Deus Didymus: Rend

Chapter Eighteen: Low Tier Round One

"Snacks! Get your snacks!! Popcorn, candy, peanuts, we have it all!!!"

Chatter flooded the spectator's stand, squeezing at the ears of its inhabitants. Large sheets of light projected before the crowd, displaying the arena below.

Square stone tiles lined next to another, creating a circle. The walls of the arena rose high, eclipsing the woman in the middle.

"Good afternoon, citizens of IZLand!!"

The crowd roared, filling the block with the capital's morale.

"I'm your host, T. Today we have the privilege to watch some of the strongest from each division of our military duke it out to find the strongest!!"

"Do you think your brother's going to win?"

Yujin turned to Chaewon, shrugging, "I don't actually know how much stronger he's gotten."

"Why didn't you enter the match yourself? The prize is a large wad of cash."

"I saw the list of capable participants from Mr. Shin. There aren't many people in the Senam rank above me; since Minho oppa isn't participating, I thought it would be unfair."

"But it's a bunch of money," Chaewon reasoned.

"If I was in this for the money, I would just sweep through every round with my Allele and there wouldn't be much of a show if I did that."

Chaewon pursed her lips, "That's true..."

The radish girl turned to her right, "Minho ya, why didn't you join?"

"I'm not interested."

"But now we just know Tomi is going to win it all," Chaewon pouted.

"Are you sure?"

The three students turned around.

"Ms. Lee?" Chaewon questioned.

"Hey. Thought I'd stop by to see what you guys were chatting about."

Yujin tilted her head, "You don't think Hitomi unnie's going to win?"

"Kami told me Y/n can probably contest her, and Minju is also pretty strong as well. You also have to think about the matchup. Minju is way stronger than Rei is in close combat, but Rei would win instantly against her in a fight."

"That's true," Chaewon trailed.

"I hope that helped you enjoy this tournament a little more."

The instructor blinked away, leaving the students to themselves once more.

"Allow me to explain how this tournament works," T started, "Each tier will take place in rounds. Once we get through the first round, the participants will move up the bracket and face off against one another in the following bracket. The first one to concede, lose consciousness, or suffer a fatal wound will be eliminated from the bracket. Due to the fatal wound rule, each participant will have taken a pill created by our head doctor that puts the participant in a comatose state to heal them. The winner of each tier will be awarded a large sum of cash, and their choice of an enchanted artifact from the Dragonforge!"

Chaeyeon furrowed her eyebrows, turning to the King's box. Wonyoung shrugged, gesturing toward the monarch with her eyes.

"These items were retrieved by our former pillar Park Ji Hoon himself!"

Booming cheers filled the stadium causing Yujin to wince.

"Wow... That was a lot of information at once."

"It's crazy how much hype Mr. Park creates with just his name," Chaewon remarked.

"Everyone loves him or wants to be him," Minho replied, "He's like the IU of this country."