Shibisu watched the match impassively, projecting the very image of confidence. Yet, as Anaak lunged forward, his finger twitched and he barely resisted the urge to groan. This is bad, he thought. Anaak won't back down now, not after her pride's been wounded.

There were only two ways this could go, and if Team Shibisu lost here, then they lost it all.

"OOOooh and she isn't taking this lying down, Anaak Jahad attacks again!"

Thud. With one step, Anaak was halfway to Baragav. She held her massive plug lightly, ready to knock his head off his shoulders. Only a few more steps between making that vision a reality.

The crowds roared.

And midstep, Anaak vanished. There was no smoke, no trace of shinsu. It was just — one moment she was there, and the next she was gone, as though she had been snatched away by the wind.

The crowd faltered, and the announcer gave a theatrical gasp. "Ah? Is this one of Anaak Jahad's secret techniques?"

Hardly. Above the stadium, above the howling and shouting, Endorsi grimaced. If Anaak naturally had that ability, she would be as strong as a C-Class Regular. No, this ability was as natural as Rachel's Blood Tamara.

Endorsi put her phone to the side, then stood at the railing. Before she even looked, she knew she wouldn't see any sign of Anaak. "The Shinsu Veil. If I had taken it instead..."

She shook her head, banishing the thought. Gifts from a princess always came with strings attached.

She placed a hand on the railing. "Anaak," she sighed, "Always so reckless..."

And down in the arena, Anaak surged forward. She didn't use shinsu strengthening — she couldn't, not without disrupting the Shinsu Veil.

And right now, she needed to stay undetectable.

Her feet thudded against the bare stone, but the veil muffled the sound, muffled her scent, and most importantly, muffled her shinsu. She grinned, then raised her plug.

Baragav's head was turned away —he probably hadn't even realized that she'd moved.

Flicker. She leapt, the shinsu veil falling, her shinsu strengthening surging, and with that blessed energy coursing through her veins, she raised the plug above her head.

The split second before the plug hit, Baragav shifted. And as it hit, glancing off of his shoulder, he turned, the air itself changing, morphing, becoming thick with shadows. Before Anaak had even landed, the shadows had condensed into wolves, and Baragav's arm was already countering her next strike.

Bastard.

But she grinned anyway and lunged into her next attack.

Standing against the railing were two Regulars, and something about them drew Wangnan's attention. He wasn't sure what, so he slowed to take a closer look.

The first one had his arms crossed, and he was staring at Baragav. His face didn't change even as the announcers crowed about Anaak landing another hit, but the Regular next to him — who was slumped over the rail — groaned.

And then that slumped Regular raised his head, revealing a familiar mop of messy red hair.

Ah, just my luck, Wangnan thought, stifling a groan. He spun on his heel, ready to just walk away and pretend he hadn't seen anything, but then Chang spoke. "What do you want, yellow boy?"

"Eh…" He had a glib reply ready, but then he realized: Chang was still watching the match, and Quaetro was back to hanging over the railing like a limp noodle. They hardly looked like the threatening pair from One Shot… in fact, he had a good feeling about this. Wangnan shrugged, then stepped forward. "I don't want much," he said. "I know we're not super close, but thank you. For not hurting Goseng."

Chang didn't even turn; instead, he smiled sardonically. "Save your thanks," he replied. "I didn't do it for you."

"Still," Wangnan repeated, leaning against the railing. He didn't dare clap Chang on the shoulder, so he settled for staring down at Anak and Baragav's group. "So..." he said, "Two top E-Rank Regulars fighting each other."

Chang grunted.

Down below, Anaak managed a tricky roundhouse kick even as the shadow wolves snapped at her heels. Then, her shinsu spinning around Baragav, she leapt back, easily crossing half the platform in one enhanced jump before disappearing from view.

Wangnan whistled, then turned to Chang. "It's looking pretty balanced right now… but you're also one of the top five, right? So who do you think will win?"

Chang was silent, and for a split-second Wangnan wondered if he'd regret his question. Then Chang sighed. "Well, just based on pure strength, they're roughly equal."

"So…?"

The corner of Chang's mouth quirked a smile. "So it comes down to experience."

Wangnan squinted at him. "So Anaak is going to win."

Chang snorted. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you aren't a lightbearer…" After fixing Wangnan with a withering glare, he turned back to the match. "For your own sake, never underestimate Baragav. You should learn some history, yellow boy."

Wangnan narrowed his eyes, then harrumphed before going back to lean over the railing.

And in the arena, the fight continued. Anaak appeared for a half-second, her arm outstretched as she threw a blinding punch. Baragav danced back, but it wasn't enough: Anaak's fist caught the edge of his ribs, and a vicious grin lit her face.

Until Baragav, his expression unchanging, grabbed her wrist. She struggled, flickering in and out of sight as she twisted to get free, however, when she finally escaped and crouched a safe distance away, a rivulet of blood began trickling down her leg.

"Ooooh," the announcers crowed, zooming in on the sight, the crowd going quiet. "Perhaps the blood of Jahad isn't so strong in Ms. Anaak."

Khun huffed a sigh. That was the worst thing they could've said. Although he was kilometers away, Khun could see Anaak's shoulders tense as reason was thrown into the wind. His grip on the railing tightened.

"Well Io, this is the Mad Dog. Maybe Ms. Anaak simply isn't good enough."

"What the—" Wangnan glanced around the silent stadium, then whispered, "Are they trying to get themselves killed?"

A few stray 'boo's echoed in the stadium, but most remained silent. Chang didn't take his eyes off the match, but he muttered in reply: "They know what they're doing."

Wangnan waited, but Chang didn't continue explaining. "So… what exactly are they doing?"

"You can't tell?" This time, Quaetro answered, but he didn't seem to be his usual cheery self. "The announcers need a good show, they can't have the fight drag on too long. So they're angering Anaak."

"Oh." Down in the arena, Anaak sprang six feet in the air, dodged two shadow wolves, then charged full-tilt at Baragav. More wolves came running at her, but she cut them down — if her movements had been any less sloppy, she might've lost an arm. With a rueful shake of his head, Wangnan glanced away from the fight. "So, how much longer do you think this can go? Someone's gotta make a mistake eventually, right?"

Three bangs swirled around Anaak's hand as she swung her plug, which slammed against the floor with an ear-piercing squeal.

Chang just whistled. "The blood of Jahad is no joke, huh?"

Anaak tugged the plug out of the shattered platform, then launched into another attack. This time, Wangnan would have sworn that the plug briefly went supersonic, but then Baragav caught the plug. He caught it easily, with one just hand.

A huge resounding boom shook the stadium, making the water below the arena ripple.

Wangnan's eyes widened, then widened again when he realized he smelled something burning. Did Baragav do that… or Anaak? he thought, glancing to the side. How powerful would you… oh. Beside him, Quaetro was gripping the railing tightly, a rictus of a grin on his face. Although his eyes were firmly fixed on the match, something flickered in their depths… a trace of insanity.

Ah. Wangnan shuffled a little closer to Chang and a little further from the melting railing. It'll be safer here, at least until the fight ends.

Anaak and Baragav still stood in the same position, locked at a standstill: Anaak was pushing the plug down while Baragav forced the plug up, neither gaining any ground. The moment hung in a balance. For once, even the announcers were silent.

Then Baragav leaned down to Anak's ear. His lips moved, but there was no sound.

The camera zoomed in.

Anaak glared at him, seemingly as angry as ever… and then her eyes widened.

"What?" Wangnan stared at the screen, then did a double-take. "Is he telling her something?"

"Quiet." While Chang didn't raise his voice, his tone caught Wangnan's attention. So far, Chang had tolerated him good-naturedly, however, now that something important was actually happening, Chang sounded prepared to kill him if he got in the way.

Wangnan nodded, then dutifully fell silent.

But no amount of silence could have carried the sound to the stands. Chang leaned forward, still grimacing. "Some item's blocking us. It's useless, Quaetro."

Wangnan turned to find Quaetro was leaning so far over the railing that he was tipping like a seesaw. Automatically, Wangnan reached over and grabbed Quaetro's shirt. "I know you're strong," he said, hauling him back up, "but jeez, it's like a mile drop from here."

Quaetro didn't even look at him, just kept staring down at the arena as though he could force Baragav to speak louder. And, when Wangnan followed his gaze, he found Anaak and Baragav placing their plugs into the socket.

Thus, the Plug Game ended.

"And that's a wrap folks, please head back to your room and prepare for the winner's party tonight!"

"Uhhh…"

"What?"

"I thought this was supposed to be the fight of the century."

"Did you guys hear what Baragav said?"

"They're barely bleeding!"

"Is it over?"

"That was three minutes long!"

"...Even the first round was better than this."

Amid the discontented mumblings of the crowd, the Gamblers were silent. To be sure, this outcome was unexpected, to say the least. Shibisu glanced from side to side, then nodded to himself.

Almost all the Gamblers had gone 'All-In', so none of the rankings had changed too drastically. Shibisu fiddled with his pen, then sighed. All things considered, he had gained a fair amount of points, but…

Bam also made Team Leader.

The door hissed open, and as if by agreement, the Gamblers began to file out of the room. Shibisu waited, watching his opponents leave, then turned to the only one remaining in the room. However, the typical congratulations died in his throat.

Reflejo hadn't moved, but the room seemed darker than before.

"Your new team leaders are: Reflejo! Shibisu! Miya! Ron Mei! Hyun Chung! Aaaand Jue Viole Grace!"

As he walked away, his pocket buzzed, echoing in the hallway. When Bam opened his messages, his heart sank.

Bam, it read, 6pm.

He almost drafted a response — something like, Mr. Khun, we already have all those Slayer Nominee outfits in your lighthouse, do we really have to — but he knew it'd be useless to protest, especially after Khun made up his mind.

And, distracted by that impending doom, he bumped into somebody. "Excuse me," he said, automatically stepping aside.

But the person followed. "I wasn't expecting to meet you here."

Bam looked up, his eyes narrowing. Before him was a scrawny boy with green-yellow hair, a bandaged head, and a face hidden by a baseball cap. "Do I know you?" he asked.

"Of course not. The great Slayer Nominee wouldn't know about dregs like us."

A familiar sentiment; Bam had dealt with these kinds of people before. "Look, I'm sorry for anything that's happened to you, but—"

"Oh? You're sorry? Even when you caused the suffering?" Beta turned away, touching his forehead and muttering, "No, no, he doesn't have it. Even I can feel it at this point—"

Bam backed away. "What suffering? What are you talking about?"

The boy didn't answer; instead he smiled. Then he hopped close to Viole, whispering into his ear: "Do you want to know a secret? It's only right; I hated you all these years for nothing."

"What?"

"Find out the prize for the Workshop Battle. It's quite important for your quest."

"..."

"You have no idea what the prize is, do you? Well, you should figure it out, soon enough."

And as quickly as the boy appeared, he vanished. For a few seconds, Bam stared at the spot where he'd stood. He blinked a couple times and took a half-step after the boy. Then his pocket buzzed again.

It was Khun.

"Now Regulars, be sure to put your best foot forward! This is the night to make impressions and attract sponsors!"

At a casual glance, the Gambling Room seemed empty. A closer look would reveal something in the shadows, and an even closer look would show that the person sitting alone at the big table was a shadow.

Although the gambling had long since concluded, Reflejo remained. He sat at the table, staring at the wood, before getting to his feet and drifting to the windows. From there, he stared out at the volcano, which loomed above them all in the quiet night.

"And to ensure the audience knows and sees all of you, there will be videos played! The Regulars have between now and the start of the ball to film a video, if they so choose!"

Gotta get ready for the ball… Wangnan thought, barely registering the announcer's comment before doing a double-take. A video?! This is my chance to make Endorsi notice me! With a decided spring in his step, he crossed his room and threw open the door to his closet. With a good suit—

Something in his closet wriggled, revealing a mop of messy orange hair.

"Whoa!" he shouted, jumping back. "Traveller, what are you doing here?!"

From within a pile of crushed, crumpled clothes, the Traveller grinned at him sheepishly. "Uh, hi Wangnan. I needed—"

"Seriously. You can't be there. I've gotta get ready for the ball man, I need a bomb outfit and a bomb video…" Wangnan ran a hand through his hair, then rounded on the Traveller again. "And then there's you, just sitting in all my clothes, getting them wrinkled!"

"Well, to be fair, they were like this when I got here—" Traveller shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, an obvious lie if Wangnan ever heard one. "But it's not like I randomly came here, I- I needed somewhere to hide so I didn't get taken away by the Workshop, and Miseng took me here—"

"Miseng?" Wangnan stopped, then gave the Traveller an odd look. "How could she take you here?"

Traveller got up, stepping out of the clothes pile. "Well, during the Pool Party. Remember? She told you she was coming to help me."

"She did?" Wangnan thought about it for a second, then snapped. "Oh yeah, she did! Sorry, I was a little tipsy by then." His grin was anything but sorry, but then Wangnan remembered just why he was standing there staring at his messy closet. "Eh, it's good to see you again man, but I still gotta get ready for the ball."

"Maybe I can help?" Traveller offered tentatively.

"No, you can't go outside or you'll get caught… Oh, actually." A wide grin spread across Wangnan's face. "Can you hold a camera?"