Cu Chulainn's Colosseum, a venue as legendary as the ancient god-hero that it was named after. On this evening, the venue was filled to its maximum capacity of twenty thousand three hundred fifty-six attendees. Nobles and commoners alike, hailing from every corner of the world, had come to witness the spectacle that is The Queen's Tournament. The annual event celebrated the heroic feats of the finest heroes that the Frostlands had to offer. In the past year alone, this prestigious event brought in over six million crowns to the Kingdom of Alfheim through attendance revenue. Not to mention the massive boost to the local economy that the influx of tourists that the event brought along with it.

Tetsuya fidgeted nervously in his seat.

The boy closed his eyes for a moment, his mind sifting through memories that he had long buried. He remembered one cool autumn day, during high school Japanese literature class. His teacher asked him to stand up and read a passage from the novel Ningen Shikkaku by Osamu Dazai. As soon as he opened his mouth, he found himself stumbling through his words. At first, it was only a few mistakes here and there. Understandable, no one is perfect. But the longer he read out loud, the more egregious his mistakes became. Even though his eyes were focused on the pages of the book, he could feel the eyes of his classmates slowly converge upon him. The more he stuttered, the more eyes he drew to himself. Soon, everyone in the room was staring at him. First came the whispers, then came the laughter. The teacher said nothing, because he didn't get paid enough to care about the feelings of a socially awkward boy.

The boy opened his eyes and looked around him, taking in the sight of the sea of spectators in attendance. Soon, all of their eyes would converge upon him.

He wanted to die.

"Are you alright, Tetsuya?" Chelsea asked with a mouthful of food. The plucky half-orc sat beside him, holding a roasted boar leg in each hand.

Tetsuya forced a smile on his face and gave her a tepid nod in response. "I'm fine," the boy lied.

"You don't look fine," Chelsea said suspiciously, reading the boy's face like an open book. "Do you need to throw up? Because I can carry you outside if you need to throw up."

Tetsuya let out a heavy sigh as he sank in his seat. "I don't do well in front of large crowds," the boy confessed. "Knowing that pretty soon ten thousand people are going to be watching my every move... It just freaks me out, alright?"

"Twenty thousand, actually," the half-orc corrected him. She took another gluttonous bite out of the roasted boar leg.

"You're not helping," the boy frowned.

Tetsuya surveyed his immediate surroundings. He sat at a section in the stands that was reserved for the competitors in the tournament. Around him were some of the greatest warriors from all over the Frostlands. Some faces he recognized, some of the faces he didn't. He unfolded a piece of parchment that gave some basic information about the tournament, his eyes went to the section listing the names of all the competitors in the tournament. The Queen's Tournament was made up of sixteen competitors, twelve of them were currently sitting in the stands, waiting for the tournament to commence.

Tetsuya Miyazaki, Chelsea the Fierce, Liam Cullen, and Henry Dalton would be representing the Free City of Midgard.

Alexis Forrester and Terrwyn ferch Daffyd would be representing all of the Wildlands.

Arthur Prescott, Oliver Reed, Kiyoko Fujiwara, and Mei Xiaodong would be representing the Kingdom of Alfheim.

Emily Stewart would be representing the Kingdom of Camelot.

Gunther von Stahl would be representing the Kingdom of Myrkheim.

The final four competitors that were still unaccounted for were Lady Kiera of House Flynn, Lady Astrid of House Larsen, Lord Edward of House Prescott, and Lord Gino of House Martinelli, the four members of the Queensguard that had yet to make their grand entrance.

"Another boar leg!" Chelsea stood up and shouted, beckoning for a food vendor to bring her more food.

"Should you really be eating at a time like this?" Tetsuya asked, impressed by his half-orc companion's incorrigible appetite.

"I'm a growing girl," Chelsea shrugged, taking a big bite out of the roasted boar leg.

"You're twenty," the boy frowned. "I don't think you have that much growing left to do."

"Muscles never stop growing," Chelsea smirked, flexing her thick biceps.

“Neither do bellies,” the boy pointed out.

Chelsea glared at the boy indignantly.

A reverent hush fell on the crowd as a group of royal trumpeters played a fanfare, heralding the entrance of the Alfheimian Royal Family and the Queensguard. The procession was led by Lady Kiera of House Flynn, the Captain of the Queenguard. Behind her were Queen Siobhan and King Connor, the ruling monarchs of the Kingdom of Alfheim. Behind them was their daughter Princess Deirdre, the heir apparent to the throne. To the right flank of the royal family was Lady Astrid of House Larsen. To the left was Lord Edward of House Prescott. Bringing up the rear were Lord Gino of House Martinelli, Lady Isabella of House Ortiz, and Lady Eloise of House Delacroix.

"I don't recognize those three at the back," Tetsuya whispered to Chelsea. "Are they members of the Queensguard as well?"

Chelsea nodded. "The pale, brooding boy is Lord Gino. He's a vampire from the Kingdom of Medici," Chelsea explained. "The woman with the fluffy ears and fluffy tail is Lady Isabella. She's a werewolf from the Kingdom of Legazpi. Their families have been locked in a blood feud that has lasted for hundreds of years. The two of them fell in love and fled their kingdoms to start a new life here in the Kingdom of Alfheim. It's kind of romantic, isn't it?" Chelsea said with an envious sigh.

"Star-crossed lovers, huh?" Tetsuya said. "I didn't figure that you'd be the type who was into romance."

"Just because I like to hit monsters in the head with my axe until they die doesn't mean that I can't like girly things as well," Chelsea replied.

"What about the little blonde girl?" Tetsuya asked.

"That's Lady Eloise," Chelsea replied. "She's a summoner who has made a pact with the guardian spirit Fenrir, the progenitor of all dire wolves. Summoners are already pretty rare, but for one to have a guardian spirit as powerful as Fenrir, that's enough to land her a spot in the Queensguard."

As if on cue, Lady Eloise called forth her guardian spirit. A giant, ferocious dire wolf materialized in the air. She gave the beast a big hug and climbed on its back. Lady Eloise rode the beast around the colosseum, waving to the spectators in attendance. The other members of the Queensguard looked on at her childish antics with mild amusement. The mighty beast Fenrir paused, sniffing the air curiously. It looked around at the stands until its hungry eyes locked on Tetsuya. The boy had a sinking feeling that the guardian beast was looking at him in the same way Chelsea was looking at the roasted boar legs in her hands.

Tetsuya chuckled. "I'm in danger."

Princess Deirdre stepped forward to addresses the crowd on behalf of the royal family. "Tonight will be a night forever etched in history!" the princess announced, the stagehand's acoustic magic amplified her voice to reach every corner of the arena. "A night where heroes will become legends and legends will become immortal!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Queen's Tournament!" On her cue, a group of stagehands unleashed a dazzling display of fireworks illuminated the sky as if to punctuate her words.

The crowd stood up to their feet and roared in response, showering their beloved princess with a round of applause.

"I will now turn you over to your host for tonight, Lady Eloise!" Princess Deirdre said, handing over the spotlight to the young succubus.

"I am your host, Lady Eloise," the succubus introduced herself with a charming curtsy, Her guardian spirit Fenrir stood protectively beside her.

"Sixteen competitors will go head to head against one another," Lady Eloise continued. "To win, you must either incapacitate your opponent or force your opponent to surrender. The winner of each match will advance to the next round. The last man or woman standing will be crowned as this year's champion!"

”The first match of the evening will be Alexis Forrester versus Lord Liam of House Cullen!”

The crowd stirred with excitement as the two competitors stood up and made their way to the colosseum floor.

"Is that really him?" a noble in the audience asked, his voice filled with reverence and awe. "Is that really Lord Declan's son?"

"Are you blind?" the attendee sitting next to him asked. "The boy is a spitting image of his father!"

"Look at the way that he carries himself," an elderly gentleman mused. "I can see a lot of his grandfather, Lord Seamus, in him as well."

"The kind of legacy that he's expected to live up to..." an attendee said to himself. "I can't even begin to imagine the kind of pressure that he must be under."

Tetsuya listened to the murmurs of the crowd around him, it took him a moment for everything to finally register in his mind. "Wait a minute, Liam is a lord?" he asked, turning to Chelsea for an explanation.

"Right, I guess you wouldn't know just by looking at him, But Liam is the current patriarch of House Cullen," Chelsea explained. "His grandfather Lord Seamus and his father Lord Declan were both members of the Queensguard. The power and influence that the two of them had amassed during their service as members of the Queensguard have made House Cullen one of the most powerful and influential houses in the Frostlands to this very day."

“I never would have guessed,” Tetsuya said, still in disbelief. "But if he comes from such a powerful and influential house, then why do you guys-"

"Constantly take the piss out of him?" Chelsea asked with a laugh. "You can blame MacGregor for that. For a long time, none of us really knew how to approach Liam. He mostly kept to himself, and it was pretty intimidating trying to approach him. In hindsight, I think he must have felt really lonely," she spoke with a tinge of sadness and regret in her voice.

"Then MacGregor came along," Chelsea's smile widened. "MacGregor being MacGregor, you can guess what happened next. The first time that they had ever met, the two of them butted heads and ended up getting in a fistfight with each other. But to everyone's surprise, as soon as that fight ended, the two of them became the best of friends. Even to this day, the two of them are still best of friends. Soon after that, everyone felt more relaxed around Liam. People got to know him better. Eventually, we came to see him as just another citizen, just another adventurer, just another friend."

The faun and the high elf stood across from each other. Alexis wore a handmade skirt made of forest flora, and par for the course for the faun, he wore very little else. His lithe, supple figure was exposed to the elements, drawing in the eyes of many of the women, and a few of the men, in attendance. Liam took the opposite approach with his attire. The high elf wore a long padded robe with a chain mail shirt over it for added protection. Alexis smiled and waved frantically at the opponent standing across from him. Liam shifted his gaze, pretending not to notice the faun. Undeterred, the faun continued to flail his arms wildly, determined to get the high elf’s attention. Liam sighed and begrudgingly gave the faun a halfhearted wave of acknowledgment, much to the faun's delight.

"You really should consider wearing some kind of armor," Liam suggested.

"It's okay!" Alexis exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. "I don't plan on letting you land a single hit on me!"

"You smug little shit," Liam flashed a belligerent smirk. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your cute little ass all over this arena."

"You think I'm cute?" Alexis asked, wiggling his tail happily.

"What? No," Liam said, shaking his head. "That's not what I meant you stupid deer!"

"That makes me very happy!" Alexis said, ignoring Liam's blatant repudiation.

Liam let out a frustrated sigh. "Can we please just get this match started already?" the high elf muttered under his breath.

The faun and the high elf encircled each other carefully, watching for their opponent's opening move. Alexis alchemized three arrows in his hand, a feat that stunned the crowd into silence. He converted the mana found in the environment into carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements. He rearranged these elements to create the different parts of the arrows. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin were used to create the wooden shafts. Iron was used to create arrowheads. Keratin was used to create feathers that served as the fletching. The prodigious faun executed this highly complex level of alchemy with seemingly little effort.

Alexis nocked an arrow and aimed at Liam, a hunter aiming at his prey. The faun fired the opening salvo of the match, three arrows in rapid succession. Liam dodged the first, blocked the second by quickly conjuring a Stone Shield, and dodged the third. Liam blitzed forward, closing the distance between him and his opponent. It was an unorthodox move since wizards excel at long-range combat. But, wizards who were daring enough could be surprisingly lethal even while fighting up close. A blast of his signature Stone Shrapnel spell could tear through his opponent like they were made of wet, calligraphy paper. Once he was within striking distance, Liam had his options and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. The high elf smirked and clobbered Alexis on the head with his shillelagh as hard as he could.

Alexis winced in pain and fell hard on his butt. He took his hand and rubbed the spot on his head that Liam had hit him, attempting to assuage the pain. His bottom lip quivered as he looked up at Liam and gave him an innocent doe-eyed stare.

"Tch, don't give me that look," Liam said coldly. "We're in the middle of a match here."

"What an awful young man," a woman in the crowd frowned with disapproval."

"How could he do that to such a poor, sweet little thing?" another woman said, shaking her head.

"Seriously, cut that shit out," Liam muttered to the faun under his breath. "You're making me look like I'm some kind of bad guy here."

"I'm getting some serious seme and uke vibes from those two," Tetsuya muttered to himself, referring to Liam and Alexis respectively. "Fucking fujoshi. Even in another world, I still can't escape from you vile cretins."

Chelsea stared blankly at the boy sitting next to her. She never could understand his inane ramblings, but found them entertaining nonetheless.

Tetsuya sighed "It's a Japanese thing," the boy explained.

Chelsea turned her attention back to the colosseum floor, satisfied with Tetsuya's non-explanation.

”Hey, faun,” Liam spoke. “How about we get serious?”

Alexis smiled and slowly stood up back on his feet.

The mood changed abruptly. Alexis aimed his bow at Liam. Thinking quickly, the high elf cast Smoke Screen to conceal himself from his opponent’s view. Under the cover of his Smoke Creed, Liam fired a volley of Stone Shrapnel at his opponent. Alexis was quick enough to dodge the surprise attack, the lethal projects just barely grazed his ribs. Undaunted, Alexis returned fire with a flurry of arrows into the thick cloud of smoke. The Smoke Screen slowly dissipated, revealing that Alexis landed several hits, two arrows protruding from Liam’s right shoulder that pierced through his chain mail, another arrow protruding from his left thigh. Liam looked stunned, and a little bit impressed that Alexis managed to connect with his attacks.

”How did Alexis manage to hit Liam?” Tetsuya wondered.

Chelsea thought about all of the most likely scenarios. “He's probably using Hunter’s Mark,” she replied. “As long as Alexis can maintain this enhancement, he’ll be able to sense Liam’s exact location on the battlefield.

“That means his Smoke Screen is completely useless,” Tetsuya said.

”Yeah,” Chelsea confirmed. “If utilizing his Smoke Screen was part of his strategy, Liam is going to need to come up with a new game plan and fast."

Liam grimaced in pain as he pulled out each arrow one by one. He had two options, he could cast a healing spell to close his wounds that would take time and concentration to complete, or he could use flame magic to temporarily cauterize the wounds in a fraction of the time it would take to complete the healing spell. Liam placed his palm over his wounds and used flame magic to sear his own flesh, cauterizing the wounds shut. It was an extremely painful process, but it was fast and was the best option available to him in the heat of battle.

Alexis rained arrows down on Liam, the faun's attacks were relentless, not letting the high elf catch his breath. Liam cast a large Stone Shield to protect himself from the onslaught of arrows. It was a war of attrition, both Alexis' Arrow Rain and Liam's Stone Shield cost a great deal of mana to maintain. At the rate they were going, both competitors would push themselves to the brink of exhaustion. But in this situation, Liam had it the worst of the two. Alexis was connecting with some shots, while Liam was focused purely on defending himself.

To make matters worse, Liam felt a sense of numbness gradually taking over his extremities. The high elf deduced that Alexis wasn't firing just any ordinary arrows, the faun most likely laced each arrowhead with a powerful paralytic toxin similar to what giant wasps use to paralyze their prey. If his theory was correct, it would only be a matter of time until his entire body became unresponsive. Worst yet, every attack that Alexis lands would introduce more paralytic toxins into his system, speeding up the process. If Liam didn't act fast and end this match as soon as possible, his chances of victory would only grow dimmer and dimmer.

Liam steeled his resolve, he dispersed his Stone Shield and went on the offensive. The high elf began his counter-attack by casting his Flash Bang spell to monetarily disorient Alexis and to create an opening for himself. Knowing he only had a few moments Alexis regained his bearings, Liam charged at Alexis, bringing himself within arm's reach of the faun. This time, it wasn't just going to be a shillelagh to the head. Liam reached down deep and hit Alexis with Incendiary Blast, a powerful flame magic spell that detonated with explosive force. Due to his proximity to the target, Liam was caught in the crossfire of his own spell, taking damage as well. It was a calculated risk, but he knew Alexis would take the brunt of the damage. His attack left the faun's chest and arms severely burnt.

”I have one more trick up my sleeve,“ Liam said panting, pushed to the brink of exhaustion. “Watching Lord Edward fight at the Battle of Galanis’ Village when he used Mana Block to cripple the enemy mages. It got me thinking, maybe I can do something similar.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I don‘t have the level of mana control that Lord Edward does. But the way I see it, I don’t need to. Whether you can use Mana Control to wrestle away environmental mana from your opponent, or if you just use up all that mana yourself until there’s nothing left, the results are more or less the same.”

Liam gathered as much environmental mana as he could, condensing it all into a single spell. “I call it Scorched Earth!” Liam screamed as he cast a deadly stream of flames towards Alexis.

Alexis dodged the attack by the skin of his teeth. He raised his bow and aimed at Liam. The faun attempted to alchemize more arrows into his hand, but to his surprise, nothing happened. There was not enough mana left in the environment for him to alchemize into arrows. It would take a few minutes for mana to naturally flow back into the immediate area. Until then, Alexis was defenseless. Liam charged forward with his shillelagh in hand. Just one strike and he could end this match. Just one more step. Just one more moment. Liam froze, his body had reached its limits. The paralytic effects of Alexis’ arrows had finally taken their toll on him. The stunned onlookers watched as Liam fell to the ground.

“The winner of the first match of the tournament, Alexis Forrester!” Lady Eloise announced.

As soon as the match had ended, Alexis knelt beside Liam and quickly went to work. The faun applied an anti-toxin ointment on the high elf's wounds to counteract the effects of his Paralytic Arrows. Liam was a bit surprised that Alexis would bother taking the time to treat him instead of spending that time celebrating his hard-fought victory. Though he really shouldn't have been too surprised, he was already aware of the kindhearted nature of the guileless faun.

"You have to admit, I almost had you," Liam said with a weak smile.

"It was a close match," Alexis admitted. "You fought really well."

"Next time," Liam muttered to himself. "Next time, I'll beat you for sure."

"Next time, I'll be even stronger," Alexis smiled.

Princess Deirdre walked towards Liam and Alexis with two royal clerics in tow. Lady Isabella walked beside her, serving as her escort. It was a safety precaution to always have a member of the royal family accompanied by a member of the Queensguard whenever they interacted with a member of the general public.

"What's going on?" Tetsuya wondered. "What's Princess Deirdre doing?"

"House Gallagher is renowned for their healing magic," Chelsea explained. "It's tradition for a member of the royal family to help tend to the injuries that the competitors sustain during the Queen's Tournament."

The crowd watched in awe as Princess Deirdre and the royal clerics tended to Liam and Alexis. Within a few minutes, all of their wounds and all of their burns had completely disappeared. They had also accelerated the effects of the anti-toxin ointment that Alexis used on Liam. Without an anti-toxin to work with, treating Liam would have been a cumbersome task, even for the royal clerics. Suturing lacerations were simple, counteracting an unknown toxin was far more complicated.

"I feel bad for Liam," Tetsuya said softly. "He's been pouring his heart and his soul into training these past couple of days. You could tell that this tournament really did mean a lot to him." The boy sighed sadly. "To think that he could have lost in the first round..."

“Even though Alexis might be the one going on to the next round,” Chelsea said. “Do you really think Liam lost tonight?”

Alexis helped Liam up to his feet. As they stood side by side, the audience showered the two young lions with a roaring ovation.