Another Stupid Isekai

Even after basically a whole day of drinking, I woke up completely fresh, and in full strength. There was not much time before our departure to the arena, so I took a quick shower and went downstairs to eat.

The chef was not present so I had to wait a little bit, and more people joined me. Will, Boris, Nobuo, Marcella, Mihael and Juan. All so early on their feet because of the duels. Adam also showed himself up, joined by Alban, Kiril, and Oscar.

– Morning everybody – he said to all of us. – Good luck with your fights.

A lot of people thanked him, but I remained silent. As the rest somehow tried to cope, mainly because of the nerves caused by the upcoming duels. I remained silent, to keep my focus.

Since we didn’t have much time, because the ride to the arena was quite long, everybody ate quickly, and we all gathered outside. The reporters were already waiting for us, but because of the pressure from the government, and heavy security it was a more civilized encounter than usual.

We all posed for few pictures, answered a couple of questions in front of cameras, and were on our way. The broadcast didn’t end though, as multiple helicopters were following our drive through the city.

The police was everywhere, blocking the traffic for us, so we could comfortably leave. Still, the drive was few long hours filled with silence as Vikram clearly didn’t want to bother me, but I knew that all he needed was a single word to give his best and entertain me for the time of travel.

He was really hardworking man, who took his job very seriously despite all the jokes.

I preferred my old and faithful cd-player plus some headphones and music. I kept thinking if I could end the fight quickly, play around to humiliate a bit the other team, or maybe just smash them and show my overwhelming power.

It was a dilemma I was really struggling with because I could find arguments supporting, and condemning each of those options.

Eventually, we arrived at the place and I could finally stretch my legs. I immediately dropped the anchor there, to make sure I won’t ever have to repeat that journey. I was quite angry at myself, that I didn’t do it before. I just kept forgetting, since there was so much going on around.

Everybody ended up going to the bunker to eat something, and use the bathrooms. We were led to our designated rooms by the staff that was already there. Later some guy showed up to inform me again of the whole process in which the tournament was to progress, where the medical staff was, and other unnecessary information. I just allowed him to say what he needed. He then left, and soon on the TV in my room the countdown to start appeared.

I was taken to the broadcasting studio with some famous European fighters and fighting sports commentators. All to fulfill the role of experts. In the left corner, the timer was constantly present.

They had they usual spill about the strongest fighters, according to their data, the most popular ones, and so on. My picture even appeared for a short moment. Then they focused on the first match.

For me, it was just a bunch of randoms, since I had no information on any of those people, but for people in the studio, it was very interesting. Not only because it was the first match, but also because the other team was from China, which meant they were a complete mystery. Only the names of the participants were known.

Zhi, Jiahao, and Hoa.

I quickly grew bored of all the talking and went to pour myself a drink. Some fruit-flavored soda. As I returned to the couch, there was only a couple of minutes on the countdown, and the excitement was really high. I could see it on the people’s faces.

The numbers were continuously going down, and finally, we got the view of the arena from the bird’s eye. Some hype music got blasted, and the announcer started speaking.

He was not present on the sand, but the viewers got his photo displayed on the screen as he introduced himself.

He introduced the first team from the Brazilian gate and another hype piece was blasted through the speakers. I could hear it live and through TV.

The people entered the arena, waving at the drones, and cameras. There was a little ceremony. And the second team got their time, alongside another song that accompanied them entering on the sand. Everybody was armed.

Which made me think of how irritating had to be the process of transporting all that weaponry. I had no idea about it since I had my stuff in the vault, but others didn’t. Martin’s stuff probably caused a lot of trouble, because of his size.

The fight started, and teams clashed without any hesitation. It was a surprisingly short duel, as the Chinese team, just smashed the competition using magic, and physical attacks, and forcing their opponents to give up.

They didn’t show too much, though, but definitely got my attention. It was hard to judge how strong they were, but for sure they weren’t some weaklings.

The viewers got taken back to the studio, where there was a little bit of talking about the fight and quick victory.

The next match started in a couple of minutes. Another bunch of randoms. One group from America, team three, the other from Hungary, team four.

The introduction was very similar, and the fight happened shortly after. It was more balanced since both teams were of similar strength, and took more time. Quite a bit actually.

Team four started strong, pushing their enemies, but they three quickly overturned the situation and managed to knock down one person. Then the second one was defeated. The last guy did this best to hold the ground. He wasn’t that bad actually, but couldn’t do much since they had the power of numbers on their side. Eventually, he had to have up, because he ran out of gas.

Just as the viewers were taken back to the studio, somebody knocked on my door.

[0)ᴠʟ – Mister Peter? Please prepare for your fight.

– Alright – I replied and picked myself up.

I didn’t have to prepare. I was ready.