Sending You Out of the Tournament

From the moment the match began, someone was eliminated almost every few minutes.

When a lower civilization encountered a higher one, the gap in strength was enormous. Its fighter either surrendered or died.

Whenever someone was eliminated, the judges announced it at once, and virtually every spectator turned to watch.

That gave plenty of people a chance to advertise.

Eighty percent of the lower civilizations used the opportunity to make money. When a fighter knew he was done for, he surrendered immediately, then spent all his remaining energy on a broadcast.

But not every lower civilization did that.

Some used their moment in the spotlight to promote their culture. These were generally the civilizations at the very bottom of the Star Alliance.

Far too many civilizations went unnoticed. People might not even recognize their names. They had to look them up before realizing, Oh, so there's a civilization like that in the Milky Way.

It was all too common. Some civilizations had belonged to the Star Alliance for hundreds or even thousands of years, and people still had never heard of them!

Even Nomo, which had joined nearly ten thousand years ago, drew little interest.

That was only natural. Most Earthlings knew little about Moldova, Lesotho, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Bosnia and Herzegovina... and many other countries.

Of course, more people might recognize that last one by its shortened name, "Bosnia."

Every civilization had a legendary history. But apart from its place in the Star Alliance database, that history was known only to its own people. The vast majority of Interstellar Citizens never looked into it.

Even when something momentous happened within a civilization, its people's excitement, inspiration, anger, and every other emotion remained confined to their few star systems. None of it spread beyond them.

In the universe, the greatest