Silva and Sepide searched for a while and managed to find the place where the tournament was held. It was far from the official setting they expected, instead, it was just a shed with a lot of shady-looking people. One of them approached the two girls, an annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry ladies, I don't think you should be here."

"We're here for the boxing tournament, is it here?"

Everyone was shocked to hear Sepide's words and came closer to the pair. Some chuckled at the idea while some were offended at the mere idea of them participating. The man who seemed to be the organizer of the event raised his hand to calm everyone and took a closer look at the two girls.

"You don't look like you could do much. You'll just get hurt."

"Why not let them at least prove themselves?"

Everybody turned toward the source of the voice, a tall-looking man with a strong build and short white hair. All seemed intimidated by him despite the smile on his face.

"Didn't you say we had two free spots? Let's be honest, this Kairo's not gonna come and we still don't have our last member."

"But sir, they'll get severely hurt!"

"Then we'll stop before it happens, can't we be gentleman? I just want it to start already, it's been an hour of waiting."

The organizer glanced at the two girls before giving his decision with reluctance.

"Fine, don't blame me if they die on us."

Everyone went to prepare themselves, leaving the two girls alone for now. Sepide still couldn't believe what she had just seen and hurried to share it with Silva.

"This guy... He looks so much like Neige..."

"His voice is almost the same and we're supposed to find a Neige here, of course it's him."

"You can't see it but... He looks like he spent his life training and he's so tall! There's no way we win against him."

"A tall and muscular Neige, huh?" Silva grinned softly to herself "If Emely didn't exist, he would have been perfect."

"Silva, what are we going to do?"

"Relax, if I do my best, I'm not losing to any Neige."

The organizer called everyone over to explain the rules of the tournament. Sepide couldn't stop looking at Neige, terrified at the idea of facing him.

"Listen because I won't explain twice. It's a standard elimination bracket, whoever wins gets a juicy prize. Let's all fight for fairness, no low blows, no kicks, just skills and strength. Neige, why don't you start against Jack if it's alright with you."

"Yeah, I hope he's tough." Neige made a childish smile before entering the ring, quickly followed by his opponent.

Silva and Sepide both were curious to see how strong this Neige was and patiently waited for the match to start. The referee started a countdown, building up pressure in the ring.

"May the best win! Fight!"

Neige didn't wait a second more and rushed on his opponent. He gave a quick jab on the man's stomach with his left fist before following with an uppercut from the same arm. The other boxer couldn't stand up and fell to the ground, surprising Neige.

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"I thought you were boxers? Can't even handle that?"

Neige seemed disappointed, unlike Sepide whose worries were confirmed.

"Silva, there's no way we win against him!"

"He didn't use his right arm."

Sepide thought for a moment, quickly realizing that her friend was right.

"He doesn't even need it..."

"I think he can't use it. The leader said he got an injury, it's probably about his right arm. Our Neige would have used his left hand for a jab and followed up with his right arm if he saw an opening. Using the same arm twice in a row is highly impractical."

"So... You could easily win against him?"

"I wouldn't say easily, he's way faster than I thought."

The referee announced Neige's victory, who seemed disappointed in his match. After taking a paper out of his pocket, the arbiter announced the next match.

"Let's put the red-haired girl against Armand!"

The man named Armand made his way to the ring, looking at Silva with a mocking smile. Silva made her way to the ring and everyone suddenly realized something after seeing her using her arms to find her way, something that her opponent quickly asked.

"Wait, are you blind?"

"I'm blind but I can put my punch on your face quite easily."

Her opponent was not taking her seriously. The referee started his countdown but even despite that, Silva's opponent wasn't taking this seriously.

"Ready? Fight!"

Silva approached the man named Armand who tried attacking her with a strong hook. He was shocked to see Silva dodge it and attack right after with an uppercut. Before he could recover she landed a strong hit in his stomach but it still wasn't enough to put him down.

"Damn brat, are you really blind?"

"Yeah, and glad to be. I don't have to see your stupid face that way."

Enraged, the man threw an attack that whiffed, allowing Silva to give a direct hit to his face and sending him to the ground.

Everyone was shocked by the turn of events and couldn't believe that she managed to send an actual boxer to the ground. The shed stayed silent until Silva turned toward the referee, clearly annoyed.

"Hey referee, aren't you supposed to do your job?"

The referee was still in shock but counted down. As he did, it was clear that Silva's opponent wouldn't stand back up. Once the referee counted to ten, he announced the winner with a voice of disbelief.

"The winner is... The girl with red hair..."

"My name is Silva, you better remember it."

Silva stepped down from the ring under everyone's shocked gaze. She went with Sepide but was cut off by Neige's voice before she could say anything.

"That's not bad, your technique isn't the best, but your strength and speed are quite impressive. Still... I'm not sure it was a good idea to come here, you seem to be the best so far but even you are no match for me..."

"Are you saying I suck?" Silva said with a slightly offended tone "I'm sure I could beat you if you're not careful."

Neige seemed to feel bad about her words and quickly apologized.

"Oh, that's not what I meant. I used to be in official matches, there was a time when I was the best of the best. Don't take what I say personally, I'm just a bit disappointed at the level here. I don't want to ruin the fun of beginners, maybe I should train again and participate in the next big tournament."

"You want to fight again?" Sepide felt a bit worried, the reason they needed to stop him was so he wouldn't continue boxing after all "Are you sure you'll be alright with your injury?"

"So you've heard about it... One of my opponents cheated and used weighted gloves, it broke my arm. I didn't want to continue boxing since it could cause problems to my health."

"So why continue?" Asked Silva.

"Because it's a bit anticlimatic. I didn't lose gracefully, I just retired. I want to lose against someone really strong, way better than me."

"So if I win, will you stop with this idea?"

"I will, if you're strong enough that is."

Neige laughed at the idea and left the two friends together. Sepide felt worried about their chances, unlike Silva, who felt a wave of confidence take over her.

"I'm not that much weaker than Neige, I should be able to win against his crippled other self."

"But he said he was among the best, do you really think it will be alright?"

"I don't see any reason it wouldn't be. Neige taught me about boxing, I can't disappoint him."

"I hope you're right... I wonder if he's doing alright over there."

"We can always ask him later. But there's something weird about this world."

Sepide looked around to see what Silva was talking about but couldn't understand what she meant.

"I don't see any problem."

"No, I mean... Kairo wanted to destroy worlds, so why didn't he? He just asked the Neige from this world to enter the tournament and apparently entered it too. If he really wanted to destroy it, he could have done better."

"Maybe he just wanted to fight Neige to train?"

"Maybe... Welp, it doesn't matter now. We kicked Kairo's ass, we'll do the same with this Neige."

Despite her worries, Sepide felt relieved that Silva was so confident, even if she was just faking it. The two were ready to win this tournament and beat Neige with all their strength.