Even More... Wait! It's Not Filler!?

Mark woke up, got off of his bed, and stretched. He felt refreshed, not having stressed over the events that would take place today. He left his room and headed for Amelia's, which was right next to his. They would leave for the tournament together, so Mark had to wake her up.

"*Knock Knock*, Amelia, are you ready?" He called from outside her door.

The door opened and Amelia walked out. She said, "Good morning," and started to walk toward the stairs to the first floor of the building. Mark followed after her and they left the building together.

They were traveling towards the northern part of the city. The city itself was massive. At Mark and Amelia's pace, which wasn't slow, they would take several hours to reach their destination, a place on the outside of the northern walls.

The city was built that way with the express purpose of accommodating many races at the same time. Originally, there wasn't anything here, but when a certain event happened, the War of Races, a city was built here. Anybody could live here, though it would become crowded once every hundred years.

The city was divided into several different parts as a way to separate the different races. Humans were on the east part of the city and only occupied a small portion of the city, though it was still enough space for hundreds of thousands of people.

Of the four main races, humans were the weakest, being weaker than even some of the sub races. They were the most diverse race. It was one that adapted better than any other race, excelling at change. Still, with only the ability to change, humans ended up as the weakest race. The other three of the main races, demons, gods, and plants, were all much stronger.

The plant race held the biggest portion of the city. This race had amazing reproductive capabilities and extreme vitality. The tended to be slow, some even being incapable of movement, but the stronger members of the race were faster. The race also didn't have a natural limit on their lifespan, meaning that they could technically live forever. All of their traits combined led to the race that was the hardest to kill.

The god race, on the other hand, had the worst reproductive capabilities. The god race had the smallest portion of the city. To make up for that, their race had a base lifespan of ten thousand years and bodies that held immeasurable strength. Without even practicing in Mana, they were capable of crushing those at the second rank. The god race even made their own techniques that focused more on the body than on Mana.

Finally, the demon race. This race was naturally gifted with the manipulation of Mana, countering the god race. On average their base lifespan was three hundred years. They didn't live as long as the god or plant race, but they still lived longer than humans. They were the first to wield Mana, and to this day, they held the greatest mastery over it.

The other races, such as elves, giants, dwarves, and many others, are all a mix of one of four main races. No records of a god a demon having a child exist, but every other combination exist. The elves, for example, are a mix of demons and plants.

......

Amelia and Mark's travel to the northern border of the city was uneventful. The plant race and most of its sub races were friendly to humans. The god race wasn't antagonistic towards them, and the demon race didn't have a grudge against them either. The human race wasn't really enemies with any of the other races, so it was normal for nothing to happen to them when all of the species were mixed together. Occasionally there would be a sub race that wanted war with humans, but there were none currently.

They left outside of the gate at the northern border, which was completely open for today. About a kilometer in front of them was were the races gathered together. This was the final place of gathering that they would have to go to reach the place where the Tournament of Races would be held.

The place of gathering was a circle like structure. Its diameter tens of kilometers across, and height unknown. From Amelia's estimate, it should be more than fifty kilometers tall, though she couldn't see the end of it.

The building had rows built into it at regular intervals. In the rows were seatings for the spectators. All the rows weren't the same, however. The building had sections just like the city, and each section was built specifically for each race. The giant race, a mix between humans and gods, had the biggest rows. They were the biggest race, after all.

Participants were to head to the center of the building, according to what Amelia had heard. Once every participant was there, they would be teleported to the destination of battle.

"So, how do you want to go about getting the pendant?" Mark asked as they were right outside the building.

"Just like I said before, we either sneak attack or gang up on him," answered Amelia.

"If you say so, but I have a question that I forgot to ask yesterday," said Mark.

"What is it?"

"Well, you said that the prince would have more Mana than both of us combined, right?" He asked.

"Yes, so?"

"We're rank 3 and he's rank 4. By what your saying, that means that those at the fourth rank have more than twice as much as those at the third rank," said Mark.

"Yes? Isn't that how it always is?" Amelia asked, tilting her head in confusion as she spoke.

"How do you know that?" Mark continued asking.

"Well, from myself and my surroundings. When one is rank 2 they are normally able to cast twice as many spells as they could when they were when they were rank 1. The same applies for rank 3 and 4, at least from what I know," she answered.

"*Hmm*, couldn't it be a combination of having more Mana and the spells using less Mana?" He asked.

Amelia thought about what he said before answering, "That could be, but what does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I was just wondering," he said. In reality, he couldn't understand why his data didn't reflect double the amount of Mana for every rank. If the spells they cast just required less Mana, either because of their mastery of the spells or their Will, then it would explain why his Mana didn't double.

"I heard that a representative from each of the main races will give instructions for the tournament, so let's hurry to the center," said Amelia.

They walked to the center, which took them several minutes due to the distance, and waited. They chatted with each other as they waited, talking about the differences between the races. This continued for what felt like and hour, when finally four old looking men and a women flew above the circular building.

When they reached the top, they shot out their power and a screen appeared on the walls of the building for every participant and onlooker to see.

"It is time for us to explain the rules of this tournament," spoke one of the four. It was a human woman who looked old and kind. Her hair was a beautiful silvery grey, one which made one want to stair. Her eyes were just a normal brown with nothing special about them, but somehow they made her look caring. She wore a light grey and green robe which accentuated her kind nature even more. From the crowd's point of view, there couldn't be a person that would look more kind than her.

Another one continued from where old lady left off, "I'll start by introducing our names." He pointed from right to left introducing who they are, "Nora, the leader of the humans. I'm Deus, leader of the gods. She's Vareez, leader of the demons. Finally, Vita, the leader of the plants."

Deus was the only male among the group. He had golden hair and white eyes. As their race entailed, he was also buff. The outfit he wore, however, covered up most of his body, so his body size was mostly just the speculation of the crowd based on his height, which was the tallest amongst the four.

Vareez had white hair, dark black eyes, and red skin. She wore a black robe that had red strings hanging around it, and her height was just shy of Deus's.

Vita, as her name suggested, seemed to be full of life. She had a pale green hair color, green eyes similar to Nora's, and her skin faintly glowed, adding onto her lively nature. Resembling the others, she too wore a robe. Hers, however, was too big on her. She only reached a height of maybe a meter, from what the crowd could see.

"The rules are simple," said Deus, "You may team up with anyone and you may attack anyone. The only rule there is for this, is that any one of us may bring any of you out of the battle ground. We will only take you out if we see you doing something we deem unfit for the battlefield," he stopped explaining there.

Vareez continued from where he left off, "The winner is decided by the number of points the race has at the end of the tournament. Though it is called a tournament, points are not determined by defeating others, but by killing beasts."

Then it was Vita who spoke, "Points can be earned other ways, but we will not tell you how. The tournament will either end in one month, or when a race reaches one million points."

"Finally," spoke Nora, "no one will die in this tournament. An inscription has been created using the power of many different races. This inscription will be placed on every participant, and it will prevent their death. Should they be placed in a situation were they would die, they will instead be teleported out, completely healed," she finished there.

"Now, let the Tournament of Races begin!" All four yelled at the same time.

Every being on the inscription in the middle of the building was branded with a different inscription on their forehead before disappearing.

......

Amelia looked around where she was teleported. Mark was right beside her, but she couldn't see anyone else. Looking around more, she asked Mark, "Hey Mark, do you know what that is?"