The moment the last needle of the clock hit the appointed time, the opening of the third and final game of the Magus Games finally started. Melodious and bright music resounded throughout the arena, followed by a succession of colorful and extravagant fireworks in the air.
It was such a grand opening for welcoming the final game. At the moment, the Magus Games didn't look like an academic event at all. Instead, they looked like an entertainment one.
A fully packed arena with triple layers of sittings arrangements were seen. There were at least a few hundreds of thousands spectators, who had come directly to the arena to see the event that would run for three days with their own eyes. However, the audience didn't stop there, as there were countless others, who also watched the event through various means.
Thanks to the extremely crowded spectators, Magus Serena, who once again was tasked to be the host of the event, had turned even more energetic compared to the previous two games.
"Welcome to the third and final Magus Game!!!" Magus Serena shouted, complemented by her charming act. Due to that, the audience responded with a loud cheer that thundered through the air.
After the cheers receded, Magus Serena proceeded with her next task: explaining the rules, "The rules the participants have to follow in the third game are simple. A duel, which keeps going until the other person gives up or simply can not continue anymore."
"There will be five random matches for each participant. However, participants who have already lost their battles twice have no right to continue and are disqualified. In the end, we will be left with the top 100 acolytes, the best out of this year's ten thousand acolytes."
Noticing the crowd was fired up, Magus Serena swiftly called the stars of today's event, lest the audience's passion burned off, "without further wait, let us call out all the acolytes to the stage!!!"
The moment Emery and all the 550 acolytes made their way to the center of the arena, the cheer let out by the audience increased many times over, as they became even more lively.
Dozens of small translucent cubes were flying around the arena, taking close-up images of the acolytes, which would be projected to the screens located above the arena and also to the audience who watched the event from elsewhere.
Just like the previous two games, the headmaster of the Magus Academy, Altus Drayden, stood up to deliver his opening speech and encouragement for the acolytes that would be participating in the game. The familiar sound of staff stomping the ground reverberated through the arena, causing the attention of the audience and the acolytes alike to be directed at the venerated man.
"Today, we will commemorate the third game to finally see this year's most talented acolytes! Let us all give excellent support to the future generation of mankind!"
This time, the headmaster raised his staff to the air and unexpectedly casted a spell. A dazzling light rapidly flew towards the sky, before it exploded into glittering particles. "Let the game... Begin!!!" A thunderous applause was heard, followed by unending cheers from the audience
At the same time a notification came from the symbol in Emery's hand.
[You are eligible to join the third and final Magus Game]
[Objective - win four out of five fights]
[Special reward - Undefeated]
[You are part of group 7]
[Please process to the allocated corner]
Right after, Emery and all the other participants began to move. All 550 acolytes quickly split up and headed towards the eight corner of the arena, where a large flat platform with see-through roofs could be seen.
The terraces were located right below the audience's seats, which allowed the spectators to better see the participants. From the terraces, all the acolytes would be able to clearly see the fights, which would happen in the center of the arena, by simply looking over or through the screens floating across the platforms.
When Magus Serena saw that most of the acolytes were seated in the terraces, she proceeded to once again explain the rules of the game. At the same time, the arena began to slowly change itself. The arena's floors were split apart and raised until the massive arena transformed into 8 smaller arenas.
When Emery arrived at his corner, Emery recognized a few faces among them, but to his surprise, one particular surprised him: a pink haired girl, Mags.
"Emery!"
"Mags, I didn't realize you managed to join the third game"
"Wow, that's painful to hear Emery, I am not that weak you know… Well I might be scared facing those orcs, but to other acolytes I am still confident"
"Aaa… that's not what I meant…"
"Haha don't worry Emery I am only kidding, I'm honestly not that confident to win even one match."
"No, Mags... I am sure you can do it..."
"You are always nice Emery, I saw your last fight. It was amazing, I will cheer for your success, Emery. Okay, I am not going to bother you anymore, I am sure you need to concentrate on the game... good luck" Mags then immediately sat in one corner of the room meditating.
Moments later, there was a loud ring of bell and the screens scattered across the arena showed 8 pairs of images that appeared at the same time and matched. Those images were the acolytes that would fight in the opening battles of the game. Within the screens, the background and basic information of the participants were shown, allowing the audience to see their basic information and where they came from.
Immediately after, the acolytes, who were quickly matched, made their way to their designated arena, which was shown on the screen. The sixteen of them were waiting for the final bell to ring, announcing the official beginning of the first battle of the day.
The crowd let out thunderous cheers, as the acolytes in eight arenas began fighting against their opponent. The other acolytes also excitedly watched the battle from their terraces. Some of them merely saw the fights, while others used the opportunity to observe their potential opponents.
There would be only two rounds out of the five rounds of battles today. However, seeing the current ongoing battles, all the acolytes couldn't wait for their turn and for the chance to prove their strength.
When the second group of sixteen acolytes was called, Emery realized Silva was one of the 8 matches. So, he decided to pay his utmost attention to her.
As the fights progressed, Emery could see Silva's overall battle prowess, from speed, strength, spell variety and power, were all superior compared to her opponent. Therefore, she was able to win her first fight easily. Looking at that, Emery was obviously happy for her.
Several matches later, Emery finally saw another familiar figure, Roran. At the moment, he was fighting against a Lightning acolyte. Using his sword and shield, Roran was fighting defensively. Emery could clearly see that he was very cautious in his every move.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he was still able to win the match. It was such a by-the-book battle with no flashy moves. It was dull, but effective."
The third match Emery observed was Klea's. As she walked up to her designated arena, Emery could see she stood there with confidence.
When the bell rang, Klea's opponent attacked her wildly, like raging winds. However, it appeared that Klea's wind spells had improved greatly, as her opponent was unable to touch her at all.
The fight was going on fiercely when Klea's opponent suddenly fell to the floor and didn't move anymore, causing some of the audience to be surprised. Meanwhile, Klea was standing on the arena, giggling.
Apparently, Klea had managed to cast her spell [Enchantment] on her enemy. And evidently, her opponent had a very low mental capability. As a result, Klea was able to put him to sleep in the middle of the arena.
It was decided Klea had made her opponent unable to continue the fight. Thus, she received her first win. An anticlimactic win, but a win nonetheless.
A few matches later, Emery finally saw his image being shown on the screen. Beside his image there was an image of another acolyte with a name below it: Sparse.
Emery walked confidently towards his arena. When he reached the place, he quickly observed his opponent.
Emery's first opponent was a fragile-looking acolyte, his body was so thin the first thought that came to Emery's mind was that the acolyte was malnourished. However, when the bell rang, the acolyte's entire body suddenly grew exponentially. His previously weak-looking limbs quickly grew in size, as the gaunt acolyte turned into a giant, three times the size of a normal adult.
"Fight begins!!"