Scene:Delhi Stadium. The stadium is massive—around 40,000 to 90,000 people can comfortably sit in the stands, and today almost every seat is filled.
Inside a special VIP room, eight seats are occupied by the principals of the eight schools:
Doramai School – Principal RANA
Terani School – Principal MARAN
Ekta School – Principal KISAMI (female)
Simbozi School – Principal SHANBU
Lokhand School – Principal SHISI (female)
Cran School – Principal MULHAN
Dacyer School – Principal KHANA
Shazam School – Principal MILRY (female)
To the upper-left side of this room is another balcony-like chamber. Two knights stand there, with a chair between them. Seated on the chair is the King of the Shin Kingdom, BIT FIZ. Behind him stands R. KIZU, and further back, two more knights stand guard at the corners.
On the ground below, students from all eight schools are present—a total of 56 students participating in the tournament. Standing in front of them is the referee, BUCHI.
Buchi:"I, Buchi, welcome everyone to Day 1 of this tournament—especially my king and all eight school principals."
Milry:"Hm… Buchi this time? Isn't he the commander of the First Squadron of the Shin Kingdom?"
Shanbu:"Yes. But what's shocking is that Doramai School has sent too many first-year students this time."
Maran:"Rana, I think your father handled things much better than you. Who sends first-year students to a tournament like this?"
Rana (inner thoughts):"Not to mention, every school carefully selects their participants…"
Scene:The students are shown.
Precious (inner thoughts):"Ah… King Bit… this is going to be fun."
Bit:"…?"(His face remains calm, but a chilling pressure spreads.)
Buchi:"Now, I will explain the rules and tests for this year's tournament.There will be two types of matches:
TEAM TAG – where the full team of one school fights another school at the same time.
SOLO FIGHT – where only one participant from each school may participate. If that person wins, the team gets the prize—not the school.In Team Tag, both the school and the team receive rewards."
Random spectator:"Hm… the tournament rules have changed this year. It wasn't like this before."
Another spectator:"Maybe they wanted to try something new."
Buchi:"Now for the rules:
Only weapons and sword-type skills are allowed. Using anything else will result in full school disqualification.
If you step outside the ring for any reason, you will be considered defeated.
Death matches are not allowed, but even if someone dies, they will be instantly revived using a Soul Recovery Barrier.
In Team Tag, once you fight, you cannot fight again in the same match.
Artifacts are allowed only if they are below Rank B.
These are the five rules. If any student breaks even one rule, their entire school will be disqualified."
Mita (whispering, Lokhand School, Class 6):"That's harsh…"
Bibi (female, Lokhand School, Class 8):"Don't worry. Even if we can't use above B-rank artifacts, most of ours are B-rank anyway."
Buchi:"Now, let us begin the tournament with our first match—Simbozi School vs Shazam School!"
Scene:All other students leave the ground, leaving only the participants from these two schools.
Both teams move to opposite sides of the ring.
Buchi:"I've already explained the rules. Now—start the match!"
Simbozi Team Leader, Masha (female):"Alright, as planned, Pinute will go first."
(Pinute: Class 8; Masha: Class 10)
Shazam Team Leader, Gundan:"I'll go first."
(Class 4)
Scene:Gundan and Pinute enter the ring.
Buchi:"Start!"
Pinute:"Sword Burst!"
Scene:Stones lying on the ground rapidly rise and smash toward Gundan.
Shanbu:"That's our school's power!"
Gundan:"Ultimate Defense!"
Scene:A black, transparent barrier forms about four inches away from Gundan's body, blocking all the stones.
Gundan:"Sword Stun!"
Scene:Pinute freezes in place, unable to move.
Pinute (inner thoughts):"Damn! What kind of skill is this?! I can't move my legs?!"
Scene:Gundan slowly approaches Pinute and places his sword at Pinute's neck.
Buchi:"Winner of this match—GUNDAN!"
Scene:Both return to their sides.
Pinute:"I'm sorry!"
Masha:"Don't worry. This was only the first round. We still have six matches left."
Gundan:"I've done my part. Now you all do yours."
Everyone:"Yes!"
Scene:After one hour of intense battles, Shazam School wins the match with zero defeats.
Shanbu:"Damn! A clean sweep?!"
Milry:"Weren't you saying something earlier?"
Shanbu:"Tsk! It was just a bad matchup this time!"
Milry:"Yeah, yeah—whatever."
Bit:"Hm… impressive. The Shin Kingdom has strong fighters.Its future looks bright."
R. Kizu:"Yes, my king. It's all thanks to you. And if you get married soon, the future will be even brighter."
Bit (inner thoughts):"…Again."
Bit:"Why do you always bring my marriage into everything?"
R. Kizu:"Ah… well… the High King ordered me to."
Bit:"Father did? Oh god… anyway, let me focus on the tournament."
Buchi:"Now, let's begin Round Two—Doramai School vs Terani School!"
Scene:While the announcement is made, Doramai's participants are watching the match from a waiting room.
Pretty (inner thoughts):"Damn… that's the same school as those boys…No matter what, Precious must not find out what those students tried to do to me—even though they failed."
Scene:Meanwhile, Precious watches the match with a smile, talking casually with Lior and the others.
Nimi:"What's wrong, Pretty?"
Pretty:"Nothing…"
Nimi:"You can tell me."
Pretty:"Okay… but don't tell anyone."
Scene:Pretty tells Nimi everything.
Nimi:"What?! That happened and I didn't even know?!"
Pretty:"Yeah…"
Nimi:"I'm such a bad friend… I couldn't help you."
Pretty:"It's not your fault."
Damu:"Hey, aren't you two going? It's our turn now."
Pretty:"Oh—right. Coming.And please don't tell anyone."
Nimi:"Trust me, I won't!But what they tried to do to my friend—the disrespect they showed—I will definitely punish them in this tournament!"
(She smiles with a dark, shadowy expression.)
Pretty (inner thoughts):"I feel like something bad is going to happen…Did I make a mistake telling Nimi…?"