Chapter 35: Opening Ceremony and 1st Match
Some time has passed and the day of the tournament has arrived. The first couple hours of the competitors will meet in an auditorium with the leaders of each country as they give a small speech. Which means that spectators would not be allowed to enter until after the pre ceremony, Mother and Father, Lilia and the Leywins won't be coming until later. Though today is that day, so i imagine they will be a little late. It doesn't matter too much as I'm scheduled for a later fight anyways.
Entering the auditorium I make my way to the human section of seats, you would think when trying to unify the races their wouldn't be so much segregation but I digress. I suppose progress is progress. I take my seat towards the back, but with the room being darkened everyone is alerted to the opening of the door as a wave of light comes in. Who could hold back the curiosity of getting a look at your potential opponent?
All eyes were on me and I could see looks of surprise from some Elves and Dwarves as I went to the human side, apparently expecting me to be a dwarf because of my stature. With just a cursory glance I could see the future Lances as there were only 6 silver core mages here, the rest all being various stages of yellow.
I take my seat towards the back and see a familiar face approaching me, Krenshaw.
"Whoa Rez you're here too? Well I guess that's to be expected with how strong you are." He takes a seat beside me as he talks, drawing more attention to us.
"I'm surprised you're here Krenshaw, I didn't think something like this would interest you." He leans his head back with a smirk.
"Ahh well you see I'm supposed to be taking over for my father in the next couple years, so I figured why not test my strength against the best of the best? Though if I match against you I'll probably forfeit. It's one thing to fight strong people and another to face someone you know you can't defeat." I nod sagely at what he said while crossing my arms.
"That's very wise of you Krenshaw." He sputters and turns to me.
"You're supposed to encourage me that nothing is impossible, not agree with me!" He exclaims directly in my ear, thank whatever gods allowed me to have wind mana so that I could have sound manipulation.
"Not so loud Krenshaw. I'm trying to appear mysterious, but now everyone knows I'm strong." He laughs at that, fairly loudly as I had to increase the sound dampening magic I put on my ears.
"Oh you're mysterious alright, there are all kinds of bets going on to what your identity really is. So far the most popular one is that you're the bastard son of King Glayder between a dwarf and you hide your red hair under your cloak." I had a look of complete shock as I had heard nothing of such a thing.
"I assure you I am no dwarf." Was my response as I pout to myself.
Well I know that, besides I saw your black hair when you were knocked out in that fight." He says while scratching his cheek.
"You totally thought I was a dwarf when we first met." He seemed to have a shiver go down his spine before turning to me waving his hands.
"Ahh nonono. You're just very sho-.. er still growing into your true potential." He quickly corrected, before I could respond the curtain drew back and lights shown on stage. On the stage sat in luxurious and decorated chairs were the leaders of each nation. On the left we had the Dwarves, middle sat the humans and on the right was the Elves.
King Blaine rose first, and cleared his throat.
"Greetings warriors of the 3 races, congratulations on making it here as it means you are considered among the strongest of your respective nations. I know that not many details was given about this tournament, but that will change now. King Alduin of the Elves will speak next on what's at stake during this tournament." He finished and waved a hand to Alduin, who stood and waved his hand to the audience before walking to stand beside Blaine.
"As King Blaine did I would like to offer my congratulations also. There are truly some talented adventurers and warriors appearing before our eyes. Though, let me get to the reason this tournament that is to promote unity is being separated by races. There have been… disturbing finding as of late that have brought to light the need to unify.
With newfound unity comes the need of leaders to inspire the younger generations. Though as Kings and Queens we hope to be that example, a lot of you will agree that the hero who slayer the monster is much more memorable than the King who sent him or her to do it. That's why the purpose of this tournament is find the most worthy individuals to lead this change through their strength they've worked for and inspire the next. King Dawsid will speak next." He gestures to the Dwarf king and remains standing next to Blaine as Dawsid stands beside them on the stage.
"As for me I look forward to all your fights as I'm sure it will be a treat. As you can see there are not many of you as we wanted the best of the best. 12 from each race, 6 males and 6 females, to battle it out for the honor of representing their race in the new Dicathen.
The first match will be between Krenshaw Dreyl and Bairon Wykes. 2nd will be Brald and Geist. The 3rd and final match of the day for the Human males will be between Rez and Xavier. The females will follow afterwards, and then the Elves will fight the following day in the same format. Dwarves will be last before the next round will begin.
Once we get to the top 3 of the male and female groups, they will be pitted against each other. The winners of their respective races will be known as the Lances. Fight strong and give this old dwarf a good showing. Haha!" With that the curtains drew closed and the audience sat still for a moment talking amongst themselves about the meaning behind the tournament.
"If everyone could make their way out of the auditorium and to the arena. 1st round fighters if you would follow me and I will take you to your rooms to prepare. The match will not start for another 30 minutes as we allow all the spectators to take their seats."
Everyone stood and headed toward the exits, but I turned to Krenshaw to see a nervous expression on his face.
"What is it Krenshaw?" I ask and his head turns toward me and swaps to a bright smile.
"Well I was too busy worrying about running into you that I forgot other people are strong too. Me and Barron attended Xyrus together and lets just say I was never able to beat him." He said with a self deprecating chuckle.
"Yea I can tell his core is more progressed than yours. It will be a tough battle. Good luck!" I said and started to walk away from him.
"Wait! No advice or anything?!" He yells to me.
"Hmmm. Hit him more times than he hits you!" I say while holding one finger up and Krenshaw just hangs his head in exasperation.
"If you want real advice, remember that if you've gotten stronger so has he. Hit fast and maintain the momentum. Also the higher ones core progression the less a difference between conjurer and augmenter, don't focus too much on one to get blindsided by the other." He nods at me before the attendant calls for him to hurry up. Krenshaw stands up and holds out his hand, i grasp it in a strong shake. He nods at me and walks towards the attendant where Bairon is waiting for him.
Bairon stares at me for a few moments before following the attendant to his prep room, while I continued out to take my seat in the competitors section of the stands. When I stepped out a lot of the spectators seemed to have been waiting for me to appear because as the light hit my body, a cheer rocked the stadium.
Becoming a S rank adventurer has caused most of this, but the new school I opened just last month has increased that 'fame'. Many poor parents of children attending the academy had offered their thanks for the opportunity of free schooling, even if it was only from 5-10. It gave them a place for their children to go throughout the morning until school ended at midday. And also taught them how to improve their chances of forming a mana core.
The daily meditations, like I thought, had proven to be the least popular activity at the school, but when they saw me or another adventurer get down and start they would follow quickly. I didn't do this wholly out of the goodness of my heart. It was also to strengthen the overall manpower of Dicathen.
Even as a white/Aether core mage, I can't be everywhere at once, so the more capable mages we have the better.
As I took my seat the cheers finally died down, but I could see all the foreign competitors staring at me strangely. I just have a small wave before looking around for my family, once I spotted them I could see them waving at me. I would wave back, but any sharp eyed individual that might be watching me would catch that. I'm not positive that the Marceau's are trying to get revenge on me, but I'd like to make it as difficult as possible for them.
Tuk sat atop one of the walls that surrounds the stadium, as he wanted to watch the matches as well. The Kings and Queens were sat together in a grand private box that looked out over from the head of the arena. King Blaine once again stood up to speak first.
"My people of Dicathen and specifically Xyrus, today marks the first Tri-Race Tournament. However we will not be pitted race versus race, but rather we will see the best of the 3 races and crown them victorious together. We hope that you cheer equally for the impressive matches to come as these are the strongest individuals from each race. King Dawsid will not come up to introduce the fighters of the first round, and King Alduin will be the one to start it.
This is the beginning of a new period for our races. Give the Elves and the Dwarves a warm Sapin welcome." As he finished the crowd erupted into cheers until Dawsid stepped toward the sound amplifying artifact.
"The first competitor is Bairon Wykes and he will be facing Krenshaw Dreyl in our opening match. The first round for the human male and female groups will be played today, followed by the Elves tomorrow and then the Dwarves the following day. Then their will be one day of rest, and upon return the males and females will be put against each other and follow the same format from the first 3 days.
Now! Here comes your competitors! On the South side you will see Krenshaw Dreyl entering."
Scattered cheers for Krenshaw went out, and I was able to trace the loudest to the pink haired Clara. I suppose even she can get loud when she wants too.
"His opponent on the North side, directly below us, you will see Bairon Wykes." His cheers were mostly the screams of fan girls due to his good looks. Alduin stepped forth now and Dawsid stepped back beside King Blaine.
"Now if both competitors will get ready we can begin the first match of the Tri-Race Tournament." When he said that both of them fueled their bodies with mana and Krenshaw pulled out a wand while Bairon pulled out a sword. In the books they never describe him with anything that I can remember, but I suppose that it makes sense that he was an augmenter before becoming a Lance.
He was shown to be exceptionally strong, which would most likely come from an augmenter rather than a conjurer. The artifact he got as a Lance must have made him prefer it over the sword as he could just form a lightning or flame sword.
"Fighters ready?" Alduin draws out as we see the fighters nod their heads, with concentrated looks on their faces.
"Begin!" As soon as the words left his mouth Bairon channeled fire into his sword and rushed forward. Krenshaw had already formed multiple water javelins and began throwing them at him, once they had all released he began forming his next attack water tornado made up of water blades. His focus was obvious as he even ended up saying the name of the attack as he threw it.
"Water scythe cyclone!" Bairon had been evaporating the water javelins with his flaming sword but when he saw the cyclone he immediately began channeling a great amount of fire mana into hands. This resulted in a fire ball that he shot at the cyclone, to his surprise though the scythes cut through his fire ball and continued towards him. A snarl appears on his face and fuels more fire mana into his sword growing the blaze to almost comical standards.
"Haaaa!" He yelled as he used fire mana to launch himself up into the air and came down slicing the water cyclone in half. He still came out with some cuts to his clothes, but the effort of the attack shown on Krenshaw's face as he was breathing heavily. Bairon began flinging weak fire arrows towards Krenshaw as he continued his approach. They weren't strong by any means, but enough that Krenshaw needed to either dodge or deflect.
He dipped to one side and began forming a wall of water that spun in front of him, but the next moment Bairon had boosted himself with fire mana to get behind Krenshaw. Krenshaw tried to turn with his water wall, but the better move would have been to drop it and fire a water attack while rolling away. The sword barely caught the edge of the water wall which slowed its momentum, but the collision sent Krenshaw rolling across the ground with a sword wound on his side, bleeding badly.
Bairon went to keep going but Alduin's voice came over the amplifier again.
"Enough! Krenshaw Dreyl is unable to continue. The first round goes to Bairon Wykes." With that Bairon immediately sheathed his sword and began to walk out of the arena, he passed by the healing mages who began rushing towards Krenshaw. I just sighed to myself, how unlucky for Krenshaw to get matched up against one of the people who actually become a Lance.
"The next round will begin shortly between Brald and Geist. Please make your way to the arena prep rooms, you'll have 20 minutes to warm up before you're called." With that he stepped back with the other 2 kings as they conversed, most likely about the match and the showing between the 2 competitors. I for one noticed something, Bairon was holding back. Whether it's to conceal his true skills or he just didn't deem Krenshaw worthy, he didn't use his lightning mana. I could feel it sitting just below the surface, waiting for if he really did need it.
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Author's Note
Tri-Wizard tournament anyone? Lol I couldn't think of a good tournament name and it was between that and Unity Tournament so i decided with Tri-Race.
Also as I don't know many dwarves or elves from the books or even many strong female human adventurers they will be mostly OCs. As you probably figured even Xavier is an OC on the men's side as I couldn't find anyone that would make sense to add.
So I'm thinking of skipping the first round of the dwarves and elves so that I don't have to come up with almost 24 random characters. The next chapter will show the ending Brald's and Geists fight and then get straight into Jaron vs Xavier. Depending how long that runs we will meet Arthur after the match back at Helstea Manor, and I also plan to do an Arthur POV for a small part while Jaron is fighting.
Hope you all can understand the skipping of the elf and dwarf round on the first day. I will try to do at least one match between the future Lances of their races. Like their match that signifies their becoming of a Lance.
Fun fact originally the genders were going to stay separated, but then I found out that there is no male elf Lance. At least not one I could easily find, so I think they just had 2 female Lances. If I'm wrong correct me and I'll go back and rewrite the chapter, but I think I'm right. So them fighting separately and then meeting when there are only 3 of each gender left was actually me fixing the story without completely rewriting everything lol.
Thanks for reading.
-SocioPhobia
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