"My dear viewers, WELCOME TO THE SECOND STAGE OF THE COMPETITION!"

"START THE FIGHT ALREADY!"

"WOOH!"

"Curse you all if my favourite champion dies!"

The observers cheered in their seats, preparing some food and drinks to enjoy the show.

They were so excited and nervous. Most of them were already gambling on their favourite champions.

The narrator cleared his throat and said: "Only 24 champions survived the last stage, a small number compared to the hundreds who participated earlier, but at least the weak were eliminated quickly."

"The second stage will be divided into three 1vs1 fights for each champion. After that, when only three champions remain, it'll be the start of the final stage."

"And now, for the stage's rules!"

Following the narrator's speech, the arena changed without a warning.

Three colossal walls emerged from the floor, splitting the arena into three sections with the hole in the middle unchanged.

"As you all can see, the arena is divided into three different sections."

"Each champion is required to have three fights before qualifying to the final stage. But…" the narrator smirked: "Don't you think it's so boring?"

"BORIIING!"

The audience roared, agreeing excitedly with the narrator.

The narrator widened his smirk: "Then open your eyes and watch this!"

Suddenly, each section in the arena started changing, turning into different environments.

The first section ignited with flames that burst from the floor alongside burning lava, turning it into what seemed to be a volcanic environment with a few platforms made of stone floating above the lava.

The second section replaced the stone with metal, and several rods burst from the floor.

RUMBLE!

Surges of lightning suddenly shot from the bottom of the rods, moving through the high-conductive metal like snakes before disappearing. Simultaneously, the top of the rods shot electric pulses randomly.

As for the third section… it didn't show any changes.

It stayed the same without any flashy changes, but the experienced observers with sharp senses noticed that something turned wrong about it.

Seeing the excitement of the audience, the narrator explained with a smooth voice: "As you can see, three different zones!"

"The champions are separated into 3 groups. Each group will give us one winner, and that winner will have to win three fights in a row, adapting to each different environment to claim his win!"

"The true winner shall have the ability to adapt, at the very least. Don't you think it's fair!"

The audience went into chaos immediately.

"We do!"

"What?! But the silver knight has the Shadow Aspect. Two of these sections would weaken him. That's unfair!"

"Then he was never meant to be a winner."

"Are you doubting the fairness of her grace?"

"Don't twist my words!"

"He's right. You're just supporting this because you're encouraging another champion!"

"Did you forget that he can mimic lightning and fire?"

"And there is a masked man who can just burn your soul without moving!"

The narrator rolled his eyes and ignored the audience. Arguing there wouldn't make a difference anyway.

'I can already predict who the winners are going to be. The groups weren't made randomly.'

Clearing his throat, the narrator announced, staring at the gates on each section: "The second stage is about to begin!"

¢¢¢

'Why am I smelling something burning?' Fafnir narrowed his eyes, staring at the gate in front of him.

He had heard what the narrator said about the environments, but he couldn't see them. Even with shadow detection, he couldn't understand what was happening clearly.

'Well, it's not my turn yet regardless.'

Fafnir looked at the woman behind, who was sweating heavily for some reason.

Neither of them was entering the arena now. The arena could handle only 6 competitors at a time, which meant that they had to wait for two people to finish their fight before starting theirs.

"You won't die if you give up now." Fafnir wrote that message and sent it in front of the woman, as a final warning.

The woman read it and didn't respond, biting her lower lip until it bled. Then she closed her eyes and decided to ignore the warning.

Fafnir tilted his head: 'What's wrong with her?'

"Maybe she's forced to be here." Greed appeared on the woman's head and patted her with his tail: "Oh, poor thing. I wonder why she's risking her life here instead of living with her life freely outside."

"Is it debt? Does she have to prove something? What if someone from her family is held hostage?! There are so many possibilities. Unfortunately, she's going to fight a heartless shadow that wouldn't hold back if it meant ensuring a higher chance of winning."

Fafnir crossed his arms: 'I'm not denying that. Her life means nothing to me. If she listens to my warning, she'll have a higher chance to live at least. That's just stupid of her.'

"Are you sure?" Greed smirked: "What if someone told you to fight a master and you might get a space relic that has a low chance to save Dante. Will you do it?"

'Absolutely…' Fafnir answered without hesitation but he stopped when he realized the problem.

A high chance to die, a low chance to win, and even if he won, the reward would have a low chance to save Dante anyway.

As someone with the Misfortune Aspect, he knew that possibilities were unpredictable. If there was a 0.00001% chance to win, then he could possibly win. That was why he wouldn't hesitate.

That might be similar to that woman's situation. If so, then what was the difference between him and her?

'...Maybe she isn't stupid.'

"Haha! Or maybe you both are stupid." Greed laughed mockingly: "Just stick to one idea, kiddo. You remember what your master said about hypocrisy, right?"

Fafnir's eyes twitched, but he had to admit… he really acted like a hypocrite.

'I should just act according to what benefits my master the most, even if it was stupid. Someone like me doesn't have the right to judge others.'

"Or… you can just think about yourself a bit." Greed suggested: "Tell me, knowing that you both might be similar, do you still want to kill her if she gets in your way?"

'Yes.' Fafnir responded immediately.

"I swear something is wrong in your brainless head." Greed rolled his eyes: "Fafnir Drago, if we ignore your master as a factor, and we consider that you can defeat her without killing her, will you still do it just to increase the chance of winning?"

Fafnir lowered his head and ignored Greed the moment he muttered the word "Drago".

That was the name of Fafnir's father… no, the name of the original Fafnir's father.

Greed was once again trying to convince Fafnir that he wasn't just a shadow.

"Hehe, I can't believe you don't trust me after all that you did. Turning your body into a spatial storage and finding a way to see the future, alongside your other achievements, should tell you that you still have the talent regarding the Space Aspect and the Time Aspect."

"If you were merely a flawed shadow, you wouldn't have been able to do that, something that even Dante couldn't achieve."

"You are him, whether you want to accept it or not, Fafnir."

A/N: The college is cooking, grilling, grinding, and frying me now. My exams are starting in a month, so the updates might become a bit slower (okay, not a bit.) 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

And because I'm not a scammer, the privilege tiers will cose only 1/2/15 coins next month, and 1/50/150 the month after it (Sorry, blame my college)

The third tier is 15 coins because that's the minimum to keep the 10% discount. Blame wn