Zalan watched as onlookers immediately jumped to join the battle. People older and younger than him rushed out of the arena to confront the approaching monster. They were eager, ready to show off their own strength after having been inspired by the tournament’s fights.
“Why can’t we help? I bet some lightning in its eyes would be a good way of keeping it at bay,” Zalan said, watching a crowd grow to confront the massive monster.
“It is a strict rule. In the past, there were contestants that would hurt one another in the pandemonium of a fight with a monster to get an advantage in the ring. There were also those that would enter a certain competition and then gain Levels whenever they were not fighting in order to completely overpower the fighters in their bracket,” Nold said.
“But this is different! That thing looks huge,” Zalan said.
“There are many of us. We will be able to overpower it without many casualties,” Nold assured him, standing up casually.
“Many casualties? You mean any casualties, right?” Zalan asked, disturbed.
Nold left without another word, running across a path of sand in the air. The sand would sprinkle to the earth below when he passed it.
“What do we do?” Rep asked.
“Let’s get a good view. If we need to help out, then we will,” Zalan suggested.
“Right.”
Rep and Zalan ran across the stands. Many other tournament contestants had the same idea and were gathering over the edge of the stands closest to the Basilisk to get a good vantage point. Those that were rivals in the ring got close to watch the battle commence without hesitation. Any disagreements between fighters were put aside whenever a monster was involved. Zalan glanced around and noticed that Slauson wasn’t in the group of spectators. He remained seated, looking bothered by the fact the tournament had been delayed. Zalan half considered going to invite him over, but the Basilisk distracted him.
The Basilisk had reached the bottom of the canyon and was nudging over the tents and tables that led inside, looking for food within. Its tongue slid in and out quickly as it evaluated the area. Its eyes landed on the growing wall of humans. Before it could decide what to do with them, the human barricade threw an assortment of Elemental Power at it. They were striking it with water, earth, sand, fire, plants, and air, all at different sizes depending on the Wisdom of the one using the power.
“So much power, but…” Rep said, his voice trailing in concern.
“They are not even damaging it.” Liv was next to them, staring in horror. Epanor was with her, his jaw clenched tightly.
The Basilisk poked its tongue out, then reared its head back, towering over those defending the canyon. Baring its man-sized fangs, it breathed out a noxious green and blue gas that descended on the defenders. With a single whiff, a few on the front lines fell down. To Zalan’s dismay, he saw one of them was Leon. Umdarr blasted the gas away with Elemental Air and directed everyone to focus on a single point of the Basilisk’s head. Right where the brain should be.
“Where is Nold?” Zalan asked.
“He slacks behind. Typical of a man of status,” someone answered, pointing.
Rep and Zalan followed the finger to see Nold watching with folded arms about fifty feet away from the action. It didn’t seem like he was participating at all. They frowned in disappointment.
Looking back upon the action unfolding, people rushed in with imbued weapons to slash at the Basilisk hide. They were making marks, but overall doing little damage. With a whip of its tail, it slapped aside twenty defenders at once, sending them soaring through the air. Umdarr tried to slow their fall with air, but only succeeded in saving half of them from a hard crash into canyon earth and walls.
The Basilisk decided that it was done playing with its food and opened its jaw wide, swooping its head down and stabbing three men through their legs with a fang. It tried to eat them, but they were pulled off by their comrades. The three injured were left screaming on the ground in terror and agony.
“That’s it, we gotta help,” Zalan said, getting up nervously.
The others looked at him hopefully, and he couldn’t move. The Basilisk was massive and was able to take down more experienced fighters like it was nothing. It reminded him of the Elemental Dragon. What could he do to help against odds like that? He couldn’t rely on gaining a Level when there were no other monsters around to kill.
“We have to,” Rep agreed, standing next to him. He was trembling lighty. Rep’s apparent fear inspired Zalan. There was no courage without fear.
“Can someone help us jump down? Anyone with Air Elemental Power or something? I don't wanna walk all the way around and waste any time,” Zalan said quickly.
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The other fighters stared at him blankly.
“Is this about hiding your Element? There are lives at stake!” Zalan pressed.
“Look!” one of the fighters pointed back to the Basilisk.
The monstrous snake was leaned back far, billows of sand blowing aside. It was being blasted by a focused burst of air by all the air users in the battle. It was dragged slightly, on the floor. The Basilisk tried to slither forward to make up the lost ground, but was hit by an even bigger airwave, one stronger than the rest of the blast combined. It rose and sailed through the air, twisting violently as it tried to regain its bearings. The wind threw it all the way back to the top of the canyon, dragging it against the earth at the lip. The Basilisk looked over the crowd of humans from the top of the canyon, assessing whether it was worth slithering back down. It hissed once, sharply, then slid away.
The crowd cheered wildly, joined by the contestants that sat out of the fight.
“Looks like he assisted in the end,” Rep nudged Zalan in excitement.
Zalan noticed that Nold’s hand was held out toward where the creature was. Evidently he did help. Though it couldn’t have been much at the distance he stood from it. Zalan wondered what kind of assistance he had done. It made him feel better about his mentor. He was odd sometimes, but not totally malicious.
“Incredible feat to be able to beat it back without a single life lost. A Basilisk may as well be a Beast of Slumber with its strength as a monster,” Liv said.
“No!” Epanor barked suddenly, causing Liv, Zalan and Rep to jolt. They weren’t used to hearing his voice, and especially not that loud. “That thing was nothing like a Beast of Slumber. A creature like that would spell certain death for all of us. Be grateful they remain asleep. A powerful burst of air from an experienced fighter would do next to nothing to a Beast of Slumber.”
As Zalan reflected on Epanor’s words, a sudden realization poked his stomach with dread.
“Who did that? The wind, I mean,” Zalan asked suddenly.
“It was probably the collective power of those that could control the wind,” someone answered.
“No, we saw that at the beginning of the fight,” Zalan said. “This was different. A focused stream of air that threw a whole Basilisk up in the air. It looked like it came from right in front of the snake.”
“You didn’t notice? That was Umdarr,” Liv pointed out.
“You’re sure it was him?” Zalan asked.
“I saw it as well. What does it matter who did it?” Rep asked, curious.
“Zandar wishes to change his mentor for someone more powerful and willing to fight on the front lines,” one of the fighters said facetiously.
Zalan was so focused on the crowd that he didn’t even notice someone saying his name wrong. He was trying to pinpoint anyone out of place. He looked at Umdarr several times, his mind jumping to conclusions.
“What are you looking for?” Rep asked Zalan, quiet enough so only his friend could hear.
“Why didn’t he start with that blast? Why did he wait until people got hurt?” Zalan asked.
“A good question. What is it leading to?”
“It’s… I don’t know. It might be nothing. Something Yelsa once told me about,” Zalan said, his eyes jumping between each man he saw in the crowd, but lingering on Umdarr.
There could be someone very evil among them. Yelsa had told him to be wary of powerful Elemental Air users. And he had never seen such a powerful display of air before.
“Zalan, what is it? You are concerning me,” Rep said.
“Yelsa told me about the person who made her jump off of Aetheria,” Zalan said. He waited for Rep to tell him that Atheria was just a legend, but Rep remained silent. Zalan continued, “His name is Morloch and he lives on the surface of the world now. She said he’s really manipulative and messed with her head in Aetheria. He’s supposedly a really strong Elemental Air user. I… I don’t know for sure, but he might… He might be...”
Rep understood the implication. Someone here may have been the one that convinced Yelsa to jump off the city in the sky. They could be manipulating a new student at this very tournament. Or running the tournament itself. Someone here might be Morloch the Manipulator.
The crowd had just finished congratulating one another and began making their way back to the arena for more fights. The fighters who were gathered around Rep and Zalan dispersed. They seemed a little too quick in heading back to their seats and Zalan suspected that their mentors said not to fraternize with other fighters.
Umdarr was bellowing thanks in his amplified voice. Doctor Quill was being ignored as she tried to call the injured fighters back to the tent. Even the three who were stabbed by the fangs felt more compelled to limp back to the stadium rather than get their wounds checked out. Zalan could tell people in this world didn’t take their wounds nearly as seriously when they could literally sleep it off in a nearby city.
There was a new levity among the spectators as they filled the stands once more. Not only did they have fights they were looking forward to, they now had a fight they had participated in. They were already exchanging tales of how they threw everything they had at the monster only for it to shrug it off like they were all Level 1. No one seemed concerned in finding out who it was that got rid of the giant snake in the end.
Umdarr took his place back in the center of the fighting stage and let the crowd get comfortable before continuing the tournament.
“That may have been the best fight we will see in this canyon!” Umdarr said brightly, applauding all the fighters of the giant snake with hands above his shoulders.
The crowd ate the praise up, exploding in overwhelming agreement. Umdarr clapped for a few seconds, letting the praise settle in their minds as their energies cooled down.
“That being said, are we ready for the next tournament fight?” Umdarr asked, placing a hand behind his ear.
Again, the audience exploded in cheer, shouting for him to continue the show.
“Excellent! Then, my fighting friends, I am pleased to announce that this will be the last battle before the Round of 16 begins!” Umdarr declared.
His words were met with applause, but not nearly the same enthusiasm. They expected a lot more fights before settling on the last 16 contestants. Apparently, they had not been informed on the low fighter turnout this year and had expected more out of the Elemental Rage Tournament.
“How exciting! A battle after a Basilisk! Time to bring out the final fighters before creating the brackets!” Umdarr called out.