Mysterious Duo

The day finally arrived. The first day of the 100th continental Battereon Tournament.

Team Cali arrived separately.

Mica arrived by taking a public horse carriage with her father, Kupkop.

Both of them left the carriage after paying.

Kupkop: "Where did you get those gold? You're not doing dirty work, are you?" He said in a serious voice.

Mica: "They're from Cali. He keeps giving me these every time he finds a reason to."

Kupkop: "That kid is already advancing, eh? Just say thank you for me since he saved me from a big debt."

Mica: "I told you, theres really no need to take a carriage. Theyre expensive."

Kupkop: "Its a special occassion! Besides, if you just walk on your way you would have gotten tired even before the tournament starts."

"Anyway, do your best. I will be watching you guys."

Kupkop entered the main gate.

Mica saw a sign with the message "Contestants go here." She decided to stay for a while and wait for her teammates.

Zen and Ceed reached the venue in the same carriage driven by Porto, with their parents.

Their father: "Do not disappoint us. Especially you, Ceed." He said in a monotone voice while wearing a serious face.

Ceed said nothing, trying to be respectful.

The four of them got off from the carriage.

Their mother: "Its a shame that you quitted the Agham's national team, Zen. Who are the members of your new team anyway?"

Zen: "They are amazing fighters. We have seen it ourselves."

Mr. Rosace: "Before we enter, we would like to meet them here."

Mica: "Zen, Ceed!" She shouted.

Mrs. Rosace: "Oh, its little Mica! Is she perhaps one of your teammate?" She said in a adoring tone.

Zen: "Yes, she's our Defender."

Mica: "Good morning Mister and Miss Rosace."

Mrs. Rosace: "Im relieved that a reliable friend like you is part of their team."

Mica: "Thank you, Ma'am. I will do my best."

Biel and Cali arrived. They walked on their way together without speaking to each other.

Cali: "So this is the place. Its pretty big. Its design is also inspired from the early ages of Agham, around 2000 years ago, which is cool in my opinion."

Biel: "Its them, right there."

Cali: "They might be waiting for us. Lets go."

Ceed tapped Zen.

Ceed whispers: "Cali and Biel are here."

Cali: "Hey, have you guys been waiting for us?"

Mica: "Yeah, I thought maybe we could go together so that none of us would get lost."

Mr. Rosace: "Are they the other two members?"

Their father observes both of them.

Zen: "Yes, Biel is our Warrior and Cali is... the Sage and our leader."

Mr. Rosace: "How old are you, Mr. Biel?"

Biel: "Im 17 years old, sir."

Mr. Rosace: "Impressive physique for that age."

"You on the other hand are very frail. What are you supposed to be?"

Cali: "Im a Sage."

Mr. Rosace: "What is it? Another terminology for Manaless? Are you even allowed to participate?"

Cali: "Well technically you're not wrong."

Mr. Rosace : "I have one but very important thing to say to you, Mr. Cali. Dont be a nuisance to my daughter." He glares into his soul.

Cali: "I will do my best, sir."

Mister and Miss Rosace entered the wide main gate along with the other audiences.

It was a huge crowd mostly consists of nobles from Agham and other countries.

There were many commoners too but almost all of them are citizens of Majarlica City.

There are about 40 people entering each time but the number of people arriving doesnt seem to decrease. Its like an endless stream of people.

The competitors on the other hand are instructed to go in a different entrance.

The sign points to a different road.

Team Cali followed the road.

The road is a little less crowded than the main gate's.

The road goes around the Colosseum. It leads to the opposite side of the main gate where there is a large building connected to the Colosseum that consists of about hundred decent cells for the contestants to stay while they wait for their match.

They entered the building where there is a long hallway that leads to the Colosseum stage.

There were many contestants in the hallway, watching whoever enters that could potentially become their opponents.

Almost everyone focused their attention to Team Cali. Everyone gave Biel a serious glare in response to his intimidating vibe. While when they shifted their eyes on Cali's thin body, they chuckled.

Zen checks on Cali in concern but he appears to be emotionally unaffected.

Despite this, she still asked him.

Zen: "Are you alright?"

Cali: "Thank you but there is nothing to worry about me."

They searched for an empty room to stay in and found one. They entered the room and closed the door.

The room has a bed, some chairs, a table, and a lit torch on a wall.

Ceed: "Its fine, Cali. I understand how you feel so just dont listen to them."

Cali: "Thank you but no. Im fine, really."

They had a brief silence, thinking how they should respond to Cali. They ended up trusting what he said.

Ceed: "We have a problem. Our injuries when we fought those killers still haven't healed. Biel and I might not be able to fight properly."

Cali: "Let me see."

Cali took the bandage off and looked at his wound.

Ceed's head felt weird. He began to feel tired.

The wound started to heal quicker.

Ceed: "What!?"

Zen: "Is this Sage magic?!"

Mica: "Sage magicians could heal people?!"

Biel: "It might have happened in an instant, but its not as easy as it seems."

Cali: "Thats right. Healing people can be most effectively done by Sage magic but you need to be well versed in human body and the more complex use of Sage magic."

"Healing magic doesnt happen automatically, but manually."

Ceed: "How did you even study these things?"

Cali: "..."

After that, Cali healed Biel's broken arm.

Cali: "You two should just rest for now. With that many competitors taking turns to fight in just a single massive stage, its gonna take a while before we fight. You guys have plenty of time to rest."

They heard ringing of bells echoing through the hallway into their room.

Mica: "I'll take a look of whats happening."

Mica opened the door and took a peek.

Mica: "I think its an announcement, you guys should hear it too."

They all stood up and gone to the hallway.

Tournament Organizer: "This is how the game works. There are 157 participants here in total. About 32 teams. You all should already know that this game is about two teams fighting against each other where it consists of five players at max per team. That means there will be 16 matches, and its just for the first round. Winners of the first round will fight against each other in second round, the same pattern applies to the next rounds. There will be five rounds. First round, 16 matches. Second round, eight matches. Third, four matches. Fourth, two matches. And one last match of the final round. First round will be today. Second and Third for tomorrow. Then fourth and fifth round for the third and last day of the competition. Are there any questions?"

Random Participant: "I have a question. If the tournament needs you to be in a five-people team, then in 32 teams, there must be 160 players all in all, but theres only 157 players here. Does that mean some teams got special treatment while the rest of us are trying to stick to the rules?

Organizer: "I dont know about that. You should speak to the registration office, not me."

Another organizer whispered to him.

Organizer 1: "Oh, they said theres nothing we can do about it. Our security personnel themselves couldnt stop them so we just have to go with it."

Random participant: "Are you saying you couldnt stop a party with less than five people?"

Organizer 1: "Look, you dont need to complain because that party have more than enough members when it comes to strength. They could take on 25 of you without breaking a sweat."

The participants and the tournament staffs laughed.

Random Participant: "We'll see about that. I'll make sure to teach them a lesson."

Cali tried to find the party they are talking. He found two mysterious people, a guy who looks like 24 years old and a woman about 22 years old.

They sit together and avoids eye contact to people, probably to not attract attention. They appear to look away but still seems to observe the people around them.

The girl's eyes widen and she breathes heavier.

Her partner asked him: "What's wrong?"

The woman: "It feels like death himself just gazed upon me."

The guy: "What?"

The woman: "There is an extremely powerful magician looking at us."

The guy tries to find who she might be talking about.

His eyes met with Cali's. He felt the same exact feeling to what his partner be refering to, so he looked away immediately.

Cali made a pair of sharp eyes and said: "Interesting."

"I will offer you all of my life since you made it all happen. When I am supposedly going to die, you were there for me." -Matthew