Chapter 251: First Round
Everyone formed their own images inside their minds about the Lesser Angel.
Different minds produced different images, unique to their own, but there are clear patterns—the Lesser Angel is supposed to be the one with the lowest potential to become strong, the one who isn’t compatible with their own divine bloodline, the weakest.
And despite the varying imaginations, none were quite accurate.
Not even close.
Unlike what they expected, the Lesser Angel who stepped out through the gate wasn’t a meek and weak student. He radiated intense battle spirit that made it clear that his body was capable of incredible feats. His posture showed a man who never backed down. And there was a chill to him that sent a shiver down their spines.
A sensation that warned the onlookers that it was better not to mess with him.
As he climbed the arena, the other participants stared at him from behind their masks.
Chester sneered in contempt, knowing that Kai was drained completely and wouldn’t be able to fight optimally. Barbara also smiled as she could already smell blood coming from Kai. On the contrary, Roan saw Kai’s eyes and immediately averted his gaze.
He recognized that gaze.
For the other participants, they were completely impartial towards him.
Kai stood at the center of the arena like a statue carved from shadow. Arms at his sides—eyes fixed ahead, and shoulders squared. He could feel the weight of the crowd’s attention pressing down on him, but it meant nothing.
Right now, he didn’t care.
Instead, he swept his eyes across the crowd, searching for someone.
He spotted the others sitting in a group, but there was no sign of Talitha and Abigail.
Just that alone twisted his face grim.
Once the participants were gathered and presented to the roaring crowd—the crowd cheered as the Dragon Ring tournament officially began. A professor—and also the chosen announcer for the proceedings descended on the arena while holding a cauldron shaped like a dragon’s snarling head.
Its maw gaped wide, and within the dark hollow of its throat, there was a faint ember glow.
And it pulsed like a heartbeat.
"Each participant may draw a scroll from the small cauldron in turns."
Chester was the one to move first, as he always did.
He reached into the dragon’s maw and withdrew a scroll no larger than his index finger. And then, he placed it before the dragon’s head without ceremony, and watched fire burst from the ember glow in a tight, controlled beam.
Unable to resist the temperature, the scroll ignited, curled, and burned to ash in seconds.
But the flame did not die.
Swoosh—!
It climbed skyward, coiling into the shape of a serpentine dragon—its body rippled with red and orange. Magnificently, it paused high above the arena, hovering for a single, breath-held moment and then detonated into brilliant gold.
Almost instantly, the crowd erupted into a storm of murmurs and shouts.
Excited by the sight of a single golden dragon.
A freshman watched the seniors all around the stadium erupt into cheers. His confused gaze drifted from the golden dragon above to the senior seated ahead of him. As the uproar began to settle, he reached forward and tapped the senior sitting in front of him.
"Senior, what exactly are we celebrating?" He asked.
"It’s because of the golden dragon," the senior replied after a quick glance. "A golden dragon would grave a participant rather randomly, and it wouldn’t always appear. But when it does, that means the participant is favoured to win, pushing him to the final instantly after winning only one battle, and he would also be given an advantageous enchanted gear."
"An advantageous enchanted gear?"
"Yeah—the final is rather special. Better for you to see for yourself. Shame that this grace was given to Chester. The golden dragon exists to help the weaker participant win the tournament against the stronger participant, but it unluckily fell on him, the strongest participant."
Just this golden dragon alone secured Chester’s path to the final.
No need to waste his strength at the second round.
Barbara stepped forward next. She placed her scroll before the dragon head, and twin coils of fire burst upward like fireworks; two coiling dragons, spiralling skyward in tandem. One that made her smirk inside.
Behind, Kai watched with cold, unsurprised eyes.
He knew that the number of dragons from the scroll determined the pairing.
And since Chester got one and Barbara got two, that meant they were in separate brackets.
Of course, they wouldn’t—the pairing was rigged.
Rigged so that the academy’s favourites, or in this case, those who are aiming for Kai, wouldn’t collide against one another. Instead, they were separated to wear Kai down so that even if he somehow won the first battle, exhaustion would claim him in the second.
Or perhaps he got wounded, which would certainly be his downfall.
Ragnar or the academy itself had already laid out the paths before the tournament started.
One by one, the other participants took their turns. Scrolls burned. Flaming dragons climbed skyward. Eventually, it was Kai’s turn. He stepped forward to the last scroll, knowing who he would be going against first already.
He watched the dragon head consume it, and three coiling dragons burst.
"Lesser Angel Kai, number three!" the professor announced. "For the third and final battle of the first round, Lesser Angel will be facing High Angel Roan. Remember, participants can use lethal force against one another to force the other side to admit defeat or knock them out.
"Do not hold back. Accidental death is unfortunate, but won’t inflict severe consequences."
Now that he had announced the rules of the tournament, he gestured for the participants to get down from the arena, leaving only those who were going to fight. Kai took his seat at the side of the arena with the other participants as the first battle was called.
Roan against the leader of the Stygian Collective.
Once the signal rang, the crowd went into a deafening uproar as the two figures clashed in a fierce exchange of steel. Chester with his sickle, and the other with his sword. Each exchange crackled the air with heavy impact.
Mana burst like a tidal wave, smashing against the barrier protecting the arena.
Under the gaze of many, the Stygian Collective’s leader, Draksa, threw everything he had.
He used his Legacy Skill, Legacy Imprint—and his burning effort to make sure that he made a good impression on the entire academy. Beating Chester might be impossible, but that didn’t deter him from giving it his all.
Like a snake, he slithered across the arena and struck Chester at odd angles.
Coupled with additional eyes on the back of his head, catching him off guard was impossible.
But it wasn’t a problem for Chester at all.
Compared to Draksa, who was going as hard as he could, Chester met the attacks with nothing but his base combat prowess. No Legacy Skill—and no Legacy Imprint. Just quick movement and steel and the calm, contemptuous ease of a predator humouring its prey.
No need to rush when victory was guaranteed.
In fact, in the midst of battle, Chester was daring enough to look at Kai a couple of times.
Like he was boasting of how powerful he was right now compared to last time.
Kai didn’t shy away. He watched closely.
At first, his eyes tracked every motion, every feint, every single subtle shift in weight and angle to make sure that he could better prepare for when he went against Chester. But he soon came to realize that it was useless.
It was blatantly clear that the gap in strength between them was vast.
Draksa, no matter what he did, couldn’t push Chester to reveal anything up his sleeve.
Because of that, watching Chester fight at half-strength would teach Kai nothing. So, he let his attention drift, releasing the clash of steel and the roar of the crowd like tools that he no longer needed to prepare.
He closed his eyes and turned his focus inward, sinking past flesh and bone.
Giving his full focus to his Primordial Locks.
Instead of doing something meaningless, he decided to keep on accumulating mana.
Recovering as much as he could.
Drop by drop—the well inside him that was nearly dry began to be filled once again. It was a slow and hazardous process, but even an additional usage of Legacy Imprint would no doubt work wonders for him.
Everything around him faded to nothing.
All that existed was the slow, steady accumulation of mana inside him.
Even when the first battle ended with Chester being the victor after he broke Draksa’s sword with a slash and the second battle began, Kai didn’t know. He wasn’t paying attention. He did not care. He ignored everything but accumulating mana.
Barbara overwhelmed her enemy like it was nothing.
She wasn’t as gentle as Chester.
Brutally, she drove her fist into her enemy’s stomach.
As a mere Angel, the leader of the fifth group dropped to his knees almost instantly, unable to take even a punch from her. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, painting the inside of his mask crimson.
Like a shark, Barbara circled him and then grabbed him by his arm.
She forced him to turn to face Kai, and then clicked her tongue when she saw Kai wasn’t even paying attention. She wanted to show Kai what would happen to him if he got into the same arena as her, but she couldn’t.
Annoyed, she brought the arm down to her knee.
Crack—!
It broke like a branch in winter, forcing a squeal to echo across the entire arena.
Even some of the students turned away when they realized what Barbara was trying to do.
And with that, Barbara won the battle.
"Lesser Angel Kai! High Angel Roan!"
As soon as his name was called, Kai opened his eyes and inhaled deeply. He didn’t spare Roan a glance and immediately walked towards the arena. Every pair of eyes was fixed on him intensely.
Anticipation around his power was high, and the crowd was eager to see what he can do.
Anticipating to see whether he was a big deal or simply a sheep in wolf’s skin.
Kai unsheathed the Blood-phantom Scimitar and waited on one side of the arena silently.
On the other side, Roan climbed the arena.
Once the two were ready, the professor nodded, "Begin!"
Instead of attacking, Roan simply stood with his head down, staring at the floor. Every single student was confused as to what he was doing. And strangely enough, Kai also remained in his spot with no sign of attacking.
Roan lifted his gaze to look at Kai, and then dropped it again.
He then tossed his weapon to the ground, catching everyone completely off guard.
"I surrender."