Transmigrated as a Ghost

Swiftly the days went by as Marcus and Mrazivý continued to enjoy the Muharib Festival.

Suring the days leading up to the tournaments which were the main events, the two of them being guided by Amira explored the festival grounds, but even after several days had only seen around forty percent of what there was to see.

And unfortunately, two of their days were taken up with the inquiry about the attack on them by Talab who was a upper ranking member of the Guhbaa Clan.

In the end everything had gone in their favor, but Yazan the leader of the Guhbaa Clan had put up a fight to try and reclaim the talon that Mrazivý had won. Even going so far as to offer them an amount of money around twenty percent above the value of a roc's talon.

Of course, neither Marcus nor Mrazivý were willing to give the talon back since they knew it actually belonged to a phoenix. Though the way that Yazan desperately attempted to get the talon back they suspected that he knew what it was, and Marcus did a little ghostly observation and learned that the man believed the talon to be from an evolved roc that was at the legendary grade.

Still, with the backing of the Eazim Clan, the Guhbaa Clan was practically steamrolled during the inquiry and their clan was going to receive sever penalties for what had happened. Causing them to lose their standing as one of the upper ranked clans and have to pay out a sizable sum of money to several parties while all of the attackers were to be executed and their assets seized.

Marcus and Mrazivý, also received a number of bounties from several of the assassins that Marcus had apprehend. With the strongest one having been an especially notorious killer with a bounty of thirty thousand gold coins on her head. A monstrous sum she had received on her head for being involved in the deaths of several high-ranking members among the six major clans.

After it was over though, Marcus and Mrazivý no longer had to worry about any more retaliation form the Guhbaa Clan. They currently had far too many problems to worry about and another step out of line would mean the end for them.

This allowed Marcus and Mrazivý to enjoy the festival at their leisure until it was time for the start of the three main tournaments that were the highlights of the festival and would attract the most attention. Being held in a massive domed arena that could hold more than a million people.

"It certainly puts any of the stadiums from Earth to shame." Marcus said as they approached the venue of the tournaments.

The arena was far larger than any sports stadium he had seen back on Earth, and he imagined that this arena was at least twenty times the size of the famous Colosseum, if not more.

"Oh, did they hold fighting tournaments on your original world as well?" Mrazivý asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. Marcus had already told her quite a bit about Earth but there was still plenty more she did not know.

Shaking his head Marcus explained that the large stadiums were meant for sporting competitions, and any sort of fighting similar to what they would be doing in Aezam had long been out of practice during the age he was born in.

Luckily it was currently just the two of them in the carriage since they were being taken straight to an area where only participants could enter. Hence why Amira was not with them.

This meant that Marcus could answer all of the questions that Mrazivý had about the culture on Earth now that her curiosity had been piqued.

Soon enough their carriage had been led into the arena and a staff members led them towards the ring where the other competitors were gathering for the opening ceremonies before the first match of the day would be held.

'Now that's impressive.' Marcus thought, seeing the what the stage that all of the matches would be held on was made of.

The entire thing was adamantine and had a number of enchantments etched into it and was teeming with an extreme amount of mana.

Just with a few glances Marcus noticed that there were hundreds of magic tools set up on just the floor of the arena. Several which contained powerful defensive enchantments that would protect the audience from the shockwaves generated by the participants.

"This puts Borealia's arena to shame. We did not put even a tenth as many resources into our wards." Mrazivý said under her breath.

"I imagine that is because of the regulation in Borealia preventing people over the age of fifty from participating. The battles there were not featuring the strongest combatants in the kingdom. They certainly need this level of protection to hold a competition featuring people above level seventy." Marcus responded.

Soon they were brough to a pair of chairs around a small table with several refreshments on it that sat atop the large adamantine stage.

Looking around Marcus saw that there were similar set ups all over with members of the same clan being seated in the same area.

"I suppose that most of the combatants are too high ranking to be expected to stand." Mrazivý noted as she sat down.

Among the participants many were high ranking members of their clan, and in the area designated for the Sulb Clan, Marcus spotted Aziz sitting next to a man who was likely their grand elder.

"They have certainly got a great number of powerful combatants over there. And it looks like we have their attention." Marcus said, seeing the members of the Sulb Clan casting their gazes over their way.

"Yes, but it is not just them. There are other strong fighters around." Mrazivý said, looking around at the other top competitors.

Currently gathered on this stage was likely more than seventy percent of all of Aezam's military might, and it certainly was very impressive. Marcus was certain that if Boreas and Gwyneira were excluded that Borealia did not quite match up.

Among the participants in the tournaments, Marcus spotted a few groups of people that were clearly not from Aezam just like them.

A majority of these other foreigners were sitting close to the Sulb Clan as their guests, but a few were actually unaffiliated with any of the major clans and had won their way into the tournament from the few open spots that to be obtained through victories in preliminary matches.

For nearly and hour Marcus and Mrazivý simply waited in their seats, enjoying the refreshments left for them and glancing around at their competition and picking out those that felt and looked the strongest.

Then once everyone of the competitors had arrived the group of people managing the event came out onto the stage were a podium with voice amplifying magic tools were waiting.

For several minutes announcements all types were made like an explanation of the rules, and some of the past winners of the tournament were highlighted.

Overall, it was just standard stuff and Marcus and Mrazivý had already known about it and simply ignored what was going on while continuing to converse with telepathy.

However, when the initial announcements had ended, and the tournaments' brackets were displayed on the multiple magic screens around the arena both of them became alert and began scanning the duo tournament for their names.

"There is no way that these matches were set up randomly." Marcus said seeing a blatant trend.

A majority of their matches were going to be disproportionally against members of the Sulb Clan. Showing that their excitement to fight them had gone far enough to have the tournament stacked so that most of them would have a chance to do so.

In fact, only if they made it to the finals would they be fighting against Aziz and the Sulb Clan's grand elder.

"Well, they certainly look excited about it." Mrazivý said, looking towards the Sulb Clan's area.

All of the fighters that were going to have a chance against them were smiling and showing just how much they enjoyed a good fight.

"I suppose it is better that we are up against other strong fighters. We would not want this to be boring right.' Marcus said.

It had been a while since either of them had a good fight and he was looking forward to utilizing his skills in this tournament. The last time he had been in a truly difficult fight was against the archdevil, but that was a battle with his life on the line and was harrowing rather than fun. Luckily this tournament was a competition, and no one would maliciously be trying to destroy him.

"Sir Marcus and Lady Mrazivý, I will take you to Grand Elder Akeem's viewing box now." A staff member said after the opening ceremonies had concluded. They were not going to be fighting today, but naturally they wanted to watch the matches and see how good their competition was.

Quickly they were led though the arena to the area where important and wealthy people had private boxes and were brought to one of the six largest.

Going inside, Marcus and Mrazivý were impressed by how large the area was. This single box was around three thousand square meters, with just about every facility imaginable inside it. There was even a full-sized kitchen where Layla and her team were currently cooking. Making it seem more like a small mansion than a viewing box for a tournament.