Vishal said, “Of course not. In fact, we would like to show our appreciation for your kindness in the arena.”
Sean smirked. “I can’t wait.”
Sean and Vikram were staring daggers at each other when–
“What are you guys doing?”
Vikram jumped and whirled around. A young girl around their age jogged towards them. She had slightly curly black hair and a pretty face. Sora noticed Vikram blushing as she approached.
“Nothing, Kavya,” he said. “Just saying hi to some old friend from Lucifer’s Fall.”
Kavya muttered, “Lucifer’s Fall?”
She pushed past Vikram and stared at Katie, who was equally shocked.
Kavya smirked and said, “Katie… I hoped you’d be participating in this tournament. It’s where we will settle our fight.”
Katie, to the other’s surprise, was equally fired up. “Exactly what I wanted to say, Kavya. We’ll decide the winner finally.”
“Old friends?” Sora asked.
“You… could say that,” Katie said. “We went to the same contractor school. We were… well… rivals.”
“Rival does not describe it,” Kavya said. “Whenever we fight, it is always to the death.”
“Yet, you’re both still alive.”
“That’s because all our fights have been a draw.”
“We fight for everything. Who will finish our homework first, who’d reach the class first and stuff like that.”
“We’re still fighting on who’d get a boyfriend first as well.”
Sean, Jake and Sora glanced at Zack, who was a bit flustered. But before he could stop her, Katie said, “Too bad, I already won that fight.”
Kavya stared and then noticed Katie holding Zack’s hand. She gaped at the handsome contractor in front of her and quietly muttered, “Damn it.”
“Guess I won. Too bad for you, but Zack is my boyfriend.”
“Did I just hear right?”
The group looked back to see a young man followed by two vassals. He had long wavy red hair and looked at others superciliously.
“Is that true, Titania? You have a commoner for a girlfriend?”
Zack said coolly. “Hello Malcolm. And yes, you heard right.”
Malcolm laughed wildly. “My father was right about the Titania family. You are all a bunch of social servicemen who muddy the name of nobles by stooping to their level. Pathetic!”
“Is he your friend, Zack?” Sora asked threateningly. “Cause if he isn’t, I think we should get acquainted very soon.”
Malcolm looked at Sora in disgust. “Don’t you dare use that tone with me, you filthy beggar. I could throw you into prison for the rest of your miserable life if you so much as look at me.”
“Try it, twinkle toes!”
“Sora, calm down,” Zack said, holding him back. He faced Malcolm and said, “But, Kenny Malcolm, if you threaten my friend again, I swear on my nobility that I will disgrace the Malcolm family in such a way that they would never recover from it.”
Malcolm stepped back a little. The Lucifer’s Fall contractors were taken aback as well. Zack had never shown his father’s air of authority until this very moment. The iciness in his voice silenced all of them.
Malcolm said, “See? You’re siding with these commoners again. Despicable. You shame us nobles with this ignominy. You’ll regret this, Zack Titania!”
Malcolm left in a huff with his vassals marching behind him. Zack turned apologetically to Sora and asked, “Was I that big a jerk before?”
Sora looked at Jake and then replied, “You’d rather not want to be compared. I’ll spare you.”
The speakers screeched as someone turned on the mike. All the contractors looked around to find a small stage rising from the ground at one side of the arena. A plump, bald man with a walrus moustache was standing on it. He wore a suit and an old fashioned bow tie, with his microphone attached to it.
The man beamed at the young contractors in front of him and spoke, with his loud voice booming from the speakers around the coliseum.
“Welcome, young men and women to this year’s Holy Dragon Tournament! I, Rufus Crumbs, will be your host throughout the event, which will start from tomorrow, December 25, all the way to the New Year! A total of eight days!”
There was a loud cheer from the crowd. Rufus Crumbs was famous all over Gara for his enthusiastic live commentary featured in various events. He had been the commentator for the tournament for the last sixteen years.
“There are 395 participants in this year’s tournament, the most in the great event’s history! All of you have been recognized for your strength in your guild and have taken a step in this journey that shows us the strongest contractor of the next generation! But all your paths will converge and you will have to battle it out with your contracts to prove that you are strong enough to keep going. For, there can be but one participant who will be left standing at the end. This young champion will have the honor of meeting the great princess of Gara herself!”
Crumbs paused and looked around.
“The tournament will start with a preliminary round, where each of you shall be allotted a group. Members of the same group will be made to fight each other in a battle royal! There will be a total of 64 groups, meaning that, out of the 395 participants, only 64 will move on to the next round. But, don’t worry,” Crumbs said with his eyes twinkling as he watched some people whispering worriedly to each other.
“Members of the same guild will not be placed in the same group. But after the preliminary round comes the round of 64, where the remaining participants will face each other in a one-on-one battle. From that round onwards, you may face your own comrades. But I beseech you; do not let that affect your fight. It would be a great dishonour, not only for the tournament, but also for your comrade. Fight with all your might for pride, for glory, for respect, as well as for all your goals and aspirations.”
The whole place was silent. Sora imagined that every participant would be thinking on what he or she had at stake.
“The tournament will go on everyday till the semi-finals on December 30. There will be a day of break during New Year’s Eve right before the finals. But all you need to worry about is the preliminary round tomorrow. Your names have already been shuffled and distributed into groups. It has been posted on the screen outside the coliseum as well. Multiple rings will be placed inside the arena for the preliminaries. Tomorrow, you will have to arrive at the given time and report in the ring designated for your group. The last man… or lady standing wins and qualifies for the next round. The fight will be open to the public as well, so I expect all of you to put up a good show. Now, I, Rufus Crumbs, announce the Holy Dragon Tournament open!”
The spectators screamed and cheered all around Sora, who was on the stands as he watched the remaining fights while slurping his drink. It was the middle of the day and Sora had been greatly entertained.
“Done already, Sora?”
Jake walked up behind him. Sora showed a victory sign and said, “Took just 1.28 seconds. It was a breeze. And I managed to find time to see you levitate all of them and make them all collide headfirst with each other. Very artistic, it was.”
Jake smiled. “And I heard that everyone in your group were girls. But you showed no mercy, did you?”
“Hey, I didn’t even use Wind Fangs for the fight. Just a basic chop on the neck, that’s all. Anyway, where are the others?”
“Katie and Zack’s fights haven’t begun yet. But Sean’s must be just starting. Ah, there he is.”
Jake pointed at one of the rings not too far from where they were standing. Sean was stepping into the ring with four other contractors. They each stood in different places around the ring and waited for the judge to ring the bell that marks the start of the battle.
The bell finally rang and the contractors took their stance. But Sean walked right to the centre of the ring and looked around at them. The contractors stared, wondering what he was doing. Sea
n shrugged and punched the floor.
Four bolts of lightning erupted from Sean’s fist, hit the floor and scattered towards the other contestants. There was a yellow flash and the scream of the participants died as fast as it started. All four of them fell to the floor, with their bodies smoking.
The judge, who had ducked under his chair, glanced up and then rang the bell again. Sean smirked and walked out of the ring.
Sora, clapping along with the others, said, “So Sean can mold his lightning into quite a few forms. He’s got good control.”
Jake looked unimpressed. “If he couldn’t mold his lightning into a form other than a bullet, Sean would be destroyed in a close range battle. Being able to control at least a few forms of lightning is the least he could do.”
There was a yellow flash again and Jake put up his barrier just in time to block the lightning bullet aimed at his face. “I heard that,” Sean said, standing right below them from the arena.
Sean came up to where they were standing and was about to start another round with Jake when Sora brought both of them a drink from the stall inside the coliseum. They cooled off again while they watched the other matches.
Vishal Raju was on the ring and was using his White Rhino’s hornbeam to take out his opponents. Vikram Arikath used his split step to dodge his opponent’s flames and overpowered him.
After a while, it was Katie’s turn. As the bell rang, a thick purple smoke filled the ring. A few seconds later, the smoke disappeared and Katie was standing in the same spot with the others unconscious.
Sora said, “I’ve been wondering this for a while, but how come Katie does not get affected by her poison smoke bombs and stuff? She is right at the centre of the attack, right?”
Jake replied, “Her body constitution is such that it adapts to poison so that she can produce it. So, poisons will hardly ever affect her. That’s the case with most contracts. The effect of the same element, when used against you, will not be the same. If Sean were hit with a lightning based attack, he wouldn’t be hurt as much as you or I would be. But the form of the element must also be taken into account. In case Sean used his lightning bullet to hit another lightning based contractor, the body won’t be subjected to the lightning’s effect, but it would still hurt like a normal bullet would.”
Sora gaped. He never realized that a contract’s power was so scientifically explainable. He slurped his second drink and saw Zack walking in to one of the rings.
It was the same story there as well. Zack just waited for the others to attack and ploughed his bare fist into their body. Everything was a one hit K.O. Sora noticed that Zack’s movement was sharper than usual.
Zack and Katie met up with the rest later to have lunch in the special restaurant for the participants inside the coliseum. The food was not the best, but it was acceptable. Zack was told that the nobles were dining in an air-conditioned room and was asked to go there. But Zack persisted that he would eat with his friends only.
Soon after their lunch was over, they headed back to the stands to see the results of the day’s matches on a huge screen in the arena. Sora was surprised to see that his fight had been the quickest one recorded. They showed the whole battle in slow motion. Sora’s movement were only a blur, but still visible. The crowd gasped as they saw him strike his opponents decisively in the neck. Zack, Jake and Sean wolf howled and Katie patted him on the back as Sora hid his face in embarrassment.
The 64 winners’ names were shown next. And they were shuffled and placed into two blocks. Sora, Sean and Katie were in the A block while Zack and Jake were put in the B block. The names scrambled again and the charts with the match-ups were posted on the screen again.
Sora felt a clunk of disappointment. His name was put into the first match next morning, meaning that he couldn’t eat his breakfast till after he had fought his battle. But seeing his opponents’ names made him feel it was worth it. After all, he had wanted to get acquainted with Kenny Malcolm. He had never realized that it would come so soon.
The Lucifer’s Fall contractors walked out of the coliseum and headed to the hotel where they were staying, ‘The Royal Seasons’.
It was not too far from the palace walls and was centralized in a great location in the city.
As they walked past the palace, Sora glanced at it and asked Zack, “Those guys told you that you could stay inside the palace if you wished, right? Why didn’t you?”
Zack shrugged. “Staying with you guys would be far more interesting. Inside there, I have to be dignified and sophisticated. It is too much of a bother.”
“But you’d get a chance to meet the princess, won’t you? Why pass up the opportunity?” Jake enquired.
“After I become the lord of the Titania family, I can come and go as I wish. I can meet the princess whenever I want then.”
Katie seemed very pleased on hearing that Zack was not bent on seeing the princess. They reached their hotel, a big and grand place that even Zack could appreciate.
They had three rooms, one shared by Sora and Sean, the other shared by Zack and Jake while Katie had a room all to herself.
The suites were very posh and comfortable as well.
Later in the evening, Sora decided to meet with Roy, who was very obstinate that he would not leave the N-2 with strangers. Roy had decided to stay in the N-2 by himself, so Sora wanted to check up on him.
But he needn’t have bothered. Roy was having the time of his life in the hangar, talking to other mechanics and hovercraft fanatics. The N-2 also had its own refrigerator and television set as well as a computer with Internet. The leather seats were as comfortable as Sora’s bed in the suite. Knowing that Roy didn’t need any company, Sora decided to walk around the market again. He was hoping to meet Rose as well. And to his luck, he did.
Rose was standing against a wall when Sora spotted her. She was wearing the same cloak she wore the day before. She jumped when Sora tapped her shoulder but then smiled at him again.
“Great job in today’s fight, Sora. I was really surprised. You weren’t bluffing at all when you said that all the contractors from your guild will proceed to the next round.”
“You were there? I never saw you in the stands. I happened to be up there the whole morning.”
“Well, I was. But you moved too fast for me to see what actually happened. I had to see the slow motion of the fight to do so.”
Well… I am pretty quick on my feet. Anyway Rose, are you busy now?”
“No,” Rose replied. “Actually, I came here hoping to meet you.” She was a little flustered.
Sora found himself grinning. He said, “Well then… why don’t we get a bite to eat?”
“Is eating the only thing you can think of?” Rose asked with a giggle. Sora grinned and said, “Pretty much. What do you want to do?”
“Why not just take a walk around the place? I can show you around, seeing as you’re new to the place and all.”
And that was what they did. Rose took him around the whole market, showing him all the shops and everything they sold. Most of the shops were selling gadgets of the like that Sora had never seen before. One was selling spectacles that could act as a GPS as well as a cell phone. One was also displaying a strange helmet that would let the wearer dream of whatever he wanted while sleeping. As Rose continued talking enthusiastically, Sora found that she was very fun to talk to and was a good friend.
It wasn’t long after that Sora noticed someone following them. He had been suspicious for a while but was sure when that man kept staring at his back. As Rose and he walked past a small shop selling utensils, Sora was trying to figure out a way to make Rose leave so that she didn’t get involved.
But he was too late.
“Are you Sora?” The big, burly and hairy man, came up to them.
Sora replied, “And what if I am?”
“Our boss feels that you’re a threat to him. He doesn’t like that at all.”
“Do I know your boss?”
“That
doesn’t matter. He pays us to take you out, and we’ll do just that, right boys?”
Around ten men with metal bats, and some of them even armed, walked out of the crowd. Sora looked at them and said, “You don’t have to do this. Not in public, at least.”
The head gangster laughed. “We don’t care. We are above the law. And stopping us won’t be easy. We’re not your regular thugs.”
He held out his hand and it changed to concrete. Sora had guessed that they were contractors. He wondered why these men were so terrible in hiding their ki.
“Good, you guys are contractors. I don’t need to hold back now, do I?” Sora said with a smirk.
One of the men holding a metal bat seemed to be a lightning contractor. He sent a charge through the bat and ran at Sora and swung.
Sora sidestepped and dodged the attack and held the man’s wrist. He pulled him closer and ploughed his face with a punch. The boss tried to attack next with a concrete leg kick. But Sora caught it right before it struck him and kicked the other leg, making him fall to the floor.
Sora was stuck by a blast of water. He hit the wall of a building and fell down. But he was able to follow up on the next jet of water shot at him by a water contractor.
Sora knew that he couldn’t defeat all of them unless he used the Wind Fangs. He summoned his contract and sent a blind scythe at them. The men attempted to block it by putting up a shield with their contract’s power. But Sora used the attack as a decoy and used his split step to take out seven of them in the process.
Being in a crowded place, Sora could not use extravagant moves like the wind smash or the wind meteor. So he could only rely on his speed and his wind cage to block their attacks.
He had no choice but to use one of his latest techniques. Sora held both his blades facing the opposite direction and spun them. The centrifugal force caused a suction of air, making the Wind Fangs absorb a large amount of it. When Sora felt he had had enough, he shot out a blast of twirling wind at the remaining four.
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 30