In my shock, I was unable to move from my seat. By the time I came to, it was when the medic had come forward to check on Erenol's condition. She was lying motionless on the ground with not even a twitch—it was to the point that I somehow feared she was dead. Thankfully, I had the ability to see when a person was really dead, otherwise, I'd be shooting forward in panic.

I saw none of the dark shadows hovering around, so I was sure she was not in any immediate danger. However, there remained a bit of worry in my heart and it took a bit of effort to stand still.

The nun tasked with handling our injuries rolled Erenol to her back, checking her pulse. When she gave a nod of confirmation and leaned back, visibly relieved, I felt some weight being taken off of my shoulders as well. As expected, she wasn't in any immediate danger.

I began thinking about what occurred just now. Erenol clearly had the tide of the fight in her favor, but a couple of light flashes actually knocked her out cold?

I shot a doubtful look at Defiant Soul, who was rubbing his nape guiltily. He sincerely bowed in apology to Erenol, then stood to the side to watch as they pulled her onto a stretcher. They were most probably headed to the emergency bay to be examined further. After insuring that Erenol was fine, he exited the stage.

I stood up from my seat and followed after the stretcher. Maun was right by my side, pocketing the knife and carving tools.

"Maun, stay," I said. "It's your fight next. Be good," I told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"It'll be fine. I'll just check on Erenol quick and get back before my match starts. I won't miss yours either. Now, don't worry and don't think about anything else. Since she lost her fight, you must win yours, okay?"

I patted his head.

"Okay." He nodded reluctantly and went back to wait for his match to start.

I shot a brief glance at Black Flame's way, letting out a breath of trepidation before disappearing after Erenol and the medics. I made sure that I wasn't in the way, but watched on closely as Erenol was treated for her minor wounds. The nun did several things to check on her condition—shining light on her eyes, checking on her breathing, and many more.

When she stepped away and looked over to me, I stepped forward to hear what she had to say. "She's going to be alright. She was just knocked out. I checked on everything I can check, and she seems fine save for a few small injuries. I think she can wake up within an hour or so."

"That's a relief," I whispered.

"You best get back to the arena. You're still up to fight today, aren't you?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Then will she be alright if I leave her here?" I inquired.

"She will be."

"I'll stay for a bit," I told her.

"Alright." The nun patted her shoulder comfortingly and left the room to return to her post by the arena.

I sat on one corner, chin on my hand and elbow on my knee. I did not think it would be possible to find my second family in this life, I did. I was thoroughly blessed to have a loving adoptive family, and it seemed as though I would've been loved dearly had I stayed with my biological one too.

Erenol was a very close friend I didn't think I would have, and she was a sister I didn't think I would need either.

I don't know. Should I open a dispute on the results? But that would be unreasonable. And I wasn't sure if the girl would like that too.

"Ah, dragons above," I whispered.

I rubbed my face with both hands. We all said we would enter the Temple, but one of us unexpectedly got kicked out of the competition during the last squeeze.

I decided not to think too much about it for now, standing up and gazing at my defeated friend.

"Rest well. Maun and I will take revenge for you."

Yeah, right. My next opponent was Black Flame! Take revenge? It would be a miracle if I wasn't pummeled! Maun had a lot of power to back this up, but I wasn't sure if I could hold my head up high with this confident claim later!

I wanted to sit here and wait for her to wake up, but I knew I had to go back to the arena to recondition my state of mind before the start of my fight. Worrying about Erenol would do me no good, and she would surely be more disappointed if I allowed myself to be affected by her loss. Undoubtedly, it had.

Entering the Temple...had one less meaning.

I sighed.

Walking out, I caught Mistress Veronika moving to my direction. Her strides were long, calm but with urgency.

"Mistress," I began, pausing in my tracks as she stopped before me, "what are you doing here? How did you get in?" Outsiders weren't allowed in the dugout.

"As a former disciple, I asked a favor," she said. "How is Eren?"

"She's fine so far. The healer said there wasn't any problem and she was only knocked out cold," I said. "But I think she will be very sad when she wakes up. Can you help me buy her some candied strawberries she liked?"

"Candied strawberries?"

"Mistress Kora knows about it. We got it at the bazaar."

"No, I'm familiar with them," she said. "But will you be okay?"

"Black Flame is my next opponent. I have to be," I told her. "Maun is still waiting for me at the arena. Please help Eren for now."

"No need to tell me. Go. Don't worry about her, I'll handle everything. We'll talk about this during dinner."

I nodded and revealed a smile—but I realized she would not see it considering the mask I had on. Nonetheless, I was still very relieved. It would be better than leaving Erenol to wake up alone.

"Thank you, mistress."

She threw a smack on my shoulder, urging me to hurry along. I picked up my pace and jogged back into the arena, walking up to the bench that the three of us usually occupied. Maun was not there. I surveyed the place and found him walking up to the center stage with Mushroom Soup. The announcer was prattling animatedly in the background, introducing them to the crowd who were screaming with much anticipation.

Judging by the reaction of the audience, Silent Dragon was a crowd favorite—simply for his title of Number One. Also, one could not deny he was quite capable, even if they had only seen him fight once.

There were placards that read "Black Flame my hero" and "Silent Dragon!!!!!" with several more exclamation points. Would I want to see my name? Probably. Let's not think too much of it.

I let out a breath of trepidation and sat down. It seemed they hadn't started fighting just yet.

Erenol made quite a mess of the arena earlier. She had dug many pits and created many rubbles. Though it wasn't fixed all the way, they swept much of the debris away to allow some space for the next competitors.

Sitting down, I took out my notebook to look through the notes I had on Maun's opponent. Mushroom Soup was an interesting fighter. His Deliverer was Galatea, and he wielded her favorability with his control over water. He was more the straightforward type of combatant, so I was guessing he wouldn't be as much of a wild card as Defiant Soul was.

He chose to condense his element mainly through a weaponized form—a whip. We weren't allowed weapons in the arena, but anything directly related to our elements were allowed. So, this was like a hack.

Using an element as a weapon was much harder than it seemed, though. I had to give it to Mushroom Soup.

"If our competitors are ready, then we should begin!"

The audience cheered once more.

Both Maun and Mushroom got into their fighting stances. Mushroom made those flowy gestures that reminded me of someone kneading dough in the air, his movements constant and unremitting. Until now, I had no clue as to what style this was—there wasn't any record of it in the monk's public library, so I was guessing this was a more personal style. He probably even came from a clan too or something.

Maun had a much rougher countenance when it came to close combat—fists forward, knees bent. His way of fighting was wild and brutish, and that was beginning to be more palpable as time went on. It was a stark contrast to Mushroom's calm elegance.

"And fight!"

Mushroom leapt forward to seize the advantage of the first blow. Maun waited for him, calmly deflecting the flying kick that was aimed at his face. Mushroom smoothly recovered, following up by kicking the other leg. This time, his foot landed square on Maun's chest, throwing him back.

Maun was steady, nonetheless, and save for taking a few step backs, he did not lose his balance. He leaped forward, this time taking the initiative to attack.

For now, there seemed to be no sign of Mushroom summoning his element just yet. Since they had just started, he might be testing out the waters. Maun, after all, had the advantage of his cards being hidden for now. He'd only fought once so far. This was only his second match, unlike the rest of us.

"Why do they call you Silent Dragon?" I heard Mushroom Soup inquire as he sent a fist flying for Maun's nose.

Maun promptly leaned back, his spine forming a low arch. While he was on the low, his hand shot forward to grab the arm that Mushroom had extended. His long legs then jerked out, foot making contact with Mushroom's clavicle—right at the base of his ears.

That critical kick forced Mushroom off-balance and he tumbled to his side. Maun did not let go of the arm he caught, guiding Mushroom to the ground and turning the both of them so that he had seized the top.

"Impressive sequence!" the announcer exclaimed.

Indeed, an impressive sequence. I quickly jotted down more notes in my notebook.

I knew that, this way, I would not be as worried for my upcoming match. I had known long before that I was the nervous-type of student who would pore over their notes five minutes before the start of the final exams. It was one of the habits I'd developed, considering I had to maintain my scholarship one way or another. One way I could ease some tension is exercising futility by cramming information I thought I might need in my head.

Maun had had no need for his element thus far—it being life. I was a little doubtful about how he was going to use his abilities for his matches, but I would suppose I could attribute its helpfulness to his overwhelming vitality and survivability. If anything, Maun was very proficient at recovery. He'd been on the edge of death, after all, with the shadows of death hovering about him back then and all. Now, he was back to his peak condition. Save for his tongue, the worst injuries he had gotten were already healed. Mistress Kora had expected he would be in ailing condition for years after, but it hadn't even been a half a year since he had been yanked away from death's door and he was performing so effortlessly.

Therefore, while it couldn't directly affect his combat in the ways, people would like and expect, his opponents would have a hard time taking him down in any fight. That alone was already a huge advantage.

I calmly wrote down my thoughts, reflecting deeply as the fight began upon signal. Perhaps if Maun would find a way to speed up his recovery process and self-heal during battle...that would help last longer during fights, right? And also pull down the advantage of an opponent having an element to directly raise their explosiveness.

I nodded approvingly at the thought.

I would raise this matter with him later. I hadn't given any suggestions since we sparred back then, after all. But I would not do it very soon...lest I had to face him in the later round and suffer for it after. I mean, yeah, it's selfish, but we were in a competition, right? I could at least be a little selfish for now?