Forgotten by Magic

39

Elias and Mira were conversing amongst themselves when they got approached by Ares.

"Hey guys..." He said, slightly abashed about failing so miserably.

"Oh thank God you're okay!" Mira sighed out of relief and jumped on top of him, hugging him tightly.

"You were great Ares." Elias hugged him next, congratulating him.

They were not going to make fun of him? Ares stared, grateful, at his two encouraging friends.

"This one lost immediately." They heard snickers around. Ares glared at the ground feeling terrible again.

Mira glared at them about to defend him when Elias cut her off, surprising her, "At least he tried!"

Mira nodded and added on, "And what ranks are you?"

"We are both gians, that's what you failed to be." He smirked back at Mira who laughed.

"Still a gian at forty?! Pathetic. Watch Ares beat your ass any day." She glared intensely as Elias agreed. Ares smiled at the way these two were defending him and stopped the whole debacle.

The worst part about this was that he was like those people once. He was sick and tired of acting suck up though, it needed to change.

"It's okay guys. I'm really happy you guys were cheering for me. Thank you." He said politely and took a seat next to Mira. "Ignore them. Let's focus on Gael instead."

"Yes! We can cheer louder with your help." Elias said.

On the competition ground, the second round was being set up. Only a hundred and twelve mitos finished the entire course. Kai, true to his word, had made the ground harder this time.

They started conversing as everyone set up the ground.

Mira stared at the one person who had her whole heart as he rose more mountains in the field.

"M- are you listening?" Elias and Ares then followed her line of vision to Kai. "Damn, sir is definitely one heck of a shinobi."

"Right." Mira chuckled darkly, still bitter about the rejection.

"Mira, you okay?" Ares asked, looking at Elias' worried face.

"I'm always okay." She smiled with a shrug, she meant it. But like Kenji had said, she wanted more.

Once Kai had set it up, he had to drag a sleepy Gael by pulling on his feet as he tightly held onto the ground. Kai stopped once he was lying next to the other standing players. 

He then splashed Gael with a ton of water which the trio laughed at. Gael, as if feeling their amusement from below, signed them a middle finger before standing up. He was glaring at Kai, who was walking back to his father.

"The surviving ninjas will now be paired up amongst each other. You will each go against the other in a one vs one battle. The rules are similar, if one grows unconscious or quits verbally, they are eliminated. Another way to eliminate the other is throwing them out of the circle. The pairings will be put on the big screen. Progressing this round will be the winning fifty-six. " The commentator stated.

"We will start with his round after thirty minutes. Any damages done to the field will be fixed before starting the next round." He said.

"Only thirty minutes?" Ares asked. He was still in pain and he was one of the first ones to get eliminated.

He could not imagine what Gael, or even what the others might be going through.

"It's harsh but fair. All the pairs will be equally tired- oh great! Gael's up first, look." Mira pointed at the screen with Gael's face and another girl popping on it.