The Grand Tourney was an important event in Asher City, and every citizen of this great city loved the tournament that featured several other First Class Cities. As such, the Grand Tourney was held with much adulation and praise, and the money that went into organizing the tournament was no small sum. Every First Class City that participated in the Grand Tourney was a sponsor of the tournament. Only the city that housed the most recent winners were spared the heartache of dipping into their coveted pockets and contributing to this great tournament. Amongst the many expenses that the money gathered from the first class cities were used to cover was housing accommodations for the participating teams. Each city was given a mansion, and the teams they sponsored had to share this mansion. Only the teams that reached the Semi-Finals of the Grand Tourney were given their own mansions.
These mansions were lavish and beautiful, and were assigned based on the discretion of the Asher Ci
Every house had secrets. And the mansions each team resided were no different. It was up to the one staying there to discover these secrets. More often than not, such huge mansions had their own secret bunkers or escape rooms. Some had tunnels that stretched further than the eye could see. Others were built over water sources, and had exits that led to creeks. The Orange Team’s mansion was no different. Their secret was a simple one, and it would bring envy to any person. It was a very useful secret, especially for those who operated in the shadows like them.Their secret was a secret bunker which was connected to an underground exit. It had been discovered the moment they moved into this place. Black Hand did a sweep of the building to root out any hidden appliances or traps that may have been set up. They were competing in the Grand Tourney, but they hadn’t forgotten that they were in enemy territory. Just like they had their own hidden agendas, their enemies ma
Dark clouds had gathered, and with their appearance the rain that followed was no surprise. The dark clouds hugged the sky greedily, pushing the sun out of its dominant position and taking control of what was not originally theirs. They drummed mightily, these dark clouds, their thunderous roars giving birth to several streaks of lightning that flashed across the now carpeted sky. The winds ragged and howled, and the rain fell heavily. It fell with such recklessness that one would have thought that it sought to wrought vengeance on the earth below for being so far away from the sky were it usually slept peacefully.Those who were walking the earth down below scampered to safety, for no one was foolish enough to go against the wrath of nature. The sky roared thunderously, and lightning flashed towards the earth, coming dangerously close to a few people who ran even more frantically upon escaping this near death encounter. Some of them tripped over themselves, whereas others sl
The Lightning Phoenix kept charging forward, its figure nothing but a blur. Its hasty advance was partly fueled by the fact that it had been delayed by the Lightning Snake. It had wasted some time killing off the beast and consuming its corpse. The other half of the reason was that it had just come face to face with the most frightening existence that a Sacred Bird could have come across. It had come face to face with the one known as The Beast Slayer; The Devil Maker; Destroyer Of Kings; The Ghostly Paragon; and most famous of all; Basileus!That man was known for his driving desire to possess the corpses and blood of precious beasts. He had killed many, and several members of its race had fallen victim to him. The Lightning Phoenix was not foolish enough to believe the claims of The Beast Slayer that it was spared because it was a precious beast. Which of the beasts that had been killed by the Devil Maker had been average? Which of the beasts that had fallen prey to the Gho
“Welcome Ladies And Gentlemen! Welcome to the…”“GRAND TOURNEY!”“That’s right folks. After waiting for an entire month to get some more action, we are finally here. This here isn’t just any stage of the competition, but the Finals of the…”“GRAND TOURNEY!”“Yes! Feel the excitement folks. Can you feel it?!”“WE CAN!”“Can you touch it?!”“WE CAN!”“Then let’s give a warm round of applause to our City Lord – the one and only ruler of Asher City and one of the main organizers of the Grand Tourney – as he reminds us of what has happened so far!”*Clap Clap Clap*And so along with the warm applause of the audience, the record stone rose high into the air to capture the image of the City Lord as he stood up to address the people. Today was a special occasion, and he wa
“Now let’s invite the two teams on to the field,” Peter took over once the City Lord’s narration was over. Seated next to him was the more reliable and astute Maggie.“Before the teams make their entrance, it is prudent to let the people know the team news,” Maggie stopped Peter from calling out the teams and said.“Ah yes,” Peter smacked his head lightly. “I almost forgot about this,” he confessed, not at all offended that he had been corrected before so many witnesses.“Both teams are missing a man. Black Ink is still out. The good news is that he is recovering rapidly, and there would be no underlying issues after his recovery. The unfortunate news is that he is unavailable for this clash.”“However, the Orange Team have their own injury problems. Black Hand, the powerful Predator who revealed such fearsome might at the end of the Semi-Finals clash between himself and Indigo
“Why is he doing this?” Hildegarde asked as she sat upon Mane’s shoulders. Her gaze was fixed onto the figure wearing a white mask standing opposite the giant known as Black Saga.“I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense.” Mane responded through the mask. Just like Hildegarde, his eyes were glued onto the white masked figure standing in the center of the field.“Do you think the City Lord asked him to do this?” Hildegarde asked, turning her attention to the man seated on the second highest platform in the entire stadium. That platform was second only to the commentator’s booth.“Once again, I have no idea,” Mane shook his head and said. “It doesn’t make any sense to antagonize either Lam or me, so I don’t know why he would give such an order. But that man is crafty and I cannot confidently think for him. So I really don’t know whether he gave the order or it was Black
*Boom*The first person who moved was Black Saga. Once Steel Fist’s seal of approval had been stamped, he leaped straight into action. He charged straight towards Lam with his large rod in hand. Like a man emboldened by the power of his god, he lashed out at Lam. Spinning his rod with incredible speed, so much so that the audience couldn’t even see the weapon clearly and could only see blurry images of the mighty weapon, he struck the rod towards his opponent. In all of this Lam was still, not yet making a move.“What is he doing?” Vital Orange furrowed his brows in worry. He didn’t understand why Lam allowed Black Saga to get so close. To him, Lam had made two grave mistakes. One, he allowed his opponent to strike first, losing the momentum right at the start of the match. Two, he hadn’t made any attempt to rectify the first mistake, and chose to stay still, almost as if he was terrified by Black Saga.“He is waiting to
“Is that allowed?” Peter asked doubtfully, echoing the concerns of the Black Team faithfuls within the stadium, which was basically almost everyone here. The rules of the Grand Tourney prevented any combatant from taking substances that would serve the purpose of boosting their strengths. It was unacceptable to do so.“Technically it is not,” Maggie shook her head and replied. “But,’ she added before Peter could say anything more. “That is for other Enhancement Potions. If it were any other Enhancement Potion, it would have been against the rules to take it pre or mid-match. But the Healing Enhanced Potion is a half and half potion. It partly heals, and partly enhances one’s strength. It isn’t as strong as a regular healing potion so it wouldn’t really stop the bleeding. At most it would slow it down, but its added effect of boosting a person’s strength by 20% makes it far more beneficial than a Healing Potion.