Loud cheers erupted, filling the Monster Arena, as the tournament participants stepped onto the field. The exhibition fights were over, and it was finally time for the preliminary round to start.
Lane narrowed his eyes, observing the Espers flooding in. From their Awakened Association, there was Hannah Jones - a Team Leader like Damien, but only an A-ranker. Damien didn't want to participate, and he didn't want Lane to participate, but it would be a shame not to have a representation, so Hannah volunteered.
As for the rest… There were quite a few S-rankers, many of them Lane recognized, a whole bunch of A-rankers, and even a few brave - or foolish, or overconfident - B-rankers.
