Scarlet

My interest quickly fully locks onto the tournament when the college competitors are teleported out and the next bunch of competitors are teleported in. Competitors including both the junior high and high school Guardians.

Or, to be more specific, my interest locks on to Aria who I see standing somewhere in the middle of the few thousand students down there. All of them ranging from twelve to nineteen in age. Depending on when their birthdays were in the year. And assuming they didn’t skip grades or get held back.

Okay, I’ll just stick to seventh through twelfth graders. More accurate that way.

“And now!!! For the first time since the dawn of the Interschool Tournaments, we have our competing high schools and junior high schools!” Black declares, a wide grin on his face. “And wouldn’t ya know it, but we actually have a few rather special individuals amongst this batch to! How much ya wanna bet you can pick out who I mean?”

I ignore the man’s theatrics as I lean forward in my seat, finding the people in the VIP booth with me having gone silent with anticipation clearly on their faces.

“Many of you have been waiting for this for a while now, and don’t worry, we have a pain nullifier set for these lovely kiddos should they wish to activate it,” Black says before spinning in place on the large screen above the stadium. “Now for how this’ll work! There will be three types of competitions! One for each grade level, one for the school level – whether they’re highschoolers or junior highschoolers – and one for all of them! And amongst these different types, there will be two competitions within! One that is a direct tournament pitting the students against each other, and one that is just like the other competitions in the Interschool Tournament! It could be a maze, or maybe something like Demon Hunt or a puzzle house. But I can say for sure that it will involve using their powers in the competition! And it will be different for every grade level!”

Yeah, I already knew all that. I also know what each competition is, simply because I’m ‘technically’ part of the tournament staff. Even if my only job is to stand up on a podium at the end and hand the winner a trophy with a smile on my face.

A rather easy job.

I do still have to admit though, the pain nullifier thing was a good idea. There were still a lot of parents against the whole letting the junior highschoolers enter the tournament. Not as much for the highschoolers though.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

But putting a pain nullifier that lets them fully turn off any and all senses of pain is a really good way to circumvent that.

All it like likely took for the committee behind the tournament to convince them after that was to tell them to think of the tournament as combat training for when their kids are acting as Guardians.

Simple as that.

And if I remember correctly…

“Alright then! We will first start out with the seventh graders competitions! Now who’s with me?!” Black shouts, making me nod my head in confirmation.

Yep. Aria’s grade goes first.

The crowd goes wild at his words, so he continues, “Now, before we begin, I will go ahead and inform the competitors now that just because you are a junior high school student doesn’t mean you can’t compete in the high school competitions! And while you won’t be earning points for your schools like the Guardians Universities are, you are still representing them! So keep that in mind!”

Pretty sure Aria said she would be competing in both the junior high and high school competitions.

“And here we have our very first competition of the Youths’ Interschool Tournament!” Black declares right as the rules for the tournament appear floating high in the air above the stadium. “This one will be a different form of Demon Hunt competition! Instead of being located within a large forest, like the regular Demon Hunt, these students will be located all across a vast maze! One where the demons will be growing stronger and stronger the closer to the center of the maze they get. But!” He pauses, a smirk stretching across his face as he raises one finger. “Unlike the regular Demon Hunt competition, this one has traps scattered about the maze for the students! And each trap they manage to successfully disarm or avoid will give them points! One point for avoiding it and three for disarming!”

Yep. The competition itself seems rather interesting.

“The last difference is a rather obvious one, as we have children competing,” Black says while pointing at the rules once more. “The demons will all be Class I, with the strongest demon being a single Captain at the very center at level one hundred!”

Would be weird if that wasn’t how it was. They’re all kids after all. So having Class IIs and IIIs in there would be… ridiculous.

“All of the students will be teleported randomly throughout the maze once the competition begins, and each demon will count for a single point,” Black continues as he begins to float into the air out of the booth he’s in to end up midair high above the students with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “And as an incentive for everyone of you, you’ll be able to turn in your points just like the college students, even if you aren’t getting university points like them!”

And that one simple statement immediately skyrockets their motivation to a visible extent. Clearly past what it was already at before.

He certainly knows how to motivate them, that’s for sure.

I tap my finger on my arm, my arms crossed in front of me as well.

Other than Aria, there should be several other sons and daughters of Class V Guardians. Even if none of their parents are Knights like Aria’s father.

There is one particular Guardian down there though… one in the same grade as Aria even…

This’ll definitely be interesting.

“Now!” Black shouts while raising one arm. “Let’s begin!”

And dropping the arm again, making the maze appear in the center of the arena and all of the seventh graders appear inside of said maze at random.