The streets of Parachenko Village were bustling. There were only a handful of times across the entire year when the entire village would gather together, sometimes in morning, and other times in celebration.
Today, young men and women would be honoured, in a time honoured tradition of beating the shit out of each other.
The goal, was to force the opponent either off the stage, or incapable of continuing combat. It was possible to forfeit if one party believes they can no longer continue, and blows to.... sensitive organs were not illegal but definitely frowned upon.
Fae were allowed to be used, but in moderation, and no fatal attacks were to be used by the participants.
This event, was not only a way of promoting growth to the new generation, but a way of provoking the slightly older Fae Masters to work harder, and not get left behind by their juniors. Not only that, but it was a way of bringing the Village closer together, regardless of whether one was mortal or a Fae Master.
They could all watch, so long as they paid the entry fee of course. And they could all bet, so long as they had the money.
The Leader of Parachenko Village stood before his descendents and subjects, smiling slightly as the sun shone down over the Village. Despite the rain the past few weeks, the sun was shining, and the skies cloudless.
His lungs filled with the clear, mountain air as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Ladies and gentleman! Fae Masters and mortals! Today..... we celebrate a new generation!".
He raised his arms, showing off his massive physique and enormous stature. His arms and legs were covered in faint scars, an indication of his prowess on the battlefield.
Despite being in his early fifties, Niklos still retained some handsomeness from his youth. Many of the young single women, and some older married women, blushed as they saw their Clan Leader on the stage in front of them.
Niklos smiled before moving one arm, gesturing to the people sitting below him.
"Today, the new generation will demonstrate their abilities before us for the first time since their awakening. The only other time they will ever get the chance to do this, is in a years time, when they complete their Fae Master training, and become full fledged members of the Clan!".
The crowd roared, entranced and provoked by their Clan Leaders words.
Niklos took in a deep breath, relaxing his aura a little.
"The fights will be completely random! Drawn out of a box by myself! The final victor will receive a Fae of their choice, and as per usual, 25 origin essence stones for their own, personal use!".
Just hearing the words "25 origin essence stones" caused most of the Rank 1 and Rank 2 Fae Masters in the Clan to gulp, envious about the treatment this new generation was getting.
Some of them had won this tournament when they were younger, but still remained envious of the sudden wealth these new Fae Masters would accumulate.
Arthur smiled for a moment, sitting down peacefully in his seat. Most of the others seemed hopeful, yet others fearful, knowing full well what stood between them and the 25 origin essence stones.
The crowds continued talking amongst themselves, most trying to either find a good seat, or placing their final bets before the start of the first round.
"100 silver taels on Randolf to win all his fights!".
"No way! I'll put 120 on Ratimir to win!".
"I'll put 90 silver taels on Arthur to win!".
"200 taels on Alina as the victor!".
Niklos watched on silently, letting the final batch of mortals get their bets in as one of the servants readied the box of names.
There would be a fifteen minute gap in between rounds, which would allow some people to place bets on individual fights as well as the final rounds.
The moment the betting stalls stopped all bets, the crowd went silent, and looked towards Niklos and the servant beside him.
They all froze for a moment, eager to hear the fighters in the first fight of the tournament.
The Kovacs Clan Leader reached his hand into the box, pulling out two pieces of paper in between his fingers.
"The first fight is between..... Arthur and Zoya!".
The crowd paused for a moment, before roaring to life, obviously pleased with the fighters in the first round.
Arthur was the son of the Clan Leader, and possessed a second-tier talent, while this Zoya was the son of Fae Master who had only reached peak Rank 1. His talent was third-tier, despite being huge and tall, like most Kovacs Clan members.
This Zoya fellow looked slightly downtrodden at being in the first match, but turned towards Arthur, who still had his eyes closed.
'He doesn't even consider me a threat. He won't even look me in the eye....', he thought.
Zoya sighed shaking his head before turning towards his father in the crowd.
He could see his Mother and Father waving towards him shouting at him with smiles on their faces.
Zoya felt somewhat inspired by his parents encouragement and stood up, the butterflies in his stomach dissipating as something else took its place.
'Even if I can't win, I can give it all I've got!', Zoya thought to himself.
The young fifteen year old walked to one of the stage, walking up it as Arthur walked to the other side. Screams and shouts coming from the audience somewhat frightened Zoya, but he ignored these words and focused solely on his opponent.
From what Zoya knew, Arthur had a strange Salamander Fae as well as one unknown one. The Salamander Fae was thought to be the Winter Fae, and was capable of shooting an intensely cold breath of air that could freeze trees whole within a matter of seconds.
'So long as I avoid his attacks, he won't be able to target me with that fae of his. The only problem is the other unknown Fae.....'.
Zoya frowned.
This Fae could literally be anything.
It could be a crimson fae like Randolf's.
Or a bone sword fae like Ratimir's.
Or even something like windblade fae, like his own.
Zoya took a deep breath, trying his best to clear his mind.
'His origin essence sea is bigger than mine, so he can fight for longer. What I need to do, is to get in close and deliver a single punishing attack that will incapacitate Arthur before he has a chance to do anything!'.
Zoya possessed the windblade fae in addition to the wind stalker fae.
The former was the one he choose out from the Clan Reserves, while the latter was his Origin Fae.
The wind stalker fae enhanced the Fae Masters speed by double, meaning that between him and Arthur, he was definitely the faster one.
Unless Arthur picked a speed fae from the Clan Reserves, Zoya believed that he should be able to win the fight.
The tall, muscly young man let out another deep breath.
He glanced at Arthur, who stood silently on the other side of the stage, with his hands by his sides and his expression unfathomably cold.
Despite not appeared aggressive, or overly strong in terms of physical strength, Zoya still felt as though he was staring at a wild mountain lion whenever he gazed at Arthur. Shivers crept up his spine and malicious thoughts started appearing in the back of Zoya's mind.
The moment his gaze moved away from Arthur's, his breathing resumed, and the malicious thoughts vanished.
'Arthur is formidable after all. Just his demeanour alone is frightening'.
Zoya steadied his breathing, waiting for the signal to start.
Niklos, from up above the main stage, looked towards the various Elders beside him, as well as the two referees on either side of the main stage. They nodded towards their Clan Leader who smiled before standing up from his seat.
His gaze focused solely on Arthur, but no-one called him out for it.
"Let the tournament.... commence!".