With Zack's fast movements on the rooftops, he leaps down to the wide road below, and before he even notices; his velocity pushed him towards an unwanted spot.
A young woman wearing a red short dress along with red boots that matches her neck-length salmon-pink hair and scarlet eyes is standing on the point he was trajected to. His daze of urgency fades away after realizing the fact that he is about to crash-land over that girl.
"Ge..Ge...Get away from there!!" shouting and stuttering in mid-air, he is going bananas while falling down.
The young lady who's unaware of the situation turns back, trying to find the source of this weird noise.
"BAM!!"
He crashes onto her. She still couldn't figure out what just happened.
This is Unagi Shiritsu, the young mistress of the Shiritsu family which is currently one of the most influential families in Kaizen city. Because of a certain tradition she and her brother, Usagi Shiritsu were sent out to gain experience without the family's help. The tournament happened to be held just around the time they were leaving. So they decided to participate in it. According to their tradition, everyone has to treat them like regular people. But most of them in the city still either respected or feared them.
"Ahh, my head hurts... What just happened?" she asks herself while her blurry vision is clearing out. "Why does my body feel so heavy?"
"Aaaaa!" she screams finding out the unknown man lying over her body and pushes him away.
"CLUNK!"
Zack's head hits the nearby iron pole because of being pushed back so hard that it grew a potato on his head.
"What was that for?" asks he while rubbing his head and keeping his left eye closed because of the pain.
"Huh?! What that was for??!!! I m gonna kill you, you dumbass pervert!!"
The veins in her forehead are stating that she is enraged to the peak.
Her overflowing anger can be easily sensed from a good distance just by taking a look at her. Zack sensed it too.
"Listen, don't get the wrong idea. It's just a misunderstanding," he tries to explain the situation but nothing is going through her.
"I'm going to kill you!" she says in a calm but malicious tone and starts walking towards Zack.
"Don't come near me... Sta...Stay away, u scary woman!!" says Zack in a trembling freaked-out voice. Well, can't blame him for being scared. Angry women are no less than any natural calamity after all.
As Unagi was going ahead with the beating process in her anger mode, someone calls her from behind, causing her to stop.
"The registration began. It's time to go, Unagi," says he in a voice full of boldness. It's Usagi Shiritsu ꟷwearing an ash grey t-shirt and a muffler of the same colorꟷ who is standing a bit away with two katana swords in their scabbards attached to the left side of his waist.
"Coming brother," she replies.
"You're lucky this time, pervert. I'll crush your bones next time I see you," she says to Zack before leaving.
He lets out a sigh of relief.
"Sigh! Good thing she left. What a scary girl! But…. She looked good though. He-he-hehehe!" he gets lost in thoughts visualizing Unagi's body figure, forgetting about the surroundings and his perched down position.
"Are you alright, brother?" a young man of about the same age as Zack stretches his hand towards him at that moment, interrupting his daydreaming; to help him stand up. The gentle smile seems to be constant on his face lit up by two black pupils and overlaid by layers of black hair.
Zack takes the hand and pushes himself upwards.
"Yeah, thanks."
"Why is this guy calling me brother? He seems a bit weird but a good guy," he thinks, "Then again, I forgot the way to the arena,"
"So, hey! Bro..ther, I was heading for the arena. Could you show me the way, please?" Zack asks. "I m kind of lost in here."
"What a coincidence, I'm going there as well. Let us head there together." He replies.
"Ahahaha, Sure. So what's your name?" Zack casually asks as they are walking toward their destination.
"I am Akimitsu Fujin. How may I address this brother?"
"I'm Zack. Zack Roshida. You can just call me Zack."
"Okay, brother Zack," Akimitsu replies with a smile.
"This guy is definitely weird," Zack confirms his doubt in his mind.
"Just Zack will do," he says again.
"Alright brother."
But, it was of no use at all.
Both of them reached the entrance of the arena.
The large number of contestants who wanted to participate in the outer phase of the tournament formed up a big line in front of the register.
Zack is really excited about the tournament since the beginning. With all of this excitement, he steps forward in the direction of the contestant line along with Akimitsu but suddenly bumps into a fancy-looking guy. Judging from his looks, he is most likely to belong to a considerably well-established family. His background made him act arrogant whereas his aptitude isn't even half past the average.
"Hey! You lowly bastard!! How dare you make my dress dirty!? Are you blind or something?" asks that guy in an ill-mannered and disrespectful way that made Zack angry. But Akimitsu stops him from taking any actions out of anger and calmly handles the situation.
"We apologize for our carelessness. He didn't mean to do it at all. It was all in a hurry," he replies.
"Who the hell are you? And who gave you permission to speak in front of me? Do you know who I m?! I can even kill you with just a flick of the finger right here, right now!"
In the middle of that one-sided threatening conversation, one of the servants of that arrogant man notices something surprising enough to get terribly shocked and whispers it to him. After hearing out his servant, he froze for a split sec and starts sweating.
"We apologize again. I'll ask this humble young master to please reconsider his decisions one more time," Akimitsu replies with a smile.
Getting shaken up by his servants provided information, that person couldn't think of anything to say and stutters upon his own words.
"If you… if you say so."
"Kakuro, Shuhaku (his servants), let's go."
Akimitsu who is familiar with urban life suggests Zack control his actions depending on the situation, not letting his emotions take the lead.
"It's not a good idea to provoke any of the factions in the city, brother. Most of them are blinded by their wealth and power and forgot what morality is. Be careful."
"Okay, bro. But that guy seriously has some anger issues!"
"Hahaha, that's how most of the rich people are, brother."
"Yea, I guess. By the way, hey, you won't mind if I call you Aki, right?"
"Of course not, feel free to do so, brother"
"Just call me Zack," he adds with a bit of grumpiness.
"Alright, brother," Aki replies with a smile as usual.
"You're weird!" he imaginary says to Aki.
They are finally at the end of the line.
"What's happening at the entrance? Why is everyone returning?" Zack mutters himself.
"To enter the tournament, everyone has to pass the test at the entrance. As you can see brother, most of them are returning, because they couldn't pass the entrance test," replies Akimitsu upon hearing Zack muttering.
"A test? What kind of test?" he again asks with curiosity.
"There is a large bell plate in there which is made of a kind of special metal. Below a specified level of concentrated attack will not be able to even move it, not to mention, ring it. Thus, one would need to have a certain level of skill and control over his power in order to ring the bell. Everyone gets two chances; you will pass the test if u can ring the bell in either one."
"That's it? Well, then that won't be a problem. The real problem now is that we have to wait till this long line ends."
"Ahahaha, that's definitely true, brother."
They are standing in the line. The test keeps going on and on, the line gradually gets shorter. About 10 people are left in front of Zack.
At that time, someone's yelling attracts everyone's attention. It's Unagi from before. She's shouting at the registrant.
"I can't wait any longer!! Do you even know who I am?!"
"Young mistress, please calm down. We have to follow the rules."
"Rules?! I don't care about your freaking rules!! Let me pass right now or you will regret it!!"
The registrant panics.
"Young lady, please try to understand. You have to take the test first."
"Why do I have to take this stupid test? Let me pass I say!"
"But….."
"Unagi, that's enough," Usagi stops his sister before things went too far.
"Brother?! Fine, I'll take your stupid test."
"What a nuisance!" Zack exclaims with a bothered expression. "Looks like Aki was right. They've indeed lost their morality."
Unagi passes the test and enters the arena followed by her brother.
After a few turns, a show-off guy comes in front of the bell. His attitude gives off a feeling as if he is the strongest. His outfit is pretty noticeable as well along with his sparkling red hair. The other contestants actually took his act for granted.
He stretches his palm straight targeting the bell, condenses wind-type Nairuji in his palm, and shoots a concentrated form of air that rings the bell pretty loud. Some of the contestants already started admiring his talent.
Running his hand on his hair, he announces in an affectionate way, "I m Fumihiro Kudou. Remember my name."
Some of the girls collapsed not being able to endure their fast heart rates.
"What a showoff!" Zack thinks.
Fumihiro heads towards the arena. The test continues.
It's finally Zack's turn now.
He gets in front of the bell plate and smiles confidently. His appearance might be less flashy than Fumihiro, but it wasn't half bad.
He is about to deliver the blow but suddenly after noticing all the eyes that are observing him, he gets nervous. He is getting sweaty because of all the tension and the force behind his punch disappears because of his shaky state. His fist hits(barely) the bell. But, there is no movement of the bell plate, nor is there any sound.
What happened was not out of everyone's expectations. They'd never seen such a weak punch. Thus everyone went silent for a moment. Then, most of them burst into laughter and starts criticizing him.
"Hahahaha, I really thought he could pull it off!"
"He turned out to be a joker! Hahahaha."
"Even a kid could punch better!"
"What a loser!"
Zack is getting angry as he is hearing those. He is also feeling a bit embarrassed because of his performance. But, he calms down.
Zack closes his eyes and concentrates.
"Look, he is gonna try again."
"Looks like he hasn't embarrassed himself enough yet."
"C'mon, don't waste our time. Get off the stage already."
Zack opens his eyes; his pupils are concentrated on the center of the bell plate. He stretches his hands backward, tightens his muscles, clenches his fist, and punches in his targeted spot. The bell rang and it was the loudest this time.
Akimitsu smiles.
The ones that were laughing and criticizing back then are shocked... Their world cracked behind their pale face. Others are also surprised.
Zack smiles confidently again. He passed the test. He's entering the arena.
"See you inside, Aki"
"See you soon, brother."
The gate he entered through leads to a big room. All the contestants who passed the test are here. Unagi and her brother are standing separately; so are some other contestants. Two knight guards are guarding the entrance. A few moments later Akimitsu also joins.
"Hey Aki, how was the test?" Zack asks him.
"It was alright for me, brother," he replies.
As they were chatting, another male contestant enters the room. He has a decent face with spiky green hair on the top, but an arrogant expression.
"Well, well. Look what we have here. I got stuck with a bunch of losers," he says in an arrogant tone.
Akimitsu stops Zack from saying anything. They stayed silent.
But the others couldn't tolerate it. They got angry about being treated like that.
"Why, you bastard!"
Usagi speaks up as it hurt his pride.
"Don't get so full of yourself. Only action will prove who is strong and who is not. Empty words don't make you strong," he boldly replies to defend his honor and gives that guy a cold look.
"You, who have no sense of fashion aren't worthy of calling me a loser," Fumihiro replies as well.
That arrogant guy is getting triggered by these replies but he is keeping his calm.
"We'll see or we can even find out right now who is the stronger one. I, Zuko Hasegawa, never lost a battle in my entire life," Zuko AKA the arrogant guy states.
"Fighting is strictly prohibited here. You'll get your chance at the arena! But not here!" An extremely bold voice comes from the entrance.
A man with a big build with a big scar that crosses from the forehead to the end of the left eye enters the room. Along with him comes a man in his 40s. The guards showed their respects to them making everyone curious about their identity.
"Everyone here must be wondering who I am. Well, let's finish the introduction first," says the latter one.
"I am Banzan Nishibaya, one of eight professors of Moonster Academy as well as the one in charge of the entire tournament. I am here to personally explain everything about this phase of the tournament including its rules and regulations. Pleased to meet you all."
As everyone was listening without any hindrance, Banzan Nishibaya gradually explained all the things they needed to know about this phase of the tournament.
It's time for them to enter the arena.
"Aki, let's join forces for this round."
"I was thinking the same, brother."
The arena is crowded with people. Everyone is curious about this outer phase of the tournament.
"Ladies and gentlemen; here comes, our talented participants of the outer phase!" the announcer says loudly with excitement and joy.
As soon as the participants entered, the entire arena gets filled with cheers.
"And now…. Their opponent is a formidable one, one that has been said to be on par with the top adventurers of this city! Let's see…! Who will survive till the end! Ladies and gentlemen! There comes their dreadful oppo~nent!!"
The big gate from another side of the arena opens up. From within the darkness inside the gate, something is coming out, with footsteps as loud as the bass drum beats.
The environment is unpredictably filled with tension.
The large shadow of the creature becomes clearer as it gradually comes out from the shadows. It's A Giant White Ape with four arms.
The Ape enters the Arena with an intimidating presence, beating his chest and letting out a loud roar,
"ROAAAARRRR!!!"