Solsday, 3rd of Juno, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

The crowds were cheering loudly at the start of the first round. They had practically been roaring as the warrior teams entered the field. The teams had entered according to their larger groupings first then according to their drawn numbers. White, red, then black.

In the black group, the Matanitao team had drawn the number three and so they led the line. They were followed by Goria '7', Hutangali '9', Inamaria '12', Nabolga '13', Tanjung Naria '15', and lastly Rumaparau '20'.

The three groups had been placed in three different locations on opposite sides of the fields. Each team had a designated flagbearer. Josias had chosen Sadrach to be the Gorian team's flag-bearer. Out of the five of them, Sadrach was the least proficient in mossak (traditional Halak hand-to-hand martial arts) but he was also the fastest. He could easily escape in stickier situations and leave any confrontations to the others.

As the groups stood in their places, an elder of the Siparmalim clan came up once more to explain the basic rules of the first round.

The first round was to be divided into two sessions. Each session was a little less than an hour. Between sessions, there would be a short half-hour break for rest and reevaluation of strategies. Before the match was to be started, each group of warriors were given a half-hour to introduce themselves and devise a preliminary strategy.

When most teams were hurriedly entering into discussions on strategy, the black group was eerily silent. Josias and Alvaro only glared at each other menacingly. There was no apparent good will between the two men. It was in the midst of this that the captain of the Matanitao team spoke up. Though, it looked like he was at a loss as to what to do.

"...Ehm, I think we should… uh… start with short introductions first, gentlemen… If you're all okay with that, I mean." The Matanitao captain said timidly. He looked as big as a bear but his personality seemed akin to a puppy. "My name is Somba Siparmalim and I hope at least for the first round… we could do well to cooperate with one another. For our best. Yeah. We should do our best!"

Josias exchanged glances with some of his companions at Somba's demeanour. How did someone that timid get chosen to be the captain of the team? Putting that thought aside, Josias nodded as he too gave his introduction. This was followed by Prince Alvaro who – despite his coldness towards the protestants – still managed to maintain a cordial expression to the two pagan teams.

"Alright, I'm just going to address this now before we go anywhere further." The captain of the Nabolga team finally spoke. Unlike the timid Somba, Josias could feel a more apparent charisma from the tall Nabolga captain. His name was Silua Nabolga and he spoke with a commanding voice. "I don't know what it is that's going on between you christians, but I won't have any of that ruining my team's chances at a victory. Is there an actual problem that we need to sort out now or can we focus on the match before us?"

"I personally had no problem with the Gorians before they decided to insult my family." Alvaro shrugged. "I had expected more from the brood of the Hulubalang Nabolon but… well I was disappointed to say the least."

Josias frowned at the Prince's framing of the situation. It was an obvious misrepresentation of the situation. "The Young Prince of the Sinaria seems to be mistaken on something here. You paint the situation as if your side did no wrong!"

"And what wrong did I actually do? I only said the truth of things regarding your schism!" Alvaro began pointing towards Josias who in turn closed the distance between the two.

"There's that attitude again, acting like you're all high and mighty-!!" Josias was already but an arm's distance away from Alvaro as the two argued. His companions were trying to hold him back – so too did Alvaro's teammates tried to do with him. It was in the midst of this that Silua came between the two and pushed the two men back away from one another. Josias and Alvaro immediately looked to the Nabolga warrior with alerted gazes.

"Alright, sorry about the push, but I'm going to have to stop this right there." Silua said, still maintaining his neutral mediatory stance. "Look, I will be very honest with you lot. I do not at all care what it is you people believe or do for your worship. You could be singing praises to the dead corpse of a pig for all I care, but I will not have any of that affect our coordination in this round."

"And who are you to try and lord over all of us like this?" Johannes said towards Silua.

"I'm someone who's determined to get everyone in this ancestors-damned group to the next round." Silua shot back immediately "But don't get me wrong, Brother Sinatua, I have no intention of 'lording' over anyone. All I'm saying is a cooler head is needed to coordinate without bias and risk jeopardizing our chances of victory."

Josias thought for a bit before he eventually nodded. Neither he nor Alvaro would be able to be voted as the overall group captain and Silua showed a great aptitude for leadership. After exchanging a few more glances and thoughts with his companions and allies, Josias gave his answer. "We see the merit of your proposal, Tuan Nabolga. We only have one condition for that and that is if none of our teams have any direct interaction with either Tanjung Naria or the Hutapadan."

Josias spoke representing the three protestant teams. To this, Prince Alvaro scoffed as he smirked. "For once we agree on something, Gorian." Alvaro said "We too would agree with electing you our group captain for those same conditions."

Faced with these conditions, Silua sighed before he too nodded. Neither Somba nor any of his companions from the Matanitao objected to the motion. With that, it looked to be a unanimous decision.

"I guess this is as far as we can get. Alright that doesn't matter right now. I thank my fellow captains for their trust and I shall devise our strategy accordingly."

The rest of the pre-match briefing was used by Silua to analyse the strengths of each team and devise a plan accordingly. While the preparations were being carried out by the young warriors, sounds of gondang drums could be heard playing. That signalled the end of the pre-battle section.

The Siparmalim elder – Somba's granduncle – appeared once more in the middle of the great field. With a swipe of his hand and an unleashing of aura, he had signalled the start of the match. The sarune trumpets were blown and the gondang became more intense. The battle would start in earnest.

***

Josias had quickly rushed out along with Johannes and Mateus flanking his guard. Behind him was Sadrach who mightily held their team's flag in one hand and a blunted training saber in another. Hesekiel guarded Sadrach's rear as they all moved in disciplined unison.

Silua had divided the black group into three smaller groups effectively. Josias' Gorian team had acted as a vanguard headed towards the white group with Hutangali and Rumaparau providing the rearguard. The catholics led by Alvaro would focus efforts on the red group. This left the Nabolga and the Matanitao a more flexible position to aid whichever group looked like it had the advantage.

The other groups looked like they opted for a similar strategy as they too broke off into smaller parties. Regardless, Josias and his Gorian warriors were not interested in merely playing capture the flag. In this battle, they looked to incapacitate any opposing team they could by focusing on the members to dwindle their numbers.

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In mere moments, the Gorians were already clashing with the vanguard of the white group. The warriors looked to be charging in with reckless abandon as their captain raised his saber, pointing it towards Josias.

"On guard! Honor dictates that I present myself to my opponent!" The captain of the white group team said as he flicked back his hair with a smirk "I am Maruhum Napos Siparsangap! Grandson of the blood king himself and I-!!! ARGHH!!"

Without a smirk on his face and not a single care to let the opponent finish, Josias had dropped to the ground. He immediately chained that action with a cartwheel kick to Maruhum's face which he barely was able to block. Josias connected another sweeping kick, causing the young warrior of Hutaraja to fall. Josias then ripped off Maruhum's arm cloth and raised it, causing the Gorian crowd to cheer louder.

"Th-that's dishonourable!!" A Hutaraja warrior exclaimed.

"He was in the middle of announcing himself-....Oyy!!" As the young warriors from Hutaraja were complaining, Josias raised his saber towards them.

"You all talk too much!!" Josias shouted as he immediately sent a flurry of slashes and attacks, overwhelming three warriors at once. "Too hell with their flags, boys! Just beat them all and take their armcloths! HAMATEAN!!"

""HAMATEAN!!"" The other Gorians roared fiercely as they followed Josias' lead.

Josias and his warriors fought like madmen within the competition. No aura was used, but no aura was needed when they had pure unadulterated energy. And it appeared that spirit was contagious as the Rumaparau and Hutangali teams also shouted out the battlecry. Prince Panghirimon even managed to take an armcloth from one of the warriors who he had caught off guard in his flanking attack.

At the onslaught by the protestant black teams, the white teams were being pressured hard to fall back. Soon enough in the face of unrelenting attacks as well as insults, one of the white teams' warriors shouted, "Fall back!! We need to regroup with the others! Protect the flag!!"

"What? No!! We can't fall back! Exposing our backs to the enemy would only cause them to mow us down more easily!" Another white team captain shouted in opposition "Stand and fight, boys! They won't be able to keep this up for long-..!!"

"Arghhhh!! They're fighting dishonorably!!" Another warrior was shouting as he was holding his eyes that had sand thrown at them by Sadrach before Hesekiel proceeded to beat him and take his armcloth.

"The only dishonor is not winning! Hahahahah! Don't be sore losers!" Josias taunted his opponents, purposefully goading them to anger in order to remove from them the ability to think rationally. To his credit, a few warriors did indeed fall for the trick as they charged angrily at Josias like mad bulls. Some other warriors of the white teams instead did as the other captain instructed and began to retreat.

This confusion and disarray within the white group was exactly what Josias was looking for. The situation had to be taken advantage of. Hurriedly, Josias whistled as he exchanged glances with Sadrach. Sadrach nodded and immediately began waving the team's flag high above his head. Seeing this, the Rumaparau and Hutangali teams did the same. All the warriors of the black group then continued to shout, "SILUA!!"

The white teams' warriors were confused for a moment as to what the flag waving and shouting meant but they were about to find out. Not long after the flags were waived and the name was called, two more black teams had come rushing into the fight. Nabolga and Matanitao had come crashing in, sabers brandished to sweep up the fleeing white group warriors. After beating and taking the armcloths of the fleeing warriors, the two teams closed in on those warriors who were still being held up by the Gorians.

Acting as the hammer to the anvil of the protestant teams, Nabolga and Matanitao crashed into the white teams who were still engaged with the Gorians. Josias saw the shocked look on their faces when they realised they had been surrounded. With that, the black group made easy work of the remaining warriors of the white teams. They even managed to seize two flags from that battle.

Two white teams were completely annihilated while another one escaped with only three members left and no captain. The white group was in a terrible position after that encounter.

"PUJI DEBATA JAHOWA!!" Josias roared as he raised his saber. The rest of the christian warriors there repeated his warcry as they too raised their blades and waved their flags high.

However, all of the euphoria was cut short. From afar, Josias and the rest of the black group warriors could hear another war cry.

"ALLAHU AKBAR!! LA ILAHA ILLALLAH!!" Other warriors could be heard shouting. When Josias turned his face to look at the source of the warcry, he frowned. The Moslem teams – identified by their use of turbans and similar such Banuan clothing – were charging like madmen, pursuing the two fleeing catholic teams.

Alvaro had a dreadful look on his face as he was running at the head of his team. Running away from the red teams.

"Ancestors damn it!" Silua spat as he reorganised his team "Gorians! We have to aid them! They've even lost their damned flags!!"

Josias nodded wordlessly as he readied his men as well. However, just as the rest of the black teams were about to give chase, the gondang music had ceased. A burst of energy from a fifth star warrior could be felt from the middle of the field.

When all the young warriors had turned their heads to see what had occurred, they saw a Matanitao elder standing fiercely.

"This is the end of the first half of the first round!" The elder said, his voice laced with mana to amplify it. "We shall tally the temporary half-time scores from each group! All teams gather!"

It had seemed no one had noticed that an hour had already passed due to the excitement of battle. And with that, all the young warriors had gathered – including the ones that had been eliminated completely. After being gathered, the young warriors were immediately inspected by the elders to tally up the scores of the first half.

After tallying up the scores of captured flags and armcloths, the score was thusly announced by the elder:

~~~

White Group:

Team (1) Hutaraja - all members eliminated, no flags captured, own flag lost

Team (4) Hutanaga - two members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (5) Nainiari - all members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag lost

Team (6) Nabagak - one member eliminated, two armclothes captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (10) Sibolontiur - no members eliminated, one armcloth captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (11) Anak Nagogo - no members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (14) Tamatuak - two members eliminated, two armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag lost.

Red Group:

Team (2) Tanohisar - two members eliminated, two armcloths captured, one flag captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (8) Saorma - one member eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (16) Aek Rantau - two members eliminated, one armcloth captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (17) Manahan Arus - no members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (18) Parik Bolon - no members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (19) Sombanaria - no members eliminated, four armcloths captured, one flag captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (21) Hutabanua - one member eliminated, three armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Black Group:

Team (3) Matanitao - no members eliminated, one armcloth captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (7) Goria - no members eliminated, five armcloths captured, one flag captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (9) Hutangali - no members eliminated, two armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (12) Inamaria - four members eliminated, no armcloths captured, no flags captured, own flag lost.

Team (13) Nabolga - no members eliminated, three armcloths captured, one flag captured, own flag still in possession.

Team (15) Tanjung Naria - three members eliminated, one armcloth captured, no flags captured, own flag lost.

Team (20) Rumaparau - no members eliminated, one armcloth captured, no flags captured, own flag still in possession.

~~~

And with that, the first half ended as halftime commenced. A new strategy needed to be formed to ensure a victory in the first round. Josias could only scowl as he felt his triumph was dashed by what he saw was incompetence on Alvaro and his ilk's part.

He was just waiting for the perfect time to chew them out. A disgrace like that could jeopardise all the strategies they had prepared. Extra work needed to be put in now and Josias could only sigh at the thought.

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