"Contestant eighteen wins the match! And with that, we get our first qualified person for the Sihapi training."

The audience cheered while David sighed in relief. In no condition did he want to fight that guy. He had been observing him for a while and his stance, his raw power and his techniques - each of them screamed his experience in this field.

Contestant 18, whatever his name was - he wasn't even taking unnecessary risks inside the ring. Always stayed right at the periphery of the centre, only struck hard when he was sure the opponent wouldn't bring their head in between.

In simple words, David's tricks would be absolutely useless against him.

'And let's not even talk about a direct confrontation. Each of his blows felt like thunderclaps striking the Earth.'

With that small celebration out of the way, the matches resumed again. As time passed by, the number of contestants thinned rapidly - most getting disqualified while the rest were getting selected.

Again, David's turn came as he went for his sixth match.

His opponent was a boy around his age, whom David defeated easily, given the massive upgrade to his strength from the last night.

Even the nameless girl noticed it as she whispered in his ears, "How did you stronger in one night?"

"By killing of course." He grinned, to which the nemeless girl nodded as if that answer was enough. She didn't even bother ask whom had he killed - humans or monsters?

'Also her speech is improving as well.' He couldn't help but be pleasantly happy about it. She was now residing in an area where people spoke quite fluently and she being the clever one, was able to quickly pick off the errors in her own sentences.

To David it would seem that the lack of fluent English speakers back in their village, was a major reason why her speech had been like that.

Heck, even his own speech had been that bad until he had regained his memories as David.

The next three of his matches happened one round after the other.

His first opponent who happened to be fighting with a mace, reminded him of Shogun for a while. But shaking his head, he fought him squarely, not giving his opponent the space to lift the heavy weapon.

Following such a simple tactic, he won that round and went on to defeat his next opponent in the seventh match.

But his next match - the eighth match, was where he encountered a very big problem.

His opponent had happened to be a girl in her mind twenties. Her choice of weapon was a...katana, with an embroidered hilt.

As soon as the match had started, David's troubles began as well.

Her agility was no joke, always preferring to attack him before quickly withdrawing from his range. As such it was getting difficult for him to even score a single point.

But somehow, by taking multiple risks, he was able to score a few points. Just as she was scoring as well.

By the time the match ended, David was chewing the insides of his mouth in nervousness. He wasn't even sure he was leading this time.

The girl stood before him, her body tense as well.

"Contestant..." The voice drawled on for a moment, making David's heart beat even faster.

"...1024 wins the fight by only one point! What a match it had been..."

David didn't even hear the rest of it as he sank to his knees under the morning sun.

'That...that was damn close!' His heartbeat matched the frequency of his internal scream.

He glanced up at the girl, who justeft the ring with sheer disappointment on her features.

Just a few minutes after that, another announcemen rang out.

"Contestant three thousand twenty eight wins the fight. Qualified for the Sihapi Isikolo. Congratulations!"

The nameless girl hopped towards David, an excited smiled pasted on her lips.

"Big brother, I won!"

Both of them high fived, the sound ringing around them.

"You need two wins. Then you win!"

David nodded to her, praying internally that his matches come soon.

But his prayer went unanswered as matches after matches passed. And yet, not a single time, his number came out of the bowl.

Overhead, the sun was reaching its peak, it's heat making David sweat profusely.

At one point, only a dozen candidates were left and yet, his number didn't arrive.

Finally, after a lot of waiting, only three contestants were left.

David, a man with a scythe and finally....the old man from the carriage.

"Contestant one thousand twenty four has won a total of eight matches, contestant fourty nine a total of nine matches and lastly, contestant sixty seven a total of nine matches as well."

David felt his face harden. Against one of them? Maybe he had a change...just maybe.

But fighting them one after the other? He could just as well surrender at this point.

"The first matchup..." The Host deliberately paused as he took out two of the three papers of the bowl. Then with a shout, he declared, "...would be between contestants one thousand twenty four and sixty seven."

With a deep sigh, David entered the ring just as his opponent - the old man, did.

"We meet again, young lad. I was watching your matches. You are definitely good but still needs a lot of improvement."

David nodded as he answered. "I am aware of that. I mean few of my opponents were better than me and yet, they are all... disqualified."

The old man chuckled. "Are you indicating something here? Just so you know, I won't fall for those paltry tricks. I have been in your place fifty years back afterall."

"Oh no, no...I wasn't indicating anything like that, just--", David began but as he heard the old man's last line, he stopped.

"Wait...what?!"

"Yeah, or how do you think I had become a Sihapi? Obviously I had won this thing once, watched myself as I grew alongside my colleagues. It's sad I have lost most of my powers from that one accident." The old man sighed, lost in some bitter memory.

"Two more minutes!" The veteran shouted, as both of them stood at their place, neither initiating a fight.

David wanted to, but he saw the old man being distracted as if thinking something quite deeply.

He really wanted to use that moment for his advantage but he didn't move. Even while knowing that he wouldn't win a normal swordfight with the old man.

Suddenly he saw the man's eyes glisten as he looked at David with a smile on his face.

"I have decided...."

Then, to the others he declared.

"I surrender."

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