With the axe wielder dead, Damon rushed back to Elise, who was still clutching her wound.
"You okay?" he asked, kneeling beside her weak figure.
"Y-yeah. Sorry, she caught me off guard."
Damon nodded as he ripped a part of his shirt, tying it around the girl's eye. The wound was deep, the dagger had penetrated straight through. He could tell immediately—she'd never see from that eye again. But at least it had stopped bleeding.
"Is it bad?" she asked, almost cracking a smile on her pale face.
"Seen worse," he lied. He had no memories of his past, but he felt like he should say something to keep the girl's spirits up.
"We should get moving. We made a lot of noise that might've drawn attention," he said.
Elise nodded and forced herself to her feet.
Damon extended an arm to help her but the girl managed on her own.
'She doesn't seem like she wants to talk about how she moved the dagger out of the way... Well, no matter. As long as we survive, the rest doesn't matter.'
"Which way should we go?" the girl suddenly asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Damon took a moment to look around. On one side was the way they came from. There was nobody there at the start, so it sounded like a smart choice, but things might've changed. As far as he was concerned, every part of the forest was a trap and had to be treated as such.
His gaze lifted higher, and somewhere deep within the forest he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a mountain.
'High ground. That would give us a good advantage in combat, but would also make us visible, put a target on our backs...'
"Well..?" Elise pressed, unease growing within her.
She was right. This wasn't a good time to stand still and analyze all options—it was time to act.
"Let's go this way," he said as he pointed toward the small mountain he saw in the far distance.
The girl agreed with a single nod, leaving the scene of the battle behind them.
The forest was no longer as quiet as it had been before. Numerous shouts and screams cut through the air, followed by sounds of metal crashing against metal. They were all near, far too near for comfort.
"Stay focused," Damon mouthed as he turned toward Elise, who seemed to be struggling to walk against her blood loss.
'If we get caught like this, we're dead with or without whatever ability she might have. We need to find cover. She needs rest.'
At that moment, a loud, almost unnatural voice cut through the whole arena, pausing all the sounds of battle around them. It was as if the whole forest went still.
[Announcement! The pair count has fallen below 50! The game has reached its halfway point! The second phase of the Royal Battlegrounds will commence now!]
Damon's brow raised.
'Fifty pairs is the halfway point... that means the game started at roughly a hundred. Makes sense. But what does the second phase mean exactly?'
His gaze turned toward Elise, who stared wide-eyed at the sky above them.
'Does she know what that means?'
Suddenly, her gaze snapped toward him.
"We need to find cover, now!"
"What? What are you—?"
"I'll explain later, let's go!"
The girl's previous weakened demeanor was gone, replaced by a sudden surge of energy.
They dashed through the forest. They were no longer trying to stay quiet—they were rushing toward anywhere they could find cover.
At that moment, Damon heard a loud hiss coming from above, and as his gaze lifted, his breath hitched. His blood ran cold.
The sky above was on fire.
Countless fire arrows fell onto the forest, striking everything around them. At first, the treetops gave cover, blocking the first wave of the assault, but as the trees began to burn and fall, the fire arrows began to penetrate through, hitting the muddy ground around them.
Damon's eyes desperately scanned the surroundings, trying to find something, anything to shield them. But they didn't have to look for long as Elise's voice cut through the chaos.
"There!" She turned violently to the right. There, a few meters away from them, was a large boulder. The top of it overhung the bottom, leaving a small space below—enough for one person to fit... but two?
Suddenly, one of the arrows grazed Damon across his shoulder. His skin hissed at the shallow wound, but he gritted his teeth and continued running, increasing his speed.
Finally, they forced themselves into the tight space, barely squeezing in.
Damon felt Elise's heart pounding against his ribs as she lay on top of him. Blood trickled slowly from her eye wound, single droplets of crimson dropping onto his face as she stared right at him, both their breaths ragged.
"You... okay?" Damon asked, momentarily lost in the girl's magenta eye.
"Yeah," she replied as countless fire arrows fell all around them.
Damon paused for a moment before asking a question pressing against his mind.
"How did you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"About the fire arrows."
"Did... did you never hear of the royal battlegrounds before? The whole kingdom watched the last two games. That's what happened last time." There was almost a hint of shock in her question, as if he'd asked something completely out of this world.
"I see," Damon muttered.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. The fire arrows continued to fall around their shelter, each impact shaking the ground, each hiss of flame bringing death closer toward them.
Elise's blood still dripped onto his face. Her heart still pounded as hard as it had before. Her magenta eye glowed faintly through the thin black smoke that found its way into their small shelter.
A sudden, cold realization entered Damon's mind.
'If the fire arrows continue, then we'll suffocate to death before we burn.'
He didn't get to dwell on that thought as the girl suddenly spoke.
"You're... decent with a sword."
Damon lingered for a moment before answering. He had no memory of using a blade before, but using one felt almost instinctual, as if he had muscle memory he didn't remember.
"I manage," he replied drily.
At that moment, he realized the barrage of fire arrows had subsided, the hissing fading beneath the screech of burning trees. For a moment, there was only the crackle of flames and the ragged sound of their breathing.
Then that voice returned. The same unnatural voice that had announced the second phase, resonating inside his skull like a physical presence.
[Announcement! Phase Two elimination complete. Current remaining pairs: 31. Phase Three will commence in twenty minutes. Prepare yourselves.]
Damon's blood ran cold.
"Wait," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "There's a third phase?"
Elise's face had gone even paler than before, her eye wide with something that looked like terror.
"No," she breathed. "Not yet. It's too soon. We're not ready—"
"What's Phase Three?" Damon demanded.
She looked at him, and for the first time since they'd met, he saw genuine fear in her expression.
"The Culling," she whispered. "They release the mana beasts."