40 The Elimination Round

"And I just sat down, too." Chiaki sighed as he began to lift his butt off the seat.

"Wow, you could not have explained the whole elimination round thing at a better time, could you?" Nakayama turned his head to look at Yasuko, to which the femboy proceeded to nod with a blank face.

"Oh, you're going already?" Kiyomi asked with a finger to his cheek. He started to wave sporadically as Chiaki began to take a step onto the stairs. "Okay~! Good luck out there!"

"Thanks." Chiaki nodded and waved a little without looking back.

"G-good luck, Chiaki!" Koko tried to say in the most encouraging manner he could possibly muster, shutting his eyes tight as if it was a result of him yelling as loud as possible. Chiaki continued to walk and wave.

"Good luck," Nakayama said with a smile as if not expecting Chiaki's next wo---

"Fuck off."

"Ah-!?"

For some reason, that left Nakayama quite a bit surprised. It was as if he'd completely forgotten about Chiaki's deep-seated disdain for him. Kiyomi giggled and Koko naturally did nothing but look up at the boy with a shy, empathetic face.

"Hm. It appears he does not like you," said Yasuko, preparing to get up.

"O-oh! You don't say, eh!?" Nakayama growled sarcastically but ultimately held out his fist for Yasuko to return the gesture. "Keep an eye out for the snarky one."

"Every man for himself. If we come into contact, I won't go easy on him."

"Ha! Chiaki won't need you to," Kiyomi said confidently. "He'll hold his own just fine!"

Yasuko gave a half-hearted smirk. At least, that was the way it seemed anyway, considering his eyes were as dead as a doornail.

"We'll see about that," Yasuko said, his smirk of monotony fading as he turned towards the stairs to travel down them.

Soon, fighters from all over the stadium started to follow in their footsteps in an attempt to make it to the stone ring. The crowd started making some noise, but nothing too major.

Tuesday, 9:43 A.M.

"Alright, alright, alright!" the man-child began to chant into the microphone. "Everyone welcome to the quarterly Freshman-Sophomore Event!" He instigated the crowd to cheer with that last enthusiastic greeting, or that's how it seemed anyway. "If the last remaining enlisted fighters would please step onto the stage! Anywhere you'd like! Thank you, thank you!"

A giant magic menu appeared above the crowd like a flatscreen TV. On it was a number that increased by one every time someone entered the ring. Though, that number was beginning to slow down as the last couple of people entered.

That number was an astounding 1,078.

The man-child, now out of the ring, began to speak. "Now, then! Allow me to explain the rules! This is round one, the elimination round! Above the fighters' heads is the "magic calculator!" The number displayed on it is the exact amount of people currently in the ring, and when that amount drops to exactly 200, the match will stop! Anyone eliminated after the match-ending bell is rung is completely safe! Those 200 victors will move on to the second round, the brackets, and they will be automatically and randomly placed into their respective spots on said bracket! In just a moment, these fighters will all duke it out at the same time. And, remember, you are only disqualified if you touch any surface outside of the ring. Other than that, you can obtain victory through any means other than weaponry, understood!?"

Chiaki put a fist in his palm and cracked his knuckles with closed eyes as if he was meditating.

"Hm…" he gave a nasal hum. "Since there're so many fighters in the ring, it doesn't leave a lot of room for movement. Your best shot at outlasting all the others would probably be to get in the middle, but…" He took a look around at all the other fighters and noticed their arrangement. "There's already a surplus amount of them bear-hugging the center. Unfortunate."

Just then, Yasuko walked up to Chiaki without any means of strategically eliminating him.

"Chiaki," he said blandly.

"Eh? What's up, you trying to eliminate me before it starts or something?"

"No. I just wanted to let you know something." He pointed to the middle, specifically at a bunch with identical clothing. "I noticed there were a few groups of people that are likely in a faction. They must think having numbers will allow them to strategically eliminate large sums of fighters, letting them push their way to the top."

"And your point is?"

"I'm saying it would probably be better if we teamed up, even if only for a brief period of time."

"Hah." Chiaki scoffed, burying his fist into his palm another time. "Sorry, but that'll never happen. Nothing against you, Yasuko, but I didn't really come out here as some weakling who has to rely on numbers to get what I want."

Yasuko gave a nasal exhale and nodded slowly as if he expected Chiaki to say something like that.

"I figured as much." sighed Yasuko. "Well, best of luck to you." He held out his hand.

"Hmph. Likewise." Chiaki said before gripping Yasuko's hand in a competitive handshake. The two turned their backs to one another and walked off to somewhere else in the ring of their own random selection.

"Alriiight! Is everyone ready!?" the man-child screamed into the mic, causing the crowd of a likely 100,000 people to go wild. Though, Nakayama couldn't imagine Ms. Akayoru doing something like that.

"The elimination is about to begin in 3…!"

"Whooo! You've got this Chiaki! Yasukoooo!" Kiyomi screamed at the top of his lungs, causing Nakayama to have to put a hand over his ear and grunt.

"Fuck! That's right in my ear! My ear!"

"2!"

Every fighter put up their stances, whatever they may have been. Though, a specific few of them did not. Perhaps they were too refined or cocky to do such a thing, or perhaps they were just extremely out-of-touch with the art of battle.

"1!"

Chiaki clenched his fists and furrowed his eyebrows, but his heart did not beat out of a normal pace. He was completely calm.

"Gooooooooo!!!"

A loud buzzer erupted all throughout the stadium. At that moment, movement in the ring exploded into a dramatic start.

"Flame Art: Inferno Tsunami." Chiaki held out his hands towards the center of the ring, the part with the abundant amount of fighters in it, and a large wave of fire came shooting out of his hands towards those many people. An earful of grunts, screams, and yelps came from the center. As if everyone had the same idea, dozens of more attacks came hurling in at the people in the middle like an orchestrated assault.

Flying rocks, some kind of black mist, waves and beams of water, perhaps even some kind of non-lethal poison. All different types of attacks surrounded the middle bunch, leaving them with few options.

"Damn it! We're completely surrounded, what are we going to do!?" a male in a blue tank-top shouted, likely speaking to the other 5 or 6 people wearing the same thing.

"Here! Grab onto me!" another one shouted. Immediately, all of the blue-shirts grabbed onto the one in the middle. He held up both hands and put his fingertips together and shouted "Uku!" (Literal Translation: Float)

Then, the 6 blue-shirts were suddenly lifted a dozen meters in the air, which left about 300 people or so in the middle to fight for themselves.

"Heh...ha-ha-ha! Yeah!" one of the blue-shirts shouted and pumped his fist in the air.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The group in the air was shrouded in black smoke that erupted from 6 explosions all taking place in the same spot.

"Wh-whoa…!" Nakayama muttered.

"D'aaaaaghh!"

The blue-shirts dispersed in six different directions, their shirts and pants completely torn, and their darkened bodies were launched from the site of the explosion at an incredible speed. Then, each of them fell to the ground outside the ring violently and completely unconscious, letting it be known that the floating spell had worn off.

Someone shot them down with explosions.

"Whoa-hooh!!" the man-child announcer screamed with enthusiasm. "Just 9 seconds in and 6 people have already been eliminated!"

9 seconds. That was all it took for an entire group of students to be simultaneously eliminated without a fighting chance in hell. It was almost as if the attack on the center was completely coordinated, a flawless plan that allowed escape for no one. Naturally, a swarm of medics immediately came to the scene and took the 6 injured blue-shirts and likely carried them somewhere they'd be treated.

Perhaps the middle wasn't such a good spot to be after all.

"Water Art: Tsunami!"

"Defense Art: Disperse!"

"Defense Art: Black Shield!"

As an almost instantaneous counter, those in the middle began to launch their own spells. Some created shields in order to tank the damage, others used opposite elements in an attempt to nullify incoming attacks and others used different means of saving their own asses.

"Hngh?" Chiaki grunted in reaction to the sight of his wave of fire being pushed back by another. "What the-!?"

Schoom!

Chiaki tucked and rolled out of dodge on the solid, uncomfortable stone ring to save his own skin. Both his Inferno Tsunami and someone else's fire attack shot past him with an incredible speed and headed straight for the bleachers.

"Gah…!" Chiaki grunted as he quickly got to his feet again in anticipation as to someone's next attack.

"O-oh no!" Nakayama shouted. "Chiaki's fire attack's gonna hit all those people!"

"Relax," Kiyomi said with a nonchalant smile, causing Nakayama to look at him with confusion. Kiyomi didn't return the gesture, so the black-haired boy decided to look back at the fight.

It was gone. The attack was completely nullified.

But, it wasn't as if it had just disappeared, he noticed that it was completely absorbed by something invisible. There was a ripple left as the aftermath of the impact of Chiaki's attack.

"What!? An invisible barrier!?"

"Mhm! What, you thought they'd just let stray attacks hit the bleachers or something? You're silly."

"Ah-...uh...y-yeah, I guess I am...kinda silly."