Well... we still had the opportunity to enjoy the festivities and rest a bit before the big finals.

Not everyone was pleased with the results.

Yami looked kind of depressed even, wanting to join the finals with me. She must have taken it rather hard.

Even Akenõ looked frustrated by his loss.

Wondering about his opponent I approached him.

"That was a close fight wasn"t it?"

Akenõ looked at me disgusted by loss and jealousy.

"Hmm came to rub in your victory, young one...?"

"No... no... nothing of the sort, to be honest, I don"t even know how I had won... it is all kind of a blur to me haha. No, the reason I came to you was to tell you that I was proud to be able to fight you during this tournament. And to ask about your last opponent.

It seemed like you knew him..."

"Heh! So that"s why you came to me,

I thought it was weird for you not to go straight to your little Wolfle friend first. Snooping out the compet.i.tion huh?"

Realizing I had forgotten about Yami I had to make it quick so I could go looking for her.

"s.h.i.t! You"re right... I have to go look for her, but first, tell me what happened on the field."

Akenõ took a leisurely position and began to laugh.

"Hahaha, idiot... there"s not much to tell. We both grew up in the same village. We both survived the harsh ways of the chieftain giving us excellent survival skills. I use other magic than him, still... our element is the same, he can also manipulate fire.

Want my advice?"

I nodded in agreement.

"I suggest either taking him out with a group or catch him off guard with stealth. Either way, I think your chances might be slim..."

I thanked Akenõ for his advice even though he was a bit hot-headed. Soon after I quickly began searching for Yami. I rushed through the crowd when the announcer began talking to the public.

"Dear citizens of Sharoo and cities around, we would like to take this brief moment of rest to get to know our finalists better. Helena here has requested this in terms of the excitement to come.

So our first finalist of today..."

The announcer walked towards Geo not caring for others who like to share the spotlight with him or rather grab it for themselves.

Just before the announcer arrived Geo could be seen flirting with a lady close to him, it looked like he succeeded in gaining her attention. The announcer now standing next to him began his interview.

"Geo, as our first finalist of the tournament we would like to have a few comments of you. The people here are interested in where your origins might form...

Seeing you like the attention of the ladies, might I suffice to say that with glory comes power and with power responsibility, yet also money and women haha."

Listening to the announcer you could see a slight twinkle in Geo"s eyes, it was clear what he was thinking about.

"So, Geo... tell us, what is your story, why are you here? What is the reason you decided to enter this tournament here in Sharoo? Did you come just for the fame and glory of it all?"

Geo with an arm around the middle of the lady turned towards the announcer, gently singing him to hand off the microphone. The announcer gave him the microphone when Geo suddenly busted out in heavy shouting.

"WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?! Sure the fame and glory are nice... but my reason isn"t as shallow as that...

For you see... I am a man!! A man of simple needs who has a mystery to solve.

I was sent from my hometown to find out my true heritage, am I n.o.ble? A peasant? Maybe a hero? Or even a villain? No one knows... that it for me, Geo to find out!!"

Surprised about this statement the announcer tried to jank back his microphone and barely succeeded, tipping over towards the crowd. Trying to cover his blunder he instantly went on his way in the search for the second finalist.

While the announcer went on his way I tried to find Yami, tight as the crowd was, I still managed to move forward. Remembering where I saw her last I tried going back to the same spot. But she was nowhere to be found...

Not giving up on my search I tried to go back to the waiting room, the place where the contestants could clear their heads. Surely all the finalists were here, but still no sign of Yami...

"Hmm... where could she have gone? She wouldn"t go far, would she?"

I kept on running, looking left and right when I finally found her in a corner curled up as she held her knees.

Something was on her mind, she looked really sad.

I slowly approached her and gently sat down next to her.

"So this is where you were... I was worried about you silly. Didn"t you say you would never leave my side? Come, raise your head I am here now..."

I gently caressed her head as I tried to calm her down. Her ears who previously were hanging down suddenly shot up, like her ears so did her tail as she gently raised her head.

She faced me, looking at me with watery eyes.

Has she been crying?

"What"s wrong Yami? You can tell me."

I gently wiped away her tears.

Embarra.s.sed by this she hid her face. Tightly hugging me. Thinking she needed a hug I too hugged her tightly.

"Yami is useless master... she failed at aiding you,

Her master... Yami is too embarra.s.sed to show her face to master... Yami afraid that she can"t stay with master..."

Hugging her tight I gently petted her head.

Hoping to give her the feeling that she was saved.

"Yami... I understand you want to prove yourself and be there for me, but understand that you being by my side is one of the most important things to me...

So, you gave it your all and lost, that doesn"t matter.

What matters is that you enjoyed it and in doing so learned new things.

Don"t ever go thinking that I don"t want you near me because of this, because you are my precious friend Yami. Even if you might lose today there is always a next chance tomorrow. We will train and become stronger gaining experience from our failures.

Never give up and always climb back up after falling. Then... you can be proud of yourself.

Now... will you cheer for me during the finals?"

Filled with joy Yami jumped up hugging me tight and snuggling my neck

"Yes! Yami will always be there for master... l

master is Yami"s friend and friends support each other."

"Now let"s go see what the announcer wants from all of us."

On our way back we noticed that the announcer had already interviewed Alessia and Leonardo. As he quickly went on towards Bleiz I made sure to listen carefully.

The announcer approached Bleiz hoping for a fierce and fired up comment. But instead, the announcer got shot down. Unwilling to respond to the interview the announcer had to move on.

Finally arriving at my interview. I got nervous.

"You sir Shadowfang. Please tell us, what is it that drove you towards the festivities of the tournament?

What might your ambition be in this event?"

I turned towards the announcer and sincerely answered his question.

"Well sir, for me this is all to see how far I could go as a beginning adventurer and what would be a better opportunity than to join this tournament? That, and given the chance to train with the top guild of Sharoo I have to say that is also motivation for me haha."

"Thank you, sir, for your answer, if I recall you are one of the 8 summoned ones, correct? Then I hope you will come to enjoy life here in Aganthes. Onwards to the next contestant!"

The announcer went towards Gideon, one who you might say was not very fond of huge crowds or humans in particular.

"Young Gideon, could you, like the other tell the folks here why it is you joined this tournament?"

Gideon lost it right then and there breaking out in sneering laughter.

"Kyahahaha, you want to know why I am here?

Well... we"ll keep that as a surprise for now! Hahaha.

Go and bother the others, you clown."

With a glance towards Helena, the announcer made his way towards the others, trying to hide his annoyance towards Gideon.

"We only have two finalists left folks. What kind of stories might they be telling us very shortly?"

"In the meantime… let us review what Alessia and Leonardo had to say as some might have missed it."

The announcer pointed his microphone towards the air allowing clear crystal plates to appear, shortly after something got projected on these plates allowing the crowd to see the previously mentioned interviews.

"My dear Alessia as some might say, you are the crown beauty of this tournament,

what is it that motivated someone like you to compete here of all places?"

Alessia shrugged not sure what to say.

"I don"t know if it"s my place to tell you Herald. But you see I am also one of the summoned ones. For me being here verifies my existence, you see. I want to be strong! And show the world who I am!!"

"Hahaha even calling me by my name, you have to spirit young one. Thank you for your honest answer, to be honest, we did indeed know you where one of the summoned,

hope you find what you are looking for here in Arganthes. Becoming stronger is also a fine ambition to strive towards.

Now that we are finished we have probably the longest interview waiting for us,

seeing how the crowd would love to know more about your inventions! Of course, we also like to know what motivated you to partic.i.p.ate as well!"

"Well, Herald if I may be so polite to call you by your name.

To tell you the truth both of your questions hang tightly together, for you see, I wanted to partic.i.p.ate to show off my inventions and the further I get, the more I can market them and hopefully afterward the Eruption Clan can sell many of them haha!"

"I see, that is an interesting take on partic.i.p.ation. I remember in these matches you have been able to either manipulate fire or outmaneuver the opponents with speed.

Please tell us more about these inventions."

"It will be my pleasure, being able to manipulate fire is all thanks to my Eruption Tech Gear.

This allows the collection of soul energy also known as mana to be shot out in bursts.

See these openings in my gloves, boots, and armor around my elbows?"

Herald looked closely examining the young man"s gear.

"Yes, I think so?"

Leonardo Laughed proudly.

"hahaha, that"s where the collected soul energy gets shot out of, allowing one to maneuver at high speeds, enabling one to dodge or even go in the offense.

You see, the centerpiece here is crucial for the gear to work. I"ve embedded a giant neutral magic crystal allowing the gear to fuse with one"s natural soul force.

For me that makes fire or small burst that turn into pocket-sized explosions, hence the name Eruption. But this could easily be turned into high-speed gear with someone who specializes in air magic. Even allowing one to swim several times faster might have the water magic element. I hope this is enough information as I don"t want to make this conversation to drag out too far."

"Wow!! That truly is magnificent and even revolutionary if I might say so myself.

Thank you for your time Leonardo and I wish you the best of luck during the finals."

Herald turned off the clear plates continuing his speech.

"Well, there you have it folks now we will continue the interviews with this mysterious candidate. Young yet extremely talented, this mysterious one is the talk of the tournament, so young one if I might kick this off asking you to tell us something about yourself?"

Herald didn"t get a reaction making him kind of anxious.

"Hmm… not wanting to tell us, that"s fine… but I hope you want to answer the question everyone gets, what motivated you to partic.i.p.ate?"

Again silence… but then a silent voice could be heard. A whisper of some sort.

"Here… to test the strength of the new generation… it might look dire right now…"

Confused Herald continued thanking the mysterious guest for his/her time.

"Last but not least we have the strong-willed Cordelia Aqua! This young lady is extraordinary! Displaying not only exceptional swordsman skills but also the ability to utilize water and ice magic, truly amazing!! Well then Cordelia, might I ask you what motivated you to join this tournament?"

Having all eyes on her made her quite nervous, but went with it anyway.

Playing the role of the cold-hearted ice queen is what she knew best.

"Thank you for the compliment Herald, one might think being one of the summoned ones is truly something exceptional, yet, I am here to show them it truly is! I Cordelia Aqua will do anything in my power to win this thing!!"

"Thank you again for your interview as they have now ended we will shortly begin the finals.

To summarize, the 8 finalists will like the preliminaries will have to face off against each other in one big battle. Battle Royal. Remember only the last 3 standing will be allowed to train with the a.s.sa.s.sination a.s.sociation, still, I wish everyone the best of luck.

If the finalists will gather in the waiting room while we prepare the battleground,

then we can begin shortly. Thank you."

Like the announcer asked we all went towards the waiting room, arriving there last I asked if Yami could stay with me, allowing her the best view in the arena.

Seeing as she had partic.i.p.ated too this was allowed.

"Yami will cheer for master hoping he will win!"

She hugged me tightly even snuggling against my breast.

She seemed to enjoy it very much as her tail was dancing around.

During this time the battleground was made ready, even bigger than the last.

As I waited in antic.i.p.ation, it was finally time. Time… time to begin the finals!