They attacked from below like water monsters, underwater strikes that's almost impossible to see coming. Adrian's fire mage tried to evaporate the water, he created jets of rolling flame that spread like pillars on the water but all he did was created steam and Blackwater just pulled more water in an almost endless supply.

This should have been difficult for Adrian.

Should have been.

Instead, the protagonist of the story, Adrian Celestius raised his sword and shouted. "Celestial Judgment!"

Holy light erupted around him in a blaze, directly directed at at the water itself as if it was the enemy he was having problems with. The entire flooded arena began glowing as Holy energy infused every drop, invading the water.

Blackwater's team began to scream.

The water they were swimming in and their element had now became their enemy own! Holy-infused water burned them, it rejected their magic and forced them to surface.

In thirty seconds, Adrian converted their advantage into their weakness.

"That's... terrifying," Marcus muttered beside me.

I nodded without saying anything but inside, I was shaking my head. 'Damn protagonist'

With enemies forced to surface, disabled and burned, Adrian's team mopped up in systematic elimination.

The match lasted four minutes total as it it hadn't even began at all.

"VICTORY! CELESTIUS TEAM!"

The crowd went insane, cheering his name as this was what they expected from the SSS-rank hero.

Absolute dominance. That was what they are known for and expected from him. Adrian stood in the center of the flooded arena, holy light radiating from him, his eyes curling with light like two golden sun.

Then he turned slowly and looked directly at our viewing area. At me. His expression was complicated, there was no triumphant there and his eyes was almost... conflicted. The cracks in his certainty were showing even more.

"He's strong," Seraphina said quietly. "Stronger than before. That holy infusion technique, I've never seen anything like it before and I doubt I can do something like that."

"He's been training too I guess. We're not the only one," Lucille observed. "He must be making use of the the Baron's resources very well."

"Doesn't matter how strong he is," Ravenna said firmly. "We've beaten him before and we can do it again if we absolutely have to."

"Maybe," I said. "But he's not our enemy right now. The League is. The Baron is. The Council is. And, we're allies for now, don't forget that."

"You really think he'll join us?" Marcus asked.

"I think he's thinking about it, and that prophesy must be bothering him anyway."

But our attention was caught by the next team match, the third match. Nightwhisper versus Cipher.

Kaeel's team won in eight minutes in a clean and efficient way.

The fourth match was Steelheart versus Riverbound.

Victoria's team, yes, she's also pretending to be a student and that was why we were able to meet at the underground fighting in the first place, she demolished her opponents.

Her SS-rank power on full display.

The match lasted ninety seconds.

By evening, round one was complete:

ROUND ONE RESULTS:

- Ravana (Astral Haven) defeats Tempest (Stormwatch)

- Celestius (Astral Haven) defeats Blackwater (Crimson Spire)

- Nightwhisper (Shadowgrove) defeats Cipher (Mystholm)

- Steelheart (Ironheart) defeats Riverbound (Crimson Spire)

- Ashford (Astral Haven backup) defeats Stormcaller (Stormwatch)

- Brightwing (Mystholm) defeats Frostmarch (Shadowgrove)

- Ironside (Ironheart backup) defeats Wavecrest (Crimson Spire backup)

- Lightseeker (Stormwatch backup) defeats Deepwood (Shadowgrove backup)

Only eight teams remained as the others had been eliminated.

And the quarterfinal bracket.

1. Ravana vs. Brightwing (Astral Haven vs. Mystholm)

2. Celestius vs. Lightseeker (Astral Haven vs. Stormwatch backup)

3. Nightwhisper vs. Ironside (Shadowgrove vs. Ironheart backup)

4. Steelheart vs. Ashford (Ironheart vs. Astral Haven backup)

Matches in two days.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

That night, Victoria called a meeting again, in the same private hall but with more people this time.

Basically it was for the people who are in the know and knew about what was going on.

"First," Victoria said with a smile, "congratulations to those who advanced, you all survived round one, congratulations!"

Brief applause followed that.

"Secondly. We might have a slight problem during the fourth match, Ironside versus Wavecrest, one of the Wavecrest members wasn't healing properly. Injuries that should have been minor... weren't."

Silence followed.

"The medical team investigated and they found traces of anti-healing poison In Wavecrest's water supplies."

My blood went cold and my eyes narrowed flatly.

"Attempted murder," Kaeel said flatly. "During a tournament match?"

"Who?" Aria asked. "Which faction?"

"League," Victoria said. "It has to be, they must have already began their operation."

"But why target Wavecrest?" I asked. "They're a backup team from Shadowgrove and not exactly high-profile per say."

"Because their captain, Deepwood, has family records too," Cipher explained. "There are minor documentation, but still some evidence. The League is eliminating anyone with knowledge remember? That's why he's a target."

"But the poison didn't work," Victoria continued. "The healers caught it in time. But it's a message. They can reach anyone. Even in official tournament medical stations. But what I really don't understand is why they went against a low....rank like that instead of some of the higher profile. Could it be that they are just trying to strike fear in us?"

"So we're sitting ducks," someone muttered.

"So what do we do?" Lyra asked.

"We don't give them easy targets, no one should ever bealone and the food and water we take should only come from sealed sources, and we test everything also for medical treatment, we should only deal with our own healers when possible, tournament healers only when necessary."

"Paranoia," someone said.

"Its survival," Lucille corrected coldly. "He's right. We're exposed here."

Victoria nodded. "Agreed. Additional I'll create some more security measures. I'll arrange protective enchantments for everyone's rooms. Kaeel, can Shadowgrove provide poison detection talismans?"

Kael paused and then produced a dozen small crystals from a bag she carried. "They glow red if poison is present. One for each team captain."

It was distributed them and I pocketed mine even though I have something similar. Have more would only help after all.

"There's something else," Aria said hesitantly. "I've been running some calculations."

"What calculations?" Adrian asked. He'd been quiet until now, standing in the back as if his presence might cause some troubles.

"Someone in this room....well, we should be careful."

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