“You think he’s ready?” Umashiro was waiting in the pub.

“Well...” Doriama had a nervous look on his face.

Raion came stumbling into the pub as exhausted as ever.

“Is he going to be alright???” Umashiro was concerned for Raion’s well being. “You know you’ve been pushing him really hard since the start right? Normally you’d wait a year, why rush this? Why do you have to attend this tournament?”

It was a question even Doriama wanted answered. Doriama turned and looked at Raion to see what his response was.

“It’s pretty selfish actually, I just don’t want to wait. Why put something off for tomorrow when you can do it today. That sort of thing.” Raion made his way to the counter to lean on it for support.

Umashiro sighed.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but this is reckless.”

Raion laughed.

“Yeah...but it’s something I’m use to. I guess just being reckless was a bad habit I picked up from my master.”

Umashiro and Doriama were intrigued to who this master was, but it was something they’d find out later.

“Well Raion, get yourself readied up, we’re heading going to be traveling to the tournament location in a bit.”

Raion let out an exhausted sigh and nodded as he made his way back to his room to prepare.

After a short while Doriama and Raion were all packed up and were at the edge of town. Umashiro and Collette were there to see them off. Collette had brought medicine for Raion to apply to his body since it wasn’t fully healed yet and Umashiro shared a glass with Doriama before Doriama and Raion both headed off.

Collette turned to Umashiro.

“So how do you think he’ll do?”

“I think...he’ll have a 25% chance of winning the whole thing.”

“Ohhh, those are some good odds. What makes you say that?”

“Well for starters, he completed everything we told him to do. He accomplished in three days, what a normal candidate would’ve taken at least a month to accomplish. He even took your medicine and still had the energy to train on the same day.”

Collette laughed.

“Well you got that right. Also, as I examined his body,” Collette had a serious look on her face, “it’s not normal, that sort of body isn’t something that was built in the course of a year or so. It was meticulously trained and developed for a purpose.”

“Purpose? What kind of purpose?”

“Mhmm. If I had to put my finger on it, it’d be to kill.”

* * *

Doriama and Raion traveled for a day before reaching the tournament grounds in the afternoon. It’s been roughly 6 days since Raion started preparing for the tournament and now all the challenges he will face will begin tomorrow. Doriama and Raion took this time to walk around the city that was hosting the tournament. Before they entered, Doriama wore a hooded cloak that Umashiro gave him and handed one to Raion also. This way no one could tell who they were when they walked around the city.

The city was called Helrium. One of Noah’s Ark oldest and biggest cities. It was one of the places for commerce and entertainment. Always had people full of energy out and about going on with their daily lives. The city had a good mix of rich and middle class citizens, the poor were few in numbers. It was a city that boasted its economic prowess and because of that, it was always a lively place.

“Wow I’ve never been to a city so big before.” Raion was pleasantly surprised at the mood of the city. There were so many shops that he hadn’t seen before.

“Yep, it’s a great place to be in if you like places that are busy. There’s never a quiet, dull moment here.” Doriama looked around to see if there was anyone who caught on to their disguise.

They walked around town, stopped by food stalls and checked out street entertainment before heading towards the Colosseum that was going to be holding the tournament. It was right in the middle of town and was the biggest structure Raion has ever seen.

“Wow...let’s go in! I’m dying to see what it looks like inside.”

As Raion approached the gates towards the Colosseum, Doriama grabbed Raion’s cloak and pulled him back.

“Not so fast. Patience, we’ll make our move tomorrow.” Doriama dragged Raion back towards town again.

“Awwww,” Raion had a depressed look on his face, “well what’s your plan anyways?”

“Mhmm, simple, just walk through the front gate.”

“...really?”

“Yeah, don’t sweat the small stuff. Get some rest tonight, you’ll need it tomorrow.”

Zodiac Tournament Begins Tomorrow

END