“We have ourselves a winner! Contestant number three will advance onto the second round!”

The crowd roared at Chloe’s victory, Emria and Saphrilla overjoyed at the result. Everybody spectating from the waiting room wore a surprised expression, even Dwayne, who usually didn’t react to anything but himself.

“Now that woman is fit to be the wife of the great Dwayne Collins. I will order an arranged marriage immediately,” he uttered with a malevolent and lustful smile on his face. This comment irritated Rein, but he chose to ignore the pompous fool.

“Please exit through the west gate to get your wounds treated by the school nurse,” said the announcer to the two who were still in the ring. Chloe reached her hand out to Quint, who was resting on the ground after being knocked out. He wasn’t out for long, as Chloe held back on her punch.

“That was a good fight, Quint Vossen. You’re exceptionally strong,” Quint blushed and took Chloe’s hand to help him up.

“Th-thanks… I guess I was no match for you though, even without a Spring.” They walked out through the west gate.

“Hey, in the preliminary round, why’d you get those guys to hand you the coins? You could’ve easily qualified without them. Was there a specific reason?” She asked as they exited the arena and entered the infirmary room.

“… I heard there was gonna be a prize for scoring first. Fat stacks of cash. I knew that I could’ve qualified regardless, but I just needed to be first. But that masked man qualified ahead of me. Man, I hated him so much for that…” He let out a sigh, with that, releasing his lament for the masked man. “My twin sister is deathly ill. Some shit happened when we were kids, and a dumbass curse was laid on her. I needed that money to take her to a specialist and get her treated. There’s a place in Draconica, and rumor has it that the lady who lives there can lift any curse. But she charges a fuckin fortune for her service. Everywhere I took her to in Orthlys said it was hopeless, and with the war going on, I couldn’t leave the country. I need to become a Ranger and get her treated in Draconica before it’s too late…” He looked over at Chloe who was bawling her eyes out.

“Wah-? Why’re you crying?!” He asked frantically.

“*sniff* I-it’s because *sniff* your reason for being here is so much nobler than mine.” She bowed down, apologizing to him for winning the match against him.

“H-hey! Don’t fuckin apologize for winning a match! If anything I should be thanking you for holding back.” He blushed even more now, blocking his face with his hands.

“Hey, where is your sister now? And what’s her name?”

“Her name’s Xenia Vossen. She’s staying in the hospital in town. We have no place to stay, so I couldn’t keep her in Zacrozir. I figured she’d be safer here, and besides, it’s always been her dream to become a Ranger. Man, I bet she watched me get my ass beat on the hospital screen,” he said, embarrassed.

“Is it okay if I visit her after the tournament ends? I want to meet her for myself,” questioned Chloe, with an eager expression on her face.

“Heh, sure thing. I’m sure she’d find you fun to talk to. Just be careful with her. She’s as brittle as a bird,” they entered the nurse’s office, and while being treated, heard the voice of the announcer announcing the next matchup.

“Our next round will be participant number 7 versus participant number 4!” Clyde Morioh vs Reggie Greybrewer.

They both entered the arena, leaving Rein and the insufferable pompous man alone in the waiting room. Luckily for him though, the man was drowning in self-love in the corner of the room.

“Now that both contestants have entered the arena, let the third match begin!” Clyde summoned his tachi through his weapon ring and held it out with both hands under his hip. It was light enough to hold with one hand, but eastern swords were typically wielded with two. Reggie didn’t summon any weapon, yet he wore a weapon ring.

“Aren’t you going to summon a weapon? It would not do if I were to fight an unarmed man.” Asked Clyde.

“Oh, this weapon ring? Yeah, it’s just my knuckle brass. I was told not to use them because they’d be too lethal, and if I cover them with some sort of cloth, they’d be weaker than my regular fist. Don’t worry about me being ‘unarmed’ though, I’m a martial artist. The only weapons I need are these hands.” He smiled at him, assuming the famous Grewbrewer fighting stance.

“My deepest apologies. I should not have insulted your honor by patronizing your fighting style. I hope you forgive me.” Said Clyde, which prompted a hand wave from Reggie, telling him that it was fine and no offense was taken. Reggie began warming up, throwing punches into the air, which Clyde let him do out of respect.

“Alright, now I’m fired up! Come at me, great swordsman.”

“Very well. I will not hold back,” stated Clyde, immediately activating his Spring. He dashed towards Reggie, who in Clyde’s view, was acting in slow motion. However, when he arrived at Reggie’s location, he was met with a barrage of invisible punches, even though Reggie wasn’t throwing anything. Clyde stepped back and de-activated his Spring, hurt from the powerful punches that were landed on him.

“Heh, what’s wrong? I thought you weren’t gonna hold back,” laughed Reggie innocently, continuing to warm up his arms, punching the air, and stepping side to side. Clyde wasn’t too hasty this time. He carefully activated his Spring and approached Reggie. When he got close enough, he slashed him with his sheathed sword. As the sword entered punching distance, Clyde could feel a barrage of immense impacts on his weapon, making it fly out of his hands. His Spring deactivated, allowing Reggie to attack him freely. He unleashed a fury of attacks on Clyde, and for about 10 seconds, it was an absolute one-sided battle until Clyde activated his Spring again, freeing him from the combo.

“I see, so you can only keep your Spring activated for about three seconds in real-time, and it has a ten-second cooldown. But for you, that 3 seconds is 10 seconds when it’s slowed. Is that right?” Asked Reggie while smiling ear to ear. Clyde wiped some blood off his mouth and picked his sword back up.

“Haha, you’ve figured it out. But it makes no difference,” Clyde smiled at Reggie, making him slightly nervous.

“Wh-what are you smiling about?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how interesting your Spring is…”