Night had fallen by the time Vance, Eden, Cliff, and Azuka reached the front of the registration line at the Belmarcian tournament complex. For three hours, they moved slowly through the seemingly endless dividers, until the rest of the people in front of them suddenly dispersed.

"Oh no!" Eden looked around. "What's going on?"

"They closed the registration," a muscular woman with dreadlocks muttered as she moved past them in a hurry. "Said they can't take any ...