Chapter 38 - So It Begins..

''The victory goes to Viorange!!!!'' A loud voice echoed in the stadium, which in result caused loud cheers, the voice continued.''The next match is what we all have been waiting for, Armya Vs. Irio will start shortly!''

*CHEER!*

Another round of cheers erupted after the voice announced the next match-up - All around the stadium, there were at least over a dozen TV Cameras, but now all those cameras were directed at the same arena - Center Arena. - Tournament organizers and referees were running around the stadium like headless chickens, but they know that the next match is the biggest one so far - Everything need to be perfect without a mistake - Higher-ups from Ramu were also going to be watching the match - There is no room for errors, or their jobs might be in danger.

TV Watching Ratings has been around 61% in the Ramu, and about 29% in entire Gensa on average.

But now.. Match hasn't even started yet, but already TV Rating shot up to 80% in Ramu and 45% in Gensa!

It keeps increasing without stopping!

Only 5 minutes remaining till the match starts!

...

''Hello! We are back in the stadium in Ramu, where things are getting heating up, just moments before Match 4.'' Commentator A said and started talking about other mundane things, then he looked at his two Quest commentators.''Miss Quella, Miss Mars, any comments about next match-up?''

Miss Quella sat on her seat elegantly while having a thinking pose, she thought-moment longer and said.''Ramu has a huge advantage over this... I don't see them losing.''

Commentator A nodded with Mars.

''Mister Mars, do you agree?''

''Obviously, Armya has a huge advantage, even someone without any martial arts knowledge would think the same thing - Armya has one Peak Martial Leader and two Middle Martial Leaders.'' Mars sighed softly and continued.''While Irio has Low Martial Soldier, who was quite lucky against Snakeland, to be honest - Hank underestimated him and it let Liam take advantage of it, but they won't underestimate him anymore - Then there is Lucas and Ichiro, no one knows their true strength yet - Lucas has Middle Martial Leader ranking in paper, but Ichiro has never done the ranking test, so his true strength is a mystery, even Lucas might be way stronger than he has shown so far.'' Commentator A and Miss Quella profoundly nodded.

...

Meanwhile within the audience.

''Who do you think will win?''

''Isn't that obvious? Armya will win this easily!''

''Yeah, might be true.''

''It is truth - Whoever fights against that Liam guy from Irio will have an easy win, and Slych will defeat his opponent with ease~''

''I wonder why this match is so hyped - Armya won't lose no matter how you look at it.''

''Hype around Irio is only because they won against Snakeland, but in my opinion, they won with luck - If Liam wasn't so lucky against Hank, then they would have easily lost.''

''True.''

...

Meanwhile somewhere in Gensa.

''Hurry! Change the channel!'' Old man in his 60s told urgently.

''Gramps, what is the hurry?''

''Irio's match is about to start.''

''Irio?''

''Your grandpa was from the Irio, he also represented their school in few tournaments.'' a woman in his 40s said with a gentle smile, she sat next to the old man, who is her father.

''What?!''

''Ah, I remember it like a yesterday - Back then I was full of life while joking around with my friends, back then we were hoping to win the championship.. but never managed to do in the end.'' The old man sighed with a sad smile.

''I never knew you were a Martial Arts Practitioner!''

''I was.. but I stopped around the university.. After my growth period started, my talent wasn't enough to keep up with my other friends... I managed to reach Martial Captain at age of 20, but my friends were already close to Martial Commander, my talent never was enough to reach Martial King, so I gave up.'' The old man sighed sadly and smiled softy.''But I heard good things about this year's Irio's team, I heard from my old friend that they have two monsters in their team right now.''

TV showed the channel with Ramu's tournament ongoing, they were currently going through profiles of the fighter, then the photo of Ichiro was showing on the screen.

Ichiro at the picture has black hair - with somewhat messy hair - He had very attractive eyes with a handsome face to crown it, sharp eyebrows and sharp jawline, but with some youthfulness were still shown on his face - TV commentators were going through Ichiro's achievements which brought some shock towards old man, and he smiled proudly.

''Youth..'' Old man murmured.

''..So handsome..'' quiet voice said but no one around her heard it, she was a young girl in her 15s, she had brown hair - with long hair reaching her waist - she had blue eyes - she also had somewhat tan skin, giving her exotic look on her beautiful, but a young face, she had visible blush on her face while looking at picture of Ichiro.

''Hmm, no rank?'' young boy, who looked like he was in his 10s, he asked with confusion after seeing that in Ichiro's profile, the Rank spot had words - Unranked - On it.

''It seems he didn't go to ranking test yet.'' the old man said gently.

''Why?'' the young boy asked with curiosity.

''There are always few who likes to keep their strength a secret, that's why there are always few who doesn't go to ranking test - But that only works in Middle School scene, to attend High School tournament, you need to have at least a rank.'' old man said, but there is no way he could have guessed that Ichiro started training Martial Arts month ago - That's why he thinks that Ichiro is trying to hide his strength.

''Match is starting!'' the young boy exclaimed and started looking at the screen with an intense gaze.

But never would have that young boy guessed, that this fight changes his life forever - This will be the fight which lits his flame of passion towards Martial Arts - This is the fight, which gave birth to future Martial Divinity...

...

Time before the match - 00:00.000

''LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S TIME!''

*CHEERS!*

''GO FOR IT SLYCH!!!''

''IRIO YOU CAN DO IT!''

''AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!''

Voices and music were battling against each other.

Lights went off the arena, only lights were around the announcer.

''Ladies and Gentlemen.''

''Round of 16 - Match 4 - Armya Vs. Irio - BEGINS!''

*CHEEEEERS!*

''The first team to walk to the stage is..''

''ARMYA!!!!!!''

*CHEEEEEEEERS!!!!!!*

''SLYCH GO FOR IT!!''

''GO FOR IT ARMYA!!!!''

''SLYCH! SLYCH! SLYCH! SLYCH!''

''Let us welcome the team of the reigning champions!''

*BOOM!*

A loud explosion of fireworks was heard which lit the sky.

The light was shown around the east exit of the stadium, which lit the whole area around it.

From there, three members of Armya appeared.

They were Slych - Rawal - Evol.

Slych was standing calmly with his long black hair flowing behind him, his hands were itching for the fight, he is at his strongest state at the moment. His grey eyes looked around the stadium sharply, while his powerful momentum increased by moment.

Next to him stood Rawal, with his serious demeanor, he looked very solemn at the moment, because he will be fighting Lucas, who is probably of the same strength as him.

Evol stood next to Rawal but wasn't as serious as his team members, but he was still nervous concerning the match result.

*CHEEERS!*

''SLYCH GO FOR IT!''

''RAWAL! EVOL!!''

''SLYCH I LOVE YOU!!!!!!''

The trio of Armya walked to the center arena, under the intense gaze of the audience, with all the cameras zoomed on them.

They stood calmly in the center arena, waiting for their opponents to appear.

''NEXT UP IS!!!!!!!!!!!''

''IRIO!!!''

*CHEEEEEERS!*

The trio of Irio appeared from the west exit.

*BOOM!*

Fireworks appeared in the sky, while the west exit lit up in light, showing the figures of the trio clearly.

Lucas stood with a solemn face with hands behind his back, currently, he has the demeanor of Captain around him, he has been training for this moment for his entire life, HE CAN'T FAIL!

Liam stood at the center of the trio for some reason, he was standing with shaky legs, with cold swear pouring on his back, he was currently very nervous, never has he been under this kind of pressure.

Ichiro was standing next to Liam, his handsome face was currently indifferent, he was munching something on his mouth... Ichiro took something from his pocket and put them in his mouth... Looking closely, you can see him putting some kind of pills on his mouth... Currently, he was eating painkillers like some kind of candy... Not very healthy and it is indeed very dangerous, but Ichiro doesn't give a shit. He looked at Slych in the arena and grinned slightly while trembling in excitement or trembling from an overdose of painkillers, who knows.

''GO FOR IT IRIO!!''

''ICHIRO I WANT YOUR BABIES.''

''YOU OLD HAG, HE IS ONLY 15!''

''I CAN WAIT FOR 3 YEARS!''

''GO FOR IT IRIO, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!''

''IRIO! IRIO! IRIO ! IRIO!''

They started walking towards the center of the arena under the loud shouts of the audience.

They stood in the center while facing Armya.

Liam was facing Evol.

Lucas was facing Rawal.

And Ichiro was facing Slych.

Slych looked at Ichiro closely.

Ichiro did the same.

Round of 16 - Match 4 - Armya Vs. Irio

BEGINS!