quarterfinals drawing ceremony

“Master Beta, please wake up.”

Groaning a bit, I lazily opened my eyes. But the only thing that greeted me was complete darkness.

Right, we where in an underground bunker. While I was fairly accustomed to waking up before the sun was up, this pitch darkness was a new experience. And not a particularly pleasant one. “Is it morning?”, I asked groggily towards the direction of the voice.

“Indeed. Might I turn the lights on?” I agreed and moments later the room turned bright. I winced at the sudden unpleasant artificial light and finally took stock of my surroundings.

Sanakia was...sprawled out on the bed, snoring loudly while completely naked. So much for standing guard or waking me at first light. Aiju seemed to like it though as she was snuggled against her big boobs, purring pleasantly.

“The ceremony will be at ten”, my maid reminded me. “You have plenty of time to take a bath. Do you wish me to send one of the girls to wash your back?”

“N-No, that will not be necessary.” I hastily got up.

“As you wish. Breakfast will be served in half an hour. Please enjoy yourself, Master Beta.” Maria bowed and headed out.

...what do you mean “enjoy yourself?” Why do I have the feeling Maria is constantly making fun of me?

I decided to let both Aiju and Sanakia sleep. Not wanting to indulge myself, I opted for the bathroom in the Master's bedroom instead of the spa to take a quick, cold shower.

Returning, Sanakia was just in the process of waking up, while Aiju apparently has taking a liking to her nipples and was sucking at them.

...this should be good.

The sexy knight yawned loudly and blinked at me tiredly. “Hm..my Lord?...Eeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!”

The loud scream naturally woke up Aiju who was now in overdrive, her fur standing up. “Enemy! Where is the enemy?”

Sanakia's face meanwhile took on a red shade at an alarmingly fast rate. “I...I...I apologize...my....loooooord...”

And she fainted.

“Weird girl”, Aiju commented. “But I defeated her, is number two.” She pumped her fists. “Good.”

Ok.

The catgirl sniffed the air while her ears perked up. “Foods ready!”

And just like that Aiju bolted off. Deciding it was probably for the best to let Sanakia get some more rest, I followed her.

Outside, Beatrice, Fisti and Cassandra where already hard at work devouring what appeared to be a rather massive breakfast with Aiju quickly joining them. Yeah sure, don't wait for your master or anything.

Letting out a sigh at that impudence I seated myself and started to nibble on a croissant.

“Finally awake, eh daddy?”, Cassandra commented with a grin, taking a sip of what was almost assuredly an alcoholic beverage. “Rough night?”

“You might care a bit more for your state of dress”, Beatrice looked at me and sniffed. “Walking around in nothing but your undergarments while in the presence of ladies. Shameful. Utterly shameful.”

None of you are ladies. And we are way past the point where I still cared about that.

“Never mind his skivvies!”, Fisti harumphed. “Where is yer discipline as a fighter? Sleeping in like this is shameful!”

“Well, excuse me for sleeping in on my day off”, I grumbled. “Besides, it's not even that late, I mean it’s only...”

I looked at the clock.

It was five minutes before ten.

As in, five minutes before the start of the ceremony.

“What the heeeeeeeeeeell!” I almost toppled the table as I rushed back to the bedroom to get properly dressed. The girls just broke out in laughter. Oh, I'm so going to punish them! Maybe making them permanently late for the bathroom will teach them a lesson!

“Please calm yourself, Master Beta.”

And Maria as well!

“You!” I said, jabbing a finger in her direction, while hoping on one leg, trying fruitlessly to get inside my pants. “Why didn't you tell me I was late!”

But the maid merely showed me her usual polite smile. “Please, return to the table and enjoy your breakfast. I assure you, you have plenty of time.”

“What do you mean? It's almost ten! I have to hurry and...”

I was interrupted by a loud rumbling. The whole room was shaking.

An earthquake!

“Everybody get under table!”, I shouted, while I rushed to Sanakia, making sure the **** Galmon was secure.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this was not an ordinary earthquake. The room was not as much shaking as it was moving...upwards to be precise.

Maybe, just maybe this was not an earthquake at all.

Suddenly, the whole room got brighter and a few moments later the movement abruptly stopped.

Still, dumbfounded I stumbled out in the living room again. The scenery had changed considerably. Where there used to be a wall was now a huge window. Looking out from it gave a commanding view of the city and also a prime vantage point to watch the arena below.

“This entire apartment...was an elevator?”, I asked nobody in particular.

“Indeed Master Beta”, Maria said demurely. “These are the sky towers, in which the finalists reside until the tournaments conclusion.”

Sure enough, looking out of the window I was greeted with seven massive towers dotted in a ring formation around the arena.

This was beyond extravagant. I was genuinely at a loss for words.

“Oi, Daddy! Can you stop gaping for one god damn fucking second and get us out from under here!”

Oh yeah, the girls are still huddled under the table.

“Honestly”, Beatrice led out a loud sigh, fixing her disheveled clothes. “The rising towers are a huge attraction. From which hick village did you crawl out of that you never heard of them?”

“I told you, I didn’t read up on the final stuff”, I grumbled. I could have done without the near heart attack.

“I swear, Daddy is a fucking yokel.”

Checking out what the playroom has to offer together with Beatrice and Cassandra becomes more appealing by the minute.

But my grumblings where interrupted by a loud voice and cheering.

“Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen! Welcome to the

DRAW

FOR

THE

FINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALS!”

Oh shit, right! Who cares about all of this! I’m still late!

“And now, without further ado, let’s not waste anymore time and dive right into the knuckle biting action by introducing our eight lovely finalists! Right after a brief word from our sponsors...”

“This will take a while”, Maria told me. “Please feel free to return to your breakfast, Master Beta.”

She wasn’t wrong. For the next half hour or so an old guy in a suit droned on about the virtues of slavery. Not many in the audience seemed to care.

Eventually, Maria informed me that it was indeed finally time for me to get ready. Once I was dressed, she gestured me towards the small cabin at the entrance to the apartment which not only functioned as an elevator but also as a teleporter cabin. Pretty fancy.

“...introducing our first finalist. The amber assassin, Mari Beta!”

I appeared in the arena to loud cheers. By now, I really should be used to it, but being the first one out the gates still made me a bit nervous.

Ben gave me a grin and a wink. This time he was dressed in a uh...evil penguin onesie? No seriously, I had no idea how to interpret that outfit.

“Mari had an excellent run this tournament. Forcing every single opponent to surrender. No wonder he has become somewhat of a fan favorite. And the best part? He has **** but to boldly press forward until someone finally claims his delectable booty! Because you are looking at a very lucky loser!”

Great, thanks for making it public, Ben.

“Now then Mari! Please step forward because it is now time to

D-D-D-DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!!”

The actual drawing was nothing more then taking a lot out of a box. Seems almost offensively anticlimatic after all this nonsense. Trying to get this over with, I did it with little fanfare.

“FIGHT NUMBER THREEEEEE!!!!!”, Ben screamed and the audience went wild for some inexplicable reason.

The huge magic vision screens now showed a table of the finals, where my name was dramatically penciled in.

Riveting, can I go now?

Unfortunately no. Perhaps predictably I had to take my place on the sidelines and wait for the other combatants.

“No reason to delay things! Let us welcome our second finalist!”

This time the fighter was heralded by a red cloud of smoke. An elegant blonde women in a crimson cloak emerged from it.

“Crimson Vampire Elisabeth! This powerful elder vampire dominated her way through the tournament and..ah...?”

Elisabeth was floating towards Ben and stared into his eyes.

“Y...yes...mistress...”, Ben slurred...”I will be happy to draw for you.” Ben stripped himself out of his Penguin onesie, revealing a cute pair of pink Penguin panties and happily skipped to the drawing box.

“Fight 1! Yay!” Ben chirped, jumping up and down. “Congratulation's mistress! You’re so cool!”

I shouldn't find him cute. These are some dangerous feelings I'm having.

Elisabeth gave Ben a few affectionate headpats before moving towards me. She showed me a friendly smile. I uh...probably should try to not look into her eyes.

For what it was worth, Elisabeth did not keep her pet longer then needed under her trance. Ben dressed himself and woke up completely oblivious. Poor guy continued without even missing a beat.

“Finalist Number three! Snake-charmer Hebi-san!”

Ugh.

There she was. The proud Galmon appeared in the arena in all her scantily clad glory.

“Do not let her innocent appearance deceive you! While this Galmon had some close calls in the third and fourth round her tenacity still paid off. Entering the finals with a very respectable three slaves, she might very well become the queen of many more!”

She briefly looked at me and I quickly avoided my gaze.

“How cute”, Elisabeth chuckled.

Hebi-san strutted towards the ballot. Her snake hissed and flat out dashed in the box. H-hey isn’t that cheating?

“Wow! And with that we already have our first match up!”

She totally cheated!

Hebi-san seemed to be very pleased with this result as she slowly walked towards me. Her snake was hissing in a way that sounded almost mocking. I did my utmost to not look into her eyes.

“Mari Beta…”, she spoke slowly and with a sharp edge. “It appears you are once again in need of reeducation.”

“Oh...yeah?”, I mumbled. “Well, we see about that...”

“Finalist Four! The amazing Speed Sylphid!”

“Hiya!” Sylphid greeted the audience to rapturous cheer as she back flipped into the arena. There was no doubt that she was one of the fan favorites.

“You think Mari's track record was impressive? This fast gal is not willing to let any weak boy outdo her! With the same record of forcing every enemy to surrender the three times tournament veteran zoomed into the finals! Who will put a stop to her?”

Sylphid continued her back flips all the way to the draw box.

“Ugh, I was hoping to fight against you! Lame”, Sylphid complained after the draw. “Don't lose against Snakey here, you hear me?”

“I..uh..don't have any intention to…”

“Snakey” hissed. “Our name is Hebi-san. Remember it foolish human, for it will be the name of your Queen!”

“Uhh!”, Sylphid grinned and gave Hebi-san a long hard look, clearly not afraid in the slightest of her hypnotic powers. “Looking forward to what you can do with that snake, girl.”

“Lets keep this show rolling! Fifth finalist: Champion and Crusher of Dreams, Mineeeeeeeeeerva Margareeeeeeet!”

Predictably, the applause this time around dwarfed the one we four received. The woman looked even more intimidating up close. Before starting to draw she raised her hand in the air, holding something glittering.

The giant magic vision screen wasted no time zooming in on it.

Sure enough, it was one of the splinters of the Holy Lance Jaivardhan.

Which she then promptly used as a toothpick.

“We are not impressed”, commented Hebi-san with a sniff. “How dreadfully uncouth.”

“I heard that, snakedick!”, Minerva shouted and once more the audience cheered.

“As expected of last years Champion, Minerva cleaved herself through the tournament in an utterly savage manner! Even defeating the golden knight himself! Who will tame this mad beast?”

The answer, for now at least, was no one.

“Made it again, eh Sylphid?”, Minerva said, once she joined us. “Pity we didn’t meet last year.”

“Yeah!” Sylphid grinned. “Looking forward to that rematch.”

The casual smile on Minerva’s face turned savage for a second. “So do I.”

“Next up, another legend! The strongest Galmon herself, the one and only: Valkyrie!”

Valkyrie arrived in the arena as dignified as one would expect. This is my first time meeting her and I still have to thank her for her help yesterday. But this is probably not the best place to address it.

“When it comes to raw power, Valkyrie is without equal. It goes without saying that she wasn't challenged at all in the preliminaries, entering the finals with the shortest match time of all finalists. Whoever may face her better pray to the goddess!”

There was no showboating from her. Exuding power and dignity, the Valkyrie proceeded to draw.

“Ugh laaaaaaame!”, Sylphid whined once more. “Didn’t get Valk either. This draw suuuuuucks!”

Elisabeth on the other hand seemed quite pleased with the matchup, staring at Valkyrie with a rather intense gaze. “Praying to the goddess, is it?”, she softly chuckled.

“We are not done yet, folks! Time for the final draw! Black Cuckoo!”

A tanned girl with a mask appeared. I knew very little about that one.

“This ninja assassin from the Black Swan Clan made short work of her opponents! Going so far as disabling a Tank in the fourth round! We have to ask, is she perhaps friends with Mari?

“Is she?” asked Sylphid.

“We are wondering that as well, Mari Beta.”

“No! And for the record, I am not an assassin, regardless of what that stupid title says!”

“But before we move to that decisive draw, let us introduce our final combatant! Of course he needs no introduction in the first place: The destroyers of worlds, the Demon King’s vanguard, the invincible Lord of Shadows! Dark Lord Ithere!

There he was. In a wisp of black smoke, he emerged. The one, who pretty much has this tournament in the bag.

“His power is tremendous”, Valkyrie remarked.

“My…” The crimson vampire licked her lips.

“Hmpf! H-He isn't that formidable. We will get him to submit yet!”, Hebi-san blustered while her snake was hiding behind her body.

Sylphid was crossing her fingers. “Please get me, please get me, please get me.”

You can’t even hurt him!

“The Dark Lord main claim to fame might be his invincibility barrier, but make no mistake! His victories against Hero Arios and Devil Asmodeus prove that he has no intention to just hide behind a shield!”

And with that the final draw came. Black Cuckoo got Fight 4

“Hmm...not sure how I feel about that”, Sylphid mused. “She is wearing a mask, so I can't tell if she's hot or not...”

“She uh...should be? I mean it is a requirement for the tournament after all.”

“Oh, yeah, your right!” That seemed to perk Sylphid right up.

Of course this draw also meant that Minerva was up against the Dark Lord. If she had any discomfort about fighting him, she wasn't showing it.

"And there we have it, folks! The line up for the finals is complete. Who among these titans of terror will emerge victorious? Who will receive the golden crown of the 129th Rasheul great **** tournament? In a scant five days we will know the answer!”