break that manipulation just like how he'd broken out of Kristoff's magnetic hold.

Finally, she put in <Out of Sight, Out of Mind>. She didn't know how that card would work with Conrad's reflexes. The card warned that the effect might break once she interacted with the target, like it had for the ghoul, but she wasn't entirely sure what counted as interaction. After all, Berserker's could sense a threat from close by so was their instinct constantly prodding the atmosphere, interacting with everything around them so they could respond in time? Also, as Conrad proved, his body would react even if their mind didn't see the threat. So would <Out of Sight, Out of Mind> even work on him? She wasn't sure, but she just might try.

Nerves mixed in with the anticipation. Lexie had never gone up against a skilled fighter like this before. But Conrad had a vulnerable mental state. She needed to exploit that somehow.

She would have loved to use <A Compelling Argument> card if only to see if it made him easier or harder to manipulate but she had not yet incorporated the card into her deck, and she wasn't willing to sacrifice twenty-four-hour use of all her other cards just for that one card.

"Are you guys ready?" Conrad asked the two boys first before turning to Lexie.

She nodded as she mentally marked her final line-up.

Everything of course would also depend on her observation of the other two. They were a team after all.

Speaking of the other two, they seemed to have planned something because they shared a look and nodded. They must know each other, after all. The blonde guy who spoke to her, cracked his knuckles and stared at Conrad with a focused and greedy glitter in his gaze. And his companion clenched his jaw and his fists.

On the contrary, Lexie and Conrad appeared mostly relaxed. Lexie because she didn't actually want to join the circuit so the result of this match wasn't all that important to her. She had a moment of guilt, feeling bad for maybe taking this opportunity from someone else. She wiped the thought away, when Conrad grinned at them.

She would have time to be guilty later after this was over. After she beat him.

Conrad gave her an odd look before he turned to the boys. "The clock starts from your first move."

They nodded.

Then Conrad turned back to Lexie with a kind smile, "Sweetie, do you want to step back a little? I have a feeling those two are going to rush me at the same time and I don't want you getting hurt."

"Sure," she said and took a few steps back. A few people in the crowd giggled and some of them gave her the classic 'aw'. Lexie blushed, but internally she scoffed. And Uncle Max said I wasn't cute anymore.

Of course, there were those, like Blondie, who were annoyed that she was even there.

But the consensus was that no one was taking her seriously. They seemed to have bought the idea that she'd joined on the impulse of a kid who wanted to play fight, and who didn't realize how important this was. And they thought Conrad was only indulging her because she was cute and eight, which was partially untrue since she was eleven whole years old.

All that was beside the point. The point was that undermining her worked very well in her favor. Not only did it mean they would allow her the time to observe, it meant she actually had a shot at catching Conrad off-guard, and using the element of surprise against him.

Which was great.

Blondie was a speedster, and without warning, he took off. He was faster than the last speedster, and more agile too, seemingly able to switch directions quickly. He tore across the ground and came eyeballs close to Conrad, before the latter stepped out of the way. Only to move directly into the path of Lane's retractable staff.

Yup, Lane was suddenly behind Conrad without warning.

Oooh, interesting. He'd used a teleportation orb? Or did he have short-range teleportation abilities? Or was he a speedster too who moved fast enough to cover tons of ground in a couple of seconds?

After seeing him move again, Lexie concluded that it was the last option. He was even faster than Blondie.

Two speedsters taking on Conrad at the same time. This might actually work.

None of them was particularly physical. Unlike the previous group who'd tried to attack Conrad, these guys were smart enough to understand that they wouldn't be any match for Conrad's physical strength so their effort was better focused on snatching the flag from his head.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Good.

At a point, they both boxed Conrad in, and Lane swung his staff at the flag. Conrad did a Matrix-style lean back, but the Staff shimmered blue and extended, forming a small-curved protrusion like a scythe. He quickly angled it lower, to cut off the staff of the flag, but Conrad brought his hand up and the scythe sliced into his hand instead. Still in the lean, he grabbed both the staff and Blondie's feet, lifted and flung them away. They landed on the floor, Lane on his feet and Blondie rolling, but they didn't stay down for long, charging at him again.

"God, every group gets better than the last." Conrad laughed but they were on him before he could finish his sentence. Lane hung back a little this time, out of arm's reach from Conrad, using his staff to close the distance and try to slice the flag from Conrad's headband. Conrad dodged to the side, and then put a hand to block Blondie's blow and follow-up high kick. Lexie was disappointed that Blondie had turned physical. She thought they understood that they wouldn't be able to overpower Conrad, and she doubted even an army of them could.

But to Lexie's pleasant surprise, hurting Conrad wasn't the point of Blondie's attack. The blow was to distract from the kick, which put Blondie's leg in the right orientation to boost Staffie who as he leapfrogged over Conrad to snatch the flag in the process.

Lexie nearly clapped. That was great choreography, and the buzzing crowd clearly thought so too.

Unfortunately, it was still not enough.

Conrad snatched Lane by the wrist and tossed him back. Then he quickly caught Blondie, throwing him back to.

They were doing well, but Lexie knew that the boys' stamina wouldn't last forever. She would have to make her move soon.

Lexie's heart raced and her palms tingled. She felt an energy rushing through her.

This is kind of fun, she thought.

Her final lineup looked like this: <Hustle and Shuffle> <Charades Champion> <Let's Have A Blast> <Getting Out of Hand>, possibly <Handy Helper> and <Out of Mind, Out of Sight>. Handy Helper would be the last thing she used if she used it. It would be her finisher that she could exhaust her mana with. Not only because it would take her the longest time to activate but also because it would be better with an element of surprise.

She wanted to talk to the other two to formulate a plan, but they were too busy going attack after attack, without giving room to stop and adjust.

Lexie tried calling their attention. She whistled. "Hey, you two. I have an idea."

No one listened. The fight continued, with Conrad deftly blocking all their moves, and the boys getting more desperate and more sweaty. The crowd was beginning to call out suggestions but they were unhelpful things like "Get him in the nuts!" and "Take out his knee". Lexie was faced with a new conundrum. They needed a brief time out.

Without thinking, she sighed and activated her <Can I Have Your Attention Card?>

"Hey!"

The sound exploded like a megaphone around them and everyone stopped what they were doing. The two boys searched around for the source of the voice, before focusing on Lexie frowning.

"I have a plan," she said, crossing her arm. "We should take five seconds to discuss it."

They gave her a look of disbelief.

"You have a plan?" Lane asked.

"Is she kidding me right now?" Blondie countered and she shook her head.

"It's a good one too," she said.

"You think you could make a better plan than us?"

"Well duh since yours currently isn't working."

Blondie flushed, as a few in the crowd giggled. Lexie heard her name and thought it was probably Abernathy calling but she didn't look at him since she wanted to focus.

"What's the plan?" Lane called out but before Lexie could explain Blondie glared at him and said, "Really? She's just wasting our time. We only have a few minutes left to get the flag."

"Are you guys pausing or not?" Conrad asked.

"Definitely not pausing." Blondie wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"You sure?" Conrad's lips quirked as he considered Lexie again. "The Little Lady sounds very sure of herself."

"She's a kid, she's just joking around."

"No I'm not," Lexie said but the duration of her card had finished and they could safely ignore her now.

"How did she get so loud?" she heard one person from the crowd ask, but she disregarded them. She was frustrated. She needed the boys on her side. Things got so much more difficult if they didn't work together.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so sarcastic with him at the beginning.

But it didn't look like she had a choice. She had to find a way to work around them.

As they continued their futile attacks, Lexie thought maybe she could start by assisting them without their input.

So she began to search for openings. The first thing she tried was that, when Staffie got in Conrad's face again trying to slice off the flag, she activated the <Getting Out of Hand> card to make Conrad stumble in his escape. Of course, it took three seconds before the card actually kicked in, at which point Conrad had already dodged it and only stumbled after the fact. Even then he recovered quickly before Blondie could take advantage of his gaff and take the flag from him.

Yeah, <Getting Out of Hand> wouldn't work for him.

The second thing she tried was to activate the <Shut Up And Dance> so she could confuse his feet and make him mirror her. She felt the mana drain from that one but it worked for a few seconds. Conrad looked confused as Lexie started dancing from one foot to the next and he was forced to do the same.

A few people in the audience caught it, and said, "What the hell?"

Conrad's eyes also traveled to her for a second, but he twisted and broke out of it.

Meanwhile, Lexie's team had stupidly stopped to watch Conrad dance instead of taking advantage of the fact that he was trapped in place. They probably thought it was some kind of trick and were trying to figure out a counter. And Lexie couldn't tell them what to do because she had to stay quiet for the card to work. Ugh. This is why they should have discussed things! They would have caught the flag if they had been working together but by the time they realized it was Lexie's doing, Conrad was already moving.

From then on Conrad started avoiding Lexie's finger.

Lexie was getting frustrated.

Damn. She'd worked so hard on lowering her activation time and her cool-off time to the lowest in recorded history, but it was still not enough. For people with speed and agility like Conrad, every millisecond counted and she was always late by at least a second. Again it would be one thing if she had spoken to the boys so they could coordinate the attacks but everyone was doing their own thing at this point. And Lexie was very aware of their time ticking down.

She hung back as she waited for her mana to build up again. Once in a while, she heard people wondering if Lexie was truly using card magic or if that was some kind of illusion. A lot of them couldn't believe she was activating the cards so fast, and that the cards were working differently from how they expected.

Lexie blocked everyone out again and decided that for this to work, she would have to join the fray herself which wasn't ideal because she wasn't physical and her cards didn't make up for the gap between her and Conrad's physical ability. But at least Conrad wasn't going to attack her unless she tried to grab the flag, which gave her a shot at medium-range attacks. She just needed to get close enough without reaching for him, so she could execute her plan.

As she activated <Out of Sight, Out of Mind>, then <Charades Champion> so she would know the second he was aware of her. She dashed for him, getting within a few feet. He wasn't paying attention to her. He was mostly focusing his defense on the other two. Good. The card was working.

She partially activated another card, and jumped on Lane's staff, pouncing at Conrad and reaching for the flag.

But as she half-expected, his hand snatched out to catch her leg. Though he still wasn't consciously aware of her, his body was. The effect was broken. His eyes widened as he stared at her, shocked as to how she got there.

"You do have tricks after all," he chuckled, hopping back to avoid the other two as he hung her upside down in the air. "Maybe they should have listened to you."

"Maybe," she said, pointing at his face and completing activation for <Let's Have a Blast>.

Conrad's eyes widened as he noticed his mistake. He flung her away, but not before a shower of confetti hit him straight in the face.

"Get it!" She yelled at the other two boys as she soared through the air and landed on her back. Oof. That was hard.

Lane charged first for Conrad who was coughing and sneezing and maybe even laughing at the confetti in his face. The Staffie got close enough for his fingers to skim the edge of the flag. The crowd gasped. But Conrad turned on instinct and hit him in the stomach, sending him flying.

"Oh shoot!" Conrad said, still wiping his face. "Sorry about that. You caught me off guard."

Lane didn't answer rolling on the floor and clutching his stomach, groaning in pain.

Blondie went next while Conrad was blinded and Lexie went right after him. She already knew Conrad's weakness and she knew that he was excessively careful when he was driven to the edge so that he wouldn't hurt people. He would be feeling bad that he'd accidentally hurt Lane and he would be even more reluctant to hurt Blondie or a little girl in front of a crowd.

Good, because Lexie was planning on using his caution against him by going all out.

Lexie prepared another confetti blast . He would see it coming this time, so she had preactivated <Shut Up and Dance> on the heel of that so it would keep him frozen in place. Then she pushed all the rest of her mana into preactivating <Handy Helper> and the banked <Hustle and Shuffle> for when the cooldown was over. She would have to wait till he was no longer looking at her to try <Out of Sight, Out of Mind>.

Handling four cards at the same time wasn't easy. Her mind throbbed and a warning echoed at the edge of her vision that she was approaching mana depletion, but she didn't care. Their time was almost up anyway.

She met Blondie's eyes and said, "Keep him busy."

Surprisingly, the boy didn't say anything snarky. He simply pressed his lips together and nodded. He attacked as she hung back. Conrad had cleared most of the confetti from his face, and by the time she stopped to point at him again, he smirked and jumped away."You're not getting me again."

Unfortunately for him <Shut Up and Dance> had already activated and made him mirror her move dancing back into the trajectory of the blast.

His eyes widened and she grinned pointing it in his face again. "Sorry."

Just like last time, the confetti blast got him in the face, as Blondie jumped for the flag.

Conrad sightlessly grabbed him by the shirt, but, just as Lexie thought, he was reluctant to fling him, just in case he used too much force again. It was only a few seconds of hesitation, as Blondie fought valiantly to grab the flag, but it was enough.

Lane had recovered enough to also get back into the fray, transporting behind Conrad again. Lexie fully activated <Hustle and Shuffle> and <Out of Sight, Out of Mind>. She ran for him.

But just as Lexie got close, Conrad Grace turned himself into a mini whirlwind.

Lexie was flung back and hit the ground. It was a painless landing, thanks to Lightfoot.

And just like that, the time was up.

She got back up as Conrad continued dusting confetti off his face grinning, all traces of malevolent berserker gone. "That was a great run guys! You doing okay?"

"Yeah," Blondie grumbled, looking disappointed. So did Lane.

But Lexie was beaming as Conrad approached her.

"How did you do the whirlwind thing?" she asked. "Super speed?"

"Something like that," he said. His eyes glittered with curiosity. "I have to admit I didn't expect that from you. I'm very impressed, little lady. In a few years, you might actually be a real threat. You almost won.'

"Almost doesn't cut it," she said automatically, her mantra back on Earth 2. She dusted off her clothes. "Besides, I didn't almost win."

Conrad misunderstood and rushed to comfort her. "Oh trust me, you did! You got very close and even got me to unleash my super secret move. That's closer than anyone else has gotten today, most of whom are older than you. You did a fantastic job, so don't be disappointed."

"I'm not. I'm just stating facts. I didn't almost win."

He frowned in confusion. And then she held out her hand as her little handy helper floated the flag over to her, the flag that had been taken from Conrad's hat in the middle of his whirlwind attack that sent them all across the field.

Lexie had been activating Handy Helper while most of the final attack had been going on. Everything she had done and coached the other boys to do had been to hide that. And it worked.

She took the flag in her hand and pointed it up at Conrad's stupefied face.

"I won." She grinned.

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