"Contestants on both sides, attention. The draw begins."
"Number four will fight next."
As the announcement fell, everyone remained silent, looking toward where the contestants from both sides were gathered.
They were all waiting to see who number four was.
"Tsk, it's me."
"Off I go."
A figure slowly rose from the crowd.
He rose very slowly, like a flower unfurling its petals in the morning light.
First, a hand emerged from the crowd, its five fingers slender and fair, its nails neatly trimmed into rounded shapes and gleaming faintly like pink jade.
Then came his entire arm, its contours smooth and slender, the delicate bones of his wrist standing out beneath a reddish-gold bracelet as fine as a strand of hair.
Finally, his whole figure came into view.
When he straightened, everyone around him held their breath as one.
He wore a red dress.
The red dress was no ordinary garment. Its fabric was as thin as a cicada's wing yet draped like water, with a barely perceptible dark-red halo flowing over its entirety.
The dress reached the ground, its train trailing more than three feet behind him like the burning tail feathers of a phoenix.
Its waist was drawn exceedingly tight, cinching his figure until a single hand could span his waist, slimmer even than that of an ordinary woman.
Dense patterns embroidered in gold thread covered the dress, their designs forming some ancient totem.
They flickered in and out of sight beneath the sunlight, like countless tiny golden snakes winding beneath the red silk.
The slits on either side of the skirt rose extremely high, almost to his waist.
Each step revealed his long, fair legs.
The skin along the sides of his legs carried an exceedingly faint dark-red sheen, like warm jade tempered over and over