The participants who were able to reach the top 8 were - Lucian Rokka, Roselotte Baldwin, Tiove Hortalis, Andric, Shuri, Gabriel Riora, Colette and Octavia Ion.

Tiove was the third young master of the Archduke family of Hortalis. Even tho he was a noble he didn't join the noble alliance. From his childhood, he was very determined to get strong and didn't bother with anything outside that.

On the other hand, Octavia Ion was the leader of the Noble Alliance. She was a genius mage and was one of the candidates to be the next queen of the kingdom. She definitely had the strongest background among all the remaining participants. Her mastery of magic was really very high and she was the top choice to win the competition.

Gabriel Riora was duke Sion Riora's son. But his status inside the family was very bad as his mother was not an official wife of duke. She wasn't even a concubine. He was the result of duke's drunken one night stand and his mother also died very soon after his birth. So not only was his status very low, other descendants of the Duke were always using him to vent their frustration. So, getting into the Royal Academy and taking shelter there was a life and death decision for him.

...

After the top 8 participants were decided everyone went home. They came back the next day for the next round. At the very beginning, the match ups were decided with a random draw. Elena was the one who was doing the draws so there were no complaints about cheating or favouritism.

The result of the draws were -

1. Andric vs Gabriel Riora

2. Lucian Rokka vs Shuri

3. Colette vs Octavia Ion

4. Roselotte Baldwin vs Tiove Hortalis

...

Andric and Gabriel were the first ones to fight today. Andric as usual had a cold look on his face as he waited for the match to begin. Gabriel also had a very determined look on his face. He knew that the opponent he was facing was very strong. Even when he was watching him fighting others he was unable to spot him when he went into hiding. Andric's speed was also greater than his. So, even though he had prepared tactics against Andric, he was still very cautious of him.

As soon as the match started Gabriel immediately attacked Andric. Gabriel didn't want to give him any time to go into hiding. But he was still slower than Andric so all of his attacks were easily dodged by him. Not only did he perfectly dodge all of Gabriel's attacks he was even able to counter attack him although the damage he was able to deal was not much.

Andric then used one of his assassination techniques, that Elena taught him, "Phantom Echo". That created several illusory clones of Andric which distracted Gabriel. But using his instincts he was somehow able to dodge Andric's assassination attempt. But Andric expected this and used another trick and this was something he learned when he was getting trained by that corrupt merchant, and threw a poisoned dart toward him.

Gabriel was unable to dodge the attack and he got hit by the poisoned dart. The poison used was a paralyzing poison and Gabriel instantly felt that his body was getting stiff. He was already slower than Andric and now he was completely unable to keep up with him. Using this chance Andric used her stealth skill and vanished from Gabriel's sight. After trying to find the vanished person using all his skills and senses Gabriel became sure that he had no chance of seeing through Andric's stealth. But he didn't give up, he mastered all his determination and waited for Andric to attack.

Soon he found a dagger piercing his throat. He was already using two skills called "Rock Skin" and "Robust Muscle". So, it took a little extra time for Andric to pierce him. Within this time Gabriel was able to slightly move his neck so that his head didn't get separated from his body. Even then the damage was fatal and enough for him to die. But then one of his passive skills was activated. That skill was called "Guts".

The effect of the skill was very simple. Whenever the user was on the verge of losing all his health, he would be able to survive with a single HP for a few seconds. For those few seconds he would not die until his head was chopped off or his heart was pierced. And those few seconds were enough for him to thrust his own sword through his shoulder and pierce Andric's heart. Then both of them disappear from the stage.

Everyone was stunned by Gabriel's will. Someone hurting himself to hurt his opponent more was insane for them. But they were also not sure about who won the match as both of them disappeared from the stage at the same time. Soon Elena's voice was heard inside the tournament venue.

"It might look like both of them disappeared from the stage at the same time but Adrian died about 0.3 second before Gabriel. So I declare Gabriel as the victor of the match. Very well done and congratulations for getting into the semifinals."

The venue was calm for a moment but then it erupted in loud cheer. Everyone was extremely satisfied to see this great match. Gabriel was relieved and Elena's praise was like a sweet melody to his ear. As soon as he got the confirmation that he won, he lost all strength on his body and became unconscious. While he was falling Andric held him and gently laid him on the floor. He looked at Gabriel with appreciation and then left the venue. And that was how Andric's journey in the tournament came to an end.

...

The next match was Lucian vs Shuri. Both of them went on the stage and faced each other. At the very beginning of the battle Shuri once again immediately summoned Magestro. As Magestro was facing off against Lucian, Shuri concentrated and started summoning more spirits. Her life force was flowing out of her body like a river and for the first time in her life she was successful in summoning all four basic elemental spirits.

Sacrificing life force and getting a strong summon might look easy but it was actually very hard. Shuri's whole body was aching and she was experiencing an insane amount of pain. She was also getting a bit dizzy. But she held on and pinched her thighs to somehow get all her senses back.

At that time, Lucian was also not having a very good time. Magestro was really strong. He could fight both in close quarters and in long range. And most importantly, Lucian's strongest support, his killing intent was useless against the spirits. As soon as four more spirits joined the battle, his situation got even worse. And to add more problems to his already bad situation Shuri also started supporting her summons with spells. Even tho those spells were not strong, the timing when they were used was very apt.

Lucian didn't have any choice but to use his hidden trump card. His killing intent was something he was able to gather while fighting against monsters from when he was only 6 years old. But he had a special skill that allowed him to survive against those monsters all this time. And that skill was "Instantaneous Teleportation". He could teleport to any place that was within his sight. And Shuri was within his sight. So as soon as he made the decision he teleported behind Shuri and held her waist with his left arm from behind and held the sword to her throat with his right arm. Then he spoke very close to her ear -

"Give up young lady or I might do bad things to you."

Shuri's legs almost went weak hearing that. Not out of fear tho but something else. Her face also became red and she very quietly muttered -

"I give up"

And that was how Lucian advanced to the semifinals and Shuri's journey came to an end.

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