The Quarterfinals continued with Team Silver getting into the semifinals without a battle as Team Unknown withdrew from the competition.
After that, Team Helios representing Sun Academy fought an intense battle against Team Freyles which is representing the Freyles academy. The end result was quite shocking. One death and one heavy injury (damage to the soul orb) occurred to Team Freyles because of a frustrated substitute from Helios Academy.
18-year-old Curteis is a sophomore at the Sun Academy and is at the peak stage of the Elite realm (peak-rank-5). Originally, he isn't that talented as compared to his peers but ended up on the team courtesy of his great-great-granduncle, who is the Vice-principal of the Sun Academy.
But, just because he's got a position doesn't mean he would also get to participate. The team members, who were dissatisfied with his method of getting in, didn't give him even a single opportunity.
And when he finally saw an opportunity to substitute one of the injured teammates in the quarterfinals, he jumped into the barrier ignoring the orders of his representative instructor who asked for the other substitute.
He confidently stepped into the battle to face off the opponent only to get beaten black and blue without being able to fight back.
After being mocked by the opponent, Curteis, who was overwhelmed by anger, went on to unleash the activated skill card of 7-star rank. It was supposed to protect him from life threats out there in the wild, but now, it was used in a friendly tournament and caused a loss of life.
As soon as he witnessed a deliberate killing of Team Freyles' vice-captain, Neal stepped in and stopped the match.
He not only declared Team Helios is disqualified from the tournament for the violation of rules but also apprehended Curteis on the grounds of criminal activity after knocking him out.
The representative instructor of Team Helios tried to protest but Neal's aura combined with Team Freyles' representative instructor's intervention to seek justice made it impossible for him to save the guy. For now, he will be put into jail and the Arcana court will decide what to do with him at a later date.
Once everyone cleared the field, Neal didn't waste the time announcing the next set of battles as if killings were a common sight in the league. However, his real intention is to distract the spectators and improve their mood.
As a result, the Quarterfinals for the duo category started earlier than one expected.
The first match was won by Team ACT. The two members of the team were master archers from Southern Qudour's Special Forces.
The second match was easily won by Team Ash, the twin siblings of the Ash clan, Irene Ash and Albin Ash who were recruited by WAMO but never visited the organization to register themselves because of the order from their clan.
The third match was Team Miare's victory. Mia and Claire who were in high spirits nailed their battle and proceeded to the semifinals.
The final match was won by Team Drake, which is representing the Dragon Academy.
Once the battles of the duo category are over, Neal announced a 10-minute break before the solo battles began.
The respective battles of Leah Pendragon and Velez Garcia didn't even last a minute and proceeded to the semifinals and will likely meet each other in the finals if Velez could win against the last year's champion, Prince.
As for the fourth semifinalist, Luciana Hearth of the Phoenix Academy, no one is optimistic about her chances against Leah. Still, the spectators were excited to see which child of heaven will emerge as the winner.
8 hours later, the stadium lights were on, and the audience section was filled with people once again for the semifinals.
Neal once again appeared as the Proctor. He proceeded to announce the battles.
<strong>GROUP CATEGORY:</strong>
Semi-finals 1: Team Twilight vs Team Freyles
Semi-finals 2: Team Abel vs Team Silver
DUO CATEGORY:
Semi-finals 1: Team ACT vs Team Drake
Semi-finals 2: Team Miare vs Team Ash
SOLO CATEGORY:
Semi-finals 1: Prince vs Luciana Hearth
Semi-finals 2: Velez Garcia vs Leah Pendragon
*
When fixtures were announced on the screen, the audience cheered in excitement while the experts were surprised to see Velez and Leah were meeting in semis. They had expected the tournament organizers would make those fight in the finals but it looks like they were in favor of sending the last year's champion to the finals.
Neal raised the mic and continued to speak, "Now, without further ado, let's start the first semifinals of the group category. Give it up for Team Twilight and Team Freyles."
From the northern pavilion, Azzy and his teammates along with Izora arrived into everyone's view. However, from the southern pavilion, only the representative instructor and a dispirited-looking captain walked into the Arena. Neal immediately flew towards them.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked Neal as he landed before them.
Captain Elliot Silver of the Death clan gave his answer and then turned around to walk away. His representative instructor patted his back while walking along.
Neal then flew into the sky and looked at the spectators, "Team Freyles forfeits the match. Team Twilight moves into the finals."
Taken aback by surprise, the spectators started murmuring among themselves. Almost one-third of them didn't witness the quarterfinals and they only heard the news of a death. They didn't know the exact details but many of them thought that Team Freyles would be even more ready to fight their next battle for the sake of their lost friend. Even if Team Freyles don't win the championship, as long as the team goes to the finals and wins a silver medal, it can be considered as a tribute to the one that passed away.
But, the majority of them had no idea that the quarterfinals match had their morale hit the bottom.
Except for the captain, none of the other teammates wanted to proceed with the battles where there is a risk of life. All of them are future Exalt realm experts and might be able to live for two thousand years.
Adding on top of this, without their vice-captain and one of the main members, they also knew that couldn't fight a strong team like Twilight. So, all of them agreed with the fact that going out there doesn't benefit any of them.
As a result, Team Twilight had no opponent in the first semifinals and directly went to the finals without a battle.
Claire and others felt lucky and returned to their waiting rooms while Neal proceeded to call the next participants.
The seven members of the Team Abel were oozing with confidence as in all of their previous matches. On the other hand, Team Silver was completely different or one should say their outfit is different. They were wearing some kind of futuristic-looking armor, although with crude designs.
While they looked impressive as if they were coming straight out of a sci-fi movie with rocket launchers and all, members of Team Abel don't have any change in their expressions.
Soon, the battle started and everyone from Team Silver raised their arms and shot an 80mm rocket at the opponents who were in an inverted V formation. Moving almost at the speed of the sound, the HEAT projectiles didn't even take a second to reach their targets.
Looking at the collective incoming attacks, Velez Garcia didn't move from his spot. He continued to stand as the vanguard with his hands on his back.
Just as the five of those rockets were about to hit him, Velez Garcia widened his eyes and all of them disappeared one after another, confusing everyone including Neal because this was the first time it happened.
But, before they even wondered what kind of ability is this, all of a sudden, those disappeared five rockets appeared behind the members of Team Silver.
*Boom* Boom* Boom* Boom* Boom*
Collective explosions were seen one after another before blasting away the members of Team Silver, making them disperse in different directions. Everyone crashed onto the floor but Team Abel didn't take it as an advantage. Instead, only one person made the move.
That's right. It's Velez again. But, this time, he had done something that surprised the spectators.
"Come out and slay my enemies, Ansel." He summoned his soul card for the first time.
A humanoid figure jumped from the soul card. He was about 9ft in height and bulky with black armor all over his body except for his hands. The skeleton fingers were visible to everyone. If not for that, people would have mistaken him for a human knight or general of some kingdom.
Without wasting any time for others to admire his power, Velez made his next move.
<strong>"Soul skill: Spikes of Death"</strong>
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