"BEGIN!" The male voice said looking down at the male.

"So how do you think they're going to do?" Mine asked looking at the female beside her.

"I think that the three of them will be just fine. Tatsumi may not be on par with Leone and Bulat but he's still more than capable of taking out regular opponents.

The members of night raid where once again about to start speaking however they heard something rather interesting just behind them.

"So how many people do you think are going to pass?" They heard a female voice ask behind them.

"Hard to say. I've done the math in my head and the maximum number of people that can pass is one hundred twenty eight." They heard a male voice say.

"What do you mean by maxium Ryuu?" They heard another male voice say.

"Well they said you need twenty tags to pass. Assuming that each of the top contenders get twenty tags then one hundred twenty eight contestants will move on to the next round." Ryuu said looking at them.

"Alright so what's the problem?" They heard a female voice ask.

"Not that many are going to pass and out of all of them Zero is going to be the last on to pass." They heard a new male voice say.

"Why do you say that? I mean he's already heading up the tower." They heard yet another male voice say.

"Yes but he doesn't have twenty tags. He's going to stop just before he reaches the top then fight whoever starts to climb. He's taking on a weak enemy compared to twenty enemies in top condition." The male now known as Ryuu said looking at them.

"What about Scerea and Jason?" They heard the female voice from earlier ask.

"Well Senna if I had to take a guess they're going to wait until some time has passed and go up the tower where Zero will give them the tags they need to pass." Ryuu said looking at Scerea.

"Alright that still doesn't explain why you think that less than one hundred twenty eight peolpe are going to pass." The female once again said.

"Well you only need twenty tags to pass. Now what happens if some people where to say start collecting more than twenty tags. They would prove useless to them but they could just get rid of them to make sure others can't advance." Ryuu said.

"Oh I see but what makes you so sure that Zero's going to do this?" The female once again asked.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure but chances are he will do it. Then depending on how they operate they'll have to do another preliminary round to narrow the number down to something they can use." Ryuu said looking at them.

"You say this as if you've watched a tournament before." The female said looking at him.

"Well Zero did enter this tournament last year and I decided to watch him. He came in second place after someone named Shori who's imperial arm gave him an advantage." Ryuu said looking at the ground.

"Why? What did his imperial arm do? I'm sure Zero could have-" the female once again began only to be interrupted.

"Zero got a little to confident and didn't wear his gloves. Which gave him a disadvantage over Shori. I don't think he's going to make the same mistake twice." Ryuu said looking at the female.

"Hey let's go to the other side there are open seats over there plus I think we'd be able to get a better veiw." A new male said.

"Why? What's wrong with these seats?" The female voice once again asked.

"No Sliver's right let's move over there." Another new voice said.

"Alright well whatever." The female voice said. The members of night raid then heard several peolpe get up and walk over where the man known as Silver had said.

When the members of night raid looked over they saw that their were five members walking over there. Four male and one female.

"Seems like Bulat and Leone may have some competition." The pink haired female known as Mine said looking at the figures that had just left.

"Yeah but let's not forget that Leone and Bulat have imperial arms. That gives them a major advantage over their opponents." Chelsea said looking at Mine.

"Yeah but then there's Tatsumi. It would appear as if he's the weakest link of the three. I wouldn't want to see him fall behind the two of them just because they have imperial arms and he doesn't." Lublock said looking at Chelsea.

"Yeah that would be kind of a shame." Chelsea said as she looked down at the three that were in the tournament. She then looked and saw that like they had said a male had stopped right under the final floor.

"I'm guessing the blonde is that Zero guy they were talking about." Akame said looking at the blonde that had at this point started to sit down and wait for someone to come up the stairs.

"I'm sure Leone and Bulat can handle him. Tatsumi may have a little trouble but I'm sure it's nothing he can't handle." Chelsea said looking at the male.

"Yeah but what about him?" Mine asked pointing to a guy that looked slightly out of breath and was running up the tower.

"Well I'd say he's going to loose but we don't know what either of them are capable of so who knows he might just surprise us." Chelsea said looking at Mine.

"But we do have an idea of what Zero is capable of. Remember what they just said he placed in second place last year." Mine said looking at Chelsea.

"Then if I had to take a guess I'd say Zero is going to win." Chelsea said looking at the two males.

Zero was sitting down with his eyes closed until he heard someone approaching him rather fast. He then stood up and looked at the male that was in front of him.

"Looks like you're the first one to get twenty tags." Zero said looking at him. Zero then smiled and held out his hand "I'll be taking those now."

"Yeah right I worked hard to get this far. I'm not just going to hand these over to you." The male said taking a fighting stance.

'He wasn't lying when he said he worked hard to get this far. I can tell just by the stance he's taken. It's closed and leaves few opens while also be able to allow him to counter an attack.' Zero thought as he looked at the male.

Zero then smiled and started to walk towards him. 'Still not good enough though. Three peolpe last year had the same defensive stance and each one of them lost to me.' Zero thought as he came closer and closer to the male.

When Zero was around a foot away the male finally decided to attack. When he did Zero caught the males arm and jerked his body forward. This threw the male off balance and before the male could regain his balance Zero hit the male in his throat.

The male stumbled back holding his neck. He was so distracted when he did this that he didn't notice that Zero had ran to his side and looked ready to strike again. Before he could react to this however Zero hit the back of his neck.

The male had a pained expression on his face before he fell to the ground. Zero then smiled and began to look through the males pockets attempting to find the tags.

"What did you do to me? Why can't I move?" The male asked looking up at Zero.

"When I hot the back of your neck I aimed for one of the disks that connects your head to your spine. When I hit it I popped it out of place. You won't be moving anything below your neck for quite some time." Zero said as he got the tags.

Zero then sighed picked up the body and moved him out of the way. Zero was about to lay down but stopped when he heard some more footsteps. He looked at the two figures that appeared and smiled.

It was none other than the two that he had entered the tournament with. "Hey Zero we saw that you beat someone. Mind throwing a few of those tags our way?" The redheaded female said looking at Zero.

"Sure how many do you need?" Zero asked looking at the two of them.

"I need five and Jason needs ten." Scerea said looking at Zero. Zero nodded when he heard this and reached into his pocket before he tossed the of them the tags that they needed.

"Thanks Zero we'll be heading to the top now." Jason said as he and Scerea walked past the blonde male.

Zero then once again heard footsteps and looked at the three figures that were in front of him. He recognized two of the figures almost immediately.

"Hello Zero I thought I'd be seeing you here again." The blue haired male known as Shori said looking at Zero.

"Yeah likewise." Zero said looking at him.

"A friend of yours brother?" The blue haired female known as Esdeath said looking at him.

"Brother? Well Shori didn't realize you were related to Esdeath leader of Jaegers." Zero said looking at the blue haired male.

"Yeah so Zero are you going to stand in our way?" Shori asked looking at the male.

"No I know I couldn't hold my own against the three of you. So I'll just let the three of you pass." Zero said stepping aside. Shori then smiled and looked at Zero.

"I look forward to seeing you fight once again. Let's see who comes out on top this time. Although in all honesty the results probably aren't going to be any different." Shori said as he walked passed Zero.

Zero felt his fist tighten at this. "We'll see about that. After all I will not make the same mistake I made last time." Zero said looking at the male that walked by him.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens now won't we." Shori said as he and the two he had came with. Zero then once again heard a group of people coming up the tower.

Zero turned his head and saw three figures in front of him. He recognized one of them as the man that Scerea had been talking to. However the other two figure where new faces to him.

'My god they're starting to show up like vermin.' Zero thought as he looked at the three of them.

"So are you going to let us by too or are you going to be stubborn about it?" Leone asked looking at Zero. Zero tilted his head to the side and carefully examined the three in front of him.

"I'd rather not take on three at one time. Plus there's something about the way you three carry yourself that suggests that it could be bad for my health." Zero said looking at them.

"Like what?" Tatsumi asked earning him a slap on the back of the head from Leone.

'Idoit if this Zero guy is as skilled as he looks then he's going to pick you off first.' Leone thought looking at Tatsumi.

"Well I see it more in your friends than you but the way you carry yourself. You've not only seen some acts but judging by the way you walked up here so calmly and made a suggested threat you've also obviously done some things as well." Zero said looking at the three.

"Still going to let us through?" Leone asked looking at him. Zero smiled at this and moved out of the way.

"I'll make my way up there soon enough." Zero said as he once again watched the three pass.

'Seems my competition is pretty thick this year. I've got Shori the winner from last year, Esdeath leader of Jaegers, then that girl that with the two of them. I'm not sure who she is but if she with the two of them then she must be skilled. Now it seems as if I also have three rather experienced fighters. Hopefully Jason and Scerea will help me narrow down the competition just a little bit more.' Zero thought as he once again heard someone coming up the tower.

Zero then readied himself for the next person he saw. 'Either way I'm getting tired of letting random strangers through.' Zero thought looking at the female that was on front of him.