Chapter 81: Ch81 – The Announcement

Ryan burst out laughing,”I can’t believe you were trying to accuse Navius of bei—”

A loud voice rang out, interrupting Ryan

“Hey! Guys! I thought it was you!”

They turned.

Jeremy jogged up, grinning wide. “Heading to the Exhibition?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Ryan said.

“Mind if I tag along?” Jeremy fell into step, then noticed Eleanor. “Oh! And who’s this?”

He attempted what might have been a courteous bow but came off more like an enthusiastic nod. But there was charm in the effort.

“I’m Eleanor,” she said simply.

“Jeremy.” He grinned. “Nice to meet you! You’re friends with these guys?”

“Roommates, actually. We share a dorm.”

“Oh, cool! So you’ve been putting up with Ryan and James’s nonsense too?”

Eleanor’s lips twitched. “Something like that.”

James snorted. “Hey! I’m delightful, Ryan? Not so much.”

Ryan lightly elbowed James in the ribs.

“Ouch.”

“Sure you are,” Eleanor said dryly.

The group, now with plus one member, continued toward the arena. Jeremy chatted the entire way about a rumoured beast, allegedly a 20-meter-tall, muscled, black-scaled monster, that the tournament organisers had brought in for today’s main event.

Within twenty minutes, they had reached the arena. The stone structure loomed above them. Crowds poured through the entrances like water through a dam.

They pushed inside.

The noise hit first. Thousands of voices layered over each other—cheering, shouting, laughing. The air smelled of sweat and roasted meat and too many people packed into one space.

James scanned the seating. “There aren’t any seats left…”

“There are in the lower levels,” Eleanor said, nodding toward the nobles’ section.

Jeremy snorted. “Yeah, but do we really have twenty-five silver hills to get us in there? Five silver hills a piece—it’s such a scam! Anyway, we can just stand at the top edges, up there. The view’s not great but better than nothing.”

Ryan reached into his pouch and pulled out two gold crowns and one silver hill.

“This is enough, right?”

Silence.

Jeremy stared. “What—how do you have that kind of money? Are you secretly the son of some rich noble or something?”

Ryan hesitated. Eleanor looked at him funny, trying to signal for him to not say something stupid.

Principal Helena had given him the money. But he couldn’t say that. Why would a principal give an ’ordinary student’ that much gold?

“My parents,” Ryan said after a beat. “They own a mining company. Back home.”

I’m meant to be from a mining town, if I’ve remembered Gregory’s document correctly, so this should work.

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “A mining company? That’s… wow. Okay. Rich kid. Got it.”

“I’m not a—”

“Let’s just get the seats,” James interrupted, clearly trying not to laugh.

They approached one of the entrances to the lower section. A broad-shouldered man stood there with his arms crossed. He looked bored.

“Five silver hills each,” he said without looking up. “Or move along.”

Ryan handed over the coins.

The man counted them, then produced five small tokens adorned with the Ceres crown of hay. “Proof of payment. Sit in either section to my left or right. If you lose the token, you need to pay for another.”

They took the tokens and descended the stone steps.

The lower section was very different. Cushioned seats instead of bare stone. More space between rows and larger seats. Servants moving through with trays of wine and fruit.

There were a good number of seats left, some of which had pieces of paper with names on them.

Reserved seats…

Men and women in fine clothing glanced at them as they passed. Their not-so-fancy clothes, made them stick out like mice in a cat shelter.

The group found a few great seats that were only a couple rows behind the front-most row.

Jeremy sat down and immediately leaned forward, eyes wide. “I can see everything from here.” Jeremy pointed at the people down in the arena setting it up. “And people don’t look like ants from here, this is unbelievable! Thank you Ryan.”

“No problem.” Wasn’t my money anyway.

Eleanor settled into her seat. James and Jared sat on either side of Ryan.

The arena floor was massive—Ryan could visibly see the cracks in the arena floor from previous bouts.

“What do you think they’re bringing out first?” Jared asked.

“I hope it’s the monster Jeremy keeps going on about,” Jared said. “Just so we can see just how exaggerated his claims about it were…”

For the next thirty minutes, more and more people came in. The reserved seats beside them filled up quickly.

Then the crowd’s noise began to swell.

A man stepped into the center of the arena.

His voice boomed, amplified by the mages around him. “CITIZENS OF THE GREAT COALITION! WELCOME TO THE CHAMPION’S EXHIBITION!”

The crowd roared.

“TODAY, WE WITNESS THE STRENGTH OF OUR FINEST WARRIORS! TIER FOUR KNIGHT GERALD HOLT! TIER FOUR MAGE SERINA JAELIS! FACING—”

The gate began to rise.

“—THE STONEBACK BULL!”

The second the announcer finished his sentence, he and the mages began dashing for a small exit of the arena.

The creature that emerged was massive.

Easily twenty feet tall. Built like a bull but with horns larger than humans, and limbs that were so muscled a bodybuilder would ask for it’s workout routine. Its hide was dark grey, plated like stone. Four eyes glowed dull red above a mouth filled with teeth like broken rocks.

Ryan leaned in.

I’ve seen one of these before.

The forest. His first day. The creature that had nearly found him if not for the fox creature that intervened.

If it’s the same kind… Ryan thought, maybe that means it can send darts from its mouth… Straight into the crowd.

He looked around. No barriers. No shields. Just open seating.

Well this doesn’t feel very safe.

The Stoneback Bull let out a sound which was half a roar, and half the sound of grinding stone. The crowd cheered even louder.

Two figures entered from the opposing gate.

The knight, Gerald Holt wore full plate armour, sword and shield in hand, while the mage, Serina Jaelis had light armour, with flames already flickering around her fingertips.

The bull immediately charged at them.

The ground shook with each step. Stone ruptured underneath.

Gerald raised his shield—

The creature’s clawed hand slammed into it.

The sound was like a battering ram hitting a fortress wall.

Gerald flew backward, hit the ground rolling and came up on his feet twenty feet away.

The crowd gasped.

“Holy shit!” Jeremy shouted, half-standing. “Did you see that?! He got launched!”

Serina fired. A lance of flame shot across the arena and hit the bull’s shoulder.

It didn’t even flinch.

The creature turned toward her, roared, and charged again.

Gerald intercepted, his sword flashing. The blade struck the bull’s front limb, and rang like metal on stone. The sword had left a shallow cut.

The creature backhanded him.

Gerald blocked with his shield. The impact drove him into the stone.

“He’s getting overwhelmed!” Jeremy’s voice cracked.

Jared leaned forward. “This mage needs to be less useless.”

Serina Jaelis seemed to agree. She began chanting. Flames started to twirl around her, light blue and burning so hot it began melting the stone floor.

She thrust both hands forward.

A torrent of fire erupted. This time not a lance, but a wave that washed over the bull’s entire body.

The creature roared.

The crowd screamed back, louder.

The creature staggered, hide blackened, smoke rising.

Gerald didn’t waste the opening. He charged underneath it, sword raised and jumped up, driving the blade into the creature’s chest.

It sank deep.

The bull roared again in pain and rage. Its claws wrapped around Gerald.

It lifted him and then it threw him.

Gerald hit the arena wall thirty feet up. Stone cracked. His body fell to the floor, limp.

The crowd went silent.

Then the knight moved. He pushed himself up. Armour dented, but alive.

The cheering returned, deafening.

“YEAHHHh! HE’S STILL GOING!” Jeremy was fully standing now, on his chair with hands raised. “COME ON!”

The cordial nobles next to them seemed extremely put off by Jeremy’s obnoxious actions.

Serina hit the stoneback bull with another strong blast. Then another.

The creature’s movements slowed. Burns covered its body.

Gerald charged in again.

This time, when his sword struck, it went clean through the bull’s neck.

The creature collapsed.

The arena shook.

Silence.

Then—

“VICTORY!” The announcer shouted from the safety of the platform above the gate.

The crowd erupted.

Jeremy was screaming. James was cheering. And Jared, for once, looked impressed.

Ryan started cheering too.

The knight and mage stood over the fallen beast, breathing hard.

The announcer’s voice returned. “A STUNNING DISPLAY! AND NOW—”

Then someone stood.

In the noble section. Only thirty seats to Ryan’s left.

An elf.

The one who’d been talking to Navius in the arena the first time, and then the street only an hour ago.

The elf opened his mouth.

And his voice boomed—magically amplified, even more than the announcer’s.

“HUMANS ARE ONLY FIT TO SERVE AS SLAVES FOR US ELVES!”

The arena went silent.

Then insults began hurling from the crowd at the elf and humans beside him readied themselves for a brawl.

The elf, unbothered by the insults, reached into a bag at his side.

And drew out six glass spheres.

He threw them rapidly, one after another.

They arched through the air, spinning and glinting in the sunlight.

One flew to the upper stands.

It shattered against a stone chair

Grey powder burst outward.

For half a heartbeat, nothing.

Then the air itself ignited.

BOOM.

The explosion tore through the seats. Fire. Smoke. Bodies thrown like dolls.

Screaming.

Ryan’s ears rang.

The other five spheres were still in flight.

One spiraling toward the arena floor. To Gerald and Serina.

Three spreading across the upper stands.

And one—

Heading straight for them.

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