The colosseum was filled with participants from all over the lands. Although not all of them were knights like in Yves. The two colorful representatives from Shinkoku Aldrich had bumped into just then introduced themselves as a samurai and a ninja.
Aldrich remembered Yasuo had been a samurai, he had never heard of a ninja before though. Suika, the name the ninja had introduced herself with, seemed a bit irked by the fact. And the samurai, Ringo, teased her about it.
He had two red horns on his forehead, and asked Aldrich if he wanted to touch them after he caught him staring.
"O-oh, sorry for staring." Aldrich stuttered, waving his hands. There were many different species of people in Yves, but Aldrich had never seen one like him.
"Oni don't usually leave the Shinkoku kingdom." Ringo explained. He sighed, moving his hand over the sheathed katana at his side. "In fact, I got chewed out by my father for volunteering."
Aldrich grunted in agreement, he knew a thing or two about difficult fathers.
"So, what's your Virtue?" Suika asked, expectantly.
Ringo smacked her on the head lightly. "We could be opponents in the tourney, don't just go asking everyone about their secrets."
Suika lowered her mask and stuck her tongue out at him, rubbing the back of her head he had hit.
"It's fine." Aldrich laughed nervously. "I... don't have one."
Both their eyes widened a bit at the statement.
"You mean, you're just a regular person?" Suika questioned.
Ringo stepped towards him, his eyes locked on Aldrich. "It's a bit more than that though. At first I thought you were masking your energy on purpose, but unlike a regular person you appear to have none at all."
"Did I just hear that right? A nobody with zero power to speak of, on the same stage as me."
The voice came from a large looking man in foreign armor. He had wild grey hair and an even wilder look in his eyes. On further inspection, his green skin belonged to one from the orc race. "What a farce. Is this really what Yves has to offer?"
"Don't be so crass Björk." A small but firm voice came from behind him. There was a smaller person with long dark hair obscuring their face, it was hard to tell if they were a man or woman. They had a harp, or was it a bow, clutched to their chest. "We're guests here, show some respect."
Björk scoffed loudly. "They should show me some respect. I didn't travel all the way from Quelkriste to face cannon fodder."
Suika moved forward as if to intervene, but Ringo held her back with a hand on her shoulder. He didn't want to cause an incident.
Aldrich backed away slowly from the towering figure. Which Björk noticed, which only made him push more.
But just then, a familiar face stepped in between them. "Is there a problem here?" Shans asked, glaring at the half-orc. This was the most serious Aldrich had ever seen the prince.
Björk laughed, bending over so he was face to face with Shans. "And just who are you?"
Shans' expression softened and he gave him a smile. "Shans Dmitri Konstantin VII. And my friend Aldrich here is quite resourceful, underestimating him would be a big mistake. I'm sure a smart person like yourself should be able to see that."
"Oh really." Björk said, his hand reaching for the hilt of a large greatsword strapped to his back.
From the look of things, Shans' involvement was just escalating the confrontation. Aldrich was about to say something for himself when Björk's shorter friend played a string on their harp bow.
Björk opened his mouth as if to say something but no sound came out. He clutched at this throat in surprise.
They sighed, exasperated. "If you have nothing important to say then you have no need of your voice right now. Let's go."
Björk scowled at his companion but gave up in the end and began to follow them away. The harp player stopped and quickly looked back. "Sorry about that. My name is Soren, by the way."
They didn't wait for Shans or Aldrich to reply and just walked away.
"You know, that could have ended very differently." Aldrich said.
"I weighed my odds." Shans shrugged. "Now then, who are your new friends?"
x
A little while later the king stood up from his seat in the colosseum to address everyone. The whole place quieted down as he began to speak. Veliona was with him in the tribunal, looking a bit bored in her seat. Or rather, annoyed she had to be there instead of participating herself.
After a short speech he gestured to the man beside him, Sir Noctisse. Sir Noctisse stepped forward to speak as well, explaining how everything would work.
Aldrich's attention was drawn to the shadows of he and his fellow participants on the ground. They seemed to be acting weirdly, independent from the sun's current position in the sky.
He nudged Shans lightly, nodding towards the ground. Shans gave him a concerned look. He wasn't quite following. Until the shadows' movement became even more erratic. They began to grow and merge with each other, until the whole ground was covered in black.
It happened so fast, by the time the first surprised shout came out the whole arena had been enveloped in shadow. Engulfing all the warriors instantly.
Aldrich felt around in the dark wildly, Shans and everyone else had disappeared. He could barely see, or hear, anything. He recognized this ability, but he couldn't seem to remember who it belonged to.
Whoever it was though, they were not friendly. He gripped his relic, and waited to see what would happen.
Outside the dome of shadow that had just manifested was even more chaotic. The king looked to Sir Noctisse, who raised his arms in defense. "This is not my doing."
Royal Knights who had not been in the arena when the shadows came gathered around the dome, trying to get in and help the others. But the structure was solid, and impervious to attacks.
"Over there!" Veliona yelled, rushing from her seat to the edge of the tribunal. She was pointing at something. "On top of that thing. I think there's someone standing there."
The king and Sir Noctisse followed her hand. There was someone there. From the looks of it, it was a young woman half engulfed in the shadows herself.
Nildi smiled, locking eyes with Sir Noctisse who was glaring at her. "So sorry to drop in unannounced and steal the show! I just couldn't help myself."
"Release the ones trapped at once." The king declared, his voice reverberating through the whole colosseum.
Nildi laughed, she had heard about the famous king of Yves. He was just as intimidating as they said. "I'm afraid you have bigger problems to attend to right now."
She snapped her fingers and suddenly the king and every knight in the colosseum fell , into their own shadows. After a few seconds they were deposited on the ground somewhere outside of the capital. The king coughed up some shadow, clearing his throat. Beside him Sir Noctisse offered a hand up. He took it.
Nildi was here as well. Or at least half here, with only half her body poking out through a shadow. "Sorry but I can't let you interrupt my game. So in the meantime, you can all stay here for a bit."
The knights drew their weapons.
"Woah, I'm not the on you're fighting." She snapped her fingers again and all around the place monsters began to rise from the shadows. " She smirked. "I brought a few friends for you to play with."
"Have fun!" she said as she sunk back into the shadow.
There was no time to dwell on the girl, the king thought to himself. For now they had to handle the monsters. Sir Noctisse struck back any monster that got too close, defending the king.
"You're the only captain-commander here Noctisse." the king observed aloud. That means she had separated the rest by sending them all to different locations.
"Do not worry your majesty." Noctisse said, stabbing a wild bird monster with his cane. "I shall make sure you are unharmed until we return to the city."
It wasn't himself he was worried about though. The girl had taken all of Yves' defense off the table in one fell swoop. The civilians still in the city were now unguarded, and so was Veliona. He had to return as soon as possible.