My shirt was damp with sweat and clung to my body.
The racing of my heart hadn't stopped even though I was awake.
Haah.
My breathing came rough and uneven.
Haah.
I pressed a palm against my chest and forced myself to breathe more slowly.
Haah.
In and out.
Haah.
Again and again.
Haaah.
Gradually, the pounding eased, and the shaking faded as my breath calmed.
Only then did I sit up fully.
Haah.
I let out one last deep breath before my eyes wandered the cell.
It was empty.
The other teens were still in the arena.
Feeling better, I lay down again.
There was no sleepiness left.
My mind was wide awake.
Another nightmare.
It was always the same pattern.
Every time I slept or rested appeared another.
The nightmares wouldn't stray much.
Someone would appear.
We would either talk or fight.
And when it grew unbearable—
Lisa came.
And woke me.
By now, I had accepted that peaceful sleep no longer existed for me.
Resting brought another nightmare.
And a nightmare would bring pain.
There wasn't anything I could do about it.
So I just lived with it.
My heart had calmed down, and my breath evened.
There was still time left until the duels started.
So I did what I always did to pass the time.
I trained.
Mana lines formed at once.
I pushed controlled bursts of mana through them while making small, precise movements.
Subtle shifts of my fingers or toes.
If I could not rest—
I would grow stronger.
***
The other teens had returned from the arena and rested in their beds.
I was still training my mana control since there was nothing else to do.
The teens were back, which meant the fights would begin soon.
It didn't take long—
Click.
A guard appeared at the door and called a number.
"46!"
A teen climbed out of his bed without protest and walked with slow steps toward the guard before they both vanished down the corridor.
An hour later—
"52!"
Another teen stepped out of his bed and followed the guard.
Then—
Just a few minutes after the last left.
"38!"
And the next teen walked out of the cell.
Then—
"47!"
And another.
All were gone.
Leaving me alone in the cell.
Not a single one came back.
They had all died.
I thought it would be my turn next.
But—
Minutes passed.
Then an hour.
And still nothing.
I wasn't called.
It was strange.
I knew that there weren't many teens left.
The fights shouldn't take that long.
So why wasn't I called?
Another hour passed, but there was still no guard.
Only silence.
Slowly, realization arrived—
There would be no fight for me today.
Relief came first.
Then suspicion.
It was strange.
I was thankful for it.
But it made me feel uneasy.
I had fought every day since arriving here.
Now suddenly—
Nothing?
It was even stranger that 'I' hadn't been called.
After killing 31 despite the mercy decision, I had expected some sort of punishment.
Something.
Anything.
But now?
The ones from the same cell as me were called one after the other.
But I wasn't?
One day of rest.
Without a fight.
It felt wrong.
And that made my skin crawl.
As if something bad were about to happen.
***
Click.
I woke to the sound of the door opening.
My head turned at once, looking toward it.
Two guards entered the cell.
It wasn't anything new, as the guards would come every day and bring another crate of food.
But today—
They didn't bring a new crate.
Instead, one removed a few pieces of bread and meat from the crate already there and placed them on the table, while the other filled a metal jug from the barrel and placed it next to the food.
Then they took the crate and the barrel.
And left.
Silence returned.
I stared at the empty space where the crate had been.
It was strange at first, but after a bit of thinking, it seemed logical.
There was no need for extra food or water.
I was alone.
That made sense.
But what didn't—
—was that I was still alone.
Normally, when our numbers dropped, they would merge cells and bring a new batch of teens.
But I wasn't moved.
And no one had come.
The uneasiness from yesterday grew even more.
Something was happening.
I just didn't know what.
Since I couldn't do anything about it, I decided to take a bath.
Maybe the warmth would help me to organize my thoughts.
Carefully, I pushed myself up.
Pain flared across my back at the movement, but it was duller than before.
My body healed unnaturally fast here.
I still remember the times on Earth when I had cut myself or broken a bone. Even weeks of rest weren't enough to heal completely.
But here—
Just a few days.
But while it sounded like a blessing.
It wasn't.
Because what healed quickly—
Could be broken again just as quickly.
Still, today it felt like a blessing.
I climbed down the bed and walked to the table, grabbing some pieces of food before heading out, toward the bath.
Inside, I undressed and stepped into the pool.
Warmth enveloped me at once.
Then—
Pain.
The water seeped into the wounds along my back. My jaw tightened at the pain, but I didn't move.
After a moment, the pain faded, replaced by warmth.
I sat, carefully leaning my back against the rim, and closed my eyes.
For a while, I forgot everything.
The arena.
The chains.
The blood.
I just relaxed.
But soon—
The uneasiness returned.
My skin had already wrinkled as I decided to leave.
Water dripped from my skin as I stood.
I grabbed my clothes and dressed slowly, before stepping into the corridor.
Instead of turning left toward the cell—
I turned right.
Toward the arena.
The uneasiness in my chest hadn't faded.
I needed to see.
To check it myself.
The metal gate was already open as I reached it. Two guards sat at the entrance and played cards.
Step.
I ignored them and stepped inside, getting a better view.
But I halted as soon as I crossed the threshold.
My eyes widened for a moment as I scanned the arena.
At first, nothing seemed strange.
The teens were training.
Just as usual.
But what surprised me wasn't the teens themselves.
But their numbers.
I counted them in my head, disbelief growing with each number.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
I hesitated as I counted the last teen.
My hand lifted, lightly tapping against my chest.
Tap.
"Ten."
Only ten.
My stomach tightened.
Where were all the others?
Before my punishment, there had been around forty.
Now only ten?
How?
I thought, but the answer came immediately.
They were all dead.
Was that why I wasn't called yesterday?
Because there was no one left to fight?
The uneasiness I felt intensified.
Having checked what I came for, I turned and walked back to the cell.
If there are only ten of us…
With every fight being a duel. There would only be about three to four fights before only one of us remains.
But would they really do that?
A memory resurfaced.
The Rounds of Hell.
Maybe they would pit us against each other again.
A battle royale with only one winner.
Or—
Would they change the format again?
Like after the Rounds of Hell, which dropped our numbers, started the duels.
So what if something similar happens now?
Or—
Do they really want one of us to survive?
They had already killed hundreds.
Maybe thousands.
What stopped them from killing us all?
Were we just temporary entertainment?
By the time I reached the cell, the unease had hardened into certainty.
Something was coming.
I climbed onto the bed and lay on my stomach, staring at the wall.
I couldn't guess what the organizers of this colosseum were thinking.
But I knew one thing.
Today—
Something would change.
Something big.
The feeling in my chest had grown too much to ignore.