After the preliminary rounds, came the real deal.
The actual 5 vs 5 Interstellar Circuits Tournament, featuring the 64 qualified teams in a brutal single-elimination bracket.
There were no second chances here, no safety nets. Lose once— and you were out, making upsets a big possibility in this tournament.
However, although in principle all participating teams had an equal chance to reach the finals, in practice it was anything but.
With the matchups being decided through a top-seeding system, a tradition in the Interstellar Circuits designed to reward those who excelled in the preliminary round, the tournament heavily favored the best performing teams to advance furthest in the tournament, protecting them from early upset knockouts.
Simply put, the higher you scored in the preliminaries, the better your seed — and the weaker your first-round opponent.
The first seed would face the sixty-fourth, the second would face the sixty-third, and so on.
And this year, after years of struggling to keep up with Geneva, Rodova Military Academy stood proudly as the number one seed, thanks to their staggering 475 eliminations in Group B — surpassing even Geneva Military Academy, who settled for second place with 460.
With the seeds now locked, the two most feared teams in the tournament — Rodova and Geneva — were placed on opposite ends of the bracket, not likely to face each other unless both teams made their way all the way through to the finals.
This arrangement was no accident. The brackets were designed to ensure that the strongest teams would not cross paths until the late stages of the tournament — most likely the semi-finals or the grand finale.
However, although the best match-ups were reserved for the last days of the circuits, the crowd still buzzed with energy this morning, as they felt eager to watch the actual circuit's kick-off.
—----------
(Sky-God Arena — First Round of the Circuits)
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the opening match of this year's Interstellar Circuits Main Tournament!" Derek announced enthusiastically. "I'm Derek Ray, joined as always by my brilliant co-host, Lee Dixon."
"And what a way to kick things off, Derek," Lee replied smoothly, grinning. "It's the number one seed, Rodova Military Academy, stepping into the arena against the sixty-fourth seed, Sunflower Military Academy."
The camera panned across the audience, showing cheering fans, academy flags, and vibrant energy as the massive arena beneath them began its transformation.
RUMBLE—
The arena floor shifted, plates rearranging themselves as glowing circuits carved patterns along the ground, as within seconds, the stage morphed into the infamous Edge Park Arena, known for its hazardous terrain.
The entire battlefield resembled a jagged wasteland, sharp stone spires jutting from the earth like fangs.
It was a very difficult terrain to fight for mobility fighters, given how it was an uneven surface, riddled with spikes and crags that left little room for flat footing.
"And the battlefield for the first fight is the infamous— Edge Park Arena!" Derek exclaimed.
"This arena is absolutely littered with sharp, pointed rocks that act like nature's own minefield. It's a map that punishes anyone that doesn't have the absolute best footwork, agility, and map control."
"It's a very punishing map, Derek," Lee added. "One misstep and you could impale yourself on a rock. Fighters will have to be careful not only of their opponent but of the very ground beneath their feet."
As the arena stabilized, the big screen lit up with the fighter introductions, showing short clips from the preliminary rounds alongside each name.
"Fighting for Rodova today is one of their four Grandmaster warriors and their star archer, Minerva," Derek announced as Minerva's highlight reel displayed her gracefully taking down multiple opponents during the preliminaries.
"She'll be supported by DP, Kohli, Enzo, and Boxer.
An interesting choice, which leaves out Captain Yu Shen and the two first-year enigmas — Su Yang and Leo Skyshard — out of their lineups for this match," he commented, much to the dismay of the crowd, who Booed this choice heavily.
"Well, Derek," Lee replied, "Rodova must be bloody confident in this line-up if the Captain himself isn't even stepping onto the field today. Let's see if that confidence pays off… or backfires spectacularly."
—-----
The match began with Minerva stepping forward first against Sunflower's opening fighter and Captain, a dual-bladed swordsman.
*Swoosh–*
Minerva wasted no time as the opening bell rang, as she used her superior agility and precision to pin her opponent down before he ever had the chance to approach her.
*Swoosh—*
*Swoosh—*
She peppered the opponent with arrows, forcing him to step around the sharp rocks, as eventually, her opponent made a mistake when he lost her footing, which instantly caused him to be impaled by two arrows to the chest.
*Thud*
*Thud*
"First blood for Rodova!" Derek shouted. "And look at how Minerva used the environment— classic Edge Park exploitation."
The fight wasn't over yet, because the opponent's armor took the brunt of the attack and he looked like he was able to continue.
However, a couple seconds later, as he crumpled to his knees and coughed a mouthful of blood, the referee called an end to the match, declaring the kneeling warrior to be unfit to continue.
"Oooo—, Nixon is unable to continue, Minerva scores the first win for Rodova…. Will she continue to fight the second opponent? Or will she switch?" Lee commented, as Minerva tagged out of the second fight, sending Boxer to face the second opponent instead.
—-------
The second opponent from sunflower academy was a tank, making Boxer the perfect opponent to face him.
Boxer being a close range brawler, negated the opponents advantage as a tank, as he dragged the fight into a deep exchange of blows and test of stamina, as although his fight lasted a full seven minutes, eventually he won it with a knockout punch to the opponent's face!
—-------
Following Boxer, Enzo took the stage, showing remarkable footwork by weaving through the hazardous terrain while disarming his opponent with a sword strike that sent him stumbling straight into a bed of pointed rocks.
*Crash*
Just the fall proved to be enough to incapacitate the opponent, as Enzo scored a win in under 25 seconds.
"Rodova's third straight win!" Derek cheered. "And Enzo doing what he does best — creating openings where none seem to exist."
—---------
Kohli came next, employing a mix of defensive tactics and environment manipulation, forcing his opponent into exhaustion before tripping them backward into a sharp ridge, securing another clean victory.
Match time - 12 minutes 34 seconds.
—---------
Finally, DP closed it out, outclassing the last of Team Sunflower's members with a brutal combination of sword arts and positional control, incapacitating the opponent through a series of deep sword gashes and muscle cutting wounds, until he was unable to move a muscle anymore.
"And that's it!" Derek exclaimed. "A 5-0 rout! Rodova advances cleanly into Round the round of 32 without losing a single fighter."
The crowd erupted, chanting "Rodova! Rodova!" as the Rodova team stood tall atop the Edge Park Arena.
"Well, Lee," Derek added, "if today's performance is anything to go by, this Rodova team means business, and to think, they haven't even called their trump cards yet. If you're Geneva or Clarence, you better start preparing already."
"Agreed, Derek. With the heavy hitters still sitting on the bench, you have to wonder just how deep this team really is and just who they will send to crush the unfortunate opponent they face tomorrow?
Hahaha, Rodova is going to soon become the bookies safe choice to make money!"