"The next match shall begin shortly! Members of Team One and Four, come to the arena," a staff member announced through the speakers.
Inside the old clinic, Lucia got up, feeling a little better. She slid off her medical bed, slowly moving the cloth hanging around her cot to peek if anyone was around. The clinic was empty. She quickly stepped out.
Walking toward where Lynx was resting, she moved the cloth hanging from his bed stand and peeked inside at his cot.
Lynx was still unconscious. His body was full of patches and bandages, blood soaking through near his back and the left side of his chest. She stepped closer to see him better.
Placing her hand on his chest, her palm flared with a soft green aura that flowed into his body.
{Luckily they missed his heart... Was it all his act to get them to harm each other?} she opened her eyes.
{I don't understand these two. They are like children, never willing to listen to their limitations... But they are the closest people I have left after N—}
She noticed Rey peeking through the cloth curtain. Lucia flinched, almost falling to the ground, but she scrambled to grab the bed's steel pipes to balance herself.
"You want a private room with him?" Rey said, smirking.
"SHUT UP!" Lucia yelled, both mad and embarrassed at the same time.
"Next match is starting soon," Rey said, turning away. "Do you want to watch it, or do you want to continue doing those experiments on him? I'll go watch."
"I will be there shortly," Lucia muttered.
She looked back down at Lynx's face. {I checked inside his body. It's fine, but I don't know why his Soul presence is completely dark, even though he is still breathing.}
{My teacher taught me long ago. Every living being has an essential consciousness which could be different from one another...}
Lucia rested her hand on her cheek, recalling the exact way her teacher had explained it to her:
The lightest state of a Soul is when it's glorified, and the state darkens when it's near death. But it could be different depending on what the presence is off of, such as Ghosts, Souls, Spirits, The Unknowns, and the layers of Divine Essences: Lower God, Moderate God, Higher God, Supreme God, and more which are lost knowledge—
"Start the match!" a staff member announced through the speakers.
Lucia's focus broke. "What was I thinking about... uhh, I should go watch the match."
In the stadium, Lucia made her way up to the participant stands. The spectator seats were full of Team Four members matching their assassin clothes style, along with supporters for Team One wearing mysterious clothing.
She noticed Rey and made her way toward him, catching her breath. "What did I miss? Huff..."
"You're late. Are you done with experiments on Lynx's body—"
Rey was interrupted by Lucia's instant cold glare directed straight toward him.
"...You missed nothing. They haven't taken a single step yet," Rey continued, terrified, pointing down at the arena.
Down on the field, Marim and Joon were on guard, sweating. Standing opposite them was a single man from Team One. But his clothes made Lucia recall the strange man who was wearing the exact same pair of clothes as him.
"Lynx and I fought someone who wore the same clothes as him before..." Lucia said to Rey, lowering her tone so nobody could hear them, explaining what had happened before while they focused on the match.
On the field, Joon raised his knife. "Aren't you gonna fight or what?"
The man let out a small laugh. "You've seen my previous matches, you know I always give the opponent time to prepare and make the first attack."
The man casually walked to the edge of the field, taking his feet out of the boundary line 3 times.
"What is he doing?" Marim muttered. {Should I rush and push him off? What if it's a trap...?}
He walked back to his original spot. "Now all you need to do is push me off one time or beat me down until I'm unconscious." He sat down flat on the floor.
Joon was stumbling from his anonymous, overwhelming presence.
"You think this is a setup, don't you?" The man pointed his index finger toward himself. "Then I will be generous and give you exactly one minute to try everything, and I won't touch a single hair on your body. But I will block your attacks."
He opened his arms. "Time starts now."
Joon and Marim wasted no time, quickly rushing forward as he stood up, both of them preparing to attack from separate sides.
Joon threw a smoke bomb at himself and vanished into thin air. Yet the man was not concerned.
Marim lunged at him from behind. As he turned toward her, Joon appeared right behind him, knives ready to strike down his throat.
{I mastered the technique that Lynx guy was using—} Joon thought.
Before Joon could even comprehend it, the man's hand was already present at Joon's face. He slammed Joon's face hard down to the floor.
Marim slashed through his chest, which let her see his badge: [Luhas - 1]. She picked up her brother and backed away.
Blood dropped from Luhas's chest, slowly turning dark. He touched it with his own hands, yet he was completely expressionless.
Setting Joon down, Marim looked at him. "Are you okay?"
Joon was bleeding from his forehead. "I'll be fine, just give me some time," Joon replied as he drank a healing potion.
"Luhas! You might be strong, but you can't resist our profound poison! Eliminate yourself now and I will give you the antidote!" Marim declared, showing a small glass bottle.
"What if I take it by force?" Luhas smiled slightly and dashed straight toward her.
Marim kept running, keeping her distance. {I lied. It's not poison, but a strong healing potion strong enough to make anyone unconscious temporarily...}
{This is what Lynx Vrren used to regain power while playing dead. Luckily this is not a death match...} She noticed Joon giving her signals from behind Luhas. Marim grinned.
Up in the participant stands, Rey sighed out loud. "I don't think turning it into a game of tag is the best idea, at least they should invite me in it!!"
Lucia held her head tightly. {Oh God... I will definitely get a headache from him...}
The crowd got louder, so Lucia quickly focused back on the arena.
Luhas caught Marim's right hand. He pulled her in, taking the glass bottle from her hand, and landed a hard punch straight to her stomach. She collapsed onto the stone.
Luhas opened the bottle and drank from it, but it quickly started to make him feel dizzy.
"Hahaha, take that, bi###!" Marim quickly got back up.
Joon rushed from behind and Marim struck from the front at the exact same time.
Then, both of them froze. No movement in their muscles, as if they were objects.
The crowd's excitement disappeared, and they started complaining loudly.
"Why would they stop?!"
"Booo!"
"They are wasting the opportunity!"
In the participant stands, Lucia pointed down at them. "I can sense something strange happening to their body."
"Like what?" Rey smirked. "Going off the script? Now The Administrator's punishing them?"
"I'm not joking," Lucia replied to Rey, her voice serious.
Rey quieted down, his smirk disappearing. {What did she say again?}
"AggghHh!"
A horrific shriek echoed across the stadium. They focused back at the arena.
"So wEirD..." Luhas muttered in a broken voice.
Luhas struck his own heart, his hand piercing straight through his body before he collapsed to the floor.
Everyone in the entire stadium was left completely stunned by it.