Erin ran through the arena's hallways, her boots pounding the stone floor, her breath quick and uneven. Fear, worry, and anger twisted in her chest—she'd just arrived at the Academy and learned Rin was fighting a gold-class giant. She burst onto the stands, grabbing the iron railing so hard.
Her violet eyes widened in surprise as she looked over the battlefield below. With his uniform torn and his warhammer lodged in the ground, Berend knelt in the dirt and coughed up blood. His eyes were still burning with pride, but his head was spinning and his vision was blurry from losing so much blood.
Rin lay crumpled, her uniform torn, blood accumulating beneath her across the ripped arena. She tried to stand, her body trembling, her fingers twitching, a faint cough breaking the silence, blood flecking the dirt.
The silence in the crowd broke into whispers of surprise. How could a bronze-class nobody push a gold-class star this far?
