4: Tournament

Everybody seemed excited, and I was too. Gregor mainly looked at me, since I was the strongest in the class.

I couldn't help but ask him a question, "What will the competition be about, exactly?"

"Team fight," Gregor said.

With a grin, I looked over to my friends, who grinned at me as well; we would do it, we would win. We had a month before we could fight those "rival" schools, and because of that; Gregor intensified our training. Every day, we needed to fight with coordination. Every day, we would break our bones. Every day, we would wound ourselves. And as a result, we could become stronger fighters.

After a month had passed; we received our uniforms. Which were made from crimson red cloth, with crests of a dragon; Alden's theme was crimson, so it was obvious.

Uniforms gleamed in high-quality gems and gold, which made it look like a fashion show uniform rather than battle one.

When we arrived at the place where we would fight; we saw a vast arena. Which was filled with people. All the school's participants were there, and when I arrived; everyone immediately bowed to me. We went to our waiting place, which was a room above the watchers.

 Which was filled with expensive stuff. Each of its chairs shined with gold, weapons we were supposed to use were made of high quality as well.  Which was filled with expensive stuff. Each of its chairs shined with gold, weapons we were supposed to use were made of high quality as well.

There were around 70 weapons, even though we were 6.

I walked in the spacious room aimlessly; while waiting for the battles to begin. As soon as a person came to tell us the news; my heart started beating in anticipation.

Our first opponent was the school of Aormon, in the west of Troana. They had arrived with blue uniforms, with no accessories. Gregor sent us to fight with them as we stood in front of them. Eryo whispered, "Let's destroy them."

"Go!" the referee shouted, and we burst for. Our enemies did the same, and suddenly we were in a sword clash. As soon as I attacked somebody, his teammate helped him; the same had happened in our team. I helped everybody I could help.

In this competition, we couldn't use magic, so everybody had to rely on their weapons.

I slashed toward him, who was visibly panicking; he had a hard time blocking my attacks, finally he messed up his footwork and fell. With this, one person was eliminated. Next, I jumped toward Eryo to help him out, since he was getting jumped. We pushed enemies back and defeated them.

Slowly, each of them fell and only their strongest remained. our team was fully intact, so instead I fought him alone. And everyone agreed with my decision. My teammates moved to the sides, and I gazed at my enemy. She seemed to glare at me with anticipation and determination.

She had long black hair that rarely made her blue eyes visible; she moved her hair on the left and lunged at me. I barely blocked her sword, which was directed toward my chest. I collected all my strength and kicked her in the stomach. With a jolt, she backed down.

She lunged at me again; her sword directed toward my chest. I moved to the left and hit her stomach. From that, my sword became bloody. She was visibly in pain, but didn't give up.

She hit me with multiple slashes, but I parried all of them easily.

It seemed as if I was enjoying this, so I ended the fight quickly. By kicking her in the face.

We went to our rooms to rest, and meanwhile other schools fought. There I heard that Valian's biggest school got absolutely demolished by Fyrron's school. First round ended and: Fyrron, Arythia, Illaron and Thawhelm's schools remained.

Next round started, and we were up against Illaron's top school, who had sent the most talented people. We stood in front of them yet again, each of them had purple uniforms with a crest of a world tree, they had the most serious face than anybody I had ever met.

We each gripped the hilts of our weapons, "Go!" The referee shouted and the battle began.

Eryo and Aerea stuck together, it was weird to see them like that, despite that, they were fighting well together. 

Meanwhile, I was fighting alone; I dodged multiple sword slashes coming from our enemies, and once I almost got hit in my throat. 

This time, a more buff guy walked toward me, with his brown curly hair wet from the sweat, and his green eyes staring right at me.

Without giving it a thought, I lunged at him, but he easily parried me and thrust his sword at me. I have no chance to regain my footing back, this is the end, huh?

But thankfully, Aerl helped me out; his spear had deflected the sword. With regained determination, we both attacked him together, which made him visibly irritated.

Enemy swung his sword again, which I parried, and Aerl attacked him with his spear. Enemy, grinned and ducked. For a split second, I looked around, and saw that Eryo and Aerea were fighting against 4 people. I looked over at Aerl, and he seemed to understand what I meant. He immediately nodded and went to them.

I was standing alone against him yet again, I lunged, and he countered me with a kick that sent me on the floor. He grinned and swung his sword; I immediately moved from there swiftly and dodged it.

Then we proceeded in sword clash, with each time, he was getting tired. Meanwhile, by Aerl's help, we had now outnumbered them, now was the time to push them back.

Buff guy got an advantage against me yet again, and when I tried to parry his attack, he made me drop my sword. He looked at me with an evil grin, and walked toward me, wanting to assert his dominance.

I crunched and immediately picked up the sword, and pointed it toward him, but this time, my arm could barely hold on it. 

With this overconfidence, he had become slower, and when he tried to attack me, I got behind him. I stabbed him in the back, and he fell miserably, with a shocked face.

With a grin, I looked down on him, and felt joy when he was in pain.

Since I was 12 at a time, everyone seemed disturbed seeing me slightly grin after wounding somebody. I immediately changed my face to look disturbed, and everyone calmed down.

All of my friends ran toward me and celebrated; we got to finals.

After resting a bit, we were prepared to fight in the finals. Though, disappointment consumed me; after all this harsh training from Alden, I could barely beat that guy.

Fyrron had beat Illaron, so we would fight them next.

When we got to the arena, they were waiting; all dressed in black uniforms, each having a bit of red attachments. But this time, it would be 2 types of fighting: Duels, and then Team Fight.

Before the referee told us to start, I felt tremendous pressure enveloping me. You finally came, huh?

"Go!" The referee finally said, and the fight started.

I jumped forward and engaged in a battle head on. My Opponent moved back and others jumped in front of him; defending him. I tried to move on, but they encircled me.

Eryo soon attacked one of them from behind, causing their formation to shatter. Which gave me an opening to strike a guy in the middle. With a gasp, he fell. Another one attacked me, and when I blocked his sword, the entire arena sounded of irons clashing. Which was deafening.

He moved toward the left; I swung the sword to meet with him, but he dunked and hit my sword and thrust his sword toward my stomach.

I moved back, in order to avoid it hitting me, which gave me the option to counter-attack. But got up too quickly, he gripped his hilt and was going to attack me. When I saw it, I prepared to block it. He moved his arm up; which made me get in position to block the attack from the up. But suddenly, he threw that sword toward me.

I felt the gush of fear consume me, but thankfully my reflexes saved me. Because he had lost his weapon; I eliminated him. I tried to regain my senses, but Aerea called out, "Cain, behind!"

I immediately ducked; which protected me from the attack.

Immediately, I turned behind and hit his leg, which made him fall on the ground. I gripped the hilt tightly and swung it. But suddenly, it got blocked. When I looked over to the right, I saw a boy; with a black hair, red eyes, and a body that seemed like a 14-year-old's.

"Thank you, RRezik," the boy on the ground said.

RRezik slightly looked over at him, then his gaze went back to me. With no doubts, he immediately attacked me.

He swung toward my left, which I quickly blocked and swung back. He blocked it as well and kicked in my leg. I felt the pain as I was about to fall. Quickly, I regained my footing and saw him already thrusting his blade toward my chest. I used that to my advantage and got behind his back.

He seemed in shock as I was about to pierce his stomach, but he barely avoided it. But, his leg got wounded. 

He got annoyed and swung in rage, which I easily dodged. I rolled toward him and wounded his second leg. I had an advantage against him; Without shedding a sweat, I blocked his every attack.

Him being wounded really turned the tables.

I attacked me from the up, which I blocked, then we held that position.

Him trying to break my block, and me trying to not lose.

In the corner of my eye; I saw Aerea fight 2 people at once.

I saw how she could still hold her ground, but a 3rd person jumped in the fight and she got eliminated. Aerl followed her shortly after.

Only me and Eryo remained, and when others tried to help RRezik; he stopped them.

We stood there, trying to beat each other in strength.

But Eryo was all alone. He fought 2 people at once, like how Aerea did. But he was way stronger than her, he violently wounded and defeated them. When more people attacked him, he was like a devil. He emitted a dark aura that gave me chills. He yelled out after each swing, which fueled his determination. 

His blade had gone red from the blood, his attacks were faster than ever. Enemies couldn't grasp his strength and speed. When he attacked, others stood in shock.

I smiled, thinking that if Eryo could beat them; we could win.

RRezik finally broke this position and tried to kick me in the ribs, which I blocked with my left arm. Then I immediately followed with a counter-attack. Which he seemed to predict. Something had happened to him, he had adapted to my every move.

Sudden fear engulfed me as I tried to wound him.

He swung toward my left side, which I prepared to block. He smiled and suddenly the sword's direction changed; which caught me off-guard. And it deeply cut my stomach.

I gasped in pain as I tried to regain my footing. "Cain!" Eryo called out, and I heard my vision blur. I saw how he tried to help me. With my vision blurring, my ability to stand went away too. And I tilted toward my left.

As I was about to fall, I felt somebody help me stand. It was RRezik; the same person who had wounded me. "You are strong, let's have a rematch in the future." 

 If…if I could use magic. Slowly, the last bits of my consciousness faded away.

When I woke up, I was in my bedroom; with both Claire, and Alden sitting next to my bed.

I expected them to be disappointed, but their faces were different. They were happy.

"Why are you both smiling?" I asked, demanding answers.

Claire looked over to Alden, nodded, and looked back.

"You will be an older brother."