Upon first glance, they all seemed ready. The aura felt tense and heavy, Josiah waited nonchalantly. Eira and Staxius were the last to arrive. This raised the animosity slightly before the fight began. None spoke but glared. Staxius's cold gaze trumped all; none could maintain eye contact with him. The intimidation began before the actual fight.

  "Everyone's here," Josiah spoke, all stood in a circle around him. "-today is the day you guys go out and fight. I haven't the time to give a motivational speech. Losers will be losers, and winners will be winners. I won't tolerate any complaints about unfair matchups. Everyone here has been chosen because of their skills and power. Some of you might be stronger than others. To them, I must say that holding back won't help anyone," it weirdly felt directed at Staxius to which he crossed the arms and watched sternly.

  "Before we begin, I'd like to give a last-minute run down. The match-ups will be decided randomly. Only four out of you will fight, the last one will have to wait till one is defeated. And defeat is brought about by knocking down or rendering a person unable to move. The three points awarded will be transferred over by the judge's discretion. This is to limit foul play – and to make it fair, I shall be a judge as well. In no way are you to question the ruling. As you see, special uniforms have been given. It comes equipped with armbands that display how many stars the team has. Reach zero and you lose, reach fifteen and you win, the choice is up to you. Just to be honest, I don't want this fight to go into elimination. One of you has to win, a special price will be given if one manages to complete the said feat," he finished. The partic.i.p.ants all checked their armbands – it displayed score and team status.

Oblivious to what the others thought, Staxius turn and gave Eira a thumb's up. The overwhelming pressure subsided. Seeing her father in such a good mood changed hers as well. It didn't bode well with the others – this was viewed as a disrespectful gesture. Everyone was worried while he smiled. Azer and Paige didn't seem particularly affected. All the faces were poorly visible. Those who chose had the option to wear a helmet as protection. To which, many accepted apart from Staxius and Eira. All looked the same, except the name and color.

Azer and Paige wore white, Huon and Rosalinda wore gold, Carle and Austin wore brown, Selova and Beth wore grey. Not fully but the borders of the suits given had said particular colors. A necessary action to prevent confusion for the uniforms were identical in every single way.

The silent room broke, the main gate opened. The sound of gears turning, machines working, increased the pressure they felt. It grew ten-fold when the cheers from the crowd could be heard. Most of the combatants where still teenagers and young adults. It got to them, many clapped their hands and faces to snap out of it. No one bothered looking at each other, the goal laid right before them. A stadium divided into two hemispheres; a barrier slowly materialized itself in a dome shape. Above said barrier, four gigantic screens projected in each cardinal corner. It displayed stats, a few shots of the combatants who waited and more.

  "Welcome everyone," a sharp and piercing voice spoke, it felt familiar. "-we have all gathered today for the highly antic.i.p.ated two-versus-two tournament," the crowd went wild, the screamed echoed all around. The reason why that voice felt familiar was because of her popularity. An icon, someone people looked up to, the most loved person in the entire kingdom; Aceline. The radio host, someone Staxius had heard of many times while driving. "As stated by the rules, the match-ups will be decided at random." A strange device raised from beneath the stadium. It had a circular shape with b.a.l.l.s flying around inside. "Each team will be a.s.signed a number," she pointed towards the giant screen, it displayed –

[Azer and Paige: One]

[Carle and Austin: Two]

[Selova and Beth: Three]

[Huon and Rosalinda: Four]

[Eira and Staxius: Five]

"-with that, the tournament can finally begin," she pressed onto the b.u.t.ton. The b.a.l.l.s went around, and the match-ups were decided. "First up we have," she took a quick look and read, "team three versus team one." The crowd went ecstatic, team one was one of the favorites. The name Azer and Paige were of adventurers from one of the top ten guilds. The lower half, but still prestigious. The duo against them was Selova and Beth, or commonly known as the Starlight. That name was brought about by their combination in shadow, lightning, light, fire and wind magic. Every time they fought, none knew who did who, it looked like starlight – a formidable foe.

  "The next bout will be," the device started up once more, "team four versus team two," Staxius's face changed; he felt betrayed – the urge to fight made him antsy.  Eira shook her head and grabbed his hand, Staxius not but stared. Team four, otherwise known as the sn.o.b – the name self-explanatory, went against Carle and Austin. They were pretty much unknown however rumor said that they were very powerful. The use of strange spells and enhancement was what captivated the audience.

  "Guess the fights have been decided," Josiah spoke loudly, "all who have been chosen please step forward. Staxius and Eira, you will have to wait until one of the teams is defeated. Rest up and watch, being the only one is an advantage many wanted. Staxius nodded and walked to the viewing booth. "Man, the thrill of the fight is gone," the door inside to the viewing booth brutally opened. "- watching them fight will be boring. Their strategy and fighting styles will become obvious too soon," Staxius continued to rant. "Calm down father, it's not the end of the world. Study the opponents and fight – that is what you told me once didn't you," they sat.

  "Give it up for the teams who are to battle it out for your entertainment." They entered; the crowd grew louder than ever before – each step filled with excitement.

  "Between you and me, I'm not going to hold back. If death befalls upon you, I shan't apologize," team three and one walked beside each other. They trash-talked all the way till the first hemisphere.

"The sn.o.bs, what a pleasure to fight you," team four and two walked in the same manner. Though Rosalinda remained quiet, Carle continued to edge her on.

The time of truth had come, all were in their corners waiting. The host quickly left and headed to the viewing booth. "Phew, the atmosphere inside that dome is suffocating," Aceline's voice made its way inside the room. *Click,* it opened, "I didn't expect to see the fifth team waiting – what a pleasure to meet you guys." She walked and took a seat next to Staxius. "This is going to be fun, especially with Azer and Paige fighting. I'd advise you to watch them carefully, those two aren't only renowned as promising adventurers but also bloodthirsty killers," she spoke casually – a way of intimidation. Aceline was tied to the guilds and company in more ways than one.

  "Well I guess that makes three of us then," Staxius leaned closer and added softly, she shuddered. The look in his eyes was worst than the adventurers, "but who am I kidding." The blood l.u.s.t vanished, Aceline gulped; Eira pinched his knee. "Don't scare off the lady," she added in jest. "fine, fine," he leaned back and waited for the start.

The intercoms came back to life once more – another commentator took over. "Combatants are you ready?" it yelled; a countdown began, the crowd partic.i.p.ated. "FIGHT," immediately, the arena began to shake. Spells, arrows, gunshots, all were heard.

In the upper hemisphere, team three went toe to toe with team one, the favorite. It was as said, team Starlight really did have the effect of a starry night. That upper-half got covered with mist with dots of light that looked like stars. The combination was an original spell, an elemental variant that covered the battlefield. Each light was a bolt of lightning that locked on their foe and unleashed each time a certain perimeter was crossed. That wasn't the extent of their prowess, the weapons used were guns. Long-range versus adventurers. For the first leg of the battle, it looked like Starlight held the advantage.

Meanwhile, in the lower hemisphere, Carle and Austin were having a great time. They toyed around with team Sn.o.b – obviously, it didn't show but the taunts made Huon more riled up. He lost his concentration and wailed without purpose nor cause. A rampaging typhoon was what he looked like for the element he used was Tempest; a high-tier wind element. Rosalinda, for the most part, stayed back and shot few spells here and there. The crowd's attention was more towards the upper hemisphere – the lower one grew boring. Neither wanted to go on the offensive and fought with caution.

For the most part, Starlight held the advantage. Till Azer decided to fight seriously. Everything changed then, adventurers were superior to mages. A fact not well-known by many. Using the skill he acquired while fighting monsters, Azer started to fight back. The guns became a child's toy as he went up close and personal. He closed the distance with [Flash-step]. A skill that increased the user's speed exponentially. Many variants of that skill were in magic as well but less powerful and less economic. The use of mana required for mages to execute wasn't worth the effort.

Despite this, the fight didn't end. Starlight had more up their sleeves, notably their plethora of spells. It kept the adventurers in a defensive stance – sadly when mana began to run out; the whole battle s.h.i.+fted. One by one, with each potentially lethal strike Selova and Beth took, one-star vanished. Nevertheless, before the count reached zero, the Starlight duo managed to get some good hits in. A point-blank Chain-Lightning, which got both foes on their knees. In said manner, the stars were traded back and forth. The battle grew more exciting by the second.

Nothing worth mentioning happened with the sn.o.b-battle. The crowd grew less interested – a boring standoff. "The fight between Sn.o.b is a bit lackl.u.s.ter." Aceline voiced her opinion. "Not really," Staxius answered. "Oh - please do explain," it caught her attention. "I won't argue that the fight isn't boring. It's more mental games than physical contact. Both opponents saving mana and using low-tier spells to try and catch the other off-guard. Huon might have gone wild – but he knows what he's doing. It's more of a touch and wait sort of situation. They are a.n.a.lyzing how each other think – I didn't expect this level of wittiness from those two. Rosalinda is someone to watch out for, I just have a gut feeling that something amazing is going to happen," he ended – Eira thought the same.

  "For your sake, I hope that's the reason. As far as I'm concerned, that fight isn't worth a sliver of attention," she added, her mind was made up – the fight was definitely boring. Staxius watched in awe, each fighting style and the stance they took had a meaning. He wanted to know more about why each fought, their reasons and convictions. Long had the thought that someone who fights to protects will always get back up and win. A theory he wanted to test out, many times had a situation arose where protecting someone became a priority. Most notably, the Hydra – Staxius used all to protect the party. A feat that now seemed impossible.

"WHAT IS THIS FROM TEAM FOUR…"