As Azzy patted her shoulder, Claire, who was overwhelmed by joy, jumped into his arms and kissed him without minding the surroundings. Azzy also didn't mind her bold action and just spun her around once before keeping her down and hugging others.
Somewhere in the audience section, a certain hooded man was biting his nails in frustration, "Dammit, this Azrael is far stronger than even me. It's impossible to kill him. I guess there's only one choice left. I need to risk it and erase his existence with that anti-divine crystal that I have stolen from the Temple of Fire. But, 300 million credits won't be enough. I should demand atleast a billion from King Ragnor."
As the team started leaving for their waiting room and the battle platform transformed into that of a stage for the closing ceremony, the mysterious assassin rose to his feet and left the arena.
At the same time, in one of the waiting rooms, Leah was in deep thoughts, "No wonder Azrael is too strong. He has command over natural energy. I think this is what I need to improve my strength. Unless I master the art of natural energy and level my strength similar to that of Azrael, people would only think that I borrowed his strength."
Then a deep aged voice interrupted her, "Being determined is good but there's this thing such as time. Do you think three days are enough?"
Leah spoke, "If I enter the ancient time chamber, I will get 30 days. I think it will be enough."
"Lass, you do know that you can only enter that place once a year and that too for only a week. Do you want to waste it on such a thing?" asked the Excalibur. The mystical sword in the stone wasn't that enthusiastic about his host's plan.
Leah didn't hesitate to nod, "I think it is worth it. Everything is for the sake of Camelot. After all, I don't think Azrael can ever become my knight."
"No, my prophecy cannot be false." The Excalibur shook his head, affirming to her that Azzy is indeed her destined knight.
Leah let out a sigh as she stared at the tv where Team Twilight was seen walking toward the northern pavilion. "Azrael's teammates were shown a lot of improvement. I wonder what training they went under."
<strong>15 minutes later;</strong>
On the large stage, where the battle platform originally was, the medalists were standing together. Team Abel didn't attend the ceremony. In their place, their representative instructor, Elder Alf of Abel Tower was present to receive the medals and corresponding rewards.
Just like every year, Vice President of WAMO, Ramiel Crescent appeared on the stage to award the prizes as one of the hosts, Actress Amelia announced the names while looking at the cue card.
<strong>"First, solo category. Congratulations, Leah Pendragon on winning the bronze medal. Please come forward and accept your reward."</strong>
Leah stepped forward and stood on the podium. After putting the bronze medal over her neck, Ramiel Crescent handed her a box filled with a prepaid card with fifty million credits, a platinum grade storage card, a memory item card that contains the knowledge of a unique skill, and finally, a lab-made energy crystal that double's the user's absorption rate for 30 minutes. The last one was extremely useful when absorbing the Spirit Core of the wild beasts.
After she returned to her position while receiving congratulations from other participants, the host continued.
<strong>"Congratulations, Prince on winning the silver medal."</strong>
<strong>"Congratulations, Velez Garcia on winning the gold medal." </strong>
Once the solo category rewards are over, it was the turn of duos. Team Miare, which ended up in 3rd place, also received the same rewards as Leah did. Fortunately, both are rich. So, they managed to keep their emotions in check upon receiving such exorbitant rewards.
One after another, Ramiel continued to present the rewards. And at last, it was the turn of Twilight.
With a big smile on her face, the host announced, <strong>"Congratulations, Team Twilight on winning the gold medal of the junior world league, 1994. Captain Claire Lefeuvre, please come forward and take your reward."</strong>
This time, Claire calmly walked ahead once again and took the exquisite-looking box filled with a prepaid that has a variety of items.
<strong>I) 500 million credits</strong>
<strong>II) Five memory item cards that contain the knowledge of different unique skills</strong>
<strong>III) Five lab-made energy crystals</strong>
<strong>IV) Rank-8 Armor set (Armor, bracers, boots, and helmet)</strong>
<strong>V) An invitation card to Squad-Zero training (7 days)</strong>
<strong>VI) A slab (1kg) of Mithril that is used in forging rank-7 to rank-9 skill cards</strong>
<strong>VII) Five platinum grade item cards of different types i.e. Storage card, flying card, Satellite card, message card, and Night vision card.</strong>
Of all the rewards, usually, the invitation card is said to be the most precious because of the reputation Squad-Zero holds among the masses and Arcana Masters alike. However, for Claire, the reward of unique skills holds much importance.
And with this, the presentation ceremony came to an end. The participants and the guests cleared the stage, letting the host announce for one last time.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the final event of the closing ceremony. Give it up for Eclipse."
About 10 minutes later, the lights were switched off and the display of fireworks started in the sky once again, mesmerizing the audience.
Soon, all of the champions are surrounded by media. As the leader and the spokesperson of the group, Claire gave them an interview while Azzy escaped from the media as usual. While Izora stayed with the princess of Triastal, the other members of Team Twilight also returned to the hotel.
At first, the questions were mostly about tournament-related stuff but soon, the journalists started bringing up personal topics.
Celebrities from the Entertainment world or business world usually ignore them but Claire didn't belong to either of those worlds. She openly admitted that she and Azzy are dating, considering her family already knew about it.
She didn't hide the details about the werewolf incident either and when asked about how she felt about Azzy's necromancy, she simply blinked her eyes and replied, "so what?" She lectured them that powers don't define a human's character but their actions are important.
After a series of questions, when Izora finally told them that this is the last question and pointed to a journalist, she was asked, "As a girl, how do you feel your boyfriend participating as a partner for Princess Camelot in the senior division?"
A couple of others sharply stared at her for asking such a dumb one. After all, it is common to have relationships and partner up with someone else for work. One often sees everywhere.
However, Claire's answer stumped them and the journalist smiled in happiness for getting a scoop. She created a little bit of controversy and a headache for Leah as she said four simple words, "I don't like it."
Izora realized that this girl was too direct despite being the spokesperson of the team. In the end, she had to grab her and fly away from there, quickly before the journalists will attempt to state the reason.
On the way to the hotel, Izora told Claire that she shouldn't have admitted it that way. However, Claire simply smiled in silence. Only she knew what she was thinking.
Anyway, the kids needed to enjoy the present and Izora didn't want to spoil it for them. So, she just kept silent upon returning to the hotel and let them party all night.
Two days passed away quickly.
There's only 1 day left before Azzy's top-16 battle at Senior World League. Azzy, his family, his team along with the Principal and Vesyrn were staying at the hotel at Central City in Arcana world.
It was early morning and Azzy was sleeping soundly in his room without any worry about the next day's match.
*knock* knock* knock*
His door was knocked on hurriedly, waking him up from his sleep.
Azzy lazily got down from the bed and opened the door, only to see his girlfriend standing outside a bit nervously. "Morning, Claire."
"Um, Rael, can you wash up and get ready?" asked Claire. "We need to go out somewhere."
"Hmm? This early?" Azzy glanced at his wristwatch. It was only around 6 a.m.
"My mother is here and she wants to meet you," said Claire, taking Azzy by surprise.
"Eh?" Azzy suddenly lost his drowsiness completely.
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