All of us stayed close to the battlegrounds that were build. During which Helena took the opportunity to explain what was to come.

"Dear Finalists today will be the dawning for the pit of compet.i.tion. This will be a stage completely shut off from the world outside, having a thick stone wall all around. As some might have seen there will be a number of gates, eight to be exact.

The same number as finalists this year.

Before we begin, I"ll have you all draw from the box carried by my a.s.sistant. This will determine which gate each of you will enter in. Each gate will be represented by an element. Either; fire, water, earth, air, lightning, ice, light or darkness.

If one might pull light he or she has an advantage over the others allowing them to enter the arena before the others. On the other hand, might one pull darkness he or she will be entering last. While the basic elemental gates will open simultaneously this will provide a strategic view towards this final showdown.

Now then... as for the rules, there are none.

You are allowed to use all means to win and will continue until one either gives up,

gets knocked out or straight up dies. Before we let you draw your tiles and find out which gate to enter, we will give you a small piece of advice.

Inside each of the areas, we have hidden treasures, giving you an edge over your opponent.

Some might already know this, because this is one of the reasons a lot of people partic.i.p.ate, still others partic.i.p.ate only for the spirit of it. These treasures will be guarded by mighty elementals posing as a great challenge towards most.

For the other piece of advice…

Each area will have its advantages and disadvantages to the represented element.

Take the forests for example where the earth element would be at its strongest, still, fire elemental attacks could make short work of this area and the life within.

Still, want to fight without any advantages over your opponent? Just for that purpose, we created a large area in the middle, covered with boulders and flatlands, allowing for a fair fight.

Now then… If you all could draw out a tile from the box then we will shortly begin the final battle."

We each took turns putting our hands in the box and grabbing one of the tiles.

looking at what I had drawn it was the Darkness element that was engraved on my tile.

Did I have the worst luck?

After we all had drawn our tiles Gideon couldn"t contain his absurd craziness anymore.

"Shishishishi hahaha! Oh… you fools… I couldn"t get a more advantageous start hehe!"

He showed his light tile and announced his plan towards the entire group.

"I will head towards the center area for all to fight me, come if you dare! Suckers!!"

While all the others took their tiles and followed herald the announcer and the other instructors as instructed. Yami knowing this was her only chance, quickly wished me luck.

"You can do this master!! Yami knows it! Yami believes in you, just think back on when you fought our previous leader!"

"Thanks, Yami, I"ll do my best, this should be fun, right?"

shortly after we arrived at a huge arena outside of the Colosseum.

The arena could easily be twice as big in comparison to the first area we had to fight in.

Like Helena had said giant walls covered the area with gates standing high and mighty all around it.

The other instructors each took one of the finalists with them,

showing them the way towards their represented gates. Surely the one who had drawn the light tile was none other than Gideon, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d who sees us all as prey! Following his instructor they immediately let him enter the arena.

Shortly after the other instructors made us take our place and took our attention towards the sky where Herald got projected into the air, giving us one last speech.

"The light gate was already opened to give that contestant a small head-start, but don"t underestimate this… in five minutes all basic elemental gates will open allowing most contestants to enter. As for Michael, you drew the darkness tile so you will go in last.

There is a time limit to this event, which is why we decided to cut short the finalist rest period making it more exciting! Also, the finals will have a time limit of 5 days, either survive till then or defeat the others within that time to win!

Also, there should be no food or water shortage as this area will represent all elements and will even have their own eco-system. Meaning you"ll encounter ferocious animals, plants, some poisonous some not or even traps. Which is why we strongly advice to do everything in your power to survive.

Now… if all of you will take their represented positions. We will open the gates shortly. To all of you in the finals, I wish you luck in winning this tournament and even surviving this last ordeal."

When Herald finished his speech, his projection disappeared and a timer became visible.

counting down from 60 seconds. What was there for us ahead? What could happen during this last ordeal? One thing was for sure, no matter what I had to survive through this no matter what.

Finally, the time to open the gates had come.

"10…"

All of them took a stance to get ready.

Geo,

"09.."

Alessia,

"08…"

Leonardo

"07… 06…"

The Hidden Talent,

"05…"

Cordelia,

"04…"

Bleiz,

If I remembered correctly Gideon drew the Light tile meaning he had already entered before us, this would give him the opportunity to scout out the area and even ambush us…

We really have to team up against him if we want to have a fighting chance…

Then there is also the hidden talent who it might be? I don"t know.

But the fact that he or she became one of the finalists without showing us its strengths proves that he or she would also be a worthy opponent.

"Everyone… get ready!"

"03… 02… 01…"

The gates their element lighted up opening each one in the process.

They all rushed inside, venturing into the unknown.

One of the instructors came closer to me, instructing me to wait a little while longer.

to compensate for this the one with the Darkness tile was gifted empty soul crystals to imbed elemental magic into, giving me the opportunity to utilize magic once more.

Still… as they were now empty I theorized that it should be possible to tab into the elements in this battleground, why else would they gift this to me?

As the waiting time was over, my gate finally started glowing, it was an eerie and ominous glow that seemed to swallow up all light that came close. Soon after I suddenly found myself on the battlegrounds behind the gate… the finals had finally begun!