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I'm just doing this to get some chapters out quickly. I've been very busy with drawing as of late. I will still update, though. So if you don't want to participate in this goal, it'll be fine!

Thank you for reading!

We were seated in the benches on the very corner of the arena. The audience area was right behind and above us. It was hard, therefore, to ignore the noise. I wasn't very interested in watching the first fight against Stone Guardian and Arrowhead, partly because whoever among them would be fighting Maun later. There was a good chance they would get defeated and fight in the redemption rounds.

In other words, the loser's tournament.

I looked at Maun and found him scraping away at a twig with a sharp pocketknife. Of all of us on this bench, he should be the one paying attention the most. After all, his first opponent would be either one of those guys fighting.

Wooden shavings would fall on his lap and the wood would slowly took shape under the tireless stroke of the blade in his hands. Erenol was the total opposite of Maun's peace, nevertheless. She was fidgeting where she sat, chewing on her nails, tapping her heels repeatedly.

And since it was a bench, all of us sitting with her felt it. Thankfully, only three fit on one—Maun, Erenol, and myself. The rest were seated on other benches lined up together.

"Calm down, Eren."

"Don't you get it, Evy? Don't you get it? I'm doomed! I'm doomed!"

"You're always so panicky," I said. "Calm down and breathe, in the name of the dragons! Your element is supposed to be earth. Can't you be as steady as one?"

"No, I'm a quake. I am quaking."

I sighed and left her imagining the bad stuff. Knowing Eren, despite her attempts at optimism, she was still a worrywart in the end. I could no longer recall how many times I had tried to comfort her to no avail. She would have to go through that on her own. She put herself through it a lot.

"If you can't handle it, why don't you go around and walk for a bit? It's not like we aren't allowed to leave," I said, giving her one last piece of advice, before going back to my own business.

As I didn't have a very good understanding of how double elimination worked at first, I decided I would study up on it more and make predictions based on what I had now. Though they said "two losses equaled elimination" was the gist of it, I still had trouble picturing it in my mind. I was getting a better understanding of it, nevertheless, the more I looked at the map of how the fight would occur.

Meanwhile, Arrowhead and Stone Guardian reappeared in the middle of the arena and the crowd burst into hyped cheers. I spread out the rule book in my hands, intent on familiarizing myself with the contents. Since I lacked skills in the combat area, it would do me good if I could have some tricks up my sleeves for moments of inconveniences. Rules, in very vague moments, was a critical point of decision-making for the judges. The best way to win was by knowing the rules, abiding the rules, and bending the rules.

For this competition, loss was determined by three things: a surrender, loss of consciousness, or clear suppression. There might be draws, which might be uncommon. Some fights simply could not be settled, especially when both combatants exhibited the same level of ability.

But that was basic stuff. Everybody knew that.

I skipped the really obvious parts of the rule book and sought after the things I needed most. For a while, I was absorbed in the pages until the crowd broke in sudden, wild cheers.

"PIN HIM!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!"

The host continued with his commentaries. "It seems Arrowhead is in quite a situation! Stone Guardian seems to be going in for a solid punch!"

Like me, Maun lifted his gaze to see what had the audience so riled up. However, while I continued watching, he disinterestedly looked back down to what he was doing.

I caught, just in time, Stone Guardian's fist making contact with the jaws of Arrowhead. The blow left the latter reeling. Arrowhead was nearly knocked off balance were it not for him catching himself just in time. Stone Guardian did not waste any second and stepped in to strike another blow, unwilling to let his opponent recover and, as a result, lose his advantage.

Unexpectedly, Arrowhead ducked in time. The fist flew overhead, hitting nothing but air. Arrowhead proceeded to throw himself at Stone Guardian and tackled the man by the stomach—at least he tried to. The initial efforts of Arrowhead was in vain, though. The momentum he had was not enough to render his opponent off-balance. Stone Guardian remained steadfast.

"Oh, man." The crowd was very expressive of their disappointment. And their reactions were understandable. Arrowhead had just missed a golden opportunity of gaining advantage. With this, he had exposed himself to a very vulnerable position.

Stone Guardian made one fist with both hands and hammered it down on Arrowhead's back. The blow caused the latter to loosen his hold around Stone Guardian and collapse.

I sighed. With that pace in, it would be hard to get back that rhythm and regain that advantage. The odds were against Arrowhead now. It all depended whether Stone Guardian would be able to use this opportunity wisely and efficiently.

I went back to reading the rule book and, as I neared the end, the audience grew wild once again.

The host was noisier than ever before. "AN UPSET! AN UPSET!" he screamed.

I saw that Maun had paused, which meant something must have happened to have piqued his interest at the very least. I watched the exchange and saw Arrowhead summoning his affinity with the winds. It seemed they were finally taking out their best cards and were entering the phase where they settle who the winner was once and for all.

I leaned forward, elbow on my knee, chin on my palm.

"So that's why he calls himself Arrowhead," I muttered in Lovardi. "It says we're not allowed to use weapons, but I guess your Domain is fine?"

Maun stared on. He continued zoning out before cluelessly turning to me. Of course, I couldn't see his expression, but my brain was instinctively filling out the details.

"You know...one of them will be your opponent," I said while signing.

He looked at my hands and up at me. Though I spoke in Lovardi, he should understand what I was saying through my hands. He had to learn the language soon. He couldn't remain clueless for so very long.

"It's okay!" he signed to me. I couldn't see his expression clearly under that dragon mask, but knowing Maun, he must be smiling. "I made my promise. We get in together! So I'm not really worried. I'll do my best!"

"I see." His positivity was infectious.

The same could not be said to Eren, who had completely frozen over on my other side.

"How about you, Erenol? How are you doing?"

She blankly mumbled in Lovardi, "Nothing will go wrong...nothing will go wrong...we will pass...we will pass." I didn't know what kind of face she was making, but it seemed like her soul had left her body.

I smiled sheepishly and let her be.

A large explosion in the middle of the arena resounded, startling all of us and snapping Eren out of her trance. Stone Guardian had literally shaken up the earth and had thrown several boulders at Arrowhead.

At the moment, it seemed the competitors could no longer be bothered to hold back and keep their cards hidden. If they didn't survive in the fight, they would have no chance of moving either way.

And while it was fun seeing people in such dire straights, I had to wonder what it would be like with me down there.

I sought for the honey ladle head guy among the benches, but did not find him anywhere. He must've left the dugout for the bathroom or something.

"Arrowhead concedes!" the host announced and the audience cheered.

I closed the rule book, watching Arrowhead beaten senseless by the barrage of boulders that had been thrown his way. "Come on, you two," I said, standing from the bench.

"Where are we going?"

"Well, I wasn't really watching. Eren was having a breakdown. Maun, you don't really want to watch either. Let's go out and find some space to breathe."

Maun stood with no hesitation, tucking the pocket knife away.

"I-is that okay?" Erenol asked.

"Do you want to stay here? It'll be alright if you do. When we find snacks, we'll bring some over for you."

She swallowed. "I do, but..." She breathed out heavily. "Yeah...maybe a good...walk will be nice."

Eren stood from the bench.

"You know, I'm already very hungry," I said. "I want to go look for the mistresses, but I don't think we can do so in these costumes?" I paused.

"I think I recall there being some rooms we can occupy for some peace and quiet at the back instead of watching," Eren said.

"Would you like it there?" I asked.

"Yeah! Hopefully, we can find some snacks too." Eren clapped her hands, excited.

And, indeed, at the back, the monks had prepared some refreshments. There was even one guy who was laying down some more food on a long table. They weren't the buffet kind though—just some cut up or whole fruits and some fried stuff in there.

"To prevent cheating, we maintain strict watch over the food," the monk said as he presented the food. He looked fairly young, not that far from our age too. "For a safe measure, please don't eat things you didn't see prepared within the next few days. We've had some very rough issues about this in the past. Would you like something to drink?"

"Can we?" Eren asked.

To be honest, I was very doubtful of that now that he said it.

"Yes, please maintain certain distance. You're not allowed to touch the food."

"Oh. Okay." We stood over a meter away from the buffet table. Maun, who'd stepped farther than that, retreated to match our proximity.

We watched the monk bring out wooden cups and pour out some freshly squeezed fruit drink for us. I wouldn't say I wasn't moved. It was clear the Temple cared for their potential disciples. Others would just let their applicants be.

"Will things be like this in the next few days?" I asked, accepting a cup from the monk.

"Yes, most probably. We only serve snacks and drinks though as courtesy. We can't serve you full meals," the monk said. "So please come if you're feeling peckish. The competition can get very nerve-wracking too. Everyone goes through that."

"Did you go through this as well?" I asked.

"Me? Well, yes..." he trailed off thoughtfully, holding the jug.

"Then why are you here serving snacks and drinks?" Erenol asked.

"Why? I can't?" He laughed.

"You get in with much difficulty and you're reduced to serving snacks for those who hadn't done as much as you had?"

We turned to the sound of the voice and found Black Flame coming over—as arrogant as ever.

The monk sighed. Still, there was no hint of impatience on his face. "No matter how high your achievements are in some respects, they all don't matter in some instances. Becoming one of the five is indeed a good feat, but you'll soon see this battle is just a small problem compared to what you will face in the future. Our lives are small, but we make it as big as we can. This may be your whole world right now, but you're not even at the boundaries."

The three of us stared at the monk, amazed by the show of humility, as he continued handing us our snacks.

Black Flame, on the other hand, was not very interested. "Tch." He walked away.

"He must be born from a noble family," Erenol whispered to us.

"Why is that?"

"Well...you know one when you see one," she said. "I've seen my fair share of those guys. They usually have trouble identifying themselves with the less fortunate, partly because it has been ingrained how they are not meant to live like that...if that makes sense? Lot of ego and pride and competitiveness. Honestly, I don't like him."

"I don't like him either. I think...I know who he is though," I said.

"Really? Who?"

"It's quite obvious. He must be that guy I took the last test with. He gives me the same feeling. You know?"

"Oh. You didn't mention that."

"He might be Ovanolish, like Mistress Veronika. People from there tend to have blue hair."

"Ooh. You're right."

"Evy, Evy," Maun began eagerly, signing to me. "Do you want me to beat him?"

"If you do face him, that means I'd have lost my first fight or lost to him."

"T-then..." Maun trailed off. "I have to fight you?"

"Nah. If I lose to him, just beat him up for me. Make sure you take that first spot, okay?" I patted his shoulder and smiled underneath my mask.

"It seems you're friends," the monk said. "That's not very unusual, but to be so amiable...well, that's a little rare. Most friends here end up turning against one another, especially when they face each other in the later rounds."

"People like those aren't true friends to begin with," I said. I really wanted to drink my cup if juice, but my mask was on the way. "Besides, Ma—eh, Silent Dragon is the best among the three of us in terms of talent. We don't really want to contest against him in this regard."

Erenol nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to fight him. If I do, I'll concede."

"What if it was your last chance though?" I asked.

She perked up. "T-then I'll fight him. I won't win by pity!" She crossed her arms proudly and harrumphed.

"That's hard to claim," I said. "Honestly, it's not very dignified to win by pity, but if you can scrape by whatever opportunity, then you take what you can have. You can't be living your life like that, especially if you lack choices. You just have to take it and earn it later. People are going to look down on you, but that's just their way of making you feel guilty. That kind of contempt only lasts for so long too." I shrugged. "Just shut them up after you eat the bread. Doesn't matter if it's with another bread or a punch."

"Girl..." The monk smiled sheepishly. "That's...a very rotten view of the world."

I shrugged. "It's only for this instance. You got to know when you draw the line. After all, you still need respect. Pride is useful and it feels good, but it's not always on your side. You've got to know when to lower your nose."

"Does that mean you're not afraid to go low to go high?" somebody cued in.

I found Honey Beast approaching the snack table.

"It means I'm not afraid to do whatever it takes. Not all of us are afforded pride," I said. He was to be my opponent. Judging by the sound of his voice, he must indeed be a he. "Pride...is a privilege. You can only get as much as you can afford."

Eren glanced between me and Honey Beast. The tension that had sparked in the air was palpable—even to me. I didn't know if his coming forward was a form of challenge.

"I see. I planned on going easy on you since you seemed to be a girl, but you're right. Useless chivalry does not matter in a fight for survival."

I sighed. "I'll thank you for that in advance, I guess."

It wasn't like I could contest, even though I felt insulted he was taking me lightly just because of my gender. Then again, I wasn't sure of myself. Victory was not guaranteed. It was better to stay out of trouble. 

Like I said, not all of us were afforded pride. I would have to earn it and shut him up later with a punch.

I had to.

BLACK ICE WEBCOMIC NOW AVAILABLE ON WEBTOON.

ROUND 1 SCHEDULE

1. Stone Guardian [WINNER] vs. Arrowhead [LOSS: 1/2]
2. White Face vs. Northern Breeze
3. Mushroom Soup vs. Morning Glory
4. Spring Cloud vs. Weeping Siren
5. Honey Beast vs. Lionheart
6. Lone Wolf vs. Defiant Soul
7. Loser of [Round 1-2] vs Loser of [Round 1-3]
8. Loser of [Round 1-5] vs Loser of [Round 1-6]