Now that the teams were finalized, Headmaster Abraxas was needed to bless them.
Atop the stage of the outdoor amphitheatron, he declared to the awaiting Artens like a thunderclap, his voice echoing all across the campus grounds, scattering the birds perched atop the summit of the hill more than a mile away. The upperclassmen in their midmorning exercises lifted their heads in reminder of their past – Maximus, Sandora, Leonardo, and Hina among them.
"FRADIHTA! The spokes of time have finally arrived upon us."
"Today, your End-of-Year Tournament shall begin. Here, you may rise, or you may fall. This year hails us with 40 teams, but only one shall emerge victorious."
The smattering of clenching fists could be heard.
"The champions of the victorious team shall have their names forever carved upon the marbled pillars of the Hall of Eternity in honor of their glory, and find their place among the FOUNDERS. You shall also be given the foremost choice to become the consul of your chosen House, and receive a staff worthy of your position. Mark your legacy upon the earth; thus is your chance!"
Memories of Maximus receiving his staff floated to Elwin's head. Yes, I shall be like Maximus; yes, I must win.
"In addition, the champions shall together be rewarded a sum of two-hundred thousand Denaros to support their families, so they shall no longer need to return to labor at their farms during summer. They will remain with Tanaars of their choice and train across the Republics."
A mist of whispers swept the crowd. They hadn't been made aware of such a reward before; it stoked in everyone the thirst to triumph. Of course, fiduciary compensation was a relic of the past when Mythrise was mostly agrarian, but it still provided a measure of hope to the city-boys and girls with destitute backgrounds who attended Aeternitas.
"The Tournament shall consist of three rounds of challenges. The challenges shall confer you all the rights that accompany a duel, and you shall be fully permitted to use your Quan and all four Mahamastra at your disposal for whichever purpose you see fit. Combat shall be expressly allowed, including actions that can hurt, maim, and kill. Expect injury, but know that for each and every round, harming others is not a requirement to prevail."
"Now and hereby, in the witness of the FOUNDERS and of DEIA AETERNITAS:
May the Tournament BEGIN!"
Cheers pierced the sky as Headmaster Abraxas took his exit and Professor William stepped onto the stage. With a single swipe of his Quan he impressed the map of the entire campus grounds onto the tiled sandstone board which everyone could see.
"The first challenge this year shall be called the Battle for Aeternitas, and take place across the entirety of campus grounds," he spoke with calm, as if it was the plainest thing in the world.
Everyone's eyes went wide. Weren't the challenges supposed to be held at an arena?
He continued, amused at their surprise.
"You will be split into two factions: Celendirs and Padishahs, and will be given several flags across the campus grounds to defend. Each faction will receive 3 flags, and 1 grand banner standard."
Three flags, and one grand standard.
"The terms of victory are twofold: you will either win if you capture and bring back all 3 flags in the opposing faction to your own grand banner standard, or destroy their grand banner standard where it resides. Whoever satisfies any one of these two conditions first shall win, and all teams in the winning faction get to move onto the second challenge."
"What happens to the losing faction?"
"They are removed from the tournament."
"Wait, just a few members? Or –"
"All of them."
What?!
A cacophony of shocked complaints arose from the audience.
"You are removing 20 teams at the same time just because they lost?"
"Such is the essence of war," Professor William continued, serious. "This is practice, but in reality, the defeated do not enjoy many privileges."
The gravity of the coming challenge suddenly dawned on all of them. It was no longer just a glorious game in their imaginations. They had to fight for real if they wanted to win, just as Professor Helen had warned.
"For this purpose, the entire campus grounds shall serve as the battlefield."
"By 'entire campus grounds,' do you mean all of it?" A voice squeaked from the crowd.
"All of it except the House of Aeternitas, the Library, and the campus kitchen. Though if you are fighting everywhere, your faction has a terrible judgment of priorities."
Professor William pounded his fist onto the tiles of sandstone, shuffling the diagram atop the board into a new image.
"Before the battle, the flags for each faction will be fixed at specific locations across the campus. You can choose to capture the opposing faction's flags, or defend your own, so these locations shall initially serve as objectives you must defend or assault."
"Starting out, the Celendirs shall have control of the southern half of campus, including the southern quartier, the Circuleum, House TERA, and House SUNNA to the east. Their grand banner shall be situated upon the temple atop the ziggurat," he explained.
"The Padishahs, on the other hand, shall have control of the northern half of campus, including House MANASURA, House ARTAIA, the Oracle of Aeternitas, and the forested hill. Their grand banner will be upon the canopy of the Tree of Naran and Naru."
"The Battle for Aeternitas shall take place 3 days from now on Serayasna 19th, at 7:30 in the evening. It shall only end when one faction wins, and the other loses. The Celendirs shall wear a sky-blue sash on their shoulders from now, and the Padishahs shall don a bright gold sash."
"You are encouraged to utilize every piece of knowledge and skill gained from the past year to achieve victory. Intelligence is as useful as brute force, and we the professors shall leave the interpretation to you."
"Now go forth, prepare your stratagems, muster your defenses!"
Everyone's stomachs churned as they hurriedly stood, save for Elwin and Mirai. Having faced Ursus before, they were less afraid of battle than their peers. But still the grand scope of the challenge daunted them.
***
"Which faction are we in?"
"Celendirs," Isaac huffed, running to meet them with four sashes of sky-blue.
"Thank the FOUNDERS," Katherine sighed, "I know the south side of campus like the back of my hand. I'll be in charge of floor plans and maps for defenses."
"There is just one problem," rasped Isaac, putting up a single finger.
"What is it?"
"Lucian is in our faction."
The kismets all tilted their heads to the sky and made a collective groan.
"Well, there goes hopes of trying to coordinate everyone," sighed Elwin.
"Don't lose hope just yet," poked Mirai. "There are people who witnessed you at the Circuleum. They will trust your word."
The hall for the Celendirs was alight with fiery discussion on how to defend, who should defend, what to defend, where to defend, when to defend, and why they must choose a particular tactic over the other. There were so many opposing perspectives and opinions that even until the evening, no headway was made. What exacerbated the dread was that all across the northern campus, defensive works were already being set up by the Padishahs.
Lucian bellowed at Elwin.
"You are trying to convince us to defend so that you and your friends can use us as sacrifice!"
Elwin shot back.
"That is not it! We need to figure out a solid plan to defend our flags so that we don't get overrun! Our flags must be safe first for us to commit an attack!"
"You don't get to tell us what to do. We don't trust you!"
"We're part of the same faction, Lucian! If we don't win in this challenge, neither of us will get the chance to become the champions!"
"Urgh!"
"ARGH!"
It was a deadlock. The Celendirs were divided into two sub-factions, one for Lucian and one for Elwin. There was no way to make progress.
Isaac put himself in the middle to defuse the situation.
"Everyone, please. Let us make peace. Our opponents are not ourselves. They're out there in the north, already busily chipping away at a strategy. We should try to look at the map first and try to answer how we can win. Feelings won't win us the battle."
His diplomatic demeanor and unassuming expression momentarily disarmed their disdain for each other, and for the first time, quiet came upon that hall. Without a moment to spare, Katherine took the chalk to the board and began to sketch the southern map of the campus from her memory.
"Let me add to that," remarked Robert, emerging from behind Elwin. "I know the northern part fairly well." He hoisted himself up with a ladder and began to contribute his addition. Soon they had a wide purview of where everything was.
"Ah... so that's what all of the campus looks like," commented those in the crowd, having only seen certain parts individually because it was so large.
"Yeah. The campus grounds are roughly in the shape of a slanted rhombus, longer vertically than it is horizontally."
"What's the scale on those?"
"Just over two miles, from the bridge south to the very northern tip."
"And from east to west?"
"A mile, I guess."
"And based on the diagram that Professor William gave all of us," Robert continued, "our flags are near House SUNNA in the east, and in the podia of the Circuleum in the lower west."
"Don't forget, we have one more on the 7th floor of the spiraled rotunda, right next to the Headmaster's Office. Not to mention our grand banner, which is going to be on the top of House TERA's ziggurat."
Mirai shook her head, taking in the scale. "...Our flags are too far apart."