"The first round's arena shall be the Basenalia's Colossus Combat Arena." Fifteen announced loudly, before a yellow light had suddenly engulfed the entire field and slowly disintegrated the grass into light particles. Those light particles then started flying around the entire area and were slowly creating stone walls, pillars, gates and before long, a huge stone arena that was slightly similar with the Colosseum, had appeared in front of everyone. Hundreds, if not thousands, of stone blocks were neatly put one next to the other in the outer and inner areas, with few openings for people to pass and dozens of small platforms were put closely to the center of the arena. As for the area everyone was standing on, it was a flat ground, devoid of any grass or stones and was mostly dirt, with a few arching gates around them and the flat ground had a radius of around 80 meters.
Soren was completely shocked by the size of the arena and could barely believe his eyes that just area of the flat ground was almost as big as a small school and the amount of seats just kept adding to the shock factor.
"Pretty big, isn't it? That is the Colossus Arena or Basenalia's Colossus Combat Arena or the BCCA for short. It is every warrior's dream to be able to fight in this massive arena and become one of its renowned champions and obtain unlimited wealth and glory." Fifteen explained with an amused expression, as he was looking at Soren's shocked expression, although the others weren't showing that much of a reaction.
"Still as big and grandiose as I remember." The red haired man commented with crossed arms and a solemn expression.
"I guess it lives up to its fame." The cyan haired elf commented as well with a calm expression.
"Alright guys, that's enough staring around now. I'll be quickly explain the rules, so closely. This examination will be three different three versus three battles with various requirements through the different battlegrounds. Because both of you decided to use an huge open area, the first battle with be a good tussle between the two teams to see who has the better combat abilities. There will be no best of three battles though and although winning will increase your chances of joining, don't expect to enter if you haven't pulled your weight. We want to see your skills and potential, not the 101 ways you can save your sorry hides.
Aside from that, certain skills will not be allowed, those being any spell or skill that can physically impair or cause any sort of mental trauma, because we can't exactly have you guys turn into vegetative patients or disabled people, just because we want to see who has the best disabling ability. Without further ado, get your protective bracelets and prepare for the next 15 minutes, because after that, there will be a bloodbath." Fifteen explained with a serious expression, before he took 6 bracelets out of his cloak and gave them to Soren and the others.
Once Soren got his bracelet, he quickly scanned it to see what it did when it protected him.
[Protective Bracelet Mk.IV: A special protective bracelet that has been heavily modified and equipped with the following spells: Detect Life, World Barrier, Regenerating Shower, Mana Shower, Calming Aura, Mana Recollection.]
'Holy crap, what kind of spells are these?' Soren mentally asked with a slightly surprised expression.
[Detect Life: Use Magic to check on your current life force (HP). Can only be applied to tools.]
[World Barrier: A combination spell that engulfs the target and makes use of the six elemental wall spells and the Mana Wall spell to create a special barrier that can withstand any sort of elemental spell or physical attack for a certain amount of time.]
[Regenerating Shower/Mana Shower: A powerful Light spell that heavily increases the innate regeneration power of Health/Mana of the target for a certain amount of time.]
[Calming Aura: A Light spell to soothe and calm the target's mental state. It is more effective, the more agitated the mental state of the target is.]
[Mana Recollection: Can only be applied on items. It allows an item to absorb, store and use mana, through certain commands.]
'Holy crap, that is a lot of enchantments. How expensive is this? The most enchantments I've seen are one or two and that was on elemental weapons. And they can take out 6 of these like they are nothing!? I definitely need to get out of here, before I attract any more attention on me.' Soren thought to himself, as he was putting the bracelet on his hand. He looked around for a few seconds, but there weren't any apparent or obvious ways of escape and the portal that had brought them here, was nowhere to be seen.
"Now, prepare for the first round. You are free to introduce yourselves, say what you can do, spy on the enemy or you are free to say nothing and sleep it off. Either way, in 15 minutes, both teams have to fight it out, either you like, or not." Fifteen announced with a sinister smile on his face, before he suddenly jumped on top of one of the arching gates.
After Fifteen jumped away, Soren saw the red haired man and the purple haired woman on one side of the area and the others were on the complete opposite side of it, so he quickly went to wards his team. As he was walking, he decided to open his bag and change into his armor, but then realized something else. He had no shoes on person and although he didn't mind walking barefoot, he wasn't so keen on the idea of fighting barefoot, since he didn't want to lose one of his feet, to a random stray attack. After he quickly put his armor on, we decided to stop in front of the duo, but instead of hearing any sort of conversation, he saw the two of them with their backs turned to each other and were tending to their weapons.
"Ummm... Aren't we going to discuss strategy or something?" Soren asked slightly nervous, as he looked at the two of them and the red haired man answered stoically, after he put down his two-handed sword on the ground:
"What's there to discuss? Just look out for yourself and don't get knocked out too early."
"As he said." The purple haired woman answered expressionlessly, as she was setting the strings on her bow and checking on her arrow quiver.
The sudden answers left Soren dumbfounded and asked slightly nervously:
"W-What do you mean? Aren't we supposed to work together to beat them? It's a team battle,isn't it?"
"Don't expect to work together, just because we were told to. They will be looking at everything we are able to do and if it's necessary to work together, then so be it, but until then, it's for every man on their own." The red haired man explained coldly, as he was staring down on Soren. This answer had left Soren completely dumbfounded once again, before he decided to sigh in frustration and sit down and check on his sword.
"Can you at least tell me your name?" Soren asked angrily after a full minute.
"Quarry and that's all you will get from me." The red haired man answered with an emotionless voice.
"Hawkeye." The purple haired woman answered after him, in a similar manner.
In the end, Soren could only give up on any notion of teamwork and just answered with a lack of energy: "Sky. Can't wait to fight together with you..."