The tournament's first round was individual bouts. Each member of each team fought one opponent from a different academy. Win or lose, the results contributed to the team's cumulative score. Individual bouts didn't eliminate fighters — they established rankings that determined seeding for the team battles in round two.
Seven fights. Seven opportunities to show the Empire who we were.
Lucien fought first. The captain's privilege — opening the tournament for your team, setting the tone. He drew a fighter from the Southern Academy — a nature-element specialist who wielded vine constructs with the precision of a puppeteer.
