Looking around I could barely see in front of me. Around three meters before the fog blocked my vision? As we were transported suddenly the voice of the announcer could be heard throughout the premises.

"Everyone arrived in one piece? Then it is time to start the Tournament of Beginnings. I wish you all the best of luck and may the best and most skilled of all prevail throughout the challenges ahead!

We added a special bonus to gain an extra point for the challenges to come, but beware... as it could proof to be dangerous, so please stay on guard everyone."

Suddenly a huge firework sounded as it all turned completely silent. I had to calm down and find a way around this tight fog that filled the area.

First, it was best to scout around a little bit, knowing the area is half of the work. So I decided to mark my path every three meters until I hit boulders.

Then after a while, someone else entered the marked territory. It was to faint to make out, but there was someone else with me in the area.

The fog made it impossible to see so I tried finding them with my other senses... first I tried hearing as I calmed down and focused on every tiny sound around me. With my senses heightened I thought that it should be possible to find the other person.

But... not a sound could be heard. Deciding to move on I opened my eyes. A feeling of dread rushed through my entire being as the person I knew I heard was looking straight at me, almost touching me.

Alarmed I jumped back in the hope he hadn"t taken hold of my b.u.t.ton yet. Reaching out I tried to protect my b.u.t.ton. Thinking I could have reacted in time was naive... the ghostlike slender white person had stolen my b.u.t.ton leaving me with nothing...

Leaving as quietly and swift as he came I was now alone again. Crushed I struggled forward... besting myself up over the fact that my b.u.t.ton got stolen.

But the fact was... the challenge had only just begun and we were here with more than 3000 contestants, meaning I was bound to run into more people along the way. Realizing this, I calmed myself down and focused on what was most important right now.

Finding prey to hunt.

The fog began to settle and disperse slowly as I closed in on the center of the plains. There a woman and man were fighting to maintain their b.u.t.tons while trying to obtain the other.

They seemed evenly matched as both were rather out of breath. Deciding it was best to wait until one of the two had collapsed I hid in the tree above them. Quietly observing their conflict.

Neither of them could use magic, yet were rather formidable in martial arts. Blocking and countering whenever a chance was presented to them, they eventually collapsed at the same time as a cross-counter knocked both of them unconscious.

Grabbing the chance that presented itself to me I silently lowered myself and obtained their b.u.t.tons.

Then suddenly screaming in the distance...

Agonizing screams of pain, the kind you would hear when someone forcibly broke something. As it was close I better stay low before anyone else would notice me. Then suddenly silence... knowing it was close I hid in the bushes only to find a woman who had been brutally tortured. Without any b.u.t.tons, she had been left for dead.

There was not much I could do for her... no time for regret or remorse... I had to move on... before I could turn away she vanished and signaling her defeat.

"#2465 is defeated and will be brought to the sickbay to tend to her wounds."

A sigh of relief escaped my lips realizing that she wasn"t in any immediate danger. As I made my way through the forest I could hear other people fighting and decided to stay away from groups, seeing I would be at a disadvantage if they had numbers on their side. Then suddenly another announcement.

"#1075, #0999 and #0743 completed the challenge congratulations!!"

Making my way around the larger group I found a small puddle, knowing it could take a while to finish this challenge I had to rest up for a bit and collect my thoughts. I lowered my hands collecting and drinking some of the water. Unaware of what was residing inside I lowered my head, washing up a little.

A shadow closed in on me, jumping out of the water to reveal a huge fish. It saw me as a good opportunity for a snack, startled I jumped back. Realizing this was a good opportunity to try out my new-found lightning magic, I raised my hand towards the beast, shooting lightning straight at it. The huge fish drifted motionless in the water completely roasted.

Again... my hand felt numb, I just couldn"t get used to the static that came with this power, but I had to find a way to get used to it quickly. Annoyed by the numbness almost as if my hand was sleeping I tried pulling the fish out of the water. When suddenly an idea popped into my head, heat helps wake up and relax the muscles... what if I heated my hand slightly with my other magic ability?

I opened my hand focussing on the mental image of a flame when the energy around my hand began to swirl around. The particles then began hearing up as a black flame ignited above my palm. At first, I could only feel the heat around my wrist, but surely the numbness began tickling and vanished, replacing itself with a pleasant yet gentle feeling as the flame engulfed my entire hand with its warmth.

Now it was time to replenish some energy by eating the d.a.m.n fish. That would teach him to ambush me.

Somewhere on the other side of the forest, Geo found himself in a rather tight spot. Having to face multiple foes at once. A group of four men ambushed in from all sides. Trying to eliminate him from the roster.

None were able to use magic, instead, they seemed skilled in martial arts. As the first closed in Geo dodged his attack with the slightest of movements... at the same time two others came from opposite directions trying to pincher him.

Geo remained calm and instead of blocking their attacks he drugged down, unable to react in time both of the men crashed into each other. Having evaluated three of the four men, he concluded that they were weak and there was better pre to find and test his skills against.

Laughing with a giant smirk on his face he spoke to the men.

"Let"s make this challenge even more exciting... For now, I don"t need this silly little trinket, you four can fight over it for all I care..."

On that note, he decided to get all the struggle out of the way and tossed his b.u.t.ton into the air.

Immediately after all for men stormed towards the b.u.t.ton, punishing, pushing and pulling each other out of the way to get a chance to obtain it.

"Primitive little fools, look how much they struggle for only one... I can"t wait to find myself some worthy prey."

The thought alone made him relish in his desire, looking upward he stroke through his face and hair with one full motion. Wiping off the sweat and preparing for "the hunt".

The four men were way too loud, knowing how they reacted they were bound to attract more contestants.

Geo went towards the tree, climbing up and taking a comfortable stop in the branches waiting for others to arrive.

After a while, a small orb appeared in the center of the struggling four. Within the blink of an eye, the small orb erupted into a huge explosion, leaving the four men defeated. Now five b.u.t.tons were up for grabs.

Again the announcer notified us of the fallen.

"Contestants #0300, #0301, #0302 and #0303 have been defeated."

After the announcement a hooded person closed in on the remaining b.u.t.tons grabbing all, hoping to get something extra out of them.

Geo noticed the number #1587 on the person"s shoulder, marking them as a worthy prey with magic like that, who wouldn"t be? Wanting to save the hooded person for last Geo quickly created a small golem of the earth and dirt that was left in his shoes.

He then lowered it on the hooded person"s shoulder to keep track of him/her. After it calmed down Geo went on his way.

Finally finishing my meal moments later I too went on my way...

Not having seen any familiar faces whatsoever I reckoned that the area they were using for the event must be huge. Not only did I need to be wary of the people who could attack me at any moment, but also for the creatures who lived in this area. Like the fish, I just ate.

Thinking about this all I made my way through the forest when the fog began to clear out slightly, thankfully I could see where I was walking now.

In the distance, A huge explosion could be heard. Followed by the announcement of the elimination of several contestants. When I thought I closed in on the area I heard the explosion came from I tripped falling down a cliff. Roots were covering the edges of the cliffs. Reaching out I tried to break my fall, but I couldn"t reach far enough. Falling further down the ravine I prepared myself for the worst...

When suddenly my arms got caught in branches of trees that reached out from the side of the cliff.

I was saved!!

At least... for the time being... carefully climbing up the thin branches I had to find a way up towards the surface again, which seemed impossible. Looking down, it seemed to do down was not an option either. Looking down I could see water, maybe a stream or river flowing through the ravine?

Either way, going down there wasn"t an option as this was hundreds of meters down.

Looking for another way or anything that might be of help. I looked around the ledges when I eventually found an opening that had water seeping through it.

Thinking this was the only option I made my way towards the opening. Holding on for dear life I climbed up closing in on the opening.

Just when I wanted to grab the edge... something jumped out of the opening. It was a fish. The creature had a white slimy body with a sharp head, almost looking like an arrow it fell to his demise as the fish fell. Or so I thought...

Curious to see what might happen to it, I looked down. Closing in on the stream the fish spread his fins as a gust of air blew through the canyon.

Shocked my gaze locked onto the fish.

Did my eyes deceive me? Moments ago I believed the fish would fall to his shattering death, yet this did not happen. It"s fins caught the air underneath its sail-like texture, making it able to glide through the air.

I couldn"t believe what I saw as the glistering of the water made it appear as if the creature glowed silver.

As I tried to take it all in I spotted rocks on the edge of the opening, allowing myself to climb up inside of it.

Now inside I could take a small breather...

The fish I saw moments ago, now was gliding in front of me as it followed the flow of the wind. Finally reaching the top of the canyon, the fish got caught by something far more dangerous.

I couldn"t make out what it looked like, only that a quick black silhouette jumped across catching its prey. I decided it was best to leave before I got spotted.

"Where there is water, there is a source."

I followed the stream in the opposite direction. The small opening allowed me to barely move through it.

Not being able to see light at the end it only started to get darker as I ventured further inside. When after a little while faint glowing could be seen...

What it was... I did not know, but it looked as if the starry sky was inside here. I ventured further in to discover a well or a pond of some sort.

It was a place where the water kept bubbling up, I hurt my arms during the fall. Wanting to clean up a little while taking a small breather I held my hands in the water splashing it over the bruises... it stung a little...

And after a short, while I was positively surprised, the bruises... they were healing up as I looked at them.

Could I have found a magical well? Taking a look around I could see another pathway, hoping to find the exit I took a quick sip of the water and left through the pathway.

Surely after a while, I could hear sounds of birds whistling happily. "I must be close to the exit now."

I quickly made my way towards the light finding the exit of the cave I was in. Worrying that I was left behind in the time that I was stuck in the ravine I hurried to the open plains. They"re a group of people got ambushed by a smaller group. Surrounded there was nowhere to turn too. One of them seemingly already succ.u.mbed to the injuries. Wanting to help I rushed towards the scene...

There I found that one of the victims was Yami!

She tried to defend the other survivor, although I did not know why. As she was my companion I had to go help. Now determined to even the odds I jumped over one of the outsiders pushing him back.

The others shocked as they were helped their comrade up. In the meantime, I tried to see if everyone was okay.

"Yami! Are you okay? W-who is these people?!"

"They are outsiders... infiltrating the event, they thought it was a good sport to start killing people in the middle of all this... and for some reason, they are targeting this young girl that"s with us."

Looking close I had never seen someone like her before. She had short white hair, dark skin, and burning yellow eyes. Her hands had jewels embedded in them. At a glance, I figured that would be why the girl got attacked. Seeing Yami like this was in a way refreshing to me, as she showed a side that wanted to protect others. As her partner, I should be doing the same, which is why I stood by her side protecting the girl.

"Do you have any idea who they are?"

I asked kind of confused by the situation.

"We met during the event, they were both nice to Yami, which is why we decided to get through this as a group. But then we got ambushed by these basterds..."

The group that surrounded us laughed nonchalantly knowing everything went as they planned.

"Hey, kid! We only have business with the girl... we were ordered to bring her back to headquarters, so... if you get our of the way we will let you live."

The girl coward away behind me, mumbling and rambling something in fear as she started crying.

"N-no... not that place... I don"t want to go there! Ever again!! P-please... leave me alone!!"

One of the men got annoyed by this and rushed towards her. I then jumped in his path blocking his way.

"Yami, keep her safe, I will deal with them, one way... or another... and take her comrade with you too!"

"Yes master, quick! We have to go to Haru. Climb on top of me."

Yami transformed into her wolf form and let the girl ride on top of her, the girl played her companion on top of Yami, rushing past the men quickly moving for safety.

Now that I don"t have any distractions anymore I could start asking some questions.

"Now then... why is it you guys are starting chaos in this event? Not to mention target a young defenseless girl like that?"

One of the men walked up to me and pushed me trying to make me fall.

"We were ordered by our supreme leader to get the girl back to where sshe belongsss, no witnessesss should be left alive. No time to deal with the likes of you... she needsss to be brought back!!

The man ordered the others to go after Yami and the girl while staying behind, making sure I wouldn"t get in the way. He spread his arms wide taking a battle stance.

I prepared for an incoming attack, but instead, the man took off his hood, revealing his face. Scales... horns and sharp looking lizard-like eyes... he wasn"t human, far from it even. His tongue shot in and out rapidly like that of a snake as his arms turned into multiple snakes who rushed towards me.

I jumped back dodging then, for now, thinking of a way to counter I tried summoning flames...

A small flame formed in the palm of my hand.

Not knowing if I could throw it I decided to punch down on the group of snakes. The fire caught on and quickly spread engulfing them all, slowly burning them to a crisp. Warm as it was, the flame did not hurt. Which is why I quickly wrapped my arms with the flames. Now armed to fight these snakes I tried attacking the man.

He blocked my attack, not with his arm, but with a blade attached to his arm. He smiled and quickly attacked me with his other arm.

Jumping back again knowing I couldn"t block the attack I struggled to find away. That"s when I noticed that the flames which engulfed the snakes were still burning strongly. Could I use this to my advantage?

The man rushed towards me with his bladed arms.

"Oh... I am going to enjoy thisss."

The man sliced up trying to catch me in a pinched attack, barely escaping from his quick attack I fell to the ground burning the area I landed on.

Again... the flames didn"t go out, they just kept burning strongly. The man was cautious around the flames not wanting to get hit by them.

Now was my chance, I stood up and launched myself at the man, grabbing him by the ankles. Burning his feet. The man screamed in agonizing pain.

"Aaarggghh, Ssss.h.i.t!! That hurts you f.u.c.ker!! Make it ssstop! Make... it... Ssstop!!"

The flames kept creeping up ever so slightly, pa.s.sing his knees, now closing in on his waist the man collapsed as he couldn"t stand on his legs anymore.

In the last struggle for survival, he crawled towards me gasping for air. With his dying breath, he said something, something I couldn"t understand at the time... The man smiled uttering these last words.

"Nothingness... Envelopesss... All... Where... I... Ssstand... M-more... W-will... F-follow...

*cough* *cough*

We... Are... Legion..."

Uttering those words before the flames fully enveloped him, slowly burning his flesh away as his words turned in m.u.f.fled gargling.

Looking at the remains b.u.t.tons were laying on the ground, five in total, deciding to take them all as I went on my way to find Yami.

These people were part of a bigger whole... I only hoped we wouldn"t have to find out more.

-Somewhere on the other side of the forest-

Geo found his first challenger, confident he accepted the one on one fight with a woman. The woman was confident in her skills. Geo as the gentleman that he was allowed the woman to strike first only to savor the entirety of her voluptuous body.

The woman came at him with killing intent, but he dodged gently sliding past the side of her, knocking her out by cleanly hitting the back of her neck.

"To easy girl... couldn"t you give me more time to touch you in more places? This is boring... I"m out!"

Geo took the b.u.t.ton leaving him at three points total as he went on in the hope of finding more challengers.

Unaware of his surroundings Geo got caught off guard as a wolf rushed past him on arm distance. He noticed the wolf carrying a girl and a man, curious he followed them... A group of hooded people was chasing the wolf. They stopped as Geo got in their way, only to meddle in their affairs.

Michael arrived shortly after to find the group of hooded people circling Geo. As they calmly stood around Geo, one could take in the way their robes looked. They were completely black with dark purple spirals all over... inside something seemed like an eye.

Now Geo and Michael had to fight the hooded men.

Two stepped forward as the others gave long-distance fire support. Hurling ice shards at us,

there was no time to stand still...

Getting used to the flames during the last battle I tried forming a fireball. throwing it towards one of the hooded men in the back before the others could strike, but the other blocked it with a sloppy sludge pillar.

As the others closed in Geo took on a broad stance moving one arm up and the other downward flexing his muscles. With a hard stomp, he pushed a wave of stone spikes towards both men stopping them in their tracks.

One of them jumped in the air dodging the spikes, immediately after countering with sludge b.a.l.l.s.

Making Geo jump backward.

"Don"t worry about them, take the ones in the back, I"ll be fine."

Geo said confidently in his ability.

I enveloped my arms with flames rushing towards the hooded men in the back, as they shot ice shards at me I mercilessly punched the shards away as I moved in closer. In the brief moment, they had to cast their spells I hurled another fireball, but this time aimed at the ground beneath their feet.

Knowing it would spread until it had caught their target I only needed to ensure that they would stay in place. Which gave me an idea.

"Geo, can you quickly trap them inside with the flames?"

"That should be possible, you"re dark. Wanting to suffocate them and all."

Geo had already finished the other two bashing the ground underneath him creating stone slabs that trapped the other two. Now, victory was ours.

As it was all over we took the remainder of the badges giving us enough for all of us to pa.s.s.

As an all had 5 points total we quickly made our way to the safe zone.

There Yami lowered the two bodies for them to get treatment. As we both closed in on the save zone.

I was relieved to see Yami was okay.

"What was all that about? Hooded people... talk about a cult!!" Geo said mocking them.

Shortly after giving Yami her b.u.t.tons an alarm sounded.

The time limit has been succeeded... please stop as time is up... everyone please go to your nearest safe zone. There you will be patched up as we see who completed the challenge to move on to round two.

An official counselor came to see us at the save zone counting the b.u.t.tons that we had in our possession.

Yami and Geo still had their b.u.t.tons and three others which made them pa.s.s on to round two, as for me I had five b.u.t.tons in total while mine was missing giving me just enough to go on to round two.

The counselor thanked us for partic.i.p.ating in the event and led us to a small room where we were told to wait.