The day of the tournament has finally arrived. I assume this was a way for the facilitators to measure our combat strength for whatever purpose they intend for us after our gift awakening.
On the 2nd lunch rotation of the day, all of the kids participating in the tournament were guided to a large fighting arena. Beforehand, we were changed into black “combat uniforms” that had a variety of pockets and compartments. We were then ordered to stand in a line on the large marble square arena and face forward. It resembled a large colosseum, with people I had never seen before wearing masks filling all of the seats. They were all wearing suits and looked quite distinguished.
A girl next to me was shivering in fear while looking at all of the people, while the boy on my right was waving happily at the crowd.
This is pointless.
These fights were most likely a show to these people, and in exchange, they would sponsor them. In between the north and south checkpoints of the colosseum, there was a large glass box that held the head researcher, all the single digits, and a man with long black hair I had never seen before.
As I was inspecting my surroundings further, a loud voice boomed throughout the arena.
“Precious sponsors, are you ready for our 4th annual Subject Competition?!”
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!””
“We’ve bred these subjects in the toughest of conditions, and we're showcasing their resilience and grit in THIS VERY ARENAAAAAA! While we may not be the famed colosseum in Lamael, the action will be just as intense! The winner of this special event will gain access to the final tournament, in which they will face off against this facility’s prized single-digit gift userssssssss!”
As he said that, the spotlight shone on the single digits, all dressed in suits. And what I saw had me absolutely stunned. I saw the green swamp-haired kid, standing there perfectly fine. The same kid I shot in the head, and saw lying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor. I stared at him in utter disbelief, and eventually, he glanced down at me and smirked. He put his hand near his face and mouthed a sentence to me, before laughing silently.
“Told you it was pointless, ‘colleague’.”
“Does he have some type of regeneration ability…..? That must be why I got off with such a light punishment. What a bastard.” I muttered to myself. I glanced back up at the digits and noticed one more oddity that I had missed earlier.
I don’t see the white-haired girl…
“And we have a very, very, VERY special guest today! Introducing the one, the only, CHOSEN HERO OF MAELA: ZAAAAAAAAAAGRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Upon hearing that name, the crowd went ballistic, as the spotlight shone down on the man with long black hair. Sitting on his lap was the white-haired girl, who looked mildly irritated.
After the spotlight hit him, he closed his eyes and turned away, as if he wasn’t interested in this at all.
“NOW! Let me explain the rules of this year’s tournament! Of the 64 subjects, only one will leave that arena alive! A battle royale fight to the death to determine who is the strongest of the strong! The time limit is 1 hour! If there is more than one person alive after the hour is up, everyone in the arena dies! With the choice of death being voted on by YOU, the sponsors! With a small sum of money, you can also cause hazards to appear around the arena, hindering some of the fighters!”
“H-Huh?” The girl next to me whimpered.
“We have to kill each other? And they can rig the stage?!” The boy next to me screamed.
Similar panicked complaints arose from all of the other participants, but it was cut off by the announcer’s voice.
“Now is the time to place your bets, folks! Remember, the payout is 10x what you originally put in if you guess the winner right! You may only change your bet once, and it has to be before 20 minutes have passed! I’ll give you all 30 seconds to place your bets!”
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“I see.”
“W-What? Did you figure something out? How do we get out of here?” The girl on my left said as she grabbed my shoulder.
“With that 20-minute rule, the sponsors will most likely encourage us to show off some of our skills so they know who to change their bet to. During this time, they’ll probably threaten us with hazards unless we fight, and after they place their bets, they’ll continue to rig the stage so they win.” I said, watching each of the masked contestants input something into a panel.
“How does that help us get out of here?! I barely managed to get to this stage, I thought it was just going to be some friendly sparring, just like the preliminaries!”
It seems like I’m the only one who had to kill someone to enter.
“Groups will be very important in this game; sponsors are most likely to bet on people in a group because they have a higher chance of lasting longer.” I mused aloud.
“So?!” He shrieked in my ear.
“So….if you’re bet on, they won’t want to lose their money. So they’ll rig the stage to protect you.” I continued.
The two kids looked at me blankly until it finally hit them.
“Ohhhh! I get it!” The girl said as she struck her palm.
The girl had brown hair, and the boy had a dark complexion with blond hair. Surprisingly, their eyes were both yellow, and they were slightly taller than me.
“What’s your number? Mine’s 218.” The boy asked.
“I-I’m no.81” The girl said as she looked in my direction.
“I’m—”
“We already know your number, silly! What you did was crazy, everyone knows about you!” He exclaimed excitedly, slapping me on the back.
“Uh-huh…”
“Alright! Because she’s the highest, this group will be Team 81! Yay!” 218 said as he put his hand in the middle.
“M-Me? I don’t really think—”
“C’mon! Have some confidence in yourself, right 963?”
“Confidence is key in this situation. If you begin to doubt yourself, it could result in your death.”
“Ha! Debbie Downer over here has a point, we’re all in it together! Let’s take this thing till the very end!” 218 said as he clapped his hands.
Debbie Downer….?
The loud voice then boomed across the colosseum once more.
“Contestants! You will have 30 seconds to select your weapon of choice from the caches that appear on the outside of the colosseum! Starting….now! Once the 30 seconds are up, the game begins!”
There was a low rumble until I saw multiple containers appear from the ground with various weapons hanging from the wall. A timer was projected in the middle of the stadium, showing that the countdown had begun.
I immediately jumped off the arena and ran to the closest box to me. As expected, there was a dagger in there, so I picked it up. All of the other kids scrambled to pick up weapons, including my mutually-formed team.
By the time they picked up their weapons, I was already back in the arena. The time ticked down until it hit 0, and one kid was left outside the stadium still frantically trying to pick up a weapon.
“Tiiiiiimes up! Sponsors, witness what happens when contestants don’t follow the rules!”
“W-What?!” The kid yelled.
Right after he yelled that, there was a loud ringing throughout the stadium as we heard the ever-familiar sound of a gun firing. Not a second later, he fell to the ground with a large bullet hole through his forehead. Many children started to tremble after witnessing the reality of the situation.
“With that out of the way, let the game BEGIN!!!”
All of the kids hesitantly looked at each other while clutching their weapons.
“Psst! 963, what do we do?” 218 asked.
“Yeah! Y-you’re kinda the real leader of the group.” 81 agreed, her hands trembling.
“Face forward, the enemy can ambush at any time. Hold your weapons confidently so you draw attention and act strong; it will make them feel weaker when they fight.”
They both turned around and held their weapons firm.
“L-Like thi—?”
*SLASH*
Her head rolled on the floor as the onlookers watched in horror.
“963! What are you—?” 218 said as he began to turn around.
*SLASH*
His body fell to the floor lifeless, as the puddles of blood merged together and slowly enveloped my feet.
The whole stadium was stunned, and not a single sound was made. In this arena, in that moment, I had complete control of the situation.
I turned around and looked up at the crowd, holding up my knife and shouting these words for everyone to hear.
“Bet on me!”
Slashing the blood off my knife, I turned my focus back to the battlefield. Looking at the 61 unfortunate opponents I had to face in this forced situation.
“Come at me if you wish to die.”
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