Enter The Arena
Etheric Industrial Stadium, Beauxer, Republic of Usona
Zai
The big day was finally here.
No one was going to be disqualified in the first round, barring some major unsportsmanlike conduct, so there was a lot of wiggle room for candidates to show off in the Grand Melee, as it was being called.
The rules had finally solidified around the number of candidate-sending nations, and Zai was surprised to see there were only seventy out of the one-hundred-fifty or so nations that existed. Other nations had sent Ascendants as well, but more to learn rather than participate. Less than half the world would be truly represented in the bouts.