The Cursed Iris

Sprout 55: The First Round of the Tournament

Ayame and the others entered the waiting room and they saw that it was full of all types of people. The room was gigantic that it could easily fit over three hundred.

"This is impressive," Ayame marveled.

"It definitely is, plus I'm not sensing a bit of spirit energy from these people." Katsumi and Kikyo said.

"So they're all gear users?" Arthur asked. "Then that means I can beat all of their asses with ease!" he yelled out.

The entire room fell silent, and they turned their attention to them, "Now he's done it," Toru and Shizuko sighed.

Arthur laughed. "What are these weaklings going to do against us? We've trained with the strongest wizards in Japan. These losers don't stand a chance."

"Arthur stop," Ayame whispered.

The room went into an uproar the instant he finished laughing. "Why don't you prove yourself in the ring, you ugly bastard!?" one of them yelled.

"I hope I get to fight you in the first round so I can teach you a lesson!" another yelled.

Ayame felt that he did that on purpose just to make the tournament more interesting for him. She didn't like that tactic at all, because now they all definitely have targets on their back even before it started. She looked over at Kikyo and Katsumi who looked just as excited as Arthur, "I'm surrounded by idiots," she whined.

A woman walked in as she clapped her hands, "Alright you bums that's enough. Shut the hell up and listen," she commanded. She had a very commanding presence, short black hair, light skin, cold golden eyes, and she was about as tall as Arthur.

They all got quiet, except for Arthur, "You all are really going to listen to this random woman?" he asked.

She turned towards him with a cold smile. "Boy, shut your mouth."

Arthur chuckled as if he were challenging her. It seemed like they had a silent battle that Arthur obviously lost, "You're an interesting woman" he smiled.

"I could say the same for you," she replied back.

She turned towards the group, "Listen up! I am the official sent from the palace to monitor this pathetic tournament. My name is Eliza, and you will listen to everything I say."

Arthur stared at her, "From the looks of it she's about nineteen years old, western ancestry, no wonder she's so tall. I do like a tall woman," he muttered.

Ayame heard him and she had an expression of disgust.

"No Ayame I swear it isn't like that!" he assured.

She ignored him as she continued to listen to Eliza, "These are the matchups for the first round," she said as an image shimmered in front of them. "As you can see there are six groups: Dragon, Pisces, Cancer, Canine, Taurus, and Libra. There's a total of six rounds; with the first round each battle will be chosen at random since there's already over sixty-four of you. The second-round battles will be decided by your grouping, the third round to the sixth will proceed as normal. I wish you all the best of luck."

"Wait so you're not participating then?" Arthur asked her.

"Why would I?" she asked obviously annoyed with him.

"Well I wanted to fight you of course."

She sized him up, then she scoffed. "You stand zero chance against me," she chuckled. Then she walked over to him, and she whispered something in his ear.

That lit a fire under Arthur because he yelled in excitement. "I'm about to beat everyone's ass for sure this time!"

"Damn he's annoying," Katsumi and Kumo groaned.