2 The Competition Begins

"Your pretty late Sabino is the Emerald family snubbing the Sky Peak Academy?" Niklaus Prodst sneered at Sabino with burning furry in his eyes. Nicklaus a bony old man with saggy skin is an aggressive elder of the Prodst family always ready to fight.

Lituccia Dunne laughed her curvaceous body shaking. "Now Niklaus that's not true at all. No one would mind waiting for the great hero youth from the Emerald family." Her scandalous clothing barely containing her considerable bosom. She's a poisonous snake that has killed many with her beauty during her 35 years.

Sabino harrumphed giving a quick glare to Raul before confronting the two enemies. "We're on time we just had a bit of business before arriving." It was clear that he blamed Raul for the tardiness. The two families often liked to push the trouble in the Emerald family hoping for the internal strife to intensify.

"As amusing as your minor squabbles are we did not come here to watch another street battle." With an imperial aura Kang Lingxin diffused the situation. She has cold eyes and conservative robes.(Chinese names are being written with family name then first name)

No one wanted to give off a bad impression so they stifled the local rivalries and prepared to enter the battle platform a small colosseum near the cities center. As they entered the arena was already full of activities with many youths arriving long ago. Only Raul lacked excitement for this exhibition enough to arrive just on time. All the families split off to their own sections to prepare. Raul scanned the other youths with disinterest many had smiles that weren't smiles. While it's true he wasn't late it was clear that everyone expected the youths to be early.

A young lad ran over not noticing the faces of his fellows. "Brother! What took you so long. I thought you might not even come." The 5 year old boy is Raul's younger brother Adrian. A genius in his own right he'd only started his true cultivation 6 months ago yet he had passed up many of the 6 year old youths. Unlike Raul he was known for being both out going and heroic.

Raul Smiled while patting his brothers head "How could I not come? I wouldn't hear the end of it."

Adrian pushed the hand away "I'm not a kid any more! You better watch out or I'll beat you."

"I look forward to it." Raul shook his head and looked at the stands where their parents were sitting. With a pompous looking teacher clearly enjoying the pampering he was getting. They looked just like the heroes from legends. Their mother Anabele lightly waved to them while their father Richard focused gaze looked into the future.

Peng the patriarch of the Kang family banged his staff on the ground. "It is time for the friendly exhibition to begin! There will be no killing, maiming, or settling of grudges on this day." Pausing he made sure to look at all the families making sure they understood he was serious. "All the names of the participants have been randomly chosen by great Teacher Theodore's assistant. So there is no bias in the choices. Your opponent has been decided by fate." As he sat back down the names were revealed on a preset board.

The names were split by age and the winner would be added to the next age group going until defeated. "It's hard to jump one year and almost impossible to jump two. Do any of you believe such a candidate is among these youths?" Theodore asked to the house heads while sipping a bit of wine.

"I doubt it. Since there are geniuses in each year. If this was a normal competition where there wouldn't be many geniuses participating things would be different I fear there won't be many with energy to even fight in the next age group." Peng shook his head not believing that any family had such a monster.

Catoualos the round bellied head of the Dunne family laughed. "That may not be so! I hear Raul of the Emerald family is a beast who all the younger generation fear." He had told his youths to mark the young Raul so he was looking forward to the humiliation of the Emerald family. He nodded down at Lituccia who smiled back at him showing they were ready.

"I'm glad to hear you praise my son so highly. I also look forward to him overcoming this great obstacle." Richard smiled ignoring the sarcasm of the other.

"Our Yahui should do quite well though I would never be as bold as you Richard. I believe she's in the same age group as your second son." Lingxin the matriarch of the Akachis plainly stated. She looked just like a kindly grandmother praising her grandchild. Only the sharp glint in her eyes showed her decisive nature.

Giona looked as if he was resting with his eyes closed. The pragmatic leader of the Prodst family said "I don't believe any of us are seers. Only fate will tell. We've never had such a large competition before. I just hope there are no accidents that will hurt one of our families." No one could tell whether he was serious or not. But Anabele feared this competition wouldn't be as friendly as was hoped.

Down below the first matches started the 5 years old age group was the youngest. So the battles had few mystical techniques and even the martial arts were quite shaky. The five big families would perform best in these early matches since they had the best training regimes for the young. While talent would show it self more as the children grew older. Everyone was excited and nervous as this exhibition would likely show the power structure of the 5 great families in the future.