Odesday, 6th of Juno, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

The next day ushered into the remaining matches of the round of sixteen. Eight teams had been matched to battle it out for entry to the next round of eight. The warriors had lined up on the field, facing their respective opponents for the day's matches.

As with the previous round, it was mostly the people from the realms of the playing teams who filled the tribunes to view the matches. But as always, all the warriors still competing within the tournament still decided to watch the day's matches. Strategic analyses were still vital to their own fights even though technically they would only meet the teams of this bracket during the finals and third place runoffs.

Josias along with his family and companions were seated on their favourite spot among the top tribunes. It was the best place to get a vantage point and comprehensive view of the tournament field. Besides the usual strategic analyses, they were there to support their Rumaparau allies in their match – which was the first match of the day – against the team from Manahan Arus.

Rumaparau's team was a team composed of only second-star warriors, but their skill at arms were nothing to scoff at. Unlike all the previous teams of warriors, the Rumaparau had adopted several aspects of western swordplay in their techniques. Their warriors also had experience in fighting off raids by the odd pirate vessels and so were no strangers to actual warfare. Goria had also learned much from their exchanges with Rumaparau.

Manahan Arus' team was instead one of the realms most influenced by the neighbouring Banuan kingdoms. Their weapons more resembled the Banuan 'kris' swords and their hand to hand martial arts techniques were also heavily influenced by the 'silat' of the Banuans. In terms of aura, they were also all second star warriors.

The match had started when the Matanitao elder gave the signal. Immediately, the Manahan Arus team had employed an aggressive strategy in taking on the Rumaparauans. Prince Gabe of Rumaparau refused to respond with blind force and instead allowed the opposing team to push him back at the center of the formation.

Rumaparau had employed a similar strategy to the Gorians in conservation of their aura use. They had focused more on their formation and evasion fighting style. This was in contrast towards the Manahan Arus team's focus on quick and short bursts of mana strikes. The Rumaparau had to skillfully avoid these strikes while sending out counterattacks of their own.

The first half of the match had been a close back and forth and could be most aptly described as a stalemate. It didn't look like any team had held the advantage over one another. That was of course until in a quick turn of events, the Rumaparau team unleashed their auras to attack. This split-second act surprised the Manahan Arus and that single moment of them being caught by surprise was capitalised on.

Prince Gabe had slashed out on one of the Manahan Arus warriors and drew blood from his chest thus eliminating him. This single act of eliminating a member of the opposing team was all Rumaparau needed to turn the tides to their favour. Now that they had outnumbered their opponents, Prince Gabe freed himself to act as the wildcard of his team.

He had moved to aid one of his relatively weaker teammates and together they had eliminated another opposing team member. By the end of the match, the Rumaparau had won with only losing two team members who were mutually injured by their opponents. All of the Rumaparau and their allies had cheered at this victory.

Prince Gabe raised his sabre and shouted out, "PUJI JAHOWA! PUJI DEBATA SITOLUSADA!! (Praise Jehovah! Praise the Triune God!)"

All the christians in the crowd – including Josias and his companions – likewise shouted out the praise to their god. It was a well earned victory.

After receiving praises from the King of Rumaparau and from his parents, Prince Gabe had immediately rushed to his wife – the Lady Victoria, Princess of Hutangali. The two had evoked somewhat of a scandalous reaction from the crowd when they kissed each other on the lips publicly. After all, most of the followers of the old ways as well as the Moslems were very conservative regarding such actions.

Prince Panghirimon of Hutangali laughed at the scene of his sister and her husband. King Tagam could only frown at the sight of one of his precious daughters in the arms of another man. The other more tolerant elders and royals cheered even harder at the scene.

"Ah, these Hutangalians truly are something else." Josias said as he shook his head.

"It was Prince Gabe who initiated the kiss." Serena answered.

"Well, I should've thought of that." Josias said as he crossed his arms while Serena only blushed at his suggestion. "Damn, why didn't I think of that."

"You can't do that, we're not married yet!" Serena said as she elbowed Josias on his side.

"Oh come on. Nothing so scandalous, hasian. Just a small peck like this!" Josias landed a quick kiss on his lover's cheek which caused her to blush more.

"You dummy!" Serena said as she playfully swatted Josias' face though she was blushing and chuckling. A sheepish smile plastered on her reddened face.

Regardless, the crowd and cheers had died back down somewhat and so commenced the next match of the day. The second match was between the teams of Saorma and the island's natives of the Matanitao. All things considered, the Siparmalim were playing with home field advantage. Much of the crowds roared and cheered when Somba and his companions entered the field.

The young lord of Matanitao remained as meek as ever though despite his relatively tall and large stature. In contrast to him, the captain of the Saorma team looked rather young. A stature not that much taller than Jakobus who was only fourteen years old. The Saorma team looked disciplined as they stood with their heads held high.

Josias shot a quick glance towards the area where the Saorma supporters were located. He saw the King of Saorma sitting on his chair looking prouder than ever. Next to the king, Josias saw his uncle Partogi along with his wife and youngest child. Uncle Partogi was standing with his arms crossed, looking over the Saorma warriors. It would seem that he had some hand in training the young warriors.

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Josias still had some mixed feelings about his uncle. While it was true that he was exiled by the king, to openly train unallied warriors and serve as a warrior on the side of his wife's family… It was nothing short of treason towards the realm of Goria.

But at the same time, it wasn't that Josias didn't understand where his uncle was coming from. He had his entire world taken from him, all his children save his last stripped from him. Tigor and Tiur hadn't even been allowed to meet with their parents the entirety of this trip. Either his grandfather or brother Timotheus would whisk them away or distract them from asking about their parents.

Josias had heard that a few days ago, his aunt had come to the Gorian camp begging and crying to just catch a glimpse of her children. His grandfather still refused to budge and she was turned away by her older children.

Josias shook his head as he could only look at his two younger cousins, his clan-siblings. Tiur and Tigor sat excitedly next to him as they continued to watch the match excitedly. Tigor and Janus were busy waving their toy swords around to try and act like the warriors they had been watching.

Instinctively, Josias had given the two children affectionate headpats before planting a kiss on their heads. They looked at him slightly confused and the four year old Tiur even asked what was wrong, seemingly catching a whiff of the sadness he was feeling. Josias only laughed it off telling them not to worry and to watch out to not fall from the tribunes.

Serena sensed Josias' inner worry as she put her arm on his back, laying her head on his shoulder. Josias wordlessly put his hand on top of hers, accepting the reassuring comfort. He then returned his focus to the match at hand.

As the Matanitao elder gave the signal to start the match, the Saorma warriors had quickly initiated an attack. They took a page out of the Gorian strategy and none of them were using any aura explicitly. The smaller warriors of Saorma moved very nimbly and flexibly, running circles around the Siparmalim warriors.

The Matanitao weren't really trying to expend their aura and mana reserves yet by how things were going, they were still very much wasting it. Many powerful attacks infused with aura were made. All of it was for naught though as they hit nothing but empty space. The Saorma expertly moved like they were dancing to avoid all attacks. They kept their distance and instead prowled around the Matanitao like wild dogs.

As the Matanitao were wasting their energy, the Saorma had jumped in every once in a while to land annoying attacks. It was during one of these probing attacks did a Saorma warrior manage to nick a Matanitao warrior on his arm. There wasn't much blood drawn but the Saorma had started arguing that it should count according to the rules. The blood that came out was a small amount and a little bit of aura was enough to close the wound completely. Despite that, the Saorma demanded a review of the rules as it was still clear that blood had been drawn.

A recess was called as the Matanitao elder came to inspect the claim and proposal. A few elders from Saorma even weighed in that they couldn't trust a decision made by the Matanitao. They had argued that since the opposing team were of the Siparmalim clan, a fair and unbiased decision couldn't be made. Not especially when the warrior in question was the elder's grandson.

After about ten minutes of arguments and back and forth debate, a conclusion was finally reached. The elder – through grit teeth – had decided to rule in favour of the Saorma. With this, the fate of the Matanitao team had been all but sealed. As always, when it came to teams on relatively equal footing, a disadvantage in numbers would prove to be a significant factor.

And true enough, the match had gone as most people had expected. Being outnumbered, the Matanitao were pushed to the backfoot as the Saorma finally started using their aura. The captains of the two teams had engaged in a melee and the Saorma captain was even being pushed back. However, the advantage ceased as another Saorma warrior had arrived to turn the fight into a two versus one duel.

It didn't take much more time after that for the duel to be concluded in Saorma's favour. Josias had to give it to Somba, though. Despite his general meekness, Somba gave as good as he got, being able to take down two Saorma warriors along with him. The Saorma had gotten a little too cocky and were injured in the process as they let go of precaution.

Despite the cheers from the supporters of Saorma, Josias was hesitant to praise them in any capacity. For all intents and purposes, they had only gained victory because of a technicality. A small nick in the forearm that managed to unravel an entire formation. The match was more so determined by rules lawyering than skill-at-arms. This was a fact that won't be lost on Josias just in case those Saorma fops actually made it to the finals.

With all that being said, such a precedent should only be exploited. If the goal was to achieve victory, Josias saw no problems at all exploiting a system to its extremes. It was a tournament and he wouldn't be breaking any rules. But of course, the other side of him shrugged internally as stooping down to such a level was indicative of one's level of skill. Or lack thereof.

The next match after that entire debacle was between Hutabanua and Inamaria. The two teams now had somewhat of a rivalry due to what had transpired between them during the first round. The Inamarians had been somewhat insistent that their humiliation during the first round was due to the unreliability of their fellow black teams. Now they were in a fair one on one match between them and the team that nigh-obliterated them in the previous round.

There were no more excuses. A loss here by the Inamarians would just serve to prove their incompetence. They had to win.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the Inamarians had gotten that memo. The match was a slaughter on the part of the moslem Hutabanuans. They had charged in relentlessly towards the Inamarians and refused to give up even an inch of ground to them. It was a fierce battle indeed though it wasn't necessarily fought between equal powers.

While the Inamarians had an advantage of two third star warriors over the Hutabanuan's one, the Hutabanuans employed a stellar defensive maneuver. At the end of the match, they had tired out the Inamarians and claimed a victory.

"TAKBEER!!" The Hutabanuan captain exclaimed as he raised his saber.

"ALLAHU AKBAR!!" All the moslems of the Halak watching the match had shouted in reply, their voices reverberating through the field. They had done this a total of three times, each time being louder than the last.

The final match of the day – as well as the final match of the round – was between Nabolga and Parik Bolon.

Contrary to Josias' expectations, Silua didn't employ any stellar nor apparently ingenious tactic. The Nabolga had instead committed to a straightforward rush of an attack against the Parik Bolon. They engaged their opponents in seemingly separated one on one duels in close proximity to one another.

They had used aura in their fights but it wasn't anything too flashy and still relied greatly upon their martial skill. At the end of the match, the Nabolga had won the match with three of their warriors remaining on the field.

Josias scratched his chin at the Nabolga's seemingly mediocre performance. It wasn't anything horrible by any means. But it also lacked the eccentric flair that Josias had come to expect from the young Nabolga warrior.

However, as Josias looked over to the confident faces of the Hutabanuans who would be facing the Nabolga in the next round, it finally dawned on him. 'Appear strong when you are weak, appear weak when you are strong'. Silua Nabolga could never be underestimated. Having even the thought that you could win against him without a struggle was proof enough that his deception had worked.

Silua had spotted Josias from the field and gave him a small salute and a nod before the match ended. Josias shook his head and laughed at the man's shrewdness. Something had given Josias the feeling that the two teams would meet again in the tournament. And with that, the round of sixteen had concluded with tomorrow ushering in the quarter-finals.

Josias and his companions had much to prepare. A special surprise, especially made for their Hutaraja competition.

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