Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 35 ❆ Blinded

Maun was, like always, chipping away on a block of wood. It had finally begun to take shape in his hands. He'd been working on the thing for a few days now.

During our last day out, I got him a set of carving tools and he'd been very keen on using them these past few days. He was just casually exploring what he could do with them and he'd already improved so much.

Should I start carving too? He seemed so relaxed!

I probably wouldn't be so patient with carving. I didn't have the same kind of passion as Maun for it. I do wonder what he was going to make, though.

As I pondered, the resounding clash and clamor in the arena bade me to look forward.

White Face and Stone Guardian were up against one another currently. I was not very invested in the fight because of my own worries, even if my own battle was the last one for the day.

They came at each other ruthlessly. This time, both knew that, if they did not survive the present, they would really have no future. It was a stupid statement, but I could really not think of anything more suitable to describe the situation.

I could say for sure, nonetheless, that Stone Guardian currently had the upper-hand in the fight. White Face was a bit weak in all respects compared to his opponent. Unless an upset happened and he had a huge turnaround in the skill and character area, his loss against Stone Guardian was...well, set on stone.

I turned to the side and watched Black Flame, who was on the bench right after ours. I was pretty sure he was the same guy on the street. Despite his arrogance, I did not expect to see that he had a righteous and heroic side.

This made my initial impression of him crack a little—especially since he had some terrible hostility towards me during the initial stages of the fight. I did not expect to see that out of his character. In fact, I expected him to act a little more privileged...but perhaps I was stereotyping him a little too much.

As if feeling my gaze on him, Black Flame turned. And through the mask, his eyes met mine.

The hostility I first got from him was still there, albeit a little more toned down compared to before. I awkwardly looked away first, somewhat embarrassed I got caught staring.

His eyes lingered on me for a bit before he turned away too.

At this time, White Face was slowly being pushed back. Stone Guardian was a slow attacker, but good at defense. He also had a lot of explosive power. If White Face would just avoid his attacks, he could save himself a lot of trouble. The couple of times he received the blows from Stone Guardian, he was very nearly knocked out.

I sighed.

I leaned forward, full of expectations.

Sure enough, the fight turned out the way I expected it would.

Stone Guardian won.

White Face dejectedly left the stage. He exchanged a few words with his opponent before silently retreating with the medical officer currently in charge of the competition.

Now, it was finally Eren's turn.

I looked up as she proudly marched into the arena when called up. Defiant Soul, who I had gone up against the last round, also came up.

I would admit that Eren's power over the earth was very explosive as well. Her family being favored by the dragon Raki was well-founded. To think such a good seedling would've been buried in the affairs of the palace...it was truly a pity. In fact, in terms of raw talent, she really took the cake. And she was only becoming more proficient in mastering it—even though the first few days were...very rocky, to say the least.