24 Tournament

James had headed home to his dorm for the night. Skeleton and Little Red were in the throne room.

"Master…" Little Red spoke hesitantly, "Why did you lie to Yale and tell him he was eating elephant-whale excrement? I know it was really just medical paste."

Skeleton sighed, "It was for his own good. That boy has a weak mentality. He's a lot like I was when I was young. My father beat that mentality right out of me…" Skeleton stared at nothing while he reminisced on the past.

"But master… "Little red responded with a confused expression. "I thought you said you liked James personality. That he would survive longer due to being a coward with no pride?"

"I do!" Skeleton smiled. "It's good he's a coward. He'll run when he needs to, bow his head when he needs to, and hopefully reach the top someday! I'm molding his mentality, not his personality. A man must be true to himself if he wishes to break past the barrier of becoming a deity. It can't be done with a weak mentality. A fragile mind denies the truth and covers your eyes in rosy glasses when viewing the world. A strong mind will accept reality for what it is. The boy needs to accept his personality for what it is and stay true to his heart. Only then will he reach the top."

"I see." Little Red smiled. "Master is wise as always!"

"Right! Bwhahaha!" Skeleton laughed. "I really am wise! Oh, and one more thing. It's also fun! Did you see the look on his face when I told him it was shit?! I thought I was going to die early from laughing! Gahahaha!!!"

"I see…" Little Red nodded. "Master is master after all…"

…

James reached his dorm. He was in a terrible mood from today's events. 'I have to do that until I reach the peak as a 2nd grade knight…?' James entire body shivered in fear. He sighed "How wonderful it would be if I could just go back to getting beaten…"

"You!" A voice sounded, and James spun around. He saw Adam staring at him.

"I didn't know you were into that…" Adam blushed.

"I'm sorry! I'm not gay! I can't return your feelings!" James bowed at a 90-degree angle.

"Who's asking you out, idiot!" Adam yelled in anger. "Where's Virgil? The 1st match is today."

"Match?" James questioned. "What match?"

"Virgil and I signed up for the 1st year tournament in the 2-man team division. The matches are fun at this stage since everyone is still low-level." Adam smiled confidently. "There's a secret prize for 1st place! Virgil and I will definitely win it!"

"Eh? That's weird." James replied. "Virgil left and said he wouldn't return for at least a few days. He had mentioned some important business coming up."

"What?!" Adam replied in shock. "Are you sure? Shit! It's too late to find another partner!" Adam bit his thumb while pacing back and forth. Then he glanced at James. "Yale, have you become a 1st grade magus yet?"

James nodded. "I reached the 1st grade over a week ago. Why?"

Adam grabbed James by the hand and ran out the door. "You're substituting for Virgil. Almost everyone in the tournament is of the 1st grade. Only elites with peak elemental affinities like me have reached the 2nd grade. There are only five 1st years with my level of talent. You should work fine as a substitute for now!"

Adam dragged James across the mountain for nearly two hours. They reached a large platform made of white tiles. Large stands surrounded the platform with many students sitting in them.

"Go! Kick his ass!" A student screamed.

"Fight on!" Another student yelled.

Adam looked around and spotted a table. He dragged James over and spoke, "I'm here for the 2-man team 1st year tournament. My partner couldn't make it, so I brought a substitute.

"Mm." The man behind the desk nodded. "Substitutes aren't allowed. However, the tournament hasn't started yet. You can change your partner for the whole tournament if you want. Alternatively, you can dropout."

"Damn!" Adam bit his thumb and looked towards James. "Sign Yale Dusk up as my partner."

"Okay." The man nodded. "The elimination round begins in thirty minutes. Sixteen groups will go up to the stage in turns. If either you or your partner are the last ones on stage, then you'll move onto the actual tournament."

"Right!" Adam nodded. He turned to James. "Prepare yourself Yale. This will be a tough competition. Not even I'm fully confident in winning."

"Oy!" James rose his hand in front of Adam's face. He spoke in a deadpan voice, "I never agreed to enter some shitty tournament. Why should I bother?"

"Eh?!" Adam's eyes widened in surprise. "There will be a big prize if we win! Besides, it's good combat experience. It's also relatively safe since we're not allowed to kill each other. What's there to lose?"

James frowned. "Sounds like a pain in the ass." He put a hand on Adam's shoulder and smiled. "I came into some money recently. What dogshit prize could I possibly care about?! Besides, fighting is scary! Let us brothers go drink some wine instead! I've had a bad day!"

Adam shook off James hand and frowned. "I need to win this tournament. I'll lose master face if I don't! Shouldn't you want to gain some face for your master as well?!"

"Gain my master face…?" James questioned. He closed his eyes in thought for a moment. Then his eyes shone brilliantly as he opened them. "Bwhahaha! Let's enter! Let's enter! I'll show my master more face than he could possibly ever deserve!"

"Great!" Adam signed them up at the table and led James towards the waiting room.

James chuckled quietly to himself. 'Hehe, master… Let's see how you're humiliated after your disciple shows off in this tournament. I don't care about face! This isn't even my real face! I'll make you lose all face! Mwuahahahaa!'

Adam glanced at his friend snickering to himself and decided to ignore it. They entered the waiting room and saw hundreds of other students waiting as well. The match that was currently happening was the finals of the solo tournament. Almost all students entered the solo tournament. Most students also entered the 2-man team tournament. Some of the students were still heavily injured from the solo rounds.

Several minutes later. "The duo tournament will now begin!" A loud voice announced. All students in group 1 please enter the stage.

James watched as close to 50 students entered the stage and began fighting. "Hey Adam. What group are we?"

"We should be group 16." Adam answered.

"Are we allowed to use weapons?" James questioned.

"Of course!" Adam nodded. "Did you already train in one? I can lend you a sword if you need one. Almost everyone uses a sword since it's easier for beginners than most weapons.

"I'm good. I've got these!" He shot out his black katar claws and smiled. "Pretty cool right?"

Adam looked at the claws and frowned. "That's an unconventional weapon choice… Can you even use them?"

"Of course!" James rose his chest confidently. "Master personally trained me to use them. I'm probably pretty good… I think… You know, now that I think about it, I never did manage to land a hit on him…"

"Ugh!" Adam facepalmed. "It's fine. I forced you to enter, so I have no right to complain."

The groups entered one by one. Around 50 people would enter and only two would remain each round. Finally, group 16 was called. Adam and James stepped onto the stage near a corner.

'Hehe' James chuckled to himself. 'Now what can I do to embarrass master and make him lose face? Should I lose from the start? No! That won't get enough attention. I'll have to win this round so I can humiliate him later.' James eyes turned slightly red from madness.

Adam noticed the serious look on James face. "Are you alright?" He questioned.

"Anyone who stands in my path of vengeance will be destroyed! Bwhahaha!" James laughed like a madman.

"Okay then…" Adam nodded with confusion evident on his face.

A loud dong rang out as a brass gong was rung by the referee. "Begin!" He yelled.

There were 25 teams total in group 16. They each kept a distance and eyed each other nervously. The first team to make a move would be at a disadvantage.

"Let's move carefully" Adam whispered. "We should try to conserve stamina to"

"Araghhh!!!" James roared as he ran forward with red eyes. Black thread shot towards the nearest opponent's eyes and caught him by surprise.

"Ugh!" The man stumbled while trying to grab the thread. James appeared in front of him and threw a kick with all his might towards the man's stomach. "Oof!" The man yelled as he was sent flying out of the arena.

"So fast?!" Adam's eyes widened in surprise. "Did he already reach the 2nd level as a knight? He only started knight training less than a week ago? What the hell did his master do to him?!"

"Bwhahaha! Those that stand before this sovereign's fist shall perish!" James laughed manically. The remaining 48 contestants stared at him like he was an idiot. All attention was now focused on him.

"Bastard!" The partner of the man that was knocked out yelled. He swung his sword towards James. A blue aura lit up on the sword.

"Eek!" James jumped back. "A 1st grade knight aura? Hmph!" James snorted. "I, your father, shall show you what a real knight is!"

James crouched on the ground. A light black glow appeared on his body. The katar gauntlets released one large blade from each gauntlet. Black aura swirled to cover the blades as well. James pushed off the ground like a frog and flew towards the enemy. The enemy swung his sword and James easily blocked it with his right katar. He rolled behind the enemy and stabbed with his left katar. It went straight through the enemy's aura and back. Blood poured out everywhere! Some of it splattered on James face.

"Medic!" The referee called. A white light shone as a teacher flashed on the stage, grabbed the student, and flashed off the stage. It all happened in an instant. The teacher passed the student to some healers and waited to be called again.

James froze for a moment when the blood landed on his face. This had been his first time actually hurting somebody. Previously, he always ran or failed. James body shook a little and he stared at his katar gauntlet covered in blood. 'Is this fear? No.' James shook his head. 'This is excitement! I like this! This is fun!' James looked up with a mix of excitement and resolve in his eyes. 'Combat is only scary if you're weak! I'm the type of person that likes to bully those weaker than me while fearing the strong! Am I a hypocrite? Yes! But I don't care! I like what I like!'

"Let's get him!" One of the students roared. They were starting to take this new threat seriously. Three different teams ran towards James.

"Eh?" James frowned. "Ganging up on me?"

Two people shot fireballs towards James. Two more made earth spikes appear from the ground. The final two rushed in for close combat.

James jumped in the air and shot shadow threads towards the two men running towards him. He pulled and threw them in front of the fireballs. "Gah!" They screamed as they both got burned and fell to the ground unconscious. James jumped to avoid the earth spikes, but one still grazed his leg. He landed with a limp.

"Now's our chance!" One of the men who shot a fireball yelled. The group of two shot two more fireballs towards James. James rolled out of the way and ran towards the two on all four limbs like a panther. His leg was hurt, but he could still easily move on all fours. James shot a shadow thread from his chest. It landed on the platform tile between the two men. James retracted the thread and flew forward. His claws changed to the three-blade mode and he slashed each of their chests. "Ugh!" They groaned and fell to the floor.

"Medic!" The referee called again. A flash of light appeared as the teacher pulled the two clawed boys and two burnt boys off the stage.

"Bwhahaha! You're all weak!" James laughed madly. He shot out some shadow thread to bind the wound on his leg. Then he ran on all fours towards the two that used earth spikes.

James got slightly distracted during the fight as he thought back to his training with Skeleton. 'I always ended up fighting like this against master… The only way to dodge his attacks was through unconventional means. He said I would find the best combat style for myself when fighting someone much stronger than my current level. I guess he was right!'

"Ugh!" James groaned. Another earth spike grazed his arm. He quickly dodged a 2nd earth spike that came from the ground. Then he fired shadow threads around his opponent's ankles and pulled. They both fell over and James rushed up to them. He slammed his fists into each of their stomachs. Three holes were left in both boy's stomach due to the katar.

"Medic!" The referee frowned and called again. This was the most violent elimination match he had hosted today.

"Huff! Huff!" James slowly calmed down and looked around him. The other teams had started fighting by now. Many were avoiding him. Adam was controlling a marble shield in one hand. His other hand had a ball of water that occasionally shot out high-pressure water towards the enemies.

'It would seem most students haven't managed to train as knights yet…' James thought to himself. 'It makes sense. Most new students focus on training as a magus. It takes rare talent to train as a magus whereas anyone can train as a knight.'

James teamed up with Adam after calming down. With Adam providing defense and James providing offense they were unstoppable. They easily won the elimination round. Quite a few students looked at James with fear in their eyes. His long blond hair and black katar gauntlets were covered in blood. His face looked completely indifferent. It made him appear like a cold-blooded killer that held no one else in any regard. James noticed the stares and thought to himself, 'Heheh… Do I look intimidating? I bet I'd look even scarier in my original appearance… If I used my solider uniform would they run in terror? Gahahaha!'

"You sure snicker to yourself a lot lately." Adam smiled. "We really earned some face for our masters today. I never would have guessed you were this strong! I'm not sure I could beat you!"

"Bwhahaha!" James laughed out. "I'm pretty amazing right?! I bet I earned my master a ton of face! Bwahahaha!" James facial expression suddenly froze in the middle of laughing. 'Fuck! I was supposed to lose him face! Damnit! I screwed up again!'

Adam continued to chat while James was lost in his thoughts. "We're definitely going to win, Yale! I might be lucky you replaced Virgil!"

James smiled and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion. 'Heh. Whatever… I can still make master lose face in the real thing.'