Fauna walked away laughing and made their way towards the entrance they'd come through. They were genuinely happy with their win for many reasons. The major reasons were that they'd absolutely humiliated the team of terrible nobles, won within about fifteen seconds, and hadn't needed to show many of their trump cards.

They were excited to see who they were up against and how their future matches would go. They were just about to leave when someone called out to them. They only stopped because Gaia heard it through the cacophony of the colosseum. Someone ran up to them and placed something in Griff's hand. Then they continued out, navigating the maze that was the colosseum's lower halls. They were guided by a worker who found them right as they were about to take a wrong turn and returned to their seats.

As they sat, Griff checked the slab the worker had handed him. This one indicated they were in group four and in arena six, for their next match. He relayed this to the rest of the party as the other matches in their group came to an end. Theirs had been over almost instantly so no one really knew what had happened. All they saw was the opponents either flew out of the arena, got bound in some form, or were stuck under a hammer. This made many of the other parties wary of them. No one had really seen what happened, so they had no good indication of Fauna's true strength. This made them a party for everyone to pay attention to.

Fauna ignored the stares as they waited for the final group to be called. This group had Traskior in it so they were excited to see what they could do. Fergus had watched the other two parties' matches but hadn't discovered much about them. The vanguard fought like a vanguard but with a style that intertwined defender tactics in it. They learned that party was called The Order of Serenity. It sounded pretty cool but also like they were trying to imitate a knights order, which Gaia guessed they were.

The other group was even weirder. Their mage had stepped forward and suddenly turned into a monster, he'd never seen. Then, almost instantly knocked all of their opponents out of the ring, giving them the win by ring out. They'd then just walked out and got their next slab for the future matches. Fergus was more worried about that party which they discovered was called Daemon's Descent.

Fauna returned to watching the next set of matches as they began. They mainly focused on Traskior, since they wanted the party to win but also wanted to see what they were capable of. They may be facing each other later on so every bit of information was crucial for that. They'd fight at their full strength either way, but they still wanted the other party to do well.

The match went quickly, Traskior's opponents were a party of four so they were already outnumbered. As soon as the fight started, Trast fired an arrow that struck one of their opponents piercing his shoulder. This was followed by three more that struck the same man's thighs and other shoulder. He went down and was taken to be healed. The second went down from a magical infused chakram throw from Yfrit, slicing his arms and making him unable to hold a weapon. He surrendered and went to be healed.

The third was taken out by a lightning spell from Aria. She shot a bolt of lightning from her staff that struck the woman. She convulsed for a moment before falling to the ground, twitching but alive. The final was finished off by Franca who parried the woman's attacks. She then brought her blade to the woman's throat, the woman who was the leader of the other team, surrendered. This made Traskior the winners. The fight lasted around a minute as Franca traded a few attacks with the opposing party's leader before finding the opening to finish the fight.

They left the stage and got their slab before returning to the stands. They didn't seem to have used their full strength either, so Fauna was excited for the party's next match. They hoped to see more of the teamwork and hidden cards Traskior hadn't had to use this time.

Fauna sat and waited while watching the matches until Daemon's Descent stepped into one of the arenas. Gaia moved and shaped her aura so she could "watch" the match. They were up against a group that consisted of two bowmen, a defender and an axe man. The match started with the axe man dashing forwards, while the two bowmen took up position behind their defender. The bowmen immediately started firing arrows at Daemon's Descent's mage and healer.

The healer was defended by the one who had a magical trident, while the mage just transformed into a monster. This one was different than the last, according to Fergus, it was some kind of bulky horse, with a horn. The arrows bounced off the monster's hide when they hit, and the monster charged the defender and bowmen. The trident wielder threw his Trident striking the axe man in the chest as he ran. He crumpled from the blow, dropping his axe. The next moment the trident reappeared in the man's hand.

The monster dashed forward as this happened, striking the defender's shield and trampling over him. Its horn pierced one of the bowmen when it lowered its head while the other was able to dodge. The next moment, it turned and kicked the other bowmen in the chest, launching them out of the arena. As the bowmen left the arena, the match was declared a victory for Daemon's Descent.

The mage transformed back into their humanoid form and the party left the arena. The healers all rushed to the other team and began healing them. Daemon's Descent was given another slab as they left the pit, after only around a minute of fighting. The other matches weren't as interesting but were still decent battles. Around five minutes after the matches were over, the next group was called.

This one didn't have any of the parties Fergus had originally viewed as challenging fights for the party, but the matches were still interesting. There were two other groups that fought well enough to end their fights in a couple of minutes, but not as quickly as Fauna, Traskior, The Order of Serenity, or Daemon's Descent.

This group of matches passed by quickly as did the next. Group four had Fauna again. They made their way to the pit and to arena six. They looked around and noticed Traskior was also in their group, but they luckily weren't up against them. Their opponents were a group of six consisting of one healer, two swordsmen, a bowman, a defender, and a spearman. Their judge was Dustin again, and he went through the same spiel as he had before. Fauna got ready as the other party did the same.

Once the match began, Malachite burst forward, bashing their defender with his shell as he tried to take a defensive stance. He did so too late and was launched out of the arena, along with the bowman who was behind him. The spearman was hit by a ball of webs and was bound to the spot, as the healer crumpled to the ground screaming in pain. The two swordsmen were struck by an arrow and a bullet. The one struck by the arrow tripped and was kicked by Griff as the other slowed from the bullet in the shoulder. He was struck in the stomach by a palm strike from Griff, causing him to drop to the ground unconscious.

Fauna immediately turned towards Dustin who had just reached the side of the arena. He looked and called out their victory when he realized the healer wouldn't stop screaming and writhing from the pain. They left the arena and grabbed their slab, by the time they reached the exit, Gaia heard the announcement of Traskior's win. She relayed this to the others as they walked back to their seats.

They waited for the last few groups to finish and checked their slab. They were in group one in arena one. They had noticed the number of groups decreased and there were now only four for the next round. They waited and soon it was time for their match again. They'd been watching the matches but the only parties close to their strength were Traskior and Daemon's Descent, so they were somewhat disappointed by the other matches.

They were up again, and they weren't up against their two major competitors. The match ended quickly, with Fauna's victory and they returned to their seats. The next three groups went by somewhat slowly. Traskior and Daemon's Descent were both done quickly, but the other matches took longer as the weaker parties were eliminated.

The next round only had two groups with most of the original participants already eliminated. These matches took twice as long as the original, each group taking nearly a half hour. This round also had Daemon's Descent and Traskior in the same group. Once again they were lucky, in that they weren't put up against each other. The two parties quickly finished their matches and returned to their seats. Fauna waited for twenty minutes before their group was called.

They went down and hopped in their arena. Their opponents were a group of four like them. It wasn't the Order of Serenity, who they'd honestly almost forgotten about, since their matches were longer than the others. It was a group with a spearman, a swordsman, an axe man, and a knight. Gaia paused for a moment when Griff relayed this. Most parties weren't made of only offensive classes, but that's apparently how this party was.

Fauna prepared as the countdown began. The other party did the same and they began charging towards them when the battle began. Liv and Antonio fired their skills towards the swordsman and axe man. The knight did something and the skills veered towards him, as he ran. The skills missed due to his speed and their new trajectory. Fauna was surprised by this, but started attacking themselves. Stephanie fired a bullet at the swordsman, but she couldn't focus on him. Instead, her rifle swayed towards the knight.

"The knight used a taunting skill!" Griff called through their telepathy.

He then sprinted towards the knight and used his counter skill when the knight swung his sword at him. He blocked it and struck the knight, using his momentum to slam him into the ground. This stunned the knight, causing the taunt skill to end and the others attacked the rest of the party. Stephanie shot the axe man in the side, while Fergus dashed forward and slashed the swordsman with the Arrow Dagger. The axe man dropped holding his side, while the swordsman tried to block the dagger. Fergus' dagger was enhanced by his Gale Arrow skill, so the sword slid off and Fergus struck it from the man's hand. The spearman was dealt with by Shadow who had her jaws, around his arm. She pulled him down and put her claws on his throat.

The judge called an end to the match since the other party was incapacitated in some fashion. Shadow leapt off the spearman and returned to Gaia's side, where she got some good head pats. Fauna left the arena but wasn't given a slab this time. Their confusion was short lived as they heard an announcement.

"Congratulations and Thank You! The preliminaries for the party tournament have come to an end. Those of you that remain, will continue your matches during the actual tournament! Everyone else, I thank you for participating." Natasha's voice rang out.

"So, we're done for today? Is that it, we just return on the day of the tournament?" Gaia asked, a bit surprised.

"Apparently? There are only sixteen parties left so it fits for quarterfinals." Griff replied.

"Yeah, the tournament usually does from the quarterfinals on, for each one." Fergus explained.

"Awesome. Does that mean we can go?" Stephanie asked.

"Let's check with a worker first. I don't want to be disqualified for something ridiculous." Griff finished.

They looked for a worker to check and found one quickly. The worker confirmed they were good to leave, so they did. They'd been there all day and it was already close to nighttime based on the chill in the air. They walked back to the Baron's mansion and had dinner with the others. They relayed that they'd passed and would be in the party tournament when it occurred.

No one had doubted this outcome, but they were all excited. Some of them hadn't seen Fauna in action so they were excited to be able to see them fight. The rest of night passed quickly as everyone talked about the tournaments. Flora would be participating in the Bronze rank party tournament which was luckily on another day. The next day would have them all participating in their respective single tournaments preliminaries, except the one-on-one fighting tournament. Gaia wanted to participate in the magic tournament, but the Baron explained that it was about showing off their strongest magic. She asked if she could enter for her bonds and the Baron wasn't sure, so she decided to check the next morning at registration.

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They all went to bed early so they would be up to make sure they got up early. They all needed to register the next morning and each in a different area. The next morning started early with a quick breakfast and everyone splitting up to go register for their solo tournaments. Fergus' and Gaia's preliminaries were close to each other so they went together until they got close. Fergus gave Malachite instructions on where to go before kissing Gaia and heading off towards his destination.

Gaia let Malachite lead the way as she took in the scents and sounds of their surroundings. They were still in the capital, but not near any busy streets since she barely heard anyone speaking or moving about. She could smell the scents of greenery and earth, so she guessed it was a more rural area, with more grass than cobbled streets. They approached their destination based on the few people she could sense ahead of her. She got in line behind a few people that were lined up and waited until she made it to someone who was sitting down.

"Name?" The elderly woman asked.

"Gaia, but I actually had a question."

"Oh? What question would that be dear?"

"Can I enter my bonds instead of myself?"

The woman had been relaxing but sat up when she heard this. "What do you mean dear?"

"I was wondering if I could enter one or all of my bonds into the tournament for me? They are the ones that can use magic, or rather magical skills." Gaia explained.

There was silence for a bit before the woman replied. "I. I don't actually know. Let me ask."

The woman sat there, and Gaia sensed her arm move slightly along with the mana move with it. She also heard the woman mumble, but didn't catch what she'd said, before the woman spoke to her again. "You can enter one. They'll be under your name though. Does that sound alright?"

"I'd prefer they get the recognition since they'll be doing the magic." She said and asked her bonds their opinions.

"That's fine." Liv replied.

"Mom can take credit." Malachite said.

"I don't have spells." Shadow replied.

"Mom is Queen. Queen gets credit for children's achievements, so Mom take credit." Antonio replied.

"I guess that'll be fine then. I also forgot to ask, what does the tournament actually entail?"

"The tournament requires you or the participant to have three magical spells, or skills that act as spells. As you likely know, one can learn a spell through study and it can be cast without a skill, but will usually become a skill after regular use. The tournament requires the participant to demonstrate the spells in front of judges who will determine the score. There will be enchanted practice dummies to show the power and effects of the spells." The woman explained.

Gaia thought for a bit and decided that Antonio would be her entry. "I think we can do that. I'll enter Antonio as my participant." She replied as she motioned to Antonio.

"Alright. What kind of magic does he use?"

"Curses. Specifically, psychic damage."

"Very well. Is that the psychic attribute of magic, too? It's quite odd to have curses with the psychic attribute."

"Oh, sorry. No, the attribute should be Agony." Gaia replied honestly.

The woman stopped momentarily. "Agony? Oh, that makes a bit more sense. It's a rare attribute."

"Will that make it harder to participate, or judge?"

"No! It'll be just fine, just need to make sure we have the proper enchantments to show the spells power and effects."

The woman finished writing out what she needed to before speaking again. "I'll have someone lead you to the initial testing site. They'll explain more when you get there."

Gaia listened to the woman and thanked her for her help before moving aside and waiting for someone to come guide her. She waited there for a bit before realizing someone was standing, waiting for her a short distance away. She moved towards them.

"Are you going to guide me to the testing area?" She asked.

"Yes." The boy said and started walking away.

She followed him, or rather Malachite did as she rode on him. They were moving for around five minutes and stopped before the boy opened a door. He motioned inside a moment later, so Gaia had Malachite enter. He did so and she sensed someone inside as the boy closed the door behind them.

"You are…" there was silence for a moment before he continued. "Gaia?"

"Yes. I am Gaia." She replied.

"Very well. It says your magic is agony attribute and curses that deal psychic damage?"

"Oh, uh no. That'll be Antonio here." She replied as she motioned towards Antonio, who was perched in the back of her hand.

There was silence.

"You… Mean to tell me, that this monster will be the one casting the magic? You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?"

"Not really. Here, we'll show you. Just show him where he needs to aim and with what, then he'll show you." She replied confidently.

The judge just sighed and did so. He had Antonio aim at two very magical dummies from a distance. He had the ant fire his two skills at them before having Gaia carry him closer to use his last skill on both simultaneously. The judge seemed to be satisfied with the result and relayed that they'd be able to join the tournament. They'd just need to come on the day of and demonstrate the three skills in front of the judges. They will judge the spell on multiple criteria. They will mainly judge based on power and effectiveness before delivering their decision.

"So, we passed?" Gaia asked a bit surprised.

"Yes, you did. You did splendidly." The judge stated.

"Ok, then." She replied after a few moments of silence.

"Now, enjoy the rest of your day!" The judge stated as he waved.

She left and Malachite headed towards Fergus' preliminaries. Gaia wanted to watch them if she could. She figured that she would only be able to sense Fergus' arrows, but she'd still enjoy it if that was all. He loved shooting his bow and she hoped he would enjoy the tournament just as much.

While Gaia took her prelim for the Magic tournament, Fergus arrived at the Archery tournaments prelims. He waited in line for a short while and registered before being guided to an archery field. There were three other people taking their test, so he waited. When they were done, he was told to take the middle spot and wait for his judge to arrive. She did a few minutes later but looked like she was horribly hungover.

"So, you're the one I need to evaluate? Where's your bow did you expect us to provide one? Cuz that ain't happening." She stated wincing at the sound of her own voice.

"I only have my bound item, will that be alright?" He asked.

"What? Oh yeah sure. Whatever. Your goal is to hit as many targets on the field as possible and as accurately as possible within the time limit. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me. I'm barely thirty. Ready?"

Fergus nodded and had his root bow grow from his hand. He heard the judge choke for a second as they saw it grow from his hand before she finished counting down.

"Begin!" She said just loud enough for him to hear.

The next moment, he was firing arrows at each target in the field. There were a total of ninety targets to hit on the field, some of which were stationary while others were enchanted to move. He started from the left and worked his way to the right hitting each target with at least one arrow. He made liberal use of his multi-shot skill and volley ability to hit as many as he could. The time ticked by slowly, he originally had just under a minute to hit as many targets as possible. He fired arrows until the time ended.

When the time ended the judge looked at the targets and tallied them up. "Huh, all thirty of them. Most are hit in nearly a bullseye. Congrats you passed." She said.

He left after that a bit embarrassed as he realized his mistake. He'd thought they meant the entire field and had fired arrows at every single target in it, not the center field where his test was being judged. His tester realized this after he'd left when the others had checked the targets and found arrows that didn't match their participants. Fergus had just left the area when he swore, he heard someone scream in disbelief.

He saw Gaia almost immediately after and the noise was ignored. "How'd your testing go? I think these are closer to a test than the other preliminaries. I passed mine." Fergus said as he ran to meet her.

"I passed mine too! Or rather, Antonio did!" Gaia replied ecstatically at their mutual success.

"Yeah. I'm glad we both passed." He said with a quick kiss.

"Absolutely." She replied as she just enjoyed the moment.

They'd just began heading in the direction of Stephanie and Griff's tests when Gaia asked a question. "Oh, yeah. Do you know why some lady was screaming about an 'overachieving brat'?"

Fergus nearly choked as he was taking a drink of water when she said this. "Uh, no why?" He immediately asked.

"I don't know. I just heard some woman screaming and ranting about it, so I figured I'd ask."

"N-no, I don't." He lied, obviously.

"Really? Because you seem to know something, based on your stuttering."

He was silent for a bit, trying to ignore her. He failed. "Fine. Yes, it was me! I didn't realize the targets I had to shoot were just in the middle of the field, so I tried to hit all of them. Including my competitors." He replied embarrassingly.

Gaia started giggling before devolving into laughter. Fergus' face got redder, but he was thankful she couldn't see it. It took much longer than Fergus would have liked for her laughter to die down.

"You happy now?" He asked with a slight smile from seeing her amusement.

"Yeah, Mr. Overachiever." She whispered back, before giggling again.

"Stop it!" He replied with feigned annoyance. He found it quite amusing himself, now that he wasn't embarrassed.

They continued along, sitting together on Malachite's back as he walked through the city. He was taking them back to the mansion since the other pair's prelims were in the opposite direction from theirs. They were getting some looks as they moved along, Malachite had become a semi-regular sight since they came to the capital, but it was usually just Gaia riding him. He was bigger than usual since Fergus was sitting with her too, so he was around the size of a car. They had to walk in the street because he was too big to walk down the sidewalk.

They were moving along behind wagons and carriages as they moved around the city. No one stopped them so they arrived at the mansion quickly. They were both thankful for this since Gaia could feel many gazes on her, while Fergus saw many watching them. Some were young noble ladies who were staring at Gaia with less than kind looks. He worried what that could lead to, but they quickly moved away following the street.

When they arrived at the mansion, they found Stephanie and Griff. They both seemed to have just arrived and about to head in the couple's direction. When they saw the pair riding Malachite, they smiled happy to see them and waited for them to get closer.

"It's nice to see you two. Just getting back from a date?" Griff asked cheekily as he saw them cuddled up on Malachite.

"Kinda? What about you two? Did you enjoy your date?" Fergus replied when he saw them holding hands.

Griff's face went red and he spluttered a bit, so Stephanie replied. "We did. We both passed so we grabbed some food before heading towards you guys."

"We should've done that!" Gaia exclaimed. It sounded like it'd have been nice, but she hadn't even thought of it.

Stephanie smiled as they met. "You always have next time." She said as she hugged Gaia.

"We both passed too." Fergus replied.

"Nice! That means we're each in a solo tournament too! Are you guys planning on entering the one-on-one tournament too?" Griff asked when he finally collected himself.

"Yep!" They all replied.

There was silence as they smiled at each other until they realized Gaia had also spoken.

"What?" The other three cried.

"I was going to enter too. Is that, not alright?" Gaia asked as she shrank slightly.

The other three took deep breaths before speaking in turns.

"Are you sure? You could be taken out in the first round." Stephanie said worriedly.

"Will you be alright? I don't want you to be discouraged since you can't deal damage." Fergus replied.

"Well, I guess that means no one else will be winning. I might not join then." Griff added.

It took a moment for Griff's statement to sink in before Gaia turned to him surprised. The other two did the same.

"Why not?" Stephanie asked.

"Wh-" Fergus started before it dawned on him. "Nope. Me either. Or rather why don't we just forfeit when that time comes?" He mused a moment later.

"Am I the only one that doesn't understand?" Stephanie asked.

"I'm just as lost." Gaia replied.

It was Griff that helped guide them to understanding. "Steph, look at Gaia. Then think about a tournament fight with just you against her."

"What abou-" She came to the same realization as the other two. "Fair enough." She stated after a beat.

"What am I missing?" Gaia asked a bit frustrated.

"Gaia. It wouldn't be a one on one against you. We would be up against you. And Malachite. And Liv. And Shadow. And Antonio. All at once. We've all trained and fought together, so we know what they can do. We won't delude ourselves into thinking that's a fair fight, even if we know how you and they fight." Fergus explained when he noticed.

"Oh." Gaia replied as that information sunk in. "But there's a chance they'll restrict it right?"

"Possibly, but it'll only be after a battle when they decide how to restrict it. I'll still join, but probably forfeit if I end up against you." Griff replied.

"Should I not enter then?" Gaia asked a bit sad.

"Nope. You're entering. I feel like it'll make it a fun tournament." Fergus started before mumbling. "It'd also be nice to boast that the winner is my girlfriend."

Gaia smiled at this as he did the same.

"You should participate. It'll be fun. We will, too, just go easy on us if we get matched together for a fight. Please?" Griff pleaded jokingly.

"Maybe. We'll see." Gaia replied with forced imperiousness.

"Alright. Enough of that. How were your prelims?" Stephanie asked.

The party started telling each other about how their tests went. They entered the mansion and sat in Fergus' room as they did. They eventually went down to dinner and relayed the good news to the others who were all excited to cheer them on when the tournaments came. The next day would be free, but the following day was the one-on-one tournament's preliminaries.

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