Danny found himself on the island with his teammates - John, Sarah, and Zeus. Danny himself is an air mage hunter, John is a warrior hunter dealing with physical aspect buff, Sarah was a healer also dealing in extreme zone creation, and finally Zeus, being their nickname, was a lightning mage also dealing in spatial magic. They were all collectively S-rank hunter, except for John, who was an A-rank. His potency in tanking was required for this team composition.
Danny being the leader, started harping orders, "Alright, we need to be in the top 32 - let's reserve our strength for now. Go all out, when we encounter Blake team, if they decide they want to fight."
The announcement for the rank royal started and finalized. They were able to see the status board - with all the groups' name. Danny's team strategized and started heading slowly towards the center of the barrier - as it will enclose on them soon enough. They've had stayed in one place for a while - and carefully traversing through. Zeus used teleportation to scout ahead, and he reports back. No battles were done for Danny's team, and this was true for all teams as the status board remained unchanged.
By midday, Danny's team encounters 2 groups. They've had eliminated them from the tournament. They were short battles, as Danny's team synergy was amongst the best. They've had heavily relied on Danny's to neutralize air surrounding the other groups. Sarah had created zones. These zones allowed Zeus to shoot lighting with higher degree of precision when he is targeting his opponent. Zeus lightning surprises other group, without any sound to be reverberated. The other groups were prepared in this scenario, guarded. John applied physical aspect to themselves and Danny, that would allow them to move at supersonic speed. They then finish the other groups, one-sided with little to counter.
From midday to late afternoon, Danny's team racked up many tokens. The status board showed them to be number 2, compared to Blake's team, who were number 1. Showing only 60 groups remaining. Danny racked up 12 points, to Blake's 15 points. They've had noted all the name on the status board. At least for now, they are guaranteed to be in the top 32.
By evening - couple of hours before finishing, the barrier still enclosing. Danny's team recuperated their strength by Sarah creating a zone in the sky within the limit of the barrier and then masked themselves within other clouds in the formation. Zeus kept a lookout and he saw a through a roof of a dated building, a man just poking at something.
"Who is that, should we approach?" Zeus pointed.
Danny's looked over and said "No, no need. You can see all the groups below the top 32 trying to get the tokens."
Sarah looked at the status board, "There are only 43 groups remaining. Blake's and our team didn't change in terms of ranking - Ken's group is always at the bottom and they only have 1 token."
"Do you think that's them?" Zeus pointed.
"Maybe, maybe not, we don't know for certain. Let's wait and see" Danny responded.
As they waited to the final hour, Zeus commented on the lone man in a floral shirt just relaxing. The barrier centered around the building - locked. All the groups were within the vicinity of each other. Only 40 groups remained now. The bottom 8 groups were in tension, except for Ken.
Zeus pointed out "I recognized everyone except that last man, I think that last man is indeed Ken. How did they survive until now?"
"Don't know, at this point, we'll caution our defense." Danny focused on Ken. "It's look like couple of groups are arriving towards the building as a safe place."
Suddenly, defeating Danny's expectation - an announcement was made. "Congratulation, to the top 32, you'll continue on to the next stage of the tournament." Danny looked at Ken who shifted a bit from their location. Danny's team was teleported to a different area, only seeing the winners.
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"Look at the status board." Zeus alerted Danny showing a surprised face.
"Ken's is number 1 place, he has gotten 16 tokens somehow." Sarah pointed it out.
Danny looked at Blake, who was adorning a white silver armor looking back at him.
Han, the agent, "Congratulation to all who've had made this far. It was exciting to see high level combats from Danny's and Blake group."
Danny's team noted the look that Han gave Ken, who was counting on his fingers before continuing.
"For the rest of today, and tomorrow, please rest up. Strategize and we'll show the face-off bracket, tomorrow end of day. You will be escorted to the next hotel you will be staying at. Don't worry, your luggage will be transferred to your respective room."
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Rewinding time to morning of:
Ken started walking towards the center of closing barrier. He'd see a lot of different groups along the way but then he would run away after observing their team tactics when they fought others. I can beat them, but not without like extreme damage to their livelihood, Ken thought.
During the exploration, he would observe the different teams - and just try to take whatever sort strategy they've comes up with, as they are S-ranks. The difference between S and A rank is huge, S-rank hunters are usually identified with their unique take on an ability they have that would push them. Comparatively, S-rank and A-rank hunters with the same ability, the difference is how the S-rank hunter was able to uniquely use the ability they had and pushed it to the next level.
Ken strategized to just steal all the tokens during the last hour of the rank royal. Better to just take all the tokens, and just enjoy the scenery. Not like I can kill them - they are all extremely fast and strong, and I don't want to inadvertently cause any sort of drama in the first go-around.
Ken was counting on his fingers - trying to figure out how many groups he'll need to steal tokens from as he went towards the center. As the day progressed, Ken was idealizing the nature and his stance once he managed to the get money.
I'll need to get it managed, probably need a legitimate accountant. I don't necessarily need my money to grow, but I do need it safeguarded, at least until however long the currency is valuable for. I'll need to restructure of the downtrodden areas of the kingdom, I'll need to make it safe for others. Otherwise, what's the point?
Ken stopped to observe the whistling blow of the wind crashing around the trees. He felt vibrations around him, presumably from other groups battling each other.
Ahh, that's fun. Ken kept on the path to the center of the barrier - it was always adjusting.
He found a residential building. He entered it, tried exploring - and decided lazing around was enough. He observed the status board, found himself still in the last place of it in terms of ranking for all the surviving groups. He laid back on the top floor of the building.
I'll steal enough tokens to be number one when the time is nearing end. He closed his eyes to resume idealizing.Once, I have money, I can do a whole lot. Maybe start my own factions of power. Either way, my abilities that I have had been blessed with can end this world. I guess for most of my life, it has always about the next day, and money.
Ken dozed off for a bit, waking up throughout the day until it was nearing the end. Ken slowed down time and found any teams within his vicinity and took their tokens. He specifically targeted team that were desperate, at the bottom. For S-ranks, Ken was surprised that there was desperation he could see from the hunters. Maybe they want fame, increase their standing.
Until he had enough and managed to make only 32 teams last left standing. The announcement was made.
He found himself back in the room he was teleported out of. He was distracted, he was counting on his finger once again to see, how many tokens were left remaining.
He looked up and around, everyone was gone. The agent stood still and looked at Ken "You shall be escorted to your room."
"Where did everyone go?"
"They've been teleported to their designated area. You will be too. Relax up. We'll provide you who you will be facing off tomorrow, for the first day of Versus portion of the tournament." Han nodded.
Ken found himself in his new room - much larger than his previous place. This time - it had large pool along with the gym. He wasn't sure why the room had so much stuff, but he didn't mind it. I guess it would make sense for S-rank hunters to be accommodated.
I could live like this. Ken hopped into gym and started training. He had tomorrow to rest too, and then the tournament will continue.