[One hour till the Elimination Round of the Magus Tournament begins. All participants are invited to gather at the Great Assembly Hall]
Thrax, Chumo, and Klea were together at the Terra Palace’s courtyard when the notification appeared on the symbol in their hands. The three of them were all ready to join the first step of the Magus Tournament – the Elimination Round.
To show support as well as satisfy his curiosity, Emery decided to rise early to join his three friends to the Tournament Opening. Of course, he planned to cheer them on their first day of the tournament.
Just as they were about to leave for the venue, the group saw Julian arrive at the courtyard. He was neatly dressed, looking ready to go.
Emery looked at the Roman with a concerned look, but he acted as if everything was fine. With a smile on his face, he beckoned to the four of them and said, “What are you guys loitering around for? Let’s go!”
The group just nodded and followed after him. The five of them went through the teleportation gate and made their way towards the Grand Assembly Hall where the grand opening of the tournament awaited them.
Crowds of people that were never seen before flooded the stairs that were the entrance to the Hall, and as the group entered the three-layer arena, what greeted was a scene of an even more cramped, packed arena.
Brilliant fireworks of many colors painted the sky above the arena, fighting for attention against the bustling of at least one hundred thousand people right below. Even though it wasn’t exactly their first time in this kind of event, Emery and the others were still blown away by the splendor.
“Wow, even more grandiose than the game!” said Thrax excited
This, after all, was the final tournament for the third-year acolytes. A stage where they showcased what they had learned in their three years of education at the Magus Academy. And with only the top thousand selected to participate, everyone who came knew that there won’t be any boring fights on display – even from day one of the 7-day events.
Thus resulted in such a spectacular scene where there was almost no empty spot visible in the arena stands. Most importantly, the tournament hadn’t even started yet!
Fortunately for the five Earth acolytes, since they were all participants in the tournaments, they were provided with a special place of their own. It was in one of the 8 corners of the arena, located just below the audience seats; the terraces.
As Emery stepped onto the terrace, the hundreds of acolytes gathered in the arena started to look toward him and his friends; some with envy, some with respect. The latter group in particular was not just because Emery was one of the champion’s favorites, but because they were part of his squad during the Andora planet mission.
“My man Emery!!”
A familiar voice sounded in the air. Before Emery could see who it was, he felt a firm grip of his shoulder. He quickly turned his head and saw a face he knew too well. It was the Violet Flame Gerri who would also be joining the Elimination Round.
With a smile on his face, he greeted the passionate man.
“How are you, Gerri?”
‘Never better! Never!”
Right behind him were also many familiar faces. There were Okoye, the Jade Flash Aiko, and even the two Goat bloodline half-bloods Igor and Ivan. They had all come to give a greeting.
There was a certain awkward atmosphere in the air as the group caught up to each other, especially among those participating in today’s tournament. After all, there was a high chance they would later meet on the other side of the arena. Nonetheless, there was a mixture of excitement to be seen.
“Well then, may the best of us qualify for the next round!”
Even though he wouldn’t be fighting today, Emery’s words were able somewhat eased the tension between them.
After that, Emery also met with Anas and two of his Kaleos members. As they looked at each other, they couldn’t help but reminisce about how they first met and what had happened up to this point.
“To directly see how far all five of you have gone and achieved; it was quite an amazing feat indeed.”
…
Before long, the cheerful voice of a familiar female magus resounded vividly throughout the arena as the charming Magus Serena marked the start of the grand event with her trademark of peerless energy.
“Welcome everyone, to the last and most anticipated event of the year, the Magus Tournament!!” shouted the magus, which was quickly answered with a wave of loud cheers that boomed through the air.
After the ardent cheers died down, Magus Serena smiled and proceeded to her next course of action. With her unmatched enthusiasm, she began to explain the format and rules of the tournament to the audience.
“The Elimination Round will last for two days, where each participant has to go through five matches against a random opponent. Winning four matches will guarantee one of the 110 spots in the second round and compete against 90 privileged class acolytes!”
Seeing that the crowd was at the peak of their enthusiasm, Magus Serena swiftly brought out the star of today’s show, lest the audience’s passion burn out into nothingness.
“Without further ado, let’s summon the thousand acolytes who will be fighting today onto the stage!”
After wishing them good luck, Emery watched his three friends walk into the arena joined by hundreds of others.
In the air, dozens of small translucent cubes could be seen flying here and there, taking close-up shots of the acolytes and projecting them onto several screens above the arena. These shots were also broadcast for display to all other audiences elsewhere.
The figure of Headmaster Delbrand was seen standing on the main podium. The man opened the event with a short, encouraging speech before he raised the Headmaster Staff in his hand to the air.
A dazzling light appeared and flew high before rapidly converging in the sky above the arena and exploding into dazzling shimmering particles. While the audience was entranced by the display of magic, the Headmaster’s dignified voice resounded in the air.
“Let the Tournament Begin!”
As all 1,000 acolytes returned to their places in the eight corners, a sudden rumble sounded throughout the arena. The ground shook as the huge arena split open and turned into 8 smaller arenas; above, names could be seen scrolling across the screen as the first matches of the day were decided.