Eli cascaded into the arena, and in front of him lay different counters. 'Spectators', 'sponsors', 'guild' and 'contracts' were on top of all the counters, but they weren't the counters Eli was looking for.

  At the edge of the room was a very sinister counter; it read 'Deadman’s contract'.

  "This must be what the geezer was talking about," Eli thought.

  He made his way towards the counter, and on his way there, a guard approached him.

  "Hey kid, you gotta line up from the back if you want to enter as a spectator; the line starts over there", as he pointed to the long queue on the 'spectators' counter.

  Eli ignored him and carried on walking.

  "Hey, wait…" Before the guard could finish his words, he saw the counter Eli was headed towards.

  "Surely not…" he nodded but soon realised that Eli had indeed been going to the 'dead man's contract' counter.

  Eli approached the counter. A male receptionist was supposed to serve him but was lying on the table, snoring away.

  "Hey." Eli probed.

  Snore.

  "HEY!"

  "hm. Huh," the receptionist opened his eyes for a brief moment. "The spectator's line is over there", he insisted before trying to go back to his name.

  "I am here to sign the Deadman contract", Eli asserted.

  The receptionist woke up, and his face became serious. "What did you say?" he retorted aggressively.

  "I.AM.HERE.TO.SIGN.THE.DEAD. MEN.CONTRACT," Eli sarcastically proclaimed.

  The receptionist's rugged face changed; his face covered by a smile. "Well. Why didn't you say so, haha. Place your hand on the scanner".

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Ah, I see. So, you are the one who caused the massive ruckus in the recruitment hall. Well, I see that you have guts."

  "Thanks, I guess…"

  "Well, the contract is ready; just to confirm, in order for you to rank up from the Imp League, you need to acquire five skills and get around 50 points; a normal contract would get you 1-3 points per win, but with a Deadman’s contract, you get a whopping 10 points per win."

  "Oh, so this is why Gremory asked me to win five times", Eli thought to himself.

  "But it's not as easy; You'll be paired with adapt players or, worst of all, players that have also signed the dead man's contract like yourself. I say the worst because those players are always desperate as it's life or death. Of course, I don't need to mention a loss is an instant death, so be careful with that, of course, haha."

  The way the receptionist laughed about death truly shows how cold-hearted and lifeless this place was; Eli thought that, be it this place or the slums, it was no different.

  "Well, you ready to sign?"

  "yes"

  Eli signed the contract, and it was complete.

  "The match will be held in 1 hour; it is recommended that you go to the waiting room and not wonder around outside, as if you are late, the system will recognise it as forfeiting the match and the engraved system on your arm will fry your brain, killing you instantly. Also, the Battle Emporium will locate your body and claim it as their property," the receptionist emphasised with a deep smile.

  Eli responded with a subtle "alright" and returned to the main section.

  The people in the massive line all stared at him. They whispered, "Did you see that?", "that kid just signed up for that infamous 'Deadman‘s contract'", "he's looking to get himself killed, I tell ya!" "I kinda wanna see what that kid has in store If he's so confident".

  Eli ignored the murmur and headed into the waiting room.

  ~~

  There, he noticed different men sitting in chairs. Some looked nervous, whilst others prepared themselves by wrapping their wrists with fighting bandages. Eli sat himself down, where he found an extra seat.

  "It's nerve-wracking, isn't it?" chatted a middle-aged man who had been sitting two seats away from Eli.

  "Is this your first match?" he questioned.

  "Yes," Eli shared.

  "Well, same here. My name is Mark; nice to meet you!"

  "My name is Eli."

  "Eli huh, well Eli, don't be too nervous haha, it's all too late to change now", said the man, whilst looking nervous and scared himself, but in front of a kid, he set aside his personal fear.

  "Truly a na?ve and kind person," Eli thought to himself.

  Eli notices that Mark is staring at a picture; it is a picture of a little girl smiling.

  "You see, Eli, this is my precious daughter Isabel. I've got to get as much money as possible to help my daughter with her illness. I haven't been the best father to her; I ignored her and never even played with her because I was damn busy with my work. I… I didn't even notice that my daughter had been suffering silently until it was very late. I've signed the 'Deadman contract', and I just have to pray that I can live through it, haha."

  Eli stayed silent; he did not know what to say. No. He didn't have the words to comfort this man, for he was also in a desperate situation, just like the man had to save his daughter, and the lives of his family were in Eli's hands.

  [Announcement: Mark Roberts, I repeat, Mark Roberts, enter the stage]

  Mark's face froze, his legs twitched, and his hands trembled, but he clenched his fists and brought himself up. He walked towards the doors, but before he entered, he looked back at Eli, expressing the words, "Good luck, Eli, let's meet again!" with a faint smile until he disappeared through the doors.

  Those words felt seldom; they felt like the last goodbyes. This man whom Eli had never known made him feel sombre. He was indeed a good man, and Eli hoped he would triumph.

  But this hope was shattered; all Eli witnessed on the video projection of the match was Mark's lifeless, cold corpse, destroyed beyond recognition by his opponent. It was horrific.