For the preliminary matches, Arena 4 was divided into small circles, and the participating Cadets were divided into groups of 10. These circles hovered in the air around the arena. There were no notable cadets among my opponents. There was only one person that I even recognized, one of Yor‘s groupies.
She was dressed In half-plate and wielded a large battle ax and a shield. I decided I would leave her alone for now. I looked at the opponents to my left and right. The boy to my right was skinny, frankly, I was amazed he was participating In the tournament. He had a rapier belted at his waist. The boy to my right was a more typical contestant. He was bulky for his age. He had a smarmy grin plastered over his face. Unlike most other competitors, he bore no weapons. Instead, his fists were plated in thick sheets of metal.
When I heard the bell ring, signaling the start of the fight, I backed up. I hoped that nobody would notice me. My strategy was to remain quiet and then swoop in at the end. Finishing the remaining contestant. Unfortunately, reality didn't go that way. The two boys next to me saw me as an easy target, due to my size, and both charged at me. Because I had backed up so quickly the two boys almost collided with one another.
In the Mayhem the larger boy punched the boy with the rapier in the gut, and he fell off the arena. As he fell I saw him vanish, teleported away. The boy next to me grinned, squared his feet, and slowly moved towards me. I tried to move away but he cut me off. He slowly pushed me towards the edge. When I was only a few steps away I acted.
I thrust my spear toward his chest. He dodged out of the way, grabbing the haft of my spear. I half-heartedly pulled feeling that his strength was about equal to mine. I let out a sigh of frustration. I flooded Mana through my arms. I couldn't keep up the technique for long but with the Mana coursing through my arms, I was easily able to overpower him.
My opponent didn't expect my surge of strength, and I was easily able to pull him into the air. With his feet unable to make a clear purchase on the ground, I was able to pull my spear from his grasp. This action had two effects. The first was that I gained full mobility of my spear. The second was that my opponent who had now fallen to the ground was prone
Not letting the opportunity slip through my fingers, I plunged my spear toward his head. As the head of my spear touched his cranium he vanished.
With my opponents dealt with I looked around the arena and saw only two other contestants. One was Yor‘s groupie, and she seemed to have taken a serious beating. The worst of her wounds was a javelin that had been wedged between two pieces of her armor.
Her opponent, an archer, was untouched. She was about halfway between me and the groupie. I decided to watch and pick off whoever won.
Yor’s groupie started to bridge the distance but was slowed by the javelin stuck in her side. The archer was able to continuously pepper her with arrows. Unlike Helen, The archer was not skilled enough to break through her opponent's defenses. After several minutes, Yor‘s groupie reached the archer. When she did she was able to chop off one of the archer's arms with her ax. Unable to use their weapon, the archer quickly fell to their opponent. When the archer disappeared, Yor‘s groupie almost fell to the ground, only able to remain upright by using her shield as a crutch.
She turned and finally noticed me. She grimaced, realizing that she would have no chance to win. I plunged my spear through her head finishing the fight.
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I once again stood at the base of the Arena. The floating circles had been replaced with a massive obstacle course. As I gazed at the obstacle course I wondered how my smaller size would compare.
There were more competitors than I expected. Although the first round was harsh, eliminating 90% of the competitors, there seemed to still be around one hundred remaining. The number meant that there were around a thousand awakened within our class. Considering the class size the number of awakened was above average. To accommodate the large number of remaining competitors, the arena grew, and nine identical obstacle courses appeared.
To facilitate this process we were divided into smaller groups. When we were fully divided a tournament representative explained the rules.
“Your task is to make it to the top of the course. If you fall or when your run is complete you will be teleported away. It is important to note that if you fail an obstacle. Instead of being teleported away, you will be placed at the beginning of that obstacle. If you are still unable to complete an obstacle within 1 minute of starting that obstacle then you will be disqualified. The 64 fastest times will be accepted into the tournament proper. If there are not 64 finishers then we will take whichever Cadets made it the furthest, the fastest before getting disqualified.”
When the bell rang to begin, the boy at the start of the line rushed forward. He was able to make it over the first obstacle, a 12-foot wall, with relative ease. I was personally worried about this obstacle due to my much smaller size. The boy conquered the second obstacle, a series of floating platforms almost as quickly.
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When he arrived at the third obstacle he was stumped. The third obstacle was a long balance beam about 20 feet long and about 4 Inches wide. The size of the obstacle wasn't that much of a problem. The thing that was tricky was that the obstacle contained multiple flying spheres. These spheres moved back and forth. The Presence of the spheres made the Boy stop, duck, and jump. Individually these two factors were not too challenging, but when paired together they made a devastating trial.
After several attempts to cross the balance beam he failed. As he did he was teleported away, and large numbers appeared above the obstacle course. The purpose of the numbers was obvious. They represented the boy's time, which was 1 minute and 58 seconds
The next cadet, a girl, struggled a little bit more with the wall but was able to breeze through both the platforms and the balance beam. Her solution for the beam was simply to run without stopping.
She was able to get through the fourth obstacle quickly as well. The fourth was a flat wall 20 ft wide and tall. The wall had long metal bars sticking out of it. The bars made a path leading upwards. In a feat of impressive upper body strength, the girl likely with the help of mana. Was able to pull herself upward, and jump from pole to pole.
The fifth obstacle was different. The passageway to the next obstacle instead of being at the end was at the beginning. The exit was blocked by a see-through wall with a keyhole. The key that corresponded to the wall was placed on a pedestal around 35 feet away. To get to the pedestal the girl would have to hop from platform to platform. It wasn't that easy though. There were a few dozen large metal spheres. The spheres like the ones in the third obstacle moved.
She paused analyzing the pattern of the spheres before quickly moving towards the key. On her journey back the pattern of the spheres changed. She was caught off guard by the shifting pattern, she was hit hard and was knocked off. As she fell the key vanished with her but instead of appearing with her at the start, it appeared back at its pedestal. She tried to retrieve the key several times but, no matter what she did she was always caught off guard by the change in the spheres pattern. After one particularly hard hit she was teleported away disqualified
As I watched my fellow Cadets try to complete the obstacle course, I found myself disappointed. Besides the girl who went second, no one had been able to make it to the 5th obstacle let alone pass it.
One boy who was tall, and slim was close. Making it halfway up the bars before timing out. There was only one more Cadet in front of me and then it would be my turn.
The boy in front of me had ashy black hair. He stood almost 5 and a half feet tall. When the bell rang he rocketed forward, easily making it through the first two obstacles within 30 seconds. The balance beam took him a bit longer.
The fourth obstacle was the easiest for the boy. He swung from the bars like a monkey, only using his upper body. When he reached the fifth obstacle he paused. Watching the pattern of the spheres.
Moving forward he was able to dodge all of them and grab the key. Beyond being fast he also had excellent reaction time. 30 seconds after he started the fifth obstacle he stood at its end, key in hand. He Inserted the key and walked up the now-open stairs. The stairs led to a small room.
Within the room were three glass cubes and a wooden box. I instantly recognized the cubes. They were manna batteries. They stored mana for later use. Unlike me, the Boy didn't recognize the cubes. He tried breaking open the chest, which failed, and then he tried to throw one of the cubes. When it merely reappeared back where it was before, he paused visibly thinking. In the last 10 or so seconds he finally figured out that Mana needed to be poured into the cubes. He started pouring Mana into the first but it was too late, after a few seconds he was disqualified. I couldn't see the look on his face before the bell rang for me to begin.
I moved forward. Trying to keep as much momentum going into the wall. I pushed Mana into my legs. With its help, I was able to push off against its face, rocketing upward. I flung my hands upwards. My fingers landed at the lip of the wall. With this small amount of purchase I pulled myself up.
With the aid of my honed reflexes, I was able to make it to the fifth obstacle. This time my smaller size was to my advantage. I was easily able to start and stop which allowed me to slowly but surely make it to where the key sat. Grabbing the key I turned and repeated the process. When I made it back to the gate I inserted the key and moved forward.
The sixth obstacles were the easiest for me. I pumped Mana into all three of the cubes and was able to complete the task in less than 10 seconds. I grabbed the key from the now-open chest and made my way to the final obstacle.
As I gazed upon my final task, I smiled. Standing in the center of a baron room, was a Golem made out of straw. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my spear or my sword so my hands would have to do.
I coated the edge of my fingertips with razor-sharp Mana. As the Golem approached I chopped downward Using the makeshift Mana blade that I had conjured on my hand. I severed the golem's outstretched limb. With the opening provided by my first attack, I used my left hand to chop off its head. The moment the Golem's head hit the floor I was teleported away.
Later when all the cadets had finished I reviewed my time, and my ranking. I placed eight with a total time of 3 minutes 52 seconds. Wren placed 5th with an impressive 3 minutes 37 seconds. The top finisher was a girl I didn't know named Delilah. Wren said that she was the daughter of an Earl, and she’d completed the obstacle course in a staggering 3 minutes and 3 seconds, more than 15 seconds ahead of second place.
After my surprising performance, I started to gain attention. Throughout the rest of the day, people waved, and a few even came up and asked for my autograph. I was surprised by the people's behavior, but then again the tournaments were quite popular.
When I was headed to the train station accompanied by Wren I heard a loud voice.
“ Alexander Grindelwald!”
I looked at the tall boy with Ash black hair, that I had competed with this morning.
“ How can I help you” I asked hesitantly
He pointed a large finger at me and smiled.
“ I Bastion Gracehold will defeat you”