Although the disaster at the Plaza of Honour shook the whole nation, the grief and sorrow didn't last long.
Time passed away swiftly in the fiery yet unnervingly quiet atmosphere, almost like the calm before a huge storm that is about to arrive.
A storm that can shake the whole standing, which will decide the future of the nations.A chance to take a peek at the future generations who are going to create an upheaval with their strength and make their presence known to the world.
At the centre of the storm, lies the Students of the Horizon who will take in the Battle.
The Inter-Academy Battle Cup Of Horizon was about to commence.
It was not a fight between the students for ranks. It was a ground of showdown, a battlefield for those who can prove themselves and seek prosperity with their own hands.
The most anticipated event of Inter Academy Battle is the matches of the First Year and Third Year.
It will be the first time, the First-year gonna make a public appearance before the whole world.
Just like the saying, the first impression lasts long. If the students of each year can show their prospects, they have a chance of catching the Noble's and Royal's attention and getting their support, they may soar high up in the sky.
Even a common with no status can alleviate his or her position to a great degree by catching the eye of the noble.
While the First-year matches were the appetizers, in the third year was the main dish that is sought by many.
Fourth-year students were given missions and have to lend a helping hand in the Kingdom's forces of thier choices.
So, the third year's battle is where the crux lies.
The winner of the Third Year in the Inter-Academy battle will be granted the title of Knighthood and he will have a chance to enter the main forces of the Imperial Knight and had a chance of being taught by the Imperial Teacher.
While the Principal of Horizon was the one who made Horizon guide the students and help them to step into the path of a warrior.
Imperial Teacher was the title given to the person who is responsible for training Imperial Knights.
While Imperial Knights are the King's hands and took charge from the front. The Shadows guards are the King's eyes and ears who keep a tab on Kingdom information and handle the problems from the shadows.
A member of the Imperial Knight is equal in status to a noble and can only bow to Duke after the King.
Disrespecting them is equal to disrespecting the King himself and the offender would be harshly dealt with.
The Inter-Academy Battle is the start of the Grand Battle between the Academies which will be held in the Ralph Kingdom.
The top three of each year will form a team and will fight with other Academies in the Challenger cup in Ralph where many prestigious academies from the three Nations will fight for the Grand title.
One has to note a point. Participating in it was not mandatory and students can opt-out out of the tournament.
But by doing so, they are gonna lose their precious chance of ranking up. The tournament can be crucial and a student can rank up by 1000 ranks if he is capable enough but he can also fall in ranks if he ends up losing.
That's why the weaker ones mainly opt-out of it so that can maintain their rank and avoid falling in ranks.
Under the influence of the highly popular Inter-Academy Cup, the Capital of Cyprus felt so vibrant and lively that it felt like they were having a festival.
The grief, pain and sorrow of the bombing incident in the Plaza of Honour were washed away quickly by the onset of the Inter-Academy Cup.
One should think that it was because of this cup's arrival, that people were able to lessen their grief and forget their sorrows making it faster to heal the wounds they have suffered a few days ago.
Most of the students in the Horizon excitedly signed themselves for the tournament and tourists were starting to gather from far and wide and people were even coming from other nations to watch the fights.
The crowd on the street had visibly gone denser and inns were packed with travellers visitors.
Hardly would there be any empty seats seen in the taverns, restaurants and bars and the street sides stores found their business booming.
The roads were filled with people and the city was bustling with a crowd filled with mirth and laughter.
It was just that none of these was important to the students, participating in the Inter-Academy Battle Cup.
What the students were most concerned about right now was the format of the matches in the tournament and how the elimination will be held.
Will, there be any fitness strength? Will, they will check the ranks or will they test us before the tournaments.
All sorts of doubts were running inside the student's heads as they don't want to reveal much of their strength before thr true battle.
Even before thr battle starts most of the students seem to be on equal footing which was making many anxious.
The prestige and handsome reward offered by the Inter-Academy Battle Cup drew in, many hopeful students who were banking their luck so that they would somehow get somewhere and even if they failed in obtaining the prizes at least they would rank up even it is by one place.
This wasn't bad as more students fighting would make the competition more exciting but it did complicate the selection process.
For one, there couldn't be any standard 1 on 1 duel for the preliminary round of the selections or else the three thousand students of each year would ensure that the competition will be carried on for months.
In the view of this limitation, the staff of the organization committee in Horizon opted for an elimination preliminary round out of battle royal.
All the students each year would be divided into a group of 100 and would be transported into a different random environment.
Out of those 100 people in each group, only 10% of those will be able to qualify for the 1 on 1 PVP duelling rounds which were the main event of the tournament.
No mishap could be allowed to happen in the Inter-Academy battle cup which involved prodigies coming from all nations.
The organizing committee had to do their very best to ensure the safety of the challengers as if, by chance any mishap happened, the nation would be crippling the future forces that could lead them to glory.
Each student was allocated a substitution magical tool which was in form of a bracelet.
The bracelet can protect the wearer in case of any life-threatening attacks being made and would protect the person's life.
It can also send an emergency signal in a case where life is in danger.
Before the bracelet was invented all the people who fought in the battles were particularly fighting a deathmatch. It was incredibly difficult to retract a spell that is cast or attacked made by the weapons.
Most of the students were unable to control their strengths, so the accident a was common occurrence and in severe cases, many were crippled and were almost on the verge until the referee stepped in. After all who doesn't know how useless referees were and you can also bribe them to let you do as you please.
Things turned better after the substitution bracelet was created.
When the tournament became none fatal, the number of students participating in the tournament immediately grew by a large margin.
It slowly changed from deathmatch for glory to selection battle to scout talents.
........
In an empty stadium, where the battles would be held.
Lucas leaned on the railing looking at the big ground before him.
His eyes were hollow and countless thoughts ran into his mind as he looked at the stadium where the atmosphere was in sharp contrast to the jovial and happy atmosphere in the town
Behind him, Fredrick, Roan, Parth and Charles stood looking at Lucas's lonely back.
Parth pinched Fredrick and asked"What happened to him. Though he always had a lifeless dead fish eye face, this was the first time I have seen him so depressed."
