Kain didn't return to his seat immediately. Instead, he remained backstage where the tunnels leading to each stage were located. Finding an area of the wall to lean against while he waited for some of his friends to finish.
Kain had already called back Vauleth since he was completely uninjured, so he waved off the medical staff who tried to approach to help him.
The unmistakable bounce of a man who had just gotten an easy win due to facing a lower ranked opponent, was currently on an emotional high, and was going to be insufferable while riding that high.
"You hear them out there?" Bridge said, eyes practically glowing with glee. "They were howling for you. Deep, manly howls. Like a mating call from a pack of werewolves."
Kain sighed. "Don't start."
"Father-in-law," Bridge said reverently, clasping his hands. "I didn't know I was in the presence of such a great patriarchal figure. Should I bow?"
Kain stared at him. Looked at the knowing smirk on his face, and thought about Bridge's tendency to be chronically online in his spare time. "Explain. Now."
"Oh-ho! You really don't know?" Bridge grinned wider. "So, you remember when you made those cute little Elemental Fairies earlier in the year, right? The ones people lost their minds over?"
"Well," Bridge said, voice rich with mischief, "apparently a not-insignificant percentage of the population got... very attached. Especially to the little ones with the cute voices and oversized eyes. There's entire fan clubs dedicated to 'studying fairies'. But mostly consists of exchanging photos of them. They call themselves either 'Fairy Knight Protestors,' or 'Fairy Fathers.' Half of them think of you like a blessed chosen one who brought these glories fairies to mankind. The other half?"
He waggled his eyebrows.
"They think of you more as the father of their precious wives."
Kain's face went blank.
Bridge helpfully continued, "You see, because you 'created' them and the method of producing them is largely controlled by your business, and because some of the... less emotionally stable fans form emotional bonds with their own contracted fairies that aren't exactly—"
"I get it," Kain said, deadpan.
"—they think of you as the benevolent father-in-law whose blessing they must earn and whose grace they must return."
Kain turned and walked headfirst into the tunnel wall.
"Humanity has completely degenerated. Just let the bricks take me."
Bridge clapped him on the back. "Hey, cheer up. Your fanboys love you. And at least they're less scary than Serena's."
As if on cue, another cheer rocked the stadium.
This time, it was Serena.
She entered the tunnel a minute later, looking as pristine as always. Not a single strand of hair out of place.
But her opponent had been ranked 19.
She should've only taken less than a minute, right?
"What took you so long?" Kain asked.
Serena gave him a blank look. Then, very dryly, "Prismarin decided to practice illusions mid-fight. My opponent spent four minutes trying to punch a tree."
Kain's lips twitched. That sounded like the mischievous rabbit.
"And when I heard the loud cheer," she continued, "I almost thought Prismarin had finally stopped fooling around and ended it. But no. It was just your fans."
"Congratulations," she added with a perfectly neutral expression, "on becoming the most beloved man on campus."
Before Kain could die of shame, Kairos appeared with a stormy look in his eyes.
Unlike Kain or Serena, he looked like he'd just come out of a war.
His opponent had been nobody noteworthy, but the match had been brutal. Rather the beat down on his opponent had been brutal.
Kain watched him carefully.
"Kairos has been training," Kain muttered.
Bridge nodded. "Hard."
The tension in his movements, the slight tremble in his hands, the way he wiped his face with more frustration than sweat—Kairos was angry.
People were always watching him like a hungry pack of wolves. He never seemed to garner the same level of respect and fear that Kain, Serena, and Soren did. Rather, he was looked at ravenously.
He was rank 4. Only just inside the top 5.
And unlike the top 3 who seemed too solid for the other students to even begin to challenge, Kairos and Ranya who both only had A-rank affinities, were much easier targets.
Dwayne, sitting at rank 6 with an S-rank affinity, had been staring at them like a starving man outside a locked bakery.
"Pressure's on him," Kain said quietly.
The four of them—Kain, Bridge, Serena, and Kairos—headed back toward the main seating together.
Their first matches of the day were done for now, and it wouldn't be until much later that they'd need to fight again. Threfore, they could relax and enjoy the show.
The next group up on the stage had no seeds, or people Kain was that familiar with.
The tournament organizers had clearly planned the schedule to have Serena, Kain, and Kairos go first to ignite the crowd. The other seeds would be spaced out strategically to maintain interest.
By the time they reached their seats, the crowd had settled into a steady rhythm of cheers, groans, and whispered speculation.
None of the matches surprised Kain. Everyone expected to win, did.
There were only a few upsets, and most of them came from people ranked within five places of each other. Nothing dramatic.
Kain's interest was beginning to wane when this 'Peaches' took the stage. Interestingly, she was part of his own group.
When she stepped into the arena, the fanboys screamed.
Signs were raised. Banners were waved. Kain even spotted a glitter-painted poster that read "Marry Me!"
The manly and deep base of their collective roar rang through the arena.
Kain was horrified to realize it still didn't surpass the might of his own 'fanboys'.
And Kain wasn't only one who noticed…
"Wow. You are so popular." Serena said from where she was seated next to him. Her expression was deadpan, but he could swear that he could see a smirk.