The selection matches continued. Finally, on the next draw, Nayara’s na ca up. She ran up, excited, and without any hesitation, challenged Bankson.
He still had a good amount of ring power left, since Lucius had purified the poison so quickly. And it was obvious using it again with his blessing would be pointless. Still, he and everyone from his clan believed he could win and qualify.
The military officer announced the match, and both fighters roared.
They activated their blessings at the sa ti. Bankson only needed two seconds to set up his domain, but...
A simple bow appeared in Nayara’s hands. At the tip of her arrow, a multicolored light pulsed.
*Peng!*
An arrow imdiately pierced Bankson’s shoulder, interrupting his blessing. Then, Nayara kept firing — over and over, without an ounce of rcy.
It wasn’t even a fight. She looked like a hunter aiming her bow at a helpless rabbit trapped in a cage. In seconds, Bankson was full of arrows, his blood all over the place.
He struggled and tried to run in a pathetic way, but he looked like a porcupine full of arrows. Nayara never let him get close, not to ntion giving him the chance to use his blessing. He was useless if he didn’t have ti to activate it.
Of course, he knew his weakness — that’s why he trained so hard to be as fast and reactive as possible. But Nayara had trained hard too. Her blessing fired arrows so fast, so precise and powerful, that everyone was stunned.
Once he stopped moving, she stopped too, keeping him alive.
"Hmph... how can soone so weak even be in this selection?" she mocked, loud and clear.
And just like that, the four mbers of the empire’s biggest clan were done. Only the support girl qualified — and that was pure luck.
Gwyneth didn’t fight again. There were four open spots for Fighters, and after the two from Red River Pact were eliminated, there were only four Fighters left in that group — so they got auto-qualified.
She passed, along with Silas, even though he only fought once and lost. That was the fault of the twins and Darian. In these kinds of matches, no one’s supposed to get hurt so badly that they can’t fight a second round. Everyone’s expected to pace themselves and conserve energy — that way no one gets knocked out too hard.
...But those three broke the rules of the selection wide open. They won by completely wiping out the Red River Pact’s mbers, making sure they couldn’t fight again.
The final matches wrapped up. It didn’t take long for the ten qualified participants to be confird.
The military officer called their nas, and they all stepped onto the battle stage.
Nayara and the tank from her clan both made it. From the Temple Wardens, Gwyneth (a Fighter) and a mage passed as well. From the Red River Pact, only the support girl qualified. The rest were the twins, Darian, and Veyle. The last one was the tank, Silas.
After all the nas were announced in front of the drones recording everything, the military officer spoke up:
"No one here is considered weaker or stronger just because they have fewer rings; everyone qualified on equal terms. The Empire’s logic for the team formation is simple: we’ll group mbers from the sa clan, since they already know each other and get along."
Everyone nodded. That made the most sense, especially since the two groups wouldn’t have much ti to train together. Three months wasn’t much, after all.
"The four mbers of the Shadows of Heaven clan will stay together. That ans we’re only missing one tank. Since Silas doesn’t belong to any clan, he’ll be placed in this group."
Nayara scoffed coldly. That ant she’d have to team up with Alia, the support from Red River Pact, in her group.
"Group leaders are chosen based on performance during the selection and by their class. Usually, the ones who fight from a distance are the best leaders, since they can observe the whole field clearly."
The Red River Pact’s vice-leader nodded. Usually, supports were best for leadership roles. At least Alia was a support, and if she—
"Group 1 will be led by Nayara from the Amazon Sentinels. Group 2 will be under Darian, from the Shadows of Heaven," the military officer finished.
Everyone accepted it, excited. Except, of course, the folks from Red River Pact — they were clearly pissed off. If at least one of their people had been made a group leader, maybe they could’ve saved a bit of face.
The officer turned toward them, and not a single one dared to speak.
Losers didn’t get to demand anything. And in front of the caras, if they tried to push back now, they’d just look even more pathetic.
"I declare the end of the selection. The two groups must join together and train as much as they can. In three months, the great Newcors Tournant will begin."
***
A few minutes after the announcent, Darian walked into a dical room inside a building near the arena.
With him were Silas, his allies, and the mbers of the Amazon Sentinels clan. Inside, Eleanor lay unconscious on a bed.
A very experienced support from the Empire was examining her. He turned to the ones who had just entered and sighed:
"I’ll be straight. The internal damage is serious. There’s no way she’ll recover on her own. She might never wake up again. But... there are a lot of magical pills or near-supre healing artifacts out there. Maybe not on Earth, but on higher-ranked planets, for sure. Of course, everything has a price... that’s all I can say."
He finished talking, and the Amazon Sentinels’ leader thanked him.
Once he left, Silas started trembling and walked over to the bed, holding back tears.
"It’s okay... big bro promised he’d heal her, didn’t he?" Lucy whispered gently.
Silas turned to Darian, full of doubt. Right after the selection ended, Darian had said he’d help Eleanor. But with a diagnosis like that, how could his healing powers possibly—
Darian moved calmly, then raised a hand, and a white light flowed into Eleanor.
It took... exactly three seconds. Then he pulled his hand back and stepped away.
Silas narrowed his eyes, and just as he was about to ask sothing... he felt movent on the bed.
Eleanor opened her eyes, slowly, like nothing had happened.
Nayara and the people from her clan were stunned, but they didn’t interfere or say anything. An expert support from the Empire had said she could only be saved with sothing miraculous and insanely expensive. But... mont after mont, Darian and his people just kept bringing more and more surprises.
"Huh?"
Eleanor blinked, confused by so many people staring at her. After a few seconds, she finally rembered what had happened.
"Let’s go," Darian muttered and turned to walk out the door.
"Wait!" Silas quickly said.
Darian stopped and looked back at him, emotionless. Silas looked serious. He just healed her... without asking for anything?
"You..."
Darian scoffed. "You’re gonna be in my group. I don’t want a tank distracted and worried about soone else during the tournant. That’s why I healed her. It didn’t cost much, so don’t overthink it."
He turned and walked off again.
Silas stayed quiet. He wanted to say sothing, but his pride got in the way. But Eleanor, who had heard everything and was starting to piece things together, reacted.
"Wait!" she called, sitting up on the bed.
Darian stopped and turned again. She grabbed Silas’s hand and held it tight, then asked a bit shyly, "Your clan is still small, right... are you looking for new mbers?"
"Yeah," he replied calmly.
"Do we... have what it takes to join your clan?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.
Darian nodded. The two of them were talented and honest — there was no reason to say no.
Lucy smiled. "Great. Leander, go ahead and add them to the clan right now."
Just like that, two new mbers joined the Shadows of Heaven clan. Almost imdiately, they were already in a car, heading to their new clan.
When the military heard that Eleanor had woken up and left like nothing happened, they just assud the Amazon Sentinels had burned through an insanely rare treasure to heal her. After all, they were the Empire’s third-biggest clan — that was the only explanation that made sense.
Since Nayara was the group leader, everyone in her squad stayed at her clan. As for that support girl... the mont she stepped into the Amazon Sentinels, not a single breath she took went unwatched. She wouldn’t get a single chance to stir up trouble.
***
Three months of intense training went by fast, without anything big happening.
Yet.
The real stir would only start once all the Empire selection matches got broadcast... or so everyone thought.
The winner was already obvious before the tournant even began. The real suspense was in who’d get second place and below. But in the future... there wouldn’t be a single person who watched that tournant and forgot about the insane and shocking things that happened.
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