Fighting For Participation

"Immortal?!"

Seeing the shocked faces of the four kids, Nick nodded and said, "Yes, immortality. However this is just our guess and we really don't know if that's true or not, but it's not impossible."

The four hearing this looked at each other and were speechless.

As time ticked by, they finally finished the interrogation, leaving Nick and the others a bit disappointed.

"Well then... It seems we get what we wanted, so you can go now.", said Nick and looked at the man next to the door.

With a slight bow, the man opened the door, while looking at Greg and the others, "Please, this way."

Joe, Greg, Emma, and Mila stood up and after bowing to the adults they walked out of the room.

After the door has been closed the chubby looking man hit the table and said angrily, "Damn! How can we be this unlucky? Who is that stranger anyway?"

Hearing the question, a man on the side tapped on the table and said quietly, "Maybe from a secret organization?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't remember an organization, whose members are wearing a smiling demon mask."

Nick listened to the other conversation and after thinking for a while he opened his mouth.

"I think we are missing something very important here, but as to what, I don't know..."

***

The next day, Greg and Joe walked into the Arena and sat down.

As always, Chris came in and started the PGF, letting people challenge each other for points and better placements.

This time, Greg challenged a guy with water powers. Of course, using Alice's ice element was child's play, so in the end, it made his points reach 21, while he got third place again.

After the fights went down, everyone was ready to go home, when suddenly Chris started to talk.

"Please everyone, let me talk for a bit."

Hearing this, Greg and Joe sat back and listened to what Chris wanted to say.

"Thank you. Well, the reason why I'm talking now is that I need to announce important information to you. As you may know with every win in the PGF, you get points and also reach placements. Maybe you asked yourself why is there a placement system if you only need to reach 50 points at the end of the year. Well, it's because of the Soul Tournament."

"Soul Tournament? Isn't that held every five years and only the best can participate in it?", asked a boy from the side.

"Well yes, but after changing the rules last year, now schools can participate from all around the world. However, there is a bar for how many and what ranked fighters can participate in the tournament. The minimum rank is Soul Collecter, with a max of 4 fighters in a team. 3 main with 1 substitute."

Hearing this, Joe and Greg looked at each other and smiled instantly.

"And when will the tournament begin?", asked the same guy with an excited expression.

Chris looked at his watch and after thinking for a while he said, "If I'm right, it will be in less than a month."

"Less than a month? Oh my lord, then I need to get more points!"

"Yeah me too. I only have 6 points."

"Argh! Why can't we fight with the same person twice? This is so unfair!"

People started to talk with excitement or disappointment, while some started to complain.

Of course, those who were in the first 4, didn't think too much about this fight for participation. They just concentrated to keep their placement until the tournament started.

Naturally, they needed to reach the Soul Collector rank to get into the team, but with energy crystals from shops ore zone clearing, that would be an easy task to accomplish.

After Crish finished talking, Joe and Greg walked out. Suddenly Joe stopped before the Arena's entrance and said, "Let's wait for Emma and Mila.

As time went by, finally the two girls walked out, but after seeing the two guys waiting for them, they were a bit surprised.

"Why are you guys here?", asked Mila with a confused look.

Joe raised his watch and pointed at it while talking.

"Don't tell me you guys forgot about our last zone to clear?"

Hearing this, Emma blushed a bit and said, "Of course not."

Seeing this, Greg smiled and chuckled.

"Haha. Come on, don't be embarrassed, it's normal. I forgot sometimes important things too."

"..."

Hearing what Greg said, Emma just lowered her head feeling a bit of guilt. Forgetting something so simple was a bit embarrassing.

Joe on the side sighed and said calmly, "We have 6 hours, so it should be an easy task to clear it, but after listening to what Chris just said, I think we need more zones to clear to reach the third rank before the tournament."

Listening to what Joe said, Mila stopped her teasing and looked at him with a confused expression.

"Why do you want us to reach the third rank?"

"Isn't this obvious? We have already fought together, so we have a basic understanding of the other. If we all can reach the third rank and participate in the tournament, our chemistry would be much better than with others.", said Joe with a smile.

Listening to what Joe just said, Mila thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Well then, why are we still here? Let's go!", said Greg punching into the air, while turning around with a happy face.

***

[In the Dia Family's Mansion]

After clearing the last zone, Joe went home, while leaving Greg and the others clearing first ranked zones.

For him getting High-class energy crystals was an easy task, but for the others, it wasn't.

At the moment he was standing before his father, who was in deep thoughts.

A while later his father looked at him and asked, "Are you sure that the man you saw looked exactly what you just said?"

"Yes, father. He was wearing a black mask, which represented a smiling demon with a small white crystal on the forehead. Also, its body was half transparent, which should be the creature's ability, which he got when he killed the ghost."

"Hmm..."

Putting his crossed fingers before his mouth, Joe's father looked confused for a moment, but after thinking he nodded and said, "Thank you. You can go now."

After a respected bow, Joe walked out of the room and closed the door.

"Shadow."

Listening to the man's call, a black shadow appeared behind Joe's father and kneeled.

"How can I be of help, Master?"

"Go and look for any information about this stranger my son just talked about. I need even the tiniest clue, which can tell us who could this man be. Understood?"

"Yes!"

With that, the shadow disappeared instantly, leaving Joe's father in the room alone...