115: Dueling Tournament

Food could be found throughout the day, the booths wouldn’t close after all. On the agenda though, the school had prescribed two hours to lunch—from eleven in the morning to one in the afternoon. Once this recommended lunchtime ended, the events they had organized for the afternoon began ramping up.

A small stage sat in the center of the festival area, where some of the creative clubs reserved timeslots to perform. A woman from Class Two, with the reputation as the school’s songstress, went up first, drawing a quick crowd while running through a fifteen minute performance. The moment it ended though, the crowds dissipated like a herd of flies shooed away by an annoyed student in the summer.

“That was amazing...” “Her voice is truly unparalleled.” “The way she transitioned from singing with extreme power to a gentle voice filled with heart-wrenching emotion is just... just... exquisite.”

As these crowds of students traded excited whispers, they all rushed towards the main stadium where the first show-stopping event would take place: the dueling tournament.

Shading her eyes, Nyssa climbed the stairs to return to the Class Zero bleachers. Even with the free seating, she returned to the same area out of habit, stepping over the benches and sliding down to the same seat she had taken earlier in the morning.

The sound of feet stomping against metal filled the entire stadium as most, if not all of the students came filing in. Plus, with the addition of visiting executives all dressed in suits, the stadium felt... alive. It flexed under the load of a full capacity. Some groups began chanting cheers while others used their feet to drum up an excited rhythm by stomping against the bleacher stands.

“FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!” “TODAY WE D-D-D-DUEEEEELLLL” “CLASS ZERO YOU’RE GOING DOWN!” “CLASS ONE! CLASS ONE! CLASS ONE!” “NUMBER ONE FOR CLASS ONE! ZERO ABILITY FOR CLASS ZERO!”

Seeing waves of exuberant students on the other side of the stadium all standing shoulder to shoulder, with their arms draped over each other, jumping and swaying from side to side, Nyssa had to admit they had a coordination Class Zero didn’t. Bandanas, all-black outfits, sunglasses, and cheer coordinators to organize the intimidation tactics.

The emcee walked onto stage, dressed in a dapper suit, a top hat, and a decorative cane, he did a spin, spat out some dance moves before grabbing the microphone. “Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the world-famous Luminary Institute dueling festival.”

As cheers roared, he pointed upward, and a floating graphic flickered to life in the sky. “These are today’s competitors. As you see, we have a power vacuum! The entire podium from last year, WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING THIS YEAR! Our winner from the last two years... Ryker from Class Zero, will NOT be participating! So this competition is wide open!”

The entire stadium fell quiet.

Seconds later, the entire stadium split into two. Half of the students cheered, their excitement to see a new dueling champion boiling over into high-pitched screams and lung-destroying cheers. The other half of the students though, wilted, with some even breaking into booing.

“WHAT’S THE POINT OF EVEN WATCHING THEN! OUR STRONGEST WEAPON ISN’T HERE!”

Even while covering their ears to protect themselves from the cheering, Celeste and Nyssa couldn’t help but overhear the disappointed conversations from the students sitting a couple rows behind them.

“What’s the point of even watching? I could even win this tournament now.”

“I mean. No, that’s objectively not true. You’re a shit dueler. But yeah, whoever wins this year is probably like... what the fourth best dueling in the school then? Behind Ryker, Olivia, then Electra?”

“Yeah, so, I guess just watch it with a grain of salt.”

“Kinda boring though, don’t you think? We could leave and continue doing festival stuff.”

“We’re already here... we might as well watch. Someone new is gonna win this year, so we might as well watch the crowning of a new champion. What if something crazy happens?”

“... Something crazy is not going to happen, but sure, let’s watch. Who do you think will win then?”

Squinting up at the participant list, Nyssa shaded her eyes with one hand as she rested her head on Celeste’s shoulder. “I don’t recognize any of these names... Oh wait, Conrad. I guess I’ll cheer for him?”

“I’ll cheer for anyone but him...” Celeste coughed, sweeping her eyes over the list as well. “I recognize a few of these names from last year. But all of the notable ones lost against Ryker and the others last year. So, it’d be nice if someone not well-established in dueling won. That way there’d at least be an argument that they’re better than those three...”

“Realistically though,” Nyssa thought back to the scenes of Ryker and Electra fighting.

“Realistically though, no one is even close to those three,” Celeste sighed, resting her head on top of Nyssa’s. “Let’s just watch though. I haven’t seen Conrad fight in a long time.”

After humming an agreement, Nyssa watched as the announcer went through a stream of announcements, explaining the rules of the duel, structure of the tournament, and safety disclaimers. Once done, he began introducing the first pair of duelists, but Nyssa, by this point, had her eyes closed, and consciousness elsewhere as she wandered through dreamland.

“Heyyyy make some space for us,” Ryker’s voice dragged Nyssa out of dreamland as he and Electra appeared. Celeste, raising her eyebrows, pulled Nyssa closer to her as she made space for the pair to sit near them. Her eyes widened once more as, not even a minute later, Olivia appeared with Alecto, giving the group a light nod before sitting down a couple rows in front of them.

With the addition of three celebrities around them, Celeste and Nyssa’s peaceful dueling experience flew away like a delicate dove escaping a predatory eagle. Every few minutes, an executive in a suit would tromp up the stairs, and come to a stop near the group. Out of ten executives, eight would go to Olivia, one to Ryker, and the last one to Electra.

“Hi, Olivia. You’re a promising talent. It’s a little sad not to see you demonstrate your skills this year, but I just want to hand you my business card. Our organization is recruiting and we hope a brilliant talent like you will consider sending an application over our way.”

“Why not reach out to those two behind me?”

“They have their futures set don’t they? In the Class Zero graduate program. You’re part of Class One though, so, with your open future, with a destiny read to traverse any path you please, consider us.”

“... Mhm, thanks.”

The scene repeated over and over as, eventually, Alecto began glaring at any and all suit-wearing executives who even dared to SNIFF in their direction.