Jokes such as Putting a leash on Aiden or turning Jax into a fur coat seem to be Liora's favorite ways of expressing anger towards the two, however it seems that they are in more danger as the seconds go on, with Selene's attempts to calm Liora slowly crumbling to her own worry as Liora's anger seemed to be building, her threats starting to resemble promises.
"There's only 2 minutes before our round, WHERE ARE THEY!"
Liora shouted as she paced back and forth in the hallway. While we didn't have the first round of combat, we were supposed to arrive and meet the team we would be facing off against. That and learn what kind of event we would be subjected to too. There was a distant sound of running feet as we all turned to look down the hall where we were greeted by a horrendous sight.
Sure enough, Aiden and Jax were sprinting down the hall, but they looked like they had rolled around in a trash pit, and run a marathon right after. They were soaked in sweat, and covered in bits of dirt and filth, much less the smell.
"Attention teams, your stepout time is in 30 seconds, I repeat 30 seconds, get ready."
Came over the speaker in the corner as I turned to the two charging and made an executive decision. I grabbed the large water container filled with ice water with my strings and whipped it at the two, the water splashing over them as I washed away most of the visible dirt and masked the smell. Liora threw an arm out as a small tornado formed around the two as there were sounds like someone screaming as they were spun a bunch.
While I was aware that water effected peoples hair differently if they get wet, the result was rather strange. Aiden, wearing his soaked clothes, and his hair slicked down by water was strangely alluring, the quiet guy in glasses wearing a trench coat, his shirt clinging to newly defined muscles by months of training. The visual however was broken by two factors, the first being his bewildered expression, and windmilling arms as he tried to steady himself. The other was the ball of statically charged hair with a snout sticking out of it once known as Jax.
Aiden turned to look where we were all staring as he saw Jax.
"Dude, your hair."
He said with an amount of pity in his voice that I saw Jax biting his lip to prevent from saying a retort.
"We're out of time, let's just go, we will deal with it later."
As if on cue, the door opened as we all quickly lined up and stepped outside. As we did we were practically pushed back by the rush of noise.
The coliseum was massive, the stands packed with people of all types, sections cut off with officials from the different guilds watching the field as 15 other teams stepped out with us onto large podiums. As if on cue we saw different figures who seemed to be using magic of some kind to cause the pillars we were on to lift up, as standing in the middle was a man with what seemed to be an over exaggerated haircut.
"Ladys and gentlemen, the day you all have all been waiting for has finally arrived, and the teams are assembled for the week long PLATE GAMES!!!"
The figure paused as a roar of cheers echoed from the crowd before he turned and held a hand out.
"And I have even better news folks, for a team has volunteered to be judges, representing the best of the best of the omnimagic academy, and those personally selected by Red himself, THE STUDENT COUNCIL."
Cheers echoes as we all turned to where he gestured, a large ornate purple viewing box floated over, a pulsing magic circle under it as we saw 5 figures standing. We didn't recognize them from here, but Liora and Beatrice seemed to be watching them as if they were feeling something that we didn't.
"Those who on the ends are giving off serious elemental power, I'm talking about impossible levels."
Liora said as she took an unconscious step back.
"The one in the red with the white hair, he's giving me a bad feeling."
"Wait, I thought the omnimagic academy was destroyed."
Jax asked, turning to Aiden who shrugged. As if hearing our curiosity about them the announcer continued.
"On the left, standing as the melee powerhouse who is said to be a descendent of Hajnal herself, the Pope disciple, and queen of cold herself, SHURA MERCIA!"
As if to accentuate this, they took a step forward, a wave of cold fanned out as a shiver passed over everyone, a layer of frost covered the arena, as sculptures formed on different points, and the middle, a massive statue of the goddess hajnal
"Standing next to them, as the resident musician and charismatic beast of wonder, The Howling music maker, MUUSIKA "GRIM" ALMAWOLF!"
He stepped forward, and struck a pose, a system notification going out as strange music seemed to be resonating throughout the Coliseum. And weirdly enough, there was another wave, this time, several members of the crowd seemed to scream extra loud, as if infatuated.
"Grim" has used their soul skill Rhythme of Rock(S)
The music of the coliseum has become Bankai - Number one
The crowd seemed to be cheering as the music filled out through the coliseum as the announcer continued.
"On the other end of the group stands the boy who tamed the king of all fire spirits, one who wields flames hotter than the sun, The Battlemage of blaze, ALASTER CINDER!"
He stepped forward snapping his fingers, as in a wave of heat, the ice that seemed thick and durable, melted in an instant as the arena was suddenly filled with steam where Ice had been, though he seemed distracted, almost like he is… watching us?
"Next to them, the gilded gambler who flips the fate of battle like a coin, The world warper, FABEL GLAESIMI!"
He stepped forward, and flipped a coin as around him the air began to warp. His skin transforming , a pulse of golden stars and speckled night sky designed coated the arena as if the night had descended in an instant.
"Finally, last, but certainly not least, child of the great Sylrath family, and swordsman that once took on someone more than twice their level, taking them down in under 6 seconds, The Bloody Naturalist, ALEX SYLRATH!"
He stepped forward, planting a hand in the ground as where the night sky had been, was now overshadowed by a sudden surge of nature and life as trees, vines, and more rushed forward in a forced blooming like spring in unnatural speed.
Cheers echoed around as everyone's platforms were moved closer. I noticed Aiden and Jax waving to two other figures on another platform, and judging by their disheveled appearence, it seems that they might have been in whatever situation Aiden and Jax were in, maybe it's even how they met.
Yet I found my eyes instead drifting over to Ymer and his group, I saw Jackson and Emi standing with them, gone was that casual familiarity they had for the trip here, now replaced by a cold stoicism that was so unnatural it was making me wonder about the meaning of what they had talked about before with downtime and the sort.
"So... you're the stars I've heard so much about. My name's Alastor, a pleasure to finally meet you."
I whipped my head around to see a small trail of heat and flames in the air as one of the 5 that had been in the spectator box came down for a landing, much to the surprise of the other pillars, including everyone on our pillar.
While from a distance he seemed like a young man, up close he more closely resembled a child. Donning a black cloak and linen pants, his clothes seem just like those of many adventurers, although they are covered with burn marks and ash for some reason. His face, lined by short black hair with a bit of curl to it, has an amiable smile plastered on it. One can see an intricate tattoo on his right arm, it evokes the feeling of burning flame and searing wrath. His pose is laid - back and casual.
I stared at him as did the others on the pillar as I asked.
"I apologize if this sounds rude, but how exactly do you know us?"
Alaster grinned as they said
"People like to gossip, especially among the fateless. You may not know but you guys might just be the talk of the town right now."
"O-Ok, but why exactly are you approaching us right now?"
Selene said as she leaned over to stand at the forefront, maybe on the off chance that she would have to defend, but considering the show of force before, at best she could delay our deaths for a second or so.
"I'm here to... level the odds. If you know what I mean."
Alaster said as he reached a hand out, handing Selene something that seemed to resemble a stone of some kind as he handed what looked to be a set of 3 rolled up pieces of paper to Liora who took them with a confused look. He turned as small jets of flame flew from his feet and he drifted back towards the spectator box as he said.
"Choose a scroll and throw the stone in, but be careful, it might happen that you can't handle what comes out."
With that simple message he waved his hand as he turned to fly away.
"Good Luck"