Callum Gilmore:
Height: 187 cm
Weapon: Dual Blades
Monster: Roberto Manchez Sanchez the third (Greatest Jaggi)
Age: 24
Place of origin: Loc Lac
Hair colour: Black
Eye colour: Brown
Trivia: Was thought to have been killed, actually just went back in time.
The gang was idly sitting around, as they do before the start of each chapter, when suddenly Sean teleported into the room, holding a poster.
"We're entering this." He informed them.
ULTRA CONQUEROR OF THE REALM TOURNAMENT TURBO DELUXE REVELATOR CORE EX LATEST LAST FINAL DUNDORMA EDITION 3
"Oh, the hunter's tournament." Alexandra noted, somewhat surprised anyone other than her had an interest in that.
"I'm pretty sure Ed wrote that…" Callum pointed out.
"Well, the title's bound to get a bit weird when they change it every year for who knows how long." Alexandra briefly wondered if she had ever seen it be normal, before continuing anyways "Still, this is usually something that you need to be seriously into hunting to be interested in, I'm surprised that you want to enter. It's a good thing to see you taking hunting so seriously for once, everyone else could with learning from-"
She was interrupted by Sean silently pointing to the part of the poster showing reward money.
Even though Alexandra was disappointed, she had never entered the tournament before, so she figured that she might as well use this chance.
Everyone else just joined for the money.
The group signed up, with about half an hour left until the tournament started. So, they decided to walk around while they waited.
"Hey Zach," Joseph began "Ain't Alexandra and Sean taking this a bit too seriously?"
"Well yeah I guess, but it's still nice to have a tournament arc every now and then even if we don't get to use our monsters."
"Won't a story that's main gimmick is monster taming sink if we take away the monsters?"
"Maybe, but it's not like we've had monsters in a few weeks, so who cares."
They continued to disregard the fourth wall, until Joseph walked into someone.
He looked down to see a dude with black hair, shorter than he was.
"Ah, sorry kid." He muttered.
"I'm not a kid." The midget replied.
"Wait what?" Joseph said, mostly to himself, before something clicked in his mind.
He then started laughing at the shortness of the man in front of him, making every short joke that came to his mind, while the man stared at him blank-faced.
"Why is he doing this?" Natalie asked "We should stop him, it's really rude."
"Nope, let him have this." Zach sighed.
"But isn't that bad?" She asked.
"In his entire life, Joseph has never met a dude smaller than he is. Hasn't grown at all since he was about fourteen. So just… let him have this."
The man then had someone taller walk up to him, with white hair and green eyes, who spoke in a disinterested voice "Joshua, what are you doing? We need to get going."
"Ah sorry, Isaac, I was just getting laughed at… Anyways, let's go."
They then walked off, Joseph too busy laughing to notice.
Callum then walked towards them, somewhat hurriedly "The tournament's about to start, why are ya still here?"
Joseph then replied "Didja see that guy over there? Look at how damn short he is, it's amazing!"
Callum then looked in the direction he was pointing "Woah, it's "Reaper's Envoy" Joshua and "Frozen Flames" Isaac."
"...What?" Joseph instantly snapped out of his good mood, now looking worried.
"Quite a famous duo around here. Shrouded in mystery, the pair of them. Isaac is cold and calculating, while Joshua is more open, quite a ladies' man apparently. Use really unorthodox weapons too, an accelaxe and a scythe, which got them those titles. They're super respected as well, even taken out elder dragons. They must be entering, now I'm interested in this tournament."
Joseph went silent for a few seconds, before muttering "I'll crush that midget."
"What?" Everyone thought in unison, but didn't want to grab the attention of the demon that had just suddenly awakened.
Joseph continued anyways "He's clearly tryna take the spot of main character from me! Think about it, scythes are just long swords, but it's there just so he can be unique and mysterious. He's super popular, takes big hunts, part of a duo rather than a massive group of side characters like I am, he even stole my short gimmick. What have I got that he hasn't?"
Joseph was genuinely asking this question and reached an answer by himself "Aura. I'll crush him with aura."
He then ran off, now determined to ruthlessly destroy everyone else in the tournament and take first place.
"Ain't that gonna undo the past few years of work he put into controlling aura…?" Zach wondered aloud, somewhat concerned.
The group then started moving, trying to find anything else to focus on.
"You know Callum," Natalie began "You're quite a nerd when it comes to popular hunters." She hadn't intended to sound that harsh, she thought that nerd just stood for someone who was a big fan of something.
Callum took a second to work out how to respond to this, finally settling on "Call me that again and you won't wake up anymore."
Natalie didn't get what she'd done wrong, but she was terrified enough to stop the conversation there.
Finally, they returned and got ready to start.
The first round was a race, about 2000 metres.
The contestants were getting ready, when a man with spiky hair, surrounded by a group of 9 others proclaimed "Inferior contestants, withdraw before you taste failure, for we, the ten blades, shall win this tournament!"
No one moved.
"Only one of you can win." Someone pointed out.
"Well yeah, but like, one of us will. And it'll be me."
"I'm gonna win, if anyone will." A dude with gelled back hair who was a part of the group noted.
"I can't lose with my ability, you know" A girl with her hair reaching her back who was also part of the group smugly argued.
"Hey, guys, I'm the leader, so obviously the strongest, right? You're making us look uncool." The spiky-haired one argued back.
"Well I mean your tactics are a bit… unsuited for normal use." A man with hair reaching down to his knees pointed out.
"I am old and therefore the strongest" an elderly man stated.
The arguing amongst the group continued, while the rest just ignored them and got ready to start.
In total, there were around fifty participants.
"Now then!" An excited announcer suddenly appeared "The race is going to begin! One mile of running, only the first twenty four will advance! Who's gonna make it!?"
"Whozzat?" Zach asked Callum.
Callum sighed and replied "Hitoiki Costelli. We already saw her before, way back at the start of the series, one of them high-ranking hunters types."
"Don't she got work?"
"They usually show up to watch this, guess they enjoy it?"
"This kind of character doesn't really work well if you can't hear the voice"
Ben joined in the whispered conversation "Yer breaking the fourth wall a bit much here."
"Joseph's currently plannin' on a murder, so I've gotta do it for the both of us."
The countdown began, with all the hunters getting ready to go.
A gun was fired somewhere, signalling the start.
Joseph took off in a rush, fueled by unearthly anger, but collapsed a few seconds later, since he wasn't good at running.
The other fighters silently ran past, when he heard fans cheering for Joshua.
Joseph was then pulled off the ground by some other-worldly force and began running again, his energy seemingly limitless.
Meanwhile, the ten blades had encountered a problem early, as their old man character had run out of strength a few seconds in. While the rest ran on, determined to win, one remained.
"Mikhail…" the old man muttered.
"Don't worry, Ugo!" A man in heavy armour assured him "I'll get you to the next round!"
"There's no point in an old man like me making it, I'm just not suited for this anymore" Ugo joked back "Youngsters like you should just focus on yourselves, now."
"No, you told me it was your dream to see the second round of this tournament! I definitely won't leave you here, I'll carry you this mile if I need to!"
Natalie and Terrence silently watched this exchange, feeling quite moved by the mystery man in armour, until they realised that while they weren't moving the rest of the crowd had gotten way ahead.
While this was happening Matt tried running for a while, however he had made a fatal miscalculation. After at least four years of being carried everywhere by Klaus, he had gotten bad at running long distances, which is what caused him to collapse roughly halfway through, unable to move anymore. Ed saw him go down and felt like doing the same, he wasn't in the state of not having run anywhere for four years, he was just bad at running, though he still continued, not wanting to be taken out first.
Shoot and Lyra disappeared during this time, due to not being bothered to continue, alongside other contestants that the universe had decided to give no personality, as it couldn't be bothered.
Finally, the first round started to draw to a close, with Natalie and Terrence far behind because of earlier, competing over twenty-fourth place. But behind, they heard the sound of armour clanking. Even though he was even further behind than them, the man in the armour from before continued running forwards, determined to continue to the second round.
While they did want to win, they also felt like they couldn't stop his victory, so their running gradually turned into a slow walk. Eventually, the armoured man passed them, with both of them supporting him silently. He crossed the finish line at last, joining the rest of his team, all of them now having been successful in making it. The two were so happy for him it took them a second to realise this meant they'd been eliminated from the tournament.
"Now then!" Hitoiki suddenly appeared again, somehow having gotten here before anyone else "We're starting the second round, as that race was too uneventful to be its own chapter!"
"Is she allowed to do that?" Zach wondered aloud.
She then flung her arms around in the general direction of the area behind her, signalling that was important. "Around here there are eight medals, looking like this! You've gotta find them and bring them back here! Only the ones that bring them back advance to the finals!"
Everyone was then prepared to get going, before she interrupted them "First, you need to equip your weapons and maybe armour if you haven't already! Cause there could be monsters!"
Everyone decided to do as she said, since if they argued they'd probably be kicked out, so they all ran in separate directions into the area.
The first to find a medal was Ben, when suddenly he heard someone land behind him. It was the girl who was a part of the group of sword users from earlier.
"You should've already noticed by now, this isn't just a competition to see who can find the medals the fastest. Fighting was never banned, so it's a fight to see which eight will emerge victorious. Now, fight me!" She yelled.
"Sure, been meaning to hit somethin' for a while now!" Ben replied.
"I'm not gonna let you past. My name is Cleo of the imitation style, the fifth of the ten blades! I can instantly copy any sword technique I see!"
Ben drew his weapon, in axe mode.
Velvet stared at him in silence for a few moments, before coughing up blood and collapsing. "You're… not bad."
Ben felt disappointed and briefly wondered how she was a hunter, before heading back to the start to move to the next round.
Ed continued to run through a forest, feeling incredibly tired still. From behind him, he heard footsteps approaching and spun around to see a man with gelled-back hair appear, looking quite tired. Both of them stopped to catch their breath before they started their fight.
Finally the swordsman began "My name is Apollo of the wind style, the fourth of the ten blades! I'm the fastest member of the group!"
"How cute…" Ed replied "My name is Edward, the conqueror of demon kings!"
"Oh, that's not a bad title, we should probably work something about demons into our titles."
"Yes, it is indeed a good idea. Even though most people these days don't believe in them, there's definitely something about demons which strikes a sense of fear into the hearts of men, to call yourself above that causes even more fear."
"Well still, I suppose that if you're someone above demons, then cutting you down here will make me above-above demons." Apollo replied.
"Do not be so conceited, first prove your skill." Ed felt respect for this kindred spirit, not that he would let it show.
"Then, prepare yourself." Apollo warned him, before disappearing.
Ed was confused, but raised his guard, expecting an attack from anywhere.
Then, Apollo appeared once more, behind him, trying to catch his breath.
"Is something the matter, challenger, have you already exhausted your strength?" Ed asked, somewhat concerned.
"Yeah, kinda." Apollo was too tired to keep doing the act "Wind style really drains energy fast."
"Oh okay." Was the only response Ed could manage as he waited for him to get ready to try again.
Finally, Apollo recovered and swung his blade, only to get blocked quite easily. He then disappeared once more, attempting to swing from the side, which took Ed by surprise. While Ed was pushed back, Apollo lept into the air for an overhead strike, only to be narrowly blocked.
Apollo then went for another strike, but stopped again, this time out of breath. Deciding he couldn't wait for much longer, Ed suddenly announced "Now I shall take the offensive! Prepare yourself!"
He then unsheathed his sword, swinging it. Apollo swayed to the side to dodge it, but was then hit from behind by Ed's shield, collapsing to the ground instantly.
Ed paused a moment, before attempting to save this ending with "Perhaps in another life, we could've been friends."
Apollo seemed satisfied with that conclusion and passed out.
Ed still didn't have a medal after that, so he continued the way he was going before.
Vert found a medal and was about to take it, when a spiky-haired man dramatically jumped into view.
"My name is Flame, the first of the ten blades! I'll defeat you here, with my-!"
"Fire style?" Vert interrupted.
"How'd you guess?"
Vert looked at his sorta fire-shaped hair, thought about his name and looked at his armour was covered in fire patterns. "I'm just that good."
"Then, here I go." Flame announced, preparing himself "Burning soul!"
He then caught on fire.
Vert was confused, but Flame charged forwards anyways, to which Vert stepped to the side.
Flame then collapsed to the ground after missing the first swing. "Looks like it's over for me…" He audibly thought "I leave winning this tournament to you, my comrades."
He was now unconscious, thankfully the flames put themselves out and he seemed not that badly injured.
Vert processed what just happened for a few seconds more, before looking back to the medal, which was gone.
"Having no presence is pretty handy sometimes" Callum thought as he ran back to the starting area, to advance to the next round.
The midget scythe user who had been briefly introduced earlier found a medal and got ready to go back, when suddenly Joseph appeared behind him.
"So you made it here…" Joshua began the conversation, sounding somewhat annoyed.
"Oh, it's unlike someone as perfect as yerself to want conflict."
"You've been glaring daggers at me since before the start, I've just accepted there's no way around this."
"Well, still, I'll take ya out here, faker!"
"...Faker?"
"Yeah, I mean after all, yer tryna steal my thing, right? So I'll take you out before you can! If lose in your first appearance, then there's no way you can have a good enough first impression to stay in the series!"
Joshua said nothing, but his reaction was somewhere between "Oh that's all there is to it." and "Are you kidding?", as he readied his scythe.
Joseph then pulled his sword off his back, having been ready to fight for a while before he got here.
Joseph charged forward, with the man he'd decided was his rival waiting to counter.
TO BE CONTINUED
Like the Alexandra chapter a few weeks ago, here's something I've been planning on writing for at least a year and a half.
Overall, I'm looking forward to it, but mostly the stuff to come.
I also spent way more time that I thought I would giving the ten blades personalities, so I guess that for some reason I'm now attached to them.