CHAPTER 68: THE LAST OF THE TOURNAMENT

"Good." Victoria stood. "We should go separately since its less suspicious and lots of eyes are monitoring. But Hadeon? One final piece word."

"What?"

"The Baron, Adrian’s father? He’s being influenced by League agents, watch him carefully. He’s more dangerous than he appears. He might be working for more than a side."

"You mean...."

"I mean his actions aren’t entirely his own. The League has ways of controlling people and naking them into tools." She paused at the tunnel entrance. "Be careful. And stay alive. We’re counting on you."

They left through different exits.

Damian and I sat in silence for a moment.

"Young Master," Damian said finally. "Do you believe them?"

"I believe they’re telling the truth as they know it. Whether that truth is complete..." I pulled out the crystals. "We’ll find out. Besides, it doesn’t matter since I am also not telling the truth. We’ll all do our things. Come, we still have a lot to do."

☆☆▪︎☆☆

The tournament continued for three more days.

In round Three, I faced a competent earth mage. I won through superior tactics and the disruption techniques I’d been practicing. Lucille later told me I was getting more efficient in it since i use fewer unnecessary movements, better energy conservation.

And in round Four which is the quarterfinals, I fought a A+ rank student from a rival academy. It was tough fight unlike the others and i even took a blade to the shoulder, broke two ribs. But I won by using the arena itself through cheating, Marcus had pre-enchanted sections of the floor during his support competition.

I lured my opponent over them and triggered a collapse. I called it ’victory through preparation’.

Semifinals was against Seraphina.

We’d both known this was coming since the bracket basically guaranteed it.

"No holding back," she said before we began.

"Wouldn’t dream of it."

The fight lasted fifteen minutes. Longest of the tournament for either of us.

She was stronger. Faster and hit a lot harder.

But I was smarter. Used every trick I’d learned. Every tactic from training. Shadow Step, shadow barriers, environment manipulation.

In the end, she won.

Her final holy strike shattered my shadow barrier and sent me flying into the wall. I couldn’t continue.

"Winner! Seraphina Valorheart!"

She offered me a hand up.

"You’ve gotten better," she said.

"You’ve gotten scarier."

"Same thing." She smiled. "Good fight, Hadeon."

"You too."

While the finals was Seraphina vs Victoria Ironheart.

The match everyone wanted to see.

Two warrior women. One a rising star and the other the concealing warrior that’s hiding her strength.

It wasn’t close.

Victoria demonstrated the gap between them effortlessly. Seraphina threw everything at herz every holy technique, every ultimate attack, every ounce of power.

Victoria weathered it all with that same immovable defense.

Then she counterattacked once.

Just once.

A single strike that moved faster than my eyes could follow.

Seraphina’s holy barrier shattered. Her armor cracked. She hit the ground hard.

"Yield," Victoria said.

Seraphina, to her credit, tried to stand. Made it halfway before collapsing.

"Winner! Victoria Ironheart!"

The crowd went absolutely insane.

Victoria collected her prize, a fifty thousand gold and a legendary sword she promptly gave to Seraphina, and left without fanfare.

But before she went, she caught my eye from across the arena.

Nodded once.

Message received. See that?

But that wasn’t all.

Marcus won his support division competition. His kinetic reversal enchantment had worked perfectly and actually deflected a training golem’s attack back at itself hard enough to destroy the golem. He pocketed ten thousand gold and immediately started planning upgrades to everyone’s equipment.

That night, back in my headquarters, I gathered my inner circle.

"I have information," I said, pulling out the two crystals Victoria and Kaeel had given me. "About power cultivation. About the League. About what we’re really facing."

I explained everything, from the meeting to the survivors and the warnings. The Resistance.

When I finished, only silence remained.

Then Lucille spoke. "So we have some months to get strong enough to fight fallen heroes from previous cycles, or we all die horribly."

"Pretty much."

"Great. Love a clear deadline." She didn’t sound fazed. "What’s the training plan?"

I activated Victoria’s crystal and Information flowed into a magical projection in detailed charts, techniques, cultivation methods.

"We use these methods. All of us, we’ll push our limits to train until we break. Then break past breaking." I looked at each face. "It’s going to be brutal. Some of us might not survive the training itself. But if we don’t do this, we definitely won’t survive what’s coming."

"I’m in," Seraphina said immediately.

"Obviously," Ravenna added.

"Wouldn’t miss it," Marcus said.

One by one, everyone committed.

"Then we start tomorrow," I said. "After the tournament celebration. We have some weeks until the Inter-Academy competition. Then whatever comes after."

"And the Baron?" Damian asked. "Victoria said he’s being controlled."

"We watch him. Carefully and document everything. And when we have proof..." I smiled coldly. "We expose him and whatever’s pulling his strings."

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

Training began at dawn three days later. I did not want to waste time at all, we all have something now hanging above our heads.

Helena had taken charge of the physical conditioning as she was the only one with experience turning regular people into warriors. Uncle Victor had sent supplies of training weights enchanted to adjust resistance, stamina potions, healing salves, and a small fortune in high-grade mana crystals.

"Line up!" Helena barked at the twenty faction members who’d volunteered for the intensive program. Not everyone since some were support staff, intelligence operatives, or simply not built for combat. But twenty had chosen to push their limits.

That included my entire inner circle.

We stood in the pre-dawn darkness of Training Ground Seven, the most remote facility, away from prying eyes. Helena had claimed it for the next two weeks, citing "advanced combat techniques" in her request to the academy.

The Headmaster had approved it without question, most likely relieved we were staying out of trouble.