Exactly 61 heroes entered the Pit in a not so orderly fashion. Some of them are understandably nervous about this tournament. But it was comforting for them to know that none of them will die.
They were all young, with the youngest being 16 years and the oldest being 21. Most wore parts of heavy armor which did not affect their speed in the slightest.
Weapons for this tournament were exempt. Only armor was allowed. Since shields technically count as a type of defensive armor, some of the heroes were smart enough to pick shields and use them for bashing other people.
Only Bruce and Josh didn't wear any type of armor. The reason is because Josh thinks he's the main character, and firmly believes that he'll win the tournament easily with or with no protection.
Bruce however did not like to wear armor or weapons even, because he is used to only using his limbs like a karate fighter.
They were all classmates and were all summoned because they went to the same school. The school they went to was very large, so they had highschoolers and middle schoolers in a single building.
Weirdly enough this would be the first time that the summoning circle would have ever summoned heroes who were close to each other. The rest of the other times the heroes were strangers to each other. No one knows why that is, or why any of the heroes are chosen.
Many believed the summoning circle randomly chose people, but this time it seems like it deliberately chose them, and no one knows why and they think that they'll never know why.
Looking closely at the heroes, Will did not recognize most of them.
Somehow seeing those familiar faces brought back some sad memories.
He remembered how he was alone at school, or as people would call him 'the quiet type' Will did not become the quiet kid because he liked it or wanted to be, but rather it's just that every one of his classmates decided that for him.
Will would sometimes get the courage to talk to them even before he met Alex, and in turn sometimes his classmates would invite him to be their group during lunch time to eat with them.
That alone made Will extremely happy, to be a part of a group of people his age.
This might seem like a good thing for most people, but for Will he soon learned that it was anything but good.
In all the times he's with a group they usually ignore him, even when he tries his best to talk to them, as if he didn't even exist, it didn't matter which group he was in, it was all the same.
He tried talking to them about games they might be interested in, like various topics that were at the time, but they always ignored him, or sometimes answered with "eh." or "sure." or "whatever." and then they would continue to ignore him.
He put up with those groups throughout his elementary and most of his middle school years. Will believed that he could make a friend if he just continued to hang out with him.
The last time he was with a group of his classmates, he heard one of them mentioned playing 'clash of clans' and it turns out everyone in that group liked the game, including Will.
He saw this as his chance to play with them so he said, "I play clash of clans, too! Maybe we could play together after school? Or I could join your guild?" Will just wanted to have people play with him.
This is not the first time he's said something like this. But it was the last time.
All they said to him was, "Nah. It's okay. We're good." And they resumed talking to their own group even when they invited Will with them.
Hearing those words Will realized something, no matter how hard he tried he'll never find a friend in this dumb.
Instead of changing himself for the 100th time, he started eating by himself in the desolate parts of his school, playing and listening to music at school using his phone and earphones. Only during school was he quiet. At home he was a lively child.
Will began thinking that being alone wasn't all that bad.
Will, for the longest time, always wanted a friend or friends to play games with, or someone to hang out with, to be them. It has been like this ever since he started elementary.
He even had to beg his parents to play with him, but they were too busy with "more important stuff" and usually only his dad rarely played with him for 10 minutes at most. They were loving parents, but they just could not love video games like Will did.
Will sadly learned that he was alone at school, and that he will never find a friend there.
Thankfully he met Alex. Alex was a true friend to Will. He realized then and there that you didn't need a group of fake friends to have fun, all it really takes is a single true friend.
It's the reason why his death hits him harder than it should be. He had lost his one and only friend in the world.
"Will? Are you alright?" Sandra asked.
Will's train of thought was interrupted by Sandra.
"I'm good." Will said.
Both Will and Sandra were sitting very closely together, not because they wanted to but because they were being squished by the people sitting next to them. As for why don't they just move to a different spot? It's because there was no space left anywhere.
Sandra wore Will's helmet in order to avoid any attention to herself, her red hair basically gave her identity away. But her face was still exposed. As long as nobody paid close attention to her, nobody would recognize her.
And nobody would think that a hero would be sitting in with the common people when they all sat in such comfortable seats next to their hero friends and the king.
'Remember, I'm only here to see Victoria get what she deserves! I am not here to relive the memories of my sad, pathetic past.' Will thought.
"And those are all the rules of the tournament. Do you heroes understand?" The king said while seated.
Many heroes nodded, but many of them clearly didn't understand because they were too stupid to understand simple rules. If they weren't so nervous and in front of thousands of people, they'd ask the king to repeat it, or to simplify it, or both.
"Eh?" Will didn't hear the rules. He was deep in his thoughts that he missed it.
"Basically what he said is 'free for all, no killing, if you fall off the ring you lose, and the last remaining hero gets the prize.' pretty simple standard rules." Sandra knew Will wasn't listening, so she explained it.
"Good. Now heroes spread across the arena, My lovely daughter, the princess, will start the tournament!"
The heroes spread themselves. Some of them were in groups, others were going solo.
The Great Sage was floating by the side, like a Fairy GodParent, keeping a close eye on the heroes with eyes that were devoid of life.
'I'm gonna win! In these tournaments the main character always wins!' Josh thought happily. He wished that his loyal harem would be here with him, but this was a tournament for heroes only, so they're cheering for him on the side.
Felicia and Naveah, who were basically Josh's harem at this point, found Josh, explained what had happened, and they got back together and acted like nothing had happened.
Josh had completely forgotten about those two. Nonetheless he was happy that he was still loved.
Peter, Britney, and Henry were obviously in a group together, there are no rules against teaming. Honestly the group thought that they didn't have a chance of winning at all. All they really wanted was to hurt Victoria or see her get hurt.
Victoria was all by herself. She had a face like she was pissed and didn't want to be here at all, but that was her normal face.
Her right arm was slightly shaking, not due to her nervousness, but because of the pain she felt on her right side of her body.
Harmony stood up graciously, exuding the aura of someone who was calm and mature. She looked very pretty with her elegant dress and expensive accessories. There were no signs of her thirsty version when she was with Shaun. No one would have thought that she would ever fall in love with her captor.
"Begin!" The princess shouted.
Then the crowd began cheering loudly for the heroes, screaming at the top of their lungs.
None of the heroes made a single move. They all stood still like statues.
Minutes passed. And the cheering and screaming was getting softer by the minute.
"Ahem." The king coughed to signal his daughter.
"Oh, um, begin!" Harmony said, louder.
But once again, no one moved.
'Well… that's anticlimactic.' Will and thousands of people thought. They all thought that they'd be witnessing an epic battle, a clash of the world's strongest heroes fighting with all they've got. This is an event that had happened only once before.
The reason that the heroes didn't take a single step is not because they couldn't hear Harmony, but because they were all so nervous. Most of them were even shaking uncontrollably, some even started sweating and getting colder. They were all cold, and sweating buckets. Even Josh, the one who thinks he's the main character, was also slightly nervous.
This was to be expected. These heroes are basically still kids who have never even killed a monster before. If they were fighting monsters it would be easier, but they were fighting people that they know.
What they were afraid of is that if someone made the first move, then they would be hated by the others. No one was willing to make the first move.
'Even after all that… so much time and effort poured into these losers… wasted!' Shaun thought as he covered his face in shame. If this happened to him 100 years ago, many of them would have begun fighting the second it started.
There's a reason why this new generation of heroes is also referred to as 'the worst generation' which is ironic because that's what they are also called back in their world. And many of the heroes would agree but find it offensive.
Josh looked at everyone around him. He began thinking to himself, 'No, this is good. As long as they're scared of me like that, then I have no problem winning this tournament! That magical item is as good as mine!"
"JUMP!"
"GAH!" Josh screamed suddenly in pain.
As he was deep in his thoughts, a giant fish tail, yes a fishtail, more like a whale's tail, appeared out of nowhere and punched him and sent him flying out of the arena and crashed into a wall.
The other heroes were obviously paying attention, which is why they managed to dodge the attack.
The Great Sage could have saved Josh some pain and stopped him from crashing into the wall, but he just didn't feel like doing anything.
'Oh?' Thousands of people thought the same. Finally! Something interesting had happened.
Some heroes thought that he had it coming.
Only two people were very saddened when they saw Bruce knocked out like that.
Will, and every other hero weren't surprised in the slightest when they saw that person make the first move.
"If none of you losers want the magical item, guess I'll just take it for myself, not like I would have let any of you have it from the beginning."
The one who said that, and the one who punched Josh out of the arena was none other than Victoria. She made her arm into that of a giant animal and took out the hero she believed was the most problematic.
Victoria's ability lets her transform into animals, and can even transform parts of her body as she wills it.
'Weird.' Sandra thought. Victoria had used her left arm, when she was clearly a right-y.
Had she used her right arm Josh would have been even more injured, many other heroes would have been taken out, and the Great Sage would have done something instead of nothing.
The biggest animal Victoria knows is without a doubt the blue whale. Dragons are much bigger than whales without a doubt, but for some reason she just cannot seem to transform into a dragon, or even other types of animals really. She cannot think of a reason why that is.
Victoria turned to face a group of her classmates, who were scared shitless. As she ran up to them, someone kicked her on her face.
Using her superior hero reflexes she transformed her arm into a giant grab arm, and stopped herself from falling off the arena by plunging her entire crab arm into the floor of the arena. There was a large large where she planted her crab arm.
She looked at Bruce with an ugly expression on her face. She spat out two teeth that broke when Bruce kicked her. It didn't matter, as her teeth had already regrown.
"That… hurt." Victoria said very angrily, almost like growling.
Bruce was so focused that he didn't say anything.
Her ability did make Bruce nervous. But remembering his teacher's words when she taught him how to deal with someone who uses a melee weapon, he calmed down,
'Remember, do not let the appearance of a threat threaten you. Move only when you think you should move, and not before.'
Bruce held his teacher's words with high regards. Always following her advice even till now.
This time, Victoria transformed her arm into a giant tentacle and attempted to whip Bruce off stage with it.
But Bruce grabbed it tightly, then he pulled the tentacle as hard as he could so that he flung Victoria up high, and he used all his strength to make her crash on the pedestal, leaving a giant hole in the middle.
Victoria might have the advantage with her ability, but Bruce has years of experience fighting. And thanks to Shaun sparring with him on a regular basi, Bruce was better than ever.
Shaun nodded in satisfaction. Bruce is without his favorite of the entire useless pack of rodents.
"The hell, Bruce! Be careful!" Several heroes were almost crushed when Bruce brought her down like that.
Shaun felt ashamed when they complained like that. All they ever did was complain.
'Man, I wish I had brought popcorn.' Will, and several other heroes thought. They've been waiting years for this. Most of them didn't think that Victoria would finally get what she deserves. It was like watching the best movie that they had ever seen.
Many of them held a tight grudge against Victoria. But none of them had the actual courage to face her much less hurt her.
No one would have thought that it would be Bruce who would finally make their dreams come true.
Some heroes, who were still complaining to Bruce, which is all they know what to do back in their world, found themselves being strangled by smaller tentacles that were coiling around their necks.
Victoria came out of the ground unscathed, but her face told everyone that she was hurt. On her left hand, her fingers were replaced by long, small tentacles.
She tried applying more strength on their necks, to maybe perhaps break their necks in order to vent her anger, but no matter how much strength she applied, she couldn't hear a 'snap' on their necks.
When she turned, she noticed the Great Sage waggled his finger slowly, as if telling her 'I know what you're thinking, and I won't allow it.'
Victoria has heard of his power but never witnessed it. She didn't even know what he did that didn't even let her use more of her strength.
As she was distracted, she found Bruce already centimeters away from her.
Bruce noticed how she was distracted. He used this moment to run towards her and deliver a volley of attacks.
First, Bruce stepped on Victoria's foot firmly, making her unable to use her foot.
Next, he successfully delivered a volley of elbows, wrist punches, palms, punches, all in her unprotected areas which was her face, stomach, side torso, or so on. He used enough strength to keep her in one spot as he continued his attack, it was basically like fighting a sandbag.
Many of these attacks would be considered 'illegal' in tournaments back in their world. But Bruce knew that even though this was a tournament, it wasn't like back in his world. He treated it as if this was the real deal.
He was glad that his teacher had taught him these illegal moves, should he ever need it to defend himself in a real fight.
Victoria couldn't protect herself from Bruce at all. Her right arm was injured one day before the tournament, and only she knows how she injured it. Even with her regeneration ability, she could still feel the pain.
She tried to scream, but every single one of Bruce's punches were very heavy, and every time he punched in her stomach she could feel the air being expelled from her lungs.
Much like how if someone kicked a soccer ball right in your stomach, you'd have a difficult time breathing.
Her left arm was being used to choke out other heroes, which means that she had basically given up any way to defend herself, and one of her feet was planted on the ground by Bruce, keeping her in that spot.
And she is not used to fighting with her feet anyways, at this moment she couldn't think properly if she wanted to.
Some fighters have a bit of a hard time using their legs during a fight, it was like when learning to first shoot a rifle, most people tend to open only one eye instead of two, even though using two eyes is much more effective. Some people just have a hard time getting used to it.
Like Deku, it took him several seasons to figure out that he could also use his legs to fight.
But Victoria is not a fighter. All the times that she killed those monsters she only used sneak attacks, brute strength, and her hero ability to deal with them. Never has she been in a real fight before with someone of greater power than her.
And why did Shaun not teach her anything? Simple, because like many heroes like her, she didn't feel like learning anything from him.
"HIYA!" With a final kick to the face, he yelled just like Bruce Lee would, and launched Victoria out of the stadium flying.
Shaun tried to fix Bruce's habit. For some reason he just liked to say "HIYA!" every time he finishes destroying his opponent.
"Ow! What happened?" Josh woke up.
*Bang*
Then his entire vision turned black, when he felt something big, heavy, and round crash down on his entire body. Victoria had landed on Josh by mistake.
"Oof! Sorry, Josh!" Bruce said apologetically. It wasn't his intention to do that.
The Great Sage thought that maybe Bruce went over the line with Victoria. However he thought that this might be good for her, and she might become a better person if Bruce injures her like that.
Or… she could become a worse person than she already knows. In truth he didn't know the answer, but he just didn't care. It was all bullshit thinking.
"Bruce, thanks man. But couldn't you have done that faster? Are you that slow and stupid?" One of the heroes said, gasping for air, he was one of the heroes that was being choked by Victoria.
Bruce extended his hand to Jerry, as if to offer a truce between them.
Jerry grabbed his arm, thinking that Bruce was helping him. But, he found that his feet had left the ground.
"YEET!"
Bruce launched Jerry so far that it almost reached the people watching on the seats.
Jerry had no way to recover from this. He crashed on the floor, leaving only 58 heroes remaining.
"Bruce, what the heck?! How can you do that to innocent Jerry?" Other heroes felt like Bruce was out of line when he launched Jerry like a weighted ball.
"It's a battle royale. Have you all forgotten?" Bruce got into a defensive stance, ready to face everyone if he had to.