"Saint Ingo wins!"
The referee’s announcement broke through Vivina’s reverie, and after that voice, the venue erupted with boiling screams and cheers. Anyone with a bit of insight could see that Vivina and the students from the other academies were simply not on the same rank—her advantage was almost a crushing one.
"Saint Ingo!"
"Saint Ingo!"
"Saint Ingo!"
"Saint Ingo!"
Waves of cheering voices surged and spread throughout the venue, not ceasing for a long while. Vivina’s distinct face and figure also projected and floated above the venue, recorded and broadcast by various media.
Afterward, in the battles that followed, as everyone had anticipated, Vivina won each match almost unilaterally, defeating her opponents in no more than two moves, winning a streak of 21 matches.
"Now Edith Academy only has one spot left, who will they send out? Could it be the much-anticipated Miss Tilan~~"
The host’s words focused everyone’s attention on the girl standing under the ginkgo tree, forcing Tilan to lower her hat brim to avoid the fervent gazes.
Although she was aware of everyone’s expectations, she couldn’t step onto the field at all, the girl thought helplessly.
By now, everyone knew she was Temisia’s younger sister, and Vivina had entered Saint Ingo Academy out of admiration for Temisia. In other stories, the two of them might have formed a special bond.
But reality always has many surprises, such as Hexia choosing Withering Sequence because she was poor at that time and, due to a quarrel with her sister, she could only try to enroll in Edith Academy. To common folks, Saint Ingo was still out of reach.
Moreover, she had now advanced to Sequence 5 and could no longer take part in the pre-qualifying matches—it would mean breaking the rules.
So it seemed she could only let everyone down. She sighed softly, then raised her hand to send the last student into the field.
"Valke, you go. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just do your best."
"Yes, President Tilan."
Valke took off his black coat and stepped onto the stage made of stones in the woods, one step at a time. Even though he knew there was almost no chance of winning, he still wanted to give it his all.
No matter what, he couldn’t lose morale and succumb to defeatism.
As this student took the stage instead of the expected Songstress Tilan, a lot of the audience voiced their disappointment.
"Ugh, why isn’t it Tilan?"
"I really wanted to see such a fateful confrontation."
"Now with Saint Ingo holding an absolute scoring advantage and all other academies out of contenders, there’s no way to catch up; it means Vivina is without pressure."
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"If Tilan went on stage, maybe Vivina would concede with a smile." Someone mentioned this possibility.
"Ah, I really wanted to see how Tilan would fight in her Witch outfit."
"Edith Academy doesn’t understand the hearts of the people."
"Are they protecting Little Tilan? But it’s the last match with no suspense, the win or loss wouldn’t change the overall outcome, so why not let Tilan fight? I saw her standing all night long, only moving those little legs."
"I specifically bought tickets for the opening night, thinking that Tilan wouldn’t appear in the later matches, but she should have fought in the pre-qualifying round."
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Amongst a chorus of boos, Valke took the stage under various gazes. Vivina too shook her head, showing a look of disappointment.
"She’s not willing to go on stage, huh? Does she not want to deal with matters related to her sister Temisia, or is she afraid of embarrassing herself? Ah well, I shouldn’t question Temisia’s little sister like this, but I really do want to see how Hexia fights, to see if she has that peerless grace of Temisia."
Valke didn’t answer directly but assumed a combat stance, his eyes fixed intently on his formidable opponent.
"You’ll find out, just not today." He refrained from elaborating further; after all, that young girl’s strength was now Edith Academy’s biggest trump card.
Having said that, this genius—filled with expectations from Edith Academy—threw a punch, his ferocious fist wind crushing the dust, pressing down on Vivina like a tiger pouncing from the mountains, finally causing her, who had been at ease for so long, to feel a flicker of alarm and surprise.
"Not bad yourself," said Vivina, as she smiled and then advanced with her sword.
The last fight of the night thus unfolded; the fist wind shook, the Dual Swords strangled, and one by one, the large trees broke apart in the fight, until the venue, once dense with trees, gradually emptied out. A random spark ignited, setting ablaze the scattered ginkgo leaves in the air, a multitude of fireworks spiraling and burning in the sky.
This was the end of the night.
Standing amidst the fiery sea of this arena, Tilan held down her Witch hat and looked up, her figure swaying in the heat of the flames, hazy and beautiful.