With the preliminaries over, there were only forty-eight people in the waiting area, there are fewer people than Kai had predicted. Normally, someone would think that the participants changed their mind or something along those lines but if there were that many that didn't come to participate, then that meant that there were things that prevented them from going.

Well, it works in my favor anyway.

The less time he used in the tournament, the more he can focus on the Soul Thief. Kai meticulously planned to fight the Blind Swordsman and he had confidence in being able to win but Kai didn't intend to win the tournament because the moment they battle, the tournament would probably be destroyed.

Since there were only forty-eight people, that meant that Kai's group took a seventh of the participants. The competition rules were mentioned to them when they were taking the preliminaries at their respective towns. There were two brackets, one for the winners and one for the losers.

Anyone who loses twice was eliminated. Anyone who loses once will transfer over to the loser's bracket and has to defeat everyone to defeat the champion of the winner's bracket. The winner's bracket will last six rounds before deciding a champion while the loser's bracket lasts eight rounds.

The winner's bracket would have forty-eight participants in the first round, twenty-four in the second, twelve, six, three, then those three fight each other and the one with the most losses transfers to the loser's bracket, the two left will fight for the championships.

The loser's bracket would have no participants in the first round, twenty-four, twenty-four, eighteen, twelve, seven with the newest participant from the winner's bracket exempted for a round, four, then the finals for the loser's bracket with two people. The winner of the loser's bracket would then go on to the tournament finals.

There were different rules depending on the number of participants but since there are only forty-eight, then they had to follow this one. Perhaps someone intentionally thinned the number of participants to play with this set of rules rather than personal grudges.

The waiting area was quite wide and each participant was provided a small room to rest whenever needed. There are also healing mages on standby for anyone injured and since this is a battle with swords as the main form of attack, then wounds are inevitable. Not to mention that loss is decided not when an opponent is injured to an extent but when they are incapable of battling further or if they surrender.

Even knocking an opponent out of bounds isn't grounds for elimination.

"Do you see those people?"

"The ones in cloaks and masks? Yeah, what's the point of joining the tournament if they're going to hide their identities?"

The Tournament of Swords is a competition where most swordsmen come to gain fame. Other than Kai and the others, there were no other swordsmen that hid their faces even if their bodies were covered.

It appeared that nearly every participant here was using an Enchanted Gear, Kai's group was no exception as he provided them all with swords. Having so much Enchanted Gear gathered in one place is quite the sight. The only person without an Enchanted Gear is the Blind Swordsman who looked like he was sleeping while leaning on his sword by the corner but other than Kai and his group, nobody probably knew he was blind.

The participants kept on chattering, it appears that many of them became acquainted somehow.

"Kai, are you sure we don't need to hide our names?"

Erina asked.

"We've already registered using our first names so it's a little too late for that. Besides, even if they're able to find out that we're the ones who participated in the tournament, we'd have long since left the continent. It isn't important to hide our names, just our faces."

And, we can't hide too much. We need to let everyone know before the war about the existence of Memento Mori.

In times of war, a public figure would be best to gain morale. If a hero were to participate in a war, then the morale of the soldiers would surge. A hero is a legendary figure among history famed for having immense power so just having one on a side is a great help.

If Memento Mori were to be known throughout the world before the war, then once it starts, the people would have something to rely on.

Because there were only forty-eight participants, only one match is held at a time. The tournament lasts for several days and has no set time but normally, it lasts for ten days at most. Other than the days for fighting, there were also days for rest. Even if there are healers, mental fatigue could still accumulate.

They were given the names of their first opponents when they entered the arena and Kai was certain that seeds were impossible. Perhaps that was the reason the numbers were reduced to this level. If there were seeds, then the two strongest would fight by the end but with these rules, the two strongest would fight in the semi-finals and the winner in the loser's bracket would then get to fight the winner of the winner's bracket in the finals.

It was a well-calculated plan, all they had to do was make sure they were defeated once and then end up the champion in the loser's bracket. Nobody would look into the reason the other participants didn't attend because the less there were, the better the chance they had at winning.

"Well, it has nothing to do with me."

"What?"

"Just thinking out loud."

Kai answered Erina.

"Participants numbers 1 and 2, please proceed to the stage! I repeat, participants numbers 1 and 2, please proceed to the stage, your fight will begin in five minutes, failure to arrive within ten minutes after the match starts is grounds for elimination!"

A member of the staff arrived at the gate and called out. It wasn't too noisy so his voice was heard clearly.

"I guess it's my turn."

Erina said.

"Stay safe."

"Nn."

Kai bid Erina farewell. Seeing one of the cloaked figures move first made the other participants look at her. Her opponent was a man in his sixties, he used a short sword on one hand and a buckler by his left forearm. Bucklers were the limit of what they allowed for shields, kite shields and the like weren't allowed.

Gauntlets to cover the arms were allowed as well seeing as even full body armor was permitted.

Even though Erina and her opponent were on the stage, Kai and the others didn't move to watch.

Although most of the participants were confused as to why they wouldn't watch their comrade in the fight, they'd find out soon.

Some of them couldn't help but be curious and went over to watch but in less than five minutes, which was about just enough for them to reach the stage and back after watching for two minutes returned, the others were confused.

"Didn't you go over to watch the fight?"

The man who was asked had a confused expression.

"Fight? That was no fight, that was a kid trying to go up against a monster."

"So those cloaked figures aren't that big of a deal after all. I thought they were amazing people..."

The one who asked breathed a sigh of relief.

"...No, I wasn't saying that the cloaked figure lost. The old man lost without even being able to exchange five moves."

The ones who overheard them widened their eyes and began to ask questions. Soon, the others who had left to watch the match also returned and were questioned. Erina came back a few minutes after most of the interrogation was over and accompanying her was a man on top of a stretcher.

Seeing the wounded man left everyone feeling shocked. Erina showed almost no mercy, the man's tendons were slit and there were cuts all over his body, it was evident that he had lost a lot of blood.

"Did that guy anger Erina or something...?"

Yoko asked Kai who just shook his head in response.

"I don't really know but it's obvious that her skills with a rapier have increased a lot."

Thinking about that and then the bet Erina had proposed, Kai caught on. The reason Erina dealt a serious injury but not a potentially fatal one was to show Kai not to underestimate her.

Kai smiled slightly as Erina neared them.

Amelia and the others were in the audience to watch the fights but even though there were only forty-eight participants, it still took quite a bit of time for each fight, with the exception of Kai's group who ended all of their fights within a minute. But that was just luck, Arata and Yoko weren't specialists with the sword so them winning within a minute by using a sword could only be attributed to luck.

The first round of matches was over and they had all qualified for the second round which was set to take place in a few more hours. The first day of the tournament would start in the morning and in the afternoon but they were ahead of schedule because seven of the fights were ended in a minute and so the participants' break time was extended.

Naturally, they became a topic of conversation among the participants. Although half of them were defeated, nobody was eliminated yet, they were all just moved to the loser's bracket. The number of matches on the first day was the most with forty-eight matches in all as a participant will fight twice in a day.

The participants only start to get eliminated once the second round starts.

"Do those cloaks have protective power or something?"

"I can't tell, I was defeated before I even landed a hit... those monsters."

The one who had called them monsters was Kai's opponent. Kai had taken him out in an instant and sent the entire arena into an uproar. Before this, he was quite confident in his swordsmanship but forget gaining fame, he was gaining infamy as the swordsman who was defeated in one hit.

"But they aren't the only strange ones, have you seen that man with closed eyes?"

"Yeah, his opponent isn't waking up at all. I went over to watch his match but it sent chills down my spine, I could feel his sword intent attack me all the way from the stands."

—Sword intent, a term used by swordsmen to signify the swordsman's will. An experienced swordsman would be able to use sword intent to fool their opponents with feints. That was the extent of a sword intent in the knowledge of these standard swordsmen.

Kai scoffed.

"They're surprised by feeling sword intent from that far, I wonder how surprised they'd be if they found out sword intent can be used to attack."

Killing intent was something honed by killing enemies and can be used in battle to give the opponent a taste of death or knock them out. Sword intent was of the same principle, it's honed by one's connection to swordsmanship. Although it's true that most swordsmen use it for feints, that was because a swordsman with sword intent was rare.

Even Wake had no sword intent. Rein was able to use it but only to the extent of illusions.

"I saw him too. So that's sword intent?"

Arata asked.

"Yeah, but it isn't the extent of his abilities. His sword intent can even form an illusory sword to cut with."

Yoko fell into deep thought. Kai had told her about the Blind Swordsman's power already, he had told her about sword intent on that night they talked, from Kai's words, she found out that the Blind Swordsman could not only cut with sword intent, his sword intent was even stronger than his own swordsmanship, it was able to cut apart ships they used for war like scissors cutting through paper.

But he had also told her that the Blind Swordsman's current power was far from his peak and that's why this was the best time to strike but they lacked the ability to kill him and so forcing the Blind Swordsman to rout was the only way they could come up with.

"You're saying that two of those cloaked figures are women? Damn, where did those monsters come from?"

Of the forty-eight participants, other than Yoko and Erina, there was only one other woman but she was already of the same age as the men.

"Yeah, I could tell by her voice, it's the one with two daggers printed on her mask."

"The one with no features on her mask is a girl too."

"How are they keeping up with the weight difference...?"

The other participants could only scratch their heads. The ones who lost had their self-esteem crushed that day.