The lounge room was about what was to be expected from the looks of the lobby. A low-rise ceiling supported a half-lit, gold chandelier that swayed slightly when the door opened and closed. Gin and Xeno found a seat at the wooden table in the center of the room, surrounded by seven other participants. The number of participants currently stood at even but Gin found himself thinking back to the trio they literally bumped into on the way. Being kept in their home village most of their childhood, opportunities to spectate other people's abilities were very limited. While the woman with the cupcake didn't look like much of an opponent to Xeno or Gin, her companions did.

        The comfortable silence that engulfed the lounge was abruptly disrupted when a crackling static emitted from small speakers in each corner of the ceiling. A second of static passed before Sam's raspy voice came through,

        "Registration for the hunter exams has officially closed. If you have registered and are not in the building in five minutes, the games will start without you." The message was quick but clear. In the middle of her message, the chandelier swayed. "Allow me to repeat, if you have already registered and are not in the building already, please make your way to the Registration Office." Unsure of the cause of the sudden pickup of his heartbeat, Xeno tried to distract himself from the fact that the games were starting in only a few minutes. Every loss, every moment he suffered but all the progress made between him and his brother flooded his head. The journey to Primary City wasn't just an emotional rollercoaster but a physical one as well. Sprains and breaks, breakdowns and flip outs, Xeno and Gin had seen it all.

        "Xeno?" Soft but not foreign, Xeno turned to the female voice behind him. "I knew that was you!" Before Xeno could give the possible stranger a response, she already pulled him into an embrace like no other. The warmth radiating off her skin put most of Xeno at ease. The stress and anxieties of the upcoming games slowly oozed off Xeno's mind. Taking its place, the undeniable feeling of home. The coziness of her hug seemed to dissipate a bit too quickly for Xeno's liking but it presented him an opportunity to see who this mystery girl was.

Relief drenched the woman as the look of recognition replaced the nervous, yet awe-struck expression on the seated boy's face. “Nere!” Within the blink of an eye, Xeno had his arms wrapped around Nere’s neck. Once the two made eye contact, the disbelief that his closest childhood friend was standing in front of him faded instantaneously. It could’ve been fate that reunited the three friends, luck was much harder to come by. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!”

Breaking the physical contact between them, Nere stepped away from Xeno. “That’s supposed to be my line. What’re you two doing here? Why aren’t you back at the village?”

Xeno glanced down at Gin who could’ve been staring at them, not that they’d see through his hair. He’d acknowledged Nere when she first approached but now, his sights remained glued to the door. There seemed to be a commotion going on in the lobby. “Yikes, there’s a group of three in there. They look rowdy and unstable but definitely easy to beat!”

That got Gin’s attention. “Wait, trio?”

Before Nere could give Gin a proper answer, the lounge door burst open and slammed into the wall next to it. The lounge fell silent, all unoccupied eyes moving to the two men and the woman entering the room. Gin recognized them, Xeno did not.

“Oh no,” Gin murmured.

The orange woman who spoke in tongues earlier scanned the room, trying to seek out Xeno and Gin. Gin swiveled around in his seat, turning his back to them but it was useless. “Those are the two that made me drop my cupcake!” Just like it had outside the building, the woman’s orange hair suddenly burst into a blaze of fire, just barely missing her comrades' faces. “You’re going to pay for that!” Xeno noticed that just while she stood there, she had slowly started to sink but only by a few inches. The immense heat emitting from the bottom of her feet was enough to melt the wooden floor she stood on.

“Wait a minute, Tow.” Next to her, a comrade took hold of her left arm to stop her from getting any closer to the three by the table. He didn’t seem affected by what should’ve been extremely painful heat against his palm. Instead, a subtle hiss of steam trailed between the slits of his fingers.“Attacking other participants is against the rules.” A quick flash of sunlight reflected across his icy blue sunglasses. “Save it for the battles.” 

“Alrighty, ladies, gents, and anything in between. If you could please follow me to the armory, you will be able to select your weapons and armor. On the way, I will explain to you what the games will consist of." Barging her way between the older trio, Sam didn't seem too bothered with the fight that was on the verge of breaking out. Instead, her quick shuffles got her across the room in an anticipated hurry. She was shorter than the younger trio expected, just a few feet shorter than Nere. "During the first part of the game, you will face an unknown number of monsters for an unknown amount of rounds. After every round, the difficulty will increase."

        Sam unlocked on the opposite end of the room and held it open for them. "In this room, you can select your weapons and armor. In a few moments, someone should show up to lead you to your first location." Once that backline leader, which happened to be Tow, made it into the armory, Sam threw the door closed again. Any metal weapons near the door let off a loud clang while the ones that decorated the wall stuck with a light yet still audible hum. Some participants didn't take too long to start searching and picking out their weapons. While one wall held the smaller handheld weapons: daggers, short swords, and throwing knives, the other supported the heavier, brawnier weaponry: battle axes, spiked mace, war hammers, large bo staffs, and a few crossbows. The variety was like none other.

        Xeno found himself standing stuck still longer than he meant. The new sights and strange feelings overwhelmed him quicker than he thought they would. He'd never been in an armory, let alone left his own home. No matter how hard he tried to avoid the painful memories, one thought brought him back.

        If we had these weapons in the village, I could've saved them. My father, my sister. Gin could've lived a normal childhood and I never would've been separated from Nere. Now I'm here, on my way to fight for a village that no longer exists, a family that was literally torn apart?

"Hey, come on, pick something already."

Fortunately for him, his younger brother was always keeping an eye on the two of them as well. As much as Xeno may hate to hear it, Gin was a much better scout than he was. It astounded Xeno how far and well Gin could see through his thick dreads. Nevertheless, it was a remarkable skill. One much more useful than either of them knew.

Finally making a decision, Xeno snatched two same-length daggers off the wall. To get a feel of the weight, he twirled them around his hands and sliced them through the air a few times to test his speed. 

"Tow, stop staring."

"Neo, I can't help it. They don't even have any armor!"

"So then stop wasting time dwelling over them." Xeno's determination and will were a strong thing, though, listening to the older trio belittle them began to tick him off.

"I mean, daggers and scythe, really? Everyone knows scythes are the worst monster-hunting weapons and daggers, you need to be insanely fast! They're agile but not that fast." 

"They probably think the armor will weigh them down," Rufo added.

"You guys don't have any armor on either!" Interrupting the more experienced trio, Xeno had enough of their childish, yet painfully accurate insults. A look of distaste formed on Neo's face as he averted his gaze to Xeno. Filled with contempt, Neo made eye contact with Xeno.

"That's because we're voluntary sacrifices. We made a deal and held up our end. We don't need your armor," Neo answered. Unsure of what he expected, Xeno found himself being a tad grateful he got an honest answer. It gave him a lot more questions but none he could ask at the current moment. "You might want this kid but you can't always get what you want. Just watching you gawk at this room, you're an airhead who's too dependent on his friends."

"That's my brother!" Xeno tried to get his own word in but Neo was relentless.

"That doesn't make it any better. He's a weakness and if you can't see that by now, you're doomed."