Point-of-View: Landis Dianus

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"Well, that was quite the spectacle, wasn’t it? Still, though, I have to say, the Demons and Dragon King seemed a bit...underwhelming, if you ask me," I frowned thoughtfully, before shifting my gaze to Commander Velenet and adding, "What are you thoughts on the first round of this competition, Commander?"

"Hm...from what I could tell, it seemed clear to me that the stronger competitors were holding back significantly. It’s almost like they were lowering themselves to the level of their opponents, perhaps to enjoy the fights or to make it more entertaining for the audience. If my assessment is right, then we should see more intense battles and what they’re really capable of in tomorrow’s leg of the tournament," She surmised after mulling it over.

"Yes, I suspected that was the case. If what we say today was all that the Demons are capable of, there would have been no need to have sealed them away in the first place," I nodded in response.

"Another factor that’s worth taking into account is the safety barrier...Demons are said to possess incredible regenerative abilities, even destroying their heads or crushing their hearts isn’t enough to kill them. Their sole fatal weakness are their cores, and the stronger a Demon is, the smaller and more durable their cores become.

However, the Demons who fought today, they seemed to be careful when it came to avoiding attacks directed at their necks, heads and hearts, and moreover, their opponents seemed to be targeting those spots. If I had to guess, in order to make the tournament more competitive and give even the weaker participants a fighting chance, the safety barrier will likely trigger if the Demons sustain significant damage to those spots," She mused objectively.

"I see, interesting...that didn’t even occur to me and slipped my notice, I suppose I should expect that the strongest Knight of our nation would pick up on something like that," I replied with a nod.

"If I’m being honest, after watching the tournament today, I feel rather self-conscious, my confidence has taken a hit and I imagine it’ll take more hits tomorrow," She remarked with a wry smile.

"Once we go back to Obsidian, we’re going to have to find a way to raise the overall level of the Knight Order, and the Adventurers too, of course. Now, then, what did you make of the Demi-Humans? They appeared to be quite powerful themselves," I recalled.

"Yes, they were impressive. I imagine that I would struggle in a fight against some of them, the ones called the Elders in particular. Even the least impressive of the Demi-Human participants in the tournament were at least on the level of one of our Captains. If, hypothetically, we ended up in a war against Arcadia, we would almost certainly be crushed," She stated confidently.

"I must say, your confidence in that particular statement isn’t exactly encouraging. But at least it confirms that allying ourselves with Arcadia was indeed the right decision. Based on their reactions, it didn’t seem like all the visitors from the other nations, as well as some of our own Nobles who watched the first round, grasped just how dangerous Arcadia’s forces are.

They likely didn’t realize that the Demons and Dragon King were holding back, and I highly doubt they picked up on the detail about the safety barrier you noticed. They may even start to have notions of attacking Arcadia...but I’d imagine that, by the end of the tournament, those notions will disappear for good."

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Point-of-View: Larrk Stryker

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"Way to go, everyone, I think we put on a pretty good show today. That said, there are a couple of concerns that we should probably address," I remarked, looking around at everyone.

"Yeah, I agree! Most of all, it was too short! One fight a day isn’t enough, I waited ages for my fight and then it was over and I had nothing else to do," Chimed in Izzy with a pout.

"That’s, uh...that’s not one of the concerns I was talking about, no. Don’t worry, if you make it to the final, you’ll get to be in upto four fights tomorrow. Let’s get back on track...for starters, we should address the announcer. Not to put you on the spot, Mysst, but...well, to be blunt, that was terrible," I sighed in exasperation.

"Hey, I did my best...but this means I don’t have to do it tomorrow, right?" She responded hopefully.

...did she deliberately do a bad job so that she could get out of it tomorrow? Well, either way, I should’ve picked someone else...literally anyone else.

"I suppose it was my mistake putting you in that role in the first place, so I’ll leave it at that. As for who’ll replace you tomorrow, let’s see...Phyurio, would you mind doing it?" I asked him.

"Yeah, sure, sounds like fun to me! You can count me in!" He grinned with a thumbs up.

Okay, that enthusiasm is encouraging, guess that’s one concern resolved.

"Moving on to my next concern...it’s about the Demons. You guys, uh...you guys might have held back just a little bit too much," I smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, I agree, I believe I was the chief offender with this particular concern...I am not used to holding back like that, and I made a bit of a fool of myself. I shall make sure that doesn’t happen tomorrow," Stated Satan, before narrowing his eyes at Argent.

"U-uh, you know you can still hold back a little bit, right?" He replied nervously.

"Alright, if anyone else has an concerns or suggestions, feel free to voice them. We hit a few speedbumps with round one, but overall, I think it was a decent enough success. But we aren’t going for just ’decent enough’...so tomorrow, let’s turn things up a notch or two, shall we?" I suggested with a smirk.

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