Before Kre could ask any further questions, Beleg rolled into the room. He shook his head slowly when he spotted the short, muscular figure that they called “the Champ”, but kept his pace until he made his way to where Kre and Barry were standing.
Barry inclined his head towards his arch nemesis, “If you rated less than tier one, I’ll be greatly disappointed.”
“You mean there was a whole set of tiers lower than B, A, and S Class?” Beleg said shaking his head ruefully. “I guess some of us have got it, and some others…”
“Oh, shut it, Cuthalion,” Barry muttered. “If anyone got anything higher than tier one it would be the Champ over there.”
“I thought you said he wouldn’t show,” Beleg said. “That he was busy in another part of Tehyn.”
Barry shrugged, “I guess I was wrong. Nevertheless, it changes nothing. Either he kills you or I do.”
“You know this competition isn’t to the death, right?”
“For you,” Barry snorted, “it is. Other than that personal difference, all of the other changes to how the tournament is being run mean that we all have a good chance of winning, even against the champion.”
Beleg lowered his voice as the room continued to fill and the competitors crowded closer to the three of them. “You seem to know a lot about how the tournament is being run for all of the surprises that they keep throwing us.”
“I mean, I pay well to be in the know,” Barry responded, without a hint of guilt in his voice. “You’ll find out everything you need to know when it’s time. It honestly doesn’t change much of anything to know the process in advance. You already know all about the bit you need, which is the part where we fight.”
“Well, hopefully we move to the next phase soon,” Beleg muttered. “The room is starting to get overly full. I’m counting thirty-one so far.”
Barry nodded, “They had it registered with thirty-two, so the addition of the champ means that we’re about to go pick out weapons.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together with a gleeful smile on his face. “I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on these artifacts for a long while now. Word has it that they’ve been secretly collecting them for over a decade, and this is the first time anyone outside the family has seen the collection.”
“The family?” Beleg asked. “You mean…”
After a hasty shush, Barry glanced around before nodding, “It’s the first time they’ve come back into the spotlight after the incident. I’m very curious to know what they’ve dug up.”
Beleg nodded, “Same.”
“All right fighters,” boomed a loud and jovial voice from the room’s main entrance. “You’ve all been sorted and ranked according to how our honored guests have decided to bestow their favors upon each of you. Those that impressed the most earned status as a tier one, earning them the rights to select their arms first.”
Kre could now see the speaker, a man in a tall, wide-brimmed black hat and wearing a colorful outfit. “Six of you have earned the rights to be called tier one, eleven more are tier two, seven tier threes, and finally nine tier fours.