Pallas came out next and uttered, “I will now show you the arrangement of the matches.”
A projection appeared in the sky, showing an elimination tournament bracket. There are six of these brackets, each representing a section.
*
Knight Section
Match 1: Jeanny (human) Vs Hardstick (elf)
Match 2: Rodney (dwarf) Vs Darkrod (ethereal)
Match 3: Arthur Bagrat (draconian) Vs Sharpedge (orc)
Free: Drunkteeth (vampire)
*
Warrior Section
Match 1: Handsome Joe (elf) Vs Rollingrock (dwarf)
Match 2: Sane (draconian) Vs Spring Crown (vampire)
Match 3: Boastful (ethereal) Vs Surewin (orc)
Free: Domon Fei (human)
*
Rogue Section
Match 1: Kill Order (human) Vs Deep Puncture (draconian)
Match 2: Wong (orc) Vs Windleg (elf)
Match 3: Indigenous (dwarf) Vs Darkradiant (ethereal)
Free: Leavemealone (vampire)
*
Archer Section
Match 1: Ronald Dreary (Ethereal) Vs Telebinge (draconian)
Match 2: Audrey (dwarf) Vs Anotherday (elf)
Match 3: Synapses (vampire) Vs Thick Needle (orc)
Free: David (human)
*
Mage Section
Match 1: Soaring Boar (dwarf) Vs Selena (human)
Match 2: Searing (vampire) Vs Rudeflower (elf)
Match 3: Silverfield (orc) Vs Flarement (draconian)
Free: Blackhole (ethereal)
*
Team Section
Match 1: Elf Vs Human
Match 2: Ethereal Vs Dwarf
Match 3: Draconian Vs Orc
Free: Vampire
*
The free ones indicate that they had one free win. When others needed to win three times to become the champion, they only needed two. These lucky individuals would compete against whoever won in the third match.
An elf man, named Windleg, lifted his hand.
“What?!” Pallas’s voice thundered out.
Windleg cringed hearing the divine champion’s crude tone.
“Pallas, be gentle. You are scaring our participants,” Callan admonished.
“Forgive me, Your Holiness,” Pallas uttered with a bow.
“Now, say your opinion, child,” Callan said gently to the elf man, his smile made everyone feel warm.
“May we know how those free ones are decided? We understand Sir Pallas mentioned lucky draws yesterday. We just thought the draws would be done in front of us?” Windleg asked.
“We have done the draws beforehand to save time for all of us,” Callan answered. “What’s the matter? Are you accusing us of not being fair? Are you insinuating this council of being dishonorable and playing favors to certain parties?”
Callan’s voice was still gentle. His face was still smiling. Yet his eyes stared sharply at Windleg, which made the elf regret to have ever opened his mouth in the first place.
“No, no! I won’t dare. Please forgive my question, Your Holiness! I’m sure you are being fair!” Windleg hurriedly said.
“Ah, good. For a second there, I thought I have to ask Pallas to throw you down this mountain,” Callan said, his smile never wavered.
Most felt cold sweat running down their foreheads.
Pallas resumed his explanation, “each section will only have one match in a day. So not everyone will fight today. Only those marked for the first match will. Tomorrow we will have the second match. The next day the third match. The day after it will be the fourth match which will pit the winners from the first and second matches, and so on. Until we have the champion in the sixth match. So in all, this tournament will last six days. Does anyone have a problem following?”
No one spoke.
“Good! No one match will be carried out at the same time. The order will be knight, warrior, rogue, archer, mage, and we will end the day with the team match. So everyone can watch all the matches. Now, let us begin the first match of the knight section. Jeanny of the human race against Hardstick of the elven race, stay in this arena. The rests please take your seats on those stone steps.”
A hand lifted.
“What?!” Pallas’s voice thundered out again.
“Pallas…,” Callan uttered.
“I am sorry, Your Holiness. You, vampire, state your question!” Pallas said, with a voice that tried to be as gentle as possible, rather unsuccessfully.
The questioner this time, however, didn’t show any expression of getting intimidated. The one who had lifted his hand was Leavemealone. “Do we have to stay here if we don’t have a match today?” He asked.
“No, you are allowed to leave,” Pallas answered.
Leavemealone nodded. He then came to Domon. “Can we train?” He asked. “Sure,” Domon replied. The two then left together.
Both Leavemealone and Domon only fought on the fifth match and if they won, the final sixth match. Which meant they had full four days to train. Lucky duo. Was this fate at work? Jack wondered.
Jack chose to stay, like many others. Everyone was wondering how good these other experts from the other countries were. He took a seat next to Paytowin who was there at the spectators’ seats.
Inside the arena was now only Jeanny and an elf man in heavy armor. Callan and Pallas had also moved away. Pallas stood at the periphery of the arena while Callan took his seat amongst the other spectators. Despite his high station, he didn’t give himself a special seat, just as how the royalties of other countries were treated.
The surrounding area outside the theater became a void, just like yesterday. There was also a transparent layer separating the spectators and the arena. Jack figured that should be some sort of barrier to prevent the contestants and their attacks from affecting the spectators. In the projection above, the words changed.
*
Knight Section Match 1
Jeanny, level 46 Dragoon (human) Vs Hardstick, level 46 Paladin (elf)
*
Jeanny nodded at her opponent. “Let’s do our best,” she said.
Hardstick didn’t reply, he was grinning instead. “Hehe. You are pretty. Not as pretty as our Goddess, Grace, of course, but still pretty. How about we go someplace after this? We can have a real match without people watching.”
Jeanny frowned. This elf man looked decent but his mouth was foul. Jeanny didn’t bother talking with him anymore, she took a ready stance.
“No? Such a pity. Never mind. I will show you my power then, maybe you will be impressed,” Hardstick said. He brandished a kite shield and a metal club. “Come, babe. Let daddy teach you a lesson.”
Jack glanced at the elf royalty section. What the heck were they thinking? Selecting such a player to represent them? Probably they selected outworlders based on the highest levels only.
Jack wasn’t indicating that experts had no boastful temperament. He simply knew this elven sentinel was a nobody from his subtle movements. The guy showed too many weak points. He didn’t even lift his shield in the ready position.
“Begin!” Pallas declared.
On Pallas’ word, Jeanny’s spear shot out, accompanied with the skill, Piercing Spear.
Hardstick was startled by the abrupt attack. His body bent backward, narrowly dodging the spear energy that scrapped his helmet.
“You…!” Hardstick wasn’t given the chance to speak. Another thrust came to his face. He frantically moved his head to the side.
His club was alighted with flame. That was Paladin’s level 35 skill, Sacred Flame. Unlike Jack’s past companion, Heathcliffe, this flame was white, not blue.
However, Hardstick didn’t have the chance to use the flaming club. Jeanny jabbed the hand that was holding the club, keeping it away. She then used the end of her spear to strike Hardstick’s left hand that was about to lift his shield. In between, she made a light slash at Hardstick’s body.
Jeanny’s spear moved swiftly, repeating the process. Hardstick who never put on a ready stance was not given the chance anymore. His HP went down slowly just from normal attacks.
“B*tch! F*ck off…!!” Hardstick yelled in frustration. A translucent layer covered his armor. It was Paladin’s level 45 skill, Divine Armor. The skill increased the paladin’s defense, reduced damage received, and protected the Paladin from all movement restrictions.
Yet, the restrictions Jeanny applied to Hardstick were not a game mechanism. It was controlling moves that prevented Hardstick’s limbs from moving the way he wanted. So the Divine Armor didn’t help Hardstick out of his passive state. It only allowed him to survive longer, but the outcome was still the same.
Jeanny finished him off by using Seven Spears Assaulting Heaven. Four rapid thrusts took out Hardstick’s remaining HP.
Hardstick’s body fell to the ground. All throughout the fight, only three game skills were used. One from Jeanny and two from Hardstick. The elven paladin wasn’t given the chance to do anything else.
“Winner, Jeanny of the Human race!” Pallas announced.
The translucent layer vanished. Hardstick’s zero HP was refilled to full again. He rose with shame. Jeanny didn’t even spare him a glance. She walked out of the arena. She glanced at her sister who was sitting amongst the other elven participants. Her sister was staring at her as well. Both sisters didn’t exchange anything else other than the glance.
“Your match has ended, hurry up and leave my ring!” Pallas bellowed.
Hardstick immediately scurried over to where the other elves were sitting. His head hung low the entire time. When he was about to sit, his other teammates looked at him in disdain and asked him to sit further away.
“Next match!” Pallas uttered. The words in the sky changed.
*
Warrior Section Match 1
Handsome Joe, level 46 Mage Knight (elf) Vs Rollingrock, level 45 Blade Dancer (dwarf)
*
The two who had their names shown walked down to the arena.. When the two were ready, Pallas gave them the go sign.
