Chapter 106: Martial God's Warrior Tournament - Main Battle

I safely passed the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament’s preliminary round. Merdie and Ryuushin did too, of course.

All ten of the Imperial Beast Guards who escorted us so that we would not get involved with weird people destroyed the target magnificently, so they would also advance to the main round.

The beastkin king was the last one to enter, and he easily blasted the target. He was amazing.

Aside from them, the black panther beastkin was the only one who destroyed the target.

The rest's advancement to the main battle was evaluated based on the damage they managed to give to the target.

And so, 50 people, including us, were determined to be the main battle’s participants.

──＊＊＊──

The next day...

The Martial God’s Warrior Tournament’s main battle would start today.

It would be a one-on-one tournament. The one who managed to come on top in this tournament would become the king of Vestier, the kingdom of beastkin.

I was curious what would happen if a non-beastkin—me, for example—became the champion, so I asked the beastkin king.

If I became the champion, I could become the king. It was also fine if I decided to give the title of king to the beastkin who had the highest ranking.

The winner was the ultimate one, and the entire kingdom would not deviate from this belief, so they would follow. Moreover, as long as it was within this kingdom’s capacity, they would grant any request from the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament champion.

In that case, then I shouldn’t go easy on them, and just give it my all!

I was looking forward to it.

My prize for winning would be touch-Merdie's-paw-pads-all-I-can for one day!

The ones who destroyed the target would become seeded participants, so we would be coming out during the second round. We could observe our opponents during the first round, so it was quite advantageous.

We drew lots to determine where we would enter. Around 10 minutes later, the Battle Board was up, so we went to check it out.

The competitors I would probably face were:

A bear beastkin with a ginormous stature, or the cat beastkin who told me, ‘I would like to become your subordinate if I managed to showcase my power’.

The one who wins between these two would become my opponent.

I hate beating women. So if possible, I wanted to fight with the bear beastkin.

──＊＊＊──

The Martial God’s Warrior Tournament began.

First, the beastkin king climbed up the arena.

“I had been worthless, and a lot of people had been injured. I’m truly sorry. Fortunately, the Sage of another kingdom saved a lot of soldiers, including me, but many have passed away. I will now vow in their name.

“If I become the king again, I will make this nation a powerful country, undefeatable by any warlock!”

The cheers of tens of thousands of beastkin who filled the amphitheater resounded at the beastkin king’s powerful declaration.

“I now proclaim the opening of the Marital God’s Warrior Tournament here!”

The cheers arising from the venue rose even more.

The king of the beastkin—no, right now, he’s just a lion beastkin, Merdie’s dad, huh. Apparently, Merdie’s dad’s name was Leo. It was similar to my elder bro’s name.

When Merdie’s dad, Leo, went down the stage, a minister went up to replace him.

“I will now explain once again the rules for the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament. Just like the past year, the use of weapons is acceptable. Also, according to the rule set by the Martial God, the use of magic other than body strengthening magic is—”

‘Permitted.’

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head.

I already heard this voice before.

All the beastkin present in the arena seemed to hear it, too.

The minister on the stage was flustered, not knowing what’s going on.

A whirlwind formed near that minister.

When the wind disappeared, a gigantic lion beastkin that was even more enormous than Leo stood there.

It was one of the gods of this world—the Martial God.

“Martial God-sama!?”

The minister hurriedly genuflected.

We ignored the manifestation of the beastkin back in the Martial Shrine, so it would be the first time the Martial God manifested in this world since he attained divinity.

However, because of the divine aura that the Martial God exuded, everyone present in this place knew that he was indeed a deity.

“Use all the power that you have and become a powerful person. Use that strength to protect your comrades—I said those things before to my fellow beastkin.”

The Martial God’s powerful voice resounded throughout the venue.

“However, perhaps it was because only a handful of beastkin could use magic before I knew it, it became a rule forbidding beastkin to use magic. However, I never once did say that magic should be forbidden. Those who use magic to fight should use it. Magic is also one of the strengths of beastkin, after all.”

Merdie’s tears overflowed upon hearing these words.

She probably thought her power was acknowledged.

“Therefore, in my name as the Martial God, I hereby lift the ban of using magic during the tournament. I’ll be anticipating that you will show me the ultimate battle using all the power that you have.”

After leaving those words, the Martial God vanished. The venue was enveloped in silence. Then, everyone trained their eyes on the minister standing on the stage.

The minister looked at Leo.

Leo nodded as if to answer him.

“The use of weapons is permitted. Also, according to the rule set by the Martial God, the use of magic is permitted.”

Using magic was now acceptable.

The Martial God’s promise of arranging it so that using magic could be authorized during the tournament was now fulfilled.

Afterward, the venue became boisterous. The Martial God appeared, then the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament rule that had been protected and passed down for a long time was also overturned, so it was only natural.

Then, all the people present in the venue also started to confirm with each other, “Is there anyone here who can knock the Unbeatable Target down if there is magic?”, and so on.

This was because there was also a possibility of dissatisfaction since the rule had been modified during the main battle. In the end, nobody claimed to be able to do so.

The beastkin who could activate magic speedily while fighting were rare, and those who could do such should also possess powerful magic suits, so they had probably passed the preliminary rounds already.

By the way, Luke started to raise his hand, but he thought for a while and stopped. He probably remembered how he was beaten black and blue by Merdie during the one-on-one combat training. Before he could cast his spell, Merdie had already been beside him, so he couldn’t do anything while being continuously beaten to a pulp.

Luke’s prestigious ability was his level that was suitable for being a Sage Apprentice. However, when his versatility and the speed with which he activated his magic were considered, he still had room for great improvement. Of course, he also understood that himself.

There were no additional people who wanted to participate, so the main battle commenced.

The first round’s first battle was the battle that would determine who, between the bear beastkin and cat beastkin, would become my opponent.

By the way, Ryuushin, Merdie, the former beastkin king, and I were scattered among the four big blocks on the tournament board.

The ones who got the best results during the preliminary round—in other words, the four people who had the highest target destruction ratio—would not compete until the semi-finals.

If we manage to win properly, I will fight against Ryuushin, and Merdie will be against Leo.

Well, if we manage to win, that is.

I should win the first match first!

But I still had qualms beating a woman after all, so I really hoped the bear beastkin would win.

While I was thinking about these things, the cat beastkin won.

She was strong, overwhelmingly, at that.

She easily evaded the bear beastkin’s ferocious attacks, and she dealt a powerful punch on the bear beastkin’s unguarded flank.

The bear beastkin could no longer stand up after that single attack.

Oh no, I was thinking of all sorts of things, such as trying to avoid hitting her directly, but she might be strong enough to shut me up.