Scarlet

I spend all of the downtime between rounds simply going over the other competitors who’ve reached the semifinals, making sure I remember each of their skills by heart so that I’ll be ready to deal with them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re doing the same.

The moment the countdown at the center of the stadium strikes zero, we all appear on top of a large tower in the center of the stadium with the crowd going absolutely crazy.

“And the time has come! For the semifinal round of the first Primary tournament of the year!!!” Black shouts after appearing from a cloak of shadows in the air above us. “Are you ready?!”

The crowd somehow gets even louder – something I didn’t think was even possible.

“Then let’s begin with the rules for this round!” Black says, sounding sufficiently amused by the audience’s reactions. “Unlike the other rounds, this one will pit all five remaining participants against each other in a free-for-all round! The students are allowed to team up with each other, they can use stealth, they can even gang up on a single student if they want to! Everything goes except for blatant cheating which will be punished severely if caught! But no matter what, the round will be over the moment only two participants remain standing amongst these five! These two participants will then compete in the final round to see who will take home first place!!!”

At this point, I’m very thankful for the magical reality’s protection to my ears. Because I’d probably have gone deaf a long time ago without it.

“Now, this round will take place in a special arena made by the Guardian all of you know and love,” Black says while spreading his arms out and then pointing directly down at the tower in between the five of us participants where a man suddenly appears out of nowhere. “The creator of magical realities, and a Class IV Guardian… Artificios!!!”

The crowd suddenly goes silent at that before going absolutely ballistic, showing just how popular this man is. And why wouldn’t he be? He was the entire reason the Republic was able to create magical realities in the first place. So there wouldn’t be any tournaments without him. Nor would there be any of the training equipment we Guardians use for practicing live battles, or the new video game that uses magical realities.

After a second, the man who is clad in a purple and black suit and tie simply floats up into the air, his feet pointing downwards in a show that he’s not simply jumping. He then spreads his own arms out to match what Black was doing as he shouts, “I know many of you are looking forward to this and the many things to come, both from the Interschool Tournaments, and the future of magical realities themselves! And I for one would very much like to express my utmost gratitude for the support you have all given me!” The crowd grows even louder, making the man smile, his long purple hair flowing behind him. “But you didn’t come here to see me! Let’s show you the amazing arena we have designed for these fine young Guardians to fight in!”

Just a second later, I find myself floating in the air along with the other participants of the round while staring at a vast arena beneath us. The arena is separated into five different sections, one seemingly made with each of us participants in mind. There’s a section filled with trees, a full moon hanging high in the sky, and literal lakes made out of blood, one being much larger than the others. A section equally made out of trees with various caves scattered throughout it and a regular lake. A section with a swamp filled with a few seemingly poisonous ponds in it. A section filled with a few mountains, each peaked with powerful thunderstorms. And last but not least, a section where everything seems to be acting rather weird. It’s made out of a regular plains, but with all of the wind blowing through it, the trees, the bushes, everything occasionally just freezing in place and then going in a different direction, only to freeze in place again at random.

“Now, unlike all of the previous arenas which were randomly created, I personally designed this arena with our participants in mind,” Artificios says, sounding quite proud of his work. And I do have to admit, I do find the area obviously created for me to be quite appealing. Although I get the feeling this could also draw out the round a bit, since the others might not be as willing to leave their particular areas to fight if they don’t wish to. “But don’t worry about any particular person camping in their area, because this round will have some special rules added to it!”

I look up to find him motioning to Black as he says, “Black? Why don’t you introduce those rules to us?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Black says with a grin on his face as he crosses his arms and floats down closer to Artificios. “At random throughout the tournament, one participant who is currently inside of their personal section of the arena, has not killed another participant, and is not engaged in combat will be teleported to one of the other sections of the arena chosen equally at random.”

Oh. That’ll be interesting.

Will certainly make camping an impossibility. Or at least very annoying for someone to do unless they’re just lucky. Or they try to camp after killing a different participant.

The two continue going on about some special qualities to the different sections that I make sure to take note of before Black eventually floats upwards again, spinning around in a spiral as he does so until he stops, his arms spread out as he shouts, “Now are you all ready to get this round underway!!!”

The audience roars all at once, various different shouts rising up, all with a single meaning. Agreeing with what he said.

“Then let’s get this round started!” Black shouts again, meanwhile I find myself being teleported into the arena right in front of the blood lake.

I grin.

This’ll be fun.