”Does it really matter? Just pick those with the highest power levels below 100,000,” Responded Az with a shrug.
”Well, I want to give the competitors from the other nations a fighting chance, so I don’t want to have all our competitors be overwhelmingly powerful. Idyll and Liberty don’t have anyone with power levels higher than 50,000 after the Elemental Sages,” I remarked with a frown.
”True, and we’ve got a lot of people with power levels between 50,000 and 100,000. But if we exclude too many of our best options, it might seem like we’re just patronizing the other nations,” He pointed out objectively.
It was currently the 20th of June, and the tournament was set to take place on the 5th of July, a little over two weeks from now. Tomorrow, the other nations were going to submit their rosters of participants, so I really need to decide on the eight that were going to represent Abyss by today.
Most of my other primary subordinates like Zero, Rion and Jhin were busy with preparations for the tournament, so I was having Az help me with choosing our participants. I’d been pretty busy during the last few days, so I couldn’t find the time to do this till today.
A few of the potential candidates had opted out, for various reasons. Key was one of those, since she was feeling rusty and felt like she wouldn’t be able to get back to her best in time for the tournament.
Another reason I was having Az help me was because he’s above the upper limit like I am, so he’s unlikely to be biased. Rion definitely wants to participate, so it probably wouldn’t be too effective to have him help with this, same goes for Jhin too, who’s also shown interest in participating.
”Okay, how about this…pick four with especially high power levels, and four with power levels of less than, say 30,000?” Suggested Az, after mulling it over.
”Hm, I guess that could work…,” I responded uncertainly.
”If I remember right, those with the highest power levels below 100,000 are Persia, Jhin and Rion, all three of whom possess power levels of 80,000 or more. Then there’s Azeria, the Elemental Dragons, and Rai, all at above but closer to the 50,000 mark,” Surmised Az, as he skimmed the list of candidates.
”Well, Persia didn’t seem all that interested, so I’ll leave her out. I want to see exactly how strong Jhin is now that he’s got Excalibur, so he’s going to compete. Rion really wanted to participate, so we’ll include him. Azeria is pretty competent and skilled, so she’s in too. And maybe one of the Elemental Dragons or Rai as the fourth of our participants with power levels over 50,000?” I proposed after mulling it over.
”I don’t see a problem with that, let’s finalize that fourth spot later. In the meantime, let’s decide on the remaining four spots,” Said Az with a nod.
Huh, this isn’t as difficult as I thought it’d be. It certainly helps that not every potential candidate has made themselves available for this. If Persia and Key were options too, this would have been a lot trickier to decide.
”Hm…I think Prato is someone we definitely need to include, he’s highly skilled and I’d like to nurture that. Ekai is very experienced and competent too, so he’s in. Siert opted out, otherwise I’d have like to have included him too. That leaves two more open spots…we should include and Evil Number or a Vampire Knight in at least one of those spots. Zero definitely won’t want to participate, so instead…let’s go with Cleon Radomir. And as for the final spot…who do you think we should pick?” I asked him, unable to decide between the multiple remaining options.
There were all the other high ranking Vampires, then there were the likes of Lusk, Misen and Selesa…who do we go for?
”How about we just include Rai AND one of the Elemental Dragons? Or, if Rai opts out, two Elemental Dragons. If they’re not interested, then we ask the remaining Vampire candidates if they’re interested.”
”That sounds like a whole lot of work though…,” I sighed in response.
”Go get some rest, I’ll go talk to everyone and confirm the participants. I haven’t been that busy in the last few days, so just leave to me,” Remarked Az, as he picked up the list.
”Heh, back when we first met, I’d have never even imagined you offering to do something like this,” I grinned teasingly.
”Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have. But now that I’m in control of the Water Spirit and it’s power, I feel like I have a bit more energy than I used to,” He shrugged in response.
”That’s definitely a good thing, you used to be so lazy all the time,” I laughed in response, before adding, “Well, not that you’re never lazy now, but it’s only when you’re genuinely tired.”
”Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’ll go get this sorted now, you go get some rest in the meantime,” He remarked, before heading out.
Rest, huh? Yeah, I guess that does sound kinda nice…okay, I think I’ll do just that…
…
…
The next day, around the middle of the afternoon, I had received the list of participants from each nation. So that it’d be fair, I also gave each of them the list of our participants, for the sake of transparency.
That said, the match-ups won’t be revealed till the day of the tournament, shortly before it actually begins.
Speaking of which, Az had finalized the list of our participants by sometime last night. So, I decided to give him a day off today…but he turned it down, saying that he wasn’t particularly tired. Yeah, he really has changed a lot, it wasn’t too long ago that I wouldn’t even have been able to imagine him turning down the opportunity to relax.
Anyway, the eight participants from Abyss were going to be Jhin, Rion, Azeria, Rai, Rain the Water Dragon, Cleon, Ekai and Prato. The Rustlands had a couple of participants with fairly high power levels, but the participants from Idyll and Liberty had power levels of mostly less than 30,000.
On paper, our participants are set to dominate this tournament, but you never know what could happen. That said, I should set the match-ups in a way that gives the participants from the other nations an advantage.
Maybe I can set it up so that our participants end up facing each other in the early stages of the tournament, so that we don’t end up dominating the final stages of the competition. Ideally, the visiting participants should nab at least two of the semi-final spots.
Well, there’s still a bit of time for that, so for now, I’ll focus on setting the match-ups for the exhibition matches. Most importantly, who should I fight? Hm, maybe I should take on multiple opponents?
Sylvar, Bell and the new Earth Sage, Siterra, are all interested in participating in the exhibition matches, Belia and Shiro too…I’m definitely not going to match myself up against Shiro, because I still feel a grudge towards him, and I don’t think I’ll be able to hold myself back if I’m face to face with him.
Belia isn’t as powerful as she used to be, and as she is right now, she doesn’t stand too great a chance against me, especially since I know pretty much all the tricks she’s got up her sleeve.
Alright, in that case, I guess my best option is to have Sylvar and Bell go up against me. They’re a pretty strong duo, and they’ve improved a lot since the first time I encountered them. I don’t need to go all out from the start, so it should be fine.
Let’s see, who else wants to participate in the exhibition matches…just Az, Fuo and Draco. Well, Az actually didn’t want to, but I managed to convince him. He should attract quite a crowd. Huh, I think that’s everyone who have power levels of above 100,000, no one’s opted out.
I was a bit reluctant to include Fuo, since her power level only goes up past 100,000 after activating multiple power ups, which take a fair bit of time. But, then, she’s an extremely skilled fighter, one of our best.
Not to mention the fact that she’s got a number of tricks up her sleeve, thanks to gaining the life forces of two monster kings.
Hm…okay, so I’ll take on Bell and Sylvar. I’ll match Fuo up against…the Earth Sage. That still leaves Draco, Az, Shiro and Belia. Hm? Wait, hold on…both Shiro and Belia have been listed with power levels of over 300,000.
Ohh, that’s right, Shiro absorbed a bit of not-God’s life force too, and I remember Belia asking him to transfer some of it to her. That totally slipped my mind. Okay, that changes things.
It’ll be a tough ask for Draco to take on either of them…so, instead, I’ll pair him up against the Earth Sage. It’ll still be a tough battle for him, but he’ll still stand a chance. That means I’ll be pairing up Az and Fuo against Shiro and Belia.
It doesn’t matter who I match Az up against, he’ll win regardless…well, unless he gets careless, I guess. Nothing’s impossible.
Shiro is listed with a higher power level than Belia, at 380,000, while hers is at 310,000. Guess it’s Fuo against Belia and Az against Shiro, then. Last I remember, Az’s power level is somewhere around 350,000…still, I can’t imagine Shiro beating him.
Alright, I think that settles it. There are a few other things to sort out before we’re fully ready, but we’ve got enough time to get all those over and done with. And now, it’s just a matter of time before the tournament begins…
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