Almera was worried. Why wouldn’t she be? They were facing the first team from the Central Authority, the ones that had a bunch of rumors swirling around them already, before fighting even started. Apparently, everyone on that team had dominated every event they were in. One-sided beat-downs, according to the rumors.

She had sought to verify that information, as any good team leader would. Fortunately, most of those events had Wild Queendom participants. Unfortunately, what they had to say wasn’t good. The rumors were, if anything, understated. Outside of a single instance, the wins had been not just overwhelming, but uncontested. They had broken records across the board. No one could even slow them down.

The one outlier, instead of providing comfort, almost made things worse! The only person to offer up a challenge was a member of the Queendom’s first team, Derestra. She had lost in Mass Combat, an event where she had been expected to show the kind of results the rest of the CA’s team was pulling off left, right, and center.

That was the real issue, and one Almera didn’t want to touch with a hundred-foot pole. Her leaders were looking for revenge, especially Derestra’s mother. Revenge that Almera was expected to get, somehow. In some capacity. As if she and her team could even compare to one of the strongest teams to ever grace the youth division of a Tournament of Power.

This was the definition of a no-win situation. Looking around at her team, she could see that they were just as aware of it as her. Everyone was slumped down in the chairs of the waiting room, staring at the floor with lifeless eyes. They were going to be punished for losing. There was no escaping it. One of the most powerful leaders of their nation had her daughter humiliated by a member of this team, and she was on a warpath to get revenge.

Almera felt even worse for Derestra. She hadn’t been spared her mother’s wrath either. Ant was a shoo-in to win Mass Combat. Failing in such a heavily weighted event was shameful. Never mind that her opponent could raise the dead and create monsters far outside the realm of what should be possible for someone at her age.

“Alright,” Almera clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “Enough moping. We have a plan; we’re sticking to it. All we need to do it take out the undead user. We do that, and no one is going to be saying anything against us. None of them actually expect us to win. We just need to buy back some honor for the Antelion family. Then Lady Antelion will be praising us for avenging her daughter rather than calling for our heads. The undead user is the only one they care about.”

Almera did her best to limit their goals to something actually achievable. Winning? That was a dream within a dream. But taking out a single opponent, stacking five-on-one? Now that was more reasonable. Unfortunately, no one was looking even close to optimistic. Sure, they might be targeting just one person, but that didn’t mean the other four weren’t on the field.

“Come on, gals. We strike hard and fast before they’re expecting it or set up. We can handle that much, even if it puts us in a terrible position for the rest of the battle. We’re not trying to win; we’re just trying to take out one person.”

“Yeah, I guess we can do that.” Her teammate, Lucy, sighed. “We might lose, but at least our Matrons won’t be angry with us. No one expects the third team to beat the first anyway. It’s just because that stupid undead user had to beat Derestra…”

“Yes!” Almera latched onto that ounce of positivity. “Remember, this is a foregone battle. We were never expected to win this anyway. We just need to take out one person and not disgrace ourselves in the process. The other team is still around our age; they can’t be that much stronger than us. This isn’t the main division, where you can face someone with ten thousand years on you. They’re definitely stronger, but they aren’t at that level.”

Finally, faces started to turn. Almera was glad she’d had this conversation now, right before the match. Doing it earlier might have given everyone a chance to lose heart all over again. Now, they’d carry their higher moral into combat.

Not a moment too soon, apparently. A chime sounded from above the arena doorway, signaling the match was about to begin.

“Alright, game faces!” Almera’s voice rose, taking on a more commanding tone. She was the team leader; she needed to act like it. “Show the Queendom what you can do, and bring glory to your Matriarchs. We can succeed, even if we don’t win. Keep that in mind, and let all worries disappear.”

With her final words of encouragement, Almera turned and walked out the door, doing her damndest to project a solid air of calm and confidence. She must be the example the others strived toward.

The arena proper was nothing like the fancier versions the main tournament would enjoy, with simulated terrain and a field area spanning thousands of feet. Theirs was only a couple-hundred-foot featureless circle. No one expected the youth division to need more space for the shrouded to flex their abilities to the fullest.

The enemy team was already on the field. Almera shouldn’t be surprised, but they’d entered to no fanfare whatsoever. The stands above were primarily filled with unshrouded. The youth division simply didn’t matter as much to shrouded, especially with the main events starting today. They would have drawn most of the shrouded who’d come to the Tournament for entertainment. The dignitaries were still in meetings and doing backroom deals for another day yet, so the VIP boxes were empty. Even the Wild Queendom and Central Authority boxes.

Scanning the enemies, Almera found who she expected. Two men, three women. A tall, lanky male with an almost comically relaxed posture who seemed to look at everything around him as a joke. An expression suitable for an inferior man, though Almera had learned that his expression hid a devious level of skill in defensive aura sense. The other man was arm in arm with one of the women. He was shorter and broader than his fellow, with the darkest skin among the group. His most notable achievement involved the bonded dragon monster around his neck.

The women were of more interest. Two were as unknown as the dark-skinned male. One, whose apparent age seemed to change at random, had not participated in any event so far. The one on the arm of the man had also revealed two bonded monsters of exceptional power, but who weren’t present at the moment.

That had Almera worried. They had assumed, based on the undead user, the shorter man, and the pale woman, that the team was primarily based around creature shrouds and had little or limited personal power. Having two of the three bonded not present made that hypothesis suspect.

But nothing else made sense. Only creature shrouds could bind monsters unless their shroud evolved. Maybe one of them could, but two? Nonsense. They must be hiding the other two bonded, she decided. They had shown the ability to change sizes, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

The team was three creature shrouds and two unknowns, probably defenders. Their goal was the final woman. Of middling height, build, and skin tone, she was the most flamboyant dressed. The others wore the robes of their nation’s Academy, black and white overlapping layers. But the undead user had the top of her robe off, resting on the sash around her waist. Instead, her upper half was covered by a short-sleeved shirt that bared her midriff and was stenciled with words in Central Common, a language unfamiliar to Almera.

“Remember the plan,” Almera reminded her team as they formed around her. “This will be simple, so long as everyone plays their part.”

Four resolute nods were her only response.

The referee, flying above the arena, raised their hand, a look of boredom written on their face. No one was expecting this to be an interesting match. Almera would have to prove them wrong. As one, her team began manifesting their shrouds, surrounding themselves in waves of color and light.

“Begin!”

As one, they charged across the arena.

{}

“So, that’s who we’re up against?” Caeden murmured, running Investigative sense across the auras of the five women on the other side of the arena. “They really are that much weaker, huh? This wouldn’t have been a challenge even before we did all that training. Now I kinda feel like a bully.”

“We’re preventing a war here, Cae,” Lily muttered, leaning against him. “Try and keep some perspective. The worst they’ll get for losing is yelled at. Probably not even that. No one expects them to win here.”

“Fair.”

The referee, a look of total boredom on his face, raised his hand.

Wow, no one here is expecting anything. Caeden ran his aura sense across the crowd. Extensive training had allowed him to delve far deeper than before. He could read the body language of all the unshrouded above. There was anticipation but no uncertainty. They were excited for a spectacle, shrouded fighting each other in a venue where they wouldn’t be at risk. But none of them had even the smallest concern that this match wouldn’t go how they expected.

“It really is a little sad, though.” Lily sighed.

“Yeah, maybe we-”

“Begin!”

And then the other team was charging across the arena, cloaked in their shrouds.

“Well, that’s just suicidal.” Lily huffed. “How can their defenses be that thin?”

Caeden felt the same. Touching their auras with his senses felt like cradling an egg in his palm. The slightest manifestation and he could crush their auras, invading and then occupying all of them. “This must be what Damon feels like when he looks at us.”

“I bet you’re right. Well, I’ll handle this.”

Lily let go of Caeden’s arm, taking a single step forward. In the brief time their exchange of words took, the enemy team was mere yards away. Strangely, all of them except one were angling to get around Caeden and Lily. His ability to read shrouded was somewhat hampered by their auras, but he would swear four of them were aiming to get at Cat. Strange.

Too bad they’d never make it.

Lily flicked her heel against the ground, and the world froze. At least, that’s what the third team must have felt. Even after having seen it before, Caeden could still hardly believe it. He had no idea what the Wild Queendom team must be feeling. From head to toe, from an inch in front of her to the other side of the arena and all the way up to just below the stands, Lily had encased everything in ice.

“Did you need to go that far?” Caeden almost felt bad for them.

“Hmph,” Lily huffed, “The whole point is to show our overwhelming power. Plus, this is hardly everything I can do. I think this was a good middle ground between destroying them and simply ending the match.”

“Fair. I guess you didn’t use Galaxy at all, so there’s that.” Caeden sighed. This had been a massive waste of time.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Lily cajoled, catching the look on his face. “It’s not a waste of time. We needed to do this so that they’ll start taking us seriously. It’ll make them try harder so when we hit down the next team, they’ll be forced to acknowledge us as a real threat. Something they can’t afford to fight, now or later.”

“I know, I know. It just sucks that people like them get caught in the middle.” He nodded toward the glacier Lily had made. “They’re ok, right?”

“What do you take me for?” Lily crossed her arms. “Their auras protected them from the worst of it. They’re just stuck in there and very cold.” She huffed. “I can’t believe you would think I’d actually hurt them.”

“I didn’t. It’s just…” Caeden stared at the opaque ice. “It’s hard to believe that anyone could survive in there. Your precision is insane.”

Lily huffed again before dropping the act and relaxing. “It was pretty amazing, wasn’t it? This is the level of control I always dreamed of.” She rested her hand on the smooth surface. It was perfectly formed, without cracks or divots. “Thanks for giving me the chance to get there. Now, let's go back to the ship. I’m cold, and I want to eat something hot. Like, spicy hot.”

Caeden rolled his eyes. Lily literally couldn’t feel cold anymore. Her shrouds didn’t allow it. But he understood the sentiment. “Curry?”

“Mmm, Nah. Chicken with the hottest sauce we can make.” She decided. “Let’s go. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.”

Their friends had been having a conversation of their own and had already left the arena. Caeden and Lily quickly followed behind, leaving behind a massive edifice of ice, five semi-frozen opponents, and a crowd and referee stunned into silence.