Chapter 158.

PART 1.

James and Raven have been run ragged. All three of their friends have used them as sparring partners, and of course, they also fought each other. They wanted to get used to a large variety of fighting styles in the limited confines of an arena.

Raven actually thinks that they are spying on each other, and they are fighting to get used to each other’s techniques so they can meet in the tournament, and get some easy victory. But he then dismissed the thought, these meatheads are not smart enough to think like that.

That, and it probably never occurred to them. Hatori for all his cynical experiences, trusts them too implicitly. ‘Maybe I should break him of this habit? Some distrust will do him good down the road.’ Raven thinks to himself.

Raven then can write a tragic novel about it, how he broke the trust of his friend, and how he hates him, but he only did that to help him out. he will gladly serve as a villain to help out his friend.

“Too much fighting.” He muttered. he would have never started to think such silly thoughts otherwise.

While Raven is busy in his own thoughts while lying on the grass, Shin, Josh, and Hatori are relaxing. They have trained hard for the last three days. Aside from exercises, they dueled each other a lot. They acquired bruises, their muscles got strained, and of course, mental and physical exhaustion. But James is helping them out.

He is helping to relax their muscles by massage spells, and other spells to make their bruises disappear. For their exhaustion, he is using some recovery potions. Raven cannot believe the pampering these three are getting by James.

However, he keeps his mouth shut, lest Hatori might decide that he needs some last-minute training after all. But he did decide to voice his next thought. “You know, given how the general basically forced me into the military, I’ll have to go through this next year onward as well.”

“Yeah,” purred Hatori, feeling very relaxed on the ground. “But remember, we’re talking about the military here. it would be ten times worse than this.”

“You are not helping!” he burst out.

PART 2.

In her office, Amrita is speaking with Mira, her apprentice. “This selection tournament is a great chance. During my time in this institute, nothing like this has ever taken place. Usually, the students are chosen by the coach and the headmaster for the competition and then sent to wherever it is held. But things are different this year.”

“What do you want me to do, professor?” asked Mira.

“Why, record the proceedings of course!” said Amrita. “You have a chance to observe things as they happen and speak with the people who are involved. It would be great; if you would be able to show off this project to others in the future. A great addition to your resume, if I say so myself.”

“That is good,” said Mira, excited for her chance. “But actually, going and talking with these aggressive competitors is kind of scary.” She wilted after saying that.

“That’s true.” Said Amrita. “But you need to do this. You can’t let the aggression scare you, how else are you going to ask deep questions otherwise? And if anyone attacks you, you are free to whip them in return, competitor or not.”

Mira smiled. “I suppose I’ll get practice on using some of those tormenting spells you’ve shown me then.”

“That’s the spirit!” cheered Amrita.

PART 3.

The day of the tournament arrives. Everyone who has put their names in has gathered in the hall. about thirty or so students have put their names in this tournament, but only twelve are chosen for the tournament, after some filters were applied to get rid of the weaklings.

“Isn’t the number a bit low?” asked Hatori.

“Well, remember that the size of the class shrinks every year after the fourth year,” said Josh. “And your rampages probably contributed to that.”

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“I wasn’t that bad.” Protested Hatori. he then realized what he said. “Actually, on the second thought, you’re right. I was quite bad. And it was awesome!” Hatori reveled in his evil ways.

“Would you quiet down? The rules are about to be explained.” Said Shin.

“Greetings to all who have come to participate in this tournament, and to those who have come to watch. I hear that the punishments at the booth discouraged some of you,” said Dimitri, causing a ripple of laughter among the students.

“That’s probably another reason why the number is so low.” Muttered Hatori.

“Now, the selection process is quite simple.” He explained. “You all will fight in a tournament, where you must face each opponent at least once. Once all the matches have been fought, the top eight will be chosen as the team to represent the Academy. the rank will be decided on your win/loss ratio. Five duelists who top this tournament will be chosen for the team, and three of them will be chosen as reserves. I do hope that you will do your best to win. And let me give you an advance warning, there is no place for slackers in my team.” Having said his peace, Dimitri sits down, and the blocks flash on the boards located above the ring, with names of the twelve fighters flashing on the screen.

Hatori looks around at his opponents. He included Josh and Shin in this list because he does not want to go easy on them. best start to think of them as opponents, so he won’t get cold feet at the thought of beating them.

He recognized a lot of students. Looks like anyone who has any skill in fighting is here. Daphne is no surprise to Hatori since she won the trophy. Avinash is no surprise either, though his friend Tom if Hatori remembers correctly, is a bit of a wild card. Hatori hasn’t seen the others, and if he has, he does not remember their faces, since it is just two years or so since he regained his sight.

The final face Hatori saw is a surprise. ‘Ravina, eh?’ he thought. ‘This should be amusing, to say the least.’

The girl has a fiery personality. Whether she can prove it with her spells remains to be seen.

Dimitri is sitting with Nandan. His student is telling him about the familiar faces. “You should watch out for those three. they were good when I was here, and they have gotten better ever since, no doubt.” He said, looking at Hatori and his friends.

“It is strange to see. They are competitors, and yet stand with each other.” Said Dimitri.

“I doubt they’ll separate even if the king asks them to.” Said Nandan with a laugh.

the duelers are chosen randomly to begin the tournament. The names of Vivek and Praduman flash on the screen. Both competitors arrive at the sand-filled arena, ready to fight. “Listen up!” said the voice of a yantra. “You are not allowed to kill each other. You stop when I say stop. Is that clear?” at their nod, the yantra creates a blast to signal the beginning of the duel.

Vivek starts out with a normal spell, trying to gage Praduman. However, the bulky boy is having none of that. he attacks him with heavy spells and overwhelms Vivek. With a blast, he is thrown out of the ring. “Stop!” came the voice of the yantra. “Praduman wins.”

“No technique at all.” Critiqued Dimitri.

“True. But his opponent wasn’t any strong. It would be foolish to waste his energy in a prolonged battle with him.” said Nandan.

“Agreed.” Said Dimitri. “I must say though, not having commentary sours the experience a bit.”

“Samudra has graduated, I would have asked him otherwise.” Said Nandan, missing the commentary of his senior.

Seeing a shaken Vivek stand up from his position on the ground, Dimitri grumbled. “How did he manage to get passed the filters?”

“You should remember that these are students, not duelers.” Chided Nandan. “The standards have to be lowered a bit.”

Dimitri is not pleased to hear this. He hates lowering standards for anyone. He does not like it for himself, so why should others be any different? But still, Nandan is right. there are still ten more matches for that boy. maybe he will manage to impress him? but Dimitri is not holding out any hope for that.