“So, what exactly are these tournaments?” Leon asked, settling down in his chair, Fluffy still on his chest sniffling slightly.

“The tournament was originally designed to foster competition and allow advanced students to test magical ability, intelligence, and courage, as well as cunning.” the headmistress said, scooping up little Eva and placing her on her lap. “It is a tournament that has a long and vigorous history, it is also the single most fatal event held in the noble world, back in the height of its day it was responsible for more deaths than any feud or murder or assassination among the noble houses, as it stands it still carries the risk of death with it but it is much less prevalent due to some rules and regulations set in place. ” she looked at Leon, “Familiars can take part at any time seeing as when they die they can simply be remade with magica, but for a student it requires that they be of the age of majority, meaning seventeen and that they read the entire book of rules and can pass a test on its content, so, only third years and up.”

“So, what exactly does this tournament entails?” Leon asked, but it was Lira who answered.

“It has six events taking place over a week, and one final event to determine the overall winner.” she explained, “The first event is the Monolith event, where the contestants are put into teams of two, four if you count the familiars, and each team has a monolith hidden somewhere in the staging area, it is up to the players how they destroy the enemy monolith, they are restricted only to physical attacks, no magic, and of course the abilities of their familiars. ”

“It is intended to foster cooperation between the members, and to see how the contestants do without the use of an ability they mostly take for granted.” Krya supplemented.

“Keep in mind that cheating is not only alright but somewhat of a tradition, so long as it doesn't break the no magic rule.” the headmistress smiled wolfishly.

“So the goal is to find and destroy the other team’s monolith?” Leon asked.

“Correct,” Lira answered. “The next tournament event is the sustained tournament, the contestants are subjugated to extreme pressure and hallucinations and other spells thrown at them by the masters of the tournament, all while also battling off opponents from other schools, last man standing wins.”

“A widespread spell is placed over the tournament location, causing everyone inside to suffer whatever effects the spell is causing, it is often changed at random throughout the fight to simulate the ever-changing battlefield of war were circumstances can change on the fly if the other army has skilled nobles in its ranks.” Krya nodded in agreement.

“The third event is the Rower and Ranger challenge, one person acts as the Rower of an unmotorized boat along a water channel, and the other acts as the Ranger, who will shoot down targets either on the banks of the channel or moving on the water channel itself. Both the time taken to reach the goal and the number of targets shot will determine the score.” the headmistress explained. “Speed and accuracy are key here.”

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“Fourth is the shield tournament, this one is only between two mages, each is given a shield, participants holding shields will battle in an elevated arena,” Krya said “winning conditions are either destroy opponent's shield, steal opponent's shield, cause opponent to drop shield and unable to recover it for 5 seconds or more, or knock opponent out of the arena,” she explained. “A participant can use both physical either with his body or the shield and magic attacks on the opponent's shield but only magic to knock an opponent off the arena. Physical strikes on the opponent's body are not allowed.”

“The fifth tournament is the cross country tournament, an obstacle course in the forest where participants compete by the time taken to clear it. Originally derived from infantry training menu used on the commoner armies, the obstacles can be natural or man-made.” The headmistress said.

“The sixth and final main tournament is the Ice Pillar Break,” Lira said, “two players stand on a tower, defending twelve pillars contained in twelve-meter square area while attacking twelve pillars in the opposition's field.”

“It simulates how a noble will act in war and battles, protecting his or her own troops while attacking the opponent's.” the headmistress interjected.

“Players compete to destroy the opponent's pillars before their own are broken. There is no need to use the body since players compete remotely with magic, so they may wear whatever they wish, with the only restriction being that "It Must Not Offend Public Order or Morals".” Krya said.

“Yes, it has led the women's Ice Pillar Break has more or less become a fashion show in recent years.” Lira smiled. “The last tournament is a duel between the two contestants with the highest score, winner takes all.”

“Are all the tournaments scored equally? Or are there some that are prioritized due to having more point value of victory?” Leon asked, he could already feel his blood boiling, he had a very good feeling about this, this was going to be fun.

“Each tournament challenge has a different point value, so yes there is prioritizing.”

“Icicle destruction is worth 25 points for the winner, 15 for second and 5 for third, no points are given to any other places, the cross country tournament has 20 points for first, and 10 for second, with every other team not receiving points, shield tournament has 15 points for the winner, and no points for anyone else, Rower and ranger has 10 points for first, 5 for second, subjugation has 20 points for the winner, and monolith has 60 for the winner, and 30 for second with other teams placing lower not getting any points.” Krya listed off the points like it was memorized in her head, and perhaps it was, knowing her.

“So, a total of 150 points if a team were to win every event?” he looked at them, “But even if you lose and come in second overall you have the chance to seize the win in the final duel correct?” he looked at the headmistress who nodded.

“Though it is highly unlikely anyone would ever win all the tournaments, that has never happened before,” she said a smirk in place on her face casting the stern look she normally had aside and making her seem like a mischevious teenager.

“I see, I must then be the first to do so...” Leon mirrored her smile.

“While that would be glorious,” the headmistress laughed, “It, unfortunately, is impossible seeing as barring any unfortunate injuries and deaths on your team each contestant can only be in three of the six main events.”

“Damn,” Leon growled, “So it is also about team composition,” he said, “That and knowing when to place which member in which tournament.”

“Yes, so, you four will be competing for the third year students, now I just need to get the fourth and fifth year’s teams formed,” she said standing and taking Eva with her.

“It's not a general tournament?” he asked looking at the headmistress.

“No, but there is one final event at the end, where each year’s tournament winners can challenge others of their titles, the challenged gets to decide which of the tournaments they wish to face the challenger in,” she winked, at Leon, “But whoever heard of a third year beating fourth and fifth years?” she laughed lightly as she walked out, leaving Leon smiling from ear to ear in anticipation...