A week prior to the Annual Tournament, grade battles were conducted for all classes under the supervision of their respective homeroom teachers and Sahara Fauns.
The Vice-Principal acted as a final judge in case the homeroom teachers will show partiality to their students.
The tournament finals started with the finals of the grade battles starting from grade-3.
The scouts from other normal academies were the ones who paid attention to these earlier battles as these kids just started their journey. So, it will be easier for them to steal talented ones from Aclein.
"And now, the last match of the grade battles. From the Tenth grade, give it up for Leonard Light and Zona…"
Amid cheers, both of them made it to the Arena and stood before each other with the fairness spell applied on them.
Strangely, even though both of them are of rank-5, Zona found her soul power was restricted to 100K for some reason.
Almost no one knows about the fact that Zona was the one with the highest soul power in the academy. Originally, she and Leo used to be low-rank-5 at the beginning of the year.
Even though there used to be a hundred and fifty thousand of difference between them with Leo at 260 thousand and hers at 410 thousand, because of her status as commoner and Leo being a royal prince, she always stayed low key, afraid of being bullying.
She slowly improved herself.
But, now that their academy is about to end, she decided to stop being low-key. At first, she showed how strong her slime's imitations can be, and then, she showed how well she's good at teamwork.
Now, with the grade battle finals, she intended to show her full potential by defeating this fifth prince once in for all.
However, she didn't expect that her soul power will drop by that much?
When complained to Uphiar, Leo quickly intervened and explained that it was because of his seal that sealed a part of his soul power.
After him, Uphiar also said that it is the weakness of the Fairness spell cuz it doesn't judge the real rank of a person. He explained that if someone suppresses their soul rank, then, the Spell of Fairness will just treat it as their real soul rank.
Only then, she realized that she had underestimated Leo and overestimated herself.
If he's been suppressing her soul rank for a whole year, then, she would lose the battle without question. Once, she realized the reality, Zona decided to save her face.
As soon as the battle started, she forfeited right away, surprising everyone even including Leo.
"I thought you were looking forward to this battle. Then, why?" Leo asked her.
Zona who had long prepared the excuse, answered, "To win against you, I will have to show all of my trump cards. And who knows, you might also have to fight with everything you got. It isn't worth the risk."
Naturally, everyone above rank-6 heard was able to hear her words. Prince Vann can't help but sigh, "I was expecting to see Prince Leonard's skills. A pity…"
After declaring Leo as the winner, Exea then announced the finals of the singles matches.
The people, who were disappointed earlier, now once again cheered loudly as it's going to be Leo's turn once again. Now, they only hoped that this new guy will not forfeit like a coward.
Thankfully, Rowan didn't, or else, the crowd really might have booed…
"Get ready. 3, 2, 1…" *Whistle*
"Well, let's not waste much time and finish this quickly. I still have an important battle, tomorrow." Leo mumbled while looking at Rowan, who summoned his water sword.
"Aren't you going to summon your Arcana Spirit?" Rowan asked him.
"Not necessary." Leo shook his head with a smile on his face.
Rowan frowned, "I won't be careless as last time."
"Well, I respect your opinion. However…" Leo stopped talking and suddenly dashed towards Rowan.
<strong>"Soul skill: Water Barrier."</strong>
Almost instantly, a barrier appeared around Rowan as Leo threw out a punch.
Surprisingly, his punch went through the barrier. However, the speed and the strength decreased by a lot.
Raising his sword, Rowan smiled, "Senior, you forgot that pure physical strength cannot destroy water."
Just as he was about to counterattack him with a slash at his hand, Leo suddenly caught the blade and grinned, "That's right. Thank you for reminding me. However, the battle has to end, right away."
Gripping on the blade tightly while bleeding, Leo pulled it towards him. Along with the sword, Rowan was also dragged out of the water barrier and fell onto the ground.
Before he stood on his feet, Leo dashed towards him once again and kicked him in the abdomen.
Like a football was kicked by a soccer player, Rowan flew upwards and crossed the barrier. With the lower part of the ribcage completely destroyed, he coughed out blood and fainted in the air while a rank-6 expert who was hired as a protector, caught him, and then, sent him to the infirmary.
From the moment the whistle being blown to Rowan crossed the golden barrier, only 8 seconds have been passed.
"Prince Light" "Prince Light" "Prince Light"
Thousands of audience stood up and cheered his name on the top of their lungs.
Looking at it, Zona sighed in relief as she felt she did the right thing to abandon the match.
As for Azzy, whose eyes captured every moment of his, asked the Reaper about when he should be exposed.
"Now it isn't the right time. It will be when he will be forced to show reveal lightning element." The Reaper gave him the answer that he needed as always.
Meanwhile, a rank-6 expert who suppressed his rank was watching Leo very intently. His gaze doesn't seem friendly at the moment. "The fifth prince seemed to be a lot stronger than the rumors. I need to report it to the Crown Prince about it."
***
"Now, there's only one final battle left in the tournament. Give it up for Team Twilight and Team Unicorn."
The crowd erupted in applause for a while as both of the teams entered the stadium.
However, all of a sudden, the audience quieted down upon finding Lark instead of their favorite fifth prince.
Understanding the situation, the male host Falcon explained, "due to the tournament rules, Leonard Light had participated in the single battles and gave up the spot for Lark Sandrou of grade-8, Elite division."
Even though it isn't as loud as the battle between Rowan and Leo, the audience still cheered up for both teams.
After all, other than Leo, there are a considerable number of fans for Claire, Zona, and Mia.
Both of the teams stand apart from each other by 30 meters in their own formations.
Team Twilight summoned their Arcanas and stood in a straight line without any formation. Meanwhile, Team Unicorn stood in their usual 2-1-2 formation with Zona in the middle.
As soon as Falcon blew the whistle, Zona made her first move. "Vivi, transform."
All of a sudden, Zona's slime was transformed into a giant three-headed serpent. Many of the scouts gasped in surprise.
All this while, they thought Zona's slime can only imitate other Arcana spirits but didn't expect that little slime was able to transform into even a wild creature like Hydra.
It implied that either her slime creature can imitate all the beings under gold grade or she knows someone that has the legendary Hydra as their Arcana spirit.
Most of them felt it was former as no one in history had awakened a Hydra, mainly because of its multiple elements.
After all, it was a beast possessing ten elements. And if some 1-in-a-billion genius was able to awaken it, he would likely be the owner of a top-tier platinum grade beast, which is impossible to be imitated by a gold grade beast like the slime.
Either way, they felt immense potential in Zona. Even Vann can't help but sent a message to his instructor to recruit her.
Meanwhile, Azzy remembered his battle against the three-headed Serpent in the illusion world. It was one of the beasts that troubled him back then. Since he personally experienced its abilities, Azzy felt that Gideon and Claire might face trouble.
"Vivi, go…" While the rest of the four backed away, the three-headed serpent made its way towards the enemies.
Claire raised her sword. "I got this…"
Soon, Hydra reached halfway when it was blocked by Claire.
Just then, a smile appeared on Zona, "Excellent, Claire was the one that walked into the trap."
<strong>"Vivi, activate Soul Skill: Tornado"</strong> Zona gave an order.
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com