Tournament[2]

Even some with alcohol. Only one table was not yet occupied. Each space had only five seats and was prepared especially for a team. At the end of the room, there was a large metal railing for people to lean on. There were also several televisions at each table so each team could choose which battle they wanted to watch.

As soon as he looked outside, Kayden realized that the space was much larger than he had expected. The stadium had straight sides, similar to a rectangle, and at the ends, it was shaped like a half circle.

The stands grew at an angle to the ground, with each row of chairs a little larger than the previous one. Furthermore, there were four floors with a long corridor leading to the interior of the building, separating them.

The floors seemed to divide the class of each seat. In the last seats, there were few seats and they were spaced apart. Furthermore, there were also people dressed in red suits circulating among them.

On the floors below, the seats had no spaces between them and only on the third were there also people in red circulating. In the other two, there were small stalls selling different foods.

But that wasn't the most bizarre thing, but the number of people. As far as his eyes could go, there were people. The amount of people was simply ridiculous. Kayden doubted that in his old life, any stadium could hold so many people at once.

"Astolfo, how many people can fit here?", Kayden asked curiously, maybe a hundred thousand?

"Half a million people. But this is a small to medium-sized stadium. Those in the capital have 10 million people. Normally, after the interstate ones, the finals are held there."

That... was ridiculous. Kayden couldn't even imagine the size of a stadium to fit so many people together. It should be simply colossal. This should only be possible to build using magic. There was no other explanation.

Everyone sat at the table and started eating the appetizers while waiting for the championship to start. As Astolfo explained, a member of the government would appear and take the corresponding team to the fighting space.

The arena had several spaces dedicated to battles with large bubbles and a judge on top of each one, dressed in a red suit. The first battles were carried out at high speed and the selection phase of the 60 best teams was carried out only on the first day.

This was bizarrely fast, considering there were 2,500 participants and around 500 teams. There would have to be many battles to get to the finalists. This was thanks to the high-level healing mages recruited by the government. They could restore both the participants' physical health and the exhaustion caused by the confrontation.

A few minutes later, all participants from all teams entered. In the center of the arena, the mayor caught everyone's attention with a beaming greeting.

"Welcome everyone to the municipal tournament for the best students in our city!" His voice reverberated in every corner of the stadium, even on the first floors, where they had no television access. This was possible through the use of mana.

His appearance was that of someone young, his hair was brown and, on television, it was possible to discern his eyes as blue as the sea. His body wasn't very bulky, but it suited the navy blue suit he was wearing perfectly.

"In a few minutes, we will start our event, try to buy all the food beforehand so you don't waste a second." His tone was cheerful and showed pleasure in presiding over this event. "Well... may my son win, because my love as a father is greater than for my work."

His honest phrase caused a wave of laughter in the audience and gave the event the joyful tone that it had every year. It wasn't long before an officer in red was seen floating in front.

"Team Kayden, please stand up." The referee's voice had a respectful tone, even though he was someone at the mage level or higher. As soon as everyone stood up, they felt themselves being levitated into the air.

With a smooth speed, the man moved to one of the arenas below. There was nothing peculiar about it and it was just a transparent bubble, its only effect was sound insulation, not even the vibrations on the floor could be felt inside.

As soon as they entered, they came across the other team, made up... only of magicians. It seemed to be a repeat of the first fight Astolfo participated in with them. Kayden quickly thought of the strategy they would use.

His first thought was the steam tactic used previously, but it was not possible in this case. The other team would hardly let them accumulate enough water for this, they would probably start the match with a flurry of spells.

"There is only one rule and that is not to use help from third parties, other than that everything is valid. You have five minutes to prepare, but pre-made spells are not allowed." The judge gave instructions for the confrontation.

Kayden's team remained silent. They didn't have much to discuss, the strategy would be the same as the other fight, with practically no difference, at least that's what they expected.

A few minutes later, the judge took a bell out of his pocket and shook it, starting the fight. For a few seconds, the two teams just stared at each other, but that didn't last long and the wizards began to organize an attack.

Quickly, dozens of fireballs were thrown at them. The incredible thing was that there were only mages of that element on the other side, probably this was thought to avoid interference by other elements.

This wasn't a good sign, as it meant they probably had great synergy together. Kayden's team just waited, and when the enemy attack came close, a neutral element bubble was raised by Jean.

Seeing this, the opposing team began to unleash dozens of fire-element offensive spells against the barrier. For a few seconds, none of them were even able to look outside with so many flames licking the bubble.

"Maria!" Jean called through his teeth clenched in effort. The girl understood what he wanted and took control of the bubble, changing it to an extremely cold water class.

Unlike many stories Kayden saw, in this world medium fire would never beat medium water, because the amount of water a mage could cast was much greater than a fire mage.

"60 seconds", Maria gave a maximum estimate of how much she could handle.

"Break it into 20. I'm going to use a giant Pop Flash. Jean, you must use all your mana to give us acceleration spells. We're going to make a unique beat. Carlos and Astolfo, focus on the ones closest to you. As soon as we remove one or two opponents, Maria will start raining spells."

With all the plan structured, now all that was left was to wait. No one doubted or criticized their decisions, they have come too far to have intrigues between them. Little by little, the bubble began to break.

"5 seconds" Maria gave the final estimate making everyone prepare for the imminent confrontation, it didn't take long and the sounds of glass breaking started to come from everywhere in the bubble.

 Jean has already used his strongest wind element spell on the three melee attackers. Simultaneously, Kayden stretched his katana out of the bubble, drawing the attention of the five opponents.

 The boy's Pop Flash blinded all his opponents, none of them were expecting anything like that, taking advantage of the surprise factor and Jean's acceleration spell, the three ran toward the wizards.