The two awoke the next morning feeling like they got hit by a truck; their muscles were sore, they had headaches, and were fairly sensitive to both light and sound. Bernard was especially feeling the after effects due to it being his first forced turning, but managed to pull through with limited injury and damage to the building. The new alloy chains that Irene had made did their job, neither Bernard or Tempest had been able to break them, so after she got dressed she undid both chain and brought them back with her to keep for a later time. Since she had to use the current day to recover, she would spend the majority of the following day shadow sparing that way she was able to get her mind and body ready for the tournament the following day.

Soren, Skadi, and Tempest were all lined up on a large raised platform with hundreds of other contestants. This platform was one of five other platforms; S, A, B, C, and D, each with guildmembers from various guilds waiting for the officiant to begin the tournament. There were ten guilds that resided in Acarcia and each one had representation at this tournament; Twilight Dragons, Dominating Titans, Voracious Poison, Silverwood Paradox, Azure Sky, Crimson Sun, Emerald Star, Shadow Crusaders, Mystical Vanguard, and Night Hearts. The Dominating Titans guild while the most overbearing was not the number one guild, that honor belonged to the Shadow Crusaders guild. While the guilds had a current ranking their overall power was fairly close to each other, the only exception to that was the Twilight Dragons guild who was far weaker than the rest. Each guild possessed four S rank adventurers, while the Twilight Dragons guild only had two. That trend continued to every rank until B, the tournament put a cap on the number of participants from B rank down and limited it to ten participants per guild. One hundred competitors in each bracket from B rank and lower made it so the format of the tournament had to change, instead of a normal bracket type tournament they first would have a king-of-the-hill free for all fight and the last ten remaining on stage would then earn the right to fight in the bracket. The free for all fights would take place all at the same time, then once the winners were decided, the brackets would take place in ascending order. D bracket would go first, followed by C and so on. C bracket's first round would not start until D brackets first round was over, that way the contestants from each bracket get a break between fights. A and S brackets will not start at all until there is a champion in the D, C, and B brackets. The contestants are so powerful and famous in the other two brackets that the officiants want the crowds focus to be solely on those contestants.

A tall man in a suit walked up on stage, he was a human with white hair and glasses, but his physique did not seem to coincide with his age. "Goooooood Mooooorning Illyeria!," The announcer began and the crowd roared in anticipation, "While the guildmembers separate themselves out onto the appropriate platform for the battle royal portion of this tournament we are going to go over a few rules. First, this is a friendly competition between guilds. I know things get heated, especially when your battling and blood is boiling, but there will be NO deadly force, I repeat NO deadly force. Killing or maiming beyond healing, your opponent will not only strip you of any chances of participating but you will be exiled from the guild as well as persecuted by the law. We take this very seriously. Secondly, weapons will be allowed however, before the match the weapons will be imbued with a magic edge that prevents serious injury. The edges are magically blunted so bones can still break, but will not be able to amputate anyone's body parts. Upon the conclusion of the match the magic edge around the weapon will be removed. Thirdly, there are three ways to win your matches; knock the opponent unconscious, force them outside the platform, or force them to give up the fight. Lastly, remember to take these fights seriously, for those that are new this is a way to demonstrate your guild's ability to complete a job the better you do the more business your guild will receive. With that being said the battle royal for B, C, and D will now commence good luck to all!"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

While the contestants were gathering onto their respective platforms the moderator confront both Bruno and Tempest, "I'm terribly sorry but Tempest will have to partake in the D bracket."

"What for?," Inquired Bruno.

"It has come to our attention that she was just added to the guild yesterday and while it is within your right to promote whomever you wish there hasn't even been enough time to process her promotion paperwork so she cannot be recognized as being a C ranked adventurer just yet."

"That's fine, I didn't really want to go against Soren anyway," said Tempest resigned, 'I don't really want to reveal my lycanthrope form anyway and if I am in C block I may have to.'

Tempest made her way towards the D platform while Soren and Skadi stood on the C block platform. The atmosphere was the same with both blocks, being seen as the weakest guild but also stealing a significant amount of business with their new alchemist, the Twilight Dragon Guild had become the target of every block, their thoughts were to weed out the weaklings quickly and only then would the real tournament begin. Once the horn sounded pandemonium ensued; Tempest was throwing severing claws left and right while using her telekinesis to push people off the platform, Soren used shadow meld as he would continually leap out knocking people out, and Skadi was using her icy road ability to zoom around the platform decimating everyone she came in contact with a lightning quick pace. "What is this!!?" Questioned one of the people in the stands, "Other than their few good B, A, and one S rank adventurers Twilight Dragon Guild has never had such strong people."

"They must be newer, at least within the last four months or so," said another spectator.

Tempest was true to her word and never used her lycanthrope form, after eliminating nearly twenty competitors herself she used her invisibility spell and began picking people off without being noticed by the others within her bracket. Soren's group was the largest and eliminating people by popping in and out of the shadows was going too slowly for him, additionally if he ended up too close to someone who was using fire, lightning, or light magic, or any magic that emitted light of some kind would force him from his shadow anyway. [Sonic Shockwave] a huge force expelled from Soren's mouth, a loud rawr and energy could be seen coming from Soren's direction and the contestants had to stop fighting each other to brace for the force of the attack. Whether the ones hit by the attack were successful or not in blocking they were launched from the platform. Skadi added to the chaos, using gale winds and tornados, she expelled contestants from the platform as easily as Soren. She was also using her icy road ability extremely well all but ignoring the contestants feeble attempts to deal any kind of damage to her. After nearly ten minutes a buzzing could be heard as the final ten contestants on the D block platform stood tall, Tempest being one of them. She was slightly out of breath but otherwise unharmed and she managed to make it to the top ten without transforming, which was her goal she wanted to keep that form hidden even if it meant losing.

C block was still going strong and even though Soren and Skadi weren't struggling with their opponents, the combatants were much more resilient and not as easily as knocked out. Some of the ones that had been knocked out either physically or just out of the platform had done so without revealing their own hidden trump cards. In a competition like this, if you have to reveal your trump just to make it through the preliminary round you're most likely not strong enough to win anyway so keeping them hidden is worth much more in the long run. After another few minutes the last buzzing resounded signaling the end of the preliminary rounds. Soren and Skadi were among those that lasted till the end, and with all the fighting Skadi managed to level up her unarmed fighting style the Nemean Lion Baran as well. Ten contestants were left on stage as the crowds cheered the combatants left onstage, Soren having a conflicted look on his face.

It certainly had been a long time since he fought Skadi earnestly.