'Please forfeit!'

I gave voice to my thoughts.

"Forfeit!"

I clenched the hand covering my mouth into a fist and waved it wildly.

"For! Feit! For! Feit!"

"So loud."

"Oh my God!"

THUD!

The human-faced bird plunged straight down. My heart plummeted with it. Bobby escaped its talons by a hair's breadth. Its foot was large enough to cover her entire upper body. If those talons pierced her, she would die.

"Ma'am!"

I shouted as Bobby tried to stab its talons with her spear, only to fail for lack of strength.

"Please forfeit!"

THOOM!

This was driving me insane.

Once again, she narrowly dodged the talons hammering into the arena floor. A small groan escaped me as I watched them rip through her black jacket. Her face had gone ashen, but she still wouldn't call out her forfeit as I wanted.

["Ah! It seems she's trying to break the chain!"]

No.

There was no way she could sever a chain that even the human-faced bird couldn't break in her current state. Yet she darted toward it and raised her spear. Having missed its prey, Pepper rose back into the air, casting its shadow over her.

My heart pounds like mad. The silver spear flashed in the light.

"Her strength..."

Riccardo's murmur mingled with the noise. The instant he finished, the spearhead struck the chain.

CLANG!

Just as I'd feared, she wasn't strong enough.

The chain was unscathed. The impact traveled up the spear into Bobby, making her give a short groan and reflexively let go. Then she hurriedly snatched it up again, her arms trembling slightly with pain. Laughter erupted from the stands.

["Oh dear! She seems to have forgotten her enhanced body isn't working properly!"]

The emcee gloated from up in the air.

["How could a mere human possibly break a chain that even Pepper can't snap?"]

Disgusting bastards.

Frowning, I lifted my head toward the stands, only to whip it back at Achille's urgent shout.

"Bobby!"

Ah.

CRASH!

"Aagh!"

The spear snapped in two.

Thank God it hadn't been her. All of us in the waiting area breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. The human-faced bird had landed talons-first in the arena, shattering the spear instead of Bobby as she rolled away.

"I'm sorry!" Bobby cried, springing to her feet. "The spear!"

"Focus on the enemy!" Riccardo shouted sharply. "Don't take your eyes off it!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Bobby obeyed her senior. Abandoning both the spear and any attempt to attack, she concentrated on fleeing. The heart-stopping close calls kept coming, but fortunately, she wasn't badly hurt. So far, she had done an excellent job of dodging.

["Even diminished, she hasn't lost all her skill. Slippery as a loach, isn't she?"]

The emcee spoke with cold amusement in his voice.

["But she does seem to be running out of stamina."]

If I could just punch that man in the face, I would want for nothing.

The fact that he was right made it even worse. Even I could see Bobby was tiring rapidly. She was visibly gasping for breath. Her dodges were already dangerously close. If she slowed down even a little...

"Ma'am!"

I cupped my hands around my mouth and raised my voice.

"Please forfeit now! You've done more than enou—"

"Winter!" Riccardo's sharp shout rang out. "Above you!"

THUD!

Too late.

"Aaagh!"

A talon snagged her clothes. A roar of "Whoa!" rose from the audience. Achille and I shouted her name in unison. Bobby dangled in the air from Pepper's talons.

It was a blessing she'd ducked on instinct, leaving the talon caught in her clothing. Had it caught her body instead, she would have been mortally wounded. But she wasn't safe now, either.

"Bobby, please!"

"I forfeit!"

Achille shouted urgently, and Bobby squeezed her eyes shut and cried out in turn. The self-loathing and sense of defeat on her face weighed heavily on my heart.

"I forfeit! I said I forfeit!"

BZZZT!

Crazy fuckers.

Electricity surged through the thick chain, powerful enough to temporarily paralyze the human-faced bird, Pepper. It froze in midair. Bobby's jacket was tearing apart, which mercifully kept the current from reaching her as she hung there. But with the bird paralyzed in the air, its talons went slack.

My blond senior fell. At the same instant, the electric bars blocking our way vanished.

THUD!

Achille caught Bobby. His speed was astonishing.

["Wow! Like the hero swooping in to save the heroine in her hour of need!"]

The emcee shouted in a voice dripping with mockery.

["But oh dear! Unfortunately, it seems he's broken his arm!"]

He probably had.

If their enhanced bodies had been functioning properly, it wouldn't have strained them at all. But right now, their bodies were no different from ordinary people's. Neither Achille nor Bobby could have escaped injury. Indeed, after tumbling across the floor, they couldn't move for some time.

The human-faced bird began flapping its wings again. The audience and emcee were delighted. Even the sight of Achille crawling toward the silver spear, his face contorted with pain, and fumbling for one broken half was entertainment to them.

Rage and misery left me speechless.

The entrance across the arena opened.

"Sir!"

I barely suppressed the urge to charge through the electric bars as I shouted.

"Sir! Please forfeit!"

["Now, allow me to introduce the second opponent!"]

Bobby rose, her face deathly pale. Her sluggish movements made it clear she had internal injuries. She staggered into position, then looked for Achille. Looking ready to faint, she stared at his face and arm. He waved the spear to tell her to return to the waiting area.

Meanwhile, the creature emerged into the arena.

["Our spider is getting harder and harder to keep! Meet Nemalda!"]

It had numerous legs. I had no idea why they called it a spider. I watched the insect-like creature, as big as a passenger car, lumber into the arena. Its round face was studded with eyes like an egg sac, and its enormous body resembled a cocoon. Achille turned to face it.

Riccardo, who had remained silent until now, shouted.

"Winter! Stop standing there like an idiot and get back here!"

Bobby whipped her head around. Unlike the stiff expression she'd worn entering the arena, she now looked as though the slightest touch would make her cry.

"Now!"

"Achille!"

A shadow passed over Bobby as she staggered toward us at a run. Watching the human-faced bird descend, I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Above you!"

SKREEEE!

The bird's talons struck Nemalda.

Achille had slid underneath it. The talons aimed at him pierced Nemalda's body instead. The spider creature staggered, spewing murky liquid. The rank odor of its secretions and blood filled the arena.

Was it dead?

No. The staggering insect creature soon spat a harsh liquid at the human-faced bird.

"Aaaaaagh!"

The bird let out an all-too-human scream. Achille lay flat and motionless beneath the spider's body.

["Clever!"] the emcee shouted. ["Thanks to his brilliant positioning, Pepper and Nemalda have started fighting each other!"]

He soon launched into an excited play-by-play of the battle between the bird and the spider.

Meanwhile, the electric bars vanished from view as Bobby stumbled into the waiting area, on the verge of collapse. Riccardo and I caught her together. My green-eyed senior carefully lowered her to the floor as she panted for breath.

"Stay down," he said quietly. "Don't talk."

"Achille's arm..."

"I'll handle it," I said gently, looking at my senior as she cried, consumed by self-reproach. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

"I'm sorry. I..."

["Ah! Nemalda is about to show us its finishing move!"]

The emcee's voice battered my ears, preventing me from replying to Bobby. Riccardo and I whipped our heads around, straightening from our crouches to look into the arena.

Wait.

That thing could stand up?

["Body slam!"]

THOOM!

Cracks spread across the arena floor.

For a moment, I wondered why it had hurled itself at the blameless floor when its enemy was flying, but I quickly realized this was no ordinary body slam. The instant Nemalda struck the arena floor, harsh liquid sprayed in every direction.

The human-faced bird screamed. Achille, who had been moving away from Nemalda, was struck by the liquid too and pitched forward.

"Sir!"

A chill settled in my stomach at the sight of my senior slumped on the arena floor, coughing.

"Sir! Please forfeit!"

"He won't come to his senses for a while," Riccardo said quietly.

I forced down the breath caught in my chest. Achille needed to get his bearings and call out his forfeit, quickly. Otherwise, even if he didn't die right away, he'd be caught in their fight. Or become their target.

What could I do?

Just as despair gripped me, my senior spoke.

"We'll have to wake him up."

The war hero stared into the arena, his eyes full of revulsion. I watched his gaze shoot toward the silver spear.

"A few slaps across the face should probably..."

The spear beside Achille twitched. I watched it melt into a round ball, then stretch upward into an oval. A long rod grew from one end of the oval and reached toward Achille's face.

It didn't change shape as quickly as Yehyeon's weapon had in the video. But the silver weapon steadily approached Achille and slapped him across the cheek.

"Forfeit!"

The instant I saw Achille crack his eyes open after the slap, still coughing uncontrollably, I shouted.

"Sir! Forfeit! Now!"

Achille's lips moved. I couldn't hear him, but I knew he'd forfeited. The electric bars before us vanish. The door across the arena opened again.

The crowd reveled in it. The emcee announced with glee that the traitor Achille Fisker had forfeited. Riccardo Sordi's chains fell to the floor.

"My turn..."

My senior smiled darkly.

He moved. The green-eyed man walks out of the waiting area. I watched the silver shape-shifting weapon that had slapped Achille roll across the stained arena floor, then form a silver pool directly beneath the spider's body.

Riccardo walked into the arena with measured steps. The moment he stopped, the silver weapon turned into spikes and impaled Nemalda.

SKREEEEE!

Its death cry rang out. Once again, a heavy, rank stench blanketed the arena. I heard Riccardo's next words clearly, filled with hatred, resolve, and scorn.

"Time to settle the score."