1 v 1, Start

Cedrid was a little confused, so Joseph had to speak louder. “I killed it, so I get the corpse, right?”

Cedrid hesitated, unsure. “I’m sorry, but—”

“Of course!” the king called from on high. “It’s only fair that such a spectacular performance awards you the corpse. Knight-Captain Cedrid, make sure it is properly preserved and handed over to young Joseph after the contest.”

“Yes, my king!” Cedrid pulled a small bag from inside his cloak. He opened it; the cyclops’s body twisted, shrank, and was sucked inside. Joseph left the arena, while Cedrid oversaw the arena’s repairs, and mages regrew the forest in just a few minutes.

Back at the bench, the guild master and Thalia congratulated him warmly from above as he assigned his active skill points, finally getting level 40, a final offering from the cyclops.

He settled in to recover his mana while the remaining groups took their turns, his own teammates among them. Each bout carried a ten-minute survival limit, though not all lasted so long.

Nineteen groups remained, and with breaks between matches, the spectacle stretched on for nearly four and a half hours.

Of roughly 250 entrants, only 64 were left. Most high-ranking guild members advanced, a handful from the stronger mid-ranks slipped through, and none from the low ranks stood a chance.

With the prince and princess, that made 66 participants—though both royals were seeded into the semifinals. Below the royal box, a hologram shimmered into view made of magic, showing off the tournaments bracket.

The first field of 64 would play out over five rounds to produce two finalists. On the sixth round, the prince and princess would join (semifinals), and the seventh would determine the champion.

If both royals won their semis, they’d fight each other for the title but forgo the prizes; in that case, the two non-royal semi-finalists would duel for the rewards.

As if by fate, Joseph and Tokko landed on one side of the bracket, while Han, Che, and Chegal were on the other. That meant Joseph might have to beat Tokko, then either the prince or princess, and finally Han.

Joseph didn’t want drama with his party and spoke quietly to Han. “For the finals… do you need the rewards? If not, I plan—”

“It’s all yours,” Han said. “The rewards would be nice, sure, but I don’t need them specifically, and I would rather avoid a tense fight… if we both make it, we’ll just have a fun match.”

Joseph nodded as that sounded good to him, he really wanted the rewards. At the same time he was also fairly interested in a fun fight against Han, a test to actually see who is stronger, at least in this format.

With that settled, Joseph relaxed. Tokko posed no issue regardless of if she fought or withdrew, but Han… he rated it 40/60 in Han’s favor. The Protagonist aura plus lifetime of experience was a vast difference.

After a short break for food and drinks, as well as to give the later groups time to rest, the thirty-two first-round duels began.

Tokko fought in the third bout. Unfortunately, she drew a top talent from a high-ranking guild. With lifelong training, teachers, potions, and gear, the opponent’s advantage in experience showed.

Tokko might have had a slight stat edge, but the swordsmanship of her opponent looked extremely well trained. Parrying and dodging grew harder as injuries accumulated, and eventually her speed dipped too much.

With the match over, a healer closed her larger wounds and handed her a blood-red potion. As she drank, the rest of her wounds mended on their own, liquid scabs forming across her skin.

Returning to the bench Tokko sat in silence, annoyed at herself but already replaying the duel in her head, studying every mistake.

She knew it was inevitable, after all she had only been hyper-focused on fighting monsters, monster’s which, compared to a trained, sentient person, are a whole other ball game.

Joseph fought in the fourteenth match. He walked in alone. Five minutes later, he was still alone. A guard jogged to Cedrid, murmured, and Cedrid raised his voice. “Due to forfeit, winner by default: Joseph of Fallenshade.”

A few bouts later, Han took the seventeenth match. Against a mid-ranker, it wasn’t difficult. He showed enough to win clean, not enough to draw too much attention or show his hand. Just delicate, precise footwork and clean, heavy strikes.

Che fought in the twenty-eighth round against a fellow mage and scraped out a win. Logan followed right after; like Han and Che, he faced a mid-ranker and, thanks to Han’s coaching and his own talent, won decisively, bashing them with his shield until they surrendered.

The opening round took about six hours with turnover and setup. Evening shadows stretched as the second round started; by now, it was almost entirely high-ranking guild members.

The opponent who’d beaten Tokko advanced again in bout two. In bout seven, Joseph’s next opponent… forfeited. Bout nine, Han had a tougher fight, but experience won in the end, still not having used a single skill.

Bout fourteen, Che barely won and had to be taken to the healers’ ward. Logan fought next and vented on an opponent from the same guild that had pushed Che, earning a somewhat brutal victory as he left the arena with bloodied fists.

When the sixteenth match ended, only two mid-rankers remained. The second bracket was done, the previous 64 now down to just 16. Han, Logan, and Tokko went to check on Che; thanks to palace healing, she could move, but her spirit was low.

Han had told her to hold back her strength, saving an ace for later rounds, but her draws were brutal. First came a water mage, the perfect counter to her slow fire, area of effect fire spells, AOE for short. Then a water-aspected dagger speedster: their blistering pace and water coating, resisting all her skills and fire.

They ate in silence, each lost in thought, replaying their matches move by move. Tokko most of all—out in the first round, her regret burned sharp, but she vowed to train harder and next time, win! Win them all!