Arena

"OUCH!" Ray clutched his head and yelled in pain.

He looked back at Bryan and complained, "What was that for?"

"You're being rude to the girl." Bryan simply stated.

"Ohhhhh yeah, my bad." Ray understood that he was unabashedly staring at her.

"I can't blame him, she's quite beautiful." Ash commented.

"Ash, there's a whole universe for you to explore!" Ray gave him a deadly look.

"Yeah yeah, I know!" Ash smiled.

Feeling that he was being rude to the girl, Ray put a hand on his chest and slightly bowed to show that he was apologizing for his immature action towards her.

The girl naturally saw all of that and her frown loosened up. She was naturally curious about him because as far as she knows, no one had blatantly looked at her like that considering her status.

"Well, I hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of creep or something." Seeing that her frown disappeared, Ray smiled and let out a small sigh of relief.

"She's an Aeron." Asif suddenly said.

"That she is." Ray nodded, already aware of her race.

"You have to be careful, Ray." Asif reminded him.

"I know!" Ray sighed inside.

At this moment, a bulked up Aeron appeared beside the girl. He had a carefree expression and simply put out his hand, motioning the girl to leave with him.

"What is it now, Khai?" The girl asked in an annoyed tone.

"Kaya, you know we have to meet with the other royal families." Khai helplessly said.

"Ugh, it's such a pain dealing with them." Kaya grumbled before taking Khai's hand to stand up.

"The sooner we go, the sooner it gets over." Khai smiled and said.

"I know!" Kaya sighed.

Before leaving the lake, she turned her head around to see the boy on the opposite side of the lake, not knowing why she did it.

"Something catch your eye?" Khai asked.

"It's...nothing." Kaya replied making Khai's eyebrow lift up. They soon disappeared from the sight of the five brothers.

"Well...let's hope he's not her lover." Ash said.

"He's not, at most he's probably a sibling or a friend." Ray confidently said.

"How are you so sure?" Algo asked.

"It's simple. A pond under the beautiful night sky in the midst of a beautiful picturesque scene, who wouldn't have the temptation to gently hold your significant other and kiss them." Ray shrugged and said.

"Hmm..." Asif looked back up at the night sky.

"Wow!" Ash looked at Ray in a new light. Both Algo and Bryan smiled at him and continued to enjoy the scenery.

'She looked back at me. I definitely piqued her interest.' Ray smiled and thought inside. 'But...what exactly did I do?'

Footsteps echoed from behind the five brothers and they turned back to see Old man Reid walking to them.

"Enjoying the pleasant scene?" Old man Reid grinned.

"Yeah, old man." Algo said.

"We needed a breather considering a lot has happened to us recently." Asif commented.

"I know it's been a lot for you kids and I apologize for that." Old man Reid gently said.

"What are you on, Old man Reid?" Bryan looked at him stupidly.

"We're not complaining, old man." Ash smiled.

"Yeah, in fact we love it." Ray said and the rest nodded.

Old man Reid smilingly caressed his chin and said, "I came here to give you the universal translator skill."

Old man Reid handed out five scrolls to each one of them. They were white scrolls with glowing inscriptions contained in it.

"What are we supposed to do with the scrolls?" Algo examined and asked.

"Simply inject your elemental energy into the scroll and you will automatically gain the skill." Old man Reid explained.

They followed what Old man Reid explained and they could feel a stream of mystifying energy enter their brain. The scrolls on the other hand disappeared into motes of light when they were injected with elemental energy.

"That felt a bit weird..." Bryan said while rubbing his head.

"I don't feel anything though." Ray said.

"You'll notice the change once you have a conversation with another race." Old man Reid patiently explained.

"I'll take my leave now. Be prepared for tomorrow, it's going to be a big day and possibly the start of your journeys." Old man Reid rubbed Asif's head and left the five alone.

"Ugh!" Asif hastily went to rearrange his messed up hair.

"Hahahaha!" Ray, Ash and Bryan laughed at the sight.

"As always...!" Algo smiled.

After a while, the five were done with the garden and were on their way back to their room. While on their way back, they saw two four-legged creatures in front of them have a conversation.

"-hear about the big news?" One of four-legged creatures asked.

"Big news? What happened?"

"The princess was spotted in the garden!"

"Are you serious?!"

"Obviously, everyone's been talking about it in the inn."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's go find the princess." With that, the two creatures rapidly galloped away from their sight.

"I understood what they said!" Algo said excitedly.

"Although their mouths were moving in a different language, the skill seems to translate it well for us." Asif observed.

"But what's that about a princess?" Ash said with a hand on his chin.

"Beats me." Ray shrugged.

"Goddamn it, what a missed opportunity." Bryan sighed. Asif shook his head with a smile and went back to the room with the others.

-The next morning-

Today marks the start of a new and a important day for the five brothers. The tournament will test their hard-work and their battle-talent for everything they had done since joining the Human Federation Academy. And for the five brothers, it's for the survival of their Planet Earth.

Streams of different races crowd the street and excited murmurs pollute the air. There were some of them flying too, carrying a bunch of prospective participants to the tournament.

The tournament is situated to take place in the Aeria arena, the largest arena of the Aeron Empire, located right at the center of the city of Arco. The arena could easily hold tens of millions of occupants and is made up of the strongest material found in the star region that could withstand the entire might of an Elemental Master.

Outside the Golden Inn, the five brothers were admiring the crowd accompanied by the three adults. Ray was too excited so he woke everyone up extra early and forced them to join him in the early morning cultivation.

"So, how are we going to reach the arena?" Ash asked while pointing at the bustling crowd.

"It's simple." Old man Reid said.

"We'll fly and carry you to the arena." Alexander smiled. Zac simply grunted in agreement.

"We're gonna fly??" Ray was excited.

"Not exactly but you'll see." Old man Reid smiled knowing how much Ray dreams of flying one day.

Without waiting for their response, the three adults floated up away from the ground making themselves mesmerizing in the eyes of the five brothers, mostly Ray. Soon after, the five brother felt a stream of energy wrap around their bodies and the group flew away from the Golden Inn to the Aeria arena.

"Did you just see that?"

"Yeah, he's at least an Elemental Spirit!"

"Or maybe higher..." The bystanders were witnesses to the scene and came up with their own assumptions. They know that whomever has the ability to fly are regarded as the best of the best in the Aeron Empire.

Not before long, the group reached the arena and they could see well managed lines consisting of the public mass entering the audience entrance. The entrance for the tournament participants is located a bit further away from the audience entrance and two guards stand post to put stop to any troubles. Along with the two Aeron guards, there is a middle-aged man of the Aeron Empire donned with spectacles, sitting behind a desk in front of the entrance, noting down the participants and handing them something.

"Planet?" The middle-aged man behind the desk asked after the group approached the desk.

"Planet Earth." Alexander said.

"Alright, take these." The desk man then handed Alexander five white-colored wrist bands with a red stripe.

"Make sure the participants of your planet wear the identification wrist bands. To use it, simple inject your energy into the wrist band and your respective identification number will appear." The desk man explained the function of the wrist band.

Algo was curious and injected some of his elemental energy into the wrist band and slowly a number appeared as a hologram right above the wrist band.

"Guys, look!" The other four looked at the wrist band with incredulous expressions. The number 9,375,465 was hovering over the wrist band indicating Algo's identification number.

"What the fuck..." Ash uttered.

"There's around 9 million participants?!" Bryan was flabbergasted.

"That's a lot." Ray said in a surprised tone.

"The Aeron starfield contains millions of planets. How many did you think would be there?" Asif explained.

"Maybe around...50,000?" Ash hesitatingly said.

"Even I didn't think that low of a number!" Bryan looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Thank you." After checking the wrist band, Alexander thanked the desk man and led the group into the entrance of the arena.

They were walking through a hallway inside the arena and all kinds of races were seen that either looked intimidating or more intimidating. They felt the occasional stares on them trying to gauge out their identity and power level.

After some time of walking and observing the other participants, the group saw that at the end of the hallway was an active portal being entered by the other participants.

"Alright, kids. This is it!" Old man Reid said.

"This is as far as we go." Zac chimed in.

"That portal will take you to a separate dimension meant for housing all the participants. More precisely, it's more of a waiting lobby." Alexander explained.

"A whole friggin' separate dimension just to be used as a waiting lobby?!" Ray asked in fervor.

"Yes." Alexander helplessly nodded.

"So fucking cool..."

Alexander took a deep breath, looked at all five of them for a few seconds gaining their curiosity and slowly said, "It always seems impossible until it's done. Wars have been fought in our planet to achieve either dominance or peace. You, the brave five brothers, will be fighting for our world not from oppression, not from tyranny, or from suffering but from the complete annihilation of humankind."

The five brothers wore an extremely severe face after hearing what their Director had to say. They felt their body tighten up, their hearts beating faster to the countless lives living on Earth. They felt the true enormity of the situation they're facing and it is all up to them.

"All our hopes are on you five young men, so give it your all and best of luck!" Zac solemnly said.

The five nodded at him with eyes filled with determination and immense resolve. Whatever hints of nervousness they had were slowly disappearing.

Old man Reid smiled brilliantly and patted each one of their heads, "No matter what happens, I am proud of each one of you."

"We're glad to have you in our life, Old man Reid!" Bryan smiled along with the others. The five brothers looked at each other and bowed to the three adults while shouting in unison.

"THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!"

Their loud commotion attracted the eyes of few participants but not much to the point they would pay acute attention to them.

Alexander smiled and finally said, "Go on! Shock the universe!"

The five brothers nodded and soon entered the portal. The three leaders of the Human Federation Academy smiled faintly at the five boys disappearing into the portal before leaving the hallway to join the spectators on the other side.

"Alexander!" An orange-skinned humanoid appeared and sat beside Alexander.

"Abhura? What are you doing here?" Alexander was surprised.

"After what you said to me before you left and knowing you, I got curious so here I am." Abhura shrugged.

"I am never wrong." Alexander smiled.

"I know." Abhura let out a loose smile.