Eventually, in order to secure the victory, the professors eventually decided to send Serena as Dark Moon’s representative for the 1-on-1 battle. Find adventures at
Kain, while disgruntled by this decision, couldn’t fault their reasoning. Unlike Serena, Kain had participated in more battles throughout the competition and revealed more about himself.
On top of that, while the buzz surrounding had faded for several months, they couldn’t underestimate the intelligence network of the top ranked college, so they probably had even more information about Kain than he’d revealed at the tournament.
Serena, on the other hand, hadn’t revealed as much within this competition. Not to mention, the variety of skills her Starweaver could display was a lot greater than Kain and the others, and many of them had never been revealed publicly, neither before nor during the competition.
Therefore, Serena presented a greater element of surprise.
From the intelligence they’d obtained, while Tobias Blackheart was the current top-ranked student at First Celestial, there wasn’t much of a gap between him and Thorian Draegor. In fact, they’d actually traded the first-place ranking multiple times since entering the college.
Therefore, they couldn’t be certain about which one they’d be facing in the 1-on-1 match. Additionally, neither one of them had revealed many trump cards in the previous matches, and so the flexibility of Serena’s contracts with multiple attributes (Elemental Guardian), and unpredictable and varied skills available (Starweaver) made her a better candidate for securing the win.
The next day, Kain and the others arrived at the arena that seemed to overflowing with energy even more than usual. After all, today will have the final matches of phase one, and the final rankings of all colleges in phase one will be determined.
However, the audience will have to wait until later for one of the most anticipated matches of the day—the first-year match between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy.
The organizers knew what they were doing, and left the most suspenseful matches towards the end of the day: the first-year match for first place between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy; the third-year match for second place between Dark Moon and Supernova; and the fourth-year match for second place between First Celestial and Starfire.
Therefore, pretty much all of the other rankings were revealed prior to their match. As expected, for the first years, Frozen Sun confirmed its ranking at third, and Supernova prevailed in their match against Starfire to achieve fourth place. Finally, Lunaris Vale defeated Starlight and managed to secure sixth place with two wins under their belt.
Additionally, the more predictable outcomes among the upper-years did occur as expected, meaning that Dark Moon did confirm its first-place ranking for the fourth-years and third-place ranking for the second years.
Finally, it was the turn of Kain and the others, who were the third last match to take place.
As Serena made her way to the stage, their opponent for the singles match was finally revealed—Tobias Blackheart. It seems that despite them being so close in strength, they still decided to go with their current rank 1.
The arena buzzed with anticipation as the crowd’s energy surged, filling the air with excitement. Kain stood at the edge of the stage, his eyes locked on Serena as she approached the center. Her confident stride and calm demeanour spoke volumes; she was ready for the challenge ahead.
He had the utmost confidence in her strength, however not knowing much about the enemy still filled him with anxiety. Out of everyone on the team, he probably had the most emotionally complex reason for not wanting her to lose.
After awakening an affinity early, it had always been tacitly agreed that she was the strongest amongst their peers, not only at Dark Moon, but also within the entire Empire. Therefore, although he hated to admit it, Kain did take some pride in following her so closely in strength despite awakening months after her. And a small part of him even unofficially crowned himself the second strongest first-year in the nation—although he’d never admit it out loud without cringing.
However, if she were to lose, Kain would have to face the fact that all of the excuses he’d made about awakening time were useless, since a peer who’d awakened an affinity through the ceremony at the same time as him had managed to do something that he couldn’t—defeat Serena.
Simply put, until he was able beat her, he hoped that she wouldn’t lose.
As the match began, the announcer’s voice echoed through the arena, heightening the tension. Providing a spirited introduction that wasn’t given for every single matchup of the top 8.
Both Tobias and Serena summoned their contracts. Serena’s were the familiar pairing of the Elemental Guardian and the Starweaver.
On the other side were 3 terrifying-looking spiritual creatures that were in stark contrast to Tobias’ almost cherubic appearance. Finally, Tobias’ third, and most powerful, contract was revealed.
There was the familiar swirling, dark mist that coalesced into the shape of the Abyssal Echo, its shadowy form pulsating with an otherworldly energy.
There was also the noticeable increase in heat present even off of the arena at the appearance of the devilish Scorchwing Demon.
Finally, Kain looked at the only spiritual creature on the stage unfamiliar to him. However, in addition to its appearance, which was absolutely hideous, even off of the stage Kain was struck by the horrible rotting stench it emitted. Appearing like a twisted entity with a rotting appearance, adorned with thorns and dark, pulsating veins, it was truly the stuff of nightmares.
As soon as the match started, Tobias took action immediately. The Abyssal Echo expanded, seeming to engulf much of the light entering the arena like a black hole, tendrils of shadow reaching toward Serena and her contracts as if to ensnare her in its grasp.
Serena’s Starweaver responded swiftly, conjuring a barrier of light that shimmered brightly against the encroaching shadows. The impact sent ripples of energy through the air, illuminating the arena in a brilliant flash.
However, despite blocking the attack, Serena did not show any proud expression, nor did Tobias look disheartened. They both knew that they were currently only testing the waters and observing their enemy.