Bermuda

Ten minutes since the match began.

<With the number of eliminations now past 150, the outline of the first Preliminary Round match is starting to take shape. This is when the contestants begin gradually recognizing each other’s strength and presence. The probing phase is dragging on, and movement is slowing down.>

<But there’s still a long way to go before we narrow it down to the final 200. No. 430, Death Roll—despite a nickname like that, he keeps failing to make the kill. Will this attempt be the one that works?>

<The riot Asher’s been causing nearby has widened the gaps between the Floating Platforms. That puts Death Roll at a disadvantage.>

<Ohh, and Death Roll moves immediately! He’s targeting No. 499, Joker, the one he’s been chasing this whole time!>

“He’s luring him on purpose.”

Hugo turned to the right at the sound of another commentary voice from beside him. It was the seat where Vice Commander Shorendo had been sitting.

But at the moment, Fourth Battalion Commander Andreas had taken his place instead, clutching a pair of binoculars and bouncing his leg restlessly.

Claiming he had moved over to have a serious conversation with the commander while Shorendo was briefly away on some matter, he had changed seats. In truth, though, he had merely escaped the sides of the boring Second and Third Battalion Commanders in search of a colleague he could at least get immersed with.

Staring at him, Hugo shifted his gaze back to the front and asked in return,

“That’s how it looks to you? To me, he just looks desperate to run.”

“Hah, Commander, you just don’t get it. Joker’s the decoy and the distraction. He acts deliberately noisy, drags in suitable targets one by one, and feeds them to Lion.”

It was exactly the sort of remark expected from a professional gambler who had once made a grand entrance during an illegal gambling den raid, only to stay there all night together with the very suspects he was ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) supposed to arrest.

“My eyes don’t get fooled. Lion’s the real deal. He’s hiding his skill.”

“......”

“I kind of want to see him go up against Asher. But if they meet this early in the Preliminary Round, is that too soon?”

Hugo had been about to answer with silence, but instead he stole another glance at Andreas’s expression. Aside from the league operations side, which had been formed as a task force, access to contestants’ personal information was restricted even for institution-affiliated personnel. So even a battalion commander could not have access to that much.

It did not particularly seem like Andreas had caught on to who Lion was, but the way he was ridiculously overinvested was deeply suspicious. His whole body swayed with the contestants as though he himself were participating.

Hugo blinked slowly, then asked out of nowhere,

“In whose name did you place the bet?”

Andreas flinched at the direct hit. His eyes creaked over and met his superior’s cool stare.

Hugo extended a hand toward him, as if telling him to hand it over obediently.

“Damn it, why does he keep chasing only me!”

Bounding between Floating Platforms with a pistol in hand, Ero glanced behind him and shouted with an aggrieved expression. Behind him, a crocodile-man wrapped in crocodile hide was leaping furiously in pursuit of his target.

Whenever Ero jumped with all his strength from one Floating Platform, roughly two seconds later a pair of heavy feet slammed down in that exact spot. The Floating Platform rocked violently like a ship caught in a storm.

Even when he intentionally fled across tiny fragments that should have been hard to follow, it was the same. The opponent, moving with alarming agility for such a massive build, steadily closed the distance. Deciding that he really was about to get caught at this rate, Ero turned his head toward Leonardo, who was dealing with another opponent.

He had been told to at least pull his own weight, but he had managed about 0.8 of a person’s worth, so wouldn’t it be fine if the boss, who did the other hundred servings, just lent a hand once?

“Boooss!”

<Joker suddenly changes direction! He’s dragging Death Roll into an area packed with contestants!>

<An intelligent strategy. Death Roll’s strikes are powerful, but he’s at a disadvantage when many people are crowded together. But will he really give up on Joker that easily?>

Ero threw himself onto a stone fragment barely large enough for a single foot. Leonardo turned his gaze at the sound of his voice. Only twenty meters remained between them now.

“Uwah—!”

<Ahh—he loses his footing! A perfect chance for Death Roll!>

Ero’s noisy foot tilted on the narrow foothold and slipped outright. Scraped stone fragments rained down, and Ero, nearly falling with them, barely caught another piece of debris with one hand. Fortunately, the fragment he had seized was broad and heavy enough that the Ether let it bear his weight in midair.

Hurriedly gripping the pistol, Ero swapped the magazine one-handed and loaded a round compressed with vines.

<He’s within range now. Joker is in danger!>

At the commentators’ voice, even more urgent than the man involved, Ero looked front and back in quick succession and aimed the pistol at his target point. His hand shook from panic, but there was no time to steady himself. The monster with a crocodile head on his left arm came charging at full speed.

Five contestants had already been eliminated after having flesh torn away by that blunt but vicious maw. Ero had no desire to become number six, so he fired the round toward a position where the unraveled vines might catch.

At that moment, a strange cry rose from below. A mysterious resonance, almost like the ultrasonic call of a whale.

<What’s happening here? A new figure has entered the chase!>

Leonardo threw one of the contestants he had been holding right between Death Roll and Ero. Then he dragged in a fist-sized stone drifting nearby with one hand and kicked it hard with his heel. The flying rock tore through the air as fast as a bullet and struck the fragment Ero was clinging to with perfect accuracy.

At the same time, vines burst from the end of the pistol’s muzzle, and Ero, unable to grab the end in time, was shoved backward while clinging to the fragment it struck.

“Boss, nice—!”

The crocodile and the hurled contestant collided head-on in the space between them. A dying groan rang out briefly, and at that same instant a massive shadow fell beneath the two of them. A transparent killer whale that looked as though it weighed at least five tons opened its jaws wide and swallowed both men in a single bite.

<No. 101, Orca! He restrains two rivals using a divine beast!>

<That speed is incredible. Even if you knew it was coming, you couldn’t have dodged it.>

It happened in the blink of an eye. Swallowed into the whale’s mouth, the two contestants spun round and round inside the divine beast’s transparent stomach as though trapped in a whirlpool. Then, as if they had lost consciousness, they floated up belly-up like dead fish. Beside the whale as it swam leisurely between the Floating Platforms with them inside its belly, long robes mixed in black and white streamed through the air.

“Too bad. I could’ve eaten all of them.”

The black-haired man muttered that as he stroked the whale’s head. The flowing lines of his robe, draping down like a ceremonial coat, were graceful, like reeds and rippling water. But his untidy right sleeve was left hanging loose rather than worn over his arm. Because of that, the upper half of Orca’s body was half exposed, revealing savage muscle structure clear enough to explain the meaning of the name Killer Whale.

<Once you get caught inside that, it’s not easy to come back out. The ultrasound strips away your sense of balance, and in severe cases causes dizziness and vomiting. The fact that they failed to avoid the collision in midair means they had already fallen into Killer Whale’s trap.>

<People often say that a place filled with Ether is much like being underwater. Is that why? Even a sea crocodile is no match for a killer whale!>

<Joker narrowly avoided it thanks to his partner’s help. Ah, and Lion is moving to rescue him while he’s still hanging in the air.>

Leonardo, making a wide jump, drew steadily closer to Ero, who was struggling and trying to climb up the fragment he had grabbed.

<Lion has shown striking physical ability as well. His signature has been using raw strength to swing other contestants around like weapons. But so far, he still hasn’t revealed any special technique—>

Orca’s gaze shifted toward them as well. And just then, they were also caught in the sight of the white ghost, who had finished hunting nearby.

Asher, her neck twisting left and right under the backlight, quickly lowered her stance and leaped downward.

<And just as we say that, Asher, who has dealt with every contestant within her range, finally moves! It looks like she’s found a new toy!>

<Is her target Orca, Lion, or Joker? Can any of them really stand against her?>

“Uh, wh—?”

Focused only on climbing up, Ero let out a stupid sound at the commentators’ voices. Then he looked up with only his upper body barely hooked over the fragment and found himself meeting a pair of glittering eyes.

A woman with her hair flying loose closed the distance in an instant, her face like a ghost out of a nightmare. Gasping in breath, Ero began thrashing far more violently than before.

“Wh-why me again?!”

A chill raced down his spine, and he dug in his fingernails, desperate to get himself up onto the platform somehow. But once he lost his composure, strength would not go into his arms, and he kept slipping. The Floating Platform swaying from side to side because of his struggling only made things worse.

<Orca is moving too! Is it that he doesn’t want to lose his prey? He and Asher are both charging at Joker!>

The water-colored killer whale lashed its tail for extra propulsion. The way it launched forward was anything but ordinary.

Watching this, Leonardo clicked his tongue. At this rate, he would be too late. He kicked off the last foothold with all his strength and vanished in an instant.

<Is this the end for Joker?!>

It felt like being a penguin stranded on a melting chunk of ice. Ero whipped his head around frantically, then squeezed his eyes shut. The excited voices of the commentators sounded nothing but cruel. If he was going to be torn apart and eliminated like this, wouldn’t it be better to just let go and fall?

Just as he was about to slowly release his grip from the fragment he was hanging onto—

<Uh—who’s that?!>

A flash of light burst above the fragment, and fiercely upturned golden eyes appeared. Leonardo thrust out a palm toward the hunters charging in from both sides. Boiling heat rippled around him in silence, making his cloak flare.

At that instant, Orca, who had been surging forward like he was swimming through the sea, faltered. He sharply changed direction and narrowly veered away at the very threshold with help from his divine beast.

At the same time, even Asher’s eyes, glowing with a sinister light as she rushed in, twitched. Just before reaching him, she stepped on a fragment and slammed to a stop.

As if trying to secure distance, she flipped backward several times, then landed lightly atop a broad Floating Platform. But her expression had hardened completely.

<What just happened here? Lion—Lion it is! He claims Joker before either of them can reach him!>

<Was that teleportation? He’s been hiding his ability until now, and things have suddenly become interesting. Both Orca and Asher flinched for a split second.>

<Did they sense something from him? A brand-new three-way showdown—!>

Still hanging on to the very end, Ero stared blankly up at the shadow cast over his head. Then, as if finally relieved, his eyes unfocused and a sigh spilled from him.

“Ah...”

The fluttering cloak brushed across his face in a way completely unsuited to the situation. Along with it, the excited murmur of the crowd rolled through the arena.