Soon after, the man returned to the room to call on us.

"The first match will begin in five minutes. Miss Qing Yue, follow me."

Looks like she'll be going up first… against Qu Di Yi.

"Good luck, Qing Yue," the girls said, cheering her on.

"Mm! I'll definitely win this!" Qing Yue smiled happily and left the room, trailing behind the man.

I smiled, fully confident that my little sister would merge victorious.

*****

- Qing Yue's Perspective -

I was led through the hallway. Suddenly, the man before me stopped, as a portion of the wall opened up. It caught me by surprise.

"Come," the man said, walking through the new path.

I nodded and followed him.

"Alright. There are three minutes until the match begins," the man said, turning around to face me. "Listen closely, for I will only explain this once."

After seeing me nod in confirmation, he continued.

"Once the duel begins, twenty patients will rise onto the arena's platform. These patients will have different wounds, varying in severity and type. Whoever is able to fully cure all twenty patients first will win. Simple enough, right?"

I nodded once again. "Yep! Just one question though."

"What is it? We do not have much time until the match begins."

"Are the patients… real people?"

The man looked at me in the eyes, then smirked slightly after a short hesitation.

"… Yes. They are."

I smiled. "I see. Thank you!"

He stepped out of the way, revealing a door that had slid open, revealing a path upwards leading to the stage. I heard the voice of an announcer.

"So! For the first match of the day… on one side, we have Qu Di Yi! And on the other…"

"Good luck, young lady," the man said with a grin.

I smiled and stepped out onto the arena.

"… Welcome Qing Yue!"

I stood, hands on my hips and brimming with confidence. On the other end of the stage was a young boy about the same age as me, though he was a lot taller than me since I was short. Big Brother Xuan Kai was still taller though.

"Good morning, Lady Qing Yue!" the boy said brightly, a bold smile on his face.

I waved in return in a similar cheery manner. "Heya~"

"I look forward to a good match with you," he said, bowing politely.

I nodded. "Mm! Likewise!"

"Allllllright! Let's get this show on the road, shall we?! Everyone, I now formally announce the first match in the 2023 Annual Fragment Tournament… BEGIN!"

Forty beds with patients laying on them suddenly rose up out of the ground, twenty on my half of the arena and twenty on Qu Di Yi's.

Without any hesitation, I went to work on the first patient, closest to me.

"Hm… these symptoms… it looks like… MES?" I murmured. The patient had a pale face, sweat on his forehead, and I couldn't sense any energy from him. Everything about him said that he was dead, but he was still breathing - the only explanation was MES - Mana Exhaustion Syndrome.

"This is a troublesome one to start with…" I murmured, then hovered my hand above his body. "Level One Blessing Magic - Mana Boost."

A green light shot out of my palm and entered the man's body. Slowly, color began returning to his face. His breathing evened, and the sweat on his head dried off.

I smiled. One done.

As I immediately moved to the next bed, I snuck a glance at the other end of the arena, where Qu Di Yi was working. He appeared to be using AOE (area of effect) Blessing Element spells to try and cure all of the patients at once, but I sighed slightly in response.

As a fellow support, I can't say I approve of his way of doing things. Even if they are cured on the surface using this method, there may be underlying conditions not treated. The only way to solve problems at their root is to examine them one by one like I'm doing.

His method, while seemingly fast on the surface, would not win him this competition. The reason for that was he was treating these patients like objects. As mere 'things' he needed to cure for him to win this battle. But that would not work - I was certain of it.

The first step to fully cure a patient was to see them as a patient, no matter how big or small their injury is.

Several minutes passed. I was halfway through already, though my mana was running low. However, the same could be said for Qu Di Yi. He seemed to have cured over half of the patients already with his AOE strategy, so it could be said that he was in the lead. The truth, however, could not be further away from this.

I saw him use a mana potion to replenish his reserves. I could still go on for a bit longer though, so I held off on doing the same.

A few more minutes passed as there were only five remaining patients for me. I took out a mana potion we had received from finishing first in the preliminaries, and gulped it down as fast as I could.

However-

"Done!" Qu Di Yi announced from behind me as I swallowed the blue liquid, feeling a comfortable warmth spread throughout my body.

Despite his announcement, however, the match was not over. I knew this - I didn't even bother turning around to see if he was really done, because I knew he wasn't. Maybe on the surface, they were. Maybe they would be fine for a couple of years. But sooner or later, the problem would resurface - that wasn't called a cure. That was called a temporary solution.

"H-Huh? Why isn't it working…? Hey, I finished curing all twenty of them! Hello?" Qu Di Yi shouted from behind me, but no one answered his calls. His mistakes was his and his alone to find and resolve.

That man had explained to me the rules of this competition - we were to fully cure the patients. I didn't miss that 'fully'. Qu Di Yi wasn't a true support - he was merely there to provide temporary countermeasures to injuries and wounds that occurred. A person like him could never become a true support, one valued by any team. His half-baked way of doing things would be exposed sooner or later - and that could result in his teammates' deaths, something that could've been prevented had it been a real, passionate support like me.

With a triumphant smile on my face, I continued to cure the remaining five patients one by one. I wasn't rushing for speed at all - instead, I was working leisurely and carefreely, genuinely enjoying the process of treating these patients and doing something better for the world.

"And… done!" I announced happily, finishing up my cure for the last patient.

"Connnnngratulations!" the announcer exclaimed rowdily, his loud and fiery voice echoing all across the arena. "We have a WINNER - Miss Qing Yue!"

"What…" Qu Di Yi spun around and looked at me, eyes full of shock, confusion, and a little bit of jealousy.

I glanced at him in contempt, then smiled with a playful wink. "Patients are not objects. That's why you lost."

He frowned in bewilderment. "But… they aren't real patients?"

I blinked. "Eh?"

"They're illusions. Look."

My eyes widened as the patients and their beds faded away into nothingness, as if they hadn't been there all along.

"Huh…?" I murmured quietly. "But… that man told me they were real patients…"

"… Well, either way, you won. I accept this loss. Good match."

With that, the boy retreated, walking off the stage. I did the same, frowning in thought.

When I got to the hallway, the man was waiting there.

"Hey… why did you tell me the patients were real people, when they're just illusions?"

The man looked down at me, and chuckled. "If I told you they were illusions, would you still have been able to give it your all?"

"… That's true, but…"

"It was just a white lie to make you actually try your best to win," the man laughed. "No big deal."

"Hm…" I pursed my lips, but didn't say anything.

The man led me back to the room after that, where Big Brother Xuan Kai and the other girls were waiting.

*****

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

As Qing Yue entered through the door, the man retreated, shutting the door gently.

"Welcome back, Qing Yue," I said as she dove straight into my arms.

"Hehe, how did I do, Big Brother Xuan Kai?" she asked, rubbing her face against my chest.

"Pretty good. Nothing less of what I'd expect of you," I chuckled.

"That was weird, though… that boy announced he was done, did he not?" Feng Mian asked in confusion.

"Heheh," Qing Yue gave a evil laugh. "He may have cured them on the surface, but he didn't fully get rid of the root cause. That's why he lost. The rules clearly said that you had to completely cure the patients."

"Oh, I see…"

"The next match is starting. We should pay attention," I said, switching the screen in front of us to a TV that showed what was going on outside in the arena, where the announcer began his broadcast.

"AND nowwwwww… the next match, Zheng Xiao versus Elena Cullen!"