The Art Of Sword

*Grace and No Name*

When the two arrive at the Dance&Karaoke, they both notice that this section is separate from the other with a yellow line that covers the top and bottom of the entrance.

They ignore it and walk through the yellow line. When their whole body passes the line, they are immediately hit with flashy lights, loud music, and cheers.

Grace to No Name: Now I’m really impressed! Never thought that technology would be used for this.

No Name: So am I…Let’s go there!

No Name grabs Grace’s hand and easily drags her to where the crowd is. But when they both arrived, they couldn’t see anything except everyone back. (Grace is taller than No Name.)

Grace tells No Name “Get on my shoulder. Now!” then she lowers her elevation and No Name immediately gets on. They both have no trouble in keeping balance on each other. No Name then report to Grace about what is going on.

On the stage, there are two girls having an ‘Idol Showdown’. One of them has long silver parted hair with light blue eyes while the other has purple hair.

The two girls both sing and dance to see who hit the highest score in the game and who has the highest support from the crowd.

…

In the end, the winner is the silver-haired girl. And the purple-haired girl collapsed. Before hitting the floor the girl was caught by a guy wearing a purple scarf and a name tag “Tech Support”. The girl was then carried to a row of chairs where eight more girls were sitting together.

All of these girls look like they have no energy left.

Silver hair: Thank you C for carrying my ninth Victim to their tomb. Now! Who wants to be my 10th Victim?!

The crowd goes wild with hand raising from everyone. Now blocking No-Name’s view, but she did see the ‘Silver hair’ girl cover her ears after that speech.

No Name tells Grace “Cover Your Ears Now!” then both of them cover their ears. The crowd and everyone who wasn’t covering their ears got to hear the worst sound imaginable.

Then the “Tech Support” guy shows up on stage with a microphone.

C: Quiet down! Just like what Monarch said, we will now choose the final Victim.

Monarch's eyes start to glow: If any of you have ever gone to one of my shows in this location before, you will know that I always leave the best for last. Today, much to my surprise the best also arrived last.

Monarch jumps off the stage and approaches her 10th Victim. The crowd makes a path for Monarch to walk through. Then she stops and points the microphone at…

Monarch: You! Blondy will be my 10th Victim!

…

Grace: Ehhh! Me? Are you serious?

Monarch: Mom never wrong!

Grace: Mom?! But you don’t look that old… You know what Mom/Monarch I accept your challenge!

Monarch's eyes start to fade: Great! Let’s go! You can also bring your friend closer to the stage.

Monarch walks to the stage first.

Grace grabs No-Name’s hand forcefully: You are going to cheer me on!

No Name: But I don’t know how to cheer…

Grace: Just scream at the top of your lungs is good enough!

Grace jumps on the stage, standing next to Monarch. C then gives No Name a pair of glow sticks.

Monarch: Now, as my final Victim, choose your song!

Grace: How about you choose the song! This is my first time well… second time hearing you sing, and I want to hear your voice at its best.

Monarch: Oh! Don’t mind if I do.

!!!

C: Monarch don’t touch those, you have many Nicknames for a reason, like “The Scuff Queen”…just tell her what song you want and let her choose it.

Monarch: Fine C… the song I want is “♫♫♫♫♫”.

Grace scrolled on the panel to find “♫♫♫♫♫”…When she found it, the song was a duo song?

Monarch: This round will be different from the last 9 rounds. Instead of a 1v1, you will be performing with me.

Grace: Just so you know this is my first time doing karaoke!

Monarch: And I know you have a knack for it!

Before the song starts both Grace and Monarch each have a ‘Fan Meter’ holographically displayed next to them.

Monarch ‘Fan Meter’ 80%.

Grace ‘Fan Meter’ 20%.

Monarch sings the first line then the song immediately passes over to Grace. This goes on for the first minute, then the ‘Fan Meter’ change.

Monarch ‘Fan Meter’ 95%.

Grace ‘Fan Meter’ 5%.

Both Monarch and Grace's vocals sounded the same very mature, strong, and elegant. But Monarch definitely has better control over her voice than Grace. Plus Grace has to also dance while singing.

When the ‘Fan Meter’ reaches to a ratio of 99% vs 1%. No Name screams at the top of her lungs while swinging the pair of glow sticks.

“Let’s go, Sister! You can’t lose here! You have to beat her in one challenge at least!”

After that, the ‘Fan Meter’ changed to 90% vs 10%, and more people are now cheering for Grace.

In the end, the ‘Fan Meter’ score is 85% vs 15%. Monarch has a 99% accuracy in the ‘Vocal Score’ while Grace has a 90%. But Grace has a 100% accuracy in the ‘Dance Choreography’ while Monarch has an 80%.

C: Just as expected the winner is Monarch.

Monarch says to the crowd: Winning has always been an expected outcome for me. But today I didn’t expect that we would find a… potential Idol! Everyone makes sure to pay attention to her if she ever decides to join the industry.

“After that performance of yours, would you mind sharing your name with everyone here?”

Grace: I’m afraid not. But if I ever decided to join, my name would be created by my fans out there.

Monarch: Wow, mysterious! Let’s hope that we will see you again in the future!

That is where the show ends but not the conversation. While Monarch having a quick meet and greet with her fans. C pulls both Grace and No Name to the side to tell them something.

C: OK, Monarch really wants to talk with you two a bit more. Do you accept her request? It’s ok if you two are busy.

Grace: Sure, why not! We have plenty of time to spare.

No Name: Shouldn’t she only talk with her, why include me too? All I did was scream.

C: All I could say is… a Fan brings out an Idol's full potential… So do you both agree?

No Name and Grace: Yes!

C: Great, then follow me.

C then takes them to the ‘Green room’ in that section of the Arcade. Then tell them “Monarch will be here in a few minutes.” Then he leaves.

*Only Grace and No Name left in the room*

Grace: Let’s talk about you for a bit.

No Name: Me? Why me? Shouldn’t it be about your performance?

Grace: It’ll be bring up later. But now what I want to know is…How can your voice be that loud?

No Name: That was just a scream to cheer you on. It’s nothing special…

Grace: No no no! I myself have loud shrieks and screams before but they all need a push. Your just come out very naturally.

…

No Name: Well I did have to scream at people a lot, so that might be the cause of my loud scream.

Grace: That makes sense…I guess.

The door to the room then opens and Monarch comes in.

Monarch with a tired voice: What a day! And it’s not even over yet…

When she sees Grace and No Name her voice becomes more cheerful: Hey! You two accept my offer. How nice of you!

Grace: Well, we don’t have any plans later so we might take a chance to talk with you. Plus you must have a reason for wanting to talk with us.

Monarch: I do! Would you like to become an Idol?

Grace:…I don’t know yet. But why do you think I can become an Idol?

Monarch: First simple fact is your stamina. If you saw the nine girls that were sitting on the bench looking lifeless, that's because they didn’t have the energy to go for a second round.

“It’s one of the main keys when you are performing live for 2 hours straight.”

“Another thing is the way you dance. It’s very rare to see someone reach 100% accuracy on the dance floor, let’s alone reaching that score while singing. Because of that, every choreographer will love you so much.”

“And your voice. I can’t comment on that.”

Grace: Well, thank you for your feedback. But what if I tell you that I was planning to become a ‘Hero’.

…

Monarch: That’s even better!

Grace: How is that better?

Monarch then pulls a card out of her hair. On the card, it displays her name A## ### and her ‘Hero Rank’ D.

Monarch: See this, the lowest rank. All this thing does for me is allow me to use my power in public in a moderate way. Suck that most of the benefits are for strong heroes (B rank at least) and not popular ones.

“So if you can, at least try to reach for the teleport rank. It’ll help you in traveling a lot.”

Grace: I didn’t know you have a power.

Monarch: It’s just a simple power that allows me to see people's potential in being an Idol.

“And for your friend here…I don’t really have anything to say to her. I just thought that bringing her along would make you more comfortable.”

“Just like when I have C with me.”

C: I’m here to make sure that you don’t break anything when going live…Also, we need to go, today's schedule is packed.

Monarch: OK then, it was nice to talk with you two and I hope we can meet again!

Grace (say for No Name too): Thank you both, and I hope we can meet again if we have a chance.

Before they leave, Monarch tells them a secret “Oh yeah, for you two only. I actually come from another entity outside of this universe.”

*Outside of the room*

No Name: Is that her persona?

Grace: Let’s hope so!

Something then catches Grace’s eyes… A photo booth, she then drags No Name there.

Grace: Let’s make some memories!

No Name: Ok!

Both enter the photo booth to take some pictures. After looking at some of the photos, and thinking of everything that happened. No Name suddenly has a feeling that she can trust Grace with anything.

No Name: Sister, I want to tell you something.

Grace: Just call me Grace if you want to!

No Name:… Grace… I have a secret to tell you but please make sure not to tell anybody.

Grace: I promise!