Lisa slowly approached the roaring group. She began pushing her way through the crowd as she saw Marcus standing in front of the 32 contestants explaining the rules of the Single Elimination Tournament. She had missed most of it but there were some who stood ahead of the others:
Ishani - Tier 1 Forest Elf Elemental Wizard
Wrex - Tier 1 Leonin Warrior
Mete - Tier 1 Human Warlock
Syrenis - Tier 1 Lizardman Thief
These were the four that Marcus had wanted to lead his Assault Team and knew they had immense latent powers that would eventually awaken and all had the qualities to lead The Phantoms far beyond what anyone else could hope to achieve.
"Now that everyone knows the rules, let's begin by drawing ballots to determine the placement, when your name is called come and take a number and keep it to yourself. Once all have been drawn, we shall call out each number and if it is yours step forward so we can continue..."
As each person was called they stepped forward and drew their slip from the container and returned to their positions. Afterwards Marcus had a crudely drawn Tournament Bracket, sixteen on one side and sixteen on the other side eventually meeting with one in the middle.
Before the competition officially started with the first round, Marcus gave everyone a half hour to work out their nerves and prepare for the upcoming fights. He took this time to log out and decided he had put off streaming on Flutter long enough and decided to live stream the upcoming event to show off the might of the Phantoms and announce their power to the world.
Before Marcus logged back in he had sent a text to one of his friends along with a link to his Flutter Stream:
"Hey, I have been playing this game and it's amazing, I know how interested you are in engineering and they even have something similar in this game! I can get it for you if you want, I just want you to join my guild if you play, here's a link to a livestream about to go live of a small competition between guild members, I'd love you to check it out!"
Marcus didn't await for a reply as he started streaming and talking with the flood of viewers coming in filling them in about the upcoming thirty two matches that he would oversee and show off the might of his powerful guild! He logged back in and returned to the Training Hall.
"Is everyone ready?!?" Marcus shouted and was met with a thunderous cheer from the over one hundred guild members standing on the sidelines. In spite of his intentions for all 4 of them to become Elders, luck had been on his side as if all went according to plan and they did in fact win every match, the four would face off in the semi-finals, bronze match, and finals.
Marcus called out the first two names and they were a skilled Knight and Warrior. Marcus began to commentate on the fight as he interacted with his chat having them all place their bets on who would win, High Defense or High Offense!
The fight wasn't anything special as the abilities of the Warrior could overpower the Knight who was more of a PvE class than a PvP class, but more often than naught, it was usually the tank who lead parties. Swinging the large axe the Warrior was completely outclassing the Knight, as with each blow the Knight was losing his stance and the fight was over when the shield shattered.
The Knight ended up conceding as he knew he could no longer withstand the fight. Up next was a much more interesting one as Mete was up against another Knight. Warlock was a very unique class as it wasn't a pure DPS class nor was it a pure support class, it was a hybrid class meaning that it could provide buffs and heals to it's comrades but could also dish out some pretty good DPS.
Mete started the encounter by calling forth his companion [Summon Imp]! A dark shroud began forming next to him as a small red winged imp with a small nubby horn and big eyes began floating next to him. The Knight was slowly approaching with his shield up which was glowing due to the effect of his skill [Empowered Block] which allowed the Knight to also block spells in addition to Physical and Ranged attacks.
Mete threw his hand forward as the small imp fluttered slowly towards the Knight as Mete began to chant his next attack. His grimoire was glowing and the pages were rapidly flapping before stopping on a seemingly random page as Mete threw his hand forward and a blackish, purple and green flame began to form.
"Eldritch Bolt!" He shouted as the system launched the fireball as it flew over the imp in an arching motion landing on top of the shield as he blocked and splashing around him causing the flames to continue burning around the Knight. He knew he had made a mistake as the fire would not go out and he started taking continuous damage.
Every time he tried to get out of the fire, the imp would block his path and prevent him from escaping. He had completely ignored Mete and began trying to kill the imp to escape the fire surrounding him.
This would prove to be his mistake as Mete shouted off once more, "Eldritch Bolt!"
He didn't have time to react as the [Eldritch Bolt] hit him in his back as the blackish purple and green flame began to envelope the Knight who had begun being attacked by the imp and the fight had ended with Mete never moving from his starting position
"What a dominating victory!" Marcus exclaimed to his viewers, he had been commentating the entire fight but no one had any expectations for the Knight after he had gotten trapped. Next we have Wrex against a Swordsman!
Wrex flexed his muscles as he jumped into the ring, his lion's mane really complimented his class choice while also breaking the mold and wielding a broadsword rather than a great axe. Unlike the first Warrior, Wrex had plenty of abilities and started off the fight by pounding his chest with the head of his axe roaring loudly [Lion's Pride] activated as the edges of his massive sword began to glow a bright red sheen and he charged towards the Swordsman.
The swordsman tried to parry the following attacks, but his strength paled in comparison and with each heavy swing of his blade, the Swordsman own blade fell away as if made of paper and the attack connected. The swordsman used [Perfect Counter] and dealt a lot of damage back against Wrex but he just unleased his own ability [Keen Edge] which dealt a guaranteed Critical Hit and dropped the Swordsman down winning the match.
A few more matches passed as a Swordsman took out an Archer, a Knight took out a Priest, and even less noteworthy battles were completed, with Marcus trying to hype up the viewers with his commentary. Time and matches passed as more than half of the contestants had been taken out and the other half of the bracket began with Syrenis facing off against a Warlock.
Everyone was reeling after watching Mete's battle and everyone was speculating that the Warlock would take out the Thief. Marcus smirked and knew better as Syrenis was a special case and was excited for what she was going to show off.
She had pulled out both of her daggers and entered into a battle stance. Her tail was flicking behind her in anticipation and as the duel began, the Warlock did the age old task of summoning his imp. She charged in and used her special skill [Venomous Splash] as the imp materialized spraying acid out of her mouth hitting both the Warlock and his pet with a poisonous blast. As the Warlock began to counter with their basic offensive spell, she quickly began dodging and attacking the imp with both of her daggers.
"Eldritch Bolt!" The Warlock shouted shooting off his attack, trying to use Mete's method for his own. As it was lobbed in the air, Syrenis dodged an attack from the imp and used her skill [Vanishing Strike] and threw her hand down to the ground as she vanished from her position and reappeared behind the Warlock and stabbed him in the back with both daggers for a double critical hit finishing him off before his fireball hit the ground.
"Looks like it wasn't even a contest for Syrenis! Will she end up facing off against Mete in the finals or will a massive upset cause either one to face a different foe?" Marcus teased the audience. The crowd around the sparring grounds was lit up in a fiery roar! A thief took out a Warlock and even managed to face the two on one without getting hit!
Marcus smirked knowing that she hadn't even used her strongest ability available to her at this time and once if she still managed to unlock a hidden class as she had before he regressed, she would be a PvP Queen!
I am so sorry everyone! I have been really sick and I think I may have COVID, it has made writing a really difficult challenge today! I am still working through it and plan to upload all three chapters.
I am vaccinated so please don't worry about me, it is just sickness akin to a bad cold or the flu. I will be fine! I love all the support you have given me!
If you want your names to become guild members/leaders/Elders, please comment your desired usernames and classes! Much love to you all<3