Sometime later, the Kobold tournament was nearing its end.  After many matches filled with blood-curling screams and smashed hands, the final battle was about to get underway.

“You are tiny, yet I sense much strength within you. Tell me, what clan are you from?” asked a Kobold that was half a meter taller than Feral. His name was Gunther, and he slammed the arena with his tail.  

“I have no clan name, but I go by the name of Feral,” replied Feral. He lifted his iron slab of a shield and slammed it into the ground.  It was meant to be an intimidation tactic, but Gunther laughed and hammered the floor with his tail even harder.

“Can you believe he made it to the finals?” Momo said.  She still held Servi's hand as if she was her only anchor of reality.  If she let go, she felt that Servi wouldn't ever wake up. “His opponent is bigger than he is, so I think it's going to be a tough battle for him. Hey, what do you think?” 

Momo turned her head and sighed. She knew that there was no way for Servi to answer, but she wanted to believe in that slim possibility.

“Instead of our words, let our strength do the speaking for us!” roared Feral's opponent.

Gunther roared and smashed his powerful arms against his scaly chest. Unlike most Kobolds, his entire body was almost systematically covered in gray scales. Only the tips of his fingers had dark blue skin. The points of his ten toes were covered in a rugged batch of blue fur. In a sense, he was blessed with natural armor that not many could say they had.  

Feral realized his shield would be rather useless, so he dropped it to the ground, making a thunderous noise in the process. He put his hands up and charged in.  

Gunther kept a complete poker face as he took a weird stance. His left hand was high in the air, while his right hand was around his chest level. Momo was stumped since she didn’t know that much about hand-to-hand techniques.  

Feral went to punch, his large hand aiming directly for his opponent’s face, but he found himself slammed into the ground before he knew what happened.

“What?!” exclaimed Momo. She couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. And going by the gasps of the audience, they couldn’t believe it either.  

A moment later,  Toni’s voice sounded out, giving a vocal play-by-play. “Folks!!!!! I’ve never seen such a large man fall to the ground so easily. Judging from what I saw, Gunther somehow lightly picked up Feral when his attacks were blocked by grabbing his wrists. At the same time, He used his legs to knock him off balance so he would fall to his back when he let go. But it all happened so fast!!! And let’s face it, Feral isn’t exactly small, so I’m even more impressed by the sheer strength of Gunther. But even more than that, how did his wrists not break?!!!! I mean, the sheer grip strength to lift someone so big by just his wrist has to be astronomical!!! Are his bones stronger than metal?!?!!!” 

Feral went to get back to his feet but was stopped by a swift kick to the chin. An audible snap grossly echoed, drowned out by the cheering.

“GAAAHHHHAHHHH!!” roared Feral, as blood poured from his mouth. He went to get up again but was met with another kick that shattered his jaw.

Trying for a third time to get up, Gunther kicked his opponent, but Feral purposely fell back to the ground, dodging the incoming attack. Then, he gripped his opponent’s thick leg and used all his strength to roll over.  

Gunther didn’t fall. Instead, he lifted his free leg and slammed it down right on Feral’s arm, crushing it under a weight that would turn a Human into a bloody mess.

After another roar of pain, Feral let go. His mind was in a thick fog of haze and pain, and he didn’t know whether to focus on his broken chin or snapped arm. He went to get up again but accidentally used his broken arm and slipped to the ground once more.  

"I saw your matches, and I was impressed, but you are still nothing more than a child, even if you are over 5,” said Gunther, crouching down. “Do you forfeit?” 

His crushed chin prevented him from speaking, so he painfully shook his head.  

“Good. A Kobold warrior never forfeits, and they keep fighting until the end. Feral, it has been a good fight, but you were not strong enough. You have no technique, only brute force that hasn't been refined into true strength.  This is the end.” He raised his hand. A moment later, he brought it down on the back of Feral’s neck, knocking him out.

Toni immediately spoke and announced that the fight was over. He shouted for the medics, and they rushed in with three potions and Remedium Lux at the ready.  

“Folks! Give us a few minutes to clean the arena and heal Feral. We’ll be back soon with the trophy ceremony for the Kobold tournament. Meanwhile, let’s give it up for Gunther!!!!!!” 

The audience started clapping and cheering for Gunther. He circled in place, staring at the crowds before finally raising his fist in the air.  

“I am Gunther!!!!” he roared before exiting the arena. Feral was still knocked out, staining the floor with even more crimson, but the medics were doing their job. After realizing the four of them couldn't lift the unconscious Kobold, a Human girl with blond hair ran over to a group of Kobolds who had a pouch that said ‘Employee’ on it. She led them back to Feral, and they all lifted him gently.  Four supported his limbs, and one cradled his hulking chest.

“Servi, they’re carrying him over to a big bed for him to rest in. Umm…. I’ll be right back, okay? I promise I won’t be gone long, so please don't go anywhere.” The Singi gave one more squeeze to her friend’s hand before she walked over to Feral. Fisher, Dineria, and all of Momo’s friends were with him.  

“He’s going to be fine,” said the girl who cleaned Servi’s armor and checked her over. She was currently doing a quick examination of Feral's condition. “His chin's in bad shape, and his arm's broken in half, but it was a clean break. He’ll have some trouble eating for a few days, and I don't think he’ll be lifting that big shield for a week or so. He's going to need to rest for about two weeks.  After that, he'll be as good as new."

“How long until he wakes up?” Momo asked while looking back at Servi's sleeping body.  She didn't want to miss the moment she woke up.

“It couldn’t be more than maybe an hour or so? Maybe a little bit less. We gave him a painkiller, but if it still hurts, come and get one of us, okay?” 

“Okay. Thank you,” Fisher nodded at the medic. The girl smiled and walked away, no doubt going to check on any of the other tens of injured participants.

“Feral, you did well,” said Momo.  

“Aye. Your fights were most spectacular,” said Riki. He took a seat beside his Kobold friend.  

Silverado and the others commented on Feral’s fights as well. They were impressed and proud of him.

“Now, I imagine the finals will start soon,” said Dineria, who sat down in a nearby chair. She still had Momo’s bag, hugging it close while she spoke. “I’ll stay here with Feral while you all go get ready.” 

They all nodded. Momo put a trembling hand to the pommel of her sword as she walked back to Servi. Taking a seat, she went to grab her friend’s hand. “Servi, don’t you think you rested enough? Come on, the finals are gonna start soon. You need to wake up and get ready, okay?” 

Nothing. Momo's best friend didn’t move a single bit. 

“Please wake up. We were supposed to have our rematch. Remember our promise? No matter who wins or loses, we'll always be best friends. We can’t have that promise if you don’t wake up…” 

Ten minutes later, Fisher Jin walked over. He took a seat on the other side of Servi and spoke to a crying girl with pink hair.

“Momo, it’s almost time. Didn’t you hear the announcement?” 

The Singi in question shook her head.  

“They want to introduce the finalists from every group. And if Servi doesn’t wake up, she’ll...” 

“I know. But it’s not fair!! She said she was fine, so why?” cried Momo. She turned her head to Fisher and shouted at him, then immediately apologized. “We said we would have our rematch here, and we both made it to the finals. I…” her teary blue eyes trembled at the thought of going a second longer without her precious best friend by her side.

Before Fisher had a chance to say something, he was interrupted by Toni. “Alright, folks! The time is near. I need every finalist from group 1 to come to the center arena.”  

Servi, I absorbed the sleepinwillo and turned up True Immortality. Everything should be back to normal.  Please, wake up!

Momo went to get up and move, but she was still holding her friend's hand. “Hey, it’s time. Servi, I think you had enough time to rest, so it’s time to get up.” 

Nothing.  Servi's chest rose and fell calmly, but she made no other movements.

“Excuse me, is this Servi?” said an Elf with black hair who walked up. He had a shirt that signified he was an employee.  

“It is. Servi…” 

Servi!!!! Itarr shouted.

“I’m sorry, but if she doesn’t wake up, she will be disqualified.” 

“But—” 

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but those are the rules. She has a minute left,” the Elf walked away.  

“Servi, did you hear what he said? You gotta get up,” Momo let go of her hand and put her hands to Servi’s shoulders. Using a little bit of strength, she nudged her sleeping friend. Her black hair lightly shook, but that was all.  Dineria saw this and quickly walked over.  

Please, wake up!!!!

“Please, Servi… Wake up!” she pushed a little bit hard, but there was still no sign of her waking up.  Eventually, she shook her friend like a baby would shake a rattle.  Her black hair slapped against her cheeks, yet nothing happened.

“Momo, you need to stop,” said Dineria, pulling the Singi away.  

“But she said… She…. She won’t wake up...” It was like the flood gates had opened up in her eyes when she turned to look at her mentor.  

SERVI!!!!!!!! Itarr roared.

But it was useless.

“Folks! I’ve just received word that Servi, first-place winner of group 1, is not awake.  If you don't remember, she suddenly collapsed after her fight with Arty. I’m sorry to say, but she is disqualified. My heart goes out to her friends and family, and I hope she wakes up soon. The show must go on! Allow me to introduce the seven members…..” 

“No! Servi!” Momo hugged her sleeping friend and buried her head into her chest. “Wake up! Please!” she cried. But no matter how many liters of tears she shed, how hard she shook her, or how loud she bawled Servi's name, Momo's attempts at waking her best friend were all met with the same result. 

And no matter how loudly Itarr raged inside her and Servi's interconnected soul, Servi wouldn't wake up.

The reason was simple.

Itarr had miscalculated the amount of sleepinwillo she injected into Servi's lungs.  That, coupled with the stress of trying to fix her mistakes, prevented her from turning True Immortality back up to its normal state in time. The sleepinwillo spores traveled throughout her body, and it would take True Immortality some time to purify Servi's blood of the quick-acting sleep-inducing toxin.

It was her fault and her fault alone that caused Servi to not make the finals.  And she knew it.  She knew it, and she hated it. Unable to do anything else but wait, Itarr curled into a ball and wept. If she took even a second to think about it, all she had to do to fix the current situation was to absorb her sleepinwillo-infested blood.  True Immortality would then create fresh blood for her body to circulate. However, that plan never crossed her mind. Even for a Goddess, she had reached her breaking point and needed time to sort everything out.  The time was coming when she had to tell the truth to Servi, and she had to prepare herself for it. 

I guess I can hope for the best but expect the worst..... She'll never love me after I confess what I did to her...

“Fisher, you need to tell me what happened! Right now! This isn't normal!” Dineria said in a hushed tone. She turned to the Captain of the Guard, who sighed. 

“I did tell you the truth. It was sleepinwillo.” Fisher kept a straight face as he technically told the truth. He just didn't specify that it was concentrated to the point where it was dangerous to dragons. But that was then, and this was now.  He didn't know why Servi wouldn't wake up.  Truth be told, he was getting worried too, but he couldn't do anything.  He had no way to speak to Itarr, and he didn't know if she would even talk to him.

Dineria narrowed her eyes at Fisher and sighed. She knew she wasn’t going to get it out of him. “I swear... Fine. Momo?” she turned back to the Singi and saw her kneeling beside the bed. Her fingers were laced and folded together, and Dineria could faintly hear a small voice pray.

“Gods above, please give my best friend the power to wake up. I know I haven’t prayed since that night in my village, and I’m sorry, but she’s my best friend…. She’s the only one I have…. I’m not strong enough to go on my own…” her pink tail, motionless and limping, reflected its master's emotions.

Fisher and Dineria could only stare and watch. The green-haired Elf rubbed her arm as emotions started to flood her eyes. The friendship between the pink Singi and the sleeping girl was unusual, if not unhealthy and obsessive.  Dineria saw that. Fisher saw that. But did they have the right to say anything about their mentees' unique relationship?

“And that’s all for group 1. Now, I need the eight finalists for group 2 to come to the center arena, please!” said Toni.  

Momo stood up and hugged her sleeping friend. “We can have our match later, right? Cause you’ll be up, right? I’m gonna do my best to win it all. I’ll do it for you. But I gotta go now. If it’s possible, I want my best friend to watch me fight. After all, I joined the mentor program to get stronger, and I wanted to get stronger because I wanted to be someone you would be proud to have as a party member. But I understand if you still need your rest. I….”  

Momo turned around and walked towards the center ring. There, she saw Srassa and the seven other finalists. They were stood in a line, and Momo took a spot next to the one person she knew.

“How is she?” whispered the Singi’s friend.  

“She’s still sleeping. I told her that since she couldn’t fight, I was gonna fight for her. That’s all I can do for her." 

“…” Srassa couldn’t think of anything to say. She cared a lot about Servi since she was so friendly and easy-going, and she cared about Momo, too. But there wasn’t anything she could say that hadn't already been said.  

Momo, meanwhile, stood there half-heartedly. She didn’t listen to Toni brag about her unique way of using her legs to fight and walked straight back to Servi after the introductions were over. Srassa went with her. Fisher and Dineria were standing in the same spot, having a quiet argument over the validity of Fisher's statement and recount of what happened to Servi.

Ignoring them, Momo went to sit back down and held Servi’s hand. “It won’t be long now until I have to fight.” Srassa sat down and took hold of Servi’s other hand. When she did, Momo felt pure anger flow through her for a fraction of a second. She wanted to rip that blond hair off and burn it in front of her.

No! She’s my best friend! She thought before becoming absolutely disgusted with herself. Why did I get so angry? It’s not like Servi is mine and mine alone. In fact, she might even wake up sooner if she knows she has two friends holding her hands. If she realizes she has a whole bunch of other friends wishing for her to wake up, then she might wake up even sooner. Please, Servi, wake up. I need you… I'm not strong enough to go without you...

Agreeing to disagree, Dineria stormed off back to Silverado and the others. She tried as hard as she could to get the verifiable truth out of Fisher, but like an iron wall, he refused to crack. He kept with his partial truth that was quickly turning into a complete lie. Everyone believed in his story except Dineria, who somehow had the intuition to realize there was more to it.  

Ten minutes later, Toni was finished introducing group 3, of which Silverado, Desperado, and Riki all passed, coming in fourth, third, and fifth place, respectively. Five minutes after that, he gave group 4, the last one, their introduction. Rakkire was a finalist, and he came in first. 

I feel kinda bad because I didn’t congratulate them, even though they said such nice words to me after every match. I’m definitely gonna have to apologize to them. I hope we can still be friends. But maybe they’ll understand. I’m sure Riki would do the same thing if Rakkire was like this, and Silverado and Desperado seem like the best of friends. I don’t think they can blame me. Momo tried to convince herself that her friends wouldn’t be mad at her for wanting to be next to Servi during this time.  

Not a single one of her friends blamed her. The next three minutes consisted of them walking over to Momo and telling her that. Almost immediately after, they got word from a medic that Feral was awake.  

After apologizing to Servi for leaving her, Momo and the group rushed over to the Kobold.  

“Ahhh, it seems I lost the fight,” he said, wincing in pain. He brought a big hand to his chin and silently yelped when he accidentally grazed it. Then he looked down at his broken arm, which was tightly wrapped in bandages and a sling.

“You lost, but it was a really good match!” Momo said, wanting to support Feral. Srassa agreed with her, adding on her own compliments.  

“Are you mad or upset at your loss?” asked Fisher, who crossed his arms. Dineria didn't like how he said that and gave him a cross-eyed glare sharp enough to cut nadrium.

Feral thought about it for a moment before speaking. “I am, but I’m not sad. Me losing to Gunther just meant that I was weak. I need to train until I am stronger than him, and I need to keep training after that.” 

Servi, I wish you could see Feral. He’s taking his loss in stride, and I think that’s mature of him. I don’t think I could do that. Heck, I’ll probably end up a crying mess. I say end up, but I’m already a crying mess. I’ll do my very best to win it, okay? The only thing you need to worry about is waking up. 

After a few minutes, in which the group talked between them about the tournament and the upcoming matches, Momo returned to Servi's side. Srassa and the others walked back to their spot, agreeing to give Momo a little bit of alone time with her best friend.  

Five minutes later, Toni’s voice came back. “Alright now!!!! Sorry for the wait, but we had a lot to take care of behind the scenes!! Coming up in the first match of the finals, I need Momo and Riki!!!!! Come on down!!!” The audience erupted into a chorus of applause and cheering, and the bleachers were brimming at max capacity.

“It’s starting.” Momo stood up. Her crying face was replaced with a look of determination as she put a hand to her blade. “I’m not the scaredy-cat I was when we met. Okay, maybe I’m a little bit scared about certain things, but I can ignore those. Right now, the only thing on my mind is to win. Actually, hold on. You trained with Riki and everyone else, so in a way, it’s like I am fighting against you. I’m sure they must’ve learned something from you, so we are having our match. I mean, it’s not the same thing, but I’ll take it.” 

After giving her sleeping friend another hug and gently brushing her hand through her black hair, Momo made her way to the arena. As she stepped away from the white tent, the crowd erupted with applause, but Momo didn’t even hear it. To her, the entire stadium was as silent as the friends she laughed with when she was a child.

Which were non-existent.  

All the clapping, cheering, hooting, and hollering was for her and Riki, two people who impressed the audience with their techniques, but she couldn’t hear it at all. Only Toni’s voice stood out to her, and that probably was because he kept yelling into his voice loudner.

The one sole thing that was audible to Momo was her friends’ and mentor’s voices, but that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

Servi….I wanna hear your voice again.  

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! Our finals start now!!! We have Momo, the pink Singi who’s been making a name for herself with her speed and agility. And let’s not forget the Dwarf, Riki!! Axe and shield in hand, he’s as sturdy as they come. Speed and agility versus strength and defense!!!!! Fight!!!!!” shouted Toni, making sure to hype up both fighters.  

Riki held his shield up and spoke. “I’m sorry that Servi isn’t awake, I really am, but I hope you realize that you’re in a fight. Don’t you think that Servi would want you to give it your all?” 

Momo drew her thin longsword, with its gleaming silver blade, and spoke calmly. “I do, and I think she would. I told her that I’ll win it for her, so I’m not even thinking of going easy on myself or my opponents. I learned a lot this past month, and I’m not the same Momo I was a month ago,” getting into a stance down low, Momo flashed an insincere smile. “Riki, I’m ready!” 

"That's the spirit!" clanking his axe and buckler together, Riki began to edge closer to the Singi, who waited for the right moment.  

The time for the finals had come at last, and Momo had five battles waiting ahead of her. It would be long, arduous, and exhausting, but the Singi was determined to win it all for her best friend.