The sun had risen from the eastern horizon when Emery arrived at the entrance to Lord Izta's palace. All of his friends had gathered near the entrance, their glares intense enough to drill a hole into Emery's skull. Lord Izta and Magus Xion were also there among them.
"What the hell, Emery? Just where did you go?" Julian started to question him. Though his actions were fueled with rage, Emery could tell they all gathered here out of worry for his well-being, especially Klea.
"All of a sudden you went missing and all of us were worried." Klea added.
With all the scolding by his friends, deep in his heart, he felt the warmth of a familial bond. The people in this room were all part of his found family.
Emery could offer no excuse, he just nodded and apologized to his friends. Although the wolf acolytes hoped to be secretive about this, especially with magus Xion in front of him, Emery still decided to tell everything that just happened. He couldn't believe his master had any ill intent towards him.
He told his friends he was kidnapped by the wolf acolytes and he stayed to practice his bloodline skills. Though everything that transpired was not really his fault, Emery still decided to apologize for making them worry.
Upon hearing Emery's explanation, Lord Izta nodded and stood up from his seat.
"Hmm, it seems having a good relationship with the wolf bloodline institute will prove beneficial to our cause." Lord Izta touched his chin and he again returned to his mumbling before saying "My friend also thinks the same, he always had a thing with furry creatures."
Magus Xion, who stood next to him, shake his head and said. "Senior, I am not too sure about that. As far as I know, those of wolf bloodline are unpredictable, have no care about anything going on in the world and would even cause trouble here and there for the sake of their amusement. Look at what they did to Emery."
"Ah, right. I can see where you're coming from, Xion."
Emery glanced at his master. He knew everything his master said made a lot of sense, but somehow he couldn't help but feel uneasy about it. The knowledge he obtained during his time with the wolf bloodline acolytes still gave questions to his heart.
What was the relationship between the wolf acolytes and his master? Was this merely the result of clan disputes going out of control or was there something more in their history?
Lord Izta stopped all the interrogating and scolding and stated: "First things firsts, we need to focus on today's fights. I believe all of you will do well today. Emery, Klea. Go and make us proud."
"Yes, Lord Izta."
Together, the group went to the grand hall. As soon as they entered, they saw massive crowds had formed there. The place felt a bit hot due to the crowd, but the excitement from some of them made the group a little bit more confident.
"Woo! This is crazy packed!" Thrax exclaimed and looked around. "Damn, when they said this was the most important event of the year, they really weren't exaggerating!"
Fortunately for them, those who made it to the final match would receive a special treatment. Out of all the participants, there were only less than 200 acolytes left, so each participant was given their own box-shaped room where they could watch the game below. In that room, they were allowed to bring their friends who came to support them.
When they entered the room, their place was apparently a bit bigger than others. Emery was unable to tell whether this favor came from his connection to Lord Izta or the fact that their group had two participants.
The room was furnished with comfortable seats, chilled beverages and a cube floating in the middle of the room that showed the information of the current match.
Thrax whistled and exclaimed, "Look at this! Now, this is what I call privilege!"
The three others tried to be casual in order to cheer Klea and Emery up. Though their neutral expressions did much to cover their worry, it was clear to the others they were quite tense. It was the final match after all and victory was simultaneously so close yet so far.
True to its scale, the third match started with an even more grandiose display of fireworks, courtesy of Magus Serena. Colors filled the place and sparks formed various shapes in the air, showing off the magus' talent. Right as the fireworks stopped, Magus Serena made an entrance to welcome the audience and introduce the participants of the final match.
The light screens scattered around the arena buzzed to life and showed a picture alongside a short information of each participant.
There were a total of 182 acolytes left participating in the final match.
Out of the ten thousand or more acolytes participating in the game, all of them came out on top for the final match. It should be no surprise the audience was interested to learn more about them.
As it always was every year, all the 50 acolytes who came from the privileged class, manage to join the last round. As for the rest participants, 125 came from the elite class and 7 came from the regular class.
Other than Emery and Klea, Roran was also one of the regular class acolytes who made it into the final match. It was such a feat to be one of the 7 from the total of 10.000 regulars to join the last match.
It appeared even if the worst happened and they lost in the last match, they would still receive recognition from the academy for their efforts.
Among the other participants, the three well-known bloodline acolytes were all here. Zach Talon, the dragon bloodline acolyte, Vida Temari the bird of prey bloodline acolyte and Rofos Tigerson, the tiger bloodline acolyte were all here.
Other than them, there were also Micah, Gerri and Silva on the list. Silva came to the finals together with her two bloodline friends, Igor and Ivar. Lastly, Emery and Klea's names came up at the very end of the list.
Right as the names appeared, Julian, Thrax and Chumo cheered. "There they are!"
Magus Serena reminded them again about the rewards, at the end of the match 100 participants would be selected by their performance to be in the privileged class. They would receive a title, bonus contribution points and, most importantly, official appointment and tutorage as the disciples of a grand magus.
Being a grand magus disciple always meant a guarantee for an acolyte to become a magus. Even an untalented one would be given support and resources to reach the magus level. Therefore the last price was always what acolytes look most forward to.
The opening ceremony had ended and the game was about to start. In the previous matches, the huge arena was split into four sides, but this time it was split into two sides. Two even bigger stages were automatically prepared in the arena.
The list on the screen disappeared, replaced with a blank screen and the names of the first pair.
It was a fight between two bloodlines acolytes. Rofos Tigorson against Ivar. A duel between tiger and goat bloodline. It was a battle of pure strength that wreaked havoc on the arena. In the end, the battle was won by Rofos.
It was such an eye-opener battle for Emery, showing how the bloodline limit could be expanded in such a way. A few minutes later, the second pair was called and the name shown on the screen was:
"Klea Philopator!"
Seeing Klea's name on the list, everyone in the box looked at each other with high hopes. They gave encouragement and well-wishes to Klea. Before she walked out of the room, she approached Emery and stared at him, wordlessly asking for his encouragement, but Emery was clueless.
Emery was about to say something wise, but before a word came out of his mouth, Magus Serena called out the name of Klea's opponent.
"Silva Oroboros!"
Klea had to fight Silva, this news surely made everyone shocked. Silva was a part of the group that helped them in the second game after all.
Upon hearing the name, Emery unconsciously muttered. "Ah.. why her?… This is unfortunate…"
Klea, who stood in front of Emery, suddenly turned annoyed and clicked her tongue. "Unfortunate?! For who? Me? Or your snake girlfriend? Huh!" before stomping out of the room.
Emery stared at his friends, still confused about what just happened. His friends were all speechless too, except Chumo who just gave a huge grin and a thumbs up gesture.