Chapter 388: The Results Of The Third Round (Part 3)
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The other captains took a moment to process what happened, that slim weak looking guy was actually a knight, not only that, he destroyed a vice-captain with a single attack, in less than ten seconds despite the increase on weight caused by the lake.
At Daimon's skybox, Thea who was still floating around, looked at Daimon with curiosity shining in her eyes, naturally she wasn't tricked by the weak appearance of the glassed scholar, in fact she also noticed another little secret the scholar was hiding.
But she wanted to know how Daimon came to such a precise conclusion, the time, way of winning and even the kind of attack the scholar was going to use, if her supposition was right, Daimon predicted everything.
"I wonder how did you knew to such an extreme how that match was going to end?", she asked.
Daimon pointed at himself before saying.
"Muscles, some parts of that guy's body have been put through more training than others, that and unless he has reached an insane level of comprehension in earth element, the only element than can lighten one's body is wind, so he should be using an explosive yet fast style of fighting".
"To be honest, it reminded me of how a friend fights, so I could tell how it was going to end", said Daimon referring to Michael.
He wasn't lying, the battle aura that circulated through the body of the glassed guy, had wind properties, he also had a similar body shape as Michael, so Daimon immediately changed the layer of his infinity eyes to see the musculature and focused on the legs and arms.
And just as he expected, those areas were more trained than the rest of the body, the other party was a water mage, and while water if the more fluid among the elements, perfect for counterattacking or using the enemy's strength against himself, it was weak against wind and lightning.
So, from the very beginning, there was no mysterious in who was going to win this match, at least for Daimon.
"Those eyes of yours are quite something, can this Empress know, what are they called, in exchange I'll tell you mine's name of course".
"Honestly I don't know, I called them Infinity Eyes", answered Daimon.
"Mm the name fits perfectly, mine are called Nine Malefic Evil Eye~", added Thea.
Back at earth, in the myths and folklore, there is supposed to be people who can cause harm at others, just by looking at them, and also see things normal people can't, that is the so called "Evil Eye", naturally at earth such things are just stories elder people tell to the kids to make them behave, but in this world were magic and science meet, that isn't the case, anyway Daimon was more interested in the number "nine", which probably meant Thea had nine different abilities she could use, if that was her innate ability it was quite something.
Yvonne saw Daimon being interested in the Black Empress's eyes and she inwardly pouted.
"Mine are called Clear Dream Eyes by the way", she mumbled.
Aisha listened to that slightly jealous voice of Yvonne and she giggled.
'You are going to have to start paying more attention to those three, darling, there is nothing more dangerous than a jealous woman after all~', she playfully said directly to Daimon.
Naturally Yvonne was just playing, she knew he hasn't forgot about them, right now they were preparing for the Global Raid, and they have seen Daimon doing his best to keep them safe, even assigning them the same protection he gave to Aisha.
...
Leaving aside that little episode in Daimon's skybox, which didn't go unnoticed by Mellie and the other princesses, back at the third lake the combats continued.
Though the glassed scholar beating so easily a vice-captain was quite a surprise, he wasn't the only one who outstood in the first matches.
To Ezequiel's pride, his strategist in other words his woman, showed her true value when facing the opponent's vice-captain too.
The rarity of an affinity isn't a fixated thing, at least not at a generic level, as an example to that, in the beast faction where the races are chaotic oriented, light and darkness affinities are the rarest, but here in the Clear Water kingdom, fire and earth are considered rare and given the correct circumstances quite dangerous for the races of the Mermen Sea.
And to the bad luck of the vice-captain who was fighting Ezequiel's strategist, she had fire affinity and a strong one on top of that.
Under the uncomfortable gazes of the spectators, the spectators, the strategist's mana leaked out of her body and the whole platform was flooded in flames, the poor guy who was fighting her, belonged to one of the races that could breath underwater, meaning that while his affinity with water was quite good, he was particularly sensitive towards fire.
So now, what was an advantage for him during the second round, allowing the vice-captain to endure the doubled output of the second lake's effect until the last rounds, was making his life hell.
He couldn't even use the nearby sources of water since they were part of the lakes, so the only option he had was to cast water, because the humidity in the air was eliminated by the high temperature caused by the flames, which meant the vice-captain had to use more mana to get a decent water spell, water had mass and weighted more unlike fire, so he had to pour in more mana to surround himself with water to not be fried alive.
Normally it wouldn't have been that much of a problem, but using more mana in the platforms under the influence of the third lake, meant the weight pressing down on him increased even more.
The output of the formation suddenly switched, from 1% to 5%, the female strategist, had stopped supplying mana to her spell and simply let the fire burn, she stayed still and endured the increase, the vice-captain on the other hand, had to kept the water with mana imbued to not be burned, and thus the increase in weight hit him like a truck.
"Ahhh!", a scream followed by the sound of metals colliding, echoed through the area.
The vice-captain lost his footing and fell to the ground, then as if she was waiting for it to happen, Ezequiel's strategist dashed forward and used the spear she took from the weapons allowed in the third round, to pierce the head of the vice-captain.
Unable to react on time, the defensive array protected the head of the vice-captain, blocking the spear and giving the strategist the victory.
"Hmph, trash", with those words, the female strategist left the platforms and returned to Ezequiel's side, speaking of Ezequiel he was smiling from ear to ear, maybe she took more time than the glassed guy, but she had control over the battlefield from the very beginning, and her victory was clean, so in terms of score she should be around the same level.
Besides that, the other fights were more or less as expected, the vice-captains of the four favorites crushed the opponent's scholars in a short period of time, as for the other strategists from the four favorites who had to fight the opponent's vice-captains, they also won, but it took them way more time than Ezequiel's strategist, with only one exception, the first strategist to finish his opponent off, was the one from Walford's team, which happened to be one of the twin princes.
But that was to be expected since he is a royal, also the Keran family isn't weak in battle terms and out of the two princes, Bryan who is the strategist is known for being quite aggressive to begin with.
So, in a rough calculation, the ones who had the taken the initiative were Ezequiel, Walford and Lance, leaving the crowned prince a bit behind, since his strategist in other words, Corey though managed to win was the last one of the four, as he isn't battle oriented unlike Mellie.
And now the third decisive match was the only one left, from the side of the four favorites, it was time for their scholars with the exception of Lance who had to send his strategist, though that was only in name, since the strategist of his team was him.
Whoever wins his match first will probably be the winner this time around, and now Ezequiel who made fun of Lance was clenching his hands, besides Lance, the other three had to send their scholars, and everyone knew besides the glassed guy and Lance, the other members of his team were all fighters, so he had the advantage in the third match.
'Shit, if I don't win at least one first position, I'll be ending fourth', thought Ezequiel, he gave his scholar a death glare, which made the poor guy tremble.
With the greenlight of the Minister, the last match started and since everyone was desperate to win faster, the whole area became a mess, everyone gritted their teeth and endured the increase in weight caused by the lake and rushed towards their opponents.
Well almost everyone, a tall slim blue haired youth, just waved his hands, two almost unnoticeable objects were thrown by him at his enemy.
The opponent who was a strategist simply agitated his weapon of choice which was a light sword, and deflected them.
'Even if you are a prince, why are you not taking your opponent seriously', thought the strategist, but then his body froze where was, a magic circle appeared at his right and behind him, then two currents of air hit him directly.
Normally that would have sent him flying, but the output of the array suddenly changed from 3 to 5% and the strategist was smacked against the ground.
"Blegh!", the strategist vomited blood and fainted on the spot, his life wasn't in danger so the defensive array didn't activate, but he was out of combat so he lost, a tinkling sound then made its way into the spectator's ears.
They saw a couple of nails bounce a couple of times on the ground, before they stopped, that's what the one who won threw earlier, as for his identity, it was the remaining prince, Ryan, who was the scholar of Walford's team.
'I wanted to keep this to take first brother by surprise, but I guess it was do or die, besides father is observing', thought Ryan ad he retired from the platform.
The reactions varied, first the people from the Keran family roared and cheered, they were confused as well, but everything could wait until later.
Then there was Ezequiel and the members of the Blackfin family who had unsightly expressions on their faces, the first in the third round was no longer in their reach.
"What the hell are you doing, beat that lowlife at once!", shouted Ezequiel, making his scholar lose focus for a moment, an opportunity the opponent's strategist gladly took to land a hit on the scholar.
The poor scholar who coincidentally was the guy who couldn't control sand but earth, which costed Ezequiel the first round, had no other choice but to accept the hit and the enemy's saber left a deep cut in his left arm, but he also gritted his teeth and feeling the output of the array decreasing, his hand covered in a layer of rocks before he punched the strategist on the face.
The strategist who was also a mage tried to jump back, but he reacted late because Ezequiel's scholar grabbed the blade of his saber with his free hand who was also covered in a layer of stone, so the hit connected, breaking the nose of the strategist and ending the fight.
Unfortunately, by the time that happened, Lance's "strategist" had beaten his enemy to a pulp, and then the crowned prince's scholar took his enemy by surprise using his back as a shield to endure his spell, since he is a member of the Sail family conformed by the Sea Turtle race, though he didn't have a shell, his back was naturally sturdy, which allowed him to win a few seconds before Ezequiel's scholar.
"Ohhhh!", she spectators cheered at the same time, the other fights weren't that bad, but most of them came to see what the result of the top four will be.
The other fights started reaching their ends and soon the platforms were empty, it was then when the judges descended from their skybox to announce the results, this time the one giving the first place announce was Vincent's cousin.
"As the captain of the royal guard and the royal instructors in the art of battle, I'm proud to announce that the first place of this round will be the Arcarius family's team, thanks to the spectacular performance of his highness Ryan Keran".
The Keran and Arcarius families as well as Norma and even the king clapped, that victory represented more than one would think and Daimon knew why.
The ability of the Shooting Narwhal, could only be used horizontally frontwards, that's why they couldn't "drive" and instead the ice mage of the Arcarius had to make ice ramps of different angles to change direction in the first round.
But apparently Ryan Keran managed to think on a way to do it, he somehow imbued mana into the nails he threw and the impulse was shot using them as the source, though for Ryan the nails ended behind at one side of the enemy, from the tips of the nail's perspective, the enemy's position was in front and horizontally of them, so it worked.
"For the second place it naturally belongs to the young spear Lance Varsi's team, due to the capacity of adaptation shown by his scholar", said Aurora.
"The third place was a close call, however his highness the crowned prince's scholar, not only ended his fight before, but he is unscathed which has granted him the third place", added the Minister, even if he would be laughing in his sleep now that his grandson finally got a first place, he had to show face to the crowned prince and personally announce his result.
And as always, Annete was the one who gave the result of the Blackfin family's team, but this time she didn't rub salt on the wound, at least not with words, but the disdain in her eyes was open for everyone to see.
"The fourth place is for the Blackfin family, congratulations".
Ezequiel nearly lost it right there, unfortunately even if he was angry, what could he possibly do to the queen, so his rage was then directed to his scholar, who felt his body getting cold suddenly.
But before he lashed out at the scholar, the strategist grabbed Ezequiel's arm and whispered a few things at him, which somehow managed to calm him down.
The rest of the results were announced by Vincent, and besides the top four whose ranks will be decided on the fourth round, the fifth ranked was the team of patriarch skyfire's son, they dominated the three matches since their affinities were all fire, which granted them the advantage, the sixth was the team of patriarch's Heartstream and then the team of patriarch Stoneheart, next was the team formed by the secondary branches of the big noble houses, that was the preliminary ranking result of the first three rounds.
"I hope you had enjoyed the event so far, tomorrow only five teams will participate, but I invite the others to attend as spectators, to witness the last round of the three-art tournament", said the Minister as he opened the portal so that everyone could leave, not without stealing a gaze at Daimon's skybox.
'Bring it on old bastard, let's see what tricks you have up your sleeves', thought Daimon as he smirked.
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The other captains took a moment to process what happened, that slim weak looking guy was actually a knight, not only that, he destroyed a vice-captain with a single attack, in less than ten seconds despite the increase on weight caused by the lake.
At Daimon's skybox, Thea who was still floating around, looked at Daimon with curiosity shining in her eyes, naturally she wasn't tricked by the weak appearance of the glassed scholar, in fact she also noticed another little secret the scholar was hiding.
But she wanted to know how Daimon came to such a precise conclusion, the time, way of winning and even the kind of attack the scholar was going to use, if her supposition was right, Daimon predicted everything.
"I wonder how did you knew to such an extreme how that match was going to end?", she asked.
Daimon pointed at himself before saying.
"Muscles, some parts of that guy's body have been put through more training than others, that and unless he has reached an insane level of comprehension in earth element, the only element than can lighten one's body is wind, so he should be using an explosive yet fast style of fighting".
"To be honest, it reminded me of how a friend fights, so I could tell how it was going to end", said Daimon referring to Michael.
He wasn't lying, the battle aura that circulated through the body of the glassed guy, had wind properties, he also had a similar body shape as Michael, so Daimon immediately changed the layer of his infinity eyes to see the musculature and focused on the legs and arms.
And just as he expected, those areas were more trained than the rest of the body, the other party was a water mage, and while water if the more fluid among the elements, perfect for counterattacking or using the enemy's strength against himself, it was weak against wind and lightning.
So, from the very beginning, there was no mysterious in who was going to win this match, at least for Daimon.
"Those eyes of yours are quite something, can this Empress know, what are they called, in exchange I'll tell you mine's name of course".
"Honestly I don't know, I called them Infinity Eyes", answered Daimon.
"Mm the name fits perfectly, mine are called Nine Malefic Evil Eye~", added Thea.
Back at earth, in the myths and folklore, there is supposed to be people who can cause harm at others, just by looking at them, and also see things normal people can't, that is the so called "Evil Eye", naturally at earth such things are just stories elder people tell to the kids to make them behave, but in this world were magic and science meet, that isn't the case, anyway Daimon was more interested in the number "nine", which probably meant Thea had nine different abilities she could use, if that was her innate ability it was quite something.
Yvonne saw Daimon being interested in the Black Empress's eyes and she inwardly pouted.
"Mine are called Clear Dream Eyes by the way", she mumbled.
Aisha listened to that slightly jealous voice of Yvonne and she giggled.
'You are going to have to start paying more attention to those three, darling, there is nothing more dangerous than a jealous woman after all~', she playfully said directly to Daimon.
Naturally Yvonne was just playing, she knew he hasn't forgot about them, right now they were preparing for the Global Raid, and they have seen Daimon doing his best to keep them safe, even assigning them the same protection he gave to Aisha.
...
Leaving aside that little episode in Daimon's skybox, which didn't go unnoticed by Mellie and the other princesses, back at the third lake the combats continued.
Though the glassed scholar beating so easily a vice-captain was quite a surprise, he wasn't the only one who outstood in the first matches.
To Ezequiel's pride, his strategist in other words his woman, showed her true value when facing the opponent's vice-captain too.
The rarity of an affinity isn't a fixated thing, at least not at a generic level, as an example to that, in the beast faction where the races are chaotic oriented, light and darkness affinities are the rarest, but here in the Clear Water kingdom, fire and earth are considered rare and given the correct circumstances quite dangerous for the races of the Mermen Sea.
And to the bad luck of the vice-captain who was fighting Ezequiel's strategist, she had fire affinity and a strong one on top of that.
Under the uncomfortable gazes of the spectators, the spectators, the strategist's mana leaked out of her body and the whole platform was flooded in flames, the poor guy who was fighting her, belonged to one of the races that could breath underwater, meaning that while his affinity with water was quite good, he was particularly sensitive towards fire.
So now, what was an advantage for him during the second round, allowing the vice-captain to endure the doubled output of the second lake's effect until the last rounds, was making his life hell.
He couldn't even use the nearby sources of water since they were part of the lakes, so the only option he had was to cast water, because the humidity in the air was eliminated by the high temperature caused by the flames, which meant the vice-captain had to use more mana to get a decent water spell, water had mass and weighted more unlike fire, so he had to pour in more mana to surround himself with water to not be fried alive.
Normally it wouldn't have been that much of a problem, but using more mana in the platforms under the influence of the third lake, meant the weight pressing down on him increased even more.
The output of the formation suddenly switched, from 1% to 5%, the female strategist, had stopped supplying mana to her spell and simply let the fire burn, she stayed still and endured the increase, the vice-captain on the other hand, had to kept the water with mana imbued to not be burned, and thus the increase in weight hit him like a truck.
"Ahhh!", a scream followed by the sound of metals colliding, echoed through the area.
The vice-captain lost his footing and fell to the ground, then as if she was waiting for it to happen, Ezequiel's strategist dashed forward and used the spear she took from the weapons allowed in the third round, to pierce the head of the vice-captain.
Unable to react on time, the defensive array protected the head of the vice-captain, blocking the spear and giving the strategist the victory.
"Hmph, trash", with those words, the female strategist left the platforms and returned to Ezequiel's side, speaking of Ezequiel he was smiling from ear to ear, maybe she took more time than the glassed guy, but she had control over the battlefield from the very beginning, and her victory was clean, so in terms of score she should be around the same level.
Besides that, the other fights were more or less as expected, the vice-captains of the four favorites crushed the opponent's scholars in a short period of time, as for the other strategists from the four favorites who had to fight the opponent's vice-captains, they also won, but it took them way more time than Ezequiel's strategist, with only one exception, the first strategist to finish his opponent off, was the one from Walford's team, which happened to be one of the twin princes.
But that was to be expected since he is a royal, also the Keran family isn't weak in battle terms and out of the two princes, Bryan who is the strategist is known for being quite aggressive to begin with.
So, in a rough calculation, the ones who had the taken the initiative were Ezequiel, Walford and Lance, leaving the crowned prince a bit behind, since his strategist in other words, Corey though managed to win was the last one of the four, as he isn't battle oriented unlike Mellie.
And now the third decisive match was the only one left, from the side of the four favorites, it was time for their scholars with the exception of Lance who had to send his strategist, though that was only in name, since the strategist of his team was him.
Whoever wins his match first will probably be the winner this time around, and now Ezequiel who made fun of Lance was clenching his hands, besides Lance, the other three had to send their scholars, and everyone knew besides the glassed guy and Lance, the other members of his team were all fighters, so he had the advantage in the third match.
'Shit, if I don't win at least one first position, I'll be ending fourth', thought Ezequiel, he gave his scholar a death glare, which made the poor guy tremble.
With the greenlight of the Minister, the last match started and since everyone was desperate to win faster, the whole area became a mess, everyone gritted their teeth and endured the increase in weight caused by the lake and rushed towards their opponents.
Well almost everyone, a tall slim blue haired youth, just waved his hands, two almost unnoticeable objects were thrown by him at his enemy.
The opponent who was a strategist simply agitated his weapon of choice which was a light sword, and deflected them.
'Even if you are a prince, why are you not taking your opponent seriously', thought the strategist, but then his body froze where was, a magic circle appeared at his right and behind him, then two currents of air hit him directly.
Normally that would have sent him flying, but the output of the array suddenly changed from 3 to 5% and the strategist was smacked against the ground.
"Blegh!", the strategist vomited blood and fainted on the spot, his life wasn't in danger so the defensive array didn't activate, but he was out of combat so he lost, a tinkling sound then made its way into the spectator's ears.
They saw a couple of nails bounce a couple of times on the ground, before they stopped, that's what the one who won threw earlier, as for his identity, it was the remaining prince, Ryan, who was the scholar of Walford's team.
'I wanted to keep this to take first brother by surprise, but I guess it was do or die, besides father is observing', thought Ryan ad he retired from the platform.
The reactions varied, first the people from the Keran family roared and cheered, they were confused as well, but everything could wait until later.
Then there was Ezequiel and the members of the Blackfin family who had unsightly expressions on their faces, the first in the third round was no longer in their reach.
"What the hell are you doing, beat that lowlife at once!", shouted Ezequiel, making his scholar lose focus for a moment, an opportunity the opponent's strategist gladly took to land a hit on the scholar.
The poor scholar who coincidentally was the guy who couldn't control sand but earth, which costed Ezequiel the first round, had no other choice but to accept the hit and the enemy's saber left a deep cut in his left arm, but he also gritted his teeth and feeling the output of the array decreasing, his hand covered in a layer of rocks before he punched the strategist on the face.
The strategist who was also a mage tried to jump back, but he reacted late because Ezequiel's scholar grabbed the blade of his saber with his free hand who was also covered in a layer of stone, so the hit connected, breaking the nose of the strategist and ending the fight.
Unfortunately, by the time that happened, Lance's "strategist" had beaten his enemy to a pulp, and then the crowned prince's scholar took his enemy by surprise using his back as a shield to endure his spell, since he is a member of the Sail family conformed by the Sea Turtle race, though he didn't have a shell, his back was naturally sturdy, which allowed him to win a few seconds before Ezequiel's scholar.
"Ohhhh!", she spectators cheered at the same time, the other fights weren't that bad, but most of them came to see what the result of the top four will be.
The other fights started reaching their ends and soon the platforms were empty, it was then when the judges descended from their skybox to announce the results, this time the one giving the first place announce was Vincent's cousin.
"As the captain of the royal guard and the royal instructors in the art of battle, I'm proud to announce that the first place of this round will be the Arcarius family's team, thanks to the spectacular performance of his highness Ryan Keran".
The Keran and Arcarius families as well as Norma and even the king clapped, that victory represented more than one would think and Daimon knew why.
The ability of the Shooting Narwhal, could only be used horizontally frontwards, that's why they couldn't "drive" and instead the ice mage of the Arcarius had to make ice ramps of different angles to change direction in the first round.
But apparently Ryan Keran managed to think on a way to do it, he somehow imbued mana into the nails he threw and the impulse was shot using them as the source, though for Ryan the nails ended behind at one side of the enemy, from the tips of the nail's perspective, the enemy's position was in front and horizontally of them, so it worked.
"For the second place it naturally belongs to the young spear Lance Varsi's team, due to the capacity of adaptation shown by his scholar", said Aurora.
"The third place was a close call, however his highness the crowned prince's scholar, not only ended his fight before, but he is unscathed which has granted him the third place", added the Minister, even if he would be laughing in his sleep now that his grandson finally got a first place, he had to show face to the crowned prince and personally announce his result.
And as always, Annete was the one who gave the result of the Blackfin family's team, but this time she didn't rub salt on the wound, at least not with words, but the disdain in her eyes was open for everyone to see.
"The fourth place is for the Blackfin family, congratulations".
Ezequiel nearly lost it right there, unfortunately even if he was angry, what could he possibly do to the queen, so his rage was then directed to his scholar, who felt his body getting cold suddenly.
But before he lashed out at the scholar, the strategist grabbed Ezequiel's arm and whispered a few things at him, which somehow managed to calm him down.
The rest of the results were announced by Vincent, and besides the top four whose ranks will be decided on the fourth round, the fifth ranked was the team of patriarch skyfire's son, they dominated the three matches since their affinities were all fire, which granted them the advantage, the sixth was the team of patriarch's Heartstream and then the team of patriarch Stoneheart, next was the team formed by the secondary branches of the big noble houses, that was the preliminary ranking result of the first three rounds.
"I hope you had enjoyed the event so far, tomorrow only five teams will participate, but I invite the others to attend as spectators, to witness the last round of the three-art tournament", said the Minister as he opened the portal so that everyone could leave, not without stealing a gaze at Daimon's skybox.
'Bring it on old bastard, let's see what tricks you have up your sleeves', thought Daimon as he smirked.
The other captains took a moment to process what happened, that slim weak looking guy was actually a knight, not only that, he destroyed a vice-captain with a single attack, in less than ten seconds despite the increase on weight caused by the lake.At Daimon's skybox, Thea who was still floating around, looked at Daimon with curiosity shining in her eyes, naturally she wasn't tricked by the weak appearance of the glassed scholar, in fact she also noticed another little secret the scholar was hiding.But she wanted to know how Daimon came to such a precise conclusion, the time, way of winning and even the kind of attack the scholar was going to use, if her supposition was right, Daimon predicted everything."I wonder how did you knew to such an extreme how that match was going to end?", she asked.Daimon pointed at himself before saying."Muscles, some parts of that guy's body have been put through more training than others, that and unless he has reached an insane level of comprehension in earth element, the only element than can lighten one's body is wind, so he should be using an explosive yet fast style of fighting"."To be honest, it reminded me of how a friend fights, so I could tell how it was going to end", said Daimon referring to Michael.He wasn't lying, the battle aura that circulated through the body of the glassed guy, had wind properties, he also had a similar body shape as Michael, so Daimon immediately changed the layer of his infinity eyes to see the musculature and focused on the legs and arms.And just as he expected, those areas were more trained than the rest of the body, the other party was a water mage, and while water if the more fluid among the elements, perfect for counterattacking or using the enemy's strength against himself, it was weak against wind and lightning.So, from the very beginning, there was no mysterious in who was going to win this match, at least for Daimon."Those eyes of yours are quite something, can this Empress know, what are they called, in exchange I'll tell you mine's name of course"."Honestly I don't know, I called them Infinity Eyes", answered Daimon."Mm the name fits perfectly, mine are called Nine Malefic Evil Eye~", added Thea.Back at earth, in the myths and folklore, there is supposed to be people who can cause harm at others, just by looking at them, and also see things normal people can't, that is the so called "Evil Eye", naturally at earth such things are just stories elder people tell to the kids to make them behave, but in this world were magic and science meet, that isn't the case, anyway Daimon was more interested in the number "nine", which probably meant Thea had nine different abilities she could use, if that was her innate ability it was quite something.Yvonne saw Daimon being interested in the Black Empress's eyes and she inwardly pouted."Mine are called Clear Dream Eyes by the way", she mumbled.Aisha listened to that slightly jealous voice of Yvonne and she giggled.'You are going to have to start paying more attention to those three, darling, there is nothing more dangerous than a jealous woman after all~', she playfully said directly to Daimon.Naturally Yvonne was just playing, she knew he hasn't forgot about them, right now they were preparing for the Global Raid, and they have seen Daimon doing his best to keep them safe, even assigning them the same protection he gave to Aisha....Leaving aside that little episode in Daimon's skybox, which didn't go unnoticed by Mellie and the other princesses, back at the third lake the combats continued.Though the glassed scholar beating so easily a vice-captain was quite a surprise, he wasn't the only one who outstood in the first matches.To Ezequiel's pride, his strategist in other words his woman, showed her true value when facing the opponent's vice-captain too.The rarity of an affinity isn't a fixated thing, at least not at a generic level, as an example to that, in the beast faction where the races are chaotic oriented, light and darkness affinities are the rarest, but here in the Clear Water kingdom, fire and earth are considered rare and given the correct circumstances quite dangerous for the races of the Mermen Sea.And to the bad luck of the vice-captain who was fighting Ezequiel's strategist, she had fire affinity and a strong one on top of that.Under the uncomfortable gazes of the spectators, the spectators, the strategist's mana leaked out of her body and the whole platform was flooded in flames, the poor guy who was fighting her, belonged to one of the races that could breath underwater, meaning that while his affinity with water was quite good, he was particularly sensitive towards fire.So now, what was an advantage for him during the second round, allowing the vice-captain to endure the doubled output of the second lake's effect until the last rounds, was making his life hell.He couldn't even use the nearby sources of water since they were part of the lakes, so the only option he had was to cast water, because the humidity in the air was eliminated by the high temperature caused by the flames, which meant the vice-captain had to use more mana to get a decent water spell, water had mass and weighted more unlike fire, so he had to pour in more mana to surround himself with water to not be fried alive.Normally it wouldn't have been that much of a problem, but using more mana in the platforms under the influence of the third lake, meant the weight pressing down on him increased even more.The output of the formation suddenly switched, from 1% to 5%, the female strategist, had stopped supplying mana to her spell and simply let the fire burn, she stayed still and endured the increase, the vice-captain on the other hand, had to kept the water with mana imbued to not be burned, and thus the increase in weight hit him like a truck."Ahhh!", a scream followed by the sound of metals colliding, echoed through the area.The vice-captain lost his footing and fell to the ground, then as if she was waiting for it to happen, Ezequiel's strategist dashed forward and used the spear she took from the weapons allowed in the third round, to pierce the head of the vice-captain.Unable to react on time, the defensive array protected the head of the vice-captain, blocking the spear and giving the strategist the victory. "Hmph, trash", with those words, the female strategist left the platforms and returned to Ezequiel's side, speaking of Ezequiel he was smiling from ear to ear, maybe she took more time than the glassed guy, but she had control over the battlefield from the very beginning, and her victory was clean, so in terms of score she should be around the same level.Besides that, the other fights were more or less as expected, the vice-captains of the four favorites crushed the opponent's scholars in a short period of time, as for the other strategists from the four favorites who had to fight the opponent's vice-captains, they also won, but it took them way more time than Ezequiel's strategist, with only one exception, the first strategist to finish his opponent off, was the one from Walford's team, which happened to be one of the twin princes.But that was to be expected since he is a royal, also the Keran family isn't weak in battle terms and out of the two princes, Bryan who is the strategist is known for being quite aggressive to begin with.So, in a rough calculation, the ones who had the taken the initiative were Ezequiel, Walford and Lance, leaving the crowned prince a bit behind, since his strategist in other words, Corey though managed to win was the last one of the four, as he isn't battle oriented unlike Mellie.And now the third decisive match was the only one left, from the side of the four favorites, it was time for their scholars with the exception of Lance who had to send his strategist, though that was only in name, since the strategist of his team was him.Whoever wins his match first will probably be the winner this time around, and now Ezequiel who made fun of Lance was clenching his hands, besides Lance, the other three had to send their scholars, and everyone knew besides the glassed guy and Lance, the other members of his team were all fighters, so he had the advantage in the third match.'Shit, if I don't win at least one first position, I'll be ending fourth', thought Ezequiel, he gave his scholar a death glare, which made the poor guy tremble.With the greenlight of the Minister, the last match started and since everyone was desperate to win faster, the whole area became a mess, everyone gritted their teeth and endured the increase in weight caused by the lake and rushed towards their opponents.Well almost everyone, a tall slim blue haired youth, just waved his hands, two almost unnoticeable objects were thrown by him at his enemy.The opponent who was a strategist simply agitated his weapon of choice which was a light sword, and deflected them.'Even if you are a prince, why are you not taking your opponent seriously', thought the strategist, but then his body froze where was, a magic circle appeared at his right and behind him, then two currents of air hit him directly.Normally that would have sent him flying, but the output of the array suddenly changed from 3 to 5% and the strategist was smacked against the ground."Blegh!", the strategist vomited blood and fainted on the spot, his life wasn't in danger so the defensive array didn't activate, but he was out of combat so he lost, a tinkling sound then made its way into the spectator's ears.They saw a couple of nails bounce a couple of times on the ground, before they stopped, that's what the one who won threw earlier, as for his identity, it was the remaining prince, Ryan, who was the scholar of Walford's team.'I wanted to keep this to take first brother by surprise, but I guess it was do or die, besides father is observing', thought Ryan ad he retired from the platform.The reactions varied, first the people from the Keran family roared and cheered, they were confused as well, but everything could wait until later.Then there was Ezequiel and the members of the Blackfin family who had unsightly expressions on their faces, the first in the third round was no longer in their reach."What the hell are you doing, beat that lowlife at once!", shouted Ezequiel, making his scholar lose focus for a moment, an opportunity the opponent's strategist gladly took to land a hit on the scholar.The poor scholar who coincidentally was the guy who couldn't control sand but earth, which costed Ezequiel the first round, had no other choice but to accept the hit and the enemy's saber left a deep cut in his left arm, but he also gritted his teeth and feeling the output of the array decreasing, his hand covered in a layer of rocks before he punched the strategist on the face.The strategist who was also a mage tried to jump back, but he reacted late because Ezequiel's scholar grabbed the blade of his saber with his free hand who was also covered in a layer of stone, so the hit connected, breaking the nose of the strategist and ending the fight.Unfortunately, by the time that happened, Lance's "strategist" had beaten his enemy to a pulp, and then the crowned prince's scholar took his enemy by surprise using his back as a shield to endure his spell, since he is a member of the Sail family conformed by the Sea Turtle race, though he didn't have a shell, his back was naturally sturdy, which allowed him to win a few seconds before Ezequiel's scholar."Ohhhh!", she spectators cheered at the same time, the other fights weren't that bad, but most of them came to see what the result of the top four will be.The other fights started reaching their ends and soon the platforms were empty, it was then when the judges descended from their skybox to announce the results, this time the one giving the first place announce was Vincent's cousin."As the captain of the royal guard and the royal instructors in the art of battle, I'm proud to announce that the first place of this round will be the Arcarius family's team, thanks to the spectacular performance of his highness Ryan Keran".The Keran and Arcarius families as well as Norma and even the king clapped, that victory represented more than one would think and Daimon knew why.The ability of the Shooting Narwhal, could only be used horizontally frontwards, that's why they couldn't "drive" and instead the ice mage of the Arcarius had to make ice ramps of different angles to change direction in the first round.But apparently Ryan Keran managed to think on a way to do it, he somehow imbued mana into the nails he threw and the impulse was shot using them as the source, though for Ryan the nails ended behind at one side of the enemy, from the tips of the nail's perspective, the enemy's position was in front and horizontally of them, so it worked."For the second place it naturally belongs to the young spear Lance Varsi's team, due to the capacity of adaptation shown by his scholar", said Aurora."The third place was a close call, however his highness the crowned prince's scholar, not only ended his fight before, but he is unscathed which has granted him the third place", added the Minister, even if he would be laughing in his sleep now that his grandson finally got a first place, he had to show face to the crowned prince and personally announce his result.And as always, Annete was the one who gave the result of the Blackfin family's team, but this time she didn't rub salt on the wound, at least not with words, but the disdain in her eyes was open for everyone to see."The fourth place is for the Blackfin family, congratulations".Ezequiel nearly lost it right there, unfortunately even if he was angry, what could he possibly do to the queen, so his rage was then directed to his scholar, who felt his body getting cold suddenly.But before he lashed out at the scholar, the strategist grabbed Ezequiel's arm and whispered a few things at him, which somehow managed to calm him down.The rest of the results were announced by Vincent, and besides the top four whose ranks will be decided on the fourth round, the fifth ranked was the team of patriarch skyfire's son, they dominated the three matches since their affinities were all fire, which granted them the advantage, the sixth was the team of patriarch's Heartstream and then the team of patriarch Stoneheart, next was the team formed by the secondary branches of the big noble houses, that was the preliminary ranking result of the first three rounds."I hope you had enjoyed the event so far, tomorrow only five teams will participate, but I invite the others to attend as spectators, to witness the last round of the three-art tournament", said the Minister as he opened the portal so that everyone could leave, not without stealing a gaze at Daimon's skybox.'Bring it on old bastard, let's see what tricks you have up your sleeves', thought Daimon as he smirked.
