Chapter 7: Enchark: The Grand Tourney Parade
"People of Enchark please welcome two members of the council... Councilman Afin and Councilman Kyanar!" The hidden voice announced.
The noises from the crowd doubled if not tripled. All sorts of cheers and chants could be heard as the two councilmen made their way down the empty road. Councilman Kyanar was dressed in a black suit, a white buttoned shirt, and a pine-coloured vest alongside a green handkerchief tucked in his breast pocket. He wore a large cape that flew with the breeze behind him. It was wrapped around his shoulders, held together by a golden chain, and its inside was dark green while the outside was black. His snow-white hair was tied back with a bright green ribbon and on his left shoulder there was an interesting item. It was a crescent made of gold that was held up by golden spikes which appeared to come out of his shoulder. Runes were engraved onto the crescent and nobody knew what they meant, or what they did.
Councilman Afin wore a black double-breasted trench coat which was opened to reveal his black suit vest. Around the collar of his shirt, there was a navy and black striped cravat. The sleeves of his shirt and the ends of his shorts had ruffled cuffs. The rest of his legs were covered by black knee high socks that were held up by leather strips that came from under his shorts, but there was still a fair amount of skin showing in between the socks and the shorts. His dark blue and black hair was tied into a loose braid, resting on his back. Finally, for whatever reason, he wore a rather small top hat with a white feather attached to its side.
A magical barrier prevented people from stepping off the sidewalk and onto the road so people reached out their hands. A rumour spread across the world that those who touch or are touched by a council member will be blessed with good fortune. Of course, nobody ever managed to touch the council except for their assistants. Chief Lissandra Waltz was one of them. When she was appointed, Councilman Kyanar shook her hand.
"Hello," repeated Councilman Kyanar multiple times, waving his hand to the people of his city.
Councilman Afin remained silent but still continuously waved his hand to the public. There were some defectors in the crowd who announced their discontent with the tourney but the safety corps immediately detained them. Karlyle noticed some people being taken by members of the safety corps but chose not to do anything about it.
He distracted himself, "who is who?"
"The taller one is Councilman Kyanar, the shorter one is Councilman Afin," Mimi answered.
The height difference between the two councilmen was quite obvious. Councilman Kyanar was 5'9 whereas Councilman Afin was only 5'3.
"What's Councilman Afin's power?"
"Defensionkinesis. He can manipulate defenses of any form."
"That's it?"
"He is the one person preventing the death of the council, without him they would've already died due to old age."
"Ok but that's still not that much."
Mimi audibly sighed at Karlyle's inability to grasp the magnitude of something that grants biological immortality and prevents physical ageing.
"None of the council can penetrate the forcefield around his city either and his combat potential is unmatched."
"How? If he can just defend things then how can he fight?"
"If someone tries to fight against him taking their kinetic after the tourney you'll see."
"So Councilman Kyanar doesn't take them away?"
"No, Councilman Afin does."
Karlyle's stomach dropped to the lowest pit in hell when he realised that the person he was just questioning the capabilities of was going to take away his kinetic if he lost. He profusely apologised to Councilman Afin, in his head that is, hoping to balance out his karma. The two councilmen walked so far away from Karlyle he could barely see them but now that the speech was beginning, screens projected down the street and the sidewalk barriers dropped. The screens showed Councilman Afin and Councilman Kyanar standing on a stage in front of the central tower. They both stood behind a podium, however, these podiums were equal in height and yet Councilman Afin managed to see over it. Karlyle imagined him standing on a step that was hidden behind it.
"Alright alright, let's settle down," stated Councilman Kyanar, showing his palms to the crowd and moving them back down to the podium, "we are gathered here to celebrate the beginning of the 107th Grand Tourney. As the tradition works, let's bow our heads to commemorate all those who suffered due to the leniency of the world prior to this system."
Everyone on the streets, as commanded, bowed their head and closed their eyes. Karlyle saw that Mimi and Foster did it so he mimicked them. The silence lasted a minute before Councilman Kyanar broke it.
"This year, I felt like changing the original order of this event. Our esteemed Chief of Enchark Safety Corps, Lissandra Waltz, will mark the official start of the tourney. However, we're still going to follow the rest of the order with Councilman Afin announcing the guidelines first."
For the first time tonight, Councilman Afin started to talk in a monotonous voice, "starting off, nobody is to help the participants in any way during a round. If you are caught doing so, the participant will be disqualified from the tourney and both the helper and the participant will lose their kinetic."
He paused.
"Next, those who don't win the tourney are expected to comply with the procedure of having their kinetic taken away, otherwise force will be used."
Karlyle gulped after hearing that and Foster rubbed his back lightly to soothe his nerves while Mimi held his forearm. They both knew he was worried but they also knew he isn't the best fighter so his chances of passing were slim.
"As you know, during each round the city is under lockdown. No one is allowed in or out of Enchark from the beginning of the battles until the last one is finished."
Councilman Afin continued on to list the structure and guidelines of the tourney before Lissandra Waltz came up onto the stage.
"Hello everyone, I am honoured to be the first non-council person to announce the beginning of the tourney so without further ado..." Lissandra Waltz took out her tome and wrote in it with her finger, "I announce the beginning of the tourney and happy new year!"
A bolt shot out from her tome into the sky as she raised her hand. It exploded into fireworks of dazzling colours; a sight to be adored.
"Hey, Karlyle I've got some news," Mimi spoke over the cacophony behind them.
"What is it?"
"While we were waiting for you to get ready, I may have applied to be your trainer."
"Really?! What does that mean?"
"It means I'm able to train you in the training grounds and even use my kinetic there."
"I love that, but, and I don't mean to sound rude, shouldn't Foster be training me?"
"Why would he?"
"He's an Elite corps member after all."
"Yet I'm rated higher than him in both categories, and I mean wayyyy higher."
Foster covered his face with his right hand, ashamed that she'd reveal that to someone that was just learning about him. Karlyle was shocked to hear this as he expected Foster to be the one rated the highest out of the 3 of them.
"When do we begin training?"
"Right now."
Mimi grabbed his wrist and dragged him through the thick crowd towards the training grounds. The number of times he got dragged around today was astonishing and made him feel like a human bag. With her energetic self, and the ability to push people out of the way, they got there in no time. Met with the energy draining barrier once more, Karlyle passed through it, prepared for the side effects. However, this time it felt more like an energy boost instead. His body felt lighter, the air felt better, and he was able to catch some fine details in the architecture.
"Why does it feel different this time?"
"Because now you got your kinetic back rather than having it taken away."
Foster was gone now so the only person Karlyle was able to talk to was Mimi. He had to get back on duty but before he left, he promised to come and watch Karlyle's fight. They walked down the corridor to the room Karlyle was previously teleported into and went into one of the isolated areas thanks to Mimi's trainer pass.
"According to the bracket, your first opponent is Dakhyo Park. He's a telumkinetic meaning he manipulates weapons. I'm not sure in what way so I guess we'll just focus on your ability to dodge."
"Ok, alright."
Mimi teleported to the other side of the training room, "don't worry, I'll go on easy on you," she rolled up her imaginary sleeves, "three."
"Two."
"One and go!"
Karlyle was the first to attack, releasing a stream of fire towards Mimi but she dispersed into dust before it got near her. Karlyle looked around to the right and to the left but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Point down," a voice chuckled behind him before two fingers dug into the middle of his back at a fast speed. The force of the hit sent a striking pain through his body.
Mimi teleported in front of Karlyle and helped him up.
"That's not good enough. As I said, we don't know how his kinetic works so you need to be prepared for anything. Let's go again."
Mimi teleported back to her original spot and hopped in place, "Three."
"Two."
"One and go!"
Karlyle knew she'd have to teleport somewhere to attack him so he released a ring of fire from his body. Mimi, as predicted, teleported away from her spot. This time Karlyle looked all the way around but he couldn't spot her.
"Point down," she stated from somewhere.
From the sky, a kick descended. It hit the left side of his head and knocked him towards the ground. Mimi dropped down onto the ground, squatting. She straightened herself and put her hand out to help him. He grabbed it and got up.
"Again."
They continued to do this for another 4 hours with barely any breaks.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
omnivolent
omnivolent It'll be time for Karlyle to fight his first actual opponent, let's have our fingers crossed!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone