Number One Under Heaven!

Brela led every member of the Kroshiel Team she had assembled into the Hall of Silence on one side of the arena.

She found a seat, rolled up her gloves and sleeves, steadied herself, and prepared to face the most important Holy Spirit Tournament of her life.

"Is everyone ready?"

Brela successfully entered the Holy Spirit Interface and, guided by the options that appeared, entered the server dedicated to the tournament.

Her other teammates responded to Brela as well, except for the teammate sitting beside her, White.

"White, you're getting stage fright even sitting here?"

Brela looked at White beside her. He had taken off his glasses and covered his eyes with his hands, which were still trembling uncontrollably.

He looked like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Brela placed a hand on his shoulder, hoping to make him pull himself together.

That gesture made White immediately lower the hands covering his eyes. When he looked at Brela again, his cheeks were already drenched in sweat.

"Brela!" he said in a choked voice. "We... should just surrender."

"You want to surrender before the match has even started? White, did that old woman really scare you that badly?"

When Brela had confronted Empress Yekana earlier, she had been unable to let go of the fact that Yekana had ignored her offered handshake.

It was contempt for her and her teammates, and Brela had been holding in her anger ever since.

"Old..."

White was stunned by Brela's awful choice of words. The words he had been about to shout were quickly muffled by his hand.

"That is the great Empress Yekana! Brela, you're from Coastal Country, so you don't understand... My father is a noble of Steel Country, and now... I'm standing against that Empress!" White's voice was already spiraling