The party went on till late in the night. It consisted of Kyrie, the Ori brothers, Ledia, Rella, Goros and some others which Kyrie had become acquainted with. They were celebrating Kyrie’s entry into the quarterfinals. Well, they were also celebrating the Ori brothers but Kyrie’s entry was recent.

  Orik told Kyrie that Furorin was furious with Dollace for losing but cannot say anything as he gave it his all. Furorin then tried to have a rematch stating Kyrie cheated but Dollace put a stop to that. According to Orik, Dollace actually threatened Furorin and she has been sulking even since then.

  The party was taking place in the inn where Kyrie was staying. As the party progressed more unknown faces joined but Kyrie did not mind. Alcohol flowed freely and everyone was having a good time without making a nuisance to the innkeeper. There was a group of bards playing on a makeshift stage in the corner room of the inn. The music was celebrating and cheerful and Kyrie had danced quite a bit to the music.

  That night Kyrie slept peacefully. She knew there was a break for two days now. Then the line up for the quarterfinals would be announced. There were seven participants in the quarterfinals that belonged to Furorin’s faction while nine participants belonged to Gorin's faction. Kyrie was sure Furorin would not be happy but she was no longer Kyrie’s concern.

  In the morning Kyrie woke up to find Ledia and Rella passed out in her room. She stepped around them carefully so as to ensure not to wake them up. She went down to the common room for breakfast.

  The common room was empty even though the hour was late. Kyrie could guess why. Last night’s proclivities would have exhausted everyone, even the inn staff.

  Kyrie inquired to an evidently sleep deprived innkeeper if there was something to eat for breakfast. The innkeeper glared at her and gave her a snort. Then she served Kyrie some fresh bread and cheese with lemon juice. Kyrie did not mind. She finished her breakfast quickly and wondered what she should do for the next two days.

  Thinking of nothing, she simply decided to spend some time with Ledia and Rella. She would have to wait for them to wake up though.

  Sighing, Kyrie leaned back in her seat, “Hope the two days pass quickly.”

  ***

  “Welcome ladies and gentlemen”, shouted Loring over the meagre crowd that was present in the stadium. Today was the day when the quarter finalists of the Succession Tournament would be introduced to all of Karzasham. Sitting in the stadium was through special invitations only and the presentation was being magically recorded and magically streamed via large hovering screens across Karzasham.

  “I am sure you are excited to find out who the quarter finalists are for the Succession Tournament. Well, you don’t have to wait any more. Without further ado, let me introduce them.”

  And Loring proceeded to introduce them. Kyrie was currently waiting with them in a waiting chamber as Loring announced them. As their names would be called, they would be walking to the fighting arena and joining Loring where he stood.

  Kyrie looked at the fighters as they were announced, memorizing their names with their faces.

  First was Dulnolm Graygift, a regal looking dwarf who held his head high as he marched through the gates of the waiting room. He made his way towards the arena as Loring shouted his achievements to everyone. There was a magical screen in the waiting area too and Kyrie could hear what was going on in the stadium.

  Second participant was Ronorin Ashspell, an elf who looked quite glum. It seemed to Kyrie that he was not enthused with the whole tournament till now. Third participant was another elf named Orilana Laetherial. She almost bounced out of the room.

  Fourth participant was Dunhorne Warsworn. As Kyrie watched him make his way out of the room, she thought that that was one scary looking dwarf. She hoped that she did not have to fight him in the quarterfinals.

  Fifth participant was another dwarf named Goldhorne Warsworn. Definitely the brother of Dunhorne. However, he did not look as scary as Dunhorne did and he walked out of the room giving a cheerful wave to the participants.

  Sixth participant was a gnome named Bob Tinkertotts who wore a grim expression on his face. The seventh participant was a feliur named Grace Shadowborne. The eight participant was another feliur, Letitia Windburne.

  The ninth participant was a dwarf who projected an aura of confidence. He walked with strong measured steps as his name was announced. Kyrie knew of him. She had heard about him from the Ori brothers. He was the favourite of Gorin to win the tournament, a non adventurer dwarf. Grugnor Gurnhold, a cousin of Gorin. Kyrie was definitely going to watch out for Grugnor. She had seen a few of his fights and he was an excellent fighter and strategist.

  With the nine quarter finalists announced, Kyrie observed that they all belonged to Gorin’s faction. That meant the participants from Furorin’s faction would be announced next. Loring continued to announce the names.

  The tenth participant was Rob Metaltouch, a gnome who was fidgeting as he made out of the room. The eleventh participant was a human named Charles Becker. From a distance he looked like a nice fellow. He seemed to have a friendly face.

  The next four participants were the Ori brothers and they exited the room and entered the arena quite boisterously. Now only Kyrie was remaining. Loring announced her name embellishing her achievements in the tournament and Kyrie found herself blushing as she made her way towards the arena.

  When all the quarterfinal participants were assembled in the arena Loring asked those present in the stadium to give them a huge round of applause. The applause received was not as loud as what Kyrie had received during the matches, but it was still loud. Kyrie looked to find the stadium was filled with fifty percent occupancy.

  Loring said, “I shall now announce the line up for the quarterfinal matches. A week from now, these sixteen quarter finalists will fight each other in an arena each day. Everyone of them has the same aim. To win and to reach the semifinals. Without further ado, let’s see who is going to fight who.”

  Loring brought out a slate from his inventory and with a flick of his wrist brought a hovering screen in front of everybody. The screen was large enough that everyone in the stadium could see what was written in it. Currently it only showed ‘Quarterfinals Line Up’ as the title.

  “Alright, the first match is-”

  Kyrie felt her heart flutter as her name came first.

  “Kyrie Shiningstar versus Orilana Laetherial”

  Oh! The peppy elf was her opponent. Kyrie hoped that she would not be a pushover. Loring continued to announce the rest of the lineup.

  “Second match of the quarterfinals - Bob Tinkertotts versus Charles Becker”

  “Next we have Orin Gurnhold versus Dulnolm Graygift”

  “The fourth quarterfinal match is Orik Gurnhold versus Letitia Windburne.”

  “Next match will be… Oh! This is interesting. I wonder how this pairing came to be but it is Dunhorne Warsworn versus Goldhorne Warsworn. The two brothers will be fighting each other.”

  Kyrie had been right. They were brothers. And they were going up against each other. Kyrie wondered what the organisers were thinking, setting up such a match.

  “The sixth quarterfinal would be Orim Gurnhold versus Ronorin Ashspell.”

  “The seventh quarterfinal would be Oril Gurnhold versus Grace Shadowborne.”

  “And the final match of the quarterfinals would be Grugnor Gurnhold versus Rob Metaltouch.”

  “A big round of applause for the quarterfinalists. The format for the fight would be back to one on one elimination with themes being removed.”

  Loring continued to explain more about the quarterfinals and gave an excited speech about something Kyrie could not focus on. She was already bored. She at least heard that the quarterfinals would start in a week. Plenty of time to relax and train.

  Kyrie grinned as she exited the arena with the Ori brothers. She was so ready for the quarterfinals.

  ***

  She was so not ready for the quarterfinals. Kyrie’s match had started well against Orilana. Orilana weilded a twinblade much like Marcus. However, Kyrie was not sure that this was a magical twinblade or more focused on physical damage.

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  Kyrie had managed to keep Orilana at some distance, shooting arrow after arrow. Initially all had gone well and Kyrie had managed to drop Orilana’s health down to about fifty percent with her losing only about twenty percent of health. Things had started to go downhill from there.

  Orilana had activated an ability which enveloped her in a red aura. Her movement and attack speed had increased and Orilana was now closing the distance between her and Kyrie fast and more open. This made Kyrie dodge the majority of the attacks and gave her very less opportunity to either counter attack or attack Orilana.

  Kyrie needed a moment to think of a strategy to counter this aura of Orilana. However, Orilana was not giving her time and this was not good. Orilana was not as proficient with her twinblade as Marcus was but still she had now managed to reduce Kyrie’s health to about sixty percent of her total health points.

  This was not good. If this continued, Kyrie would lose the initial advantage that she had and she would lose. As she dodged another attack and jumped back, Kyrie made a decision.

  She cast [Field of Ice].

  [Field of Ice]

  Cover an area of ten metre radius with ice which would create a chill effect and slow down anyone who is inside it. The area lasts for a minute. Mana cost of 100. Cooldown 2 minutes.

  A major part of the fighting arena was covered with ice with small icicles protruding out of the ground in certain places. Orilana was already moving when she stepped on ice and slipped. She did not fall but flailed trying to regain her balance.

  Kyrie took advantage of this opportunity. She cast [Multi Shot].

  [Multi Shot]

  Shoots five arrows in quick succession with reduced damage. The damage reduced depends upon the dexterity and intelligence of the caster. Mana cost of 20. Cooldown 30 seconds.

  It hit Orilana leading to another thirty percent drop in her health. This was good. Kyrie had one minute and she intended to make full use of it.

  However, the next moment Orilana cast another spell and she was shrouded in fire from head to toe. Kyrie recognized the spell. She had read about it in Levene’s shop. It was [Aura of Fire].

  [Aura of Fire]

  Coats the caster in fire, increasing their fire damage and fire resistance. The damage and resistance obtained depends upon the intelligence of the caster. Duration of 30 seconds. Mana cost of 50. Cooldown 1 minute.

  The ice around Orilana started melting and she started moving towards Kyrie. Kyrie shuffled back, gliding across the ice that was already present and started shooting arrows at Orilana. Orilana blocked all of them by twirling her twinblade.

  Kyrie gritted her teeth. She needed to finish this fast. Her [Field of Ice] was not going to last long against Orilana’s [Aura of Fire] and she needed to finish this fast before Orilana landed a major hit on Kyrie.

  Kyrie ran up to one of the corners and crouched. She readied an arrow and cast [Power Shot]. She waited till Orilana was just a few feet away from her and released the shot. As she had predicted, Orilana tried to parry the incoming arrow with a twirl of her twinblade.

  Kyrie grinned as Orilana failed and the arrow shot through her twirling blades with a speed and force that Orilana could not have predicted.

  The look of surprise on Orilana’s face was worth it as she was shot back by the force of the [Power Shot] arrow. Orilana tried to get up but the damage was done. Her health points reduced to zero and she vanished in a flash of white light.

  Kyrie heard the crowd at that moment. A deafening cheering assaulted her senses, overwhelming whatever announcement Loring was making. But Kyrie was ignoring everything. She gave a huge smile and raised her hand holding the bow triumphantly. She had made it to the semi-finals.

  ***

  Furorin gave a sigh of relief after Kyrie won. She had been angry after Kyrie had won against Dollace. Furorin could not believe it. After all, she had given Dollace the perfect opportunity to win against Kyrie. The advantage of Weapons. Using melee weapons Dollace should have been easily able to win against Kyrie. But the water nymph had turned it all around by simply changing the weather.

  The gorking weather!

  Who would have believed that! And to add insult to injury, when Furorin had tried to have a second ruling on the match and had tried to manipulate the jury to get Kyrie for cheating, Dollace had threatened her. He had threatened to expose her and get her participants out of the tournament.

  Oh he knew that Furorin and Gorin were both cheating and manipulating the results of the tournament to some extent. Grugnor would not have been able to reach quarterfinals without it. But it was her that Dollace was willing to expose if she did not accept his loss.

  The next few days Furorin had spent in rage. It did not help that Ori brothers, her biggest supporters, supported Kyrie over her champion.

  Coupled with the fact that only seven of her participants had reached the quarterfinals, Furorin was seeing her chance of winning the throne slim.

  She knew she was not perfect but Gorin would be so much worse as the king of Karzasham. Her supporters knew this. Then why did they not trust her decision to help them. Help Dollace.

  Dollace had told her what Orin had told her. Watch for Kyrie. She had the potential to win the tournament. Furorin was still skeptical.

  However, looking at today’s fight she did not have many options. She would have to put her faith into her seven quarterfinalists. It was them after all, who would win her the tournament.

  She just hoped that there would be no more surprises till the end of the tournament.

  ***

  The second match of the quarterfinals was the next day. It was Bob Tinkertotts versus Charles Becker. Kyrie had plans to view all the quarterfinals. She was sitting with the Ori brothers in a special viewing pavilion for the participants belonging to Furorin’s faction. Rob Metaltouch had not joined them and Kyrie wondered why. Maybe he was preparing for his own match.

  The match was entertaining. Bob fought using various gadgets along with his crossbow while Charles was a mage. He rained down spell upon spell on Bob which were majorly deflected or dodged. Some of them got through. Bob used gadgets which emulated spells, primarily lightning based spells.

  It was a long fight between two ranged fighters. However, Charles emerged victorious in the end. Kyrie enjoyed the match immensely.

  The next day she was alone in her stall when Orin was going to fight Dulnolm. The remaining Ori brothers were in the waiting room with Orin. Kyrie knew that. They had told her. Yet she expected either Rob or Charles to join her. They apparently had not.

  When Orin’s name was announced he stepped into the arena with scalemail, his flail and shield ready in his hand. He was going to fight Dulnolm who was wearing no armor and had a huge warhammer in his arms. It seemed that Dulnolm was sort of a berserker like Dollace had been.

  Kyrie leaned forwards, on the edge of her seat when the fight began. Orin fought defensively while Dulnolm took the offensive right at the beginning of the match. Kyrie watched as Orin effectively wore Dulnolm down. He persevered for a long time but was not able to get Dulnolm on the backfoot.

  Dulnolm finally managed to break through Orin’s defense and took advantage of his opportunity. Dulnolm finally managed to defeat Orin and Kyrie shook her head in disappointment. This was the first defeat for Furorin’s faction and it came in the form of Orin. Kyrie was sure that Orin was going to be more disappointed with himself then Furorin would be with him.

  The next match Orik versus Letitia, Kyrie was again alone in the pavilion. Kyrie knew that Orik was a spell caster that used a crossbow. She was surprised to find Letitia was a spellcaster too.

  The match between Orik and Letitia was long. As it was a battle of spellcasters, it was mostly a battle of mana efficiency and effective spell usage. Orik tried really hard but he lost against Letitia.

  This was another disappointment for Furorin’s faction. Of the Ori brothers, Orin was the strongest followed by Orik and they had both lost their matches. She was now worried about Oril and Orim, whether they would be able to pull through and secure a win or not. They needed at least four participants from Furorin’s faction in the semi-finals in order to have a balance.

  The next match was between the warsworn brothers. Both were heavily decked with plate armor and carried longswords as weapons. Their match was dull and boring and Kyrie did not glean much from the fighting brothers. It was a relief when Dunhorned finally won the fight.

  The next match between Orim and Ronorin turned out to be quite exciting. Orim wore light armor and had two waraxes in each of his hands while Ronorin also wore light armor and fought with a rapier. He also cast close ranged spells along with attacking with his rapier.

  Watching the two fighters weave through each other's attacks was like poetry in motion. Kyrie could tell the crowd was holding their breath when Orim and Ronorin fought. Kyrie could not even decide whom to support. Both of them fought so beautifully.

  The match finally came to an end and Orim emerged victorious. Kyrie cheered for him along with the crowd but was a bit disappointed that the match had come to an end. She decided she needed to fight this Ronorin Ashspell once the tournament was over. It would be a fun match.

  The next day, Oril was going to fight Grace. Oril wore leather armor with his huge greathammer slung across his shoulder. Grace was wearing armor made from material Kyrie could not recognize. She did not seem to have weapons. Instead Grace extended her claws and wore further claws to elongate her natural claws, making them deadly.

  Grace tried her best the entire fight felt one sided. Oril dominated the fight right from the beginning. He won his match very fast. It had to be a record or some sorts, Kyrie mused.

  The final quarterfinal was between Grugnor and Rob. Everyone had come to watch this match. The stadium was jam packed. Even Charles joined Kyrie and Ori brothers in the booth. Grugnor was famous and he was Gorin’s champion. Kyrie was hoping he would lose but looking at Rob, it seemed unlikely.

  Rob was looking highly nervous as he stepped into the arena. Rob was wearing leather armor and had two daggers strapped across his waist. He also had a short bow at his back and a whip straddled across his waist as a belt.

  It seemed that Rob used multiple weapons for fighting. In contrast, Grugnor was wearing scale mail made of a dark material. He held a scimitar in one hand and a kite shield with a slightly curved top in another. He seemed relaxed, ready for the fight.

  Kyrie waited with baited breath for the fight to start. When the referee finally blew the whistle signalling the start of the fight, both the fighters launched towards each other. Observing the fight Kyrie understood why Grugnor was considered as Gorin’s champion.

  Grugnor fought perfectly. There were no errors in his movement and he attacked and defended with a proficiency which seemed unnatural. He hardly used any skills or spells during the fight. It was clear right from the start that Rob was struggling against Grugnor but the gnome did not give up.

  Gritting his teeth, Rob launched attack over attack on Grugnor, alternating between his weapons and using skills whenever required. However, Grugnor defended against Rob’s attacks quite easily. Well it looked effortless to the crowd but Kyrie could see the look of concentration on Grugnor’s face. He was taking his opponent seriously and was giving his all.

  A nod of respect was given by Kyrie to Grugnor who she was sure would have not seen it. As the fight ended with Grugnor’s victory, Kyrie stood up and gave him a standing ovation. The dwarf deserved it.

  The quarterfinals were now over. Four participants from each faction had made it to the semi-finals. Kyrie smiled as she thought about the upcoming matches. They were in the end matches now.