Bermuda

<The number of survivors counted just before the whistle was a total of 198. To determine the remaining two survivors, we are comparing the deactivation times of the Identity Bands, but the records of the last five eliminated contestants are identical down to one one-hundredth of a second.>

<Incredible. Isn’t this the first time anything like this has happened since the league began?>

<No, it isn’t the first. There was a similar case during a Preliminary Round held at Thalia Stadium twelve years ago.>

The acrid earth dust blurred his vision. Only his sight was blocked, yet even his ears felt muffled. Because of that, he could not properly make out the commentators’ voices. Giving up on figuring out what exactly was happening, Leonardo lowered the chin he had raised and rolled his eyes forward.

A face that gave little away was staring straight at him. Asher’s ash-gray eyes were cold, but he felt no killing intent in them.

The eyes of his opponent, which had been still for a while, flicked away again as if she had felt the same shift in the air. At the end of her gaze was the wristband on Asher’s arm, its light not yet extinguished. Leonardo still had his arm extended upward, his hand wrapped over it. One finger had wedged itself into the band’s ring. As if he might tear it off at any moment.

<What happened to Asher and Lion?>

It was only one finger, but because it was pressed so tightly against the artery, her pulse carried through clearly enough for him to roughly guess her emotional state. In that sense, this woman’s pulse was very fast right now. Her face looked calm, but the explosive rush of adrenaline meant she could switch stances and attack at any moment.

With the hand supporting her lower back, Leonardo found her spine. All he had really done was spread his palm wider, but even that tiny movement seemed threatening enough to make her ash-gray eyes react savagely.

Leonardo, who had been holding her in place as she tilted backward in a pose that looked almost like dancing, let a smirk lift the corner of his hidden mouth.

“I’m not going to kill you.”

<Both of them survived.>

WAAAAAAAH—!

At the news that the two contestants who had left the strongest impression in this match were both alive, the audience, who had been waiting for exactly that, erupted into cheers. The floating motes of dust seemed to vibrate all at once. At the same time, Asher, rigid as though a blade had just touched her throat, slammed her fist down at once.

KWAAANG—!

“Damn—” Leonardo sprang back in a wide leap. The dust that had been starting to settle flew up again, and the Floating Platform he had just been standing on caved in deeply once more. It had not split clean in two, but if he had stayed still, one part of his head would definitely have burst.

“I said I’m not going to kill you, so why are you attacking me? The match is over.”

Leonardo protested in a sullen voice. But the arena was so loud he could barely hear his own words. Naturally, there was no way the other side had understood him either.

<That’s welcome news if ever there was any. Both of them clearly fell, after all!>

<Lion, as a teleportation user, had a chance of surviving, but even I didn’t expect Asher to make it. She may have a trump card she’s been hiding as well. Of course, both of them are far too valuable to lose in the very first Preliminary Round match. We’ll need to confirm the exact circumstances from the compiled data...>

With the hazy curtain of dust between them and the distance widening too, even the eyes he had at least been able to read were no longer visible. Only a vague, shadowlike outline flickered in view.

Around then, his fallen hair brushed against the corners of his golden eyes. Leonardo shoved the blond strands sticking out back under his cap. At this point, doubt began to creep in. Is it really possible for me to hide who I am all the way to the end of this league? I’ve already been leaking clues all over the place...

Letting out a sigh, he pointed his index finger at the one responsible for ruining his plans for today. Whether she heard him in all this noise or not, he declared it anyway.

“It was fun for the first time in a while, but let me warn you in advance. Don’t get in my way.”

Naturally, no answer came back. Even if she had opened her mouth, there was no way he would have heard it from here anyway.

It felt like talking to a wall, so he decided to leave it at that. Pulling back his pointing hand, he adjusted his cap. Then, just before turning and leaping upward, those vivid golden eyes fixed on her in a sidelong stare. This time, it was a warning.

“Next time, I’ll be serious.”

With that, he planted his foot and prepared to kick off from the ground. But then a booming voice rang out overhead.

<Now then! Before we move on to the next round, we have an urgent announcement! All survivors still remaining in the arena must form groups of five within the next 5 seconds! A group will be recognized if all 5 members are within a radius of 5 meters!>

Huh?

At those words, Leonardo looked up with a puzzled expression. Wasn’t it over?

The dust had cleared more than before, but the view still was not fully restored. He could see the silhouettes of Floating Platforms, but as for people nearby...

<Any remaining contestants who fail to form a group within 5 seconds will be matched randomly with the others! Now then, the count begins. 5!>

Having just managed to pull off a stylish farewell, Leonardo stiffly twisted his neck and looked back again. The woman was still standing there like a stone statue, just like him.

<4, 3!>

Shit. If they were telling them to form groups, then the next match was obviously going to be a team battle, and even by rough estimate they were within five meters. At this rate, he was about to end up teamed with that woman who had rampaged like a lunatic for the entire match. He hated teammates he could not control, and ones who stood out were even worse.

<2!>

Now in a hurry, Leonardo leaped straight into the dust, trying to escape. But in that instant, he heard a whale’s cry from somewhere. At the same time, several dark figures rushed at him in a flash.

“Lion—!”

“Boss!”

Along with what sounded like Gillian’s and Ero’s voices, Leonardo suddenly had both arms seized in midair. He had no time to check exactly who had grabbed him. His confusion lasted only a moment, and before he could even resist, he was dragged away through the pale haze.

In the meantime, Asher was nowhere to be seen in the fading view behind him.

<1! Group formation is closed!>

***

“So what you’re saying is, you fired that bomb at the end?”

“It wasn’t exactly a bomb, sir. Honestly, I was saving it in case I got lucky and made it to the main tournament...”

Ero scratched the back of his head awkwardly and grinned. Leonardo eyed him with obvious distrust, but still reached out and picked up a chocolate bar from the table in the waiting room. The contestants had been given about forty minutes to regroup before the bracket for the second match was announced. One waiting room had been assigned to each team.

Unwrapping the paper, Leonardo lifted the bottom of his mask slightly and pushed the chocolate bar into his mouth.

He chewed without much thought, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

Oh, this is that one.

The high-calorie energy bar from the Council’s combat rations. Apparently he had not recognized it because the packaging had changed.

Had they upgraded it in the meantime? There was a hazelnut flavor added now, which made it much richer. In other words, it tasted better.

When Leonardo’s gaze lingered on the chocolate bar in his hand, Ero, who had stopped talking, quietly held out the energy bar from his own ration as well. Leonardo glanced at it, then asked out of courtesy,

“What about you?”

“I’m allergic to chocolate.”

Was that a thing? Not bothering to think too deeply about it, Leonardo reached out and dragged the energy bar over in front of himself. Then, as if afraid someone might snatch it away, he stuffed it into his pants pocket.

“Thanks.”

“Want me to get you more?”

“No.”

I can just ask the Legion Commander for some.

Replying simply, Leonardo pulled the earlier topic back to the front.

“So. You were saving it for the main tournament?”

“Well, if you kept fighting Asher, it would’ve worn you down, wouldn’t it, boss? And since I’m your partner, I had to step in and help somehow, right? There weren’t many survivors left by then either. It’s not like I could beat Asher into the ground myself, so if I wanted to end it in one shot, it felt like this was the only way...”

<Joker, Lion’s partner, really made a huge play there. It’s not easy for an ordinary pistol to create that kind of shockwave—.>

<The sand Nefertiti used to protect her followers actually became poison instead. The explosion scattered it in every direction, and the grains turned into sharp fragments. Just like a grenade.>

<The operations side plans to recover Joker’s remaining pistol rounds and reanalyze their composition. I hear they were magic-infused bullets. The earlier inspection found no rules violations, but something that eliminated nearly twenty contestants at once is undeniably dangerous.>

<Will Joker’s participation in the next match become uncertain?>

<Not to that extent. However, until the bullet inspection is complete, he’ll have to use ordinary pistol rounds. Judging by what Joker has shown so far, that will be a considerable penalty. Of course, if he remains with Lion, that becomes a different story.>

“So I got a little help from Belle and Beast. We’re on the same team now anyway... that’s fine, right?”

Ero asked cautiously. He still remembered very clearly that Leonardo had once told him not to act like he knew those two.

Leaning crookedly against the sofa, with one aching arm draped over the backrest, Leonardo kept chewing with an indifferent expression. Then he looked at the two seated beside him.

There were Gillian and Beatrice, who had suddenly become part of the same team, and if one insisted on adding one more, there was also Morvain, her cherished doll and the doorkeeper of her lodgings.

Beatrice, taking the teacup Morvain had poured for her, added as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, freeweɓnovel.cѳm

“Not just fine. It actually worked out for the best. If you teamed up with anyone other than me, would winning even be possible?”

Everyone had plenty to say to that, but there was not a single soul brave enough to say it aloud. Gillian, who had been staring at Beatrice as she sipped her tea, shrugged. He too was leaning back against the sofa, swirling a wineglass full of red wine.

“Well, if the lady says so, then let’s do our best now that it’s come to this. Your partner’s got some guts too. He’s not bad.”

“Oh, come on, sir.”

At Gillian’s approval, Ero played coy. Watching the strange bond that had somehow formed among them without his knowledge, Leonardo simply stared, speechless.

Is this really okay?

According to the testimony of his new associates, Joker had approached them first during the match and begged for help, saying it was for Lion’s sake. Since he said it was because of him, the two of them had naturally felt compelled to step in, and by assisting Joker’s plan, they had targeted the area where the largest number of survivors remained. In other words, the match ending in an explosion had been the collaborative work of these three... no, four.

“If Belle and Beast, and Orca too, hadn’t helped me, would I even be here right now?”

Embarrassed, Ero shifted the credit elsewhere. Leonardo’s gaze naturally turned to the single armchair that had been set a little apart on his left. Sitting there was the killer whale, watching the state of the waiting room with a rather different air from how he had seemed during the match.

The moment Leonardo turned his head halfway, the man met his eyes as though he had been waiting for it.

Then he stretched out his right arm as if proposing a handshake and thrust his face forward.

“Good to meet you, lion. I’m Orca.”