35 The preliminaries - Part 2

1st February 3068 (Monday)

The craze of magic tournaments was immense. Even though it was just an academy event, the arena was already crowded with local and foreign magic enthusiasts.

It was 9:20, and the event was about to start when Razak's car arrived in the parking area. As he was getting out of his car, he noticed that Kat's car was arriving, so he waited for him there.

"Hey, dude. Never thought I would see you arrive before me."

"I guess that means both of us are late today."

According to their plan, they were to arrive at the arena twenty minutes before the event started. This meant that they were approximately ten minutes late already.

After the conversation, the two of them started walking towards the arena entrance.

This arena was a part of the property owned by Eastern Academy. After the academy was changed into a government facility, it started being used for several other purposes. But despite the change, academy events were still given the top priorities.

When the two of them were about to reach the entrance, a notification of a new text message appeared on Razak's watch.

He clicked on the message and the content on it was:

"Hey, where are you? The event is almost about to start, and I am already inside. It's getting crowded here, but we are keeping a few seats, so be quick.

-Yasumi."

Since the two of them were already there, Razak didn't respond and just kept on walking.

After they entered, they saw Yasumi waving her hand from the third last row, so the two of them walked towards her. As they were walking, Razak noticed Asa seated next to her.

"Phew! You guys finally made it."

"Yeah, sorry we are a little late."

After Razak said that, the two of them took their seat. Razak sat next to Yasumi, while Kat sat next to Razak.

"...Though I am surprised to see Asa here."

"Hey guys"—Asa, who was sitting next to Yasumi, waved her hand— "Yasumi and I have known each other for a while now, so when I met her outside this morning, we decided to watch the matches together."

"That makes sense."

After saying that, Razak looked towards the stage.

The stage was large with several drone cameras flying over it. There was at least 20 meters distance between the main stage and the audience, and a large glass wall was built in between for safety.

The luxury box was on the opposite side of the arena, and there were big screens at the front where one could see the matches up close.

As he was looking around, the announcements began.

"Hello, ladies and gents. Welcome to the First-year ranking matches."

A loud cheer echoed throughout the arena when the audience heard that voice. This wasn't just because it was the start of the event, it was also because of the popularity of one who just spoke.

"I, Miza will be acting as the announcer of this event. So, without further ado, let's get started."

"Dude, I don't understand what these guys even see in her voice. She announces so many events that at this point, it just sounds annoying."

Razak just ignored Kat's unpopular opinion and kept on looking at the screen as it displayed the judging panel.

"In this year's judging panel we have, Eastern Academy principal, Mister Kin Ongaku..."

After she said that, the old man stood up from his chair and greeted the crowd by waving his hand.

"...Branch head of the Magical research society, Mister Naoki Hira."

This time, a man who appeared to be in his early forties stood up from his chair and waved his hand.

"Oh, isn't that your dad, Asa?" Yasumi asked.

"Yeah, that's my dad. I just found out about this the day before."

"...And finally, Doctor Tadashi Abe, who has been working in magical research for about 20 years now."

A middle-aged man stood from his chair and bowed a little. The way he was greeting the crowd proved that he wasn't used to being at this kind of event.

"Now that we know who the judges are, let's move towards the demonstration match."

Loud cheers echoed throughout the arena when they heard 'the demonstration match'. This was because, the demonstration matches in past years had always been between the elite students from either second or third year. And in a way, it had been able to establish its own fame.

"And the participants of this demonstration match are... the champions of last year's tournament: Itsuki Kori and Kosuke Hono."

There was a continuous cheering as the two of them walked to the stage.

"I hope you already know the rules. Lethal moves are not allowed. You either need to make your opponent surrender or unable to continue within 30 minutes. And if the match draws longer than that, judges will decide how to continue. Also, last but not least, stop when there is an announcement to stop."

That was just the basic summary of it, the complete rulebook was almost 30 pages long. But basically, in duels, any non-lethal advanced class spells were allowed. Though anything above that was banned. And during the preliminaries, which were the group matches, only general and novice class spells were allowed.

"Who do you think will win?" Kat asked.

They had already exchanged their predictions on the preliminaries, but this demonstration match came off as somewhat of a surprise.

"If we look at the magical advantage, obviously Kosuke. But he lacks the skill necessary to win against Itsuki. If I were him, I would set the whole stage on fire and start."

"I figured you would say that."

"Magical advantage may give one an upper hand, but that gap can be easily bridged with skills. The way he is, I don't think he will be able to win against Itsuki."

As they were talking, the two contestants took their position on the opposite sides of the stage. After that, the countdown began.

"Three… Two… One… Start!"