Chapter 85 - Rules

While we were waiting in the hall for further instructions, a group of a.d.u.l.t knights came into the room. Each of them held a fairly large sack that was filled. They began going around the room handing out bracelets to each and every one of the contestants.

Not much was said, we were just told we needed to wear them if we wanted to participate. The bracelet was clear like glass and slightly larger than an a.d.u.l.t's fist. Similar to my gauntlets, when we put them around our wrist it shrunk down to the perfect fit.

After waiting for a little while longer, eventually, a master knight entered through the door. It was the female master knight Rose. Rose was the leader of the green sash knights. She walked through the crowd of people to the other end of the hall.

When she looked like she was ready to speak the whole room went silent.

"Good morning everyone, I'm here to tell you all about the rules of this tournament. The first order of business, will ranks 1 to 5 of the 3rd year students please come forward."

Five students who I had never seen before went over to where Rose was standing. Ti reminded me of Harry. When the two of us had thought he showed me the number on his communicator he was only Rank 50. These students standing there now were considered the strongest at the academy.

"Next, will the ranks 1 to 5 of the 2nd year students please come forward."

Gary, Slyvia, Ian monk and dan all went forward to line up. There wasn't much change in the ranking system from the first year to the second year. Dan and Monk had always been slowly creeping their way up the ladder of the ranks. When our room eventually held the top five spots, they agreed to not fight each other.

Everyone had become good friends and thought there was no point to switch places between ranks. Right now, it was different though. Everyone wanted to show the audience outside what skills they had learnt.

"The ten students standing here will be seeded. They will not participate in the first round and will go straight through to the knock out stages."

The students began to get rowdy.

"What the hell!" kyle said, "Didn't we just make a pact? They already made it through."

Rose decided to ignore the complaining students and continued talking.

"You might be wondering what the devices on your wrist are for, in a moment you should all see a number display on them."

As I looked towards my wrist a green figure could be seen "100 HP" written across the bracelet.

"The first round of the competition will be a battle royal. The second-year students will participate first. The last five students remaining will go on ahead to the knockout stages." She then lifted one of the bracelets in the air.

"This is your winning ticket. In the battle royal, you will only be permitted to use the regular wooden training equipment. For each hit you take this number will go down. When the number reaches zero, you will be eliminated from the tournament."

Rose then pointed towards Martha

"Martha will you please join me."

Martha quickly ran over to Rose's position. Rose then handed Martha a wooden bow with a blunt wooden arrow.

Rose then started to look at the second-year students that were lined up and pointed at Ian.

"Big guy, you look like you can take a little pain, I want you to stand in front of Martha and let her shoot you."

Martha readied her bow and chose to aim the arrow towards Ian's abs. Martha shot the arrow and it bounced right off Ian's body.

"As you can see the student has taken no damage but if we look at his bracelet, it now says 90HP. We want the students to show their skill in the first round, not their wealth or luck. This will put you all on an even playing field. The first round is all about skill. Now Martha would you please take a shot using Ki"

Martha again took a shot at Ian, this time infusing Ki into her bow and arrow.

"Now his bracelet displays the number 70, the stronger the attack the more Hp is taken. If Ian had blocked using Ki it would counteract that and just do the normal ten points of damage. That is all you need to know for the 1st round.

The students were then asked to put their equipment in a storage room and then meet back in the hall. They asked me to take off my gauntlets as well due to the sharp fingertips, I was only allowed to take in the armour I was wearing. In the storage room, there was a room full of wooden equipment with all types of weapons. Axes maces bows, everything. I went over and just picked up a regular old short sword.

The 10 seeded students were taken somewhere else since there was no need for them to be there.

From the hallway, we were further escorted down a huge tunnel. The tunnel went on for about five minutes and at the end of it, we could see a bright light.

As soon as we went into the bright light we were welcomed with a roar of cheers. It felt like the whole ground was shaking. The whole arena was completely packed with people.

There was a special seating area where the six elders sat and the master knights as well. Just underneath them where two squire masters who had a crystal microphone connected.

"Welcome ladies and gentleman we will now begin the opening round of the Avrion academy tournament." As the man spoke into the crystal it was magnified so the whole audience could hear.

The students were asked to spread out all over the arena. There was around 150 of us total on the ground floor. As I went into my open space, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that the other players were looking at me.

"The first round will be a battle royal style. The last five students remaining will go through to the next round." A hologram screen suddenly appeared above the fighting arena.

"As you can see here, the audience is able to see the HP of every single contestant. Once the HP counter of a contestant reaches 0, they will be eliminated. Now let's get ready to start in

The whole audience started to count down together.

"3…..2….1…"