——Five hours prior to the tournament starting, the participants were just called to enter the colosseum for preparations. There were a lot of participants that arrived. There were clearly parties that had the same uniform and color schemes to match identities, and as if it was something like a concert, they were all caring about the appearances that made them unique from the others.“Did we really have to don these suits?”Complaining about their getup, Cian who had just arrived pulled on the collar of the tight suit, uncomfortable with his clothes. It was a black suit with a red tie, and to fit such clothes, there was a top hat that was added as if it was the industrial period. “It's only for appearances. You just have to stick with it for a bit. Look at Magi, he's enjoying the clothes.”“——Nonsense. I'm merely admiring how well-made these are. Appearances are important for our objective anyways.”As Kira tried to bear with Cian's nagging, she would point out how Magi would conti
——Moments before the start of the tournament, Magi and Cian's group was guided to a different room. With their belongings checked through a Digitalizer Clearance Device, or DCD, each was then allowed inside the said room.It was an empty room, but below them was a visible magic circle. “First Round is elimination. Eliminate all the other participants until the whole number of participants is down to 300! Friendly fire is allowed in this stage, so good luck, and may your group survive this round.”The guide that led them to the room would salute and bow before them, explaining the rules before they would be sent to the arena. “——Elimination?”The first to ask this was Cian. Out of all the people in the group, it was the twins who were yet to fully understand the tournament. “Yes. It's the first stage where the weak are easily picked off. As long as we stick together and push through the hordes of participants, we can win without any of us getting eliminated.”Kira would face Cian a
“Keep it up! We don't have to be into the offense. Let's keep this at our pace.”“Y-Yeah...”As Kira shouted out to encourage her team, the vanguards were starting to get tired. Magi and Cian were always sent out to take care of anyone that attempted to break their formation, and with that setup, they were practically unbeatable. However, their stamina was not unlimited. Evan can only heal injuries that they would gain over time but not their stamina. “I'll go and substitute for them.”“No. Stay here. I'll go and be the vanguard for now. We need someone who will protect Saeko and Evan.”Right now, Saeko and Evan were the most useful yet weakest in the group. Saeko's abilities were reserved for someone whose magic they cannot counter, while Evan was their warding eye that lets them have a good insight against an enemy. As Kira stepped out to replace Magi and Cian, Vincent would also step out. “You two, get back and get some rest. We still have a lot of participants to take down i
“With only almost less than a hundred remaining participants to be eliminated, the battle has been happening for two hours now! Right now, five groups have been able to maintain their members intact!”Screaming to increase the excitement within the audience of the Colosseum, the host threw in his hands and extended them to cast a spell that spewed bright colors. The end was nearing for the stage and with less than a hundred, it would only take half an hour to be eliminated. “But as we can see, The Red Trackers have seemed to come to a truce with our new contestants, the Hexes! However, it wasn't only them who had teamed up. The Black Skulls have also teamed up with the Vipers! Were they anticipating such an event to happen?!”His words were fast as time became still inside those four groups. The other remaining participants were still fighting against each other in hopes to survive among the hundred. They had already given up on fighting against the groups that seemed too powerful
“Hey, hey, hey now good mister! Don't just run away! Let us just cut you down and we'll be on our way!”“C-Cut you, please!”“——Like hell I would!”Jumping back and forth, dashing left and right, tumbling high and low, Cian was doing his best to avoid the children that moved as fast as he was. They were attempting to cut him as his clothes were already shredded to bits, and with his strong morals disallowing him to hurt children, he couldn't bring himself to lift a hand.“——Tch! Give me a break!” His stamina was running out while the two seems to be even livelier than ever. Cian knew that children have twice the stamina of an average adult, and so stopping right here would mean that he'd get cut. Without the capability to cast magic nor even use his Grant, he had one more thing that he could rely on. “W-Wait! Before you cut me down, what are your names? Introducing yourself before cutting down someone is somewhat courtesy!”With a sweatdrop on the side of his cheek, he composed h
“Today, the first day of the Mixed Magic Arts Tournament had concluded. There were over 137 casualties and over 143 injured and 120 were disqualified! The casualties this year were extremely lower than last year, and——”With a press of a button, the television was abruptly shut.Evan had turned off the small vintage television that was hanging above a desk at the corner of their office, sitting beside Kira who had sat on her desk.She was dozing off with a grim look on her face, and as Evan tried to wave a hand right in front of her, she wouldn't blink. “Evan. Did you check up on them?”“——Yeah. I just did. He'll be fine for now. There are no problems in his body whatsoever, but he'll need to be bedridden in the next two weeks.”Evan would take a seat right beside her, looking at the television that reflected their images through the black glass. “What about her?”“...She decided to forfeit. She thinks that Vincent needs her by his side.”Kira was referring to Saeko. She had been be
“——Alright. Let's get this straight. These are all the remaining participants, huh?”Inside the training room, a large table was conjured as piles of papers were scattered around it. Everyone was looking at the table and each paper contained a profile of the person that Sabrine had broken down into the tiniest of details.“These are the available information I could gather from the Black Skulls and Vipers, and even Violet Hex and some other groups. The rest are remains of other groups that managed to survive, we can look at them later.”In the table, there were almost ten groups of papers that were labeled together including the three organizations. The others were but a bunch of random groups that were of no threat, so they skipped them and focused on those three only.“Those small twins are called Yuuri and Yuuta. They wield large blades that resemble scissors when joined together. I was only able to know a bit of their magic since they didn't properly show it.”With the Magic tab
“——There's someone right outside the building. They aren't doing anything, but I guess that they're sent by someone trying to gather information from us. A Wind Magic user, be careful not to open any windows.”It was in the early afternoon. Kurumi had her eyes on a certain person right outside their building, hiding behind a tree. She was able to sense their presence due to a Core being present in their body, a hired private investigator who was an Elemental Mage.“Let them be. When he leaves, I want you to tail him. I'll inform the others so they'll not be careless about saying anything dumb.”“Yes.”Kira would leave Kurumi to keep an eye on the figure, watching their every move as they switch from place to place. They were moving too obviously for someone who was supposed to be professional, but maybe it might be because they were hired by a third-rate organization and not the Black Skulls or Vipers.In any case, they were on high alert. “For our news today in Moonblight, there w