The group made it back to their room. Alexander fell face flat on their bed. He was exhausted. Yuki did the same on her bed followed by everyone else.
Michael began to talk. " Before we fall asleep, let's talk about strategy." Michael rubbed his eyes and coughed a little. " let's start with the big thing, the different kinds of abilities."
Yuki began to talk after Michael was done. " to start with there are seven different types. There is the body core that has body modifications like Lila's and Eram's. As well as abilities called manifestations which we still haven't seen yet due to how rare they are." Yuki took a deep breath to let someone else take over the recap.
"Then there are the ones for the mind core, which come into effect on other people's minds like Lila's hidden ability or Mark's abilities. Then you have summon abilities like mine" Alexander then let Michael take over again.
"Next you have the heart core, which holds the natural phenomena changes like my gravity ability. The second type is True Summons like when someone makes a living being out of a natural element with a piece of their soul." Michael said calmly.
Yuki then started to talk. " lastly you have soul core abilities that mess directly with the soul. These are the most rare and Eram has one of these abilities and so do I."
Michael then reminded the group. " Remember that some abilities can fit into multiple categories, and as long as you have enough pho you can do anything." Michael then laid his head on the pillow. After he closed his eyes he immediately fell asleep.
The rest of the group quickly followed behind. Eram lay there and managed to get to sleep. He kept dreaming of dreams that weren't his. He had vague memories of having brothers and sisters, but he knew that he was a single child.
Eram lay there wondering about his life choices. He felt great remorse for killing the three baby animals, but something inside him craved more. He wanted to kill everything but he didn't at the same time.
He was frustrated that the life in front of him looked like a winding path with many forks in the road rather than a straight and narrow one. Eram knew that his life choices were going to affect everyone he cared about.
Over the months he had started to consider each of his friends, fand amily. He didn't want to upset or hurt anyone. He knew deep down he was a monster to his core. During the match today something inside him was whispering to be the victor.
When they got the win he felt an adrenaline rush and wanted to scream in excitement but the other side of him told him that he just crushed everyone else dream of winning that night. Eram was torn.
Eram kept thinking of that kid who almost beat them. He single-handedly almost took down his team. And when he won, he crushed any dreams this kid had of winning. That kid balled into tears as soon as he lost and Eram was the cause.
Eram knew that no matter what he did, if he wanted to win he would be the cause of it. He hardened his resolve with his skills. If he was going to crush people he had to do it himself. After he finished thinking he passed out.
Even throughout the night, he was haunted by nightmares. He kept seeing fields of ash and death. He couldn't remember what happened but he knew something bad caused it.
By the time he woke up, everyone else was already getting ready. Everyone noticed him sitting up and welcomed him good morning.
Eram was tired still but decided it was time to get ready for the tourney. The rest of the group was waiting for their turn to get called. They were fairly certain they would call colors once again.
Of course the announcement verified their beliefs. "Good morning to everyone. I hope everyone slept well. We will be calling out the stick colors for today as well. If your color gets called, head down to where you were yesterday and you will be helped there. Once again this is if you won in the free for all. If you lost you are more than welcome to come and watch.
Everyone in the group was still groggy and was wondering why they were tired after sleeping for almost sixteen hours straight. " Why am I still tired?" Alexander wondered out loud.
Michael answered everyone's concerns promptly. " pho overexertion. because we used our abilities too much, or we took too much damage. It's a death sentence on any of the exploration contented unless you can get to one of the camps made there."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Remembering the lessons that the teachers taught them. Alexander kept mumbling about wanting to go back to sleep.
Alexander had fun yesterday. He didn't mind crushing people's dreams as long as he could keep Lila most importantly safe, as well as the rest of the team. To him victory was certain simply because of the talent gap.
Alexander knew he was smart but for some reason, he kept acting stupid. Part of him wanted to make people happy but the other part was just either social awkwardness or his inability to use proper social skills. Alexander treasured Lila the most yet he knew he was going to keep putting her in the most dangerous situations.
One thing Alexander will admit, even though he is a narcissist he can recognize that there are those better than him. He used to think he was the best but now he's not so sure. As he was finishing his thought he started to get hungry.
Alexander frankly said. "Let's head down to the dining room. I want some food."
The group's stomach unanimously grumbled and they all immediately agreed. They all got dressed and quickly walked down to the dining room. They all eyeballed the food.
Eram didn't realize how hungry he was and quickly filled up a plate with everything. He also discovered that meal as well. He realized he liked the quantity of the food more than the individual taste. As long as the food didn't taste bad then he kept shoving his face like he was a garbage disposal.
Everyone in the group looked at Eram who was eating the amount of three adult men. Even after his first five plates he went back to get more. Eram was so hungry for some reason. The more he ate the hungrier he got. Eventually after seven plates, he stopped, feeling satisfied he laughed.
They all looked at him in confusion. Eram decided to clear their distress. " I finally feel calm. This whole time I've been feeling nothing but anxiety, now I feel a sense of peace and relief." Eram then felt his stomach gurgle again." Shit." Eram bolted off faster than a cheetah to the bathroom.
The group laughed and was happy to see him in a good mood. They were all ready for the tournament. The group all woke up at separate times throughout the morning with Eram waking up last. Yuki explained to the group at that time why she had been with Eram the night before.
Everyone was understanding and had pity. They all talked about how cores might also affect the mind and or maybe the mind created the core. They didn't know nor didn't care.
Right as Eram walked out the speaker came back on. " I hope everyone has time to do what they want because now is time for the first match-up. It will be Blue versus Red so if you're one of those colors please head down here. If not, I highly recommend you still come to watch the match." The speaker crackled as it turned off. Right before the group started to talk again it crackled once more. " Also the next match-up will be green versus white so please be ready."
The group looked at each other and didn't even have to say anything. They headed down to the stadium to watch the first round.
As they made it to the stadium they were surprised by the amount of people there. They didn't get the chance to come yesterday and watch because of how tired they were and now they didn't know who the winders were. They were going in blind while most likely the other students were not.
They sat down nearest to the front row so they could get to see the fight better. In came many students. Their fight was about to begin.
With a loud boom, the match began. The two teams had interesting and cool abilities. They saw for the first time a manifestation ability as well.
The kid used it and his body morphed into a ten foot giant with a hard carapace similar to a bug yet different. He had four sharp horns like a goat as well as four ears. He also had four arms though he seemed to be having trouble using them.
Eventually that kids' group won and the announcer came on. " We just had an amazing first performance! Team Glowing Petals just beat out Team Five. They may have put up a good fight; it just wasn't enough." The announcer kept cheering and making the stage boom.
Michael looked at his team and said." This fight will determine if we get too continue. If we are skilled enough to win we need to talk to Glowing Petals and learn what we can about what we missed."
Alexander disagreed and let him know. " I think it would be better to talk to Five if we win. Think about it, they lost so they have no reason to lie."
The group was stunned by Alexander's sudden wisdom and wondered why he couldn't be like that all the time. Alexander didn't notice because he was too busy thinking of a way to make him the MVP again. He honestly debated whether to slightly sabotage Eram or Michael to make himself look better, but decided against it.
Alexander said something sharp again. "Let's go talk to them now to know who we are up against."
The group walked in silence with their mouth agape that someone so bizarre could have good ideas. After a minute of walking, they made it to the area where the Five was standing. Each one of the members looked extremely depressed.
Eram walked forward to express his questions only to be pushed aside by Alexander to take the spotlight." I am the great Alexander" he then waved his hand from left to right towards his teammates. " and these are my servant teammates. We have some wonderful questions. I mean I have some wonderful questions."
The other group looked at him and laughed. Alexander cheered them up even if it was just a little bit. " Alright MVP what do you want to know?"
Alexander grinned and hit a goofy pose only to be kicked down by Lila. She looked at him in disbelief. " Seriously you were doing so well! Why did you turn stupid again!" She was upset but his idiocy and had to take him back down a peg or two.
Michael saw that she wasn't going to talk nor was Alexander speaking up so he asked instead." So what we need to know is what are our opponent's team's abilities. I mean the one we have right now team white.
The woman who seemed to be the team leader stepped up. She has purple hair lined with green streaks. She talked with confidence and pride. " The team you are going against is the Dire Tree. They all have insane abilities. One of them can create a lightning summon and shoot beams of lightning out though I think he can't do it too much because of how big the lightning is. Next up there was a kid who could make chains come up from the ground and grab onto you. If you get grabbed it will suck the pho out of you and drag you down.
Next, you have a guardian who may not look like much and can't seem to be hit for some reason. Their cleaver can heal the teammates at a quick and steady pace using pho. I think he uses pho in the air as well as her own because it heals way too fast for it to be otherwise. Lastly their rear guard can make a tidal wave a shoot it in any direction. It is a lost use ability so he will mainly use spells.
That's pretty much it just be careful they won by a landslide in their free-for-all match."
Eram and his group looked at each other as Eram spoke. " I guess it's time for our match."