Grand Tournament - Preliminaries and Free For All

Sporting Event / Competition

The tournament began before sunrise, with hundreds of hopefuls gathering at the coliseum gates to prove themselves worthy of advancement. The preliminaries were not battles of blood, but tests of raw physical prowess—designed to narrow the field before the real spectacle began.

Each contestant faced five challenges:

• Lift the Boulder – a test of sheer strength
• Champion’s Slap – withstand a blow from last year’s reigning champion
• Arm Wrestling – pure brute contest
• Obstacle Course – speed, balance, and focus
• Don’t Get Tagged – a reflex-based evasion trial, where champions tried to mark the contestants

Only three out of five needed to be passed cleanly—though excelling in all granted prestige and better seeding in the Free For All.

Torgil & Lilly — Unshakable

Torgil wasted no time in setting a tone of dominance.

• He hoisted the largest boulder available, holding it above his head for several seconds to the roaring approval of the crowd.
• During the Champion’s Slap, he withstood a thunderous, critical blow—losing a fifth of his health, but standing tall where others were nearly knocked unconscious.
• In arm wrestling, he crushed his opponent’s hand into the table like it was paper.
• He completed the obstacle course and pulled entire teams across the line in the tug test alone.

But it was Lilly who stole the crowd’s heart.

• She mirrored Torgil’s strength tests and surpassed him, completing each trial with casual ease, her draconic blood showing through.
• Her calm, controlled movements in the evasion course left even the fastest champions impressed.
• Her performance was so precise and unshaken, she earned an honorary commendation for “flawless execution.”

The two earned top placements in the Free For All.

Vin — Quiet Precision

Vin approached each test with measured care—never shining, but never failing.

• He struggled slightly with the boulder and champion’s slap but passed.
• His dexterity carried him through the obstacle course and evasion trial cleanly.
• While others boasted, Vin stayed quiet and focused.

He advanced—not as a crowd favorite, but as someone to watch out for.

Free For All Begins

The Free For All was the centerpiece of the Grand Tournament—a staged storm of magic, muscle, and desperation. Nearly seventy combatants entered. Only fifteen would walk away with placement.

Vin, placed randomly at the outer edge of the arena, was joined by Torgil and Lilly, who had earned favorable positions due to dominant performances in the preliminaries. The trio moved together early on but soon found themselves locked in a brutal and escalating series of encounters.

Despite lasting no more than three minutes in real time, the fight felt endless—every breath earned, every inch contested.

Arena Conditions and Format

• Skirmishes rotated through the field as contestants were forced into constant motion.
• Arena mages stationed on all sides cast disabling spells at regular intervals—fireballs, sleep, binding vines, and more.
• Halfway through, a Ring of Fire encircled the battlefield and began to slowly close inward.
• Contestants were pushed toward the center or burned at the edges. The match would end with a final bombardment of spells targeting the last fighters standing.
• Protective enchantments prevented death, but not pain—or injury.

Misfits Under Fire

Torgil and Lilly initially swept through clusters of lesser foes, eliminating dangerous individuals like Amun Ra'khet of Shinryu using the advancing fireline. Vin, relying on speed and discipline, moved with care—still adapting to the reality that his strength as a death monk held no advantage in a non-lethal contest.

The tide shifted when they encountered the Goliath sisters, Torra and Brynna, who held the central zone with overwhelming coordination and brute strength. The Misfits’ advance stalled under their combined pressure—Torgil barely withstanding their strikes, and Lilly and Vin taking punishing blows.

Even River, watching from the mage ring, could do little more than direct their movement and hold spells in reserve. She was joined by Laura, who observed with quiet intensity as River tracked every shifting variable.

Tactical Brilliance and Narrow Survival

Lilly’s first offensive spell, Lightning Bolt, had stunned several targets earlier in the match, allowing the arena mages to remove them. But by the end, she was bruised, burned, and spent.

Vin fought with brutal elegance, but each hit he delivered felt hollow—measured in grit and movement, not finality. He came away from the match not empowered, but exposed, realizing how close he had come to breaking.

The match ended in a blinding crescendo—a volley of fireballs cast across the shrinking central field, intended to down any who still stood. Bodies crumpled. Screams echoed. Dust filled the air.

When it cleared, the count was taken.

Vin and Lilly lay unconscious—but breathing.
Torgil stood, barely.

They were among the final fifteen.
They would continue.

The rest would be healed, stabilized, and escorted off the field.

For the Bloody Misfits, the fight had been won—but it had come with a cost.

And someone had been watching.

Assassination Attempt on River

As the final fireballs of the Free For All lit the sky and bodies collapsed across the field, two figures moved through the crowd with quiet purpose.

They struck at the exact moment the flames hit—timing their attack to coincide with maximum confusion, assuming their target would be out of spells.

They were wrong.

River, exhausted but alert, was standing beside Laura at the edge of the mage ring when the two hooded assassins lunged. Their weapons were simple daggers—meant not for flair, but for certainty.

River noticed first, casting Shield just in time to deflect the strike aimed at her throat. Laura wasn’t as lucky—her attacker’s blade bit deep into her upper arm, but missed the kill.

Laura didn’t hesitate.

With a spell cast mid-spin, she disintegrated her attacker where he stood—leaving little more than scorched robes and dust. The second assassin, seeing what had just happened, turned to flee.

River cast Wrack.

The fleeing man collapsed mid-step, overwhelmed by the violent, invasive agony that came with the spell. Laura, arm bleeding, cast a secondary binding enchantment to restrain him.

"That spell—Wrack—teach me that," she whispered to River, nearly giddy through the pain.

Aftermath and Response

Guards arrived only moments later. Seeing that the situation had been handled and the would-be assassins neutralized, they made no alarm.

Instead, River and Laura were escorted quietly to the tournament officials.

An assassination attempt had taken place on the edge of the arena—but it had been contained.

The show had gone on.

But someone had tried to end it permanently.