[b]THUD[/b]

The armored body of a defeated champion collapsed to the ground, as his opponent sheathed their blade and stepped away from the arena's center. Two rather mundane soldiers, perhaps of lesser angels or demons? Either way, their duel wasn't boring at least. A beam of while light cracked from the sky above, bathing the fallen combatant and whisking him away, presumably to his deity's plane.

The open sky allowed the brilliant sun to illuminate the better half of the grounds upon which the fight took place. A grassy courtyard of respectable size, lightly littered with some rocks and trees here and there, but nothing too inhibiting. The edges of the area were walled in up to about 30 feet, after which point there was rows of seats in a coliseum-like fashion up and away from the arena. This was the Castle of Champions, the first and most commonly used area for the duels that took place between the Champions. It was established at the time that the gods banded together to form the Champion system. Each deity would assemble mortals to fight in their stead against other Champions for the purposes of fun, glory, and even conquest. After the Grand Contract, this castle, along with many other arenas across the Earth were erected to house the duels. Tournaments were frequent of course, and the humans of Earth were often allowed to spectate and cheer on the fighters.

After the arena cleared, a humanoid with short silver hair and white robes materialized in the center of the area. This man was well known as Saint Peter, the Gate-Caller. Since the inception of the Champion system, he also has served as a caller for duels. Peter found a sizable rock to stand on - he was rather on the short side - and cleared his throat.

"NEXT," He shouted, his voice would project with a magical aura, but he would always get excited to watch duels, "Mifune, of Ketsueki mūn! And... Otto Aletho, of Die'Erde!"

Peter wove his hands like a giddy child as the two champions he named materialized onto the arena in a similar fashion as he did. "Remember," he said to the combatants. "Standard rules apply: lethal force is allowed, you will be protected from actually being slain. Anything goes as long as is stays withing the perimeter of the arena, and don't fly up higher than the building. Got it?" He asked if they understood, but he continued before either could respond. He waved his arms again, and vanished into thin air as his voice permeated the castle, "BEGIN!"