I was fighting a generic Church of the Moon paladin. He had a longsword and metal armor. We clashed and fought an intense battle. He was level 20 while I was already level 26. I was using my magic and blade to get by. It is pretty unconventional for a paladin, but it worked for me. People in the stands were very interested. It was probably because the Church of the Seven Roses were gaining a high reputation for bloodshed and violence. They were all going to be disappointed with the end of the match. I shot him with some ice spikes and gave him a jumping vertical slash that broke his guard. I then held my blade at his throat. He gave up and I walked away with the win. In a flash, the next fight began. When the time came for Leon to fight, he killed his opponent with ease. The next day was the fourth round. The first day of the round saw another few bloodbaths as Chien, Chat and two members of the Church of the Dragon's Flame. The next day the first match saw another Dragon's Flame paladin immolate a battle nun after knocking her unconscious.
My match was against a cleric from the Church of Rivers. He was tricky as he had some spells with short cool down times. I still had magic of my own to attack him, but I had to deal with the fact he also had a crossbow to get me from long range. I had to just charge in. Once I did, it was much easier. The cleric was pretty much a sugar glass canon. As soon as I got in close, he went down with a few slices. When it was clear he could not continue to fight me, I ended it there. Leon was not as merciful. It was more of a fight, but he still ended up dismembering a cleric to great applause. That was the end of the fourth round. Not that we had gotten to the fifth round, there would be enough time to host a full round a day. Chien and Chat met in the fifth round. We had already discussed this. Chien would let Chat through and I would let Leon go. Ultimately, Leon would be the one to win. I thought that Chat would probably be better, but neither would hear it. I guessed it was a pride thing. Chien just shrugged his shoulders at them. I just let it drop after that.
Chat went through and soon it was my match. I was going up against a strong level 25 paladin. That was reaching the upper limits of my confidence I could win. This was reaching the highest levels normal NPCs could reach in their lives. He was the strongest entrant aside from the Protectors. He was Grand Master Fabien Dawnbringer of the Church of the Sun. There was a dev log about all the religious heads. He was a righteous leader that can appear, but the Player needed to beware. He was a chivalrous person to all humans, but he was quick to anger around demihumans. He was also immediately aggressive and antagonistic around monsters. Since a harpy was a demihuman, I had to be careful around him. "It is an honor to face such a well known paladin. I hope you don't find my challenge lacking I said with a slight bow." It was a sign of respect. He hummed with a raised eyebrow. I got ready and he charged in. I shot ice spikes at him, but he dodged them easily. We locked blades and he said "I will test your might and advance. Do not waste my time, harpy!"
