A white-robed healer dragged a boy who was covered head to toe in arrows into the medical room. The stretcher was still dripping with his fresh blood. As the boy was laid on one of the beds, the sheets were dyed red. "Go bring some tweezers," the healer said to his assistant. "Make sure to get the small ones." The assistant cocked his head to the side. "Eugene used two types of arrows: sharp, which can be pulled out by hand, and dull, which caused our patient to use more life essence to defend, and after his life essence ran out, broke his bones. These shards can be put back together, but I need to move some around by hand to conserve my mana for the other contestants. It's a habit I picked up from my time on the front lines." The assistant nodded and hurried down one of the many hallways.

"Healer, can I go now?" Thomas asked as the healer waited for the assistant to come back. "You have already healed my ribs. While I am grateful, I want to go watch my friends and cheer them on." The healer waved his hands above the unconscious patient and several magic circles appeared. He pulled out the arrows one by one. The patient's piercings closed up in seconds.

"My name is Oliver by the way," Oliver said as he checked the boy's breathing. "And yes, you are free to go. The only reason I made you stay was if you fell unconscious again. Remember that your energy was sapped from the healing process. Try not to exert yourself…" His words didn't reach Thomas. He had already jumped out of bed and sprinted to the waiting area, where he was originally supposed to meet the others. After a few wrong turns, he found Eugene, Dag, and Molly in the waiting room, the only winners of the bracket so far.

"Sorry Eugene," Thomas apologized as he sat on a bench next to them. The waiting room was exactly the same as the other one: white flooring, benches, and an orb at the center that they all sat around while waiting for the next fight.

"You didn't miss anything vital," Molly frowned. "He just ran from his opponent while shooting him chalk full of arrows. It was…boring"

"I did other things too!" Eugene scoffed. Dag raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok I just did hit and run tactics, there is nothing wrong with that. Did you see his strength level for crying out loud? What else was I supposed to do? Stand and wait for him to come to me? If it wasn't for this bow..." He pulled from his spatial ring, a wooden longbow covered top to bottom in elvish runes and waved it around. "I would have lost. At least I didn't destroy the stage or almost get myself killed!"

"Couldn't be helped," Both Dag and Molly shrugged in unison.

"Well then," Eugene pulled out a water sac and drained the contents into his mouth so fast that he spilled some on Thomas. "Sorry, I just finished my match and I'm still a little tired from running so much. Are you not tired from your match?"

Thomas shook his head: "I am a little worn out after getting healed, but I can always eat or drink something later. I didn't even pack anything."

"Thomas, you should really prepare your body more before a fight, and even stuff for after. I didn't see you drinking any water or eat much beforehand besides those few pancakes. Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Won't I just get hungry or thirsty?" Thomas shrugged. "What's the harm in that. I ate enough to keep me going. I don't need to eat as much as you guys, who practically ate dozens of pancakes in the span of an hour."

At this, every head turned towards him with frowns. Bits of crumbs fell off their clothes as they stood up. Now that Thomas thought about it, the whole room smelled like food. "Thomas, what you eat can affect your fight in many ways," Eugene said as he pulled a giant handful of bread from his spatial ring and downed it in a second. "That piece of bread gives me more energy. Without that bit of energy, I wouldn't be able to regenerate as much. If you didn't have water, you wouldn't be able to resist fire."

'I still can't tell if they're joking or not,' Thomas thought, even though he knew they were concerned about his ignorance. 'How will drinking water make me resist fire? Why would I need to resist fire in a fight with swords?' They were still staring at him, but he knew if he asked a question, he would get ridiculed again. He could already imagine Molly going on a rant of how helpless he was.

Instead of owning up to his ignorance, he turned to the orb: "What's with the audience?" The crowd stood up and roared so loud that the crystal orb shook a bit. Alexander was trying to yell over them but his voice was drowned out. Guards had to walk through the crowd and tell people to shut up.

Alexander must have gotten impatient because he put his hands around his mouth. A bit of golden life essence swirled around his expanding chest. "I said quiet!" His words hammered against the audience's eardrums. The orb's image distorted for a second and several small cracks formed on the outside. Thomas's ear rang from the sheer volume. He touched his earlobe and felt a liquid dripping down his chin, blood. "Now," Alexander took a breath to compose himself. The bit of golden life essence vanished as soon as it appeared. "For the sixth round we have Jackal Von Trike against Daniel Scoldheim." The crowd erupted into another round of cheering, although not as loud as the previous outburst.

A servant opened the door to the noble waiting room and two figures walked out. Compared to the rest of the opponents before them, these two did not glare at each other. They kept their gazes at the stage and their facial expressions stone cold. They walked shoulder-to-shoulder with an absolute confidence, neither hurried nor slow.

The crowd gradually reached a deafening cheer, which, now that Alexander was done with his introductions, didn't try to stop anymore. Thomas had to cover his ears. The two opponents ignored the cheers. They didn't even so much as wave.

Jackal wore, over his clothes and chain mail shirt, black dragon scale armor. If not for his bright red hair sticking out from under the helm, Thomas doubted he would be able to recognize him. 'He's like Doevm and Frey,' he thought. 'I didn't realize it at the hall, but he has the aura of someone who's seen battle. All these nobles do.' It was like Jackal had switched to a different mode, to a different person.

Daniel, the person next to Jackal, wore similar armor, except made from red scales. His black hair was combed to almost a fine point. His thick brows creased in a permanent scowl. His broad shoulders occasionally jostled Jackal as they walked.

The crowd's noise died down as the two reached the center of the stage, until a strange lengthy silence descended. All eyes were at the two opponents. "For this match," Alexander said. "there will be no safety nets." The mages to his left and right retreated behind the iron doors. "This is a personal duel that has been worked into the bracket at the request of both parties. This will only end when one of them are dead. Many of you might be saying this is unfair to have set up a match, but this was done with permission from the king. Jackal Von Trike, Daniel Scoldheim, do the two of you accept these conditions?" Both nodded. Now their gazes were drilling into each other, trying to break the other's will before the fight even began.

"What's happening?" Thomas asked. "Why didn't they shake hands and why is this a duel to the death?"

Eugene let his glasses slide to the edge of his nose: "Don't you find it strange, our group I mean? We have Jackal, who will one day be the world's strongest swordsman, we have Dag, the assassin, Molly, a princess, you just joined yet you're already famous, and then there is plain old me. Compared to you guys, I am nothing special. I just think…differently."

"That man, Daniel, he's my half-brother. He enjoys hurting me, and I'm not just talking about a few punches." As he talked, his voice got progressively lower. He looked at the ceiling as if reliving the memories he spoke of. "For most of my life, I regularly bordered on life and death. Up until a few months ago, I was beaten a few times a week. Pain and I became good friends."

"Why would he do that to you?" Thomas asked. "How can he treat a noble like that and get away with it for so long?"

"Because no one gives a damn about me," Eugene spat as a violent shaking overtook his voice. He had to take a few breaths before he continued. His were bawled up in fists: "I'm a bastard child, born from a rape of a noble woman. I was somehow kept alive, if only to be treated a as a slave. No one would have cared if I killed myself, not even me." He rolled up his sleeves. His wrists were covered in scar tissue.

"Jackal met me while I was hanging from the neck under the tallest tree in town and cut me down just before the last bit of air left my lungs. I couldn't even make the knot right. He saw my wrists and, even though he didn't know me, got angry like you wouldn't believe any man could. He broke my ties with the Scoldheim family, but they didn't like that.

"Jackal was challenged to a duel by Daniel and accepted. Today is the day that he officially cuts my ties." He took off his glasses. "I just wish I could do it myself. I wish I could stand on my own feet, but I know I'm not strong enough. That's the kind of person Jackal is though: he makes friends quick and will defend them to the death, but if you cross him…well, you're about to find out." He wiped a tear away and put his glasses back on.

Jackal drew his weapon, a plain metal great sword with gold outlines. He tightened his grip on it and blue life essence poured out of him. Daniel pulled out two red swords. As he got into a stance, the red color moved around, as if it were alive.