Between the lines

I looked up at the sky, puzzled. "Am I a superhero now?"

And from there I went straight to the Despayn Association to measure my Despaye.

Many thoughts were flooding my mind quickly from the excitement that overwhelmed me.

Element? Two elements? What rank? Will I make friends? I can't wait!

Natural thoughts for a boy my age.

As soon as I arrived, I entered the association and went to speak with the employee. "I can control Despaye!" I said with a bit of silly excitement. I realized that and paused for a moment. "I came to take the Despaye test," this time calmly.

The employee took me to a room, and there was a large purple ball. She told me to touch the ball, and as soon as I touched it, I found myself transported to another place.

A place like a cage in a large dark room with one light in the cage.

There was a man who seemed to be asleep and a boy around my age. His hair was brown, leaning toward black a little, and his eyes were tired and blue. His body was skinny. His features were sharp and calm at the same time.

He looked at me and said, "Another one?" as if he was expecting it.

"Is this part of the strength measurement?" I asked him as I looked around.

He looked at the man lying beside us and said, "This man is dead. We've been here for days and haven't eaten anything. When I fell into the cage, I found him in a much worse condition than I am now. Those who know nothing about the Despaye test fall into gang traps like what happened to us now. And there's not much time left until we go to our deaths directly."

"Come on man, don't joke at a time like this," of course, I couldn't believe what I heard. I mean, how could my life get any worse?!

"Do I look like I'm in a joking mood?" He didn't look at me as he spoke, as if mocking me.

I didn't blame him since his physical condition was worse than mine, which means his mental state must be worse as well. I know I'm smart and all (๑¯◡¯๑)

I tried to examine the place, but I saw nothing but darkness outside the cage. I decided, for the first time, to use Despaye to ignite fire in my hand, but the frail boy stopped me immediately and shouted in my face, "Are you stupid?! You obviously just discovered you can use Despaye, which means you could set the whole cage on fire by mistake and burn us!"

I was surprised by his reaction, but his words were true.

He added to his words, "And also, why didn't you react when I said this man is dead? Don't you care about the dead?"

I felt my heart squeeze a little. After all, my father died just a few days ago. "We have to get out of here first to honor this man's soul by burying him afterward."

The boy nodded and sat on the ground again. "We have no choice but to wait. Since this is a gang and not the Despyn Association, we can expect the worst."

Words empty of hope — but is there hope of us getting out to speak otherwise?

I sat next to him and asked, "Since we're going to spend some time together… and maybe these are the last moments of our lives, can you tell me your name?"

He looked at me a bit as if thinking. But this time, I felt he was looking directly into my intentions. After two seconds that felt like ten, he said, "Arthur. My name is Arthur."

I smiled. "And I'm Ethan."

He smiled too, comfortably. "Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine. But there's something strange—if you knew about these gang matters, how did you fall into their 'trap' and what is this trap anyway?"

Arthur's features returned to seriousness a bit, but not as stern as before. "That dead man is the one who told me this when I fell into 'their trap.' Even I don't know how they made this trap or what it exactly is."

I was content to stay silent and nod. This information didn't make a difference in creating a plan to escape, of course.

Before we sank into silence, the sound of a door opening caught our attention. A tall man entered the place and looked at us from outside the cage, saying in a dominant tone, "Get out." This was certainly not a request. "Your turn has come for the first stage." That was an order.

The cage door was opened for us, and we followed him without asking any questions. Arthur must have understood that we were in no state to ask questions, so if my thoughts are correct, we are nothing more than insects in a place like this.

Each step was heavier than the one before. The tension was growing inside me, but unlike me, Arthur was calm… at least on the outside, as far as I know—I can't read minds.

The tall man stopped before we reached the next door and said, "Take a weapon. You'll need one." The room lit up afterward, revealing to us various kinds of weapons. But most of them were worn-out…

"Can we talk to each other?" The man looked at me with calm features. Clearly, he wasn't really interested in what we did.

"Arthur, what will you take?" He answered hesitantly, "Probably this." Two strange-looking pistols. Given his thin body, it's better for him to avoid close-range combat.

Arthur then asked me, "What about you? What will you choose?"

"I don't know." When I think about it, I don't know how to use any kind of weapon. I don't know any combat styles. And I won't take Arthur's pistols—he needs them more than I do.

While I was hesitant, Arthur suggested, "What about this dagger? It's roughly your size, and you'll be able to make use of it even if you haven't trained with it."

I took the dagger and tried it out quickly. It was light and its blade was sharp, unlike most of the weapons here. I thanked Arthur, and then the tall man opened the door and told us to follow him again.

Even though we didn't know what awaited us behind the door, we made sure to arm ourselves with the best weapons possible. Our instincts were warning us of a nearby danger.

As soon as we entered through the door, we couldn't help but open our mouths and widen our eyes. A full arena with two people in it and a huge audience surrounding it. It was like an official competition, but once I looked at the seated crowd, I remembered where we were. These faces, clothes, and weapons were not of normal people.

They were surely going to gamble on us or exploit our abilities in some way. I hope Arthur has already realized our current situation.

I will do what I've always done all my life. I will read between the lines.

Arthur and I were up against two people. The place calmed down a bit before someone started speaking, "Welcome everyone to the first stage of the Eternal Est series. On our first day, we have completely new Despaye users. The rules are simple:

1- The fight doesn't end until it reaches death.

2- There is no law other than the first in the first rule.

And now, let the fight begin!"

"Wait!!" Everything paused for a moment when I shouted. I continued, "I want to place a bet."

I expected everyone to laugh at me, but the silence continued. The same person who stated the rules spoke, "You're just an insect here, so don't think you have the right to do anything except fight."

I smiled innocently, "There's no rule that says I can't bet, and it's not something that goes against your hidden policies, if there are any."

The man laughed after a few moments, "You're a cheeky one, kid. Say what your bet is."

I showed a cunning smile and said, "I bet that none of the four participants here will die."

At that moment, everyone really laughed at me. Arthur looked at me puzzled. The man with the mic spoke, "Your bet is stupid. The first rule ruins that bet from the start. Looks like it wasn't worth it after all."

Arthur whispered to me, "What kind of bet is this, man? We don't have time to think about these things."

I started bracing my body for the fight as a relaxed smile with a hint of control appeared on my face. "Don't worry, everything is going according to plan."

The fight began.

I initiated the attack. Before I could get close to the opponent, he raised his hand and I felt something preventing me from advancing. The person in front of me was a user of the strongest among the four main elements—wind.

I was a bit surprised, but what really shocked me was his companion, who jumped over him pointing his sword toward me. But I also have a companion. Arthur shot at the sword wielder's head, but nothing happened, for a split second. The ground in front of me rose and restrained the sword wielder's movement, and it blocked the wind user's vision, which gave me a chance to move around the raised ground and bring down the wind user.

I placed the dagger on his neck and said, "The fight is over."

Luckily, the person on my team is Arthur. Without him, I'd definitely be dead by now.

The man with the mic said, "The fight isn't over. No one has died."

Arthur looked at me for a moment before making sure to restrain the sword user.

I looked straight at the mic man's place, "The first rule says that the fight ends when it 'reaches' death. If it was written 'the fight ends at death,' my bet would be wrong. But according to the written rule, we must 'reach' death. And we're here, we've reached death."

This is my special technique, Reading between the lines.

Discussions started in the stands about what I had done. The mic man interrupted them laughing, "You're impressive, kid. The rule will be modified, but for now, you and your partner are the winners."

Arthur sighed in relief, but the time for rest hadn't come yet. "Since I won my bet, I deserve my prize now. Oh right, I didn't say what I wanted. I'll take two of your best weapons."