The city was buzzing.
Banners in bright gold and crimson hung from the tall white spires of Spehel's Colosseum, their edges fluttering in the crisp morning wind.
Merchants lined the plaza outside, shouting over one another, hawking roasted meat skewers, healing potions, even miniature wooden replicas of famous past champions. The air smelled of spice, sweat, and anticipation.
Kael adjusted his sword strap and glanced sideways at Lunara as they stepped into the central thoroughfare.
She wore her usual dark red hoodie striped with green, a half-mask covering the lower half of her face, her bow strapped diagonally across her back, quivers clinking faintly against her hip. Two daggers rested snug in thigh sheaths, the gleam of polished steel catching the sun.
The crowd pressed around them, adventurers of every rank and size — some polishing gleaming armor, others casually flipping knives or testing bowstrings. Overhead, the faint hum of Mana Crystals could be heard from the massive defensive wards built into the arena walls.
The Tournament of Arms only happened once every three years, and this one was special: open to all ranks. Rookie and veteran alike.
[When kael decided to enter the tournament, he didn't know it was this big of a deal, he just wanted mythic armor]
Today, Kael and Lunara were going to stake their names into history. Or die trying.
Well… "die" in the game sense.
---
They approached the registration desk.
A long counter manned by a trio of bored-looking clerks in blue tabards.
The middle clerk barely glanced up, sliding a carved wooden plaque across the desk toward Kael.
"Bracket three. Duo number forty-two. First match in ten minutes,"
the man droned without emotion.
Kael took the plaque, feeling the weight of the burned-in number against his palm. He nodded toward Lunara, trying to radiate confidence.
"Easy warm-up,"
he said.
Lunara's amber eyes narrowed above her mask. "You said that about the bandits."
"And I was right!" he countered.
"You almost bled out."
"no need for the…Details."
He pouted, as if a dagger had already went through his heart.
---
They moved into the waiting area, a wide, circular chamber just below the arena floor.
The smell of oil, steel, and leather was thick here. Other competitors lingered in clusters — a massive man with a greataxe whose blade was taller than Kael, a wiry woman in black who spun throwing knives between her fingers with surgical precision, a pair of mages in flowing robes murmuring over spell formations.
From above, muffled roars of the crowd could be heard as other fights played out. Illusion panels mounted in the walls displayed the current match from multiple angles, the visuals so sharp you could see the sweat fly from a fighter's brow.
Kael leaned toward Lunara.
"We can totally take them."
"You don't even know who 'them' is yet."
"That's the spirit you need to win."
He said proudly.
---
Then the horn sounded.
The crystal above the door flashed their bracket number.
"Duo Forty-Two — to the arena!"
"Already?" Kael sighed.
Kael and Lunara stepped forward, boots ringing against the stone.
The gate rose, and they walked out into blinding sunlight.
The arena was massive — an oval of pale stone surrounded by tier upon tier of cheering spectators.
Above, a lattice of magical wards shimmered faintly, keeping stray projectiles from hitting the audience.
The ground was hard-packed sand, already stained in places with the dark residue of past matches.
Across from them stood their first opponents:
Two identical twin brothers, each clad in crimson plate armor chased with black. They carried spiked maces that looked less like weapons and more like chunks of an asteroid ripped from the sky.
Lunara tilted her head toward Kael.
"So… plan?"
Kael grinned. "Simple. Don't die."
---
The arena's announcer's voice boomed magically across the Colosseum:
"From Bracket Three! The rising unknowns — Kael and Lunara — versus the Crimson Meteors!"
"Wait how did they get a cool name"
"Shhhh." Lunara silenced his temper tantrum.
The crowd roared.
Then the starting horn sounded.
---
Round One — FIGHT!
Kael exploded into motion — not toward his opponents, but sideways, sprinting in a wide arc to bait one brother away.
"I'm taking you on, one on one, FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!"
The crimson-armored brute took the bait, charging with surprising speed for his bulk. The spiked mace came down in a blur.
~ WHAM!
The shockwave kicked up sand as Kael rolled clear, the impact rattling his bones even at a miss.
He countered immediately, side stepping and doing a quick dash— delivering a low slash at the man's knee joint — but the mace was already swinging back in a brutal horizontal sweep.
Kael ducked under it, feeling the wind of the blow scrape his hair.
But then—
It changed directions, he was baited.
The mace came howling down back at him.
But kael movements were his bread and butter.
He quickly back stepped , dashed backwards and jumped up, avoiding the hit and some of the shockwave, Then he quickly glanced over—
Across the arena, Lunara loosed three arrows in quick succession, forcing the second twin to raise his mace defensively.
"Seems she's doing alright, now we can truly fight it out to the death!"
The clang of steel on enchanted arrowheads rang out as she danced backward, kael danced forward, both keeping just out of range of their attacker's.
---
Kael's fight was pure chaos — blow for blow, feint for feint.
It was back and forth, depending mainly on the skills of both opponents.
Whoever had the better mastery, would surely win.
The crimson twin was stronger, but Kael's reflexes, were sharper.
Every dodge was by inches, every counter a flash of steel aimed at weak points between both of their armor plates.
They were both aiming for each other weak points, and both understood how the other fought.
Kael was actually, starting to enjoy this fight.
The sound of their weapons colliding was deafening, sparks scattering in the sunlight.
The crowd leaned forward as the pace doubled — Kael weaving in, delivering a slash across the brute's thigh, only to spin away from an overhead smash that cratered the ground where he'd stood.
Kael's mind was laser-focused.
Too slow. Overextending on swings.
Pattern on third strike is predictable.
Spectators knew this was just the opening match, but the brutality was real —
or looked it.
The tournament used Life Simulation Crystals: massive, ancient devices embedded in the arena walls. When a fighter's health hit zero, the crystal instantly created a hyper-real illusion of their death — the pain, the visuals, even the last breath — but teleported their actual body into the Loser's Hall, an adjacent chamber where eliminated fighters could watch the rest of the event on projection panels.
It was a system so advanced, some rookies swore they actually had died before realizing they were still alive. And it was designed this way for one reason: the crowd came for blood, and the illusions gave it to them.
---
Kael's opponent roared, swinging his mace in a brutal vertical smash. Kael sidestepped, blade flashing — a perfect diagonal cut aimed for the gap between helmet and gorget.
The brute twisted, the blow glancing, but Kael flowed with the miss, pivoting around to the man's blind spot.
His sword blurred three times in a heartbeat —shnk-shnk-SHNK — before driving deep into the man's neck.
For an instant, the arena froze.
Then, with a wet, gory schlkkk echoed, the head separated cleanly, crimson blood spraying across the sand.
The body hit the ground — and dissolved into shards of light.
The crowd erupted.
High above, in a shadowed balcony, a trio of cloaked figures exchanged glances.
"Level fifty-five was his last recording from a week ago." one murmured.
"And he did that?"
"He's a troublesome one, even at his level."
---
Kael didn't waste a second.
He was already moving before the first twin's body finished vanishing.
Across the arena, Lunara was in trouble — her opponent was pressing her hard, mace swings shattering the ground at her feet, she barley had time to dodge each attack.
Kael's skill control kicked in — Triple Dash.
One. Two.
THREE.
His body blurred forward in three lightning bursts of speed, each step kicking up a spray of sand.
In less than a breath, he was behind the second twin dagger at his neck, eyes shut knowing he had the perfect angle for a decapitation.
One clean, upward slash — SHRAKK! — and the man's head flew free, spinning once before bursting into light, crystal shards.
The match was over.
---
The announcer's voice boomed again:
"Victory — Kael and Lunara!"
The crowd's roar shook the arena. People were on their feet, shouting, clapping, some chanting Kael's name despite never having heard it before today.
---
And in the Loser's Hall, the twins sat among other defeated fighters, still scowling, replaying the match on the illusion screen. One muttered, "He's not supposed to move like that at his level."
The other muttered, "That guy is dangerous."
---
Above, in the VIP gallery, the cloaked watchers leaned closer to the railing.
"That boy…" one said. "He's dangerous."
The other smiled faintly. "And he doesn't even realize it too."
A girl shrieked beside him, "ooooh yea...that kid has got sum' INSANE—"
"Potential" ,Muttereda boy covered up head to toe in what looked to be ninja gear.
"Grims lock?! What're you doing here?"
The girl shrieked again, almost more excited than she was previously.
''Quiet gazen, no need to be so over dramatic." Grims lock muttered.
"Anyways where's your brother?" He asked inquisitively.
"He's down at the pub, actively getting swarmed by girls, the usual." she smirked then continued in a serious tone,
"I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"
He stopped to think for a second,
then muttured.
"I was simply scouting, and I think.."
He glanced back at the smiling kael pointing his thumb towards himself whilst uttering unheard words before getting smacked in the head by Lunara.
"I just found my perfect target."