The Only Blossoming Flower

Chapter 9: The Tournament

  Yesterday's events were a true success in gaining people's interest, many have gathered around the plaza for the public lectures Vesta and Gabiru were presenting. Though I’d love to scooch around with everyone else, I’m quite busy with the events coming in all at once.
   The Tournament is today, preparations for the food and snacks need to be set in advance by the kitchen for everyone to chew on while witnessing an enticing battle between human contestants and my handpicked chosen monster contestants. Souei watched the under matches on the previous days, one of which the contestants took his interest in, mainly because he wasn't exactly fighting at all. It seemed one glance at his opponents were enough to immobilize them from further attacks, and so their battles ended and the Hero Masayuki went up the ladder with unseemingly little to no effort at all.
   I sort've expected from my encounter with him at first, honestly he was the nervous and scared one compared to the rumors of the “great” and “glorious” hero I heard. I then came with my assumption that he wasn't strong at all, honestly speaking, he didn't have that sort of vibe at all. With that conclusion, I made my own silent suspicions that all the talk of his unparalleled strength was something made up, perhaps from a skill he acquired upon his arrival in this world. But that said, I hopefully would have no business with him so I just brushed it off. I say that, because since the Tournament is today, he’ll surely be there to play with his sword once and for all, well, that's just the assumption after all, he might just have a talk with his opponents to avoid any fighting at all.
   Guy and I chatted during breakfast right before the Tournament, he said he just wanted some “fun” more than spending his key and precious time with whom he calls a “snob”, obviously he was referring to a certain girl named Milim, but I dared not to mention it because I knew who he spoke of already. If she were there and heard her esteemed name to be scorned like that, she would throw another reckless tantrum that I wouldn't want to deal with again, especially when we're on the day of the Festival. But in Guy's case, I welcomed his request to spend his breakfast with me, though I felt somewhat uncomfortable, it was fine. I don't think he'd play around anyway, but he kept gazing at me in a certain… way that I question. I always felt this odd feeling striking at me ever since the first day of the festival, maybe it was earlier? That night we had dinner or was it way back in Walpurgis? Well, I don't think it was as far as the night of Walpurgis, that's for sure. Guy wouldn't take interest in me, I’m not that interesting anyways. Or maybe it’s because I’m ethereal as I am? Well, I can't blame him if that were true, I am indeed beautiful, after all.

   Anyways, after our breakfast with some light snacks and tea, once the clock ticked 7:00 AM, it was time to head over to the Tournament Auditorium Ground, where the “special guests” have their own distinctive seats on one side of the Tournament’s circular structure made for a much adequate and satisfactory view of the battles to emerge. Me and Guy headed there concurrently, carrying a few snacks of popcorn on the way with a large sized drink of soda to clench the thirst of a long hour, the design on the cup being my slime form face. Guy found it rather amusing and kept bugging me about it, not that it felt pleasant, but I’ll just let him comment however he likes on the odd choice of advertising, it wasn't my choice anyway. Of course, as the holder of this entire event, my seat was in the front, giving an exceptional view of the battles to unfold, as he took the empty one beside me. Actually it was already reserved for him since he insisted he were to be seated next to me at my left, as Milim's seat is also at my right. Though having two of the ancient demon lords beside me during this experience may seem rather uncomfortable, unfortunately I've grown used to these set of situations. I realized Milim was already there, probably a few minutes before us. She immediately called out to me the moment she had me in her sight, grabbing my hands with the dragon claws I gifted her to neutralize those destructive tendencies of hers.
   “Bestie!! I'm so excited!! Is there gonna be violence?! Can I participate in the battles as well?!” She queried upon her enthusiasm for the idea of “fights” as one of the entertainment shows in this Festival.
   I patted her on the head gently, lending her a warm smile as I answered kindly. “I'm glad you feel as excited as I am, Milim.” I exclaimed, “Unfortunately, no, I won't allow you to participate in the fights, your caliber is far beyond the contestants so it may seem quite unfair. Besides, I heard that a few violent ones are participating as well.” I added with a cheeky smile, knowing Milim is a fan of rather brutal and vile shows like this. Hearing my words, she understood me as she nodded in slight disappointment but also anticipative. Sigh Let's only hope, it's not too brutal, humans are also part of the audience, and I’m positive that much rain of gore would be more unpleasant than flashy.
   Souka was the host of the Tournament, as she gave an introduction speech consisting of all the contestants, where they came from, the main rules, the prize for winning the Tournament and a little encouragement for the participating competitors.
  This Tournament had three simple rules:
  1. Fight your opponent to the edge of the ring as the slightest would determine them as the loser. Or if the opponent was knocked out, unable to fight, that also infers the winner of that round.
  2. Killing or torturing the opponent inside the ring without actually fighting them out of it would mean disqualification.
  3. You may surrender yourself if you feel too scared to fight.
   And the prize is that the winner will have their place inside the empty seat of the Four Heavenly Kings. Which is something I gave to four of my best subordinates, which were Shion, Benimaru, and Diablo, however I couldn't find the last place so I just made it the prize for the Tournament.
   It isn't too hard to follow unless you're a psycho. Some of the monster contestants may find rule number two rather boring and unnecessary, but I had to think of the audience, as I said, too much gore would be more unpleasant than flashy.
    There were a three large screens in the sky that showed a much closer view of the ring, as well as a good look on each of the contestant's faces for a much more suitable view for those in the back, this was something Raphael-sensei came up with the use of light magic casted by the help of Shuna.