Okay, Bovin, you can do this.

You got skills and equipment from that woman but I still don't trust her.

After all, she said that she would rather give me a fashionable set than one that has useful stats but is ugly.

In the end, I still don't have a choice. It's either taking my chances in the arena and delaying my death when I come up against a stronger foe or dying in 8 hours because of that curse that Ashe has put on me.

Please, please, if there are gods just let me live through this day.

I haven't yet met any other participants but I knew of a few of them, one of them was my own brother.

I really hope he isn't the person I have to fight.

"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen to the bi-annual Castirian Tournament in the Dracken Colosseum. We have one hundred people fighting for fame, fortune, and a wish they can make to King Drach, who is here himself," an announcer began then the king made a small speech himself.

Applause roared.

I could neither see the crowd nor the king because I stood in an in-between area from the battlegrounds of the Colosseum.

"Thank you, thank you," he quieted the crowd, "on this historic site, over a thousand years ago, the first king, Coren Dracken built this place as a monument to our great kingdom and it still stands to this day! We fight not as enemies but as comrades to see who is truly the strongest but as traditions demands, YOU DO NOT HOLD BACK!," he yelled out then sat down while the crowd exploded with cheers.

"For the first fight," the announcer resumed, "we have Iadra Arre!"

Oh no.

"And- uh, ...Asher Burell?" he said questioningly, "...that can't be right, can it?" He asked himself.

Nervously I walked into the battlefield.

Iadra didn't look surprised and his manner was more of a statement than a question, "Borin? It is... agreeable that my own brother decides to fight but why is it under a false name?"

"It's complicated," I said.

I looked at the crowd, some were cheerful, some confused, some mumbled but there was one awfully loud person.

It was the woman Ashe, she was so loud in fact that I could clearly hear what she was saying even though there was a great distance between us.

"Beat his ass!"