Maun was, like always, chipping away on a block of wood. It had finally begun to take shape in his hands. He'd been working on the thing for a few days now.

During our last day out, I got him a set of carving tools and he'd been very keen on using them these past few days. He was just casually exploring what he could do with them and he'd already improved so much.

Should I start carving too? He seemed so relaxed!

I probably wouldn't be so patient with carving. I didn't have the same kind of passion as Maun for it. I do wonder what he was going to make, though.

As I pondered, the resounding clash and clamor in the arena bade me to look forward.

White Face and Stone Guardian were up against one another currently. I was not very invested in the fight because of my own worries, even if my own battle was the last one for the day.

They came at each other ruthlessly. This time, both knew that, if they did not survive the present, they would really have no future. It was a stupid statement, but I could really not think of anything more suitable to describe the situation.

I could say for sure, nonetheless, that Stone Guardian currently had the upper-hand in the fight. White Face was a bit weak in all respects compared to his opponent. Unless an upset happened and he had a huge turnaround in the skill and character area, his loss against Stone Guardian was...well, set on stone.

I turned to the side and watched Black Flame, who was on the bench right after ours. I was pretty sure he was the same guy on the street. Despite his arrogance, I did not expect to see that he had a righteous and heroic side.

This made my initial impression of him crack a little—especially since he had some terrible hostility towards me during the initial stages of the fight. I did not expect to see that out of his character. In fact, I expected him to act a little more privileged...but perhaps I was stereotyping him a little too much.

As if feeling my gaze on him, Black Flame turned. And through the mask, his eyes met mine.

The hostility I first got from him was still there, albeit a little more toned down compared to before. I awkwardly looked away first, somewhat embarrassed I got caught staring.

His eyes lingered on me for a bit before he turned away too.

At this time, White Face was slowly being pushed back. Stone Guardian was a slow attacker, but good at defense. He also had a lot of explosive power. If White Face would just avoid his attacks, he could save himself a lot of trouble. The couple of times he received the blows from Stone Guardian, he was very nearly knocked out.

I sighed.

I leaned forward, full of expectations.

Sure enough, the fight turned out the way I expected it would.

Stone Guardian won.

White Face dejectedly left the stage. He exchanged a few words with his opponent before silently retreating with the medical officer currently in charge of the competition.

Now, it was finally Eren's turn.

I looked up as she proudly marched into the arena when called up. Defiant Soul, who I had gone up against the last round, also came up.

I would admit that Eren's power over the earth was very explosive as well. Her family being favored by the dragon Raki was well-founded. To think such a good seedling would've been buried in the affairs of the palace...it was truly a pity. In fact, in terms of raw talent, she really took the cake. And she was only becoming more proficient in mastering it—even though the first few days were...very rocky, to say the least.

I huffed at the pun.

Maun finally looked up, interested.

"What do you think?" I asked, nudging him softly.

He looked at me with his round, silver-violet eyes. He didn't seem to understand what I was asking.

"Who do you think will win?" I clarified.

He lowered the wooden block on his lap. "I'm cheering for Eren," he signed to me.

"That's not really answering my question."

He was silent.

"You're not confident, huh?" I asked.

He gently shook his head.

"It's too early to say she'll lose, but she is in a tight spot."

"She's very lazy though," he said. "Not like you."

"Is she? I think she has her strengths."

"She likes to cut corners when she can."

We didn't dare discuss this with the other girl around. Otherwise, her barely-put-together self-esteem would take a huge blow and crumble. She needed her confidence and willpower the most, especially since she didn't have much of anything else going for her at the moment.

I could tell Maun didn't want to doubt Eren's capabilities. To be quite honest, I was the same too. I had a lot of hope for the girl, especially since she was rapidly improving. However, one could not remove the fact that she was still in the infancy of her skill set. It was already amazing that she had gotten this far.

Eren, despite the injustice she had suffered, was raised as a princess. She was a princess, albeit an unfavored one.

Actually, I couldn't think of her as such. I have known her way too long, and she didn't exactly fit the image of what royalty was like. Blaming her inexperience on the fact that she was born royal was just...irresponsible. However, it was one factor—albeit not the only reason.

"Let's just hope she has a lot of fortune," I said. "She's very strong, anyway. And she's...very favored."

If the dragons played favorite, she would definitely be on the list.

Maun nodded.

I decided to change the topic, quirking a smile as I gazed down at him. "You haven't lost one round, so you being accepted into the top five is already a sure thing," I told him. "Even if you lost your next fight, you've already cemented your status as disciple of the Temple."

Maun tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "But if you don't make it..." His fingers slowed in signing before coming to a stop.

"No worries. I'll try my best. I'm sure Eren will too," I said.

Defiant Soul wasn't a particularly hard opponent to take down—it was just that his ability made him very troublesome to deal with at the start of that match. Otherwise, he was very rough around the edges and once you get his style, it wasn't particularly troublesome to disrupt his rhythm.

In this fight, it was anybody's game. It wouldn't be that tricky like Black Flame's. Hence, I was not very worried.

Eren did not dawdle. The moment Defiant Soul disappeared from her sight using his invisibility ability, she also secured herself with her element. With rocks, she crafted a layer of armor for herself. By the end of her equipping them, she looked like a moving boulder.

It seemed the girl had thought up of some method to use her abilities in new and more creative ways in battle. And since she couldn't see her enemy properly, then this passive tactic was a good idea to protect herself from attacks that she could not block or see.

It was surprising, because I hadn't been as updated in their training and practices as of late since I was busy with mine. I might have missed out on a few things, and they probably went off to practice on their own.

I was not upset in this case. In the end, even though we were friends, we were still in a competition. I assume Eren would want to keep some cards hidden, just in case. It was quite the considerate and cunning move!

In the off chance that we encountered one another, I looked forward to the kind of surprises that she would be able to offer me then.

"This is a surprise. Has that girl been practicing?" I asked Maun.

He nodded. "She was very hard working, I guess. But she makes me very worried."

"Why?"

"She's..." he trailed off. "I don't know how to say it."

I frowned, confused.

Going past that remark, Erenol and Defiant were an oddly well-matched pair of opponents. Where Defiant Soul had a unique execution of his element, Erenol had an explosive manner of releasing hers. Nonetheless, the two of them were not well-trained, nor were they very well-versed in the arena of martial arts. However, I could clearly understand why they would make it this far. They had tons of potential.

For the most part, they were even. This seemed like a spar between amateurs, but that did not diminish the entertainment value of the two going against one another.

Defiant Soul threw forward a rough kick—it was hard to make out, but that was the conclusion I came upon for the lack thereof. It seemed Erenol had a vague impression of the incoming attack that she used her armored forearms to block.

A piece of her armor came apart upon it landing—not because it collapsed, but because she sent it forward as a projectile. It broke into several pieces, each striking at Defiant Soul. The rock crumbling also left dust, which highlighted his invisible silhouette.

"Heh." Erenol smirked. "You can't hide if you're dirty," she told him.

"Ooh. Nice idea," I whispered with a quirk of my lips. Erenol was really smart. Since she couldn't see her opponent, she covered him in dust so that he wouldn't be able to hide himself easily.

"You...!"

Defiant Soul was flustered and hurried about, trying to find a way to counter the situation. I would prefer it if he would straightforwardly fight rather than hide and deal sneak attacks all the time. That way, he'd learn a bit of courage. One didn't always have the element of surprise throughout the entire battle.

Defiant Soul quickly dusted himself and insisted on maintaining his invisibility. Erenol kept showering him with dust every time he attacked in return.

At some point, he was so dusty that there was no point in using his invisibility any further.

"Why don't you just face me directly?" Erenol growled. "Hiding like this, aren't you a coward?"

"Didn't you hear? Being too brave is foolish. It just seeks death," Defiant Soul replied. "If I really did that, that's just giving this fight over to you!"

So he insisted on the invisibility for a time before finally changing to some other strategy. He started condensing his power into bright bursts of light to blind his enemy, after which he would wear on Erenol's armor and strike at ger weak points.

"Since you want me to show myself, I will—but I'll blind you first!"

As the battle progressed, I started getting clues of a plan brewing on Defiant Soul. My instincts told me it wasn't going to be good for Erenol, so I paused and held my breath. I wasn't sure if it was the outsider's perspective, but I didn't know whether Erenol was aware of it either.

"This..."

Although 'coaching' was not against the rules, that didn't mean I could carelessly do it all the time. And I think Erenol would not like to rely on me too much either. It was just burdening for her, and I knew it would cripple her self-esteem.

I bit down on my tongue and decided to watch from the sidelines.

Maun and I were both tense. By this time, he'd abandoned his carving project and turned all of his attention into the fight unfolding between Erenol and Defiant Soul.

Sweat trickled down their faces. I had to occasionally turn my eyes away from the fight with Defiant Soul constantly emitting those bright rays of light.

Sweat trickled down their faces. Eren was bruising at the mouth and her earth armor was not as stable as before. Defiant Soul was not very good either. His pure white outfit had torn and were flaying off his skin.

They were in the final stages of the fight. I was sure that the conclusion of the match was just around the corner. They were both exhausted.

"Let's end this!"

I had to occasionally turn my eyes away from the fight with Defiant Soul constantly emitting those bright rays of light. At some point, there was a particularly blinding burst much longer than the others. Headache bloomed on my temples, forcing me to keep my head further down. However, the light was so bright that I could roughly see my bones through my eyelids as I covered my face with my arms.

What the hell?

When I looked back on the stage, Erenol had crumbled to her knees. Her eyes were dilated, a blank look on her face.

My jaw dropped and my heart seemed to skip a beat.

I stood up in shock, watching as Erenol, for an inexplicable reason, tumbled forward and faceplanted on the ground.

"What..."

All was silent for many minutes.

The monk came forward to pull a count on Eren, but as the ten-second count dropped to zero, she was still motionless.

"This round's winner! Defiant Soul!" the announcer's piercing voice resonated throughout the arena.

Erenol...actually lost?