Chapter 7

"Check that off the ol' bucket list." I say to myself as I pack away my things and get ready to leave. 'I made quite a bit too, that should be enough.' I think to myself as I put a guitar over my shoulder and free up my hands.

"That was so cool!" Someone says as they walk away. It was pretty cool, if I say so myself. It had always been on my bucket list in my previous life, but never got around to doing it, mainly because of my lack of skill. But now, I can say I have. What was it you ask? I was busking, a simple and honest work for gathering some money. I had found something that had interested me, but it cost a lot. So I had two options; perfect the art of thievery and steal enough to get it, or busk. So of course, I chose the good, honest way because that's the kind of person I am.

….

Yeah, bad joke. To tell the truth, I saw an opportunity and decided to go with it. What was the opportunity you ask? That is personal, it absolutely did not involve me going to steal someone's wallet through the art of pickpocketing but seeing a guitar in a shop, then deciding to steal that instead and busk ' the good, honest way'.

It's not like I am a kleptomaniac, nor did I have no money. I just don't want to spend the money I brought with me when I left home; it's very hard to make money so young you know, so I'll only use it if I have to. Of course I could have probably thought of something else, but as they say 'When in Rome'; in this case Rome being homeless; i.e. Me. Of course, I also have a good excuse, and I will be making a ton of money if it works.

What is it you ask?

###

"Welcome! Welcome, one and all: To the Mistral!...Regional!…TOURNAMENT!" An announcer shouts into the mic, being met with the loud cheers of the audience.

Why it's the prize money from a certain tournament of course!

"You again?!" A familiar brawny boy shouts as I fasten a rusty sword to my belt.

It took me almost two day days before I could even have enough to buy a participation ticket, apparently if you aren't in a combat school it costs you money to enter; must be a way of keeping idiots away, I mean almost everyone else will be a huntsman in training and be using aura and if you can use aura, you should be attending a combat school anyway. Then when I did, finding out they don't provide weapons, I had to busk for another 3 days until getting enough to buy a weapon; I am seriously cursing myself of not making a custom weapon before leaving. The weapon I am using is a single edged sabre with a straight, slightly thinner than usual blade, and the tip of the blade curves slightly to create a point. In honesty it looks like a mix between a rapier and a sabre and was most likely deemed a failure by the blacksmith, but the blade is sturdy and doesn't have any abstract or gaudy design. In fact it's very minimalist, even the handguard too. The colours scheme matches mine though; a dark blue handle, a greyish handguard and a black blade with a red line running up it like a crack. It would usually be quite good, but it was a bit rusty, helping in dropping the price into my range.

Bringing back my attention to the familiar boy, I reply "Do I know you?"

"You better, stealing my ticket, and then making a fool of me for 3 whole days! You think I'm gonna let you get away this time? I hadn't tripped you would already have been sleeping in the ocean you damned brat!" As the boy begins to reach for his weapon, I interrupt him,

"Not ringing any bells, also fighting outside of the stage is forbidden, by all means take you weapon out and attack, I can just say it was self-defence after I knock you out again." I say, gesturing to everyone who had turned their attention to the loud boy, "I think amount of people as witnesses should suffice."

"Heh, Whatever, when we get out on stage, I won't go easy like before." He says before storming off, I go to reply but am interrupted by my name being called. It seems the announcer had already announced the beginning of the tournament.

"And the opponent; Ira. A mysterious young boy, not from any combat school; can he stack up against those training to be huntsmen? Let's find out!" The announcer shouts as I make my way on stage towards him. When both I and my opponent are on stage, the announcer….eh announces the start of the match, "Let the match, Begin!"

My opponent, a blue haired boy, begins firing at me from long range with a futuristic looking rifle. I dodge a plasma bullet to the left, and then slide under before jumping to the right, dodging another two. After I dodge for a while, he notices that he isn't able to hit me from afar and changes tactics, charging in while his weapon transforms, he leaps after it does. His rifle turned trident strikes the ground where I was just standing, with a spark coming from the tip and running across the ground. I had dashed forward, roughly two times the length of his range before he realises I am no longer standing where he had struck and turns with a horizontal sweep.

After he notices I am too far for his weapon to reach, he puts up his guard, taking a stance with his left foot slightly forward and his body at a 45° from facing me straight on, his weapon raised at the back, pointing across his body and the blade towards the ground between us. Deciding I have seen enough, I draw my own weapon and take up my own stance with my left hand behind my back and my right hand raising the sword.

This time no one moves, this is technically my first fight, so I am taking it slow, honestly I'm being a bit to cautious. After a short while, I notice his gaze look down to his weapon and he begins to move, the weapon change is what draws his attention. I don't let the opportunity slip and charge at him, covering the distance before he can look back up from his weapon, I perform 5 thrusting attacks; hitting his arms, legs and solar plexus one after the other. The boy stumbles back and takes a knee since he has just been winded, even if aura protects the body from damage, you can still get the wind knocked out of you, I learned that the hard way 'Thanks, Grun' I think to myself as I go in to press forward again, however a horn sounds, followed by the announcer,

"And the first round goes to Ira!"

Looking up at the board which displays our aura I notice his has already entered the read, 'That was a little too quick, but I've never actually managed to hit any opponents with them attacks before, only training dummies', of course the opponents I am talking about are Winter, someone already recognised as a specialist, and Grun, one of the greatest swordsmen in the four kingdoms, even if he hasn't unlocked his aura; these facts escape my mind though.

"Not bad." I say, offering the kneeling boy my hand, which he grabs and stands back up.

"Heh, I don't feel like that's true though…" He says with a defeated tone.

"If you hadn't been drawn to look at your weapon changing form, you could have been able to block." I say, it wasn't exactly a lie, he might have been able to block, however he wouldn't have been able to block the attack I would have used after if he did; either way I would have won. "Getting impatient will get you nothing but a quick death, stay cool and wait."

"Cool, huh." He says in a low breath, before looking up and continuing, "I'm Neptune."

"Ira." I reply coolly, he seems a bit different from the show; he doesn't have that cool air about him, instead he seems a bit downcast if I'm honest. "Come on we should leave before we hold up the tournament." I say, walking off the stage.

"uh, Yeah. Hey, Ira? Aren't you that guy who was performing earlier this morning?"

###

After the first matches, the rest all ended just as quickly. And so, I ended up in the semi-finals; after this match is the finals and I can already predict who I'll be up against.

"Haah…" I sigh as I watch my opponent take the stage when they call his name,

"In this corner, we have Cardin Winchester. He has been rising through the ranks in this competition, quickly becoming a crowd favourite for his strength in wielding such a large mace when still so young!" The announcer says, getting some cheers from the audience.

"In contrast his opponent, Ira has only grown more mysterious with every match; each of his matches ending when he draws his rusty blade. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what he does next!" He shouts, getting cheers again and announces the match, "Let the match, BEGIN!"

"What's wrong, you scared?" Cardin taunts, readying his weapon.

"Haaah…" I sigh once more, not only was he annoying me when I was on a nice leisurely cruise ship, but he does it again when I'm trying to win the tournament money. 'I really should break his legs' I think to myself. No I probably shouldn't he needs to be fit to attend Beacon, seriously with everything being a bit different than what I remember, why is he still a prick?

"And as we have seen before, Ira still has yet to draw his sword, perhaps he is sizing up his opponent, the question in the back of all our minds, will his speed be able to compete with Cardin's strength?" The announcer comments as he watches us standing still; there has been match commentary from the quarter finals onwards, almost like the Vytal Festival, minus the changing landscape sadly.

"HA!, hear that? He thinks you might win." Cardin taunts again while laughing, I hold back the urge to sigh as I reach into my waistcoat and pull out a weapon different from the one at my waist,

"It seems Ira is already making a move, what will he use this time? A gun? A crossbow?...A SPOON?!" The announcer shouts in shock as I bring out a spoon from my waistcoat, infuriating my opponent.

"Does Ira think his opponent who has crushed every one of his opponents so far isn't even worth using a proper weapon against?!" He shouts, only serving to infuriate Cardin more.

"Well?" I ask with a taunting smirk, "Round two?"

Charging towards me swinging the axe in a two-handed overhead swing, I lightly sidestep and slowly bring the spoon towards his head, causing him to back away as quickly as he can.

"And Cardin backs away, but was it just me, or was Ira's swing rather slow compared to before, it begs the question, is he taunting his opponent or has Cardin done something to deal with his opponents speed?" As the announcer comments with a play-by-play, it only serves to increase Cardin's frustration as it seems the announcer is only trying to humiliate him, or at least that's how he sees it.

This frustration only further deepens as the match goes on, each swing is dodged and the spoon somehow slowly moves towards his head every time, with the announcer's comments only serving as further humiliation.

"AHHH!" He shouts, it seems the frustration has finally gotten to him as he charges at me, swinging his mace with a horizontal sweep.

Noticing what he is trying to do, I dash forward towards him instead of dodging, elbowing downwards against his rising knee. He had tried to bait me into dodging and then following it up with a kick to the face; honestly not that bad, but with how he was acting while trying to bait me, he may as well have just screamed what he was doing. Seeing me come closer he brings up his free arm to try and uppercut me as I move closer, however,

Dong!

A familiar sound rings out and he collapse down to the ground, just before I land.

"…..AMAZING! It looks as if Contestant Ira leaped up, flipping over his opponent and hitting him in the head with the spoon as he flipped; instantly going through enough of Contestant Cardin's aura to knock him unconscious! AMAZING!" He shouts as medics run on stage. As they check the pulse of Cardin, they give the thumbs up and the announcer continues, "By way of KO, Ira goes through to the Finals!"

"Cool!" Neptune says as I walk backstage, he has been sticking around me since the first match, "You were so cool, Ira. But you should be careful, the next person you're fighting is the fan favourite, she is treated as a prodigy at Sanctum Academy; leagues above anyone else in this tournament."

"You seem to know quite a lot about this girl." I say to the quick talking boy, who blushes.

"I kinda have a massive crush on her…." He says in a low voice while rubbing the back of his head. 'Hmm, another change from the show; this is not looking good.' I think to myself as he continues speaking, only to be interrupted by the announcer,

"And her opponent, who literally came out of nowhere, defeating almost every opponent with his first strike; Ira!" The crowd cheers as the announcer calls me onto the stage.

I was debating ending the chapter here or concluding the tournament in this chapter, in the end I decided to split them. Cliffhanger, I guess.

A few familiar characters coming into play too.

This was also my first proper fight scene with weapons, the one when he was kidnapped doesn't count. Be sure to leave some feedback, I'd love to know how I did. Also the amount of people went from like 800 views to almost 1600 in a day, that's sort of crazy. Hope you like it.

Thanks for favouriting and Following and reviewing too.