Chapter 56: It’s Showtime

Chapter 56: It’s Showtime "Competition schedule?!" Carlos grabbed it and flipped through the pages. It had everything—what monsters they’d face, how the competition would run, pairing and hunting details, scoring rules, the whole nine yards. With this insider intel straight from a tournament organizer, Carlos felt like he was sitting pretty. How could those other contestants—who were low-tier level at best—possibly stand a chance against him and his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards? Worst case scenario, he’d fire up his bond and go on an absolute rampage. Iris had her people jot down Carlos’s team registration info. After giving him a few final words of advice, she headed off to the half-elf guards to start her daily grind. Carlos took the booklet back to his room and dove into studying every detail, doing his homework before the big show. ... Five days later, Ember Square, Ember Colosseum. The place was packed to the rafters, buzzing with anticipation. "Ha! Just wait till you see my boys in action!" "This is incredible! Ember City hasn’t thrown a bash like this in ages!" "Word is, every hotshot and rising star from the past fifteen years came back to compete!" "You bet—Little Giant, Little Statue, Violent Flame, Green Bone, and the rest. All these scary-talented folks who’ve already hit their first breakthrough are here to duke it out!" "Hot damn! Look at all these powerhouses coming out of the woodwork!" "This is going to be one hell of a show! Time for the new blood to prove themselves!" "..." The crowd was going wild debating which prodigy would come out on top and claim the crown. And which team had the chops, the teamwork, and the killer instinct to take it all. But all their chatter focused on the ’old guard’—talents who’d already made their mark around the city years back. The ’fresh faces’ who’d awakened recently? They didn’t even register. After all, they were still green behind the ears. Forget winning the whole thing—just making it past round one would be a miracle. ... The Ember Colosseum had massive stone bleachers wrapping around the walls. Up north, they’d built a fancy stepped platform decked out with all the bells and whistles. That’s where Ember City’s big shots would be watching from their front-row seats. Dead center of the platform sat Ember City’s top brass: the half-elf Guard Captain-General, High Priest, owner of the Flame Exchange, the Warden, garrison commander-in-chief, and other heavyweights. Next to them were the second-string leaders: unit commanders, district governors, department heads, and so on. Carlos’s sister Iris, fresh off her promotion to commander, had snagged a spot among them. "Ember City’s First Ember Tournament - Individual Competition is about to kick off!" The announcer’s voice boomed across the venue through some fancy alchemical sound system. The colosseum floor started rumbling and shaking. Then, one by one, fighting platforms rose up from the ground, with heavy bronze mesh cages built around the edges. Each platform had several towering iron cages stuffed with all kinds of nasty creatures. "Round One: Blood and Guts! Take down the dark mist monster—Corruption Wolf—in ten minutes flat to move on to the next round!" The moment those words rang out, referees on the platforms cracked open the iron cages... Bone-chilling wolf howls filled the air as massive wolves, about 10 feet long, appeared on each platform. Their fur was rotting right off their bodies, with nasty green gunk constantly dripping from their heads onto the platform, filling the air with a stomach-turning stench. These were round one’s dark mist monsters—Corruption Wolves! Spirituality 10, Strength 3, Constitution 4, Speed 5. As soon as these first dark mist monsters showed up, the crowd went absolutely nuts: "Holy cow! Corruption Wolves are no joke. I remember when I was thirty-three with about 13 spirituality, it took me and my whole team just to bring down one of those suckers!" "Tough for us regular folks, but those hotshots won’t break a sweat. The cream of the crop under thirty are packing at least 15 spirituality!" "Here we go! It’s showtime!" "..." The competing Psionics, based on their earlier lottery draws, climbed onto platforms to throw down with the Corruption Wolves... The fights were absolutely brutal. Some poor souls nearly got their throats ripped out by Corruption Wolves the second they stepped up, only saved by referees jumping in at the last second. "You’re out! Next!" Others went toe-to-toe with Corruption Wolves for what felt like forever, but ran out of time and got the boot! Some smart cookies knew exactly where to hit these beasts—they’d dodge the attacks, then slip in a blade right between the ribs. "You’re through! Next!" Others just had the raw power to go head-to-head, beating those wolves to a bloody pulp in just a few swings. "You’re through! Next!" "..." The crowd was going wild, cheering and groaning with every fight: "Platform 32! That’s my boy! You numbskull! Go for the ribs! What are you thinking?!" "Check out Platform 15! Little Giant Leo’s up! Sweet mother of pearl! He’s completely shrugging off that corruption, just pounding that wolf to death with his bare hands!" "There’s ’Little Violent Flame’ Buck! Look at those flames roar! That Corruption Wolf got turned to ash in no time flat!" "..." But then, cutting through all the shouting, excited female screams suddenly erupted: "Look... look at Platform 1! That’s the Valois family’s golden boy! Carlos Valois!" "Sweet mercy! Is that really the legendary face blessed by the gods themselves? Oh! I can’t breathe!" "That face is just... just absolutely perfect!" "Look at that entrance, that perfect posture! Every single move screams pure class!" "Young Master Carlos has only been awakened half a year, but facing down those terrifying monsters way stronger than him, he’s cool as a cucumber! What nerve!" "Pure class! Absolutely pure class!" "..." Talk about Carlos spread through the crowd like wildfire, even throwing off the other fighters. Those who’d already fought or were waiting their turn all craned their necks toward Platform 1. "Carlos? Kid’s way too green, no threat at all!" ’Little Giant’ Leo gave him a quick glance but didn’t give it another thought. "Huh? The little guy’s got some backbone?" ’Little Statue’ Galahel wiped the blood off his stone fists, standing over a Corruption Wolf whose head he’d just turned into mush. "That’s Commander Iris’s little brother!" ’Little Fortress’ Gene stroked his chin thoughtfully, remembering that Commander Iris was one of the tournament’s big shots... "..." Up on Platform 1, where all eyes were glued, Carlos heard the thunderous cheers but didn’t bat an eye. The half-elf referee standing nearby, though, was sweating bullets. She could feel practically every pair of eyes in the place locked onto this platform, especially from the VIP section where all the important folks were watching. The pressure was crushing her, and she was just some mid-tier Psionics nobody. "Can we get this show on the road?" Seeing the referee still frozen in place, Carlos spoke up to give her a nudge. "Oh... oh right!" The half-elf referee scrambled to haul away the Corruption Wolf corpse from the last fight, then popped open a fresh iron cage to let loose another Corruption Wolf. She quick-stepped to the platform’s edge, eyes glued to the action, her heart hammering like a drum: "Stay focused, stay focused! Nothing can go wrong here!" You could say this was way more nerve-wracking than if she’d been the one fighting. "Awoooo!" The Corruption Wolf burst out of its cage, howling at the sky, its blood-red eyes locked onto Carlos with pure murderous intent.