The big day

Days went by, and without even noticing, the day of the tournament arrived.

Having finished a total of eight days of daily tasks, his stats now looked like this:

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Exp: 2950/3400

{Attributes}

Strength: 49

Perception: 48

Agility: 48

Speed: 48

Intelligence: 47

Thinking Speed: 47

Charisma: 0 [Locked]

{Spare Points: 0}

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Ender trained diligently with Ren and Sakura, trying to master the crucial moves inside a fight. Having Sakura for mobility training and Ren for blunt force was great for him, as he felt he got stronger both ways.

Still, he was stuck with a poor fight sense and that odd mix of styles. Sakura calmed him by saying that it would take a long time and that it would come naturally.

The brackets were announced the day before, and as Sakura expected, there were only eight participants including Ender. He noticed that in case Ender and Alex won every fight, they would clash in the finals.

This didn't relax him as he wanted to fight him first to get him out of the way.

They also heard about a hidden rule, which stated that participants could not see others' fights, meaning they'd be going blindly against each other. This rule wasn't universal but something from the facility.

There will be one fight at a time with fifteen minutes of rest between quarters, semifinals, and finals. Sakura said that the fights won't last that much so the event would end in an hour and a half.

After training, he would either go straight to his home or spend some time with Alex's group. It isn't that he began to like him at all, but he was... bearable? Even Ender didn't know.

They went towards Loren's uncle's bar to get some drinks before the big day. It was Ender's first time inside a bar so he was once again really lost on what to get.

And, once again, Loren told him that he could drink what she got. It wasn't a carbonated soda, which Ender hated the second he tasted it, but rather a mix of cold lemonade with sugar that soothed his throat.

They stayed there until midnight which was a bad idea as they completely forgot about school.

Anyways, Ender was currently walking beside Sakura toward the participant's room. He was getting some envious looks and when he asked about it,

"I'm well-known, it was bound to happen."

Ender could see the face of disgust she had and decided to never ask about it again. They, or rather he, went through a particular door that glowed green, then waited for Sakura to enter.

She stood there and waved to him with a poker face. Ender didn't know why she was waiting but after looking forward he could see Alex walking to receive him. That's when he understood that it was for participants only.

"Hey there, ready to go all out?" He asked with a mischievous smile while weakly punching his shoulder, "I'm not going to contain myself, hehe."

Ender just sighed and patted his shoulder which made him stare at him with an open mouth. Alex's face got a little red while scratching his cheek.

He had to get used to this type of behavior as he has only dealt with people from his school. Therefore he was somewhat known and somebody ignoring him was a new experience.

He then started walking towards the room to meet the other participants, yet the second he put one foot inside,

"Huh?! What the fuck are you doing here?!"

He turned around and saw a long black-haired girl, taller than him, rapidly approaching. She had an infuriating look and was pointing at him, "Not only do you mess Derreck up with the Powerfuels, but you have the balls to come to this tournament?"

'Why is Larisa here...'

Larisa was, simply put, Ender's old crush. After all, he was thirteen, and hormones were pretty much messing with his mind and thought that having a girlfriend would be the best of the best.

Luckily that mindset didn't last for long as he soon lost interest in her after finding out, to no one surprise, that she treated Ender like everybody else. He did it very well to hide his clear interest because the consequences would have been fatal.

Back to reality, Larisa took Ender by his hoodie and lifted him against the wall, 'Damn, she got stronger...'

"I will make sure to finish what he fucking couldn't!" She said while raising her fist in the air, but before she could do anything, someone took her by the arm and threw her back.

"You good?" Alex said, looking at Ender, in a casual tone.

"Alex, what the fuck are you doing?! You know who he is?" Larisa said while pointing at Ender.

Alex looked at him with a worried look before turning to face Larisa, "A friend. Now, stop annoying every single one of us. We don't need nuisances before the tournament."

She looked at Alex with rage before showing him the middle finger, then went to sit on a sofa in the room while looking at her phone. Ender fixed his hoodie while sighing.

Alex took him by the arm, dragged him towards the hallway they came from, and said, "Bro, what does she want from you? She looked really mad, I've never seen her like that before."

"Well, she's from my school... She hates me for something from the past, that's all." Ender said while scratching his head.

Alex blinked repeatedly and said, "What have you done?"

"Being myself..."

That was partially true. Ender was being himself, but his weak self. He still had to understand why he was hated so much for doing... nothing. He understands the working class telling him that he is useless, but students?

He felt that the universe wanted to pick on him for no real reason, and he had to deal with it. Alex patted him on the shoulder while getting back inside. Just as they did, they saw a tall man coming from the arena stairs.

He was completely bald and had a rough look on his face, giving the vibes of a drill sergeant. He waited for everybody to get in line and if somebody lacked he would stare straight at his/her soul.

Once everybody was ready, he talked, "Welcome participants," He said with a commanding tone, "The tournament will start in thirty minutes. However, you need to change clothes to the official ones."

He then threw eight spatial bracelets, one for each, "There you have them, go one by one to the changing room and be ready in ten minutes."

Not wasting a moment, Ender was the first one to go straight to the changing room. He got inside, locked the door, and took a look at the bracelet's content. It was a matching green and white tracksuit.

He got them on in less than one minute, stored his old clothes in the same bracelet, and left the room.

"Talk about speed." Said Alex while getting inside. Ender went towards the hologram where the brackets were shown. He had to fight against a man named Elliot, but he had no one who he was.

He wanted to ask but in the end, he thought that the surprise addition would make the battle better. After seven minutes, everybody had the tracksuit on, adjusting to their bodies. Ender took a last look at him and fixed his hair a little bit.

'It's starting to look more and more to Ren's.'

["Stealing my look, that's plagiarism."] He complained.

His hair got entirely black and now more red strands were appearing. He is expecting it to get just like Ren's.

"Alright, everybody!" The instructor clapped, "Those who have odd numbers come with me! Those who don't, stay here."

With a single glance, three guys and a girl came forward, including Ender. He nodded at them and went towards the side of the wall, and made two quick knocks. Suddenly, the wall disappeared and he began walking.

While the three others stared at it with dropped jaws, Ender started walking behind the instructor. The others quickly caught up and the wall appeared again, sealing them from the others.

"Don't worry about them, another instructor will come." He said, "When you finish fighting there are two outcomes. If you win, you go through the green hallway towards the waiting room; if you lose, to the red hallway... in case you are still conscious."

Everybody nodded or hummed at the order and quickly arrived at a room exactly like the last one. They went to sit on the sofa while waiting for the countdown to end.

"Aren't you guys nervous?" A girl asked. One of them nodded while the other said, "Why join the tournament if you aren't ready? Hope you have steel nerves, if not, good luck."

He had blazing red hair and was lying on a sofa with his eyes closed. Ender looked at him with intrigue. Just from his hair, he could guess that his element had something to do with fire.

In case he fought against him, he should be expecting things to get heated up. The girl on the other hand had blue hair that could indicate water or fog.

This was another trait of Elements. When you reach seventeen, the element will begin to merge into your DNA, making some slight genetic changes. The most common are hair and eye, but not necessarily.

When Ender got the Manipulation to change his eye's color he thought that he had awoken multiple Elements but the scan said otherwise, in fact, it said None. Looking back at it, he pities himself for not noticing that earlier.

Suddenly, "Participants Ender Rialto and Elliot Lung, please step up to the arena."

"And of course, I need to go first..." Ender sighed while getting up. He weakly slapped his face to get some sense into him and, after giving a deep breath, he started climbing the stairs.

When he got up, he was greeted by a field the size of two basketball courts. On both sides, there were a lot of people watching from the stands. Not as much as he expected but enough to put some pressure on him.

'I guess that going all out is a no option.' He inwardly sighed. He also noticed Loren, Emma, and Rachel watching him from the top of the right side, waving at him. Looking to the left, he saw Sakura watching, indifferently.

When he looked in front of him, he saw Elliot climbing the stairs. He had black hair that was seemingly floating in the air. He started waving to some people before focusing on Ender.

Suddenly, two big barriers appeared that encapsulated both of them.

"These barriers are to prevent accidents, you can touch it without any problem."

Ender looked to his right and saw a tower with three people, instructors. The middle one, presiding over the tournament, had blond hair and looked relatively young, but Ender knew that Humanyc's looks sometimes fooled age.

"Participants, get ready. Once you hear the whistle, you may start the battle."

Both of them nodded and looked at each other. Ender could feel his entire body tensing up but he knew that would mess with him greatly, so he took a deep breath...

*Pheeeew!!!*