Ceris' cold eyes were indifferent as she glanced towards Kiridian and Anya. She bowed deeply towards the queen, and stood back up. A group of twenty elves dressed in combat clothing knelt before her.
“My loyal warriors who have traveled here with me to our ancestral land, I greet you on this day as your King, and as a fellow warrior! I did not become your King by speaking flowery words or long-winded, so I will keep this short. I congratulate the participants before me for having the skill to be selected. For the members of the audience who are watching our tournament for the first time, I will explain how this tournament works.
“Before me are the twenty combatants we have selected prior to this tournament. These twenty combatants will be separated into four groups of five and fight each other until two remain. The eight that remain after the first round will face each other in matches based on how they performed in the previous round. The victor will be the final combatant, and this combatant will be given the honor of sparring with me. We are here to demonstrate our skills to the fairies and receive their guidance, so anyone who kills their opponent will also be killed, and the same goes for any permanent damage inflicted upon an opponent, such as the severing of any limbs or blinding of the eyes, even if it can be proven to be unintentional. If you do not possess the control or power to defeat your opponent without killing or permanently injuring them, then you do not deserve the honor of being a participant in this tournament.
“If there are any questions about this manner of battle, then that is unfortunate. I will not answer any questions about the tournament. With that being said, by my title and name, King Ceris of the Draiochta Elves, let the Tournament of Wairua Cruin begin!”
After explaining this much, Ceris strode to the edge of the arena and sat in a special viewing seat.
The first group of five approached the center of the arena, and the other fifteen sat in viewing seats.
Anya was about to ask about these combatants when a fairy projected their voice through the arena.
“Welcome to the first battle of the tournament in the first round! The first combatant is Tristan Paxidor, who uses a spear! He is descended from a long line of spear wielders and has inherited their technique of weaving magic around the tip of the spear to inflict more damage… Next is Adora Gwenevere, who fights with a lethal bare-handed style she has developed herself! Look at those abs! You can tell she never skips her daily routine! The third combatant is…”
He continued to introduce the elves individually until all five were introduced.
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Each of them waved to the crowd as they were introduced. They were fueled by the support of the audience, and being able to make a favorable first impression was the easiest way to obtain their cheers as they battled.
“Begin!” the fairy emcee announced.
Anya actually did not care much for these fights, and without meaning to, she fell asleep shortly after the fight began.
Queen Kiridian nudged her awake with a light grin, and a soft chuckle. Her eyes widened ever-so-slightly in surprise as she returned her focus to the arena.
“Oh? That bare-handed girl is using defensive magic to surround her hands instead of offensive magic. I thought that this style would be more volatile from the announcer’s description, but it seems she cares more about defending herself. Or is this because she is not allowed to kill her opponents…?”
Kiridian was watching the fight surprisingly closely and even analyzing the techniques used by the competitors. Anya did not understand how the queen could pay so much attention to it. To the small girl, it looked like a bunch of back and forth attacks that did not really matter.
“Is watching good fighters always so boring?” she asked, writing small characters so that others around her would not be offended.
The queen laughed. “I suppose this must look very dull to you, dear girl, but the fact that this battle has been going on for so long means that they are fairly evenly-matched. It might be that they are showing too much concern for their opponents, though.”
Suddenly, a spear pierced through the shoulder of one of the other opponents. They collapsed and grabbed the spear in their shoulder. Instead of removing it, the competitor sent a wave of magic through the spear’s shaft and electrified the spear-user. That poor man fell to the ground, his hair singed in a round, poofy ball surrounding his head.
The crowd cheered at the sudden turn of events, and the spear wielder disappeared, but so did the person who had been stabbed. After being pierced through and using that much magic, the person fell over, unconscious.
In just a moment, the drawn-out fight had gained so much momentum that victory was only one more competitor away.
The fist-user girl looked between her two remaining opponents. She exchanged a glance and a nod with one of them, and the two of them finished off the third competitor.
Anya glanced at Kiridian with an inquisitive expression.
“Since they do not need to defeat all of their opponents, you will see a lot of cases like this, where some of the competitors team up to defeat the rest of them. That bare-handed fighter was named Adora, I believe? She seems quite intuitive. She did not team up with the stronger of the two remaining.”
“Why wouldn’t she choose to team up with the stronger person?” Anya asked.
“She wants an easier opponent in the future,” Queen Kiridian smiled knowingly. “It is not a bad idea. She most likely wants to conserve her strength, and conserving strength is of the utmost importance on a battlefield. We are not searching for soldiers, but she certainly has that quality about her.”
The small girl’s eyes began sparkling as she began to understand what people found so interesting about these fights.
The top two for this battle had been decided, and Anya, who had been uninterested up to this point, began watching the battles with a renewed interest and vigor.