This so-called Arena Game had different styles of gameplay. Sometimes there were fourteen players on each team, but in this game there were seven players on each team.
Players had a helmet on their head and a plate strapped to the helmet, and they earned points by breaking their opponents' plates.
Team captains had four plates and other players had three. As soon as the plates on their heads were broken, they had the right to return to the game as many times as they had the right, for which they had to return to their own flag area to get a new plate.
If a player lost all his plate appearances, he was out of the game, but that didn't mean he was out for the rest of the game.
In the game, if a player broke an opposing team player's plate, he was entitled to an extra plate, which he could give to the player who was out of the game.
Of course, this was not easy to do. After breaking a plate, he had to go to the other team's flag area, get a new plate and take it to his friend waiting in his flag area.
The game ended when all players of the opposing team were left without a plate or when the time set by the hourglass expired.
The game's scoring system could also be confusing. If all the players of one team lost their plates on the field, they were not allowed to buy new plates, even though they were entitled to them, and were defeated.
If the game ended with time and not in this way, points were written to the teams for the number of plates broken and the juries announced their own scores. The team with the highest score won.
"No, I am centuries ahead, I am centuries ahead! I carry the knowledge and cultural accumulation of the twenty-first century. Instead of benefiting from my knowledge, they make me languish in police stations! If my brain doesn't migrate, who will? They don't know the value, the worth of me!"
"You're going to talk during the game?" Yurine tugged Yu's arm and gestured for him to shut up. "Watch the game."
"I'm watching, I'm keeping an eye on it."
The first referee raised the flags in both hands, lowered the red and yellow flags and the game started.
One person from each team stayed behind to protect the flag area. Because if a player from the opposing team broke a plate, he had to enter his opponent's flag area to take the plate he had won to his own flag area. That is the point.
There would be players in flag areas to prevent entry into that area. If the opposing player managed to enter the other team's flag area, he would gain immunity there.
The beginning of the match was calm. Both teams were lightly clashing swords and probing each other, neither team trying to apply pressure yet.
Then, when no one expected it, the captain of the Vesthelm Storm pushed the opponent in front of him with his shield, sending him crashing to the ground. While his main opponent was on the ground, he jumped on another opponent who was fighting his teammate a few steps away from him. Before the Sea Monsters player had a chance to defend himself, he was hit in the head with a wooden sword and lost his plate.
The player who had lost his plate had two chances left, so he started to run towards his own flag zone to get a new plate and continue the game, but his first opponent ran faster than him and got ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Patrick Lorren, who was watching the game on the Sea Monsters' flag field, was cursing.
"They try to end the game quickly by breaking all the opponent's plates," Marino said.
According to the rules, players without plates could not attack, they could only defend, but during this defense they had the chance to break the other player's plate.
The Vesthelm Storm player took the risk and stood in front of his opponent and started attacking him to prevent him from getting a new plate.
The aim of his attack was to push him back and stall him until the other teammates had broken the plates of all the opponent's players.
The Sea Monsters player was in a difficult situation, if he accidentally made a move that the referees would call offensive, he would be fouled and out of the game.
Knowing this, the Vesthelm Storm player was bolder and kept up the pressure on his opponent. As his opponent tried to step forward, he pushed him with his shield, constantly blocking him.
While his opponent was pushing him back with bold moves, the Sea Monsters player was desperately waiting for a moment to break the plate over his opponent's head, sometimes preventing himself from attacking at the last moment.
One of the referees was there to raise his flag if a Sea Monsters player made a wrong move.
In another corner of the arena, another Vesthelm Storm player had managed to break his own opponent's plate. He, too, was trying to prevent his plate-less opponent from going to the flag zone.
As the Sea Monsters fell behind, the Vesthelm Storm made another attack. The team's owner brought in a player who was waiting in the flag zone and he again broke an opponent's plate.
"Mr. Lorren seems very angry."
Patrick Lorren's face was red with anger, kicking the ground in the flag area and screaming obscenities.
"How pity, I really wanted the Sea Monsters to win."
***
"Holy shit, I wish I'd asked for something else."
Not going to lie, they got the Sea Monsters on the first half, but Sea Monsters attacked in the second half of the game and turned the game. With the time running out, the jury vote was taken and Sea Monsters won by a small margin.
"Even I didn't expect them to win, so well done."
Because they had won the jury vote by a small margin, Patrick Lorren would have thought that they had won thanks to Ryuta Yong, but in fact they had won the game by their own hard work.
"They played well, no lie, they deserved it, but of course my bet was off."
"Man, you're in debt and you're still gambling? Don't get involved in such things again."
"I'm sorry, that was the last time and I've learned my lesson. I'll never play again."
After the match they left the arena and went to a park. Marino's daughters were trying to play games with Yurine, but Yurine ignored them and sat quietly next to Yu.
"Anyway, it was nice spending time with you. I have some business to take care of now, see you later, Mr. Valarfin."
"See you later."
Marino got up from the table and soon disappeared among the people.
"It's a good thing those niggers are gone."
"Yurine, you shouldn't speak like that. At least don't say such things against children." Here nobody cares the racism against Ethalotians or Qrathians, but it makes Yu uncomfortable. "I feel like somebody gonna write twitter about how bad I am… But yeah, isn't it? We're finally alone together, just like you wanted."
"Silly!"
Yurine stood up and faced Yu.
"What are we going to do here? I want to find that bastard's son right now and take revenge."
"Revenge, huh?"
Yu thought their goal was just to rewind time, was revenge going to be involved?
"Of course it will. And is it my responsibility to take revenge?" Yurine was much stronger than he was, but she was still a child and could not go it alone. "So, is it revenge or justice?"
If, as he predicted, it went all the way to the Peloponnese, there could be a long list of revenge.
"What are you thinking? What did you expect?"
"There is nothing I think."
He didn't want to talk about revenge. He didn't want to make promises he couldn't keep.
He got up from the table, left the park with Yurine and headed for another place in the Hull Quarter, the library.
The Middle Ages were generally boring and he had a lot of free time, which he usually spent in the public library.
"Revenge or justice? Or fixing it? Do I even have the right to justice?"
He continued to think as the clouds were opening and closing in front of the sun.
"Who killed Rie? It was..." He didn't want to throw away the burden on his conscience by calling it grief, but it was clear that he was not the only one to blame. "It was none other than me. I killed her, just like I killed the others. Satoshi died because of me, how could I escape that guilt? So was Camaeron. Worst of all... even my sisters..."
His low mood due to fatigue made him think about things he didn't want to think about.
"Thoughts that come to me out of the blue... How can I turn back time? Shouldn't I take revenge on myself first? Everything seems to be falling apart."
He didn't know what to do or what to do. He just kept walking.
After all, Yu Valarfin was just walking.