Chương 4: Selection Tournament

After declaring the beginning of the tournament they announced the first numeric pairs. Those individuals then mounted each stage and were told to begin sparring without any weapons. Each one of the stages had a different level of intensity to their battles, some of the older groups looked much more refined and polished, some of the younger ones looked almost like they were blindly flailing at each other, but occasionally you would see someone fighting very differently than the others in their group, more refined.

As the first battles finished and the second and third and fourth rounds were called, neither of the Huli siblings had been called to fight yet. Before too long it was the 10th battle and Fenglong finally mounted the stage against another boy who looked to be about three years older than him. The older boy, not having the experience to think about it logically, sneered at Fenglong like he was easy prey. When the match began and they both took up fighting stances, the older boy, who was a Canis, was easily 2 heads taller than Fenglong. But his superiority ended there. As they began to exchange blows he couldn't land a single hit on Fenglong, instead he was constantly swinging his fists and feet into the air and frequently being knocked to the ground by his opponent. After a few rounds of being knocked down despite his best efforts he began to get very angry, swinging harder and wilder than before at Fenglong's head, but after a few more times of being knocked down, and even flipped over onto his back, the judge called an end to their fight and declared Fenglong the victor. The young Canis looked extremely angry, and swore under his breath that he would make the little runt pay. Hearing him, Fenglong just turned and dismounted the stage after making eye contact with his sister, seeming to say "These untrained children are too easy."

After another few rounds it was finally Yunlong's turn to mount the stage. She was paired up with a much larger Felis opponent who looked like she might have trained at least a little in combat. After the beginning was declared they both faced off at each other, circling and looking for opportunities, before the Felis suddenly launched herself at Yunlong, closing the distance between them in an instant and swinging out for Yunlong's midsection with a swift kick. The surprised Yunlong quickly moved forward and took advantage of the size difference between them to duck under her opponent's thigh and then come up to land a few swift punches in her abdomen. After stopping her momentum a few feet away with a grimace, the Felis girl looked at Yunlong again with anger in her eyes. She had never been humiliated like this in any of the fights she had been in, how dare this tiny fox child do it now!

She quickly closed the distance again, but this time she made sure to leave enough room that her advantage in reach was accentuated. She swung out with a palm strike to the chest, but before her palm could connect with Yunlong she discovered that the young girl had sidestepped, turned, grabbed her arm, and flipped her over onto her back! As she hit the ground hard she struggled to roll back up to her feet, panting from the pain, and glared daggers at this little child who was making her look the fool.

Once more she charged in, but this time she feinted a grab for Yunlong's shoulders and then swung a kick, connecting solidly with the little girl's thigh that was brough up to block the kick in the last second. Yunlong slid a meter back across the stage, wincing a little at the stinging pain from that strike and thanking her father in her heart for the training he gave them that allowed her to react so quickly. After a few more exchanges where neither party could manage to land a solid blow on the other the match was called to an end. Everyone in their group looked at both of them with respect and trepidation, worrying that they would have to face either of these two fierce females.

The day continued on with a great many more battles before a break was called for lunch, whereupon the proctors had everyone sit around their arena and then they clapped. Suddenly, from a nearby building, a large number of robed individuals began to walk out with carts in front of them with basic foods upon them. Each serving had a rice ball and a bowl of soup to replenish energy without sitting heavily on the stomach, and the young men and women who pushed the carts handed them out to everyone who was sitting patiently.

After lunch was finished and all the bowls were collected, the proctors gave everyone ten minutes to adjust themselves before they called out the next duels. This time both Yunlong and Fenglong were called to the stage to fight their opponents. Fenglong's opponent was closer to his own size than the previous Canis, but the young Felis was still about a head taller than him, while Yunlong was facing off against a fellow Vulpis who was only two heads taller than her and had apprehension in his eyes. As the starting bell sounded across the field both sets of combatants launched at their opponents. On Fengong's stage his opponent couldn't even land a single hit, and before long the match was over as he had been pinned face down on the stage.

On the other stage, Yunlong was struggling against her opponent, the Vulpis was nearly as fast as her and seemed to have combat experience. After a long, drawn out fight where neither party could get the upper hand the proctors were about to call it an even match when Yunlong finally managed to get a single kick through her opponent's guard and push her back a short distance. As a result, when the match was ended, Yunlong had a small advantage over the other Vulpis in the eyes of others.

After both of the children finished their second match they waved to eachother and sat down to wait for the tournament to end. Only half of the testees had even completed their second match, but it was taking longer to organize now that the available numbers were becoming scattered for the judges to choose from. By the time dinner arrived they had only a few matches left and had started pulling matches from the larger groups into other arenas to complete them.

Once the final match was completed the Proctor once again motioned for the disciples waiting in the wings to bring forth the carts and feed everyone before they began to speak to the crowd, "As you all know, this is the disciple selection test for all three of the sects within our great city. After your performance today you will either be offered a position or you won't, there is no arguing and your decision must be made before you leave this field without discussion with anyone else. This is your future, you must decide your path here without anyone else's help or urging. While you eat the groups of elders will begin walking around, one from each Sect will be in each group so that you know whether you have an offer from multiple sects, you must give them your respectful answer within two minutes or they will continue on and your invitation will be revoked. I wish all of you the best of luck in achieving your future dreams today."