Rey rushed into the shop, realizing it was a small, run-down clinic hidden right behind the stadium grounds.
An old doctor signaled toward the check-up beds, and Rey gently laid Lucia down.
Stepping outside the door while the old doctor went to work, Rey collapsed against the stone wall. He slid down to the floor, tears spilling down his cheeks as he stared at his trembling hands.
"Even with this body... I couldn't do anything," Rey sobbed softly to himself, wiping his tears. "If it was me who died instead of him... it would've been so much better."
Less than two minutes passed before the door burst open.
Lucia ran out of the room, her wounds bandaged and her face deathly pale. The moment her eyes met Rey's crushed expression, she turned around and sprinted straight back toward the arena.
"H—Hey! Stop her!" the old doctor yelled out from inside the shop, waving a bottle of pills. "I only flushed the poison and closed the deep cuts! She still needs her medicine!"
Rey forced his aching body up and ran after her, but his legs felt heavy and sluggish. His stamina was completely drained from his fight with Dip.
{Why do I feel so powerless right now...?} Rey thought, gritting his teeth as he pushed through the fatigue.
They hurried through the dark registration hall, passing Phoenix, who stood leaning against a pillar. Phoenix watched them sprint past in total silence.
Passing through the tunnel, they arrived back at the edge of the battlefield.
Lucia stopped in her tracks, her breath catching in her throat.
Out on the stone field, Lynx's body lay limp and lifeless. Sun was standing over him, casually resting one of his boots right on top of Lynx's head.
Rey reached the mouth of the tunnel a second later, freezing as he saw the sight.
Lucia completely lost her mind. She charged forward, but before she could cross the boundary line of stone slabs, Isbell stepped into her path and blocked her.
"Let me go!" Lucia screamed, wildly trying to break free from Isbell's grip.
PAFF.
Isbell slapped Lucia across the face. The sharp strike echoed loudly, stopping Lucia in her tracks.
"You cannot interrupt after being eliminated," Isbell reminded her, her voice stern and unyielding.
Rey rushed to Lucia's side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to hold her back gently. He glared at Isbell. "What is the meaning of this?! The match is already over—"
Out on the field, Sun turned toward them and yelled at Isbell. "Yeah, get this over with! How long does it take for your staff to bring us our rewards for winning the second stage?!"
Isbell turned her head toward Sun, her eyes cold. "What do you mean by rewards? We only give rewards if a match is voted highly by the authorities. And that only happens after the match is officially over."
Sun's smile twitched, pointing a thumb behind him. "Then why did your staff announce to wait for our rewards?!"
"There was no such announcement," Isbell replied calmly. "Nor has this match ended."
Isbell stepped back to the boundary line, crossing her arms to observe.
{It isn't over...?} Rey's mind raced. He looked around the field. Dip and Lif were completely missing from Team Five's side. {Did the other two fighters forfeit and leave...?}
Up in the participant stands, Joon leaned over the railing, looking confused. "Hey sis, why is the referee just standing there? The leader is clearly dead on the floor."
Marim twirled her dagger, her eyes narrowed at the stone arena. "Look closer, Joon. A high-level assassin knows when a body is actually dead. Something is off."
On the field, Karti stepped forward, pointing his bloody knife directly at Isbell. "We already killed their leader! What do you mean the match isn't over?!"
"No," Isbell said simply. "He isn't dead."
Everyone in the stadium turned their gaze back to Lynx's fallen body.
Sun sneered, walking over toward Karti. "Give me the knife," Sun demanded, thrusting his hand out.
As Karti raised his hand to hand over the weapon, Sun's body suddenly cracked like shattered glass.
The illusion dissolved into thin air, revealing Lynx standing right in front of Karti! At the exact same time, the fallen body on the floor shattered like glass, morphing into the real, beaten body of Sun!
"What is happening?!" Rey's eyes widened in total shock.
{He's alive...!}
A surge of relief washed over Lucia and Rey, but it was shattered a split second later.
Karti acted on pure instinct. Before Lynx could complete his surprise strike, Karti tightened his grip on his knife and plunged it straight into Lynx's neck!
Lynx looked completely confused as his stamina ran out at the worst possible moment. He dropped heavily to the ground, blood pooling beneath him.
Karti crouched over Lynx's body, wildly stabbing the knife into his chest and torso several more times just to be certain.
{He almost had me,} Karti thought, sweating profusely as his heart pounded in his chest. {If I had given him that knife, he would've finished me right there.}
"Just let the match end! I'm going to kill you!" Lucia screamed at Karti from behind the boundary line, her voice cracking with pure hatred.
Karti left the bloody knife buried deep in Lynx's chest. He stood up, wiping blood off his face, and casually walked out of the arena boundary line with a wide, arrogant grin.
"Oh? Are you actually capable of harming me?" Karti taunted, looking at Lucia. "You know these are the rules he set for himself."
Rey held Lucia's arms tightly, keeping her from rushing the line. "Just wait until the tournament is over! Nobody is allowed to touch them outside the boundary until it's officially finished!"
Isbell watched Karti walk past her, then immediately raised her hand.
"1... 2... 3..." Isbell began counting out loud.
Karti instantly stopped, turning around in complete shock. "What kind of nonsense is this?! Why are you counting?! The match is over!"
Karti sprinted back inside the boundary, looking down at the bodies.
Strange, dark smoke particles began rising from both forms on the ground. Right before Karti's eyes, the body he had just brutally stabbed shifted from Lynx back into Sun!
And a few feet away, beneath a rising cloud of dark mist, the real Lynx slowly pushed himself up from the stone floor, clutching his chest tightly to stop the heavy bleeding.