The siblings sat side by side, watching the Group 4 finals.

The momentary pressure they had felt was all but forgotten. As if it were a passing dream, everyone in the waiting room was now intently watching as these two large groups began their match.

Each group had 10 members each, all very skilled and coordinated. From the way both groups moved they were very used to fighting in large packs.

Despite there being so many candidates in the arena they were still dwarfed by the size of their surroundings, as if the arena had expanded to accommodate the amount of bodies.

“Who you got?” Sone asked, leaning forward as he focused to get a better look of the individuals of each group.

“The group on the left.” Mai answered. She pointed with her chin to emphasize her selection.

“Bet.” Sone said, holding his left hand out with the palm up. His sister quickly swiped at his hand, sealing their wager.

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Due to the Conglomerate’s loose approach to the format of the tournaments, they were used to fielding large groups of candidates during matches. Many outside of the island thought this was a weakness and sought to exploit it by sending it large groups, sometimes up to 20 candidates at a time.

Yet, the Conglomerate always made sure everything played in their favor. The more candidates there were, the more fodder there was to feed to the Tu’i.

The two groups involved in the Group 4 finals were both made up of foreign candidates. The foreigners didn’t have tatau and controlled their mana differently from the natives of the Seas but they had various armaments and their Voice.

While many in the Seas affiliated the Voice with the One Church it was actually a commonly practiced form of invocation amongst foreigners. One of the groups came from a large Republic that had a long history of shamanism and ancestral worship. Their use of the Voice was passed down along family lines, specific invocations helped identify who an individual was. Much of their channeling was focused on personal empowerment. This, coupled with their armaments, made them formidable candidates.

The other group was from a large Empire that was one of the centers of the One Church. They used advanced weaponry that fed off of the Voice, allowing them to channel an incantation into long range projectiles. Coupled with their command of the Voice, the Empire had developed a fighting force that was able to fluidly move in and out of range while keeping up a sustained attack.

As the chime resounded in the enlarged arena, the two groups began their battle.

The Republic group quickly called on their ancestral Voice. 2 of them became imbued with their ancestral guardians, a slight transformation occurring as their bodies took the most useful aspects. They both held hatchets in each hand and had two extras strapped to their backs. They charged the Empire group, drawing their attention. The rest readied their firearms, incanting over them as they took aim while 2 more called down defensive incantations on the firesquad and the attackers.

The Empire group had set up a bulwark, with 2 of them imbuing themselves with Voice shields and stepping up to intercept the attacking Republic candidates. They had their backline of 5 projectors incant and take shots at the two attackers but their defensive incantations intercepted the shots. As they shot, the Republic let loose a bombardment which was intercepted by a wide-range defensive incantation that the leader of the Empire had prepared.

In the middle of the arena the 2 Empire shields rushed forward and intercepted the transformed attackers. One attacker had thrown one of the hatchets he was carrying to test out the strength of the Voice shield while the other, having gained the girth of a large land animal, rammed into the other shield. Both shields flickered momentarily, the force of the attacks causing a slight stir in the incantation. All around them, bombardments of Voice-enhanced attacks were launched between the groups.

The Republic side took the opportunity to imbue and launch a Voice grenade into the middle of the Empire’s firesquad. It landed right in the middle and let out a shrill shriek, causing a moment of confusion amongst the Empire group. One of the defensive incanters quickly jumped on the device, sealing it with a Voice command while the rest returned fire on the Republic group. As they fired, they slowly inched forward, trying to force an advantage by having their leader strengthen the incantations of the shields.

The Empire side had cut down the distance between themselves and their shields as they inched forward. They were aided by their constant barrage of attacks that was able to tie up the defensive incantations of the Republic group. The transformed attackers continued their assault and noticed when the shields gained strength. Both quickly disengaged and were provided with covering fire from their side.

Both groups circled one another, attacks ebbing and flowing as the battle raged on. Neither side truly held an advantage as their assaults on one another took on a rhythmic flow.

The tide turned when the leader of the Republic group was finally ready. He had spent the majority of the match preparing an incantation while keeping an eye on the flow of the match. He suddenly sent the two attackers back out, this time instructing them to focus on the leader of the Empire group. As they began their assault the leader of the Republic group used his incantation. He lobbed an infused stick over the group, aiming to drop it just behind the leader of the Empire group. As soon as the stick touched the ground a sudden increase in the gravitational force caused the ground to concave, crushing all the Empire candidates caught in its blast radius. They were turned into a fine mixture of blood, innards, and bone as the powerful incantation folded them all in on themselves.

Unfortunately the two attackers of the Republic group were caught in the attack while the majority of the Empire group was instantly taken out. After taking care of the few stragglers who had been able to dive away the Republic group emerged victorious.

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In the Domain, Rua scoffed. “Not bad for some kaivalagi.” She was impressed by the ingenuity of the foreigners.

She was happy to see that most of them had come out unscathed. The more of them left for her to dismantle, the better. This group was definitely larger than the previous group she had accepted and she preferred it that way.

The rest of the Tu’i hadn’t been as interested in the match. Most of them cared very little for any foreigners and even less because they wouldn’t have to face them.

Nima grunted a little. “Just save some, especially the leader.”

The rest of the Tu’i were sometimes very short sighted when it came to turning foreigners into members.

Wha had retreated into her domain after Nima’s display while the rest had essentially forgotten about the leader’s momentary outburst.

“Who do you think will win?” Wanu asked ‘Ekolu.

The large man was sitting on the floor cross-legged, watching without really noticing anything. He was only interested in seeing techniques he had yet to see and had a disdain for those who fought with weapons.

“The Le’o master.” he replied, large arms crossed in front of him. “I haven’t had to deal with one of those in a long time. So, hopefully it’s her.”

Wanu chuckled at the large man's frank response. Of any of the Tu’i, ‘Ekolu was the one you could expect a straight answer from at any given time. While the others considered him to be simple, Wanu found it refreshing not having to deal with veiled words.

Nima also appreciated this about him. Not because Nima had to deal with constant politics but because he preferred the simpler things.

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In their waiting room, the siblings were still relaxing. The Group 4 finals had been exhilarating for them to watch. It had been the first time they had seen a fight on that scale. To their young eyes it looked a lot like the way battles had been fought in the old days. They had read about some of those battles at school.

“You know, I know about the Empire. But I thought their name had been changed.” Mai said, half talking to herself.

“Yeah, I thought they were called the Union now.” Sone answered as he lay his head back and let out a big yawn. His head was hanging over the back of the couch and he saw the two members sitting not too far from them. From his upside down view he saw the face of the trainee. He noticed that the trainees face was completely confused at what they were talking about so he quickly turned and faced the members.

“Is that where you’re from?” he asked, hoping for an answer. Mai had also turned, curiosity piqued by her brother's sudden line of questioning.

The man shot a quick glance at the Faifekau, who maintained an impassive face.

“We--.” he was quickly cut off by the Faifekau.

“No, this one is a member now, he has no ties to any outside nations. This is standard for all nations.”

The siblings caught the look of discontent that passed over the normally impassive Faifekaus face as he answered. He slowly turned his intense gaze on the trainee, impassive mask now back in place. After meeting the man’s gaze all the trainee did was meekly nod.

“Huh. Well all right then.” Sone said as he turned back around and sat down. Mai followed suit, adeptly reading the room. Both siblings continued to turn the cryptic answer over in their heads as they waited for the Group 3 final to begin.