Tournament Preliminaries (1)
Tournament Preliminaries (1)
The tournament preliminary round is conducted more concisely than the main round.
Only the main round is streamed online and attended by outside observers.
The preliminary matches are simply the process of eliminating cadets for the main round.
Because of this, the matches are split across multiple venues rather than one arena, and schedule overlaps are common.
The first-years alone overlap, and when you factor in the upper years, the number of overlapping matches multiplies.
As a result, very few people carve out time to come watch another cadet's preliminary match.
Hence, the arenas where the tournament preliminaries are held usually overflow with empty seats and have a mostly quiet atmosphere.
"......"
Normally, that is.
Leaving the contestant waiting room and stepping onto the stage, I caught the buzz of murmurs and felt so many presences that the air seemed to stir.
The arena resembled a colosseum.
In the center was a spacious fighting pit covered in sandy earth, encircled by rounded spectator stands.
The sounds and presences from the stands were far from quiet. The place was packed and bustling, not unlike a marketplace.
There wasn't a single outside observer, only cadets, yet it was still this crowded.
Scanning with the Observation Authority, I found a fair number of seats filled. And it wasn't just the green neckties of first-years—I also saw red, yellow, and blue neckties.
Upperclassmen I had rarely encountered because our daily activity zones differed.
Among them were a few figures I knew of, albeit one-sidedly.
Someone who, if not cut down midway, would one day become a world-class powerhouse.
Someone who would make quite a name for themselves as a capable expert.
Someone with passable combat ability, but whose real benefit lay in befriending them for their factional advantages.
'And...'
I shifted the Observation Authority's viewpoint to one edge of the spectator stands. There, despite occupying a fairly out-of-the-way seat, was someone who drew many gazes.
A height longer than average, as if advertising superhuman status.
Striking, rigidly sharp features that caught the eye.
Brown hair loosely tied back, and verdant leaf-green eyes.
A bluntly chiseled face that stood out even among colors resembling earth and leaves.
'Lee Ji-yeon.'
The Successor of Taesan, whom I had never met before. A main character who had been active with me through the end of the 1st Iteration.
The moment I registered her.
- Ding!
An alarm I was now so accustomed to that it was almost tiresome went off. A sound like a small bell chimed in my ears.
I sighed and rubbed the crook of my neck.
I had no Confession Necklace, no hologram projector. Likewise, I wasn't wearing the Sky Wing Feather.
During the tournament, not only personal armaments but also internal artifacts acquired within Siyoram are prohibited.
I had left all of them behind.
Which meant there was no reason for an alarm to ring this clearly in my ears—this was no broadcast from the spectator stands.
I suppressed the scowl that threatened to twist my face. With so many eyes on me, frowning at my opponent as they stepped onto the stage would spark ugly rumors.
'The Status Window? Stats?'
An alarm of unknown origin.
I'd first registered it while recovering in the treatment room from the damage sustained in the Sipnaha Dungeon.
An alarm ringing in my ears even without my smartwatch. At first I was uncertain, but at some point I'd grown convinced it was sounding for me.
'Is it really the Status Window? Then why doesn't it appear?'
The first culprit that came to mind was the Status Window. But when I actually called up the Status Window internally, not a trace of it appeared.
It was almost enough to make me suspect genuine mental illness.
Swallowing a sigh inwardly, I loosened my body up.
On the opposite side of the stage, Aiden, gripping a longsword in one hand, was climbing up.
Swords clutched in each of our hands. A stage for sparring. The assorted gazes aimed at us from all sides.
The situation was strikingly similar to that time.
"It's been a while... er, well, not that long, I suppose. We saw each other in the lecture hall a few days ago..."
Haha...
Aiden trudged closer, checking his equipment but speaking with a strangely awkward manner.
A peculiar emotion seeped into his expression and tone. It seemed Aiden, too, found the current situation reminiscent of that time.
"......"
My own inability to speak was also identical. I hadn't resolved the curse back then, nor had I now; I was barely circumventing it with the Confession Necklace.
Not that everything was perfectly identical to that time.
[We will now commence the tournament preliminary match.]
Just then, the amplified voice of the adjudicator resounded throughout the building's interior.
[The rules are Virtual Sparring. Full combat including Body Reinforcement, Aura, magic, and Unique Abilities is permitted. Please be advised that this adjudicator, acting as referee, may halt the spar at any time at their discretion.]
This was different from that friendly spar. This was a Siyoram midterm evaluation: the backing was sufficient, including the Tower's power and more.
The conditions were similar to inside a Tower.
No one would die, at bare minimum, and wounds would be expressed as similar clusters of light as back then.
[Now, both sides, ready.]
- Shiiing
I drew my sword. A cold edge grazed my ear as I slowly settled into stance.
Across from me, Aiden, having composed his emotions, likewise drew his sword.
"Aiden Reynolds. I ask for a good match."
His two-handed grip extended the sword forward. Aiden spoke with force behind his eyes.
"This time, I won't let my guard down. I'll go all-out."
As if to prove his words, there was no trace of carelessness in his stance.
I nodded in response and spread the mana stored in my core throughout my body.
'Body Reinforcement Technique, manifest.'
[Then, begin the evaluation!]
The instant the voice rang out, both of us kicked off the ground.
The distance collapsed. The blades, clashing in the center, struck hard against each other.
- CLANG!
A harsh metallic sound erupted. Sparks flew, and a blade with chunks of Aura torn off was deflected upward.
"Kgh...!"
Unlike that time, the arm that was knocked back was Aiden's.
Even though his was a two-handed swing and mine was a one-handed swing.
Aiden, as though there was no cause for panic, immediately recomposed his stance and swung his sword in succession.
I observed the trajectory of the oncoming slashes. I tracked where the arc was aiming to cut and predicted the subsequent trajectories that would branch off from those follow-up strikes.
- Ching! Cha-cha-ching! Scraape...!
Sword clashed against sword. Blades scraped past each other, pushing with force as flashes flared.
My legs, planted firmly to maintain stance, continuously shifted position.
My upper body moved accordingly, evading attacks; my sword, tracing arcs in sync with my arms, sliced back at my opponent.
A spar was established.
Before long, one side began to be pushed back.
The one being driven back was Aiden.
Pressing Aiden relentlessly, I brought down a sword heavily laden with Aura.
A blue trajectory was drawn. Aiden, desperately parrying, hurriedly braced his sword with both hands to block.
BOOM!
"Gghk...!"
A groan escaped Aiden's lips. Both his legs dug into the ground. Dust billowed up from the caved-in earth, and Aiden's legs were slowly driven backward.
The two arms that had blocked my attack trembled as if caught in an earthquake. Soon, as though strength was failing, they were gradually pushed downward.
Perhaps judging that a contest of force was impossible. Aiden gritted his teeth sharply and shifted his center of gravity to his lower body.
He seemed intent on dispersing the downward pressure I was exerting, then exploiting the momentary opening to throw off my sword with a wide swing.
I predicted it. I responded accordingly.
At the moment he tried to shake free, I withdrew my sword first from my side.
Then, rotating my body toward his now-exposed upper body from his wide swing, I extended my Aura-clad leg.
WHAM! My foot, shattering through Aura and driving inward, slammed into Aiden's abdomen.
"Khurk...!"
Another explosive impact burst out as Aiden's waist folded sharply into a V-shape.
Unable to absorb the shock, Aiden was shoved backward, his feet scraping the earth.
I stuck to him instantly and slashed with my sword.
Aiden, unwilling to lose like this, couldn't even wipe the drool from his mouth as he extended his blade in response.
- Scraape... Cha-ching! Ching!
Swords entangled. The exchanges of clashing blades multiplied. Auras intertwined, and one side's Aura was unilaterally sheared away.
Shrrrk! A cluster of light erupted from Aiden's shoulder area.
Aiden's face crumpled sharply as he responded, but the successive invasion of my blade caused more clusters of light to fly continuously.
'Strength.'
In a straightforward contest of force, I held the advantage.
'Mana.'
In the quality and quantity of mana, its purity, and the resulting intensity of my Aura, I held an overwhelming advantage.
'Technique.'
Fundamentally, in swordsmanship and the technique for sustaining a battle, I also held the advantage.
It was Aiden who was being pushed back continuously. It was Aiden whose Aura was being stripped away, whose body was being carved into a mass of wounds.
"Huff... huff..."
Aiden, having created some distance, gasped out ragged breaths.
With each breath, the light-clusters playing the role of blood dripped from the wounds etched all over his body.
Wounds he had accumulated throughout the spar.
By contrast, my breathing wasn't even disordered, and my mana was overflowing rather than merely ample. I had permitted absolutely no injuries.
It was utterly one-sided.
Unlike last time.
Aiden hadn't let his guard down or underestimated me either. He had fought at full effort from the start, and yet this was the result.
Perhaps you could call it a sense of worlds-apart difference.
It was an exceedingly strange feeling.