Down on the ground, Thalassa sighed, leaning her head back as she stared up into the maze of floating ice blocks. From this distance, she couldn't quite pick out Iruna's form among the soaring shadows.
The grueling race stretched past the one-hour mark. Out of the ten original contestants, only three remained in the sky; the other seven had been painfully eliminated—some knocked off their beasts into the freezing lake below, others sabotaged by the unpredictable flight paths of their mounts.
Iruna still hadn't managed to land a single successful hit, while every few minutes, the public platform flared brightly with Vael's name, widening his intimidating lead.
The crowd below chanted Vael's name, with several arrogant spectators shouting, "Just declare Vael the winner already! There's no point dragging this out for losers!"
