The 11th God

Battle of the Factions Arc: Elimination

If there would be one very authentic thing about this tournament, is that it appeared right in front of us. One of the most admired and famous myth places in the whole Ylgaea, the Fantasia.

I have heard tons of rumours about the said place. Fantasia is said to be the living place for all creatures, especially those which has the light affinity. Monsters in Ylgaea also have their own affinities. Pixies and Fairies for example, they are given with the light affinity and due to that, they are believed to be living inside Fantasia. However, not only light-affinity monsters are believed to be living inside Fantasia, even other affinity-type monsters live inside it. Maybe that is why this is the chosen place for the tournament, because Fortress Defense would be perfect in this place.

Fantasia is not like Ylgaea. It isn't like one of those simple cities you'll see normally. Fantasia doesn't have any cities in it. It's like a continent but it is composed of just forest and monsters. Many people describe it as another dimension as it is really peculiar in terms of its structure. People really wouldn't believe that a place with no city inside it would actually be a part of this world. However, Fantasia disproves all of those beliefs. Fantasia exists, a place where it is all made out of forest. A place where magical monsters and creatures exists.

"Everyone! Today we commence Hergrinct's Annual Event, the Battle of the Factions!" Dio announced in front of us.

A very loud roar started by the crowd - excluding us I guess. Everybody suddenly became hyped up and energetic while ignoring the fact that it is currently night time and that people should be taking rest around Hergrinct. 

"Now in order for us to officially start, everyone please take your steps towards Fantasia and we shall begin the tournament. I Dio, Hergrinct's Guild Master pray for the gods and goddesses, may your will reign above your heart and may the deities bless your battle." Dio said as he take the first step towards Fantasia.

It only took a few seconds when others started walking towards the portal to Fantasia. As I said earlier, Fantasia is more like a new dimension because we have to take a portal towards Fantasia. The portal shows us where we are actually going to walk. Right after you pass through the portal, you will immediately be teleported towards what the portal is showing.

Slowly the crowd is getting smaller and smaller until there were few people left. We are a part of those who were left behind. Elio did not hesitate though, he did not wait for others to finish. He immediately rushed towards the portal while still holding Diether's arm. I was just following them, walking silently behind them while Diether softly grunts because of Elio pulling his arm.

"Elio, I think you should be a little gentle-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, the astounding view from a hill in Fantasia left me in awe. I gazed amazingly by its surroundings. Trees, creates, animals and the sun were all in synchronous. The fact that here in Fantasia it is morning is enough to believe that it really is different from the world we live in.

Everyone else is gathering on the side. Fantasia has no city inside it but we are currently on a wide flat hill. Everyone is forming a circle, leaving a space on the middle which gave me the idea that the elimination round will be processed in here. 

After everybody entered Fantasia, the portal itself closed on its own. Everyone continued adjusting, forming a circle on the center of the hill. A few moments later on after we were finished giving space in the middle, Dio slowly walked towards the center.

"Is everyone here already?" he asked.

There was a second wave of roar and cheers among the whole crowd. Everybody is just so hyped that they can't control themselves from stomping and shouting along the whole hill here in Fantasia.

Later on there was a rumbling sound.

"Calm down folks! You wouldn't want to anger mother nature!" Dio told us.

A wave of laughter and scream occurred and then after a few seconds was a total silence.

"Before we start the actual tournament., please line up according to your factions. Make sure you have also planned who will be competing in the different battle modes. We will be having a twist today." Dio told us.

Everyone fell in line according to their own factions. There are 28 factions in total that Dio introduced to us. Therefore during the Elimination round, there should only be 14 remaining factions. There are factions though that are composed of more than 8 members, thus giving them the upper hand. In events like this, the best way to win is to make sure your opponent has not the slightest idea of what can you do and what your capabilities are. Once your opponent is wary of your own skills and abilities, then it'll be harder to fight specially if you were not able to study your opponent as well.

After all of us finished gathering and lining up according to our own factions, a screen popped up above Dio. It seems like it's a name generator. All names that appears in the screen were the names of the 28 factions. Moments later on, the names started phasing in and out.

Dio is already choosing the first fighter.

"Our first round will be Elimination. Rules are the same, at most 5 members of each faction must fight and be the victorious." Dio said.

Moments later on the first name appeared on the screen.

"Our first fighter would be the Prudent Orcas!"

"Versus..."

"Angel's Lasso!"

"All representatives please take a step forward and ready yourselves up." Dio said.

The two factions stepped with their serious faces forward. There is an unbalance though between the two factions. Angel's Lasso is composed of 4 members while Prudent Orca's are composed of 6 members. Perhaps it doesn't matter in this battle. The important thing is someone should win.

The fighters didn't react at all about the inequality in the amount of fighters per faction. They were just stretching, preparing for battle and lining up. Each members faces one another, while the other two in Prudent Orca's are facing the air.

"Take your positions now." Dio said.

The two factions started going far from each other. There are boxes inside the field, and each box probably represents where a team or a faction should be standing.

"The event will start by the fire of my gun." Dio said.

Then a timer appeared on top of the center field. Starting from 3, the number decreases each second by 1 until Dio fired his gun.

They all started releasing their own energies and the pulsating group of energies wander around the whole hill. Maybe for a starting event, this is fearsome enough to tell that we might not have the chance to actually win this competition. Both the factions started firing, slashing, defending, blocking and shooting a bunch of energy projectiles. There is a unique similarity between the Prudent Orcas. It is that all of them uses the same affinity, water while Angel's Lasso is composed of 4 members with various affinity each member. However, even though the Prudent Orcas use only one type of affinity, their variations are different from each other and not to mention, Prudent Orcas have the upper hand in terms of number. I can't really say if Prudent Orcas would really win, after all competitions like this takes skills, not numbers.

The two factions continued shooting and shooting until each of them slowly gets tired. In a few moments, one of the members of the Prudent Orcas fell down. Angel's Lasso must have been doing a pretty good job defending themselves. Judging that faction, Angel's Lasso members each have their own unique support spell that is keeping them all together unlike Prudent Orcas whose attacks are in the upper hand making up for their lack of defense but just like what I said earlier, the game is not just about amounts and numbers, it is about skills.

It took no more than an hour until the battle was finished. All members of the Prudent Orcas were defeated while there's only two remaining people in Angel's Lasso. They all did a very great and fearsome job doing their best in this competition. Not to mention this is just the first round, we don't know everyone in here yet, others might still wield much powerful skills than these that I have just seen right now.

I thought we'll be having more time until we are able to fight. But just like what Dio said earlier, this year's tournament has a twist in it.

"Alright give it a round of applause for our very first winner, the Angel's Lasso!" Dio shouted.

A large roar and cheer covered the whole uphill. They were all cheering for the Angel's Lasso while giving a thumbs down to each member of the Prudent Orcas. This is the common thing about tournaments, that every time someone lost, they tend to give criticisms and bring those losers down more than actually - probably what's better - cheering them up or at least just ignoring them.

But now is not the time for me to think about the losers in this match. Because what's about to come, is what had actually shocked me and left me in awe.

"Now, for our twist, we will be proceeding to another battle mode! This one will be random, so please make sure that the representative for the chosen battle mode is ready!" Dio shouted across the hill.

"Our next round would be..."

"Fortress Defense."

I knew I should be afraid of something but after looking at Diether's face, I was worrying about nothing. The Diether I saw was different. His face is more mature, serious and seems like he is ready for this.