Lunesday, 4th of Juno, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

It had been a day since the first round concluded. Josias and his companions were met with a great feast by the realm of Goria. Of course this was celebrated along with the realms of Hutangali and Rumaparau. It was a great thing that all three realms managed to make it to the round of sixteen.

With two groups making it to the next round, a total of fourteen teams had been slotted for the brackets. Only two slots were left open and that was for the two highest scorers of the white group that lost the last round. But of course, it wasn't as simple as a tally of scores or armcloths. The losing white group had been given a smaller bracket of their own.

Josias had arrived early on the field along with Serena and his younger siblings. Most of the adults and elders had little interest in watching matches that did not concern their realm or clan. Only the Josias' companions and the other younger folk were really interested to watch the matches.

For Josias and his team, the reasons were far more practical. The 'Loser's Bracket' – as they had been dubbed – were conducted with the same mechanisms the round of sixteen would be conducted in. It was good to be prepared and even better if they could catch a glimpse of how some of these teams would fight.

Arriving at the field, Josias could see a board had been erected. On it, the loser's bracket and the true round of sixteen brackets had been laid out along with the dates of the matches. It would seem that his team had already been matched with the Sombanarians to fight on the next day.

Janus walked up to the board and looked at it but he only had a confused look on his face. Josias laughed at his toddler brother's antics.

"What are you doing there? You can't even read, silly!" Julia laughed at her smaller brother.

"Well then you should teach Janus how to read, ito (sister)." Jakobus said as his attention was also turned towards the board. "So you're gonna be fighting those moslems tomorrow, eh?"

"Seems like it." Josias nodded as he looked at the brackets. "If their performance in the first round is anything to go by, it'll be a tough fight."

"Truly?" Jakobus looked at Josias with a raised eyebrow.

"A tough fight for them that is." Josias chuckle.

"Pfft…" Jakobus rolled his eyes at his brother's confidence "Unang ginjang roha hamu, abang."

"It's not arrogance, it's an analysis of strength. Anyways, the good seats up there are still empty. Hurry before someone takes them!"

Josias quickly led his family to sit atop one of the higher tribunes. His other companions had followed suit and took the seats around the area. Funnily enough, Josias saw his uncles from the Hutabaru clan were also seated there alongside Sadrach, Safira, and their other younger siblings.

"What are you doing here, tulang??" Josias called out to his mother's brothers who turned to look at him with a smile.

"Malului heppeng hami, bere! (We're looking for money, nephew!)" Sadrach's father said with a jolly laugh. Josias only shook his head as he knew what his uncle meant. The Hutabaru lords were placing bets on the results of the match. It was terrifying how many connections the mercantile clan had both within the Halaklands and outside of it. And to think that Sadrach would inherit all of that.

Focusing back onto the field, Josias paid great attention to the rules and mechanisms of the brackets. Each match would consist of two teams fighting each other to the last man. Each warrior from each team was given one of two colours of clothing to denote their teams. Each warrior would fight until the first drop of blood or serious wound was inflicted after which they would be considered eliminated.

The first team to have all members eliminated would be the one to lose. Another method of course would be if any warrior chooses to concede but with how prideful these young warriors were, that would be most unlikely.

Besides that, a time limit of half an hour was put in place. In the event of a tie until the cutoff time, a smaller field would be instated by drawing a circle on the ground. The captains or representatives of each team would then wrestle with full aura to try and push each other out of the ring. The warrior who was pushed out would then have their teams eliminated from the tournament.

In these matches, real weapons were afforded to be used along with aura and mana. The only hard rules were that no attack was to be deliberately fatal. That alongside no fatal weapon strikes towards the face or head area nor any strikes in general towards the groin area. To have one's reproductive capabilities destroyed at a tournament would be a massive tragedy to say the least.

With a final statement of the rules and the seven teams gathered out at the fields, a prayer was made by the Siparmalim elder. The captains of six teams drew lots on who they'd fight for the initial first round. Only the Sibolontiur – being the highest scorers of the white group during the first round – were afforded a break from the first round. They would advance straight to the losers' bracket's semifinals.

It was after the lots were drawn that the first match of the loser's bracket began in earnest. It was between Hutaraja and Tamatuak. The two teams lined up facing each other as the Matanitao elder stood between them. When the signal to begin the match was given, the warriors had immediately unleashed their auras to fight.

Josias remembered the captain of the Hutaraja team, Maruhum Siparsangap. Josias had figured him for an honourably pompous idiot. Honor didn't win fights, but it would seem Maruhum had at least some reason to feel a bit arrogant. From his aura, Josias could see that Maruhum was at the third star level.

From the auras they were releasing, the majority of the young warriors were in their second star stage. At most, two people on a team were of the third star and even that was rare. The Tamatuak team for instance did not have any three star warriors at all while Hutaraja had two. The Hutarajan warriors – arrogant as they were – saw no point to conserving their energy and worked to fight with ruthless brutality.

There wasn't much the Tamatuak team could do in the face of a sheer power difference. Well honestly, there was, but they had been too beleaguered to figure it out. Josias could only shake his head as he was disappointed by the Tamatuak team's utter inability to counteract Hutaraja's sloppy use of aura. Up to the peak of the second star, a non-aura user in fact could still very much beat their aura-infused opponents.

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Though it took a greater deal of focus to redirect their enemy's attacks, it was still possible to weave through and defeat aura users by attacking several points. However, perhaps because of a sort of panic, the Hutaraja team made short work of their Tamatuak counterparts. The entire match only lasted about a quarter of an hour with Hutaraja coming out on top.

It was only a short break after the first match before the next one had started. A match between Nainiari and Anak Nagogo. Josias laughed as he saw the Nainiari team. After all, they were amongst the first teams Goria had eliminated during the first round. If they didn't fight any better than they did during the group fights, they weren't going to last long in the current match.

And sure enough, that was exactly what happened. The two teams seemed to be at equal strength in the beginning with all warriors being of the second star. But it was clear that the Nainiari team weren't as experienced in fighting. Their stances were too lax and their techniques weren't all that difficult to see through.

It wasn't as if the other team had it any better but at the very least they had a stronger foundation in fighting and strength. This match however didn't go as fast as the first match. It was only a short minute before the time limit was reached had the match ended. Anak Nagogo managed to pry out a victory as their captain drew blood from the Nainiarian captain's nose with a solid punch, though he was also the only surviving member of his team.

The third match of the losers' bracket was at least marginally better to watch than the previous one. The Nabagak had a third star warrior as their captain while the Hutanaga – like the Hutaraja – had two three star warriors on their team. Despite that, it was a relatively close match.

There was a considerable show of technical skill in this match as the Hutanaga deployed diversionary tactics and took their time to draw out their opponent's strength. It was a well-earned win on the part of the Hutanaga. Josias clapped at the victory as the Hutanaga even managed to conserve a good amount of energy.

Josias called out to Johannes at the short recess, "Oy, Jojo! You wanna make a bet with me?"

"What's the bet?" Johannes shouted back.

"I'm going to bet Hutanaga takes the overall win of the loser's bracket!"

"You sure about that?"

"Not really, no, but that's what I'd like to happen…"

As the two were shouting, Lord Mora decided to chime in. "You boys aren't looking at the bigger picture."

"What do you mean, tulang?" Josias asked his uncle.

"You're not factoring that Hutaraja and Hutanaga are close allies to one another." Lord Mora started to explain "As such the two are well versed in each other's methods from training together. If you think the Hutanaga are going to win because of their relatively smart show in the third match, you're thinking too simplistically. How would you think late game players like them would deal with early bursters like the Hutaraja? There's not a clear cut simple answer here."

"...Doesn't that then make betting all the more fun?"

"You see, this is why the Hutabaru became rich, dear nephew. Never make a bet without certainty in victory. Only losers make bets that are left to chance! That is a sinful practice!"

"Isn't gambling as a whole just straight up sinful, father?" Sadrach asked Lord Mora with a cheeky smile to which his father only waggled his finger at him.

"Only if you lose, my son. Only if you lose."

And with that, the next match between the Hutaraja and Sibolontiur commenced. The match had started out differently from Hutaraja's previous bout. Instead of an initial outburst of attack, the Hutaraja were playing it safe in this one. This change in strategy was perhaps spurred on by the presence of the Sibolontiur's captain who was a third star warrior.

Though he was the only third star warrior on the team, Sibolontiur's captain was an able commander. He had managed to lead his warriors effectively in combating Hutaraja's fierce attacks. The Sibolontiur moved with trained precision, answering every attack with a counter offensive.

If this trajectory continued, it wouldn't be surprising if Sibiolontiur managed to scrape a victory. It got to a point where in a defensive maneuver, they even managed to eliminate a couple of Hutaraja warriors caught unawares. The Sibolontiur captain had pulled out a crafty little trick to explode out his aura like a flash of light. This temporarily blinded his opponents which allowed his team to get the advantage.

However, such ingenuity was stopped in its tracks by sheer unadulterated rage and power. Captain Maruhum of the Hutaraja along with his third star second-in-command had thrown away all notions of conservation. They unleashed their raw aura and went like madmen, hacking and slashing away.

By the end of all the onslaught, Maruhum was the last one standing. He had drawn the blood of the Sibolontiur captain and so was declared the winner of the match. With that, the Hutaraja had secured their placement within the official second round brackets. However, not long after the announcement, he too started to bleed. Though he had won, he spat on the ground as he threw aside his saber in anger.

Josias shrugged at the lack of emotional control on the part of the Hutaraja captain. If that's how he'd continue to behave for the match, he really wouldn't amount to much. Perhaps Josias' little kick to his head during the first round did some things in regards to Maruhum's outlook. Well, it was his fault anyway for being a fool. If Goria were to meet Hutaraja during the real second round brackets, they'd be sure to make quick work of their opponents.

And so after the short break of that match came the last match of the loser's bracket. It was the fight between the Hutanaga and the Anak Nagogo. This match was by far the least interesting and the one that lasted the shortest. It only took the Hutanaga less than ten minutes to eliminate the exhausted and relatively undisciplined Anak Nagogo team.

It was honestly quite anticlimactic considering it was the last match of the day. Regardless, the Hutanaga had earned their spot within the round of sixteen. All in all – for Josias – it was a good way to learn the fighting style and strategy of the opposing teams. It gave him a lot to think about for the fights that were to come.

Goria's own fight had been scheduled as the first fight of tomorrow. It was a good opportunity to start fresh and early. But besides that, there was one thing that was currently occupying Josias' mind.

"Guys, are any of you hungry?" Josias said as he looked at his younger siblings "Lets go back to that fishing village to get that roasted fish you guys liked so much! Whaddya say?"

"FISH!!" Janus held his hands up excitedly at the mention of fish. Julia also nodded her head excitedly. Jakobus was in no mood to contradict his elder brother when it came to food options.

"Alright, perfect! Father and mother gave me just enough money to buy that anyway. Let's go guys!" Josias immediately got up with the kids. He then turned to Serena to ask, "Oh! maybe we should invite everyone else to come eat with us as well. Of course they're going to pay for themselves though."

"When are you going to start spending your own money, hasian?" Serena said as she shook her head and chuckled. "You're always so eager to spend the money your parents give you. Why not use the money you earned from your hunts and treat us with that? It'll feel more special."

"Pfft, why should I spend my hard-earned money when other people are willing to do it for me?" Josias said with a laugh as he playfully pinched Serena's cheeks "Look at it this way, hasian. The more of my own money I can save like this, the more of it we can use to focus on our future, eh? I'll spoil you rotten, I promise!"

"Hmph. We'll see about that…" Serena smiled cheekily before giving a quick peck on Josias' cheek.

Josias felt pretty good about himself after that one and walked with an extra bounce to his step. He still had plenty of time to spend with Serena before he had to focus on the match tomorrow. And who knows. If he managed to achieve a general victory in the tournament, he might actually be able to do a little more for his beloved.

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