The noise died down when Vera appeared, floating onto the platform. Her sweet smile sent chills across the audience so hard that no one cheered for her.
But she never stopped, even as her opponent also joined her at the platform. He was a six-foot-seven bald boy who wore yellow monk clothing.
He lowered his head and exhaled sharply like someone already suffering from battling his inner demons. When he raised his head and looked at Vera, the skin on his body waved and transformed into a diamond-like density.
Vera's eyebrow lifted as she watched and allowed the boy to fully transform without moving an inch, even after the starting signal echoed.
As soon as the boy finished his transformation, Vera broke out with laughter.
"Do you think that will help you?" She said in a cunning voice while taking her slow steps forward.
She squinted and watched as the boy's hardened face hardened more, then shook her head. "I heard your little sister is sick. Aww, how pitiful to have the same rare genetic degradation that killed your mother." She paused and saddened her face.
"It must be so expensive to treat. A shame if something happened to the funds your family has scraped together…" Her laughter roared across the platform so hard that it cracked the boy's hardened brow.
His concentration broke while the diamond sheen flickered. "How… how do you know that?" he screamed in a voice that carried his pain. But in return, Vera's smile never wavered.
"I know everything." She said, moving toward the boy in a slow stance. "I know the bank is already suspicious of your father's loans."
She raised a finger and pointed at him. "One word from me, and that treatment stops. Forever. So, are you going to make me say that word?" Her words felt like heaven's chime while her eyes held the key to the abyss of hell.
The boy looked at his palms as his shoulders slumped while the words sunk deep in his head.
'With what I saw earlier, I can't just give up. What if she doesn't help them?' he said low in his head.
He looked at Vera with tear-filled eyes and dashed forward, knowing very well he would lose after half of his hardened skin had softened.
Vera frowned and raised her shoulders. 'I tried helping. But since you acted first, let me finish it.'
She met the boy head-on and crushed him to the ground like a stubborn bee.
Dust exploded in the air when the boy coughed out blood as Vera's knees pressed hard at the back of his neck.
"I surrender!" he murmured mid-cough in a shame-filled voice, then collapsed.
Vera loosened her knees from the boy and waved dismissively. "I thought you could stand against me for long. So sorry."
Outside the fighting platform, Leon sat there with pale eyes as he watched Vera walk out of the arena sluggishly.
Deep in his head, a voice rose without permission. 'The special training arena is not a place for physical combat, but a stage for psychological warfare.'
Tiger broke bodies, Jade nullified powers, Vera shattered spirits, while the proctors also destroyed the one who gave up before the time elapsed.
Finally, Tiger walked onto the platform to fight against his last opponent of the day.
When the boy joined Tiger, all other persons, including half of the proctors, stood on their toes. He wasn't any other human but a skilled hydrokinetic boy who sliced through steel with pressurized water whips at the Shattered Land.
Just as the boy gave his first strike, Tiger moved. For the first time, Leon felt a flicker of hope as he saw Tiger trying to evade a strike.
Tiger sighed and crossed his arms in a defensive posture and grinned in annoyance. He lunged through the spray of water.
But as he dodged countless sprays, one screeched across his cheek and drew blood from his skin.
Tiger's blue eyes glowed heavily when a drop of the blood touched his lips. His visible veins glowed after he grabbed the boy's hands.
Everyone stood up with one fatality in their head, but got shocked by Tiger's secret move.
A faint, sickly green glow emanated from nowhere and formed a ring on Tiger's middle finger. As his grip on the boy increased, a sound of pure agony filled the air.
The boy's mouth opened wide as he shouted in a voice that was different from the cry of pain, different by the cry that comes when a body is losing its soul.
His eyes rolled back in his head after the water whips faltered and dissolved into mist while he convulsed and collapsed on the floor.
Slam.
Tiger flexed his hand, sprinkled dust from the tips of his fingers on the boy, and raised his gaze to the crowd.
He watched the faces of those he knew before shifting his attention back to the crawling boy.
Tiger watched the boy crawl a few meters forward, then took in a deep breath before moving to him again. He looked at the boy's dying face, lowered his eyelids like a crying baby, then smiled.
"Thanks for that delicious power." He said in a cold voice before blasting the boy's head with his boot.
Blood splashed on Tiger's legs and the ground while the boy continuously crawled two steps forward without a head.
A shimmer of water-like energy coiled around Tiger's fist and got absorbed in a few minutes before the match closing bell echoed.
All the students saw what Tiger had done; he hadn't just fought, he had stolen the boy's power and killed him without remorse. And they knew that action was a blatant cheat done in daylight.
Silence ruled for a while, then the proctor's voice erupted. "Victory: Kang, T." The proctors didn't act, they didn't kick Tiger out, they just stood there doing nothing.
Everyone was shocked by the realization of the new rules and the new strength Tiger had gained. Not only did it apply to the elites, but to everyone else, including Leon, if only he could.
Every individual was allowed to recharge and grow stronger, not just by fighting the opponent, but by consuming them, both physically and spiritually.
Leon sat back, his mind reeling. Jade's impenetrable defense, Vera's cruel manipulation, Tiger's sanctioned theft, and the platform's cruel killing mechanism were all something he was up against.
Mr. Lee's lesson about controlling his power felt like holding the ocean with a teacup.
Meanwhile, the golden energy humming under Leon's skin felt like a trapped, panicked animal that needed to be calmed before the next day arrived.
After the match was over and everyone was heading to their various rooms, eyes turned to Leon as if he was a dead man waiting to be buried.
They all murmured inaudible words, which sounded in Leon's ears like poisonous darts.
"He's already dead."
Leon maintained his composed posture and walked as if those words meant nothing to him. When he entered his floor, a voice hissed from behind him after walking past three broad-shouldered guys.
"If I were one of Kang T's opponents, I would have just run away from this death pit."
Leon slowly shifted his gaze to them, smiled when he saw all three looking back at him, and turned with a deep exhale.
"What will be will be." He said in a low voice after unlocking his door, then entered without looking back.