However, it was as the knight captain had said. The organizers of the tournament didn’t approach them once over the week before the tournament reconvened. There were no recordings and no noncompetitors (other than staff) allowed on the island.
Those busy days felt like they had all just been a terrible dream as they were suddenly allowed free time to themselves. Everyone spent that time in their own ways, including the ten or so fighters who had made it back from the losers’ matches. It was quiet without the commotion of the capital. Most of them spent their time quietly training and conditioning for the tournament. The rest of them were resting.
Everyone was well aware of how important this next week would be. None of the obviously weak rookies were left among them. Everyone in the main matches fought as part of their occupation, even if the specifics were different.
“The result of an adventure is determined by the preparations one makes.” This was the motto drilled into any adventurer’s head. All one had to do was swap “adventure” with “battle” and it applied to the tournament as well.
Any sense of elation at having made it to the next round had ended with that party. Since then, everyone had been focused solely on their preparations to win. There was no time for distractions, not even their rivals. They all were looking solely at themselves, working on their bodies so they would be in the best condition for the tournament. All the time granted to them was being used for that purpose.
“They really are something else.”
Lynokis was on a run around the quiet floating island. She was encasing herself in chi and simply running. Filling her mind was thoughts of the competition...of the adventurers she had once looked up to passing by with the scenery.
Until the preliminaries and that party, she’d had all sorts of eyes on her. There had been those who talked badly about her behind her back, and she’d need more than two hands to count the number of times someone had tried to pick a fight with her. No one got especially aggressive, but she’d heard plenty of ill-intentioned rumors about herself.
She was the favorite to win the tournament. Because of that perception, she’d been the target of a lot of jealousy.
But now, no one cared. If they wanted to use this week to its fullest, they had to ignore Lynokis. There was no time to be distracted. They were different from her in that way. They were good at getting into the right headspace. That ability to calmly make decisions was proof that they were professionals.
Lynokis, on the other hand, was a little naive in this area. She hadn’t realized that everyone was actually still keeping her in their periphery, especially those in the bare-handed division. They needed to pay attention if they wanted to gather information for any chance of formulating a way to win. If they couldn’t win through pure strength and skill, they’d prepare in order to make it possible.
That was how a professional approached situations like this.
Lynokis let out a breath. She’d made it back to the lodgings where her room was. She was sweating profusely. Her body felt heavy. She was sure that if she ran any more, her body would fall apart. It wasn’t because she’d pushed her body too hard, but because she’d used too much chi. She’d become more proficient at using it, but she still wasn’t good enough. She wasn’t sure if she could make any notable progress in just a week, but she had to try.
She was glad she’d chosen sweatproof makeup. At least the price had been worth it.
“Ten laps.”
Lynokis thought her heart would leap out of her chest when someone suddenly spoke to her from behind. When she turned around, she saw a blue fox beastkin standing with a relaxed look on her face—Tohaulow.
“Ten laps and you’re already sweating this much?”
Lynokis had run ten laps around the island. She hadn’t decided on the number in advance—she’d intended to just run until she reached her limit. She planned to go for a run in the evening too, so she was just going to rest in her room for a while.
“Were you with me that whole time?” she tentatively asked the other girl.
“Yup. I was running right behind you. Though I’ll admit I was hiding my presence. What? Didn’t notice me?”
She hadn’t. That wasn’t just the result of the beastkin’s naturally blessed athletic ability. Tohaulow had clearly trained her body up bit by bit like any regular person, choosing not to rely on her natural build alone. Lynokis could sense a boundless strength in her.
Tohaulow continued to stare into Lynokis’s eyes, uncaring of Lynokis’s discomfort. “Are you really that strong? You don’t look it. But that move you showed in the prelims was definitely as fast as one of mine.”
She must have been referring to her match with Avan. There was no other match where Lynokis put in the effort.
“Mind if I have a little shot?” That was Tohaulow’s way of issuing a challenge. Lynokis had had plenty of challenges from other fighters until now. Hostile fights were against the rules, but if they framed it as asking for a spar, they were able to be annoying without consequence.
Lynokis didn’t even hesitate. “Nope. Absolutely not. I refuse.”
“Whaaaat? You’re not gonna fight me?”
“Of course not. I’m not about to be disqualified because of a silly fight.”
This tournament was pretty strict on personal fights. There were so many foreign competitors that they were always at risk of something escalating to an international incident; that was the number one thing the organizers wanted to avoid. Even now, the staff were patrolling the island. It was clearly intended to act as a deterrent. If they fought, they would get disqualified on the spot.
“Hmm, well, okay. I guess I’ll wait ’til the real thing.”
“Are you that confident we’ll even get paired up?”
“I am. I’m going to the finals. We’ll end up fighting eventually.”
“Even though there are other competitors stronger than you?”
“Huh? Who’re you talking about?” Tohaulow really looked as if she had no idea who Lynokis meant.
Lynokis nearly said who she was thinking of, then decided against it. There was no benefit to giving this girl information.
“I don’t intend to lose to you either, y’know?” Tohaulow said with full confidence.
“You can certainly dream.”
Honestly, Lynokis didn’t care which of them was stronger. Her only wish was to not lose in front of Nia as her number one student. That was all. Tohaulow was someone she needed to watch out for, but Lynokis’s focus was turned toward one man and one man alone:
Gandolph.
That man was in the same division as her. The two of them knew each other’s tricks to some degree and they were also both practitioners of chi. They roughly knew each other’s power levels. They were like classmates too. That was the real sticking point for Lynokis. She didn’t care if she lost to Tohaulow, but she cared greatly about losing to Gandolph. Lynokis was Nia’s number one student—she couldn’t afford to lose to her juniors.
If she lost to the second or third or whatever number student Gandolph was, her title would be stained. The title of number one student was much more important to Lynokis than being the favorite to win the tournament.
She’d caught sight of Gandolph on her run around the island. He had been focused entirely on doing punches in the air. Though they were basic forms, Gandolph was clearly picturing a real fight in his mind. Despite punching air, the weight behind each punch was immense. When Lynokis had seen those punches, she’d genuinely found herself worrying. She realized that Gandolph had become much stronger than she’d anticipated.
Could she destroy his defense? Right now, she had no confidence. Gandolph was not the man he had been when they’d first met. Lynokis couldn’t imagine a scenario in which any of her attacks broke through.
“Shouldn’t you focus on your own training?” That was all Lynokis said before she turned around and headed back to her room. She had no time to be dealing with other people right now.
Each of Nia’s students were training in their own ways. Lynette was focusing on her fundamentals; Fressa was going on constant walks, observing her potential opponents; Anzel was holed up in his room focusing on his personal training regimen; Gandolph was endlessly punching the air, allowing for no distractions and never letting his focus slip for a moment; Lynokis was going on runs while trying to simulate fights with Gandolph in her head.
Back when Lynokis and Lynette had heard they would have a week of free time, they’d initially considered returning home to see their masters—that was how lightly they’d been viewing the tournament. Now, they were so single-mindedly focused on it that they’d decided to completely abandon those plans.
Though their reasons for fighting were varied, they were all filled with the desire to win, to not lose. Naturally, the other competitors felt the same. Everyone was hungrily eyeing up the winner’s crown.
This massive stage had gone well beyond the scale of a single country. The prize money was a gigantic sum. All around them were strong fighters.
With elites from the surrounding countries all coming to observe, it was the perfect chance to get their names known. The chance this could connect to another lucrative business opportunity was clear.
This could be the greatest battle of their lives. Many of the competitors viewed the tournament with such weight.
With ambition and bloodlust dancing under the fighters’ skin, it was finally time for the real tournament to commence.