The arena for the main tournament was like a huge stadium. Thousands of people sat in the audience, lined up row on row.

When the girls and I entered, we showed the token we got from the preliminaries to the guards, who then led us through a hallway beneath the audience seats, eventually into a large room. Inside sat a man - the same one who had been responsible for District A's preliminaries.

"Good to see you all again," he said as the guards left us, gently shutting the door to the chamber.

"Likewise," I replied. "I'm assuming you'll be explaining to us the rules of this tournament?"

The man nodded. "Naturally. The three other groups, one from each district, are also receiving the same explanation right about now."

Saying this, he motioned to the chairs placed in an arc around him. "Please, take a seat. It is uncomfortable for me to talk while being the only one sitting down."

You say that, but… isn't that exactly what you're doing right now? You don't seem uncomfortable at all to me… ah, whatever. Formalities, I suppose.

We each took a seat, since there was no sense in refusing his polite offer. Once we did so, the man spoke again.

"Firstly, I want to make one thing clear to you - this tournament will be an individual contest."

Our eyes widened. "What…?"

"Yes, I know… you all are quite close with one another, no? Don't worry. You won't have to fight amongst yourselves."

Clearing his throat, the man continued. "Because there are ten people from each District, that makes 40 people in total. The final number of people who will be able to enter Fragment is also ten - meaning if all of you here win your fights, you will all be able to enter Fragment together."

"So… how would the brackets work?" Feng Mian asked thoughtfully.

"Each person will only have to fight twice. There will be ten groups of four in total, and of those four, there will be one contestant from each District. In other words, each of you will be placed into one group. If you all come out on top in your respective group, then the ten of you can enter Fragment together."

"That's going to be… difficult," Lan Xiao Su murmured worriedly.

"S-So we'll be split apart?" Qing Yue asked in concern. "But… I'm a Support-type…"

"Worry not. You will be split into groups based on your strength evaluated in the preliminaries," the man said, soothing her worries. "In addition, supports will evaluated differently than the others. Rather than fighting, they will be competing in terms of healing capabilities."

Qing Yue's eyes lit up. "I can do that!"

"Of course, this also means the leaders of the various Districts will all be placed into one bracket. That group will be the most difficult."

"Leader?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes… that would be you, boy," the man chuckled. "It was clear in the preliminaries who was taking control, even though you all did not actually designate a leader. The rest of these young ladies merely followed you naturally."

"Hm… I see. So four people in one group, two sets of one vs ones, then the finals, to determine the winner of that group. The same process applies for the rest of the groups. Is this a good summary?" Yu An Yan asked.

The man nodded. "Precisely. The actual duels will be simple - anything goes, including artifacts and whatnot. Killing is allowed. For supports, the exact rules will be explained to them when it is their turn to compete."

"I see. How long until the tournament begins?" I asked.

"Exactly an hour from now. You have until then to strategize and such," the man replied, then snapped his fingers. The screen on the wall behind suddenly blinked to life, revealing a variety of information.

"On this screen, you can find information on all of the contestants in the tournament, including yourselves. You can operate it via touchscreen. To see the bracket, click the top left corner."

As if to demonstrate, he clicked on the top left corner of the screen, revealing a brand new page. He then zoomed in on the bottom-right-most bracket of them all. I saw my own name, along with three others: Octavius, Peng Yao, and Lin Luo.

"This is the leader bracket, happening at the very end of the tournament today. There will be thirty duels happening in total, which will take up the whole day, estimates predict. The supports bracket will be happening first."

Saying this, he panned the screen up to the first bracket, top-left. The names listed were Qu Di Yi, Zheng Xiao, Elena, and Qing Yue.

"That is all. I leave the rest of this time to yourselves," the man said, boldly brushing past us and heading for the door.

As he passed me, he tapped me gently on the shoulder.

"Best of luck."

*****

"Hm… let's take a look at the opponents Qing Yue will be facing first, shall we?" I murmured after the man left and closed the door.

Feng Mian nodded and moved to the screen, going to be the one responsible for operating it. Closing out of the bracket and returning to the profiles screen, she scrolled down in search of Qu Di Yi, Zheng Xiao, and Elena.

Because the list was in alphabetical order, Elena came first. Feng Mian tapped on her portrait, and a new screen was brought up. On it contained various pieces of information about the girl.

Name: Elena Cullen

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire

Role: Support

Rank: Advanced Mage

Elemental Affinities: Blessing, Necromancy, Void, Sound, Psychic

Beside this info was a portrait of her face. She had black hair and red eyes, almost similar to Obsidia. However, there was a playful grin on her face with a fang sticking out that made Obsidia seem far more mature.

"Can you handle her, Qing Yue?" I asked teasingly.

"Hm… she's an Advanced Mage, but… I have confidence!" Qing Yue replied happily.

"Yeah, I mean, even if we're only Intermediate Mages right now, we technically have the status of an Advanced Mage in terms of elemental affinities," Xiang Peng said. "The Awakening Stones we received were pretty good."

"Nya, byut wyouldn't they hyave recweived Awyakening Stones as well?" Amane asked in confusion.

"Hm… maybe the rewards for the other Districts are a bit different," I shrugged. "I mean, this girl only has five elements. As a Vampire and an Advanced Mage, she should have more combined with an Awakening Stone. It doesn't seem like she used one. It would be pretty dumb to not use an Awakening Stone before this important fight, so…"

"Let's take a look at the other two," Yu An Yan suggested. Feng Mian nodded in agreement and continued to operate the touchscreen as the rest of sat back on our chairs.

It didn't take long to reach the opponent, Qu Di Yi. We skipped over Qing Yue herself since there was no need to check that.

Name: Qu Di Yi

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Role: Support

Rank: Advanced Mage

Elemental Affinities: Blessing, Psychic, Light, Earth

"Yeah… if they got Awakening Stones, they wouldn't only have four elements, considering anyone who made it to the main tournament should be talented," Xiang Peng sighed. "Looks like we got the long end of the stick."

"Not necessarily," Lan Xiao Su interrupted. "What the other teams have gotten may be even better than Awakening Stones. Just a possibility, though."

"True - we can't rule out that probability," Yu An Yan said. "But honestly, there aren't too many things more valuable than Awakening Stones."

I smirked. "Upgrade Runes, perhaps…?"

"Oh yeah! Upgrade runes!" the girls collectively realized.

"Just a guess," I chuckled. "Be ready to face upgraded spells though."

They nodded, and I turned back to the screen. "Now then… the last guy…"

Name: Zheng Xiao

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Role: Support

Rank: Advanced Mage

Elemental Affinities: Blessing, Psychic, Shadow, Earth

"Huh, this guy and Qu Di Yi have nearly the exact same elements," I mused.

"I mean, Blessing is a given, since their role is support, but other than that, it's really quite a coincidence," Qing Yue noted.

I smiled and ruffled my little sister's hair. "So, Qing Yue. Do you think you can handle the three of them?"

"Of course, Big Brother Xuan Kai! When it comes to Blessing Magic… heh, they can't beat me!"

"Qing Yue's only an Intermediate Mage, but she knows some Level Three Blessing Magic already, right?" Feng Mian wondered.

Qing Yue rubbed her nose in triumph. "Hehe, I learned them back in Shenzhen. I wasn't able to cast them back then, but I still remember how to. Now, I have enough skill to actually use them. Just watch me."

After that, we continued to browse through the other opponents. There were a few Ancestral Mages here and there, but for the most part, they were Advanced Mages. Golden Monarchs and up were placed in a separate division, after all. There were just a few people that were quite concerning…

… All three of which were placed into the leader bracket with me.