Roumazi

The arena hosting the tournament held regular events throughout the year, but the massive tournament of skilled fighters from several countries only occurred once every five years. It was an event that drew in large swaths of people, and businesses across the city prepared for the influx of customers.

The tournament would begin soon, and that meant having to take care of the preliminary rounds first. The singles tournament would be held before the teams one, and Michelle had been nominated by the family to participate.

Besides having the flashiest weapon of all of them, her face also stood out the most, though only when she didn’t have her helmet on, of course. Michelle didn't mind, and was eager to show off her awesome whip sword as well, so it worked out.

Not many spectators came for the preliminaries, as the real show would come later. It was mostly family and friends of the participants in the stands. That was true for Michelle as well, with the rest of the Woods family, and Senava, watching. Nipha was currently sick with something, so she wasn’t here with her mom, much to Luna’s disappointment.

Those two really did become best friends, didn’t they? It’s a shame Izara was busy, too.

Though the tournament did have protections in place to ensure no serious or even fatal injuries occurred, the arena would still get heavily damaged and dirtied after every fight. The protections weren’t something a person could just carry around wherever they wanted, though. They were powered by a massive device underground.

The group had already sat through the first three rounds of the preliminaries, which did not have Michelle in them, and were now waiting for the cleanup to be completed before round four could begin.

Senava asked the others, “So you really don’t want to give me any hints about what Michelle’s going to show off during the tournament?”

“Nope,” Amber replied. “And she’s going to keep it hidden until the very end if she can help it.”

“I remember you talking about a whip sword thing some time ago, but that’s not the surprise?”

She shook her head. “No. Well, okay, her weapon is a surprise, but it’s not the surprise. You already know about her weapon and armor.”

Their fairy friend pouted, “Fine. I guess I’ll just wait like everyone else. Well, I’ve got a surprise for you, then. I heard a rumor that the Goddess of Water is married now.”

Oh?

Amber coughed, Sarah jerkily turned her head, and the girls were too distracted to have heard the comment.

Senava grinned. “It’s true, apparently. Some priests at a temple a few countries away were there when she appeared to discuss mana fluctuations and monster migration patterns. They were supposedly too distracted by the pendant around her neck to even answer her at first.”

Roumazi chuckled. They certainly were.

“That's… certainly something,” Amber managed to get out.

Senava looked quite satisfied at having thrown them off. “It is! You hear about that kind of thing in stories, but someone actually got together with a goddess! I wonder what kind of person they are?”

I’m sitting right next to her. I truly am invisible without my aura.

“Probably someone very loving, for even a goddess to take notice,” Roumazi supplied, enjoying her wives’ reactions out of the corner of her eye.

“I bet. Oh! Fourth round’s about to start, and… Yep! Michelle’s in this one. She really stands out, doesn’t she?”

The preliminary rounds worked by putting a group of fifty people in the arena at a time, and based on the total number of participants this time, they would select two winners from every group, resulting in 20 people in total.

Then the main tournament would have an additional four people who didn’t have to go through the preliminary rounds, and everyone would then fight one-on-one battles with each other. And finally, a scoring system was in place to give the fighters specific rankings in the final results.

Among the crowd of people in the arena, of various species and sexes, Michelle’s deep blue armor was unique. They chose the blue color to match her ice theme, but she didn’t want it to be white or pale blue like her natural coloring, so they went with the idea of black ice¹Black ice: I don’t know how well known this term is, but it refers to when clear ice covers pavement. It can be super dangerous..

It had a dress shape to it, but as utility came first, it didn’t flow like a dress would, nor did it have the same kind of length. There were subtle patterns made with rivets and lines along the entire set.

The overall effect wasn’t extreme or costume-like, but it still stood out enough compared to everyone else that they likely thought she was a rich moron just playing around.

“A lot of people are looking at her,” Sarah commented.

“She looks like an easy target,” Senava supplied.

“She does?” Diamond asked, now paying attention.

“It’s because armor with aesthetic designs on it is typically seen as something only for show. They don’t know her, but her armor makes them think she’s an idiot.”

“But she’s not!” Luna yelled.

Senava smiled. “I know she’s not, but they don’t know that.”

“Oh…”

The fifty fighters were made to spread to the edges of the arena in even spacing. The entire thing was shaped like a circle, so there were no corners to hide in. It was also entirely flat, so there were no terrain advantages, either.

An orb of light floating above the fighting area flashed blue three times, then red, signaling the beginning of the fight.

The people near Michelle went for her first, only to be surprised by how easily she deflected their attacks with magic and sliced and stabbed them with her sword. The enchantments on the arena prevented them from causing any life-threatening injuries, but they were out of the fight, left with cuts and bruises. Having taken fatal damage, a paralyzation tool then took effect on them, and a red haze surrounded them indicating they had lost.

Michelle had trained quite a bit with her weapon and magic, and definitely had more power and skill than the average person. The same was true for the others.

Most of them, she doesn’t have to take seriously. They’re taken out in an instant. She’s still being careful, though, which is good.

Half of all the fighters were already incapacitated, and Michelle hadn’t even used the whip function of her sword. By now, those remaining had recognized her as a threat and had begun taking her seriously.

As the numbers dwindled, Michelle began having to put in much more effort to take out her competitors. It then turned into a long, drawn-out battle between the remaining five, her included.

She’s even deliberately taking a few hits to show that her armor is the real deal. Impressive.

Strikes from weapons came at each other as they all bounced around opponents, and magic of various elements and effects flew threw the air.

The numbers went from five, to four, to three, and then finally, to two. Michelle was one of them, and the match was called.

Her helmet retracted into a flat, hood-like form, revealing her sweaty face and her hair in a single braid, and she was also panting.

Amber audibly gasped, causing the others to laugh.

I certainly agree, though.

Michelle and her remaining competitor shook hands and chatted briefly. She then waved to her family and went to an area for washing up.

“Now I’m excited for the team battles if you’re all as good as her,” Senava commented.

“We do train together frequently,” Roumazi said. She wouldn’t be going all out in the tournament, however.

Partway through the fifth round, Michelle came back, looking refreshed. She didn’t have anywhere to store her armor, so she had put it back on, and was using her magic to keep herself cool. She didn’t need the cooling enchantments that many other armors had, so that meant she could put a different one in instead.

She gave quick kisses to Amber and Roumazi, and hugs to Sarah, Diamond, and Luna.

“What, nothing for me?” Senava pouted.

Michelle gave the fairy woman a patronizing pat on the head.

“Rude. You didn’t even take off your gauntlet.”

“Go get pampered by your wives, not me.”

She groaned, “Ugh, I want to, Michelle, but they’re both busy today! I’m in a pamper drought!”

I believe the others would use the word “thirsty” here.

“…My condolences.”

“Well, I should probably head home anyway. Now I can show Nipha how it went.”

“You recorded it?” Sarah asked.

She nodded, “I did. She wanted to see it.”

Senava had recorded Michelle’s fight onto a crystal that could play it back by projecting the image and sound, something which Amber had done as well.

“Will Nipha be okay tomorrow?” Luna asked hopefully.

Senava shrugged. “She was already recovering, but we’ll see.”

———

The following day, the real tournament began. All the matches would be spread across three days. And then would repeat again for the teams tournament, which they would be participating in together.

They had watched several matches already, with a few of them being quite impressive before Michelle’s finally came up.

Unlike the preliminaries, these matches actually had a commentator, and a large display floating above the arena projected an up-close image of the fight.

“Up next is Goreth Mirbam, representing Trenor Tamer’s Best! Everything a monster tamer needs, and affordable for even beginner tamers!”

Goreth stepped out of a doorway. He was a large man wearing durable leather armor, more so than even many metals, and was dual-wielding swords. The crowd cheered as the man nodded sternly. Regardless of whether or not he was actually a monster tamer like the business he was representing, monsters weren’t allowed in the tournament; a fact that had been debated for many years.

“Facing off against him is Michelle Woods! She is representing Dialu Ammirosa! Armor and weapons created with both practicality and aesthetics in mind!”

Michelle stepped out of the opposite doorway. She did a small bow and activated the logo enchantment, causing a holographic water lily to briefly bloom in the family colors.

Her expression looks more fierce than usual. She’s probably really nervous about the crowd.

The stands were indeed quite full today. As her wife strode forward, some in the audience laughed, some were confused, and a much smaller amount of people cheered for her than for any of the previous contestants.

Both of them walked to the indicated starting locations. The commentator remained silent for a minute so people could place their bets. Very few were being put on Michelle.

Lots of people are going to lose money today.

While they waited, Goreth smiled and waved, while Michelle just stood there looking angry.

“Fighters! Get ready!”

Goreth and Michelle both had helmets that rested flatly on their backs when not in use, and they both activated the enchantments within to put them back on and readied their weapons.

The light overhead flashed blue three times, now with a bell sound, then it flashed red, and a loud drumbeat rang out.

They both charged forward. Goreth created a cloud of darkness—which the arena’s enchantments could see through, so the fight was still visible on the screen—and Michelle dodged a swing from him.

She’s skilled enough to sense movements within magic of only that caliber.

The commentator stated similar findings for all to hear.

She deflected a swing from Goreth’s other sword and spun viciously, her blade cutting through his tough armor and into his skin.

It wasn’t enough to put him out of the fight, however, and Michelle then created spikes of ice from both behind and in front of him.

He rapidly swung his blades through many of them, and only noticed at the last second the large chunk of ice that had formed overhead. He desperately leaped forward, and right into Michelle’s blade.

What would otherwise have been a fatal stab wound to the heart instead became nothing more than a cut and a nasty bruise thanks to the local enchantments. He fell to the ground, magically paralyzed. His injuries would be taken care of by a healer soon.

And just like that, Michelle’s first match was over. She received no injuries and left a lot of people with lighter wallets.

givemeyourbones

I thought about figuring out a specific bracket for how many fights she would have, but decided to just go with the flow instead. It felt like I was getting way too specific about things. So if there’s anyone keeping track, Michelle might end up in a different amount of matches than she would’ve in a tournament on Earth. Just chalk it up to difference between worlds.