When the round finally ended, the ring looked a lot more empty than before. Only about twenty people were left standing out of the hundred that had entered earlier. Most of the others had either conceded or been thrown out. Some limped off. Some were carried away. The coordinators didn’t seem bothered by any of it.One of them stepped forward and shouted, “Next match! Form teams. At least five teams! The first two teams eliminated will lose!”As soon as he said that, Bai Zhe hurried back to Jasper and the two men. He held his waist like it hurt. “I thought they were done,” he said.Jasper looked at him calmly. “They said next match. Not done.”“Still,” Bai Zhe muttered. “I need water.”Jasper didn’t respond.The two men Jasper brought also returned. One of them rubbed his shoulder and the other had dirt on his face. They didn’t say anything. They just waited for Jasper’s instructions.“So teams?” Bai Zhe asked. “We need five teams.”Jasper nodded once. “Yes.”Other fighters around the

The fight continued without slowing down. Everyone that remained in the ring already understood that there was no point holding back. The coordinators stood outside the ring, watching everything with straight faces as if none of it mattered. The teams were already scattered across the ring, each group trying to stick together but still getting torn apart by other fighters. The noise of fists hitting flesh, bodies falling on the wooden platform, and people yelling in pain filled the entire place.Jasper stood in the same spot he had taken since the round started. He didn’t rush anywhere. Bai Zhe and the two men that came with him stayed close, while the young woman who had joined their team earlier remained behind Jasper, trying her best not to get dragged into anything too dangerous. The moment someone tried to come close to her, Jasper’s men stepped forward.“Stay behind,” one of Jasper’s men told her.She nodded quickly and moved even closer to Jasper’s back.Across the ring, two gr

The fight didn’t calm down at all. If anything, it got louder. Everyone kept swinging, blocking, grabbing, pushing. No one wanted to be the team that lost more than two members. That pressure made the whole arena feel tight.Jasper avoided a punch and moved back a little. “This is dragging,” he said.Neal blocked a kick. “You just had to jinx it.”Darren shoved someone away from him. “Focus.”The three teams were already tired. Sweat, heavy breathing, irritated voices—everything mixed together. Nothing elegant, nothing planned anymore. Just people trying to survive the round.One of the fighters from the group of four yelled at his teammate, “Move to your left!”“I’m already moving!” the guy snapped.“Well move faster!”“Then stop shouting in my ear!”Their captain tried holding them together. “Focus on one side! If we split again, they’ll surround us!”“We’re already surrounded!” one of them yelled back.Jasper glanced briefly at the disorganized group. “They’re falling apart.”Neal

Night settled over the compound in a slow, steady way. The training grounds outside were already quiet, the lights dimmed, the air still. Most of the teams had gone back to their rooms to rest. Jasper and his group stayed where they were, seated on low stools in the common hall, talking in low voices about the fights earlier.The door slid open not long after, and the old man of the Sinclair family stepped inside. He walked with that same slow, deliberate pace he always had—never rushed, never sloppy. Bai Zhe nudged the others to straighten up.Jasper lifted his head. “You came.”The old man gave a simple nod. His eyes scanned the five of them one after the other, calm but sharp. “I did. I needed to speak to you.”Bai Zhe shifted on his seat. “Old man… is there a problem?”“There is always a problem,” the old man replied. “And tonight, you all need to hear it.”His tone wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t light either. Just steady. The kind that made people sit a bit straighter on instinct.H

The rules were repeated once more, just to make sure no one complained later. Eight fighters. Random pairings. Lose twice and you were out. Lose once and you still had a chance. Win twice and you moved forward. Simple enough, but the air around the ring felt heavier than the words themselves.Jasper stood at the edge of the venue with his hands in his pockets, watching the organizers move around the screen. The others were beside him—Bai Zhe, Reid, Marco, and the woman who joined their team earlier. None of them spoke at first. They just listened as the organizers walked through the instructions again.“Everyone should hold their tags,” one of them said into the mic. “The system will shuffle the numbers. The first match will begin immediately.”Reid let out a small breath and turned to Jasper. “We fight individually. No help?”“No help,” Jasper said. His voice didn’t change. “Do your best. That’s all.”Marco nodded and rolled his shoulders. Bai Zhe looked down at his own tag, rubbing