"The winner is team Camelot." The Proctor announced their win, making the audience cheer loudly as the both of them exited the field.
In the audience section, a hooded guy was sitting in a corner as he watched the battle. He bit his finger, feeling annoyed, "tch, it looks like the targets are far more troublesome than I thought. To eliminate them, I need to go all out without dragging the battle. Let's hope I never have to break the rules and risk my life."
After a minute, the next participants came to the field. It was an intense battle between duos with almost equal strength. It roughly lasted 15 minutes before the winners emerged by gravely injuring one of their opponents and killing the other.
Within the next couple of hours, all the battles were finished. By the end of the last match, the current day's casualties at Arena-6 were 9 in number.
Meanwhile, in the junior division league, Team Twilight won the battle against their opponents and proceeded to the next round. They were just one battle away to make it top 8. However, their next opponents turned out to be the members of Team Centro, which is a reserve (2nd best) team of the hosting academy.
All of them are third-year students with the strongest one being at mid-rank-6. A couple of them are at low-rank-6 and the rest of them are at peak-rank-5.
Usually, such a team wouldn't be a cause of worry for the team that has 8 consecutive victories, a couple of which were even at the same level as Team Centro.
But, the problem arose when Estella informed her teammates that she had to leave for a day or two due to urgent personal issues at home.
While the matter is about the upcoming meeting between the hidden clans, she wasn't necessary to participate in the discussion of the clan elders. However, Estella decided to return after realizing that she might be able to battle alongside Azzy at all while continuing to battle under Claire's leadership.
Losing her interest in the world league, Estella left the place as soon as their match is over. When their match is over, the time is only around 9:30 in the morning.
There are still more than eight hours left till the end of the day. That means they will likely have their next battle on the same day.
Claire and Mia who didn't have a good relationship with Estella didn't request her to stay after they saw Estella firmly reject Louis' request with a sarcastic remark that the team doesn't need her to get to the Grand Arena.
But, this is where the heiress of the Moon clan had made a mistake. She thought that Azzy will be too busy with his tough battles at the Heavenly Academy. The fact that Azzy never visited Silver city once during the past few days strongly made her believe that.
Even Claire also thought the same after she got a reply from Azzy at 10 o'clock that his battle has yet to come.
With no substitutes left in the team, she was preparing a strategy where they had to go all out. Luckily for her, around noon, she received a message from Azzy. She immediately changed her strategy, one that includes Azzy in it.
However, to surprise the opponent team, she doesn't let Azzy join their group right away. Instead, she told him to wear a mask and hide from their opponents until she gave the signal.
Soon, the first battle started.
It was between Team Unknown and Team FireBreath. The former team represents the hidden clan of kuru while the latter is a reserve team from the Dragon Academy.
Without any surprise, members of Team Unknown wiped off the floor with their opponents. In fact, it didn't even last 30 seconds. In the end, they confirmed their berth in the top-8 of the group category.
Now, only one other match is left. Team Centro vs Team Twilight.
Seeing only five members enter the field, Team Centro also thought that their opponents don't have any powerful substitutes. They felt lucky.
Just as they were about to step onto the platform, Calder stopped in his tracks. In the next second, a blurry figure dashed from the northern entrance and leaped into the barrier, landing beside the rest of the teammates.
"Oh, it's this kid. I thought someone unlawfully entered." The Proctor sighed in relief upon seeing Azzy on the platform. He was ready to apprehend the brat who tried to break the rules but it turned out to be a participant of a qualified team.
For a moment, the members of Team Centro were stunned by the appearance of Azzy. Even though it was their first time seeing him in person, they had watched his battles. So, they knew the extent of his strength.
With the 100-second preparation timer started on the screen, the captain of Team Centro hurriedly called his teammates to gather.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Azzy's teammates welcomed him with a smile and became laidback for a bit.
Claire had informed them about his arrival but they couldn't meet him until now because of her strategy. They didn't know the full extent of Azzy's strength but at the very least, they knew that he is the strongest in the team and he also made it to Round-34 in the senior division's first batch.
As a result, none of them felt any pressure. In fact, the atmosphere at Team Twilight looked as if they were celebrating the win in advance.
"Okay, there's still 40 seconds. So, I will brief the strategy. Listen carefully." Claire then went into her captain mode, explaining what positions they take and who will be their opponents.
Azzy and the others nodded before proceeding to summon their respective Arcanas. Azzy only summoned his black lotus and kept Vajra out of this battle for he believed that the black wolf was too strong for the opponents.
Several of the spectators sitting in the stands also paid special attention to the new kid who was participating for the first time in the junior division league. His earlier display of extraordinary speed only increased their curiosity.
As the timer reached zero, the Proctor blew the whistle.
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