This is only a short one guys to raise the tension a bit *g*

Chapter 31: Welcome to the grand tournament

Author's note: Yes guys I do play Hearthstone :D Little tribute to my favorite gaming company.

Kalius's PoV (3rd):

Kalius von Hochburg was very excited. It was finally time to open the grand Vamon tournament. The best of the best would be competing over the next few days to find out just who was the best of the best in their respective category.

Normally he would of course look forward to the tournament seeing that it was a welcome distraction from his work as the emperor. But this tournament had filled him with unprecedented anticipation. He had of course realized his daughter's change and he strongly suspected a certain wind mage to be the cause of it.

He was happy for her especially considering what an outstanding young man this Asura was. He shared his daughter's opinion about parentage. Ability should always be judged first and such obvious talent was always welcome. This was the way of the von Hochburg's: There was no shame in a commoner joining his family especially not one as gifted as this young man was.

So of course he was excited when his daughter had told him about Asura's offer to support her. She had done so with a crimson red face and Kalius still had to chuckle whenever he recalled that scene.

So at the moment he was sitting tribune for the royal family overseeing the countless stands that had opened up all around the huge ring in the middle. The tournament or more like the festival took place on the huge southern field in front of the capital. Over the past few days a small town of stalls, stands and tents had risen from the former empty plains.

He was sitting on a grand chair that had been prepared on the royal tribune for him. To his right his wife Katia was seated while to his left was Theresa dressed in her silver robes. Next ot the royal tribune, extra tirbunes had been prepared for the nobles while stands for everyone else surrounded the 50 meter x 50 meter big ring in the middle.

The size of the ring was of course mainly because of the last day when the mages would have their grand entrance. The mage tournament was always held until last as it was the biggest show. The common folk hardly ever had the chance to see any kind of magic at least not of this scale so it was the most popular contest.

So on the first and second day contests in singinsg, playing instruments, dancing, poetry etc. were held. The third day held the first main point: The swordsmanship competition. The fourth day though was entirely dedicated to the mages. Well it kind of was the most important competition because the mages themselves used it to determine the current power ranking between the elements.

Until now that hardly ever held that much signicicance but this year was different. Only because of one single name: Asura. Until now the clergy of light had always managed to claim the top spots followed by the department of fire. This year though for the first time the light's victory was not assured. A rank ten control mage! He would certainly be the man to beat.

Even the great sage himself, Argus von Hohenturm had asked Kalius if he could resign from the post of principal in order to participate. The principal by tradition was unable to enter the tournament. But Kalius had laughingly declined but he knew Argus didn't mean it. He was on quiet good terms with the old mage and he knew that it was meant as a joke. But Kalius knew that even Argus was itching to test his powers against Asura. Which mage of considerable power wouldn't?

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After thinking about all that he finally stood up and made eye contact with Argus who sat to his daughter's left. As the great sage and principal of the royal academy he naturally had a place on the royal tribune. When he saw him murmuring under his breath he knew that now his voice could be heard throughout the entire field. He took a deep breath and started:

„My dear dear subjects. Welcome to the grand tournament! In the next few days we are sure to see some amazing performances be it from the experts at arts of be it from our finest soldiers and mages. Hence without further ado we will now declare the grand tournament as opened!“

Loud cheering and shouting could be heard throughout the fields while Kalius sat back down. After that the former genius of the wind department Larius stepped onto the stage. He was now known as the former genius because Asura had just outdone him in every aspect.

He had volunteered to take the job as an announcer throughout the tournament. Kalius suspected that it had something to do with his fellow wind mage as he heard that Larius was quiet close to Asura. Well as close as one could get to Asura according to his daughter. Which meant Larius dared to talk to the young excentric mage unlike most of the other students and teacher at the academy.

He himself had yet to meet this mysterious and much talked about young man but he deeply trusted his daughter's judgement. He was of course most looking forward to the third and fourth day but throughout the next two days he thourougly enjoyed himself. As the emperor of course he would be one of the judges and even his wife could not stop him from personally testing everything at the cooking contest. Being in charge had to have some kind of advantage right? And after listening to countless performances and seeing all kinds of things in talent contests of many categories the third day finally arrived.

Argus's PoV (3rd):

Argus was enjoying the show very much on this second day. At the moment everyone was captivated by a young singer that was flawlessly singing one of the best ballads ever written within their kingdom. It was a great performance. But suddenly he heard a light voice in his left ear: „Master. This is urgent.“ A displeased look crept onto his face. He closed his eyes murmured a spell and said very silently:

„Speak.“ „Master I have found a small copse that is surrounded by an incredible powerful barrier. I believe that is the hideout of that assassin you encountered the other day.“ That made Argus think deeply. After a while he responded:

„Inform only our best mages but don't bother Asura. I doubt that he would want to be disturbed and I really think that boy went through enough as it is. After the tournament we will go and deal with the rest of them. Seeing that there is such a powerful barrier we have to expect at least one more of similar power to the first assassin. Speak especially to high priest Sargos, we will need a suppression barrier with all elements so all the masters have to attend. Prepare everything but do not leak information. We don't know if they there are spies or not.“

That last bit was unnecessary. It was precisely that grey shadow that Argus had investigate weeks before. His most trusted subordinant. „As you wish.“