Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 25 ❆ Black Flame

"Are you all good? You had that one bad fall earlier. What did the medics tell you?"

"No broken bones," he said. "Don't worry. I'm not that easy to break! But you saw it, right? I beat him, Evy! I beat him!" The smile on his face—I couldn't see it, but I could feel that it was there. "Did I do a good job?"

I patted his shoulder. "You did a great job! Eren wanted to make a fandom for you."

"A fandom?" He looked confused.

"A fan kingdom, because she wants to support you." I looked over to Eren and saw she was still shell-shocked. "And maybe we can put one up for Eren too."

Some spirit seeped back into her being, but she was still mostly frozen. "And...we can make strawberries the flag and the theme fruit," I added.

This put her back in the mood. She bounced from her seat, even more motivated. "There should be a strawberry day then as a national holiday!" she told me.

"Yep. But you've got to get over your fight with Black Flame first. Will you be okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. I guess. I'm just really scared," she said.

"It's normal to be. But that gives you all the more reason to be brave!"

She nodded. "Will you cheer for me?"

"Of course I will," I told her. Though I had been tempted to lie low because we might be spotted...well, I suppose I would have to mind that later. We still had the mistresses to protect us for that.

"Will you cheer for me too, Maun?" she asked.

He raised both hands and shook them in the air—the sign for cheering.

"You don't have to ask," I translated for him.

"I should learn this sign language too...but I already have my hands full learning Lovardi," she muttered.

"You're doing great with it, either way."

As Eren chatted away about her plans on establishing the fandom, the announcer's voice resonated, disturbing the idle chatter that had nestled over the arena during the gap between the fights.

"Next up! Another one from the top makes their debut—against Weeping Siren! Black Flame! Second from the top in the preliminary tests!"

I looked over to Eren and found that her nerves began to get the best of her. "You've learned a lot under Mistress Veronika the last few days, right? Just be calm about this and test out the things you have learned under her. Whatever you can glean from this fight, you can use it to climb back up the ranks later!"

"Is it really okay?"

"Learning is always the priority, victory isn't," I said. "I think I learned that the hard way..."

"You're right," she told me. "Then, I'll do my best! For the strawberries!"

"Yup. For the strawberries!"

"Okay, then you should—" To my horror, she stood up from her seat and pointed a finger to Black Flame as they were being called to the stage.

"Just you wait! Pretty soon, the only thing black will be your ass for being grilled!" she roared at him.

"What the—that's not..." Just a minute ago...How could this girl change moods so quickly? Either was so fired up about winning or so depressed about losing, it was quite worrying.

I couldn't hold back myself from cringing beneath my mask as I looked over my shoulder to see how Black Flame would respond. Black Flame was quiet. He merely gave Eren a glance before entering the arena upon the monk's guidance. Erenol was steered to the center stage as well.

At the corner of my eyes, I caught the elder monks sitting up in the judger's lane, looking quite amused at Eren's antics. Master Myrrh, in particular, was wild with laughter. I could read his lips vividly mouthing, "I like that girl! I like that girl! She is way too funny!"

The Abbot, on the other hand, seemed to be on the verge of rolling his eyes.

"You should go and get yourself looked at more thoroughly," I told Maun, trying to distract myself from the second-hand embarrassment I was getting. I had to give it to Erenol though. She had a lot of guts.

"Can I get looked at after Erenol finishes?" he asked. "I don't want to miss anything."

Maun was bright-eyed. He didn't mind Erenol's outburst earlier—he was even fully supporting it.

I sighed. "Then, if you're sure and you're not in too much pain. Just sit down and don't do anything strenuous."

He nodded and sat down to watch.

I was more worried about these two than I was about myself, to be quite honest. Well...they were still technically kids, so the immaturity was a given. Maun and Erenol had extraordinary backgrounds as well, so even among kids of the same age, they could be quite the odd ones.

It didn't take long for the fight to take off between Weeping Siren and Black Flame.

The anxiety I felt for Erenol facing the second-from-the-top scorer was more than what I felt for Maun. If Maun was a sheathed sword...Erenol felt like an unsmithed weapon. As a fighter, she had yet to have an identity. Her skills and knowledge were very limited and unpolished. At the same time, one could see the clear potential she had if she was nurtured right.

When the whistles were blown to signal the start of the fight, Black Flame did not bother with entertaining his opponent and swept in with a kick.

I just realized...this kid's legs were hella long. Even with considerable distance, he could easily reach his opponent and successfully keep them at a distance if he so wanted. And this was what he did exactly.

His offense was his defense. So long as he had the endurance to attack, cutting through his relentless chain kicks and jumps would be a feat in itself.

It was like a painting...and his feet were the brush. There were many strokes, all of shifting lengths. He would stretch and split, then throw himself to the ground. His feet would come flying overhead, striking at Eren's measly defenses and throwing her back. Eren had been equipped with some very good blocking and evasive techniques by Mistress Veronika, so she wasn't as helpless against this exchange compared to her first fight. Nonetheless, it was slowly becoming clear that whatever she'd been taught would not be enough to help her win.

It was an expected outcome. To what degree, though...I didn't imagine it was to this extent.

"That's..." I trailed off. "It's beautiful footwork, I hate to admit." It was sophisticated, elegant, deadly. We looked like ruffians when compared to this guy.

"Hmph." Maun crossed his arms indignantly.

"This style! This style!" the announcer screamed. "Even with the mask, this is a signature that everyone in this arena knows!"

I perked up. "A signature style?"

"It seems we have here a youngster from the prestigious Gayden family! If you folks aren't up to date yet, there's been rumors going around that the youngest son of five siblings will be participating in this year's competition! If hunches are right, Black Flame is Arondite Gayden!"

Was it okay to be yelling out the name, though? Then again, the announcer did precede his revelation with if hunches are right. It must be some kind of badly kept secret within this town.

From what Mistress Veronika told us, the masks were to hide the identity and protect the competitors from poachers. But if the competitor was already well-known and from an established family, then those things hardly amounted to anything other than formality.

Hearing that her opponent was someone established, a light seemed to flare in Eren's eyes. It was there. The hate bubbling from the repressed depths and rising to the surface. In an instant, whatever caution and hesitation that was hindering Eren from performing well was thrown aside.

"Please don't be reckless," I muttered under my breath. But I knew that prayer would be in vain. This girl wasn't the type to climb a wall when faced with one—she would run into it headfirst.