"Good spar, Se-Ah"
I smile and help the young woman on the ground to get up. The woman grumbles but takes my hand. I grin at her and see her.
"Take that smirk off your face, Ryan."
I continue to smirk and see her keep grumbling. This young woman is Dokkaebi, my teammate in the incoming tournament.
"How can you ignore all of my attacks like that?! Also! How can you cut my spell?!"
"Each elemental has a weakness, Se-Ah. I only need to change my element to fight against yours."
Se-Ah is a master of Fire Magic, and because of this, I need to use my Water Breathing to count her magic.
"Tch. That fighting style of yours is a cheat. An elemental sword technique is not fair."
I pat her head while laughing.
"Oi! Cut it out."
I continue to laugh but pull my hand off her head. I can see today's sparring instructor walking toward us.
"Good work, you two. With this, we are ready for tomorrow. Let's stop it here. We did not want you two to get too tired for tomorrow."
"Yes, Instructor Yuuji"
"Understood, Instructor Yuuji."
After saying that, Se-Ah and I left the sparring arena to go to the locker room. When I'm in the locker room, I clean my body and change my training clothes with my casual clothes. I see Se-Ah waiting outside the locker room as I leave the room.
"Se-Ah? What can I do for you? You are usually the first one to leave the building."
She looks at me for a few seconds before bowing at me.
"I-I am sorry."
I look at her in surprise and say.
"Why are you apologizing? I don't think you do anything wrong."
"I am sorry for being an asshole to you when we first met. You did nothing wrong, and I treat you as if you are garbage."
"Huh? Oh, that. You did not need to worry, Se-Ah. I know just how important this tournament is for you, and I understand your point of view. You did not want a weakling to drag you down. I understand that."
"However, I should not be a jerk to you. That is unbecoming of me."
I look at her and say.
"Then I accept your apology. Let's forget our differences and hold a grudge to win this tournament."
I raise my hand and grin at her. She smiles and raises her hand as well. Our hands meet, and we seal our promise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|3rd POV|
Serafall looks at the many people gathering in the arena. After agreeing with Yasaka and the Youkai faction's demands, she gets invited to attend the annual College Tournament of Japan. It is a tournament between all colleges in Japan to show the prowess of the next generation.
She knows about this tournament and has been attending for the past three years. It is truly a fascinating tournament. Last year was all about survival, where the contestants needed to fight their way through a lot of monsters that the God of Archery, Hachiman, created for them to fight. The tournament ends with a fight with each other.
She wonders what kind of challenge this year's tournament will be.
"Welcome! Welcome!"
She snaps from her thoughts when she sees a Rabbit Youkai appear in the middle of the arena.
The people watching scream because the Rabbit Youkai in the middle of the room is an idol in the mundane world and in the Youkai world.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Annual College Tournament! Today's tournament is rather special! Why? Because we have an important guest with us! Let's give a warm welcome to Lord Susanoo!"
A flash of lightning hits the VIP chair, and suddenly, a giant of a man appears after the lightning disappears. This is Susanoo, who grinned while looking at the people cheering his name. Susanoo sits down, and the people start to quiet down for the host to continue.
"At Lord Susanoo's suggestion, we will change the tournament format! We will use an All Out fight instead! The first stage is three-on-three! Each team needs to work together to fight against the other team! There will be two fights for this three-on-three match. Following that, there will be a two-on-two match. The team needs to choose which one will be the one fighting in this match. After that, it will be the final, and it will be one-on-one fighting."
Serafall nods in understanding.
"This will be a long day, but at the same time, it will not take multiple days, huh?"
Serafall says while looking at the massive screen that appears above the arena.
"These are the contestants for today's tournament!"
A list of people appear on the screen, and Serafall looks at the name on the screen. She widens her eyes when she sees the name she knows.
"Ryan Hernandes. He is joining this tournament, huh?"
Ryan's name is already spread across Japan, and a lot of people already know about him. Among them is Serafall, who likes to lurk around the internet, already knowing about Ryan and how he beat Orochi. She also knows that he got the title of Dragon Slayer from the Venom Blood Dragon.
"Now! Let's see who will fight who, shall we?!"
The people look at the screen and see the name start to roll. After a few seconds, a list of teams appears among them. Serafall smiles a little when she sees the name she wants to watch appear.
"The first one to fight is Kyoto University against Shiga University! A neighbor will test their might!"