On the grassy field within the Arena, as Azzy stood alone, a hundred thousand spectators collectively gasped in shock as the match was over within a minute.
Even a rank-8 Arcana Master like Barton couldn't help but stand up with a look of astonishment.
The priests and other members of the church were frowning deeply as they saw their potential nemesis seemed to be a lot stronger than they imagined.
The scouts from various top academies, organizations, and governments were the same too.
There are seals and skill cards that exist in the world that can absorb the target's soul energy but in the history of Arcana, there has never been an instance where a person could directly absorb not just one opponent's soul energy but in multiple numbers.
Several scouts became too busy to send messages to their respective upper echelons and requested the presence of Rank-8s and Rank-9s to scout Azzy.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle row, Neal was sitting at the edge of the seat with his elbows rests on the knees.
His eyes were completely fixed on Azzy and a smile appeared on his face, "now, this is interesting. This eighth-grade little kid seems to be a lot stronger than I was at my peak when I won the nationals.
No wonder Master wanted to hide him from the rest of the world. If he's my student, even I would do the same.
Hmm, before these predators lay their hands on this boy, I need to take him away."
Meanwhile, the countdown of 100 seconds is almost finished while Azzy was busy refining the soul energy.
There was a hundred-second rule in the knockout rounds of the tournament.
According to the rule, once no one from a team is in a state to continue to battle like they are being trapped because of a seal, trap skill, or in a state of unconscious, the proctor will give a signal to the authorities and a countdown of hundred seconds will be started on the screen.
Within time, if the situation won't change a bit, then, the match will be decided in the favor of a team that was in advantage.
The same situation has been occurred at this stage, although not even the Proctor expected the situation would occur so soon.
*Ting…*
The countdown has been over and the Proctor announced, "Team Crescent is in no stage in continuing the battle. Team Twilight wins the match and advance to the finals."
*Whoooo…*
"Twi…light" "Twilight" *Clap* Clap* *Clap* "Azrael" *Clap* Clap* "Azrael"
Amid the intensive cheering of the audience, Azzy finally finished the refining.
Dismissing the Eyes of God, he then stared at Barbara for a couple of seconds while Vice Principal Sahara, the Proctor, and the Crescent team's instructor entered the barrier.
Surprising the spectators, Azzy walked towards his cousin instead of turning around to walk away.
"What are you doing?" A frown appeared on the Moon Academy's instructor upon seeing Azzy crouched beside her.
He grabbed her arm and closed his eyes. A minute amount of his soul energy invaded her body.
"Okay, she's fine. She needs to rest." As the Reaper's voice echoed in his head, Azzy sighed in relief and picked her up.
Carrying in his arms, he looked at the opponent team's instructor who was staring at him, "I'll take her to the infirmary."
Some wondered whether he's taken a liking to her and taking an advantage of the situation while others wondered whether there's a relationship between the two of them.
Most of the rank-7 and higher realm experts thought of the latter as they found the feeling they were getting from the unique soul energies of Azzy and Barbara's were incredibly similar to each other.
It could only happen in the case of family or close relatives.
On the other hand, students of Aclein who knew that Barbara was a childhood friend of Azzy assumed that they must be in a relationship.
Then, there were a couple who were watching the battle in interest.
The man spoke, "The girl with the last name Crescent. Is she a lost child of your uncle or an illegitimate daughter of Evelyn or something? They kinda look similar to each other."
This time, Izora didn't refute his claim as even she found her similar to the Elder of the Violet Pavilion who thrashed her every time she challenged for the spot.
Right then, they heard a voice from beside them. "Both of you are now in the advanced realm and entered the stage of Exalt (rank-7). You could differentiate the soul energies based on the energy particles. Can't you see that a part of their soul energy is surprisingly identical?"
"Eh?" "Eh?" Izora and Vesryn turned their heads and glanced at the young girl that was actually thousands of years old, "Elder Night?"
Glancing at Azzy's back, Pandora spoke, maintaining her aloof expression, "If this girl is really a descendant of Crescent clan, it would only mean the boy must be either her fraternal twin or her close relative as it is impossible for strangers to have identical soul particles. And did you see the boy's Arcana?"
"The black wolf?" Both of them replied at the same time to which Pandora shook her head, "no, a small correction. It's a Black lightning wolf.
If you had carefully observed the wolf, you could have realized that the lightning sparks aren't dark in nature but they themselves have been evolved to black lightning.
It is the same with the girl, who uses black flames, rather than dark-natured flames. Now, remember any person similar to their description?"
"Aelius Crescent," Both of them screamed in surprise. Thankfully, the sound around them has been blocked. So, their neighbors couldn't hear what they were talking about.
Recollecting herself, Izora spoke, "surely, it can be a coincidence. Moreover, we didn't experience how the soul particles of my ancestor look like. So, there's no way of knowing whether they are similar or not."
Izora doesn't want to admit that someone like Azzy who was filled with the power of darkness was related to her. It doesn't matter if he was strong or talented.
She could accept Barbara to some extent but not Azzy at all costs.
Pandora shrugged her shoulders, "whether you admit it or not, it doesn't matter. I believe both of them are the descendants of your ancestor, Aelius Crescent.
Since she was claiming to be a member of the Crescent clan, at the very least, we have to investigate her while we search for that time traveler."
While so many discussions and schemes were going in several parts of the audience section, in a corner, just like in the quarterfinals, the hooded black-robed young man and his 9-year-old granddaughter were back.
Unlike the last time, the little girl has a look of disappointment on her face. "So, this is the start, grandpa?"
Her grandpa nodded, "Yes, Izora. This is where everything will begin. No one would escape their fate."
"Can't you change her fate?" Her eyes were fixed on Barbara who was being carried by Azzy.
The young man let out a sigh, "Fate is called fate because it can't be changed unless one defeats the Goddess of Fate and create new rules."
The little girl became silent upon hearing it.
As the matches for the top-10 places were started, the black-robed young man stood up on his feet while grabbing her arm. "Let's go. I'll take you to a fun place, this time."
Soon, they disappeared from the spot without leaving any trace.
***
Azzy and others brought the unconscious people to the infirmary. There he saw Gideon and others were also unconscious.
After placing the girl on the bed, Azzy then walked towards Gideon to check his condition.
He then took a seat beside Claire's bed while the rest of the elders left after congratulating him for entering the finals.
After sitting quietly for half an hour, Azzy's thoughts went elsewhere. He thought of the match of how he could do better, a sudden thought emerged in his mind.
"Chronos, why can't I use Soul Absorption to deal with the Celestial grade beast?" Azzy quickly consulted the Reaper. "Are celestial grade beasts immune to this soul skill?"
The Reaper chuckled in response, thinking that these kinds of questions constantly remind him that his host is still a kid. "It's because it is a peak-rank-5 Celestial grade wild beast. It's too wasteful to damage the disguised beast's core. If you were able to absorb it, you could be a step away from the rank-6 realm."
"Ah! That's right." Azzy almost slapped his forehead for his stupidity. He then proceeded to say, "if I need to eliminate it, I can't expose it to the public, and I..."
Just then, his conversation was interrupted by a sweet voice nearby. "Azrael, I like you. Let's stay together. Don't leave me, okay?..."
Azzy was stupefied on the spot as his eyes fell on Claire who was sleep talking.
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