Only One Winner

[And The Winner Of This Match Is Byldger!] the mascot announced as the match ended.

"What is that bastard doing here," Ziro muttered in annoyance.

"His name was also called in the participants' list; you didn't hear it?" Kevin replied with a question.

"I have no interest in hearing others' names."

After Ziro logged out of the game on the day of the raid, he searched for Byldger on the internet and LNA's website, but he couldn't find any useful information.

He tried to hack into the LNA database to Byldger's private information so he could get his address. But the engine of LNA was unhackable, and without Lily, Ziro had no way to do that.

Since that day, Ziro had constantly been trying to fix Lily, but he was only able to recover 20% of her data.

'Well, it's actually better if I think about it.' Ziro smirked. 'I can do what I couldn't during the raid; I will beat him senseless.'

[100 Matches Have Been Completed Today. The Rest 100 Matches Will Start After A 30 Minutes Break.]

It had been 100 matches, and 100 players were already eliminated, and in the next 100 matches, 100 more players will be eliminated.

"Let's go eat something in the cafe; I am sure the next matches will be tough," Alina suggested.

Ziro, Alina, Nier, Sera, Kevin, and Kiana went to the cafe and ordered cakes; Ziro, on the other hand, only ordered juice as he was the only one left to fight.

Alina was one of the first contestants to fight, and she won without breaking any sweat.

Nier and Sera also won with no major problem. And Kevin and Kiana also managed to win.

"Why am I the only one left?" Ziro muttered in annoyance.

The players and their opponents were chosen randomly with no patterns.

"Who are you up against, again?" Kevin asked curiously.

Ziro opened his menu and saw a board popping up in front of him that showed the timer and a chart about the event.

He scrolled down to last and saw his name highlighted against a player named 'Annette'.

"It's Annette."

"It sounds like a girl's name," Alina remarked.

"So?"

"I don't know." Alina shrugged and continued, "I have a weird feeling that Ziro will try something funny."

"I am not some kind of pervert," Ziro retorted.

After two minutes, they all went to the arena.

Nier glanced around and asked, "Is it just me, or there are fewer players in the arena now?"

"That's because the players got bored and logged out, or some might be the players who fought earlier," Kiana explained.

[Ding!]

Ziro received a notification saying, [Please stand in the lane and wait for your turn.]

'I guess it's my turn soon.' Nero nudged Alina and uttered, "I am going."

"Already?"

"Yeah. I would be in the next 10, I guess."

Alina stared into Ziro's eyes and hugged him: "I wanted to send you with a kiss, but unfortunately, we can't kiss in the game."

"Yes," Ziro added.

"...."

Ziro rubbed his hand on Alina's back and uttered, "Just wait for two more weeks, and we will get married, okay?"

"Are you not going to wait for your parents to come back?" Alina asked.

"I have no idea when they are coming back. I was waiting to receive a call from them, but I guess I will call them today— after I log out," Ziro replied.

Alina bit her lips and let go of Ziro: "Good luck."

Ziro entered the arena and waited for his turn to come.

However, Alina couldn't shake her feelings.

Nier patted Alina's shoulder and muttered, "It's okay; You are doing the right thing."

Sera nudged Alina and uttered, "I wish I could reassure you. But you are walking on a path of the fire, and you are going to get burnt sooner or later."

"I would truly wish for you to tell him everything because he will find out everything sooner or later."

"He may seem to be acting normal, but you of all people should know he likes to hide his true feelings not to worry others, so he will keep everything to himself and share only happy moments with you," Sera asserted.

"You both don't know the reason why I am doing this," Alina muttered.

She was the one who wanted to tell Ziro the truth about everything, but she was forced to keep it a secret from him. She was aware of the risks of doing so, but she would rather have him hate her than leave her.

"We both know you better than you think," Nier quipped.

"You could have started dating him long ago, but you didn't because you would feel sorry for us. This is not the matter to be kind, Alina."

Nier pinched Alina's cheek and continued, "We both know he loves you more than he loves us. And it's not like he will stop loving us if you two start going out."

[And… The Winner Is Pacil!]

"Wow! That guy is amazing. He was using moves I had never seen before!" Kiana exclaimed.

"You are right. He was fighting as though he had mastered the martial arts," Kevin nodded in agreement.

Kiana and Kevin were standing at some distance from Alina and others, and they were focused on the epic battle of Pacil and his opponent.

[The Next Battle Is Between Ziro And Annette.] The mascot announced.

Ziro entered the area from the left door, and Annette entered the area from the left door.

"..."

However, everyone looked disappointed.

"It's a guy!" Alina exclaimed.

The name Annette sounded girly, but it was a guy.

Sera raised her brows at Alina and asked, "Why do you look happy?"

"Because he is not fighting a girl," Alina replied with a grin.

Up until now, the battle was evenly matched with genders; male against male and female against female.

However, as the number of participants decreased, there was no gender system as there could only be one winner; let it be a male or a female.

Ziro and Anette shook hands and stood in the ring as the countdown began.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Start!]