Lunch Break

Villette, the top student of her year, had hesitated for ages before winning the match by spitting.

The students interpreted her hesitation and uncertainty as calculated confidence, fully buying into the narrative.

Despite the absurdity of the process, Villette had, against all odds, cleared the first match—the one she'd found most daunting.

Because of her long hesitation, her group was among the last to determine a winner.

Shortly after her advancement, the few remaining groups also settled their outcomes.

This marked the end of the morning's matches.

From the original fifty competitors, only seventeen slaves and ten students remained.

By the end of the afternoon's matches, that number would shrink even further.

The Student Tournament's head-to-head matches would leave exactly five spots.

The Slave Tournament's endurance test involved escaping a maze, but given the first match's difficulty, few would likely make it through.

Three? Maybe five?