The four of Emery’s close friends – Julian, Thrax, Chumo, and Klea – all managed to win two of their first and second matches. With that, they all were able to continue to fight on the fourth day of the tournament, for the positions in the final round.
Their wins also meant that the four of them were now considered in the top 100 of the Magus Academy – a rank that proves they were on par to the privileged class acolytes.
However, at this moment at Terra Castle, all of them had troubled expressions on their faces as they looked at the figure of Julian lying helplessly on the bed, unable to move his muscles.
“Congratulations… We… made it!” said the Roman with a pale face, which earned him a dismayed look from the others.
It was apparent that what Julian used to claim victory over Abrafo had indeed ruined his body,
“I was planning to save it for tomorrow’s match. I guess now I can’t join all of you.” He said sheepishly.
Klea was still hopeful that there would be something that could help resolve Julian’s severe condition. Alas, her hope was dashed when even the easter sage himself stated he was unable to do anything.
“Your body needs at least two or three weeks of rest before you can think of fighting again. Keep that in mind, unless you want to be bedridded forever.”
The entire atmosphere turned somber at the grand magus’ grave words. Even though he tried hard to hide it, everyone could see from his face that the feeling of disappointment coursing through the Roman.
****
The next day, although he hadn’t recovered completely, Julian joined his friends to the Grand Hall to explain his situation, and to watch and support his friends’ matches at the same time.
Two matches were all they needed to finally qualify for the final round of the tournament. However, even without saying anything, everyone knew that on this fourth day they would be fighting against the best of the privileged class.
Due to the number of remaining participants, the arena that was previously 8 blocks has now changed to 4 blocks. The changes aim to provide more room for maneuvers and strategies that acolytes use in combat, as well as better coverage and overall experience for the audience.
After a series of boisterous applause from those present – courtesy to the beautiful Magus Serena, a new list of names swiftly began to appear on every screen that was in the air throughout the arena.
With only around one hundred people remaining, the group quickly managed to recognize most of the names that appeared. Even so, their attention quickly turned to who would be their opponent.
As it turned out, Klea would be fighting against Fei Ling [Rank 41] the female swordsman who once attack Emery, Chumo was faced against a necromancer – Wazz [Rank 34], while Thrax matched with Bradley Raven [Rank 32] – the magus-level acolyte that also had fought Emery in the past.
Their matches, however, were not among the first which meant the group had time to think about measures against their opponent. In the meantime, they were also observing the four matches that were about to start.
One of the first four matches was actually Roran Harlight, whose popularity increased considerably among the audience after his last fight. The crowds quickly heated up when they saw that he would apparently be fighting against a half-blood, Vida Themary [Rank 27].
The fact that one of the underdogs was fighting against the top half blood acolyte brought more support to the Harlight prince.
“Roran!” “Harligh!!” “Roran!”
p Throughout the entire fight, the audience was mesmerized by how Roran managed to skillfully control the flow of the fight through taking advantage of the field and exploiting Vida’s emotions. From start to end, the crowds witnessed a spectacle as if the half-blood was completely under his control.
When Roran finally claimed the victory, the Harlight name echoed through the arena.
“Harlight!!” “Roran!” ‘Harlight!”
With him sitting in the audience seat unable to fight, Julian stared at the sight of Roran with mixed feelings in his heart. However, he didn’t have time to dwell on it because one of the next matches was Klea.
“You can do it, Klea!” said all three boys as the beautiful girl walked towards the arena.
After smiling at the encouragement the three boys gave, the Egyptian Queen turned a glance towards the terrace entrance, hoping to find a figure of one dear to her.
She heaved a dejected sigh and finally stepped into the arena.
It didn’t take long for the fight to start after Klea entered, where she and Fei Ling the ice dragon sword user went ferociously at each other. Thanks to the latter’s relentless attempts of closing distance, there were many instances where Klea had to fight her opponent in close range.
But thankfully, she wasn’t pushed back one-sidedly as the sword skill that Emery taught came in handy. Moreover, she could take advantage of this opportunity to further refine her swordsmanship.
Clank Clank!!
The two of them exchanged dozens of blows, until eventually a shadowy figure of a majestic ice dragon began to manifest as an aura behind Fei Ling’s rapid, relentless attacks. At that moment, the arena the two were in was already filled with cracks and shards of ice.
Spllaatttt
The moment she received a deep cut on her arm, Klea decided to get serious. She swiftly sheathed her sword and unleashed a maelstrom of spells upon her opponent. It was so oppressing and overwhelming to the extent that Fei Ling was unable to step closer, and eventually forced to surrender.
“Kleopatra Win!”
After Klea returned victorious, it was time for Chumo’s fight. His opponent was apparently quite a celebrity as loud cheers exploded from the crowds when his figure stepped into the arena. Chumo, however, was as calm as he was.
The man in a dark cloak, took out five balck coffins where five death knights rose the moment the fight started. Unfortunately for the Necromancer, Chumo agility and capability to hide and appear out of nowhere were the worst opponent he could match with.
Added to the fact that a Necromancer was not suited for a one on one duels without many corpses around, Chumo successfully managed to force the Necromancer to surrender with Tier 5 knives on his neck.
“Chumo Win!”
This announcement brought a loud roar of one who has been itching to fight.
“It’s finally my turn!!”
Thrax was ready and fired up for his upcoming fight, especially after learning from Julian that his about-to-be opponent once gave Emery some trouble. He couldn’t wait to finally exchange blows with the other party.
“I am here to teach you some manners!”
With his [Immortal Gate] active, Thrax had battle power comparable to that of magus-level fighter, hence his endurace was extremely high. What’s more, the [Solar Suit] he was wearing helped him deal with the fiery heat of the spells that his opponent was incessantly casting.
Because of those factors, the Thracian was able to easily cross the gap between them and the Magus was forced out to fight the gladiator into close quarter weapon combat, one Thrax excel at.
It was a combat between two fiery fiery weapons, a golden glaive against a broadsword.
Facing Thrax’s ferocious assault, Bradley at first managed to hold his ground, but as time passed he became increasingly worried by the fact that his opponent still hadn’t shown signs of weakening.
Hundreds of strikes exchanged, and still the immortal gladiator stood tall swinging his glaives and gives the audience a great shows.
“Immortal Gladiator!!”
Thrax’s famous name from his combat institutes started to chant among the spectators and give him the extra zeal to push the magus around.
“Hahaha! Is that all you got!” Thrax started to taunt until finally he spotted a gap in the Magus’ defense, seized the upper hand and landed a few powerful strikes.
Bradley started to spill blood vigorously and thanks to his Magus Immortal Body, he could quickly recover, this however only gave a smile to the Thracians, as he slowly savored the chance to beat up his opponent bit by bit.
Finally the constant pain brought the proud Raven family acolyte to his knee and surrender.
“Thrax Win!”
The crowd cheer again as Thrax raises his bloody glaives high in a spectacular pose.
“Thrax!!” “Immortal Gladiator!!” “Thrax!”
With this, all three managed to pass the first match of the day without much injury, giving the group some hope that they would be able to qualify for the final round.
“You all amazing guys!!”
“Hahaha imagine Emery faced seeing all three of us joining him tomorrow!”
But then, when the next list of names came up on the screen, the confidence they displayed quickly disappeared like smoke. They all fell silent as their eyes fixed on the screen above.
Chumo would fight the [Rank 22] Devil Nunchaku Diyoo, Klea would fight the [Rank 23] Jinkan Nephilim, while Thrax got a match against the [Rank 11] Arcana who was the highest rank privileged acolyte in this round.