The 4 other men Dwayne controlled attacked Rein from behind. He avoided their attacks while making sure not to get closer to Dwayne.

“This is perfect! All I have to do is keep this up until the time runs out! My family’s plan is flawless! Over half the audience has been influenced by us or threatened to vote for me, so I’ll win by default!” Dwayne monologued to himself in his mind.

3 minutes of constant dodging passed. The girl still had a knife to her throat, and Dwayne was still stepping on the boy’s head. The boy began trying to struggle against him, evidently, he hated Dwayne with a passion.

“Oh? Are you hissing at me, little boy?” He said as he began stepping even harder. “Oh, I know! Why don’t I get you to fight on my side? I could make good use of that Spring of yours.” Dwayne released the boy from under his heel, who immediately began winding up a right hook in Dwayne’s direction. But before he could land it, he stopped and turned around at Rein, who was dodging the attacks of 4 unwilling men at once. Suddenly, black smoke appeared from the boy’s palms and outstretched to Rein, wrapping around his legs and arms, binding him, making him unable to move.

“Haha! Now that mongrel can’t dodge! Hey, you pigs! Attack him now!” As the 4 men began to attack, they found themselves being blocked by an almost invisible barrier, and upon further inspection, it was the same black smoke that held Rein immobile.

“Hey! You little maggot! I did not tell you to create a veil around him, did I?!” Dwayne began screaming at the half-elf boy, kicking him repeatedly with the underside of his foot.

“Hey, you sure you wanna keep doing that to him, he might release me any second now,” Rein smiled smugly at Dwayne, which intimidated him.

“Rgh, fine! Lift him up so he can’t reach me!” The boy lifted Rein up about 15 meters high. Once again, Dwayne began laughing hysterically, Rein being suspended mid-air meant he couldn’t do anything to him, and he would win by time.

“Haha! It’s over for you now! Time will soon run out, and you cannot do anything about it! Though, perhaps if you beg me and pledge loyalty to me, I may consider letting you free! Soon, that Chloe girl will be my property, so how about we speed up the process and have you simply give up now!” Dwayne continued to laugh, Rein not giving him any reaction. There were now 30 seconds left on the clock, and Dwayne continued talking, spewing deplorable things out of his mouth.

“Once you lose, I will have my family find you, and everybody dear to you and turn them into our slaves, perhaps that will be a fitting end for you. Oh, and how about those two kids your always accompanied by. That green-haired one and the blue-haired one. They’ll make for good slaves! Haha—”

“Hey, want me to show you something?” Uttered Rein.

“Hmph? What is it you rabble?”

The smoke around Rein began to dissipate unexpectedly, freeing him from the binds that held him suspended. He landed on the ground and began walking slowly in Dwayne’s direction.

“Eeeek! Men! Attack him! Do not come any closer! Have you forgotten about the girl?” Dwayne was screaming in panic. Rein ignored his threats and continued approaching him. Dwayne waved his hand, signaling to the girl to slit her throat, but nothing happened. In fact, the girl dropped the knife on the ground.

“Wha! How?! I—” Rein grabbed him by the collar, interrupting his speech. Dwayne began sweating profusely and was about to beg for forgiveness, but before he could, Rein threw him up into the air and began winding up for an attack with his swords. Dwayne screamed at the top of his lungs. As he reached the peak of Rein’s throw, he began falling down towards his clutches. He continued to scream, scared shitless.

*BEEP*

“And that’s time! Everybody drop your weapons!” Dwayne landed on his face on the floor, dirtying his white robe and face. Rein recalled his weapons and looked at Dwayne menacingly. He walked away and stood on his side of the ring. Dwayne laughed uncontrollably.

“I win! I win you piece of dung!” He continued to laugh. “Return to your rings you incompetent dogs!” The slaves returned to their rings, and Dwayne stood up confidently.

“We will now begin the voting process! There should be a holographic screen that has just appeared in front of you. Please vote for the contestant you think should proceed.” Whispers began in the crowd.

“H-hey, who are you voting for?”

“I really want to vote for the white-haired kid, but man, I have to think about my family. Those Collins bastards won’t have mercy if I don’t do what they say.”

“Me too. Sorry white hair.”

Everybody began casting their votes.

“You hear that? Every one of them is voting for me! Haha! You lose!”

“The results are all in! And it seems like we have an overwhelming victory!”

“…” The crowd was full of silence, but there was no suspense. They all knew who would win, and all had looks of disappointment etched on them.

“With 100% of the votes, the winner is… Contestant number 8, Rein Xilris!!!!” To everyone’s surprise, a name nobody was expecting had won.

“Huh? But I’m sure I voted for Collins!”

“We did, but who cares! I’m just happy that piece of shit didn’t win!” Dwayne stood there, mouth gaped wide open. Rein smiled smugly at him and walked away back towards the waiting room. He didn’t need the nurse’s office after all.

“Wait just a moment you vile scum! You cheated just as you did during the preliminary! You somehow rigged the voting! This is unacceptable! Principal Julianne, I demand that he be disqualified!” Protested Dwayne, stomping his foot like a child.

“Mr. Collins, it is truly unbecoming of a nobleman such as yourself to act in such a pitiable manner.” Said the principal over the announcer in a sarcastic and mocking tone. This angered Dwayne ever further, sending him into a fit of rage and storming out of the arena, screaming:

“To you filthy pigs in the crowd, I will make sure my family gets vengeance and destroys everything you love!” This caused the crowd to go silent, feeling threatened by his words.

“Do not worry, as long as I oversee this town, I will not allow any misfortune to befall your families.” Reassured the principal, counteracting Dwayne’s words.

When Rein entered the waiting room, it was full of smiles and faces of relief.

“You have to stop doing that Rein! If your gonna win, just do it outright! Stop making us worry! I almost fainted thinking you were gonna let that loser win!” Chloe scolded Rein, invoking a reaction of laughter from him.

“As for I, I never doubted you once Sir Rein.” Said Clyde, putting a hand on Rein’s shoulder.

“Why thank you, Sir Clyde.” Responded Rein in a playful tone. He noticed the masked man standing in the corner crack a smile at him, then leave the arena.

“That marks the end of the first round, please come tomorrow for the second round!”

Rein, Chloe, Clyde, and Quint all left the arena together, agreeing to go eat dinner together along with Emria and Saphrilla. But, for some reason, those two were nowhere to be found. Rein told the group to go on ahead of him, as he had some business to take care of. He promised Chloe that he and the girls would meet up with them.

He walked around the city, randomly feeling the urge to walk into a dark alleyway. He succumbed to the feeling and entered, where he saw Dwayne holding 2 knives up to the necks of Emria and Saphrilla.

“Oh, look who decided to show up! If it isn’t our esteemed guest.” Said Dwayne arrogantly. Rein sighed in a carefree manner, then smiled in a threatening way. Emria and Saphrilla gave no reactions, and they lay there silently.

“I was just about to find you, but it looks like you came to me instead. In case you didn’t notice, I let myself be manipulated by your Spring to come here,” stated Rein.

“Then you are an even bigger fool than I thought! Hahaha! There’s no getting out of this one! I won’t hesitate this time! Enter the slave ring that is placed in front of you or these two die.”

“No.” Replied Rein. Dwayne began sweating buckets, but he did not hesitate.

“Fine then! These two bitches are dead!” He swung with all of his might downwards at the two girls, but as the knife made contact, the tip broke on their skin, almost like they were made out of steel.

“What the fuck?!?!” Yelled Dwayne. Rein began slowly approaching him, causing him to start stepping backward in a frenzy.

“Don’t come near me you fiend!” He took out the slave rings, but dropped them all over the ground out of panic. He ducked down to pick them up, but he went headfirst into Rein’s foot, getting a mouthful of his shoe. Rein kicked him upwards and caught him by the hair.

“Well well well, what a fascinating Spring you have… You can create false memories in people, and that’s how you control them. Your spring has a ten-meter radius, and the false memories you make only last a few minutes…”

“H-how did you know all of that!” Rein kneed him in the guts, causing him to throw up disgustingly. Emria and Saphrilla stood up and picked up the fallen rings, and held them for safety.

“I have a bit of a special power, and the thing is, it gets a hell of a lot stronger when I kill someone.” He smiled at the pitiful man in front of him, siphoning all hope from his wretched soul.

“Please! Have mercy!” Dwayne began crying out of fear, snot and tears flowing down his ugly face.

“Tell me, do you know the village of Lifah?” Dwayne’s eyes widened, and his pupils shrunk.

“L-Lifah?! O-of course I know it. It’s the reason this war began… The Collins family didn’t have anything to do with it! After two Econican spies attacked it, Orthlys declared war… A black-haired woman, and a white-haired bo… wait…”

Rein looked him directly in the eyes, making Dwayne connect the dots.

“You’re the one we framed…” He uttered without thinking.

“Oh? You framed me? And here I was thinking the Collins family had nothing to do with it. I guess you were one of the noble families that hired Checkmate.”

“Please! I had nothing to do with it! I admit my family was involved, but I was too young to know what was happening at the time! I beg of you! I’m telling the truth!” Dwayne pleaded.

“Tch, guess you’re useless to me then. Oh, but it would be bad if word got out that the son of the famous Collins family was killed! No, that wouldn’t do…”

“Please! Name your price! I’ll do anything!” Rein bashed Dwayne’s head on the wall, causing him to start bleeding from his forehead.

“Shut the hell up. You see, with my power, I can copy the opposite of other people’s powers. What do you think would happen if I copy your piece of shit Spring?” Rein asked threateningly as Dwayne began trembling uncontrollably.

“T-the opposite of my Spring? That would mean… you could erase memories..?”

“Bingo! I can erase memories from people. And when I wield it, it’s not as trash as yours with a ten-meter radius. Hmm… let’s see… Oh! It looks like the radius for mine would two thousand kilometers! Why that’s enough to cover the entire continent!” Rein’s eyes lit up red, instilling unending fear in Dwayne.

“Wouldn’t it be convenient if all memory of Dwayne Collins was erased from existence? It would allow me to take his life without any consequence. What do you think of that plan Dwayne?” Rein’s smile tortured Dwayne, for the fear he felt was unlike anything he’d ever felt before…