As the 6:30 AM sun came through the hallway's windows, loud footsteps and chattering sounds bounced through Leon's door while countless students marched past it.
Inside the room, Leon woke up with a frown on his face, his chest beating faster.
"Can't I have one good sleep?" he groaned and began brushing his palms on his face.
Just as Leon stumbled to his feet, he glanced at his window with dazed eyes, then turned and walked straight for the door.
Outside, countless students had formed a queue and were heading straight to the single pathway that served as a bridge between the building they were all in and the other buildings.
"What's going on?" Leon asked while tapping at the back of a broad-shouldered guy who had gathered himself in the queue.
"You're not on today's list, right?" the guy asked in a low, steady voice while looking at Leon's pajamas.
"Nah, not until tomorrow," Leon replied mid-yawn and stretched his shoulders.
"Well, it will be good if you head back inside. Or you can wait in line until it's your turn to enter the arena hall," the broad-shouldered student muttered, throwing his eyes up and down Leon as if he were just some ragged being.
Leon shifted his gaze from the man and looked at those at the far end, then back at the guy. "Okay. Thank you."
He went back inside his room, gave himself a quick bath, then pulled out the blue and black prescribed outfit, and wore them.
After fastening the laces on his shoes, he opened the door and locked it. He scanned the queue before placing the key in his pocket, then began searching for the last man in the line.
Zoe appeared the moment Leon joined and stood at the back of the last person.
'Let me signal her and see if she would respond,' Leon said low in his head and gestured at Zoe, but stopped when he saw Tiger nearing her.
As if Tiger was far more important than all the other students, the tutors standing at the front of the gate made everyone step back.
"Kang T., you can enter."
Tiger called on Zoe, made her stop joining the queue, and pulled her along as he entered.
'Is he on the list today?' Leon thought and focused on them until the door closed. 'I would have to watch his match if he is and gain an upper hand on him tomorrow.'
Watching others leave their place and join the front of the queue, Leon kept on shaking his head and just allowed them to misbehave.
The moment he finally neared the gate of the other building after passing through the connector, two ladies who were not in the queue walked to him with sly faces. "Hey, handsome, mind letting us in? We'll repay you in ways you'll never forget."
Looking at their curvy bodies, Leon didn't even think twice. Before he realized it, three other ladies were added, making him the sixth person instead of the first.
As the last lady was entering, she brushed her hand across Leon's chest, which sent a sharp chill down his spine. "Thank you," she said and turned away from him.
When Leon entered, he froze. The arena was a massive dark circular pit sunk into the earth with tiered stone seats rising on all sides, packed shoulder to shoulder with screaming students.
At its center was a twenty-meter-tall, polished black stone, runes burning silver across its surface like something alive. The air smelled like blood and ozone.
Those already inside shot up from their seats and screamed. "Go there. Finish him!"
"Whoa! That Tiger guy is merciless." Leon's ears picked up prickling voices behind him the moment he found an empty seat and sat down.
"Did you see what he did to the eight-foot guy? How did he break his hand, his legs, and his neck?! I'm sure that guy was actually born a maniac."
'What?!' Leon's breathing sequence shattered as he tried to process the words flowing into his ears. He pulled out the data-slate and skimmmed through all the tournament brackets.
'These guys were all beaten by Tiger? Their feats alone scare me.' Chilled sweat dripped from Leon's face as he continued checking the stats of the opponents Tiger had won against.
"Do your magic, Kang T. I... LOVE... YOU..." a thin voice shouted, shifting pale faces and eyes toward Tiger.
But Leon's eyes remained entangled with the screen as if something was refusing to shift his gaze.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Leon screamed as the words on the data-slate seemed to burn themselves into his vision. The more you win, the more opponents you face in a day.
At that instant, he knew with bitter truth that this wasn't a tournament but a gauntlet. A test of endurance designed specifically to break the weak and exhaust the strong.
Tiger wasn't just winning; he was ploughing through a line of tremendous opponents. He grew stronger and more brutal after defeating them one after another.
The nine-foot student who had his arms and neck shattered was just one of the many names Tiger had crossed off his list.
A cold dread coiled in Leon's gut and made his own volatile energy feel like a death sentence when he began glancing at the names one after another.
How could he possibly maintain the delicate control Mr. Lee had just begun to teach him against a relentless onslaught?
Tiger would force him to explode, to burn out, and to become the uncontrolled bomb the proctor had scorned.
The crowd's roar pulled Leon's curious face back to the ring.
Within it, he saw Tiger spreading his hands as he whirled around at the center like a victorious king.
Far behind Tiger was a girl who had been slumped at the edge of the ring, dead. She wasn't just any ordinary girl but one who could phase through solid walls.
A mechanical arm dragged her away unceremoniously, followed by the proctor's voice announcing Tiger's ongoing run.
As the bracket details appeared on the wall above the arena, the scrolling names glitched and stopped on Tiger's next challenger.
"Next opponent: Kaelen Vex!"
A hulking boy, easily seven feet tall and rippling with augmented muscle, stepped onto the platform. The runes flared brighter, measuring his significant physical power output.
A sound like grinding stones echoed as Kaelen cracked his knuckles. But before the signal was shot, the fight was already underway.
Tiger dashed forward and slipped under Kaelen's blow, and he redirected it to unbalance Kaelen.
As Kaelen stumbled forward, Tiger's hand shot out and clamped onto the boy's forearm.