For the tournament featuring the one hundred and sixty students, sixteen groups were formed using the first sixteen letters of the Briton alphabet, the most common language in the continent. As such, all sixteen groups were A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, and finally P.
Asher's group was group D and compared to some of the members of the Seven Pillars, the descendants of the six great families, he had things the easiest.
While Aurora and Lyn didn't end up in the same group, they had some notable talents in their group. For example, in Aurora's group, Koln was also present as well as a direct descendant of a duke family. In the case of Lyn's group, Ethan Croft was a part of the group as well as two other students who were direct descendants of either a Marquis or a top-ranking official.
The situation was quite the same with the other members of the Seven Pillars who had to face off against elites. However, they weren't all equal.
Alexander Sutton had things worse off than the other members of the Seven Pillars. Not only was he placed in a group that had Emma Saunters, but there was also a branch member of the Wesley family present. If that wasn't bad enough, there were two direct descendants of dukes present too. It was a given that Emma would take first place so the battle would before second place. Even then, it would be a very difficult one for Alexander to win.
On a side note, apart from the five great families who seized five Duke spots thanks to their contribution over the years, there were seven other dukes in the Great Dawn kingdom albeit not all of them had hereditary titles. All seven of them had direct descendants in the First Dawn Academy, although the descendant of one of them was a year ahead, another had twins. Another was polygamous and had three children in the academy, although one of them was a year below while the other two were part of the third-year division.
This meant that there were eight direct descendants of the other dukes present in this tournament. Added to the Seven Pillars and one could that the peak of power in the kingdom had fifteen outstanding descendants. This was one of the reasons why this generation was being called the golden generation, and the existence of immense talents such as the twin godsouls and Emma Saunters seemed to add more substance to this claim.
. . .
Ten students in each group meant that there would be a total of at least forty-five matches in a group before the winners can be concluded. However, considering there were sixteen groups, it seemed as if things would take far too long before the tournament would be over.
Just when the spectators were thinking such, One, the second-in-command of the Grading panel, made an appearance. He then formed some hand seals which he pointed at the direction of the stage.
Boom.
The earth shook greatly as nine other stages took shape at the centre of the arena. Although they were smaller than the main one, they were large enough to host a battle between mages. In total, there were now ten stages.
Following One's performance, Fogre explained.
"Each match is expected to last ten minutes or thereabout. However, rather than a match, this is more like a round where every member of a group participates based on the schedule arranged. After a round is concluded, another begins in two minutes. Considering that this event would take eight hours today, but one hour would be counted as 'respite time' for the audience and all, then there would be thirty-five rounds or three hundred and fifty battles within the seven hours of time we have per day. Also, the next round would not comment until all participants in the previous round and off the battle stage.
"With that well said, those of the first round; groups A and B, please come forward. Once they're done, the next two groups should get ready."
There were sixteen groups and each group had ten students. In a group, all ten students are expected to face each other. This meant that there would be a total of forty-five (45) matches per group. When multiplied by sixteen, it meant that just this first stage of the tournament would have seven hundred and twenty (720) battles! However, since each individual would have a match and their next an hour later or so, they won't be a victim of consistent battles.
After Fogre gave the general details and the students of groups A and B walked up to the arena's centre just below the stages, a member of the grading panel stated the various rules of the tournament before they began.
Apart from the rough details of the tournament which included the duration of each battle, the other rules mentioned by the protector mage focused on battles. For example, this was not a battle to the death and while grievously injuring your opponent was allowed, a murder would be counted as disqualification and depending on how it came to be, might be pursued in the kingdom's court. This was more or less the outcome if such were to happen, after all, everyone here was a descendant of a noble family or high official, except for the students of the Second Dawn Academy.
However, to ensure that the young mages don't utilize this rule to their advantage, if one's opponent let their guard down and was killed in the process, this wouldn't be counted as an offence and would be left to be, except that the match would be counted as a loss.
There were also a couple of other rules like the type of weapons that could be used, a ban on talismans, health potions, mana potions, and so on. There were also rules regarding surrendering. As long as one called out 'I surrender', the match would be over and the opponent has to cancel their attack. In summary, they were all rules that helped ensure that the battles were fair, at least to some extent.
"Now, let's begin. Group A, first stage, numbers 1 and 2. The second stage, numbers 3 and 4. Third stage..."
The protector mage who acted as the head referee called out the participants for each stage until the tenth. There were five matches for Group A with another five for Group B.
For group A, the main star was Wendel Castellan while the second was a direct descendant of a Marquis. For group B, another member of the Seven Pillars made his appearance, Ashton Graham. He was the undeniable favourite to top the group, just like Wendel. But close behind him was the direct descendant of a duke who was not to be underestimated.
In this tournament, excluding the five top dukes and another duke who has no direct successor within this age grade, there were eight children who were a part of this generation from the six dukes who remained.
Once he saw that all parties had arrived at the stage and taken their formal bow, the protector mage called for the start of the first round.
"Begin."