Tempest University, October 27th, 2032

  On an ordinary day of university lessons and boring activities, Kettei’s ears seemed to be elsewhere, being distracted by the music in his ears, until someone approached him

  “Dude, have you seen?” Rosa asked, walking to him and pulling his shirt to get his attention, daunting an all gray pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt

  “Seen what, Rosa? You going on a run?” Kettei replied sarcastically, moving his headphones from his ears to his neck and turning off the music

  “Haha, very funny. No, I’m talking about the mid autumn olympics” Rosa said, showing him a manifesto about it: “They’re gonna start in two weeks, and I was wondering if you would want to join” She added

  “Look, Rosa, I would love to, but I think you’re not adding something to the equation, which is our professor. If I were to make request to join, I’d be rejected to compete” Kettei explained to her, as Sora and Robert walked by, in time to hear the blond guy say that

  “So what?” Rob said, as Kettei turned towards them: “You can still join as an impartial judge or as a referee. You have until November 2nd to candidate yourself”

  “What’s your point, Robert?” Kettei asked, his curiosity piqued by what Rob just said

  “First of, my name is Rob, not Robert. Second, I’ve heard around the campus usually these olympics tend to get rigged and favour people supporting the king’s side. Basically, they’ll make some bullshit to have people from Crying Angels and Eruditia, another association close to the king, move forward more frequent. Since you aren’t biased, you would be a perfect fit for these olympics to have more sense” Rob explained to Kettei, before turning to Rosa and Sora: “As for you two, I hope we’ll have fun at these olympics”

  “I hope so too” Sora replied, as he then turned to Kettei: “The main event is the arena, so basically you’ll have to watch these matches as well as studying the rules”

  “So… You all will basically shoot magic at each other hoping not to kill each other?” Kettei asked: “There’s gotta be a catch”

  “There is one. For starters, last olympics ended up with tons of destructions due to tier 2 and tier 3 magic being overused, so this edition only tier 1 magic will be used, with tier 2 magic being used only from the semi-finals and complete ban over tier 3 magic” Rob explained once more: “So I hope you’ll be there as a judge”

  “Ugh, fine. Although I’m really not convinced about all this” Kettei said: “But this could mean I might end up disqualifying one of you. If that happens, I hope nothing changes between us. That being said, I’ll head to our next class. Our professor is opening it right now” he added, before turning around and walking straight to the classroom. After what seemed like an eternity, the lesson ended, much to everyone’s joy, and being near lunchtime, Sora, Rob and Kettei went to the school canteen to get their food

  “So, what are you three getting?” the chef asked to them

  “I’ll have the mac and cheese as a main and the caesar salad as a second” Rob requested

  “I’ll have some butter and parmesan pasta as main, and lamb as side. What about you, Kettei?” Sora asked

  “I’ll have the egg and tuna sandwich as side, and the seitan as main” Kettei said, which left both Rob and Sora puzzled, as Kettei would usually order more food. Once the chef handed them their food, Rob gave Kettei a concerned look

  “Is something wrong, man?” Rob asked, looking at Kettei

  “Are you sure you’re feeling well, Kettei? You normally eat twice as much” Sora asked himself, his concerned face remaining

  “I am, don’t worry. I just don’t feel that hungry today” Kettei answered, looking at him with a feint smile

  “You sure, buddy?” Sora asked once again: “I mean, yesterday you stayed up until 3 am. Something did happen, don’t deny it. What’s really going on?”

  “I don’t really wanna talk about it” Kettei answered, looking down, as he placed his plate to a table and walked to the bathroom. Once gone, Sora and Rob sat down where Kettei placed his food and looked at each other

  “He’s not doing well, is he?” Rob asked, looking at Sora

  “I don’t know. It’s difficult to read his emotions. All I can think of is something is going on with his family and he can’t focus. Something like a divorce or-“ Before Sora could finish his sentence, Rob interrupted him

  “A divorce is impossible. His father died when he was ten years old, and until now, he’s done nothing but taking care of his mother and sister. Maybe we should check up on him” Rob said, looking towards the bathrooms

  “I think he needs space” Sora added

  “Why you say that? He needs us now!” Rob exclaimed, clearly pissed off at Sora’s remark: “He’s but a boy like us, even younger than us, but has bigger shoulders than a soldier. Now shut up and help me, would you?” As Rob finished that sentence, however, Kettei started walking towards them, only for him to fall down halfway between the bathroom and his table, holding his chest and breathing heavily

  “Kettei!” Sora and Rob shouted, as they rushed to him to give him some assistance and helping him off the ground

  “He’s having a panic attack” Sora said, concerned: “But why?”

  “We’ll ask him later, now let’s get him out of here!” Rob commanded, as the two of them carried Kettei to the infirmary, staying beside him until he recovered. Once he woke up, he looked around, a bit lost

  “Where are we?” Kettei questioned, looking at Sora and Rob

  “The infirmary, dude. You had a panic attack and fell unconscious. I don’t know how we managed to get you here myself” Sora answered, tiredly

  “Oh, that… I guess I owe you two an explanation now, don’t I?” Kettei inquired

  “Yeah, you do” Rob replied, panting: “It’s the bare minimum after we dragged your 203 cm x 98 kg ass over here”

  “Ok, fine. No need to be so hostile. What happened is, my sister called me yesterday, saying a dude similar to the king tried to kidnap her. She then added our mother was, and I quote, doing absolutely nothing to get him out of there or have her saved. Luckily our neighbour intervened and helped her out. The panic attack is given to the fact that, without me, my little sister is even more exposed to dangers” Kettei confessed, looking down, with some tears forming in his eyes: “I mean, I’m her big brother, it’s my duty to protect her, and if it wasn’t for our neighbour, I would’ve likely lost her. Tell me, what do I do? I can’t be here and there at the same time and, should something happen to her, I wouldn’t forgive myself for that”

  After Kettei finished talking, he laid down the bed face down, as he broke down in tears. Both Sora and Rob remained silent, allowing him to let it all out. Eventually, Rob placed an hand on Kettei’s shoulder, patting his back

  “There there, buddy. I’ll see what I can do as the queen’s secretary, okay?” he said, comforting him and trying to calm him down, as it was slowly working

  “But why would the king do that?” Sora questioned: “I mean, he’s married, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he is. I said someone similar to the king so, what does that mean? There are too many unanswered questions” Kettei replied, wiping away his tears and looking at Sora first, then at Rob: “And the fact my mother didn’t move a muscle to help her makes me sick to the stomach. Rob, please, care to check on my house’s security cameras?”

  “Sure, I’ll go check in a bit, once I’m sure you’re good” Rob softly mumbled, cracking a small, comforting and friendly smile

  “Just go do that now, Sora got you covered on emotional support” Kettei retorted, cracking a joke that made the three of them smile

  “Oh sure, leave me with the big crybaby, why don’t you” Sora playfully joked, as Rob stood up and started to walk to his base of operation

  “Sorry I had you two worried” Kettei sincerely said in an apologetic tone: “I should’ve talked to you two about how I felt”

  “It’s alright, don’t you worry. Listen, I have a younger brother but I can’t imagine myself stepping up like you did for your sister. I probably would have crumbled sooner so, in all honesty, hats off” Sora admitted, placing an arm around Kettei’s shoulder: “And since you were ten too? Boy, do you deserve a break from this”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Oh oh, you say that, but I can’t catch a break. Not with her. Actually, the first three years without our father were the most difficult. I… had to lie to her about where her dad was, because how do you break a news like that to a little girl? In the end, I simply avoided the question. It just hurted way too much to hear the question: When’s daddy coming home? Knowing full well you have to lie to keep her innocence intact” Kettei confessed, looking down

  “I can only imagine. Well, need to take some rest?” Sora asked, feeling the argument was getting heavy for Kettei

  “Sure. Also” Kettei pulled out his phone and made request to join the games as a judge: “Let’s get this done now, shall we? I’ll wait for Rob to see what he found out”

  “Okay. I’ll be outside just in case” Sora said, walking out, as about an hour later, Rob came back with something

  “So” Rob opened: “I found out about something interesting, but I will tell you all after the games, since you seem to have a lot on your plate mentally. How does that sound?” he asked

  “I guess it’s better than nothing. Once possible, have her move here. I don’t know why, but I feel like something bad might happen to her if she remains with my mom” Kettei answered, as he stood up

  “Feeling better, buddy?” Rob questioned, looking at him

  “Yeah. It was a mental breakdown, it’s not like I broke my leg or something. We can go now” Kettei replied, walking away: “Oh, and not a word with Kruger”

  “Okay. I kind of distrust her anyways so no need to tell me that” Rob added, chuckling, before getting serious: “Although I wonder why professor Al-Kaibitari banned you from participating as a fighter. Something’s amiss” he added

  “Oh, that I don’t know, but I’ll have my answers soon enough. Also, when in lessons, use this” Kettei said, handing him a bracelet: “Should you feel weird during professor Al Kaibitari’s lessons, hurt yourself with the sapphire needle”

  “Sure but why should I?” Rob asked, intrigued

  “You’ll understand when the time comes” Kettei answered, walking away

  During the course of the couple of weeks leading to the tournament, many things happened. For starters, Kettei used this time to check on his sister when his mother wasn’t around, as well as studying the manual. Sora, Rosa and Rob, alongside the other participants, started to train hard for the tournament to perform the best of their capabilities. Rosa in particular was growing fast, with Sora close behind and Rob in third, close behind Sora. In magic capabilities, after their training, they were close to equal. Eventually, the day of the tournament arrived. The aforementioned trio of Sora, Rosa and Rob were escorted to the main arena, whereas Kettei was escorted to the judge room. Once there, the other judges started to question him about the rules

  “So” One judge opened: “If someone uses tier two magic, what’s the sanction?”

  “It really depends by when. If it happens in semifinals and final, nothing. If it happens earlier, it can be punished with disqualification or a free hit from the opponent to make it equal, depends by how grave the infringement is” Kettei responded, maintaining eye contact

  “What techniques are allowed?” A second judge asked

  “Every physical technique such as kicks, punches, as well as tier one magic, are all allowed. Although not in sensible places such as the head or below the belt. Magic enhancers, items and weapons are disallowed altogether” Kettei answered, again, with great precision. However, as the third judge was about to ask him something, a figure dressed in a dark cloak walked in the judges room, holding in his hand a big bag of falkian ulukes

  “Alright fellas, here’s the deal. I have just put a lot of money on this fighter, Bacha Taroyaka, and I need you to have her win. Do this, and this bag of 2500 ulukes will be yours” the cloaked figure said. The judges nodded in excitement at the amount, but Kettei wasn’t sold

  “Why should I sell my morals?” Kettei asked, his tone cold

  “Because you’d get rich” the cloaked figure answered, trying to persuade the blond, tall person

  “You’d be rich in falkia, moron. 2500 divided by four is 625 each. You wouldn’t do shit with it in Tempest” Kettei retaliated, walking closer to the hooded figure: “Maybe you should grab these money and put it up your ass, because we will conduct a fair tournament, and if they won’t, I will”

  “Woah, hostile” the cloaked person said, smirking, before turning towards the other judges: “You all fail the test”

  “Test?” Kettei asked

  “Yes, test. After what happened last year, we decided to fake a bet and try bribe the judges to see who morally is strong. And while the contestant is indeed participating, we never put money on it. It was to see who was more impartial and could’ve conducted a fair game” the cloaked figure explained, as she took off the cloak, revealing to be queen Victoria herself: “I’ll see you in the arena, Kettei Izawami. You other judges are disbanded” she added, before walking away, as in the girls’ locker room something else was unfolding.

  As Rosa was to leave, a shadow beast enveloped her, knocking her unconscious as said shadow beast assumed her looks, before walking away as if nothing happened. Back to the arena, the announcer walked on stage

  “Welcome everyone, to the third annual mid autumn games!” the announcer shouted, as the crowd erupted into cheers. The announcer then continued: “Before we get into the games, an announcement from Queen Victoria says three out of four judges got disbanded due to them being easily prone to accepting bribes. So, with that being said, let’s welcome our judge. He’s a 203 cm tall man, born and raised in Tempest from leadalian father and bellumian mother, Mr. Kettei Izawami” As the announcer said that, Kettei walked into the stage, bowing to the crowd, as well as reluctantly bowing to the king and queen, before taking place in the center of the arena, like a true referee. The announcer then added: “And last but definitely not least, our sixteen contestants are welcomed to the stage”. As the announcer said that, Rosa, Sora, Rob, Manuela, Justin, Tom, Rosalba and Evelyn walked in, followed by 4 more Crying Angels representatives and 4 Eruditia representatives. “Now, for the first match, Rob Mihailoglu from Kamome association versus the champion from last year, Rika Orishima from the Eruditia association. Get ready on stage” the announcer concluded as Rob and Rika, a 175 cm tall, short-haired, green-haired, blue eyed girl, daunting a warrioresque outfit, stepped into the ring. Once they were at combat distance, Kettei spoke up:

  “Do I need to remind you the rules?” he asked

  “No, we’re good” Rob and Rika replied in unison

  “Well then. Begin!” Kettei shouted, as the pair started to battle. Rob started off strong, by landing a strong punch, but Rika quickly took the upper hand, thanks to her agility, which seemed to put Rob in a bad spot. Nevertheless, they seemed on par, as Kettei was vigilantly watching over their match. Suddenly, Rob landed a devastating kick to Rika’s face, which Kettei took notice and stopped the match:

  “Violent conduct. First callback” Kettei announced

  “What?” Rob exclaimed, before realizing: “Oh, fair enough”

  “Sorry Rob, but according to the rulebook, I as judge have to condemn that kick, as there was the possibility you could’ve done serious damage to her nervous system. I mean, your opponent is tinier than you, calm down” Kettei explained, gently scolding Rob, as from the thrones, the king admitted: “He’s doing a good job so far”. Kettei then turned to Rika: “Can you continue to fight?”

  “Yes, I can” Rika replied, getting in a stance

  “Then let the fighting resume” Kettei announced, as the two went back at it. It was an equal display of strenght and magic, with none managing to score a finishing blow, until Rob, in a display of smartness, positioned himself at the edge of the ring. As Rika used her speed to catch him off guard, Rob immediately stepped aside, sticking one leg out and making her tumble out of bounds, securing Rob a win

  “I… Lost?” Rika questioned, as Rob sticked an hand out towards her

  “It’s not important, you gave me hell, lady” Rob said, smiling, as he helped her back to the arena, where Kettei announced the winner to be Rob. As the crowd erupted into cheers, Rika smirked at Rob, and the two started to walk off the arena

  “Gotta say, for a nerd, you’re not that bad. Just tell me, was that your plan all along?” Rika asked, tilting her head

  “Can’t reveal my secrets, but I was studying the way you moved in the battlefield, and that’s when I realized you relied too much on your speed and could’ve used that to my advantage” Rob answered, sincerely

  The next match saw Rosalba face Rosa and, unsurprisingly, Rosa won almost instantly, delivering a powerful elbow strike to Rosalba’s gut, making her pass out. However, during that match, Kettei did notice something off about her, and before the next match was to start, he looked towards the queen, signaling her a meetup in the arena hallway. Once there, Kettei introduced the main problem:

  “Something is off about Kruger” he said, looking a bit distraught

  “What about her?” queen Victoria asked, wanting to know

  “So you’re saying you didn’t notice? She has a scar in her arm, but this one… doesn’t. And let’s not imply the attack she did. Rosa isn’t that strong to deliver such devastating blows” Kettei explained: “Send someone to check the arena, from the bathrooms to the lockers” he added, before going to manage the next matches

  The other matches saw Sora beat a male eruditia representative, Justin defeating Tom, although barely, Evelyn defeating a male Crying Angel representative and Manuela getting beaten by Nicole Aurelio, a short, brown-haired, hazelnut-eyed girl from Eruditia. The seven match was about to approach, as Erik Teruki, a 172 cm tall man, with black hair and brown eyes, daunting a pair of black trousers and no shirt, representing Eruditia, was to face Jakub Nowak, a male with blueish hair, purple eyes, daunting an all white outfit, representing Crying Angels.

  “Begin!” Kettei shouted, as the two started fighting. The two seemed equal for about ten minutes, until all of a sudden, Jakub started to feel dizzy and couldn’t lend an hit. As Erik was about to land the final blow, Kettei blocked it

  “Sorry, Mr. Teruki, but I have to disqualify you” Kettei said, his tone icy, as he had noticed something

  “What?! You can’t!” Erik shouted, infuriated

  “You have a poisonous needle in your left hand, just barely visible” Kettei retorted, as he pinched under Erik’s hand, revealing the needle: “The use of weapons isn’t allowed, therefore, disqualified” Kettei added sternly, as Erik left the ring and Jakub fell down. Kettei quickly called the medics on, which took Jakub away in a stretcher. As the match ended, someone called him

  “Kettei, over here!” Rob and the queen exclaimed in unison, waving at him as he walked over to them

  “What is it, Rob, your majesty?” Kettei asked once he was there

  “Have you seen Rika? She went for a drink but she hasn’t come back yet” Rob asked, as Kettei was starting to realize something

  “I haven’t seen her. Where was the last time you’ve seen her?” Kettei replied, now concerned

  “She was near the food stalls” Rob answered

  “Perfect, I’ll be right back” Kettei said, rushing towards the food stalls just in time to see another shadow beast trying to hide Rika’s unconscious body. In a matter of instants, Kettei used his knowledge of light magic to destroy the shadow beast entirely and grabbing Rika, before heading back to Robert and the queen

  “Rika!” Rob exclaimed, as Kettei arrived with her: “Is she okay?”

  “She’s just unconscious. Relax. She’ll be okay” Kettei replied, keeping his calm, but he was clearly agitated

  “What’s going on, Izawami?” Queen Victoria asked, looking at Kettei

  “There are shadow beasts roaming around” Kettei replied, as Rob and the queen’s eyes widened in horror