156 *Secret* Real Title is in Author Notes (2/2)
”Gosh, you make this no fun...” Clearly not eliciting the response she was hoping for, Leilena no longer kicked up a fuss. Sitting down next to Greyson, she also calmly meditated. In the midst of the active scene, the two of them created an odd picture of serenity. It continued this way until Prince Braiden arrived with his small entourage.
”Alright, I hope you all are well-rested and recovered. We will begin the last round right away today after I explain the rules. This challenge is a battle royale! Since there are 30 of you, we will split you into groups of 10. The last three standing will gain the right to challenge any of the 10 who are on the predesignated team of geniuses to be sent to the Outer Country Competition. They will also gain the corresponding rewards. Placements between first, second, and third will be determined by your fighting results after challenging one of the 10. There are no specific rules this time. You can team up against people, use your magic tools, magic beast partners, etc. There will be an enclosed stage that you have to stay on. If you are knocked off the stage, you are out. The only restriction is against any forbidden magic items and medicine that will boost your strength with a steep price. What would be the point of taking you along to the competition if you are gravely injured? Your only goal is to be the last standing!”
Upon his words, the crowd broke out into loud discussion. Obviously, these young geniuses were not expecting this type of free-for-all competition in the end.
”Your Highness, does this mean that other contestants are allowed to seriously injure us?”
”Seriously injure? You are pretty naive, aren't you? What I mean is that even if they kill you, we will not bat an eyelid. Therefore, if you do not want to fight you can always jump out of the ring right away and forfeit.” Braiden looked over at the man with a sneer.
Now this sent massive ripples through the audience. Who would want to take part of such a crazy group fight? Even Greyson was surprised at this outcome. When groups had yet to be announced, he hoped that he could be placed with Leilena in order to team up with her. However, things never seemed to work out that nicely. Split up randomly, Greyson ended up in Group 1 while Leilena was in Group 3. Neither of them encountered Eris in their groups. What Greyson did notice was that the second-place holder from the Dead Woods competition was actually in his group, Kane Zemunol from the Kirin Kingdom. And he was not alone! Three other participants from the Kirin Kingdom were also placed in this group. From the looks of them, they were completely loyal to Kane just like Eris' maidservants from before in the dungeon. Powerful heirs were truly different then the rest when it came to advantages. Seeing the two of them, Greyson wondered why the Idris Kingdom turn-out was so poor compared to the other Tier One Kingdoms. Was there some sort of back reason behind this? Palmira made it to the last round, but according to her strength, she would most likely choose to forfeit at the onset of the match. Unlike Eris and Kane, she did not have any servants who also met the standards for this selection.
Seeing their interaction, Greyson's expression grew more dim. One-on-one with anyone in this group would not instill fear in him, but if they all came at him at once it would most definitely be difficult to beat them back. Currently, he was deeply regretting his decision to leave the three animals behind. Maybe not Theo, but Snow and Lucius both could have assisted him during this fight since magic beasts were allowed. But he was without enough time to try and get them now. He would just have to make do with his own strength and strategy.
Not wasting any time, Braiden immediately led all the groups to their assigned stages. Actually, for a battle between 10 different individuals, this stage was not very spacious. It was definitely forcing them close together without a lot of space to maneuver and run away. They were really making this as vicious as possible. Naturally forming a circle, the participants all stared at their opponents on the stage. At least 2 of them clearly wanted to forfeit right away. They did not look at the rest and only kept peeking at the edge like they were calculating how quickly they could jump down. Greyson did not pay much attention to anyone except Kane and his goons. They would most likely start working together from the beginning to knock everyone off to allow Kane to be the final winner.
”Ready?... START!” Braiden dropped his hand to signal the beginning of the fight.
As expected, two of the participants immediately jumped off the edge of the stage to the bottom. The judge announced that they were out from the competition. Greyson stayed close to the edge of the circular stage in order to avoid allowing people behind him and to keep all the participants inside his vision. To his surprise, everyone was avoiding him and ganging up on Kane and his followers. Maybe everyone realized their disadvantage if this group teamed up, therefore they made a makeshift alliance with each other. Not that he was complaining, though, instead he was overjoyed with the change. Since they opted to ignore him, then Greyson would not go out of his way to try to fight with them either. He would just watch the action until someone decides to approach him. But this did not mean he would lower his vigilance. He knew that they could attack him at any time, so he had to be ready for anything thrown at him. Although these were his inner thoughts, his outer appearance looked very relaxed like he was just watching the show.
Outside of Greyson's notice, Kane's eyes showed a sharp glint the minute he saw Greyson relax. Breaking out into a bloodthirsty grin, he signaled the rest of the group subtly. All of them imperceptibly nodded along. In what seemed like an instant, all seven of them stopped fighting each other and sent their attacks flying towards Greyson.
Although he could not see their suspicious points, Greyson had not let down his guard the entire time. Reacting right away, he summoned a metal wall to block the faster attacks while taking down the slower ones with his own to cancel them out. Explosions echoed in the air as the surprise attack completely failed. This was definitely cause for celebration; however, Greyson was in no mood to celebrate. Although he already expected the four from the Kirin Kingdom to gang up together, he really did not expect the other random three participants to join in to defeat him. One against seven was truly less than ideal.
The three others from the Kirin Kingdom were earth element users while the three other participants were a mix of wind, water, and fire. Kane was a multi-element magician of wind and fire. Unlike Eris, he was not part of the royal family of the Kirin Kingdom. The Zemunol family was only second to the royal family in the Kirin Kingdom and even this was debatable as they most definitely had hidden strength. Therefore, Kane's elements were not related to water. The three earth users acted as shields as the two wind and fire users aided Kane's attacks. The water user was probably the most useless, but he still tried his best to fight as well by sending some long distance water spell attacks.
Although, his mana stores were much higher than normal people's due to his multiple elements, Greyson was truly feeling pressured by the constant attacks. His retaliation attacks were also getting blocked by those earth magicians. By themselves, they could not block Greyson's attacks, but together they had a chance of holding on. Gritting his teeth, Greyson knew that this could not continue. He had to think of a new plan to start taking them out in a rapid fashion.