The months passed, and all 10 teams of Rouclier's third-years managed to finish their missions without major incidents. During this time, Martin Crevier actively acted towards reconciling with Corvo and his friends by helping them during training and introducing them to guards who could provide them with useful information for missions. It did not take long for Corvo and Eleonora to accept his apology, as he seemed to genuinely regret the way he acted towards others. Brom, despite not having witnessed what happened, found it commendable that someone actively tried to change for the better after seeing their own wrongs. Even Sean, who was affected the most by his behaviour before, decided to let bygones be bygones. Despite it all, Mira still refused to have anything to do with him, as she believed it to be a facade forced upon him by his father. Despite her attitude towards Crevier, however, he never faltered in his resolve to right his wrongs.
So when the day came, on which the group needed to file their applications for the Cloud-Festival, and Corvo's group saw themselves confronted by a problem, Crevier all too gladly offered his help.
"No. I refuse.", Mira immediately responded to his proposal, causing a sigh from Sean.
"I know you don't like it, but there's nothing we can do. Third years are only allowed to join the team-division, and only teams of 3 are able to join the competition, making us one guy short.", he explained, but Mira had none of it.
"I can see that, but why'd it have to be my team?"
"We've been through this. We all want to join, so we need to Brom is going to be our tank, Eleonora will take the role of attacker, and I will be support. Your task will be to defend Corvo, who will charge his radiant spells to end the fight, and Martin would be the one supporting you both. You've seen him during training as well right? It pains me to say it, but he might have caught up to me in the last few months when it comes to being a bard."
"You mean he got better than you, eh?"
"Besides the point."
Crevier, who stood next to them could not help but grin at Mira's remark, which seemed to annoy her even more.
"That still does not explain why he has to be my team?"
With another sigh, Sean lead Mira a few steps away from the others, so he would be able to explain the reason to her in secret.
"Look, I know you got a thing for Corvo, that's why I put you in the same team as him.", he whispered, causing Mira's face to flush bright red.
"W-Wha-...No, I-...Huh?", Mira stammered out, her brain having shut down at Sean's statement.
"Don't worry, he has no idea, despite you being quite easy to read in my opinion. Anyway, the reason why I'm not in the same team as you is a similar one.", Sean continued, his face no longer being able to hide his own embarrassment.
"So you really did like Nora?", Mira blurted out.
"Shh, not so loud!", Sean shushed her, before looking back if any of their friends heard her. Seeing as the four were currently having a conversation of their own, he concluded that they did not, causing him to turn back to Mira.
"I don't want her to know about it before I know how she feels about it, okay? Anyway, ever since we became Team 6, I never managed to get some time alone with her so we could do something together. It's the same for you and Corvo, right? I already mentioned it to Brom, and he agreed to help me with this. I'm sure you can make the same deal with Martin."
"Yeah, but-!"
"Also, it would be the perfect way to find out if he was really just putting on a face in front of us, right? If you are still convinced that he is the same as he used to be, or if anything happens, we will immediately break all ties with him, you got my word on it."
"...Fine. But you'd better keep your word.", Mira begrudgingly agreed, before the two returned to the others.
And so, the two teams signed up for the upcoming Cloud-Festival, the third largest tournament held within Merdelum, with the largest being the Sword-Saint Tournament held in Corazón every 10 years in honour of the Liberator of the South, Freya Andrea Sangdracon, who traveled Corus together with her band of knights to save humanity from its demise.
The purpose of the Cloud Festival was to showcase the future of Merdelum's military to the rest of the nation, as Caelum was home to the 4 most prestigious military academies in the empire:
Lanceur, which only accepted students of noble descent
Jaunpée, an academy with a heavy focus on chivalry and swordsmanship
Verchet, which allowed students of all backgrounds to attend their military training
and Rouclier, which only allowed those with a talent for combat to join.
Additionally, the squires and young acolytes of the Ardent Path which received their education in the Feublan Monastery would join the teams of the other academies, both to fill in if a team was missing either a supporter or a tanking class, and to symbolize the cooperation between the military and the clergy during times of war.
Though it was not compulsory to join the tournament if one attended any one of these military academies, there was nary a year were there were not enough applicants to warrant it be held in the first place, both because of the prestige that a high placement in the tournament's ranking brought with it, which would result in multiple benefits after graduation, such as being able to choose the military branch one wanted to join, if any, as well as the prize-money, with 8th – 4th place each earning 33 Silver Lumen, 3rd place receiving 3 Golden Lumen, 2nd place being given 15 Golden Lumen, and 1st place collecting 33 Golden Lumen, an amount more than enough to feed a family of 5 and still have some left for other things.
Another reason for the amount of applicants were the protective measures put in place to ensure the safety of those who attended, as each participant would be given a medallion enchanted with a strong barrier spell, which would cause the wearer to give off a colourful aura, which indicated how much damage the barrier received. The aura would start off as blue, then turn to green upon receiving a certain amount of damage, then yellow, and lastly red. Once the aura turned red or the enchantment was broken, one counted as having fallen in combat, and was to remove oneself from the fight. To prevent injury after one's barrier being broken, 3 battle-medics would wait outside of the arena and remove those in danger of being harmed. However, as this was a combat tournament, the chance of crippling or even fatal injury was never zero, despite all the safety measures the military academies of Caelum came up with over the centuries the tournament was held.
As the name would suggest, the Cloud-Festival did not only entail the tournament, but also in festivities held all over the city, which lasted an entire week. It started with the arrival of the Emperor on the 20th of Gramen, who would officially declare the festival to begin in the evening of that day. Though this year's festival was overshadowed by the tragedies of war, Emperor Godrick still wished for everyone to be able to let go of all their worries for this one week and lose themselves in the distractions this festival would provide.
As the tournament was held from the 21st to the 23rd, Corvo and his friends decided to prepare for the tournament and join the festivities afterwards. At 8 in the morning on the 21st, the line-up for the preliminary matches was put out on a signboard in front of the entrance to the Cloud Colosseum, which would be held without attendance of the public in the spectator seats starting at 10 'o' clock. This time only 32 teams signed up for the tournament, which meant that each team would be fighting twice as each year only the top 8 would actually fight in the main event on the next day. On the last day of the tournament, the finals would be held, followed by the award ceremony shortly after.
"Huh, looks like we won't fight each other, at least not in the preliminaries.", Sean remarked after scanning the list.
"You're lucky then, because we would have cleaned the floor with you, right, Corvo?", Mira asked while nudging him.
"Of course."
"It is good to see my team-mates to be in good spirits, though we should probably end the friendly banter at that. Ours will be the second match of the day, so we should probably prepare accordingly.", Martin Crevier called out, earning him a rather unwelcome look from Mira.
"Reasonable. See ya in the main event then!", Sean stated as he held out his hand for a handshake, which was grasped by Corvo.
"No doubt about it!"
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As the preparations for the preliminary rounds were finished, the 4 headmasters of the participating academies as well as Lucas Benett, Bishop of Éclat and occupant of the Rooster-Seat of the 12 Zodiac Knights of Merdelum, met in the VIP area, as they would be watching to make sure everything went as it should. However, it seemed as if not all of them wanted to simply watch.
"I am just saying, I have full confidence that one of us is going to win this year, and I would like to back up this confidence with a little... competition of our own.", Oliver Doré Fortescue, holder of the Pig-Seat of the 12 Zodiacs and headmaster of Lanceur emphasised his point. He was a rather chubby looking middle age man with short red hair and a full beard wearing an expensive looking light-blue tabard. Despite his rather large body, his rotund appearance hid within it the muscles of someone who could lift a boulder the size of a cow with one hand without much effort.
"Being overly confident may not be a sin, but illegal gambling definitely is. However, I choose to belief that I have just misheard you there, Sir Fortescue.", mentioned Benett in a disappointed tone.
Seeing his colleague berated by the bishop caused Vincent Gerald Achila, holder of the Rat-Seat and headmaster of Verchet to chuckle. He was a rather short man with pale white skin, smooth, pitch black hair and a beard consisting of a moustache-goatee-combi wearing a similar black military uniform as Calros did.
His small physique, the pitch-black hair, and the almost sickly pale skin were the trademark appearance of an Ashen-Human, who, according to ancient legends, were the descendants of humans born with dark-elemental spirits, similarly to how the light-skinned Borassians were said to have descended from those born with fire-, wind-, or earth-spirits, and the darker-skinend Meridians, who descended from those born with earth- or water-spirits.
"Oh, something funny, Achila? Do tell me, when was the last time one of your teams won anything?", Fortescue taunted him in return, causing his mood to turn sour.
"As if you are any better! You know as well as I do that if the tournament had been held in the last two years..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The words of a sore loser is what I know.", Fortescue continued mockingly as he noticed that he had struck a nerve.
However, before the situation could escalate, the only one among them not currently occupying one of the Zodiac's seats, headmaster of Jaunpée and former Knight Captain Simon Léo Rochefort decided to intervene. Unlike the others, he had decided to appear in full-plate armour as he felt naked without it, or so he kept telling those who asked him about it.
"Now now, bickering here will accomplish nothing. The only thing that matters is results."
"I have to agree with Rochefort here. And if anything, I'm almost certain that Rouclier will be the ones to take 1st place, just like last time.", Calros added smugly, adding fuel to the fire that Rochefort tried to put out as the 5 continued towards the VIP area.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
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Corvo's staff-hand started to shake as he approached the east-entrance of the arena together with his teammates.
"Nervous, hm?", Crevier asked him, and he nodded.
"Do not worry. I made sure to prepare us for all eventualities."
"I don't like to admit it, but he's right.", Mira added with a sigh.
"As long as we follow his lead, there shouldn't be too much trouble, at least not in the first few rounds."
Crevier could not help but grin at her admitting his brilliance, though he chose to keep silent over it, as the three finally stepped out into the light.
It took a moment to adjust his eyes to the natural light of the sun, but after he was able to see again, Corvo could not help but be in awe of his surroundings. In front of him was a large raised platform, which was about four times the size of those he had become accustomed to in Rouclier, with a staircase leading up to it in front of him. Surrounding it was a circular perimeter made solely out of dirt, which separated the viewer-ranks from the fighting-platform, and where Corvo could make out 4 people who wore the official uniform of combat medics.
The viewer-ranks were situated about one yard above the ground-floor, and, as he was told by his teachers, could hold up to 40.000 spectators, not counting the VIP lounge on the north-side of the arena, which only had enough space for 33 people. All seats but a few among the VIP-section were currently vacant, however, as only the headmasters of the different academies and a few among their teachers were allowed to spectate during the preliminaries. Corvo immediately managed to discover the bald head of Headmaster Calros among the unfamiliar faces in the VIP lounge, who was currently involved in a conversation with Professor Lambert and Lady Karm.
As soon as Corvo's group had reached the top of the platform, however, the three stopped talking and now focused on what was going on below them. Together with them, their opponents arrived as well. Just as it said on the line-up, he could recognize their classes being that of a cleric, easily identifiable by the white priest-robes, a ranger, who was wearing leather armour and brandishing a bow, and a brawler, someone who fought without weapons. Unlike Corvo's team, their opponents did not wear the same uniform, making them look as if they had just randomly come together to compete in the tournament, despite all three of them attending Verchet.
In the middle of the platform stood the referee, a middle-aged man in a black suit who looked more like a butler than the referee for a combat-tournament, who motioned them to get closer so he may repeat the rules to them.
"Before we start, present your shield-pendants for inspection to ensure a fair competition."
They did as they were told, and, after having looked over each of them, the referee told them to attach them clearly visible somewhere on their body to make it easier for the medics to retrieve them from the arena once they had shattered.
"With that out of the way, a brief summary of the rules:
You are allowed to forfeit at any time during the competition.
Combat is only permissible within the confines of this platform and only with an intact pendant. If the ground or walls outside the arena are touched, or your pendant is shattered or somehow removed, you are considered eliminated, and no longer able to interact with the remaining contestants.
Any attack which is found to be carried out with lethal intent will result in immediate disqualification of the entire team, as will the use of items which were banned from the competition, and any spell, skill, or attack carried out by someone who has already been eliminated. Any actions carried out before I have started the fight will result in immediate elimination of the one who carried out the action.
Any questions?"
"No, sir!", they answered in unison.
"Very well. Team-Captains, shake hands and get into position."
Crevier and the Brawler approached each other and did as they were told.
"Let's have ourselves some fun, eh?", the brawler said with a grin, but Crevier only smiled back and nodded, before the two parted and got in position.
The referee now stood at the edge of the platform and held up his right hand.
"1st round of the preliminaries match 3, Rouclier versus Verchet, ready your weapons. 3...2...1...Begin!"
Mira was the first to move, jumping in front of the brawler and aiming her spear at his head. However, as he tried to intercept the blow, she changed the direction of her attack, aiming for the stomach instead. As the brawler noticed this too late, he was not only hit, but also hit hard enough to be flung outside of the arena. While the other two were shocked by their leader having been disposed off this early, Corvo channelled a
"Winner: Rouclier!", the referee announced, and Corvo's team high-fived each other in celebration, before leaving the arena.
Their next fight, against a team of the same composition from Jaunpée was won in a similar manner, all thanks to their quick coordination.
At the end of the day, Corvo's team found out that Sean's team had won their preliminary matches as well. However, before the preliminaries had started, the two teams had vowed not to meet up until the tournament was over, so they may steel their resolves and become able to go all out against one another if they were to face off in the later rounds.
On the next day, Corvo's team was informed that they were up against another team from Rouclier, but not which one.
Seeing as Mira and Corvo were quite nervous about the next round, especially since their opponents could be their friends, Crevier decided to distract them by reviewing their plan one more time.
"Okay, listen up. Yesterday went well because we knew our opponents beforehand, and thus were able to prepare strategies against them. This will not be the case today, so it will be good to go over our strategy once more. You still remember the plan if we were to go against Riddar's team, right?"
The other two nodded.
"Don't worry, it will work. If it is someone else, we will split the party and force them into one on ones. Close range for Adelaide, mid-range for me, and long-range for Rhedi. If someone manages to take out their target first, they help whoever is struggling the most. If our opponents team up on one of us, Adelaide will jump in and act as a tank, while Rhedi and me will take them out one by one. Oh, and no radiant magic before I give the order, as it will be our hidden trump card. I know it may not sound like the greatest of strategies, but trust me, it will be quite effective. Any questions?"
"Nope."
"No."
"Good, then let us go out and greet the crowd, shall we?"
The difference between the previous day in the arena of the Cloud Colosseum and this one was indescribable.
As soon as the three stepped into the light of the arena, the noise of a crowd of 40.000 people reached their ears, a truly deafening sound. It took a moment to adjust to the sudden assault on their senses, but when they did, they could see someone standing in the middle of the arena who they had not seen before. He was wearing the same black suit as the referee, who was standing close-by, though he wore it in a more casual, almost slovenly manner. His shirt was not tucked into his pants, his jacket was only thrown over his shoulders, and he was not wearing a tie. The blonde hair of the man was gelled back and he was wearing black sun-glasses. In his right hand, which was decorated with several golden rings, he held a magic-tool which looked like a small metal-wand with a black crystal-ball on the end, which Corvo recognized as being an Magivox, a magical device which amplified the voice of anyone speaking into it.
The man was spinning the magivox in his hand, before enthusiastically addressing the spectators with it.
"Imperial Majesties and Her Holiness, Ladies and Gentleman! Next up is not any match, nay, it be a battle between friends turned foes! Two teams of fellow 3rd-Years of Rouclier will face each other in the quarterfinals of the Cloud Festival, and fight for their right to advance to the next round! Coming in from the East-Gate, give it up for TEAM CREVIER!"
The man pointed at them, as the crowd erupted into cheers, and the three started to nervously wave at the crowd as they approached the middle of the arena. Corvo tried to find his parents in the crowd, but the sheer amount of people made it impossible to find them. As the three reached their position, the announcer pointed opposite from them, and spoke up again.
"And from the West-Gate, make some noise for TEAM CALEDON!"
Corvo recognized the name from the practical exams, though he did not recognize his face. The one he did remember as she and the rest of the team approached them, however, was Marie Libra, the water-mage who attended the same elemental-magic lessons as he did, and the girl named Lugn, who had passed her exam together with Eleonora.
However, he was not able to contemplate about it for long, as the announcer continued.
"Alright! Team-Captains, step forward and shake hands!"
The two did as they were told.
"On your positions!
READY?
SET!
FIGHT!"
As soon as the fight started, Crevier started to whistle a short melody, which caused Mira to briefly become engulfed in a golden shimmer, before she clashed with Caledon. Shortly after, he was attacked by Lugn, though he was able to deflect the daggers thrown at him with his sword. Corvo himself did not have the opportunity to sit idly by either, as Libra started to chant a spell which seemed to have been aimed at him.
'Just like Crevier said, a similar tactic to what we used in the first bout.', Corvo thought, as he channelled a spell of his own. However, this time, Corvo aimed at Caledon, and not the other ranged-attacker, with Mira quickly jumping out of the way as his
"WHAT A START INTO THE BATTLE! Team Crevier quickly takes control of the flow of the battle, leading to the elimination of their opponent's captain! Will the rest of Team Caledon be able to recover?", yelled the announcer, as the crowd started to grow louder with the first elimination.
However, just as Caledon made his exit, Mira was hit in the back by two daggers, which caused her pendant, which absorbed the damage, to shatter.
"Cadet Adelaide of Team Crevier receives lethal damage from expertly thrown flying daggers, courtesy of Team Caledon's Cadet Lugn! With both heavy-hitters out of the picture already, the end of the fight might already be in sight!"
Crevier, who was not able to occupy his opponent's attention for long enough for Mira to recover, cursed under his breath as he wanted to close the distance between him an Lugn, though two curved
"Another one bites the dust as Cadet Rhedi avenges his teammate with 2 curved
Crevier manages to evade to of the tentacles and cut a third one aimed at his head, though a fourth one managed to swipe him of his feet and sent him flying towards the edge of the barrier. Before he landed outside, Crevier threw his sword at Libra, who deflected it with the last remaining tentacle. However, this made her defenceless against what happened next, as Corvo had already channelled another
"WE HAVE A WINNER! A clever distraction by Cadet Crevier leads to Cadet Libra's last defending vine to be used up, and Cadet Rhedi closing the deal! Give it up for the winner of this round: TEAM CREVIER OF ROUCLIER!", the announcer called out, and the crow erupted in cheers.
Both teams assembled on the arena once more for a final handshake, before making their way outside of the arena from the entrances they came from.
On their way to the exit, Corvo's team saw that their friends were already waiting to be called for their own fight.
"Heh, looks like you need to work on your teamwork a bit, hm?", commented Sean in a joking matter, after Eleonora and Brom congratulated them on their victory.
"I admit, I was not expecting Lugn to change target immediately as the opportunity arose. If it was not for Corvo's quick reaction, this fight might have ended in our loss because of me.", Crevier answered truthfully, though Sean just shook his head.
"Nah, I'm just joking. You guys are doing pretty well, though you won't stand a chance against us!"
"Then you'd better make sure to win this fight, you hear me?", Mira chimed in, followed by Corvo nodding along.
"No worries, we got this, right guys?", he asked the other two.
"Of course!"
"Hm!"
Just as they had finished their conversation, they could hear the voice of the announcer once more.
"Now that the dust has settled, get ready for the next fight!"
"Alright, that's our cue! See ya in the semifinals!", Sean, Eleonora, and Brom quickly said their goodbyes before entering the arena.
"Come on! Let's hurry and get a seat in the viewer-ranks before the fight starts!", Mira calls out to Crevier and Corvo, and the three started to hastily make their way upstairs.