CHAPTER 238: TOURNAMENT STARTS

Felix didn’t get much time to practice at all. Whether Lyla had found out about his early morning training session with Cael, or was just trying to rush things to block Felix’s opportunities before he could find any, or was worried that if she took too long, Felix might change his mind and withdraw from the tournament, she sure worked fast. Or it could just be that she had nothing better to do, so she poured all of her attention into organizing the event, which honestly didn’t need all that much organizing in the first place. Either way, the very same day that Felix had his first lesson with Cael, that is right the day after she discussed the idea with Felix, the tournament was officially announced.

And when was it supposed to be held? Exactly the next day!

Well, the preliminaries were the next day. No one wanted to spend the whole day in the basement, listening to the ball bouncing off the table and the paddles, so the games were spread over the next few days, with the grand finale set to be exactly a week later. The match-ups would be chosen through a draw...

Or so Lyla claimed. But Felix suspected that the draw was going to be staged.

Well, not like it mattered. As long as there was no cheating in the actual matches, he didn’t care. Whatever Lyla was planning, be it to match him against the strongest players, or personally crush him right in the preliminaries, he would face it straight on.

So, he simply signed up, and waited to see what would come next.

The preliminaries were pretty simple. Because the tournament was open to all of the pack’s Omegas, regardless of age and status, a lot of people signed up. Mainly Omegas between 16 and 26 years of age, but that was still a lot. So, they all faced a group of young female Betas who served as judges, and then the 16 best participants would get to advance to the main tournament.

All the judges were, naturally, young female Betas close to Lyla... But no one complained about it, not even Felix. Lyla was the organizer, so it wasn’t surprising that she would assign her trusted people to watch over the event.

Even if it was a bit unfair, since she was also one of the participants.

And of course, she passed the preliminaries, earning herself the first spot. No surprise there.

Felix also passed. On the... eight place. Exactly in the middle. That was... a bit surprising. He had expected that if he were to pass, he would barely make the cut, but the Beta judge he had faced against didn’t pose much challenge for him... Which was clearly done on purpose. So, even though he didn’t try his best either (also on purpose, to lower Lyla’s guard - Cael’s advice), he still earned a good score.

But the most surprising part of it all was that...

The prizes were kept a secret.

Which was an odd choice, that’s for sure. Yes, only the top four contestants would get any prizes, and the tournament was supposed to be ’just for fun’ to begin with... But shouldn’t the prizes for any competition be announced beforehand? To motivate the participants, so that they would know what they were fighting for?

Honestly, it was rather sketchy...

But it was too late to back out. Felix could only try his best in the matches, and deal with any trouble as it came.

Once the preliminaries were over, the results of the ’draw’ were announced, assigning every participant a number from 1 to 16. Number 1 would face number 2 in the first match, number 3 number 4, then the winners from those pairs would face each other in their second matches, and so on...

Lyla was number 1.

Felix... was number 16.

Which meant that for them to face each other, they would have to win all of their matches, and meet in the finals.

That... wasn’t quite what Felix expected. Was it that Lyla had so much confidence in him, or did she not want to have a match with him after all?

...It was neither, as he soon found out.

"And the winner is... Felix Embermane!" the judge announced, with very fake excitement. Felix’s opponent bowed to him with a very fake smile, while the few Omegas and Betas that were crowding the game room in the basement clapped. Also with a lot of fakeness.

Felix also put a fake smile on his face. "Thank you, it was a good match!" he bowed his head as his opponent...

But it was a lie. Everything was a lie. From the beginning to the end, his whole match was staged. His opponent, whom Felix recognized as one of the Omegas who often hung around Lyla, pretty much forfeited the game right from the start, pretending to be so clumsy that he wasn’t even able to receive easy serves.

Well, that shouldn’t have been surprising. Felix already knew that the Bloodmoon Pack’s Omegas were skilled at being fake clumsy.

He still didn’t understand what Lyla’s end-game was here, though. Was she trying to build up Felix’s confidence, so that she could crush him in the finals? Still, winning the second place was nothing to be ashamed for, so no matter how badly he lost against Lyla, Felix would still be able to walk away with his head high!

It was confusing. Trying to understand someone like Lyla was practically a mission impossible for Felix, though, as he couldn’t relate to her at all, so he just shrugged his shoulders, and carried on. He breezed through his second match, then the third... Until the time for the semifinals finally came.

The semifinals and finals were held on the same day, so it was the last day of the tournament. Only the ’top’ four contestants still remained. Lyla had the whole game room decorated for the occasion, and there were plenty of snacks and drinks prepared, both for the audience and the participants. But the most important part was that since it was almost the end, it was finally the time to announce the prizes...