While Jake and the rest waited in the hall for further instructions. A group of soldiers entered the room. Each of them held a fairly large sack that was filled with something unknown. They then began going round the room handing out bracelets from the sacks to each and every one of the contestants.

    Not much was said about the bracelets. They were just told to wear them if they want to participate in the tournament.

    The bracelet was clear as glass and slightly larger than an adult fist. When the bracelets was put on their wrist, it shrunk down to a perfect fit.

    After waiting a little while longer, a Sergeant entered the room. It was sergeant Lee that entered the room. When Lee was ready to speak, the room fell silent to listen attentively.

    "Good morning, everyone! I''m here to tell you all about the rules of this tournament. The first order of business: Will ranks 1 to 3 of the third year students please come forward?"

    Three students whom Jake had never seen before went over to where Lee was standing. Actually, on closer look, Jake recognized one of them which was Harry; Sebastian''s elder brother that wanted to harm Jake and his friends when they were in their first year on the pretense of teaching them an important lesson. Discover stories with empire

    "Next, will the rank 1 to 3 of the second years step forward?"

    Jack, Sophia and Peter went over towards where Sergeant Lee and the third years were standing.

    "The 6 students standing here, will be seeded. They will not participate in the first round and will go straight through the knockout stages."

    "You might be wondering what the devices on your wrists are for. In a moment, you should all see a number display on it." Lee said ignoring the mumblings of the crowd after announcing those that will go through to the knockout stages.

    As Jake looked towards his wrist, a green figure could be seen "100 HP" written across the bracelet.

    "The first round of the tournament will be a battle royale style. The second year students will participate first. The last seven students left standing, will go on to the knockout stages." Lee then raised one of the bracelets in the air.

    "This is your winning ticket. In the battle royale style, you will only be permitted to use the regular training wooden equipment. For each hit you take, this number will go down. When the number reaches zero, you will eliminated from the tournament."

    Lee looked at all the students there then he pointed at Kate.

    Jake went over and picked a regular wooden sword. Swinging it around, Jake liked the weight of the weapon and its feel so he took it.

    The 6 seeded students were then taken somewhere else since there was no need for them to be there.

    From the hallway, they are further escorted down a huge tunnel. The tunnel went on for about five minutes and at the end of it, they could see a bright light.

    As soon as they went into the bright light, they were welcomed with loud cheers. It felt like the whole ground was shaking. The whole arena was completely packed with people and not a single seat was left empty.

    The arena also had a special seating area where the 3 Head Generals and six Generals sat. Just underneath them, were two instructors that Jake was familiar with. Instructor Thompson and instructor Jim. They were holding onto a microphone.

    "Welcome ladies and gentlemen!"

    "We will now begin the opening round of Aurora Academy''s tournament." As instructor Jim spoke into the microphone, it was being magnified so the whole audience could hear him.

    The students were asked to spread out all over the arena. There were around 100 contestants in total on the ground floor. As Jake went into his open space, he couldn''t help but shake the feeling that some other players were looking at him. He could feel their eyes piercing into his skull.

    ''What are they up to?'' Jake thought.

    "The first round, will be a battle-royale style tournament. The last seven students remaining, will go onto the next round." A screen suddenly appeared over the fighting arena.

    "As you can see, the audience are able to see the HP of every single contestants. Once the HP counter of a contestant reaches 0, they will be eliminated."

    "Now let''s get ready to start in..."

    The whole audience started to count down together.

    "3...2...1..."