Red Festival - Part 1

Musashi Clan Training Area, Core Region.

Musashi Naizen was doing Seiza with his eyes closed. He was meditating, calming his mind and heart. It was his habit to do this before he went out to fight. (A/N: Seiza is a formal standard traditional way of sitting in Japan)

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Footsteps could be heard as they came closer to Musashi Naizen. Musashi Naizen did not open his eyes as he knew who was coming.

"Must you really join this useless fight?" The deep voice resounded in the quiet room. It was the voice of Musashi Kenzan.

Musashi Kenzan did not want his son to take part in the Fighter Anteriority. He did not want his son to waste his time in a useless fight. He would rather see his son use this time for training.

"I must... I must take part in this fight. This is no longer a normal contest, father! It's not like you don't know the reason for my participation! This is no longer a competition, but..."

Musashi Kenzan cut him off, "I know! Those bastards want to do something. They even proposed a meeting on the last day of the Fighter Anteriority!"

"They" in Musashi Kenzan's words was the Ranker Alliance. He could tell that the Ranker Alliance wanted to do something at Fighter Anteriority.

The fact that seven Legendary Rankers and twenty Crown Rankers participated in Fighter Anteriority was proof of their strength.

The reason for Musashi Naizen's participation was to prevent the Rankers from dominating the competition. If that happened, the hero's image would plummet in front of the citizens.

Musashi Naizen entered the tournament for this reason. He did not want people to think that the Hero was weaker than the Ranker. He did not want the people to lose faith in the hero.

"Besides, I have another reason for taking part. My brother is also competing. I want to have a rematch against him!" Musashi Naizen opened his eyes and turned to his father.

When Naizen mentioned his brother, a frown appeared on Musashi Kenzan's forehead.

*** ***

256 Heroes and Rankers were registered to fight in the main event. The number of participants increased at the end of the day before the Hero League closed registration.

Five Emperor Class heroes from three major cities participated in the competition. In addition to the five Emperor Class Heroes, there were seven Legendary Class Rankers and twenty Crown Class Rankers.

Four of the Legendary Class Rankers were from Star City.

This was the main reason why people were excited about this year's Fighter Anteriority. They were looking forward to the clash between the Emperor Class Hero and the Legendary Class Ranker.

In addition, Sun Zhou Yi's appearance in the Fighter Anteriority was one of the most anticipated shows. His fame was no less than that of the Emperor Class Hero.

Heero and his family booked the same seat they had to watch the junior event. Only Kang Seo-Yeon, Bai Xin Yue, Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata were not him.

Kang Dong-Woo and Xu Lingxun were with him, along with the other kids. He sat and scanned the surroundings, the atmosphere was different from the junior event.

He felt that the atmosphere was more lively and wild compared to the previous event. Still, Heero could hear the people around him talking about the Junior Event while they waited for the main event to start.

They were talking about the match between Kang Dong-Woo and Xu Lingxun. It seemed that the two boys had managed to make a deep impression on the crowd, causing Heero to sigh.

He looked at the two boys sitting two seats away from him. Kang Dong-Woo and Xu Lingxun must have heard the discussion because they lowered their heads.

If it were the other masters, they would be proud of their students for the fight, but not of Heero. Although he was no longer angry, he was worried about Xu Lingxun's safety.

Ding!

Like the sound of a bell, it rang out across the arena and the crowd fell silent. Everyone's eyes were focused on the big screen, the first match of the main event.

[Kang Seo-Yeon (#56) vs. Darrius (#203)]

Hoya!!!

The whole arena erupted in cheers. Even the children were affected by the cheers. Hong Yu and Han Ying were affected as they both immediately held his hand.

Then Kang Seo-Yeon entered the arena and the arena shook again as she waved her hand.

However, the spectators soon noticed Kang Seo-Yeon's outfit. It was the same martial arts outfit as the Junior Event and Free Fighter champion.

"Look at her martial arts outfit! Isn't that Heero Academy's martial gear?" A man sitting next to Heero shouted, pointing his finger at the screen.

On the screen, Kang Seo-Yeon climbed onto the stage with a warm smile. She let her long red hair down and wore a black martial arts outfit with "Heero Academy" written on her back in deep orange.

She held a red bow in her right hand and a quiver of arrows at her waist. She also had two short swords hanging from her waist.

The whole arena went wild when they realised that Kang Seo-Yeon was part of the Heero Academy. A phenomenal academy that caused a sensation during the Fighter Anteriority.

Kang Seo-Yeon smiled charmingly as she successfully achieved her first goal of participating in the Fighter Anteriority. Her charming smile caused a massive wave of cheers.

The cheers somehow intimidated her opponent. Darrius was a man in his 30's, his ginger hair and amber eyes told people he was not from Star City.

Wearing the protective gear provided and holding a 5-foot steel spear in his right hand, Darrius flinched at the massive cheers.

Even if I get lucky and win the fight, I could die afterwards... What a shitty luck! Darrius thought to himself as he looked at the intimidating crowd cheering for the beautiful girl in front of him.

Being from Moon City, he had decided to try his luck by taking part in the Fighter Anteriority tournament. Getting into the top 128 might have a positive effect on his rank.

But luck was not on his side when he saw his opponent's number, 56.

No, let's give it our best shot...

The referee looked at Kang Seo-Yeon before turning to Darrius. The referee was a white, long-haired old man. He was the former Emperor Class Hero who had retired ten years ago, Long Bin.

Despite his class, Long Bin was one of the most unique Emperor Class Heroes. It was that he was not affiliated with any major powers. Therefore, he was appointed as a referee for the competition. He was also a member of The Elder.

Holding a steel rod in his right hand, Long Bin nodded to the two contestants. They both nodded in return.

Bam!

Long Bin slammed his staff down, a sign that the match had begun.

Darrius raised his spear. His opponent was an archer. If he wanted to win, he had to close the gap and not give his opponent a chance to shoot the arrow.

He lifted his head and was shocked by what he saw. Arrows were flying towards him. From the distance, he realised that he had to block the arrow. The three arrows were already two metres away from him.

Clang! Clang!

With his quick reaction, Darrius managed to block two of the arrows, but missed the last one.

Slurgh!

Urgh!

He let out a groan of pain as the last arrow pierced his armour and lodged on his thigh.

Darrius did not bother with the arrow on his thigh as he immediately tried to find his opponent. The second time he raised his head, he was surprised to see the female archer rushing towards him.

He thought his opponent would take the opportunity to rain arrows down on him, but the red-haired beauty made an unexpected move. She shortened the distance between them.

From thirty metres apart, they were now only ten metres apart.

Darrius gritted his teeth and muttered, "There's still a chance for me if she comes within range of my spear!"

But he despaired as Kang Seo-Yeon shot five consecutive arrows in less than three seconds when they were eight metres apart.

The five arrows were fast and they flew towards his chest, all five of them. Stunned, Darrius made no move to block the incoming arrows.

I am going to die here...' Darrius despaired, but then the white-haired old man appeared in front of him. The old man spun his staff with his right hand, deflecting all five arrows that Darrius was unable to block.

At the same time, the white-haired old man announced the winner, "Kang Seo-Yeon has won!"

The white-haired old man nodded his head towards Kang Seo-Yeon and muttered, "As expected from Old Man Kang's granddaughter!

Kang Seo-Yeon immediately raised her bow in the air and celebrated her victory with a charming smile on her face.

The entire arena immediately erupted in cheers, and just like that, the main event of Fighter Anteriority began with Kang Seo-Yeon's victory.