**Present. Valley Tournament**
Greed:
I had remembered that day. That was also the day we recruited Jo to the Black Wolves.
When Nyx concluded the memory, I snickered and closed my eyes, nudging him as I casually pulled a toothpick out from my pocket and threw it in my mouth. "Well, in that case, you can go ahead and sit yourself out for the rest of the Tournament if you want, Nyx."
"Hey! I'm not THAT useless! Again, I haven't awakened my power yet… but I can still help Jo sense things. Like before we came back, I noticed two figures in the distance—it was Rex and Snow!"
"Oh yeah, they told me about that… they said she almost killed them. Guess we have you to thank for that."
"You fucking—!"
An ice wave raged in our direction, interrupting him mid-sentence. I grabbed Nyx and maneuvered him behind me, where the ice had blasted past us even into the hallway some distance within.
A strip of ground, untouched by the ice, trailed long into the dark from behind while I stood there unscathed.
"Sorry, wasn't sure if you could have withstood that… I acted out of instinct," I said, turning away from Nyx and watching the battle.
"You really think I'm that weak! I would have been fine! I've been with Jo for three fucking years! Ugh, I should have never told you that story…"
I had almost forgotten that the hallways were not protected by barriers like the audience was… if she keeps getting colder, this might even reach the Warriors' Keep…
I bet they didn't anticipate this. I thought.
Back in the ring, Jo had somehow flown over Polaris, traveling in the air like she had performed some flip. When she had aligned above him, she threw her arm as if tossing something, and multiple beams of ice curved in every direction onto him.
He dodged the beams, hopping from yard to yard as the attack covered a wide range, seeking and following him wherever he went. Then, from one of the ice beams, Jo had emerged as if she had Full-Bodied herself through it, appearing in Polaris' blind spot just as he was about to land from his previous backward leap.
She had become one with the ice and met Polaris' incoming back with a flexed hand that looked as if it held a blizzard within it.
Though Jo wasn't a Full-Body magic user, her magic was a 'Grand' type, meaning she could access all magic type forms within her own element. That was fundamentally what being a Grand user meant, at least.
From her flexed hand, an ice spear coalesced, and she stepped forward once and tossed it, releasing it like a jet toward him at near point blank range. There was nowhere for him to run.
As the spear flew and smashed into Polaris' manifested aura shield, a spread of glaciers emerged, echoing a cacophonous symphony in all our ears from the pressure of the spear itself. It tossed him away, and he skipped off the ground, ramming onto the wall of Daz's inner barrier—rippling and even glitching it upon collision.
The audience was so invested in the match, even as they felt their seats shake with each impact.
I could hardly see Belle and the others from where Nyx and I were because of the frozen and snowcapped walls. Bets changed. Crowds argued. All during this wild battle.
This was probably the most intense battle in the entire Tournament so far. But it was dangerously turning into one they might stop as well for the safety of the audience. Just as long as there was no malice and it didn't get any more extreme than this…
Jo's back was nearest to us now as she awaited Polaris to get back up from that strike; she knew she hadn't won just yet. It was hard to fathom that she had yet to chant a single incantation this entire match—these were all 'small' spells for her, so one could only imagine what a bigger spell would look like.
As expected, Polaris rose from where he had fallen after hitting the barrier; he was truly a man deserving of his previous Captain title. But his attire was no longer as pristine as it had once been. Dirtied and even bloodied from the mouth, he caught Jo's emerald eyes with his deep violets.
His beret had fallen off, his clothing tattered, and his blond hair that was once slicked underneath had fallen to the side, unlike Jo, who had hardly a scratch on her. She stood leaned forward with legs apart, a hand to her thigh, propping herself up, and the other hanging loosely before her.
"This cannot be where it ends… not the first match!" Polaris bellowed. His tone had changed, almost sounding frantic. "I will not lose here!" He clasped his hands in a hand sign, and his aura surged like blazing heat. It was so hot that it melted the ice on the walls and shook the barrier; I could feel it from where we were on the opposite end of the arena.
Jo turned her head to see us from behind—almost asking if she could do it.
I thought for but a second and then said—inaudible to her but clear enough for lips to be read, Just be careful. Not talking about her.
If she could win this without them stopping the match, she would proceed to the next round. If I wanted anyone to advance, it was her and Nash. They deserved it, and they both looked the best in the spotlight on the Black Wolves' behalf.
She smiled pleasantly and, without even turning around to look at Polaris, her aura surged with eyes still fixated on me. A rush of cold air blasted onto us once more, and again, I was unscathed. I couldn't say the same about the barrier and the hallway, though.
When I checked, it had shaken. Just like when Polaris unleashed his aura. It must have been a warning trigger Daz had put in place, telling him the match was getting too dangerous and that he needed to stop it.
I looked back to her and shouted, "Hurry up and win, Jojo!"
Like the words were all she wanted to hear, she closed her eyes like it was bliss to her ears. Facing Polaris now, eyes still closed, she put her hands together softly and formed her first—and last—hand sign of the battle.
When she did this, the immense aura she was already emitting groaned—screamed even, rivaling Polaris'.
The inner barrier shuttered intensely, and Daz became cautious. His other mages stationed atop the pillars all around the colosseum were ready to follow his command.
The two auras clashed, and it was so severe that the atmospheres might as well have been physical entities. Two titans pushing against each other—one becoming infinitely hotter and the other infinitely colder. The Plains were basically disintegrated now as they stood atop a blend of burnt and frozen earth.
Her cold and his heat invaded each other's space around them. A tempest of hot and freezing air shot over to me and Nyx. I covered him, protecting him from the raging winds—he didn't object this time.
Jo, now, was in an orb of her own aura, and Polaris the same within his. One ice blue and the other a blazing red.
And it was that event that caused them both to chant their incantations—simultaneously.
"Pressurewave Magic: Rising Hell!"
"Grand Ice Magic: Arctic Sleep."
Her hair and clothes relentlessly fluttered wildly within her aura. Calm, quiet, and deadly focus shrouded her face as she slowly and elegantly undid her hand sign, facing her palms in front of herself, and opening her eyes at last like a gentle wisp, exposing her radiant—beautiful emeralds shining like beacons now.
And that's when Daz stood up and tossed his hand wide to the side for his stationed mages to see.
The inner barrier shattered, and so did the outer layer barrier almost instantaneously as the entire arena erupted in a hurricane of fire and ice. The sound was so loud it didn't even register—only a loud ringing remained as we watched chaos unfold in silence all around us.
***
Both barriers collapsed in a rain of glass-like mana. Almost immediately, the stationed mages atop the pillars had already formed another barrier on top of the outer one. But to their surprise, that new barrier had also cracked in different sections. Had it not been for Daz's first barrier taking the brunt of the damage, that third barrier they cast would have still been eradicated.
Daz's mages had reinforced the outer barrier, and some of the audience in the front had evacuated just before the blast occurred. There in the first and second rows of the bleachers, only sloshes of snow occupied the seating areas.
Gasps and chatter rang throughout the colosseum. Even the announcer was at a loss for words—but only because Daz had told him not to say anything just yet. His seat was vacant as well.
From where the Black Wolves were, every single one of them had stunned looks at the damage done. Even Code couldn't help the dumbfounded expression on his face. From Brand's side, he even screenshotted his reaction with his mask and printed it out on the spot from his 'mouth', which Havoc instantly grabbed to review.
"Damn resolution sucks."
"T-That's because my seat shook when I took the picture!"
"Useless cyborg," Star commented.
Brand shook his fist and ground his teeth at her—if he had any to grind.
Star then shot to her feet and shouted, "I'm sure it was Jojo who was the winner!" She paused, "… Right?"
Ophelia shrugged, telling her to sit back down for now.
"We can only wait until the smoke clears," Code said.
The smoke around the arena was dense, and aside from it, the only things occupying the arena now were half-frozen and half-melted ice.
Within the smoke, a quick woosh from Daz's hand was all it took to reveal the area where Polaris had once been standing. He lay on the ground face down… knocked out, darkened from what seemed like burns all over his body; he looked unrecognizable as Daz signaled a few mages from the outside to help and take him to the Warrior's Keep.
Then he said to them, "This is quite significant damage… However, this was mostly by his doing. Only mages whose original magic is of the Flame category can withstand heat of that caliber. He's in critical condition. He must be treated immediately. As for Anna…"
He looked back to where he remembered her last standing and headed in that direction.
When he arrived, he whipped his arm once again, and the smoke in front of him dissipated, revealing Greed kneeling, Nyx floating by him, and Jo passed out—asleep—in Greed's arms.
"It's a good thing you were around when you were," Daz said to him.
"Aye."
"Unfortunately, due to not just one, but two barriers shattering…"
Greed's eyes focused. He knew he wasn't going to like what Daz was about to say.
"Originally, I was going to review who had been knocked out first prior to the barrier breaking—determining if it was a valid win… but due to the condition of her opponent and herself…"
He didn't even have to complete his sentence. Greed knew that Jo advancing to the next round at this point would have been a long shot. And even if she had, the way she was now—both arms tucked into her chest and curled into a semi-ball in his arms—she wasn't going to wake up for a while.
"I understand," Greed calmly responded.
"I am sorry it had to turn out this way." A compassionate final say before the smoke was whipped away by a few of Daz's Gale magic mages.
When the smoke had wisped away, the audience observed the arena. They even chatted amongst themselves, forgetting what the environment for this round was to begin with. For all they saw was a charred, frozen field of hardened magma.
When they saw Polaris exit on a stretcher carried by four healer mages, their chatter and gossip sounded. He had an oxygen mask on and the rest of his body was covered by a blanket, last they saw.
Daz didn't waver his eyes from Greed the whole time, and his next words were for the audience as he announced, "The conclusion for the sixth match of the Valley Tournament has ended… in a tie."
The look on Greed's face was that of surprise.
"The aftereffects of their battle had occurred only seconds before the barriers broke. Standard policy per rule 2 of the Tournament states that if magic was used that had to be interfered with any of the two barriers—in this case, the breaking of those barriers… they would be automatically disqualified from the Tournament. Had they both still been standing, that would have been the declared result. Therefore, the match has ended in a tie. Unfortunately…" The crowd murmured as he spoke, "because both contenders are unconscious… no one will be advancing in the next round."
Greed saw Belle from the audience with a concerned look. He simply nodded, signifying everything was all right, and she nodded back with relief.
The announcer took over for Daz, then. "Due to the damage on the field, we will be taking a short ten-minute intermission to get everything fixed up for our next contenders. Thank you for your patience, Valley citizens, as we get this year's Valley Tournament underway!"
As Greed got up, Daz spoke only to him again, "We both know she won that round by the way. She is an excellent mage."
He glanced at him approvingly and replied, "She always gets like this after she uses a lot of energy. I appreciate you calling it a tie, but I would have understood if you chose to disqualify her."
"I didn't want there to be a bad taste in the people's mouths about her. For some reason, ties that aren't able to proceed are easier for people to digest than disqualification. They will be talking about how amazing she was now that they all got to see what an Ace of the Black Wolves is made of. I want all my select mages to look good to the people," he said with a wry smile.
"Ah, so you're not just an Idiot King, you're also a Crooked King as well. Should have known you did it for reputation."
He chuckled. And before Greed could ask about the other guy, Polaris, Daz had disappeared, returning to his seat at the podium, high above the section of the crowd in a blink.
***
Greed:
When Jo, Nyx, and I made it back to the Warriors' Keep, there was commotion going on that I wasn't expecting. I almost half expected people to come up and talk about Jo's match, but something else was amiss…
Nash had been leaning against a wall when I entered with Jo, who was still sleeping in my arms. "That girl is a freakin' beast," he said. "Don't tell her I said that."
"I'll tell her you said you could have done better."
He chuckled approvingly.
"So what's going on over there?" I asked, changing the topic.
When we looked, a handful of the participants were gathered at the center, discussing something other than Jo's match. I placed her on the couch to sleep as Nyx joined back with her, then headed over to see what was going on.
Ryo had been the first shoulder I brushed up against. "You all having a competition on who has the lamest Guild fit? What's going on here?" I joked, though, it might have been bad timing for it…
Ryo gave me a pity laugh, scratching his head as he replied, "I wish it were that light…"
Before I asked him what he meant, I looked around the room, and noticed that there seemed to be fewer people in here…
From the ones I observed here and now, aside from Nash, Jo, and myself, it was: Ryo, Rex, Snow, Zeno, Goro, Zeke (out of commission), Polaris (out of commission), all the Golden Rose Knights—Viper, Love, and Lance, Rok, and Cecillia, and even some of the healer mages. But the rest… were nowhere to be found.
"We're not sure how it happened, but…" he said as I focused back on him and he concluded,
"Some of the other contestants have gone missing."