“Let’s respect the referee’s decision here. We will move on to the next round.”
Ulv Sylvester said.
He looked around satisfied. He knew that his persuasion have worked and then he went back to the VIP area.
There were some who weren’t happy with him, but he knew they couldn’t do much to change the decision since it was not only his decision but that of the referee, who has control of the round right now.
Many participants looked at Zero in pity. They knew that Zero would win the tournament without trouble. But now he was expelled for a ridiculous reason.
However, the moment they saw him, their pity turned into anger.
Zero looked neither upset nor angry. How can he look sad when he is being healed by beauty?
Many people looked at Zero after the decision was made, but they found that he was not even paying attention to something that would be detrimental to his accomplishment and something that would bring him great fame. Rather he was with a beautiful girl.
Many men could only be jealous of Zero’s situation and silently cursed Zero in their hearts. They were also willing to be injured to be with such beauty.
Previously, if they had seen something like this, they would have cursed loudly at how Zero does not deserve such a girl or something along those lines. But after Zero had displayed his power, nobody would think like that.
If Zero does not deserve someone then who is more qualified? No one was more talented than Zero and they know that. He could easily grow to be Rank-SS in the future as long as he had time.
After having healed considerably, Zero thanked Lisa and walked away with Professor Mia. Professor Mia again left the responsibility of the students to Professor Theo.
She explained that Zero was too badly injured and that she would take him to the hospital.
With this incident over, the second round began.
*****
Zero saw his parents lying on the bed. Fortunately, they were only unconscious and had no injuries.
“When are they going to wake up?”
Zero asked the doctor who was looking after them.
“I think it would probably be 4 to 5 days. They have been given a very strong potion and we want them to recover naturally.”
“Thank you, doctor!”
Zero thanked the doctor.
( Time doesn’t really matter as long as they recover fine! And it might be better that they don’t see me like this )
Zero thought.
He was very relieved to see that nothing had happened to them. And thought that it might be best that they don’t see him in this battered up state which will worry them. He would be healed up or at least there wouldn’t be many injuries visible by the time that his parents woke up.
“Boy, rather than your parents I think it is you who needs treatment.”
The doctor said while observing Zero’s body.
Though Zero was healed by Lisa, he was severely injured and could not be instantly healed by Lisa. He needed to be treated continuously for a long period of time before he could recover completely.
“I am good!”
Zero refused.
“No, you are not! You have already seen your parents. Now, go and receive your treatment.”
Professor Mia said.
Professor Mia already planned to have Zero admitted to this hospital. She was not going to let Zero escape after she had brought him here.
“Doctor, take him and admit him to the hospital.”
“Understood!”
The doctor instantly agreed.
Neither Zero nor the doctor could refuse Professor Mia. The doctor immediately admitted Zero to the hospital.
The healers used their healing spells on him, and then he was provided with medicine for his recovery. The complete recovery of his body would take some time so he stayed in the hospital for some time.
Well, it was a convenient thing to stay there as he could go and see his parents whenever he wanted.
During that time he called his subordinates from the Intelligence department and had them collect information about Ulv Sylvester. He gave them all the names of people and the places they needed to go and look for a certain type of information about Ulv Sylvester.
Ulv Sylvester’s past deeds were mentioned in the novel, so Zero only needed to gather evidence of his crimes and his connections to the Dark Guild using those information.
He also had some people spy on him and collect information in real-time, such as where he stays and how many guards are protecting him.
After doing all those things, he switched on the TV and looked at what was happening in the tournament. The second round started when he had already left the stadium. So, he just watched the highlights and looked at the name that was qualified for the next round.
After the first round, the second round consisted of random students from different schools. There were one or two students that were in the same school but mostly they were from different schools.
The strongest among them was obviously Jeremy Vincent. He got lucky and was placed in a group with weak students. But the other participants were obviously wary of Jeremy and decided to team up.
This situation would have been a lot harder for Jeremy Vincent but he had an ally from his school. His rank was D + and he was the second strongest student among them. The two of them joined up and went against the other 8 students.
In the end, Skyline Academy managed to win and other participants gave up and Jeremy became the winner.
“The second round didn’t seem like it had been rigged or anything. The students were random and most of them didn’t know each other.”
However, just when Zero thought that Ulv Sylvester had stopped rigging the match, he realized how mistaken he was.
In the third round, all the third-year and second-year participants from Ace Academy had been placed in that group. That means that, out of 10 participants from Ace Academy, only one would advance to the next round.
It was easier for Zero to see that the match was rigged. It was their plan to reduce the number of participants in Ace Academy.
As for using the same tactic as did to me, they don’t have any participants that could handle people like Hiro and Lisanna. All the strong opponents were used in the first round.
Seeing that they were all allies, most participants gave up in favor of Lisanna Lockser. They already know that she is the strongest in their group.
Though it was their chance to show their power to the world, they thought that they would only shame themselves by fighting against Lisanna.
There was no one there who didn’t know how powerful Lisanna was, especially since they were all third and second-year students who had been with Lisanna for almost two years.
The only one who didn’t back down was Lyonn. Lyon and Tony were the only ones qualified to fight Lisanna.
Toby also gave up as he already was in a guild and didn’t have to attract people from a strong guild. As for fame, there was nothing admirable about getting beaten up by Lisanna.
Lyon, on the other hand, was ready to battle and was excited to fight with Lisanna. She was his rival for many years and it was finally his chance to fight with her with the whole world as their audience.
He and Lisanna stepped on the stage, and what was planned to be a match between 10 participants had turned into a one-on-one match. But the excitement was there nonetheless.
Lyon and Lisanna were number one and number two rankers in their respective years. Even when the outcome seemed predetermined, it was exciting to watch nonetheless.
The fight was great with Lyon showing off the new skills he learned and trying to catch Lisanna by surprise. However, as Lisanna didn’t underestimate any opponent she met, she fought with Lyon extremely cautiously even though she has defeated Lyon many times in the past.
In spite of the fact that it was only two of them, the battle was more exciting than the previous match due to their great power.
After some time, the battle was finally over.
“Winner! Lisanna Lockser of Ace Academy!”
The referee announced.
Although Lyon had grown more powerful, he was still defeated by Lisanna. However, nobody dared belittle Lyon who was far stronger than Jeremy Vincent who is said to be the Top-5 strongest student at the initial stage of the tournament.
Well, now the list has changed after round one. Obviously, round one revealed some participants who were stronger than they had predicted and the ranking had to be changed.
Many newspapers updated their participants’ ranking according to their latest intel.
The news companies all kept Zero in the number one ranking, with no exceptions. Number two was Ruelle, then came Hiro, Omar, and then Lisanna. Previously ranked Top-5 was pushed back in the ranking.
Well, now that Zero and Ruell, and many others were eliminated, many newspapers will update their prediction on who will win.
The match between Lisanna and Lyon was the last match for today and other matches were kept for the next day.