"There is no need for you to fight this battle!" Isabella said to me as I was going to the ring.

I said calmly: "If you are asking me to withdraw!"

She said emotionally: "This is a pointless fight because you are on the same side."

I replied to her: "That's true, but it will determine who among us deserves to continue to the next fight."

She laughed mockingly: "What? Do you really think you have a chance against Ren?"

I felt very angry from her sarcasm, but I just said: "Sorry, the fight will start now." Then I went to the ring ignoring her.

Ren was standing there, his features sharp unlike usual. We looked at each other with charged glances, each of us wanting to know who deserves to stay. And at some point, I broke this silence.

"I will tell you what I told you before for the last time," I said, then continued loudly: "Ren! Withdraw because you will not be able to overcome any of the others."

Ren said mockingly: "And are you the one who will do that if I can't?"

I threw my sword on the ground and said: "I may be weak, but you are not a match for me right now, so I will fight you without a weapon."

Ren laughed and said: "Do you really think you are a match for me? Don't be fooled by yourself, I was lenient with you before. So be it, then, I will not use the sword either."

The fight began, and as I expected, Ren rushed to attack. He was too hasty, he rushed towards me and then waved his fist, a bullet of air flew out of it at high speed, I avoided it but felt its great power when it passed by my head. And when I looked behind me, I found that it had made a hole in the wall.

"Are you surprised? This is only part of my power. I was lenient with you before."

"Really!"

Here I realized that I had to use my left eye again. Ren said: "I saw you in Celestia's fight closing your eye too. Are you mocking me? No, I think you are using some technique because you changed your way of fighting when you did that."

(I didn't think anyone would notice that, but it doesn't matter now.)

I took off the servant's shirt that I was wearing and said: "The real fight will start now."

I used the power of darkness to increase my speed and strength, then rushed quickly to Ren and gave him a strong punch towards his chest. And when he blocked it with his arms, he was pushed back a little.

Ren kept laughing loudly, and I thought he might have gone mad. He said "This is not a normal punch. You need a large amount of mana to do it, but how? You didn't have a significant amount of it."

I said mockingly "And do you think I will tell you?"

Ren attacked again with several punches with the power of wind and earth together. A blow from here and a blow from there, but I avoided them with my speed. It was not that I was strong, but he was using his power in one pattern to the point that I memorized it.

"Ren, you can't do anything anymore. Give up."

He shouted loudly "I will not lose to someone like you who only has one element!"

I said to myself "Unfortunately, you will not be able to overcome me. Your weakness is your lack of appreciation and exploitation of your true power, but I will not tell you. Find out for yourself."

I increased the power of darkness in my body until it became a black halo. Then I quickly directed several blows to Ren. He tried to block them and keep up with me, but he had no chance against me in close combat. He should have realized that.

"I'm really sorry, Ren, but I won't let you fight this murderer. He intends evil, and you are not a match for him." I said this to myself, knowing that what I was doing was an unforgivable sin.

We continued to fight, and Ren was trying hard to fend off my punches. I think his arm was broken and he had several injuries. Before I realized it, I found myself continuing to direct blows to him until he stopped resisting. I was enjoying it. I didn't know what happened to me.

And suddenly, someone shouted loudly "Stop!"

And then I came to my senses. "Damn, I went too far."

I knew this voice. It was Isabella standing, her face was worried, and her eyes were shedding tears. Then I heard the referee's voice announcing my victory because my opponent could no longer move. He had lost consciousness, but I did it for his sake. I said in a low voice "Ren, I'm sorry."

Ren was taken to one of the rooms for treatment, but I remained standing in the ring. Then I said "Referee, start the next fight."

"Are you sure? Won't you rest a little?"

I picked up my sword from the ground and said "As you can see, I'm fine. Please start the fight now."

"Okay as you wish. The next fight will start now between Jin and Taro!"

This person was the one who blocked our way and wanted to hurt Nina. I will not let him escape this time without punishment.

He entered the ring smiling, then said: "Why are you looking at me with such serious looks? Wait, I've seen you before. Aren't you the boy I met on the road, and your companion was the girl with the red ribbon?"

"Tell me, is she okay?"

I said angrily: "You will pay the price!"

I pulled out my sword quickly and reinforced it with the power of darkness, then attacked him several times, but he avoided them quickly.

"Huh, why are you angry? I just wanted to play with her, what a nice person I am! But why didn't you tell anyone about us?"

I smiled a faint smile and looked at him and said: "Because I want to have fun with you."

He was furious and said: "You scum, I don't care about any stupid rules here, I will cut you to pieces!"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He attacked me with his strange-shaped swords. I blocked his blows, but I was injured in my arm. Even though I increased my speed with the power of darkness, he matched me in speed. I didn't even know his element yet.

"I like this expression on your face. Where did your confidence go?" He said that and then started laughing as he attacked me. I was barely keeping up with his speed, but I was getting injuries all over my body. They were not deep, but they bled a lot. I didn't know how his swords reached me even though I blocked all his blows.

"This is bad, at this rate I will lose consciousness."

"Don't worry, I won't kill you quickly. I will cut you piece by piece until I hear your screams."

He moved quickly and then hit one of his swords towards my neck. I blocked it, but I left a gap that allowed him to attack with his other sword towards my stomach. I backed away thinking I dodged it because of its shortness, but without realizing it I found blood flowing from my stomach. I looked and found a deep wound.

"This is bad, no matter how I put my hand on the wound, the blood does not stop. But how did he hit me? I'm sure I dodged his sword. Wait, this..."

"Did you finally realize? I can extend my sword by giving it an extra layer of ice. Did you like the surprise?"

Damn, I can't see well anymore. I didn't realize that the element of ice could be used in the first place. I thought there were only four sub-elements. I lost a lot of blood.

"I must not give up, or I will lose."

"Are you trying to hide the fear on your face? You will regret that you did not report me when you had the chance and thought you could defeat me."

And suddenly, I found myself in pitch darkness. I couldn't see anything, and it was scary and gloomy. But for some reason, I didn't like it.

"Jin", I heard a voice.

"Jin!"

I recognized it. It was Nina.

"Jin! What are you doing here?"

I said "I don't know".

"Come on, let's go now".

"No, I don't want to leave this place".

She said sadly "But this place is scary and cold. You shouldn't stay here".

"But there is no place to go anyway, if I stay here it will be better for everyone".

I felt Nina's hand pulling me towards a bright point of light in the middle of the darkness.

"No, I won't leave you. Come on, let's go".

"That's right. It's just a fantasy in my head, the darkness wants to take over my heart because I used it too much, but my mind refused".

When I came back to my senses, I found that time seemed to have stopped, as if all this had happened in less than a second. Everything was as it was.

I said in a faint voice "It's time to pay the price".

I moved very quickly, ignoring all my injuries. The power of darkness was flowing strongly in my body in an unlimited amount, making me faster and stronger and not feeling pain for a while.

"How are you still moving at this speed with all these injuries?"

I continued to attack with the sword, and he tried to block my blows, but I was faster than him. In a moment, I was behind him without him realizing, then I hit him in the back, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"The winner is Jin!"

The referee announced my victory in the fight, but I knew I would pay a high price.

"I will go to Ren. I acted foolishly".

I walked in the palace corridors, looking for the place where he was being treated. As I walked, I saw Laura standing and talking with Marco. She looked angry, so I hid to hear what was going on between them.

"You idiots, it's not enough for me that Isabella's servant defeated one of you, but you couldn't even hurt Leon".

"I'm sorry, ma'am, Leon is stronger than I imagined. I couldn't even get close to him".

Laura was about to leave, then she said "There is no use from you. Go and bring the thing I told you about".

"Okay, ma'am".

I was sure she was involved with them. They must be hired killers who paid them to eliminate some of her competitors, but I think there is something bigger than this going on here.

I continued my way, then I saw at the end of one of the corridors Isabella and Claudia standing anxiously in front of one of the rooms. I approached slowly, all this while I put my hand on the wound in my stomach that stopped bleeding a little.

"I ..."

And before I finished, I felt her slap on my face and then she said with tears in her eyes "He trusted you and treated you kindly, and this is how you repay him?"

I lowered my sight to the ground and couldn't answer. In the end, she was right. I hurt the people who extended a helping hand to someone like me. I was ungrateful.

"That's not important anymore. Now, please, don't come to the palace again. It's over."

I felt sad and said to myself "I was going to leave anyway after the competition, but leaving like this is really painful. I hurt one of the people who helped me, and I will go back to walking my way alone again."

I left Isabella and Claudia standing worried about Ren. I went on my way without looking back. I was sad, but I knew things would end up like this.

"This feeling of sadness and loneliness is painful, but it is my only refuge to be able to continue in this world."

I left behind people who treated me better than I treated myself, like Nina, but I can't attach myself to anything. If I do, I won't be able to continue on my way.

"I hope Nina doesn't grieve over my sudden departure. No, no, what is this stupid thought? No one will remember a nobody like me. I'm sure they'll forget me as soon as I disappear from their lives, and that's better for them and for me."

I was walking in one of the palace corridors and when I reached a long staircase that leads to the first floor, I felt like my whole body was breaking from the inside.

"What is this pain? Aaah!"

"It seems that I overused my left eye and now it's time to pay the price, but this time ..."

The wound in my stomach started bleeding heavily, as if it was a waterfall of blood that doesn't stop.

"This is bad. I can't see well anymore, but I have to complete my way."

I tried to go down the stairs slowly, putting my hand on the wound, and the other one leaning on the wall. At some point, I started coughing and when I put my hand on my mouth, I found blood. "I think my internal organs are severely damaged."

I struggled with all my strength, but I collapsed and fell from the stairs. I kept rolling until I reached the end of it, dragging my blood that stained all my clothes and even the ground that I fell on didn't escape either. The blood became like a pool.

"Is this going to be my end in this place?"

"No, I won't allow this."

I tried to get up with all my strength, but I couldn't carry my body even, drowning in my blood and many memories passed through my mind quickly that I thought I had forgotten them a long time ago.

"Ah, what is this strange comfort? I feel very sleepy. Yes, I should just sleep. This is ..."

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Important

If you have reached this point, this means the end of the first part of the story. I hope you enjoyed reading these chapters as much as I enjoyed writing them and if you are interested in reading the rest of the story, don't worry, I have imagined the main events in my mind and only need to write them and bring them from my imagination to reality.

And in the end, I hope you tell me your opinions so that I can improve my writings and live up to your expectations.

The narrator: lostMan

Goodbye, I hope we meet again.