Reincarnation: Origins

Chapter 7: Tournament Pt. 1

Somewhere along the way Lucien had ended up where the contestants were collected and mingling among themselves. No one approached Lucien. They were not present when he was introduced, so to them, he was just another rival. Compared to the spectators, there was a meager amount of contestants. Enough for 6 matches max.

He recalled how Sen and Leiah had motioned for him to head in this direction.

Why am i not surprised. Lucien sighed, sulking in a corner.

"shh shh, the next contestants are being called up." someone announced, holding a hand to an ear. Everyone followed and quieted down listening in.

"NEME AND TATHEO" the announcer called.

Neme was a small girl of a woman with pale skin and black hair. She was more elf-like than human, down to slightly pointed ears. Although she looked like an archer, she tied up her ebony hair and pulled out a pair of short, sharp athame-like blades. Assassin.

Tatheo on the other hand was a man built like a runner. His dirty blonde hair was cropped close to his scalp, making him look nearly entirely bald.

"This will be easy." he announced out loud to the room as Neme rolled her eyes.

"easy for me, that is." she retorted.

"hey, get going." the guard basically shoved them out. "Break a leg."

It turned out that Tatheo's specialty was playing hardcore attacker-tank. He bashed Neme left and right, preventing her from actually dealing a decisive blow. His weapon of choice was a simple shield that he had buffed with a ridiculous amount of enhancements.

Neme had no choice but to shift into the offensive where she should have been on the defense, evading and striking weak points.

She was a blur on the battlefield but Tatheo was an impenetrable fortress. In this case, Neme's speed would be used against her, having been turned into ricocheted force to send her through the air.  One particular bash sent her flying to the opposite wall of the clearing. That seemed to be the deciding factor hence she did not move to get back up.

"Is that all, elf girl?" Tatheo taunted as he slowly sauntered up to her. "This all you've got?" He broke out into vain laughter, echoing tenor bounced up only to be drowned out in the crowd's cheering and booing.

From his location, Lucien knew Neme was up to something. She was trembling for one, and to him, it looked like she was gathering pieces of something. She was turned away from Tatheo so Lucien assumed he couldn't notice. No one could be that blind, Lucien hoped.

When Tatheo finally reached Neme, he pulled her up by her jet-black follicles.

"I swore I heard you say something about me losing, eh?"

"Allow me to repeat myself." Neme winced. "Eat. Shit."

Limbs in a flash, she had smashed a potion bottle against Tatheo's face. Tatheo let out a bloodcurdling scream that sent ripples of "oh my god" across the crowd and the waiting room that Lucien watched from. Tatheo dropped Neme and rushed back, clutching his face with his free hand. When he shakily stood on his two feet and showed his face. The crowd leaned closer to see what had become of his face.

Neme had had no mercy. The potion she had used caused temporary blindness, rendering Tatheo blind and unable to tell where she was. She quickly sprinted away from him, knowing he would shift into an over-alert mode.

"When I get my hands on you, you're dead meat, girl." Tatheo spat, looking at nothing in particular.

Meanwhile, Neme had taken the time to sneak up at him to slash at his legs.

"there you are." Tatheo turned, looking down at her with unseeing eyes. Neme's blood chilled to a complete stop. Tatheo should not be able to see. That potion was a tier 3 assassin type spell. No, it was something else.

Before she could collect her thoughts, she was smashed into the air by the shield. Like a birdie hitting a badminton racquet, Neme flew to the wall with alarming force and crashed through. The use of martial arts had enabled Tatheo to sense movements in the air. Something much more advanced than the judges and Lucien had expected.

Pissed as hell, Tatheo menacingly approached the hole that Neme had created with the intent to kill. He would kill her if Lucien didn't do anything. The judges had already deemed it Tatheo's win. There was no need to kill Neme. Before Tatheo could walk through the hole, vines seemed to sprout from nowhere to block the opening.

Lucien held up his hands as sweat beaded across his forehead. He remembered reading something about stinging nettles, so he had simply requested for those to grow. He assumed he simply had to discover his powers for his own.

Unable to break through after getting stung by the semi-sentient plants several times, Tatheo let out a cry of rage. Not even his martial-arts-enhanced shield bash could break through.

"Step away, Tatheo. You win this round." The announcer boomed, his previous cries had fallen on deaf ears but this one went through, making Tatheo pause mid-shield bash at the nettles. They hadn't sent guards out to calm his on account of fear of what he was capable of.

Once they were sure that Tatheo had calmed, they opened a separate gate for him to walk through. Tatheo looked around the crowd through adrenaline-hazed eyes. Through the waves, he spotted the gates and headed out, smirking at his victory and waving to scared and excited spectators alike.

Once Tatheo was out of the way, Lucien had willed away the nettles. He was sure that none of the other competitors had seen his work.

The announcer looked down at his sheet. "Next up...DAHOL AND RILIN"

Dahol was a glutton, preferring to eat his problems away, and Rilin submerged himself in books. It was pretty obvious and boring to lucien who would win. The guy with the power to manipulate and create food or food elements, or the guy that had spent time studying up on spells and counterattacks. Easy Rilin win.

The next few fights were nowhere as interesting as the first.

Hina vs. Lune - Lune won

Chell vs. Lye - Chell won

Geethel vs. Needa - Needa won

The first round was through and the winners were sent to a separate room to celebrate their small victory while the losers were usually sent to the infirmary.

In the winner's room, as Lucien pondered where Tatheo could possibly be, he was approached by Rilin, the book nerd that had won against the glutton.

"Hey, I saw what you did back there."

Lucien drew in a sharp breath. "W-what are you talking about." He had nearly spit out the chicken-tasting meat he was nibbling on.

"Don't play dumb." Rilin rolled his eyes as he shifted the book he had under one arm comfortably. "I mean with Neme"

"oh" Lucien frowned. "So what are you here for? To intimidate me?"

"ah, no" Rilin pursed his lips. "Just what you did save someone's life."

"it was nothing. I won't stand and watch as people denounce the value of intelligent life."

"oh. Um...well, I wish you luck on whoever you're up against by the end of all this."

Lucien's head snapped up, searching for where Rilin had walked off to. Unable to find him but knowing it would be pointless to go hunting for him, Lucien let it go and continued eating. His appetite had plunged to a new all time low. 

A/N: I wonder what Lucien would decide to do next. Even i, teh author, am excited and anticipating what's to come [ps: pls vote, i appreciate it :)]