(Arin's POV)
The tip of the iron spear glinted coldly, hovering mere centimeters from my nose. Yet, that physical threat paled in comparison to the exhaustion crushing the bones throughout my entire body.
My hands trembled violently as I reached into a pocket torn in several places. It felt like it took an eternity just to retrieve that small piece of metal.
"HALT! Do not move! Or I will run you through!" the guard barked.
His voice shook uncontrollably. Cold sweat poured down his temples. Fear radiated clearly from his eyes as he beheld my appearance, bathed in black and red blood. The figure before him must have looked like a demon that had just crawled out of hell.
I ignored the threat.
With ragged breath, I held the silver student badge high. The dried blood coating it dimmed the badge's luster, as if it had died along with its owner.
"Look..." My voice sounded hoarse, rough like sandpaper grinding against stone. "I am... an Academy student..."
The guard took a step back. His eyes widened in horror at the blood-smeared object presented to him. He swallowed hard, then turned panic-stricken to his partner.
"Check that thing! Quick!" he ordered with a cracking voice. "Make sure it is not a magic bomb!"
The second guard stepped forward hesitantly, snatching the badge from my limp hand. He rubbed the bloodstain on its surface with the cuff of his sleeve. His eyes widened as he saw the engraved academy crest and the name inscribed there.
"By the Gods... it is real," he muttered, looking at his partner with a pale face. "This is a first-year student badge. Name is Arin."
"But look at his condition, you fool!" the first guard interrupted hysterically, his spear still aimed straight at my neck. "He is carrying a corpse! And that smell of blood... that is the smell of the people who died at the border last night! What if he is a heretic disguised using a stolen badge?!"
"But Headmistress Rhyms gave a special order last night!" argued the second guard, his voice rising an octave. "If a student named Arin appears, we must open the gate! Do you want to disobey Madam Selena's orders?!"
"And do you want to risk letting a terrorist in?! We could be hanged by the Security Council if we are wrong!"
"We will be flayed by the Rhyms Family if we are wrong!"
Their debate buzzed in my ears like annoying flies. My vision began to blur. Erika's body on my back felt colder by the second. Our time was up; there was no energy left for ridiculous arguments.
I lifted my head slowly. I projected a gaze fueled by my last remaining strength straight into the eyes of both guards.
"Listen..." I hissed.
There was no shouting, yet the cold tone pierced right to the bone.
"I just had dinner with Duke Edwin Rhyms a week ago. If you let his precious 'asset' die at this gate because of your stupidity... I guarantee tomorrow your heads will be displayed in the town square as decorations."
Silence.
Instantly, their faces turned as pale as paper. The name "Rhyms" possessed its own magical power in this kingdom. More terrifying than monsters, more authoritarian than the king.
The doubt in the guards' eyes vanished, replaced by pure fear of the social hierarchy.
"O-Open the gate! Quick, you idiot!" shouted the second guard, shoving his friend.
"R-Right!"
The rusty iron gate creaked open with a painful sound.
No words of thanks were spoken, and no apologies came from them. I dragged my feet inside, leaving the two guards still trembling in fear at their post.
The winter wind blew through the empty walled corridors, carrying faint cheers from the distance. The Main Arena. Everyone was there, celebrating the exam, cheering for the young heroes.
The silence in this hallway felt ironic. While others cheered celebrating the competition, one life was being dragged dying here, leaving a trail of blood on the clean marble floor.
Every step was torture. My cracked knee rubbed painfully. Yet I forced myself to keep walking toward the only place promising salvation.
BANG!
I kicked the Infirmary door wide open.
Inside, Doctor Edna was sitting drinking her morning coffee. The cup in her hand fell and shattered into pieces as she saw her uninvited guest.
"Who-"
Her words stopped in her throat when she saw us.
"By the Gods..." Edna covered her mouth. Her eyes widened in horror staring at my shattered body condition, and the unconscious Erika on my back.
"Doctor..." I said weakly.
My legs finally gave up. I fell to my knees, but my hands still supported Erika's body so she wouldn't hit the hard floor.
"Please... her. Do not let her die."
Edna did not ask many questions. Her professional nature took over instantly. She jumped from her chair and shouted toward the back room.
"Sarah! John! Bring a gurney here! Quick! We have a critical patient!"
Two medical assistants ran out, their faces paling at the blood on the floor. They immediately lifted Erika onto the gurney deftly.
"Prepare the Mana Ventilator! Set up a warm IV!" shouted Edna, giving rapid instructions while checking Erika's pulse. "Check her vitals now! She has severe hypothermia and her heartbeat is weak! Prepare a Heart Warming Vial!"
"Right, Doc!"
After Erika was pushed into the intensive care room, Edna turned around. She scanned my body with a sharp and horrified medical gaze.
"Now your turn," Edna shook her head in disbelief, her hands reaching for my shoulders. "Dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, internal bleeding, and... what is this? Oh God, how can you stand with a cracked shinbone like this? Are you human or a golem?"
"I am still alive, that is what matters," I answered flatly.
"You need to be hospitalized, Arin," she said firmly, pointing to an empty bed. "Right now! No arguments. You need surgery and total bed rest for at least two weeks to knit these bones."
"No," I refused.
My body was forced to stand again by holding onto the edge of a metal table. My legs trembled violently supporting the weight.
"Treat my wounds minimally. Give me bandages to suppress the bleeding. And... I need a Medium Grade Regeneration Elixir."
"Are you crazy?!" Edna snapped loudly, her face flushed red with anger. "You are in critical condition, Arin! Do you want to commit suicide?! That Elixir will accelerate metabolism; your damaged body won't be strong enough to withstand it!"
"I have to go to the Arena," I replied, staring into her eyes straight without blinking. "There is a Duel Exam. If I do not attend, Erika and I will be disqualified. We will be expelled from the Academy."
"Your life is more important than this damn school, you fool!" Edna grabbed the collar of my shattered armor. "Think about your future!"
"Not for us!" I shouted, my voice cracking with emotion. "For us, being expelled is the same as dying, Edna! We have no place to return to! Our hometown has become a monster den! Knighthood is our only way out of the mud!"
Edna fell silent. Her grip loosened. She saw the fire of despair in my eyes. The same fire she saw when I dissected frogs to find a way to live amidst limited talent.
"Please, Doc..." My voice softened, pleading. "Just the Elixir. I will replace it. You remember that antibiotic business? I will give you five percent ownership shares. You will be rich, so please... help me stand again."
Edna bit her lower lip. She looked at me, then looked at her medicine cabinet with a gaze of deep guilt.
"The problem is not the payment, Arin," Edna whispered bitterly. She walked to the glass cabinet, taking a small crystal bottle containing pink liquid. "The problem is stock."
The bottle... was only a quarter full.
"Elixir stocks are running low because of the many explosion victims in the forest last night," Edna showed the bottle with a trembling hand. "This is all that is left. A quarter dose will not heal your bones. It will only close external wounds and give you false strength for one hour. After that... the side effects could be permanent paralysis."
I snatched the bottle from her hand without hesitation.
"Enough," I said. The bottle cap was opened with my teeth. "One hour is enough to beat someone up."
The liquid was downed at once. It tasted sweet, yet burned the throat as it went down to the stomach.
"Bandage me, Doc. Make me able to hold a sword again."
(Elena Rhyms' POV)
The Lower Category spectator stands were not as crowded as the main stands, but the cheering here was still deafening.
I sat in the VIP row anxiously, squeezing a silk handkerchief until it was crumpled out of shape. Beside me, Rose Carlos sat with legs crossed. Her usually mischievous and laughing face now looked gloomy. The presence of the two of us, a Duke's Daughter and a Marquis's Daughter in these low-class stands, was very conspicuous, inviting whispers from other students, but I did not care.
I squeezed my fingers until they turned white. Meanwhile, Rose sat calmly, but the incessant tapping of her foot on the stone floor betrayed her composure.
"They have not arrived," I mumbled, eyes never leaving the participant entrance gate down there. "Why haven't they come yet?"
"Calm down, Elena," Rose comforted, placing her hand over mine. Even so, her own tone sounded doubtful. "Arin is like a cockroach. He is hard to kill. Maybe he just overslept or got lost in the cafeteria."
"No," I shook my head quickly. "I have had a bad feeling since last night."
Grandmother Selena suddenly ordered Alfin, her personal servant who was a half-Elf and former assassin, to guard my room all night. Grandmother forbade me from going out no matter what happened. The atmosphere in the academy mansion last night was so tense, as if a war were happening behind the school walls.
And this morning, rumors about an explosion at the forest border spread wildly. Something bad had happened in that forest.
"Next Match!" The referee's voice, amplified by loudspeaker magic, echoed throughout the arena. "Challenger Team: Gordon Kyle and friends!"
From the east gate, Gordon walked out gallantly. He wore shiny new plate armor, his greatsword slung over his back. Four members of his team followed behind with annoyingly confident faces. They looked fresh and fit, as if yesterday's forest exam was merely a spring picnic.
"And Defending Team..." The referee pointed to the west gate which was still closed and dark. "Team Arin and Erika!"
Silence.
No one came out. The gate gaped like the mouth of an empty and dark cave.
The noble lackeys watching began to whisper, their voices like buzzing bees.
"Did they run away?"
"Must be afraid to fight Gordon. Who dares to fight a Berserker?"
"Cowards. Non-magic trash really have no guts."
"Team Arin! Please enter the arena immediately!" called the referee again, his voice starting to get impatient.
Gordon laughed loudly in the middle of the arena, spreading his arms toward the audience.
"Look!" he shouted arrogantly. "The Cripple ran away in fear! He knows he won't win against me this time! He knows his place is in the gutter!"
"Time limit five minutes!" exclaimed the organizing committee through the loudspeaker. "If they do not appear, they are disqualified and declared failed in the entire semester exam series!"
My heart raced. Failing the semester exam meant expulsion. Arin's scholarship would be revoked and his dreams would be shattered right here.
"Ugh," Rose hissed in annoyance. "That kid really likes giving people heart attacks. If he shows up later, I will smack his head."
"Where are you, Arin..." I whispered, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. "Please... come..."
Minute by minute passed torturously. One minute felt like an hour. Two minutes. Four minutes. Gordon had started waving to the audience, celebrating his walkover victory by flexing his muscles.
My heart felt like it was going to drop. Disqualification? After all his hard work learning the sword with that suicidal technique?
"Elena," Rose touched my shoulder, her face resigned. "Let it go..."
"I cannot, Rose! You do not understand, Arin is-"
"Time is up!" The referee raised his hand, breaking the audience's whispers. He took a breath to blow the long whistle signaling the end of the match. "Hereby, Team Arin is declared..."
SCRAAPE...
Suddenly, the sound of dragging footsteps was heard from the west gate tunnel. The heart-wrenching sound of iron clashing with stone.
The referee stopped his movement. The whistle was not blown. Instantly, the cheers in the arena died. The entire stadium fell into a gripping silence.
From the darkness of the tunnel, a human figure walked out.
He was alone.
My breath hitched. Hand covered mouth reflexively to stifle a scream of horror.
It was Arin. But... his state...
The Mithril armor he was so proud of was now shattered, dented everywhere, and smeared with thick black and red stains. Even half of his shoulder guard was missing, gone to who knows where.
He walked with a limp, dragging his right leg. His face was pale as a walking corpse, with dark circles under his eyes so deep he looked like he hadn't slept for a week. The white bandages wrapped around his neck and arms were already seeping fresh blood, creating a terrifying pattern of red flowers.
He looked like a soldier who had just returned from hell, not a student about to take an exam.
However, his eyes...
Those blue eyes were not dim. Those eyes burned sharply, staring straight at Gordon with an intensity that made the air around the arena feel cold.
Arin stopped in the center of the arena. He stood unsteadily, like an old tree ready to fall in the wind. Yet that blank, cold, and terrifying stare did not waver in the slightest.
"I... am present," his voice was hoarse, but heard clearly in the deadly silence of the arena.
Gordon and his team, who had been smiling confidently, now took a step back instinctively upon seeing the horrifying form before them. The smile on Gordon's face vanished instantly.
"Arin..." Rose whispered beside me, her eyes wide in disbelief. "What happened to him? He looks like a walking corpse."
I stood up, unable to bear looking at him anymore.
"Stop the match! Referee! Look at his condition! He needs a medic!" I shouted hysterically from the VIP stand, ignoring noble etiquette.
The organizing committee at the judge's table turned to me. One of them, a sour-faced instructor whom I suspected to be a lackey of the Benzzi faction, shook his head firmly.
"Rules are rules, Lady Rhyms," he answered coldly through the loudspeaker, deliberately humiliating me. "As long as the participant can stand and hold a weapon, the match continues. Audience intervention is strictly prohibited."
"Are you crazy?!" I snapped. "That is murder!"
"Elena, sit down," Rose pulled my hand forcibly, her face serious. "If you intervene now, Arin will be disqualified immediately. Look at Arin first. He does not even want to stop."
I looked back at the arena trembling.
Arin did not look at me or at the referee. He drew his longsword which had changed color to blackish-red due to dried blood. His hand trembled violently, but he gripped it tight, as if that sword were his own life.
He refused to be saved. He chose to fight.
I fell back into the chair, a sense of helplessness crushing my chest until it was tight. I was a Duke's Daughter, I had magic power, but right now, I could only watch the man I loved drag his broken body toward a slaughter.
"Hang in there..." I whispered, tears falling down my cheeks uncontrollably. "By God, Arin... hang in there."