210: Duke

Duke

Date- 27 Mar 23210

Time- 8:05

Location- Sky Blossom City, The Sky Blossom Card Stadium 

After introducing everyone to each other, I awkwardly passed when it was Anna's turn. It's not that I did not want to introduce Anna but revealing her identity would defeat the purpose of our casual fun gathering. But this did not stop Anna from introducing herself. 

"Hello, everyone I am Anna. Wyatt's Sugar mama and soon to be fiance if he survives this tournament." Anna introduced herself while walking next to me and holding my arm close to her bosom. I wanted to refuse her claims but Anna's grasp on my wrist got stronger.

"What?!" Almost everyone in the room apart from Sarah, Pablo, Karen and Elliott who knew Anna's true identity exclaimed in surprise. Seeing me not deny, Kathy my dearest aunt enquired, "Whose Sugar Mama? What do you mean by surviving this tournament? " Susan next to her also glanced at me and Anna with the same questions in her eyes.

"Miss Kathy, Anna is kidding. She meant if Wyatt won the first place." Elliott explained before Anna could cause more chaos. For which he received a death glare from Anna but he did not care, he did what any other friend would do. 

Before Kathy and Susan could point out the obvious holes in Elliott's explanation. Staff walked in and with a bow, she respectfully said, "Your highness, the City Lord and the representatives of the Circle are here to extend their greetings." 

"Ask them to buzz off," Anna ordered haughtily. With the intervention of the staff and her attitude, everyone grew curious about Anna and her real identity. And now I knew who were occupying VIP boxes no2 and no3. 

"Yes, Your Highness. And the City Lord asked if your eminence would like to initiate the start of the tournament." The staff was very professional despite knowing Anna's identity she carried the duties assigned to her by her idiotic bosses without breaking a sweat. 

"No, ask him to continue as always. And remind him that I do not want to be disturbed" Anna replied in annoyance. 

"Thank you, your highness." With that the staff excuses herself. But the atmosphere, in the room, was quite awkward now that everyone realised Anna was not simply. So I try to lighten up the mood by talking about the tournament.

"Pax, Amy, Beth are you three also participating in the tournament" I asked, trying to start a new and different conversation.

"I and Pax are partaking but Beth is too weak to participate." Amy answered bluntly.

"Stop telling others I am weak Amy, I am not weak." Beth defended her lack of strength. 

"You are still in the Card scholar realm, you are weak. If you do not want people to call you weak, become strong." Argued Amy

"Father said I was a special card apprentice who grows strong slowly." Beth excused her slow and lazy way of active soul control cultivation as a special condition. The twin's bickering finally kick-started our casual fun gathering. 

…

Date- 27 Mar 2321

Time- 8:35

Location- Sky Blossom City, The Sky Blossom Card Stadium 

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first-ever Lion Cubs High's under 18 open for all-sky blossom resident card tournament. Participants, please gather at your arena accounting to the message sent to your grimoire." The announcer announced the start of the tournament.

This year 420 card apprentices were participating in the tournament. Usually, the number of people participating would be more than the current number despite the tournament being only restricted to Lion Cubs high school students. It seems the liability waiver has scared off the trash who participate for the participation certificate which would look good in their resume while joining a guild or just to brag in front of their friends. 

The whole stadium ground was divided into 40 small arenas. The idea was that the first round would consist of 210 card fights divided into 6 sets. Meaning 40 matches would be held at a time 6 times, covering a total of 210 card fights. Each Match will be of 12 minutes duration, if the victory is not decided within the given period then it will be considered as a draw. The tournament would be judged by a point system.

Win = 2 points

Draw = 1 point

Loss = 0 points 

Soon I received my massage, 

[Dalton Wyatt - Set 4, Arena 37]

It seems that I still have time before it's my turn. But Pax, Jaya and the Bright brothers had their fights in earlier rounds. 

[Pax Godson- set 1, Arena 3]

[Jaya Kieth - Set 2, Arena 17]

[Tom Bright - set 2, Arena 32]

[Ed Bright - set 2, Arena 38]

[Nick Bright - set 3, Arena 13]

The stadium had 40 floating hologram jumbotrons which constantly monitored each arena. Giving the audience a way to keep track of all 40 card fights at the same time. And thankfully the VIP box came with and Smart Array ceiling to floor glass window which automatically focused on any of the 40 arenas based on each observer's retina movement. 

Neat right, so basically what the glass window does is it zooms on the arena where a particular observer in the VIP box is watching using their retina movements. The amount of zoom can be controlled by simple actions of our retina. This does not interfere with other observers' experiences as it has different displays for each observer in the room. Now, this is some futuristic shit.

The first person to fight in our group was Pax and he was also the youngest. Standing in the arena he was greeted by his opponent, a skinny teenager named Duke. 

"Hi, I am Duke." Pax's opponent introduced himself despite his name being shown on the jumbotrons. 

"Hi." Pax greeted back but did not say his name because he was already informed about Duke's unique origin card by his family. Yes, before attending the tournament somehow the Whiteburn family was able to get a list of all the participants of the tournament and their information. 

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