Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 15 ❆ First Day

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I'm just doing this to get some chapters out quickly. I've been very busy with drawing as of late. I will still update, though. So if you don't want to participate in this goal, it'll be fine!

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We were seated in the benches on the very corner of the arena. The audience area was right behind and above us. It was hard, therefore, to ignore the noise. I wasn't very interested in watching the first fight against Stone Guardian and Arrowhead, partly because whoever among them would be fighting Maun later. There was a good chance they would get defeated and fight in the redemption rounds.

In other words, the loser's tournament.

I looked at Maun and found him scraping away at a twig with a sharp pocketknife. Of all of us on this bench, he should be the one paying attention the most. After all, his first opponent would be either one of those guys fighting.

Wooden shavings would fall on his lap and the wood would slowly took shape under the tireless stroke of the blade in his hands. Erenol was the total opposite of Maun's peace, nevertheless. She was fidgeting where she sat, chewing on her nails, tapping her heels repeatedly.

And since it was a bench, all of us sitting with her felt it. Thankfully, only three fit on one—Maun, Erenol, and myself. The rest were seated on other benches lined up together.

"Calm down, Eren."

"Don't you get it, Evy? Don't you get it? I'm doomed! I'm doomed!"

"You're always so panicky," I said. "Calm down and breathe, in the name of the dragons! Your element is supposed to be earth. Can't you be as steady as one?"

"No, I'm a quake. I am quaking."

I sighed and left her imagining the bad stuff. Knowing Eren, despite her attempts at optimism, she was still a worrywart in the end. I could no longer recall how many times I had tried to comfort her to no avail. She would have to go through that on her own. She put herself through it a lot.

"If you can't handle it, why don't you go around and walk for a bit? It's not like we aren't allowed to leave," I said, giving her one last piece of advice, before going back to my own business.

As I didn't have a very good understanding of how double elimination worked at first, I decided I would study up on it more and make predictions based on what I had now. Though they said "two losses equaled elimination" was the gist of it, I still had trouble picturing it in my mind. I was getting a better understanding of it, nevertheless, the more I looked at the map of how the fight would occur.

Meanwhile, Arrowhead and Stone Guardian reappeared in the middle of the arena and the crowd burst into hyped cheers. I spread out the rule book in my hands, intent on familiarizing myself with the contents. Since I lacked skills in the combat area, it would do me good if I could have some tricks up my sleeves for moments of inconveniences. Rules, in very vague moments, was a critical point of decision-making for the judges. The best way to win was by knowing the rules, abiding the rules, and bending the rules.

For this competition, loss was determined by three things: a surrender, loss of consciousness, or clear suppression. There might be draws, which might be uncommon. Some fights simply could not be settled, especially when both combatants exhibited the same level of ability.

But that was basic stuff. Everybody knew that.

I skipped the really obvious parts of the rule book and sought after the things I needed most. For a while, I was absorbed in the pages until the crowd broke in sudden, wild cheers.