Noah’s group followed their badges through the city streets. It was of some surprise to Noah to find that, while they did find themselves moving through increasingly large crowds, they were nowhere near as big as he’d expected for a tournament of this size.

He managed to catch a glance at a passerby’s badge. Curiously enough, it definitely wasn’t pointing in the same direction that theirs were. It looked like everyone was being sent to different locations to begin. That did beg the question of if Brayden had simply gotten lucky and assigned to the same location as they did, since his badge indicated the same direction as Noah and Lee’s.

It wasn’t like they were separated by rank. Though Lee was probably near the very peak of a Rank 4, she still hadn’t reached Rank 5. She wasn’t in the same section of the tournament that Noah and Brayden were — and none of them knew how strong Fist was.

Sorting must have been done by some other method. That or they’d simply gotten incredibly lucky… but Noah wasn’t one to believe in such coincidences.

Either way, they couldn’t complain. The badges led them under the sparkling rivers of water weaving through the massive city and down street after street until they found themselves joining a relatively fast-moving line making their way into a beautiful marble building.

The building in question was absolutely nowhere near large enough for the sheer number of people filing into it. It was only a single story, and for all the artisanship that had gone into the intricate designs of flowing water and shells bearing great sparkling pearls within its walls, it couldn’t have held more than a hundred or so people at once.

Nobody seemed to have informed the line of that. It moved in short bursts, pausing for about a minute at a time before resuming again. It wasn’t long before Noah’s group stepped through the open doors. Beyond laid a room that had been stripped bare of just about any furniture at all. It was just plain white marble, devoid of so much as a chair or window.

A bald man in white robes stood at the back of the room. Noah nearly choked at the sight of him. For a moment, he thought it was Ferdinand. He realized a moment later that this was simply just another member of the Church of Renewal that happened to be bald. Perhaps all the men were. Noah hadn’t exactly made it a habit to seek out the church members.

Two tall women flanked the bald man, clad in glistening silver armor that burned with dim pearlescent imbuements. They were not bald. Maybe only the men had to be bald — or maybe Noah had just managed to find the only other bald member of the church out of sheer luck. Each of the women bore a short sword at their side that had been similarly imbued. It didn’t take a keen domain to recognize that their equipment was dangerous. Even without access to his senses, Noah could feel the magic radiating off the guards.

Behind all of them was a long portal running along the back wall. It covered the wall completely, rippling like a lake in the rain as people stepped into its oily white depths. That, at least, answered how everyone had managed to fit into such a small location. They were being sent off somewhere.

Noah and the others packed into the room and it quickly filled up behind them. Only once the line had stopped moving again did the bald man speak.

“In a moment, you will pass through this portal. It will take you to your room for the duration of the tournament,” he said, waving to the rippling wall of energy behind him. “Ensure you remain in contact with any members of your group. If you lose contact, you will be placed in a separate room. This cannot be changed. Your badge will be bound to the location you arrive in. Permanently.

The man paused for a moment to make sure that everybody had heard him before resuming his speech.

“If you have members that are not yet present, please make your way back outside and do not utilize the portal. They will not be able to join you at a later point. I will repeat — there is absolutely nothing we can do if you enter the room incorrectly or without any of your members. Not even the Prophet herself has access to the information on who is in what room, and by law of the Tournament of Heaven’s Path, not even the highest officials can determine the identities of anyone in any rooms. They are completely concealed. Even from us. There will be no refunds or reparations paid unto anyone who fails to operate in accordance with this information.”

One of the armored women beside the man clapped her hands together.

“For those of you whose entire party is present, please proceed into the portal. Commodities are already waiting in your rooms. Should you need anything else, pull the call rope. We cannot guarantee any requests will be accommodated, but the Prophet will endeavor to make your experience the best it can possibly be. Please save any questions you may have until the tournament’s official commencement. Until then, make yourselves comfortable in your rooms. Do not attempt to leave them. If there is an emergency, pull the rope. Furthermore, all rooms will be equipped with a practice area. You may utilize that to warm up in preparation for the tournament. Now… proceed.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The crowd pushed forward in a wave. A few groups did end up following the bald man’s advice and splitting away, but the rest of them plunged into the murky depths of the magic without a moment of hesitation. Noah grabbed onto Brayden and Lee’s arms as they drew up to the magical path. Lee snagged Fist with her free hand.

Then the four of them plunged into the portal.

A wave of oily gray energy swallowed Noah’s vision, and then he was falling.

His stomach lurched violently. A thousand different sharp pulling sensations attacked him from every single direction at once. Then his foot hit solid ground once more, and he found himself stumbling a step forward in a surprisingly spacious stone room.

Five doors were present, two on opposing sides of the room and one at their backs, while a large window took up the entirety of the far wall. It granted a perfect view of an enormous stone arena below them, as well as more than enough room to look up and see what must have been hundreds upon thousands of seats rising above them in a circular structure not too dissimilar from a colosseum.

A long table stretched in front of the window with four well-padded chairs set out before it. The table was covered with a healthy assortment of every manner of food and no shortage of drink, and the smell coming from it was a step beyond tantalizing. This wasn’t just the bare minimum to keep anyone fed. It was actually quality.

Dangling on the right side of the table was a long, thick rope that descended from a hole in the ceiling. Faint imbuements seemed to have been woven into its length judging by the gentle glow of magical energy enveloping it.

“Huh,” Noah said. “That’s….”

“Nice,” Brayden finished. “Way more spacious than I was expecting. They’re putting everyone up in rooms like these? Gods. How big is Aqua Terra?”

“Huge,” Fist said. “Really, really huge."

Lee wasted no time at all in darting over to the table to inspect the food. In the meantime, Noah walked over to the nearest of the doors and pulled it open. Beyond was a small but comfortable-looking bedroom. There was a desk, bed, and even a quill, ink, and some paper. Next to the paper was a small bottle of what looked to be alcohol of some sort.

Damn. They really did go all out. This can’t be the standard, right?

“Almost feels like they’re buttering up a bunch of pigs to make sure they go down fighting as hard as they can,” Brayden said as Noah turned back to the main room. “I don’t like it.”

“You’re not much of an optimist, are you?” Fist asked. She poked her head into another one of the rooms before casting a glance over her shoulder at them. “Comfy. Better than what I usually sleep in. Looks like a good spot to sit around and watch people try to rip each other’s throats out. Sure glad I’m not actually participating. But best of luck to you lot. I’m sure you’ll do great. There are only a few million people here with plans to make a name for themselves, most of which are the best of the best of their respective regions. I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Was that meant to be motivation?” Brayden asked.

“What?”” Fist sent Brayden what seemed to be a genuinely confused look. “Why would I go trying to do something like that?”

“It’ll be fine,” Lee said, grabbing an entire roast bird and sliding it into her mouth. Bones crunched as she bit down, then grinned through the rivers of juice dribbling down her chin. “As long as they keep feeding us, there’s no way we can lose. Do you know how much food costs? It’s ridiculous. It should be free.”

“For everyone other than you,” Brayden said.

Lee glared at him. Then she glanced at the rope beside the table. “The guy said we can tug that thing if we need anything. Do you think…”

“No pulling the rope to ask for more food,” Noah said. “Not while we still have some. And please leave something for the rest of us, yeah?”

“Mm,” Lee said, snagging an entire loaf of bread. The tone of her voice didn’t reassure Noah much at all. Something told him she was going to be putting to the test just how well equipped the Prophet’s people were.

“Do you think the food is free? Is there a limit? Does pulling the rope get us more?”

“I don’t think we should go testing their generosity quite yet,” Noah said. “We’ll have more than enough time to experiment."

Lee just nodded, stuffing more food into her gullet with reckless abandon.

Noah made his way back over to the window to peer out at the still-empty stands and arena. Even though thousands of other rooms were visible, he couldn’t see past the glass of any of them. Aqua Terra was taking their promise of privacy seriously.

Something stirred deep within his chest. The excitement and trepidation were enough to make his fingers twitch at his sides. Somewhere out there, in one of the other rooms, his students were waiting for the tournament to start.

With the sheer number of people here, a middling performance isn’t going to be anywhere near enough to get their attention. It’ll be impossible to pay attention to every single fight. I’m going to have to make a real impact if I want any of them to be able to find me.

Winning won’t be enough. I know I’m not the strongest person in this tournament. No, what I need is something that gets attention. Something to make people talk about me.

Brayden walked up to join Noah and dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “What’re you thinking?”

Noah pulled his gaze away from the arena far below and turned to look at Brayden.

“Not much. Just wondering what a tournament in Obsidia is like,” Noah said. “Competing in a group of some of the best Rank 6 mages in Obsidia when I’m still Rank 5…”

“Hey, you aren’t the only one.” Brayden chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll match us up against other Rank 5s first. Anything else would ruin the sport. Tournaments are meant to be fun.”

“Oh, I figured as much,” Noah said. “It’s the Rank 6s that I’m concerned about. My chances against a guy with 7 Flawless Rank 6 Runes… I don’t think they’re too high as things are right now.”

“That’s true,” Brayden said. “I reckon I’m tapping out once I’ve seen my own limits. I got no plans of winning this thing myself. But I’m sure you’ll manage it. Some way or another, I know you will.”

Noah nodded mutely.

The two of them were silent for a moment. Then Brayden cleared his throat.

“So… how are you going to do it?”

“Mm,” Noah replied. He was quiet for a second longer. Then he pursed his lips. “Warcrimes, probably.”