The sun was already up when I woke up. I was alone in my room. Neither Hiro nor Sandra came back yesterday. I stood up and put on the hood. Afterwards I left the bedroom and I planned to head to the arena, so I wouldn’t be late for the next round again. In the hall downstairs, Arthur and Shadow were already about to leave.

“Morning.”(Me)

“You woke up early today.”(Arthur)

Both of them stopped and Arthur answered almost immediately. He clearly made fun of me though.

“You’re already going?”(Me)

“Obviously. The third round will start soon and it would be inappropriate for the host to arrive late.”(Arthur)

Even though I made sure to wake up earlier, it seemed I would have almost been too late again.

“Wait, I’m coming with you.”(Me)

“Sure. That retainer of yours already went ahead.”(Arthur)

Damn Hiro. Can’t you at least wake me up, before you go?

“Is the girl from yesterday going to participate again today?”(Arthur)

“You mean Sandra?”(Me)

“Yes.”(Arthur)

“Yep. She’s gonna fight that guy who beat your son.”(Me)

“You seem rather calm.”(Arthur)

“I knew I couldn’t hide it from you.”(Me)

“I meant her facing that person.”(Arthur)

“Oh. It’s not like I actually expect her to win.”(Me)

Arthur could only force a smile at my cruel remark. Together we went to the back entrance of the colosseum and one of the guards guided us to our seats. Before I sat down, I gave Hiro an angry stare. We couldn’t see our expressions due to the hood, but I was sure he understood what I wanted to say.

On the other side, Sam and his retainers were already present and silently waited for the next round to start. The king of beastman sat there with a grim expression.

“Good morning.”(Arthur)

Even though Arthur tried to be nice, he only received an angry snort. He was in a particularly bad mood. Probably because I somehow crossed his plan. Instead of six beastman in the third round, they only had five.

There were still three humans in the third round. Sandra and that green haired guy were obvious, but there was another one. I haven’t seen or heard anything of him yet, so I was quite interested in seeing that one in action.

Arthur gave the regular speech in front of the crowd and the announcer announced the participants of the third round. I could only feel some respect when seeing someone be able to speak in front of such a loud crowd.

The first fight was the focus of attention. An unknown fighter managed to beat a favourite candidate, the son of the human king, with merely one attack, while the other played with her opponent until she was bored and killed him. She should have been disqualified for what she did, but was somehow allowed to fight in the third round.

I was wondering about that as well though. I haven’t said anything about supporting her or something like that. I actually stayed quiet about her all the time. I expected her to be disqualified and already thought of other ways to see the green haired guy. There was obviously someone else, who supported Sandra from the shadows.

“The two fighters for the first battle join me on stage!”(Announcer)

Sandra and her opponent came on stage. Enormous pressure rained down on them. Thousands of people would watch their every movement. They had a distance of about 20 metres between them.

Both prepared themselves for the upcoming fight. I taught Sandra how to fight, so she knew she couldn’t underestimate her opponent. Same as when we trained, she prepared as much defensive barriers as possible beforehand and would leave the first attack to her unknown opponent.

The atmosphere was tense. The crowd held it’s breaths before the fight even started. I had to focus as well, because I wanted to gauge his abilities.

“First fight of the third round start!”(Announcer)

As soon as the fight started, the green haired guy raised his arm and showed three fingers on his hand.

“If you manage to stand after three of my attacks, I will give up.”(?)

He said it loud enough for everyone to hear it. On one side, it was a humiliation, but for Sandra it was a chance to win. She clenched her fists and waited for the first of those three attacks.

“It seems you accepted. I am going to attack, so prepare yourself.”(?)

It was a strange sight. Someone telling his opponent to prepare for an attack, while smiling like that. It was as if he didn’t take the tournament serious at all. It’s not like I did, but at least I was on a seat watching and not down there fighting.

“This is the first attack.”(?)

The moment he said that, he vanished. The crowd was stunned. Even to me, it almost looked like he just disappeared, but I noticed that in that split second when he announced his attack, he focused his entire energy into his feet and dashed at Sandra at an unnatural speed.

The next second, a shattering sound was heard and he stood at the other side of the ring. Sandra lied on the floor, but was able to get up. Because of her hood, I wasn’t able to see her expression, but I was sure she was frightened. If even I could barely see anything, it was impossible for her.

All her barriers were destroyed and she was even sent flying. All of that because of a single attack. It was something she would have never thought of being possible.

“Prepare, I’m going for the second attack.”(?)

With leaving Sandra no time for any preparation, he attacked again. It was the same attack pattern, but this time a bone crushing sound was heard, before he appeared at the other end of the arena.

I was able to see it this time. All he did was throw a simple punch, but because of the momentum, the damage was multiple times higher. It could easily destroy an opponent.

Sandra was sent flying and because of the bone shattering sound, even an ignorant person could hear the critical damage the attack dealt. It was a miracle that she didn’t faint after she felt the pain. Nevertheless, she wasn’t able to move any longer.

The fight was over in an instant and the crowd sighed. It was as one-sided as it could be. At least I learnt how his attack worked. The announcer raised his hand and was about to announce his victory.

“Prepare yourself for my third attack.”(?)

No one expected that. It was obvious that if he attacked a third time, Sandra could bid farewell to her life. A normal person in my shoes would probably worry about her. Not me though. I couldn’t even suppress a smile, nor could I suppress my excitement. I only waited for it to happen.

Hiro somehow noticed my behaviour and could only shake his head. He only knew Sandra for one day, so he didn’t plan to step in as well.

“Are all of us really that crazy?”(Hiro)