Shiki and I were walking down a street while biting down on a falafel sandwich. At first we were going to eat in a restaurant that was near the stadium only to be shocked by the amount of people waiting their turn…as we realized that this event has brought too many spectators, finding a decent place to eat in is bound to be a challenge.
So we just had to fill our need for food by eating from a nearby stall that we still had to wait for our turn.
For this neutral zone it sure becomes busy when it's this time of year.
"Hot, man these falafels are a damn delicious" said Shiki while ravaging his sandwich
"You should slow down a bit…anyway did you see Osfor sensei today…I taught he was going to be at our booth but he never showed up"
Shiki answered with some food in his mouth
"I don't know man but it doesn't matter Vessma may be young but she can handle the team well. They should be picking the members who will be competing in the group fights by now…both you and I will not be part of it…as she will mostly be picking her old team members. Yet I can't seem to disagree with her."
I said questioningly
"What do you mean? I think that she should keep some of the strongest of us to fight in the 1v1 this way we have broader chances to get more points"
He then answered while wiping his mouth
"Well you see for the group battle it is obviously the best decision to make as she is much more experience in fighting together with the school council members and she knows all of their quirks and habits. Plus the fact that even with our advantage with the 15 points earlier we are probably not going to keep the lead if we don't score enough points in this game."
"…what do you mean? Do you know the pointing system they will take for the group battle then?"
He answered right after he threw the paper that was holding his sandwich into a nearby trash can
"You see, the wyvern taming competition threw off our calculations. Because it had no pointing system they had to modify the way participants will gain points in the other events."
I said while raising my eyebrow.
"Meaning?"
He said
"Well you see… now in the group battle the points earned will be based on how you manage to defeat your enemy. Each team will be designed a leader. If a member's hit points reaches 0 the enemy team gains 2 points. The leader is worth a fixed 5 points."
I said
"So the total points for a team is 13…well that should not affect us even if losing this game we will still have a good lead."
Shiki shook his head saying
"No, you see…there is a catch. The leader's roll is not just being the high priority target. He is also the deciding factor of the game. If the leader loses all his Hp. The ally team will gain double the amount of points for every team member that is left undefeated. Because they failed to protect their leader that is. And one more thing if a team leader was the one that dealt the finishing blow on the other team's enemy leader the bonus will be 3 times the norm so you see where this is going?"
"…ah so this is not a game about pawns but about kings…this might be a bit too complicated. So a basic strategy for a defensive approach will be to lose every member then have the leader be the last man standing this way they will lower the point gain for the enemy team… and as for an offensive view the best option will be to have them defeat the leader first without taking out any of the other members…this game will rely heavily on strategy than brute force."
Shiki then nodded smiling and said
"Yes you are right…therefore it is better to leave this one to Vessma as she is much more experienced with leading and tactician roles"
I answered telling him
"True… well I can't complain I at least got a chance at the 1v1 I should probably try my best and make the best first impression I could."
He said with a curious look on his face
"What do you have in mind?"
I said while shrugging
"Hehe you will have to wait and see."
"Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to have your attention!" said the announcer as he was this time in the middle of the stadium. He was tall and handsome with a sharp looking haircut that had nothing to do with being stylish and was boldly pointing backwards making his entire hair look like a cone with his head as base.
"You all must have enjoyed the unexpected turn of events that we all saw. The young warrior from Alsa that singlehandedly managed to subdue the ash wyvern. However I have one thing to confess. The truth is that that wyvern was drugged and was restrained from the use of some of his deadly attacks. As I have said before it did kill a couple of royal knights before it was captures and to insure the safety of the participants and still make an entertaining show we had to do this. BUT. This does not mean by any chance that the victory the little Alsian had over this beast to be less honorable. As if all of you have witnessed the beast even while restraint it still managed to beat three of the other participants"
The audience started murmuring between themselves agreeing with the statement of the announcer.
"The reward of this victory will be given to the young warrior by the leaders of the four great countries in tonight's dinner party that will be held in honor for the participating schools"
The audience was struck in awe as they could only imagine what would the leaders of each country will gift the young warrior for his efforts.
"And now without further ado we will commence our third and final competition of the day. The group battle competition. The schools that will participate against each other will be as follow. Astora VS. Alikh. And Astarte VS. Alsa. The competition will be held like it was done every year. And the winning teams will challenge each other after the first battle is over for more points. As for the teams that lost they will face each other for half the points this way they might have a chance for a comeback."
The audience was still restless after hearing the explanation of the commentator as he added even more information.
"So this year the leaders will be worth a fixed 5 points and the subordinates will be 2 points if team A took down a member of team b they will gain 2 points and if team b managed to takedown a member of team A they will nullify the team A advantage by making the scores 0-0 again. When the leader of any team is down the fight is over. However if a leader takes down another leader the bonus added will be three time the points of every remaining team member's worth plus the leader's original worth. So protect your leader well everyone."