As the 6:30 a.m. morning sun shone through Leon's window, screams boomed across his door so loud it jolted him awake.
"Can't I have one good sleep!" he groaned, stumbling to the door. With dazing eyes, he opened it and stood half-side in the hallway, wearing only his boxers.
"Where's that noise coming from?" Leon asked, tapping at the back of a broad-shouldered guy standing right in front of him.
The guy glanced at Leon's outfit with sharp eyes and laughed. "You're not on today's list, are you?" he asked in a low but steady tone.
"Nah, mine is tomorrow," Leon replied, scratching the back of his head with his hand.
"Well, it will be good if you head back inside. Or you can just wait in line until it's your turn to enter the arena hall," the broad-shouldered student muttered, throwing his eyes up and down, as if Leon was just a ragged being.
"Thanks." Leon gasped, shut the door, and pulled out the prescribed outfit and wore it.
After fastening the lace on his shoes, he opened the door and locked it. As he scanned the queue, he placed the key in his pocket and began searching for the last man in the queue.
The moment he reached him, he stood at his back. But in that instant, he saw Zoe also moving toward the end of the queue.
He gestured to her, but as he saw no response, he decided to move toward her instead.
But in that instant, he saw Tiger pulling Zoe from the queue and allowing her to walk with him as he walked through the opened door.
'Is he having a match today?' Leon's thought shivered. His eyes remained on them till the door closed. 'I would have to watch his match to gain upper hand on him tomorrow.'
With the number already leading him, and without having anyone to pull him instantly like others were, Leon had no choice but to wait till it reached his turn.
As he saw the queue move at the pace of a grinding wheel, he tilted his head countless times to see those who were behind him.
The moment he finally neared the gate, two sexy ladies walked to him with sarcastic faces. "Hey, handsome, mind letting us in? We'll repay you in ways you'll never forget."
Looking at their curvy bodies and big asses, Leon didn't even think twice. Before he realized it, three other ladies were added, making him the sixth person instead of the first person.
'At least I didn't just sell my position for a cheap price.' As they rubbed their asses on his waist, Leon's mind reeled with images he wasn't even thinking about.
As the last lady was entering, she brushed her hand on Leon's chest, sending electrified chills down his spine.
"Thank you," she said and turned away from him.
Butterflies spun in Leon's mind as he watched her vanish in the crowd hall. He walked through the seats, searching for a place to sit.
"Whoah! That Tiger guy is merciless." Leon's ears picked up prickling voices behind him the moment he found an empty seat and sat.
"Did you see what he did to the eight-foot guy? How he broke 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 in his ears. He pulled out the data-slate and skimmed through all the tournament brackets.
'These guys were all beaten by Tiger? Their fatigue alone scares 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 to 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 a 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 towering student, the one that had his limbs and neck broken, was just one of the fifteen names Tiger had crossed from his list.
A cold dread, deeper than any he'd felt, coiled in Leon's gut. His primary struggle—the volatile, explosive energy within him—suddenly felt like a death sentence.
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, to become the uncontrolled bomb the proctor had scorned.
The crowd's roar pulled Leon's curious face back to the ring. Then he saw it: a massive circle of dark, polished stone, twenty meters across all sides, etched with glowing silver runes that pulsed with contained power.
The air above the platform shimmered as light fell on the visible barrier designed to keep the combatants' abilities from bleeding into the stands.
Within it, he saw Tiger spreading his hands as he whirled around at the center like a victorious king.
And on that same platform, he saw a girl slumped at the edge of the ring, dead. She wasn't any other girl, but one who could phase through solid matter.
A mechanical arm dragged her away unceremoniously, followed by the proctor's voice.
"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 of grinding stones echoed as he cracked his knuckles. But before the signal was shot, the fight was over.
Tiger didn't wait for any confirmation. He drove straight into it, slipping under the weight of Kaelen's blow before it could break him.
He didn't block; he redirected, using the giant's own momentum to unbalance him. It was a move Mr. Lee would have applauded. But Tiger didn't stop there.
As Kaelen stumbled forward, Tiger's hand shot out, not to strike, but to clamp onto the boy's forearm.