337 Pretender

The qualification matches were carried out amidst clamor and enthusiasm. All three major factions had treated the tournament as their top priority, and they had set aside prizes to encourage their fighters.

The competition in the tournament was a real-life depiction of the rivalries between factions. The stake was high, since the outcome of the matches directly influenced the public's perception of the power of different factions. A faction that was perceived to be strong would be much stronger because of that.

The three colonized planets had fought against the other factions' attempt to annex their players. In the end, the three planets in the Andromeda Galaxy were allowed to partake in the tournament as independent factions.

That being said, for the time being, the three major factions wagered that the three newly independent planets would not pose too much of a threat to them, since they had never heard of any exceedingly powerful fighters from those planets.