The wall bulges out into the balcony as before, but the man with the red shirt is not alone with the Bronze Shadow anymore. Jezebel and Piscun are behind him to either side, just within the shadows.
As before, the man's voice is magnified to fill the cavern. "Greetings, Spheremorphs! I am glad to see that you seem to have rested well, for today's activities will be most strenuous.
"In this room, and in the rooms to either side-" he gestures to the doors to either side of the balcony, which is just above the door to the Living Quarters, "-is where the matches will take place.
"On the lists that you will most likely have seen, you will notice that the list is broken into three sections: Red, Yellow and Blue. These are the divisions of the tournament. The champion of each of these groups will compete for the final prize. For now, though, which group you are in will determine where your matches will be held. Red matches will be held here, in the Waterfall Cavern; Yellow matches in the Glyph Cavern to my right; and Blue matches in the Mist Cavern to my left."
You can remember that different parts of the list were differently colored, Position 1 through position 16 was red, 17 through 32 was yellow, and 33 through 48 was blue.
"Now on to the matches themselves. Whatever-" his eyes narrow, "-conduct you may be used to observing outside of these walls, know that there are rules here. Rules that will be followed or be met with harsh consequences. First of which is this: we do not kill here. We are not barbarians, beating each other with sticks. We are warriors, comfortable with our power, and we don't need to end lives to prove it. Lethal force will be met in kind.
"Matches end either in submission or unconsciousness. If you are no longer able to fight, you're done. And that should held in mind both by those who win as well as those who lose.
"You start when instructed, early action will be penalized. But apart from these rules, there is very little regulation of how you fight. We are, after all, flexible beings, with many different methods of combat.
"The first three matches will begin shortly. Combatants, please report to your designated arena. The rest of you may observe the matches or return to the Living Quarters as you so desire." He turns and leaves, the others following, the balcony retracting.