55 The Class Tournament Begins

The school was in a good mood. The students were excited and anxious to both participate and watch the oncoming battles and displays in the Class Tournament. It was a big event that the Royal Institute had clearly gone all out for. The courtyard and the buildings were lavishly decorated and the students were brimming with anticipation. The Royal Institute had a large stadium where they held large scale battles and fights. It was known simply as The Arena.

The Arena had audience stands that surrounded the massively large area. The stages itself were interchangeable through a unique spell. The Arena could be split into four medium sized stages for battles to be held, or one large stage that could be used for large group battles. Currently, the Arena was set up with the four medium sized stages. Each stage had different tables and tools set up on them, clearly for the different categories of battles.

As student's came in, the audience was mainly filled with seniors, as today was the first day of the tournament and it was only the First Years battling today and tomorrow. Many of the seniors came for the entertainment while a few came for recruitment. Most students used these tournaments to show off their strengths to the seniors, hoping that they would take them under their wings. Having a senior on your side was a great thing to have in terms of cultivation and protection in the Institute.

Most Seniors merely wanted minions to have under them, while the truly powerful ones were looking for allies. The intelligent students understood that there were countless tests and battles that a warrior must go through, and having the right people around you made those obstacles easier to overcome. By helping a junior with potential, when that junior is stronger, they will have a sense of gratitude and kinship with the senior, causing the senior to have gained a powerful ally.

There was also another reason for seniors to recruit juniors. Royal Institute heavily pushed for both strength and leadership. There was a Ranking system that the Royal Institute used to push and motivate the students. The top ranked students were granted resources and cultivation material each month. There were individual ranks, but the true prizes were held within the team rankings. Seniors created teams that they invested in to compete in battles with them. There were restrictions on how many seniors could be in a team, which is why the seniors needed to make their teams from powerful juniors.

The Class Tournament was the perfect scouting area for the seniors. Many of the students went quiet as two of those seniors entered the Arena. They walked side by side, but they were each followed by their own group of students. They found a spot and went to sit down, while their groups cleared out the area around them, pushing the students that were in the vicinity away.

One student had black spiky hair with red streaks on the side. He was a large, bulky young man, although rugged and unrefined, he had a certain charm to him. He had a bored look on his face as he looked around.

"Is this thing going to be any fun? Can't we just comeback in a couple of days? I doubt there will be any good first years to recruit."

The other boy was, for lack of a better word, pretty. He had long eyelashes, long and shiny black hair and he had a rather feminine looking face. The two young men were quite a contrast from each other. The pretty young man chuckled.

"You may leave if you wish. But don't come crying when I have a collection of powerful young warriors."

The large young man snorted in reply but stayed seated. The two boys felt a familiar Energy as they turned around. There was a tall young man with perfectly chiseled features. He had his long white hair tied up in a ponytail. Beside him was a beautiful young girl, with the same long beautiful hair. The students all made way as they stared at the two in awe. There were looks of both admiration and jealousy as they walked over to the two young men. The tall boy bowed politely.

"Brother Aasim. Brother Jolie. Would you allow me and my sister to join you?"

Aasim, the large young man, stood up and smiled.

"No need to be so formal with us, Brother Eamon. Naturally, you and Junior Sister Eva are more than welcome to join us."

Jolie nodded as he gestured to the seats beside them.

"No need to be polite with us, Brother Eamon."

Eamon grinned and the sound of young girls gasping could be heard.

"Then I will accept your kindness. But please, call me Eamon. I know that the two of you are quite close and I do not want my presence to stop you from speaking comfortably."

Aasim and Jolie glanced at each other. Although the three boys had been in the Royal Institute for the same amount of time, and were even technically in the same class, Eamon had spent the entirety of his time here in closed door cultivation. He only exited his cultivation recently. Aasim and Jolie grinned as the looked back to Eamon. Jolie spoke with a smile.

"Right, there's no reason to be so formal between classmates. Come, take a seat."

Eamon and the young Eva sat next to Aasim and Jolie. Aasim then turned to Eamon.

"I must say, I am rather surprised that you chose to sit beside us."

Eamon chuckled.

"Well, the two of you seemed easy to approach and I can tell that you are good people."

Aasim and Jolie giggled at this.

"Easy to approach? I think you are the only person to say that about Jolie and I."

Jolie nodded his head.

"And good people? I can assure you that I am a good person, but 'good' isn't exactly how I would describe Aasim."

Aasim and Jolie were well known powerhouses in the Royal Institute and their reputation and demeanor made them difficult people to approach. Eamon blinked and his black pupil turned white as he stared at Aasim and Jolie. They were unsure of what he was doing, when he blinked again and his eyes went back to normal. He chuckled.

"No. I judged right. You are good people."

Aasim and Jolie were stunned. Eamon didn't say those words like a compliment or flattery. It was a statement. A fact. They were curious about what Eamon had done. Aasim coughed, changing the subject.

"So you must be here to find Juniors to recruit. Thinking about challenging the Ranking?"

Eamon nodded.

"I haven't been able to participate or compete much, since I was always in closed door cultivation. I am curious to see if I can make a mark here before I move on."

Aasim and Jolie nodded. The three of them were in their last year of studying here in the Royal Institute. Those with potential would be selected to continue studying in the Inner Court, becoming a part of a special division of warriors in the Kingdom of Kakuso. This was the goal for everyone that came to the Royal Institute of Axist. Aasim and Jolie had already gotten their invitations to the Inner Court. They didn't know about Eamon, but considering the amount that the Institute was investing in Eamon, they assumed he was a shoe in as well.

Eamon looked over the crowd.

"I wonder if we will see anyone interesting today."

Aasim and Jolie also looked out to the students preparing. The first categories were beginning now. The first categories were Weapon Smithing, Poison Enhancement, Beast Taming and Strategic Analysis. As the classes were busy preparing, a strong aura was felt throughout the stadium. Eamon, Aasim and Jolie were all shocked at this aura. It was a fierce killing intent. Eamon grinned.

"Seems like some interesting people have arrived."

A class walked into the Arena and all the classes that were preparing paused as they felt a a palpable fear build within them. The class all had dark faces, glowering angrily. The walked with a scary demeanor as every student radiated killing intent. There were only 2 people in the group that walked normally. In contrast, the two boys led the class calmly. One was grinning happily as he followed behind the other boy, who had an arrogant look on his face, seemingly thinking that it was a waste of time for him to be here.

The two boys were Arata and Visha behind him. The other students were stunned to see the state of Class 7. They were always known as a class of monsters and freaks. But now they seemed like deadly beasts waiting to pounce. They were also stunned to see that even Akari was in this state of serious focus. And she was walking behind Arata. The students began whispering as they saw this. Akari was known as the Class Representative, yet Arata was leading the class.

When Arata stopped, so did the class. He then turned around.

"Tallis, if you would."

Tallis nodded firmly before stepping forward and stood beside Arata, facing the class.

"Aramis, take your team to the first stage. Visha on the second. Matoki, your team is on the third stage. Akari and Arata are with me on the fourth."

Tallis spoke efficiently and decisvely. Arata then spoke up.

"Everyone else cultivate until your category is called. At every possible break, you will spend cultivating. There is no need to observe the battles as there is nothing to learn from these students. Just do as you have trained and this will be simple."

"Yes sir."

The class spoke as one before instantly splitting into their teams, while the others sat down immediately and began cultivating. The other classes were stunned at the military like actions and responses of Class 7. They were completely different to how they were previously. They had heard that they had gone into some kind of special training of the past two weeks. What did they do to become like this?

Everyone stared curiously at Arata, who they knew was the source of the strange aura and behaviour. Eamon knew this too.

"Do either of you know who that young boy is?"

Aasim nodded.

"From what I heard, he's the heir to the Sato Clan and son of the Angel of Death, Azrail Sato. I believe his name is Arata."

Jolie nodded.

"He entered a few months after the school year began and has only been here for a few weeks, yet he has already made waves in the school and earned himself an interesting reputation already at the South Dorm."

Eamon nodded as his eyes lit up.

"He is strong. I want him."

Aasim and Jolie chuckled.

"You aren't the only one. Apparently, he has been approached by many seniors. And he turned them all down. Many are here to observe him and recruit him after the tournament."

Eamon kept his eyes locked on Arata.

"That won't be a problem."

Aasim and Jolie looked at each other. Although they were caught off guard by Eamon's confidence, they sensed that Eamon had the power and strength to back up those words. They also knew those that wanted to recruit Arata. They looked at each other and grinned.

"It seems like the tournament won't be the only show we will get to watch."

Jolie chuckled.

"This is going to be an interesting tournament. Let's see what young Arata can do."

Arata sneezed. Visha turned to him.

"You're not catching a cold to get out of participating, right?"

Arata smirked.

"Do you think that would work?"

Visha shook his head.

"If I did, I would have already tried it."

The two boys smirked at each other before bumping fists. Arata spoke.

"Finish it quickly and then you can head back."

Visha nodded as he walked to his stage.

"That's the plan. I have two weeks worth of nothing to catch up on after this."

Arata chuckled as he joined Tallis and Akari on stage. There were 4 tables with three seats on each. In the centre was a device that was projecting an image of a battlefield. There were digital armies projected in four separate positions. On the table were 3 helmets and a large keyboard. Arata joined Tallis and Akari at their table. An old man in long robes looked at the four tables and the students sitting at them.

"Your objective is to either defeat the opposing armies or secure their leaders. Using the devices in front of you, you can control and direct your warriors. The helmets will insert a strand of Energy into you, allowing you to view the world within the device. You have 10 minutes to organize your soldiers and then the battle will commence. The class that remains will be declared the winner and move on to the next round."

A timer then appeared as the battlefield vanished. Tallis, Akari and Arata placed over their heads the helmets in front of them instantly began organizing their troops, they didn't say a word as they were connected through Tallis' ability. The timer slowly ticked down as the three of them stopped moving. The old man was surprised.

"They have finished their preparations so quickly?"

As the timer neared 0, the other students were frantically trying to finish their preparations, while Arata, Akari and Tallis sat calmly. Finally the timer was almost finished.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2....

Tallis grinned.

"Begin."