The skies had barely dawned yet Asha’s consciousness was already wide awake. She opened her eyes only to be reminded of her own folly. There was only darkness around her. But of course, the tournament hadn’t ended and her deal with the shadow spirit hadn’t been accomplished. Until then, waking up and staying asleep would have no difference for her for a little while more.

What’s worse though, than being sightless from the moment she woke up, was the heavy feeling that weighed down on her chest. For some reason, she would always end up feeling like that after dreaming about the silver-haired man in the flower garden. It was the same feeling she had seven months ago when she suddenly woke up in an unknown ruin—a suffocating, heart-wrenching, and indescribable pain that grasped her whole being.

“Haaah…” Asha breathed in and out deeply, trying to appease the torment she felt. “It’s been so many months and yet, it still hurts. When will this ever end?”

They always said that time could heal all wounds, but for Asha, that didn’t seem to be true at all. Or perhaps, she simply needed more time? How much more? Would a year do or two? Or would it take a decade? Or until she found what she was looking for? When she does, would everything finally make sense to her? And what was that thing she was looking for anyway? She still didn’t know. What if she ended up searching all her life?

“No, Asha—Stop this,” she reprimanded herself. “No negative thoughts. No depression, no overthinking, no crying, or anything like that. Just good thoughts. Yes, positive thoughts—like the tournament. You’ve done well to survive the first and second rounds. Now, make sure you win this so you have a new strong familiar with you, okay? Focus on that and only that. Yes, that’s it. You’re doing great. Love you!”

With a last deep breath, Asha let go of all her worries away. If not, she would end up wallowing in despair once again, crying for days nonstop. Ever since then, she decided not to dwell too much on her emotions and focus on resolving the problem. After all, nothing would happen if she simply dwelled on them.

“Feelings are fleeting. They would come and go, and only those you entertain will stay. So don’t entertain negativity.”

After chanting her positive mantra, Asha got out of bed and went straight to the bath to awaken her senses more. Then, she changed into her battledress, wore her blindfold, ate her breakfast, and went outside. It was still early but she wanted to stretch a bit before the next round started.

“What the—It’s you again!” the shadow man blurted out as he saw Asha standing on the training grounds of the emperor’s castle.

“Hm? This voice… and this unrecognizable presence…” Asha thought for a moment before asking him, “You’re the shadow spirit, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am! Who else can be as ‘unrecognizable’ as I am?” he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Be honest with me—are you stalking me?”

Asha laughed. “How can I stalk you in my condition? Besides, why would I want to stalk you?”

“Because you want me as your familiar?”

“We already have a deal, right? I trust that you won’t turn back on your words once I manage to win this tournament, right?”

“Hah! Dream on. I still highly doubt you will win this, missy” the shadow man shrugged. “Especially when the next round is a one-on-one battle between the remaining contestants.”

“I don’t see the problem with that.”

“Really?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “You do know that eventually, we will have to fight each other, right? You versus me—the one who rendered you sightless and whom you still can’t detect the presence of unless I make it known to you.”

“And you should have witnessed what I can do even without my vision, am I correct?” Asha confidently replied. “There’s a lot more I can do you know.”

“And so do I. You’ve seen nothing yet of my powers, so don’t be conceited,” the shadow man scoffed once more. “If you really want to ensure your victory, you should have reported me to the organizers. Then, I would be out of the match and perhaps you would be able to win.”

But hearing those words from him, Asha lost her confident smirk and instead, replaced it with a gentle smile toward this unruly shadow spirit before her.

“If I do that, you won’t be able to enjoy the tournament, right? You said yesterday that the reason you joined is because you want to be entertained. How can I possibly take that joy away from you?”

“W-What?” the shadow man was taken aback. “You still remember I said that?”

A little blush could be seen on his cheeks as his eyes widened in surprise. It was adorable to look at, especially with that handsome visage. Too bad Asha couldn’t see it.

“Well, how very foolish of you to not resort to trickery when you already dared to fool me. Anyway, you can take this training ground all to yourself. You will need it more than I do. Hmf!”

“Why, thank you!” Asha said as she waved her hands goodbye. “Take care!”

And so, the shadow man left. As he did, Asha heard faint murmurs from him saying, “Tsk. Who is she asking to take care of when she obviously couldn’t take good care of herself? Hmf! Foolish human.”

“Ha-ha-ha. It seems like he’s opening up a little. Anyway, better go back to training.”

A couple of hours later, the banging of drums and clanging of cymbals could be heard reverberating in the surrounding. At last, it was time for the remaining contestants to gather in the arena and for the third round to begin.

“What a very exhilarating morning we have today! The Master of Ceremonies greeted everyone. “Is it just me or did our crowd just grow larger compared to yesterday? Ha-ha-ha! But of course, I fully understand how all of you cannot wait any further for our third round today which will be our most awaited…”

Dun-dun-dun-dun!

“Single Elimination Match!”

The cheers from the crowd got louder as soon as he announced it.

“In this part, our remaining twenty contestants will have to battle against each other until only one champion emerges! The matching will be decided by lots that each contestant will draw from our magical crystal ball over there, and whoever has the same number as them will be their opponent. The first match will start with the pair that will get the first number, followed by the next, and so on.”

“Yeah!”

“Without further ado—all contestants, please gather in the arena and take your numbers!”

The contestants did as told and they lined up toward the assistant of the Masters of Ceremonies who held the crystal ball containing smaller balls with numbers in them. Asha was the last to arrive in the line since she always hated queues. She simply let everyone else go before her. Whatever number she got wouldn’t matter to her anyway. When it was finally her turn, the assistant gave her the last ball.

“Oh, ahm… since you can’t see it,” the assistant said, seeing the blindfold on her eyes. “Should I read it for you?”

“Yes, please. Thank you.”

“Alright. And your number is…” the assistant said as she opened the last ball. “Seven! Oh, you’re quite lucky. You have plenty of time to rest before your match. And as for your opponent, it will be… Ms. Wynna Moonchild—she’s an Elder Druid. Quite young-looking though for a supposedly elder.”

Hearing that, Asha’s lips curved into a mischievous smile. She then walked down the arena where special seats were reserved for them. On the way back, she kept mumbling to herself.

“An Elder Druid huh? If it’s a druid, then it must be that woman from the first round who managed to fly in the sky like me. She transformed her arms into wings of griffins and flew with the few of us. The power to transform into any form of beast they liked and exhibit their skills as if it was their own. Hmm… it seems like this will be an exciting match.”