FB: Chapter 37 – Tournament Of Champions Part 1

Unlike the coliseums in the various cities, the Capital’s coliseum was special. It was never instanced and high ranking NPCs showed up to view the matches. That was why winning the tournament played a big role in terms of fame.

There were actual crowds outside the coliseum waving various pieces of merchandise while there were a lot more guards in the area. The roads were kept clear for people who could afford transportation like myself. The few players who were willing to pay and a lot of rich NPCs.

A basic seat today would cost at least a gold. The private boxes cost platinum. I got off at the VIP entrance where guards kept the throngs of people back. I removed my hooded robe so people could see me. Excitement surged through the crowd. People were shouting and cheering me as I made my way into the coliseum.

An attendant showed me to the Champion waiting room. Everyone else was already here, all six Champions that had decided to compete in the Tournament of Champions. One man who held the Champion title had declined the tournament, saying he was busy with personal affairs today.

Everyone looked at me and I grinned back. “Hammer Crusher, you are looking well,” I said. He turned to face me.

“Foxy Blight, you have out leveled even me after all the effort I put in. But I will not roll over in cowardice. I will enjoy defeating you,” he said. The other Champions were eying both of us.

“Well, we can liven it up even more. Right now, I have the merchandising rights of two other Champions and myself. I am willing to put all three up if everyone else does the same. Winner takes them all,” I said.

“You aren’t going to bait me into losing money,” Crushing Rock replied.

“If you are a coward then I have already won. The contract is here with my signature. Anyone who signs will get their merchandising rights added to the final prize,” I said. There was a long period of silence as the other Champions looked at me.

“And what about these two losers,” Misty Tann asked, gesturing at the two Champions I had already taken merchandising rights from.

“They are out of luck,” I said with a grin.

“I will wager something else, since I am confident in our rematch,” Hammer Crusher said. Everyone turned to look at the man. “Twenty five platinum.”

“Well, I have no objections to that amount, anyone else?” I asked. No one objected and Hammer Crusher signed an amended contract. After his show of force everyone else did as well except Cat Dance who was too poor.

A Champions Gauntlet instead of a tournament, involved me defeating each Champion that had registered one after another. In the future there would be a lot more Champions making this a lot harder. There was a maximum of 64 Champions that could compete in the Tournament, based on their rankings. If matches weren’t held regularly their ranking would drop, which was why there were Champion matches outside the main tournament to rank Champions against each other.

Beating 6 people was a lot easier than beating 63 people. My first opponent was Cat Dance. I would go from the lowest ranking to the highest ranking. If someone beat me they would take my place and continue the Gauntlet.

This time instead of being teleported, attendants led us to opposite entrances for the arena and we entered on foot. One of the many differences that the Capital Coliseum had compared to other City Coliseums.

Once in the arena the attendants escorting us told us to stop and wait. “All rise and pay homage to Emperor Catan Shadam Ixxion the Twelfth, Supreme Ruler of the Human Empire, Duke of the Imperial Capital, Protector of the Realm, and Divine Saint of the Trinity!”

I didn’t hesitate to kneel and lower my head in the middle of the arena. Anything less would be seen as an insult to one of the most powerful NPCs in Exponential. All the other NPCs that were in the arena stood up and then knelt as well. Some players hesitantly copied them, but I noticed Cat Dance was giving me a skeptical look out of the corner of her eye and not kneeling.

Well, it sucked to be her. Anyone who looked upon the Human Emperor suffered penalties to their stats. Losing half of all their stats. In all videos and pictures, the Human Emperor would be blurred out. That was all part of his legend as someone not to mess with in any way. It was rumored that his level was over 500, since his personal guards had levels ranging from 300 to 400.

“My loyal subjects, today we are gathered to see the combat prowess of the people who the Trinity have sent to our lands,” the Human Emperor said. There were cries about how people had lost stats. The remaining Champions were in a viewing box to the side, so they would be hit as well if they didn’t kneel and stare at the ground. I didn’t dare grin, since the Human Emperor could easily take offense to my little scheme, taking advantage of his very presence.

“It will take them time to adjust to our customs. Let us be patient with them, like we would be patient with small children.” That was his way of rebuking everyone who didn’t kneel, but telling the rest of the NPCs not to get mad at them.

“All may rise! And prepare to bear witness to the first match!” the herald called out. I lifted my head and stood up. The Human Emperor was hidden behind a thin cloth veil, obscuring his visage from the rest of the arena. A gong sounded indicating the match had started right away.

“Hey, my stats have been lowered! How is this fair!?” Cat Dance called out. “This isn’t fair at all!” She then did the dumbest thing she could have. She pointed at the Human Emperor, accusing him of being unfair. For the NPCs the Human Emperor was seen as their President, Jesus, and whatever other messianic figure one could think of. For an absolute dictator, he was pretty lenient as well in terms of speech and didn’t even have death camps. You could criticize how things were run, his policies, and even his choice in décor for his palace.

That might get you looked down on, but it wasn’t a crime or anything super serious besides annoying some NPCs. But one thing, one should never ever do, was criticize the Human Emperor personally in any way, or indicate that he was biased. It was seen as a grave insult and all nobles were required to defend the Human Emperor’s personal honor.

Cat Dance did what had happened last time, the first time the Human Emperor showed up in front of players during the Tournament of Champions. Criticized the Human Emperor to his face directly. While he was too important to take action directly, that was why he had his praetorian guard, whose primary duty was to uphold the personal honor of the Human Emperor, since he carried the dignity of the entire Empire.

A praetorian guard teleported right next to Cat Dance and backhanded her across the face. She slammed into the ground as electricity shocked her. Her screams of pain sounded out across the mostly silent coliseum. “You dare insult the Human Emperor in his presence. In his Holy Name, you are hereby declared Outcast!” the Praetorian Guard declared loudly. I mentally winced at that. They were pissed. That was a negative title, Outcast.

No NPC would ever do business with Cat Dance again. Any player who associated with her, would receive the lesser title of Shunned, which would make prices five times more expensive. That could also happen if one developed a large enough negative reputation which interacting with an Outcast would do.

I didn’t dare move. “Let this be a lesson to all. The match may continue.” The Praetorian gave me the smallest of nods before teleporting away. I didn’t hesitate to quickly move over and puke all over Cat Dance’s head, ending the match.

One couldn’t die in the arena, but she was stuck at 1 HP. “Begone!” The most famous skill of the Human Emperor and one of only two known skills. He teleported her directly to the prison area for someone of her level, the Island Fortress which housed criminals from level 31 to 110. Her entire future in Exponential had just been crushed absolutely. No one would be able to rescue her for a long time, at least another decade. Even if they could, no one would want to. There was no easy way to reset her character while in a prison area either.

“Winner, Foxy Blight!” the NPCs cheered while the players were still in a bit of shock over what had just happened.

Winner! Standard 1v1: 100-0 Champion 1v1: 3-0
Please return to the starting platform.

I moved back to my original position. Hammer Crusher was the next one called out and the gong sounded. “It appears you knew what was going to happen,” he said with disappointment in his voice.

“The Human Emperor, stands above us all. It is only right that we kneel in his presence,” I said loudly to score points with the NPCs listening. Unlike other coliseums, high ranking NPCs came to watch the fights in this one. With his stats halved and the absolute level difference I didn’t even need to break out my new skill.

One after another, I easily beat the Champions. Losing half your stats crippled any plans they might have had. I also noted that the Praetorian Guards teleporting about the arena to punish the people who criticized the Human Emperor. They were tied into the Eye of Vigilance just like all other guards. Insulting the Human Emperor directly was a crime. Insulting the Human Emperor in his presence was absolutely forbidden and a serious crime.

In the towns, it would be a small fine and a warning. In the Capital in front of the praetorian guard, it was a negative title that would be incredibly difficult to remove. I would guess that most of the people would just get Shunned and sent to a prison area, which would make life very difficult for them.

The US might have freedom of speech, but the Human Empire didn’t for very specific things. Most people weren’t mentally prepared for this. They could only blame themselves for not understanding how the government here actually worked.

Eagle Eye was my final opponent who came out into the arena with a grim look. The gong sounded and I waited to see if he wanted to smack talk a bit first. Most of the Champions had lost their will to fight after I easily defeated Hammer Crusher.

***

AN: I am hosting a meme contest on RR's most recent chapter for Foxy Blight and Discord for this story. Patreon doesn't like posting pictures in chat unfortunately. I will make a post with all the winning memes for all of you to enjoy and to keep a record next Saturday once the contest is over. You are welcome to enter. The prize is one gifted month of Patreon, scaled up for every 10 participants. The more participants, the more chances to win.

It is basically a marketing tactic to increase views on RR for this story during the climb up the rising stars list and encourage people to join Patreon. I have no idea how big this meme contest will become, but I wanted to keep you all informed and give you the opportunity to participate if you wanted to.

Thank you all for your continued support, which allows me to keep writing.