The week flew by.
October 1st, in the morning. One day before the start of the Tournant of Stars.
On this day, it is customary for the participating Guild Masters to visit the Awakened Association to confirm their participation, accompanied by two mbers of the main group.
Master Steward chose Elliot and Jenna to accompany them, as they were the ones who made it to the end.
As they walked through the halls of the Association, the group encountered soone a little peculiar, making them all frown.
Alexander Clark couldn’t believe he was seeing Elliot Clark in the flesh.
’Wasn’t he reported dead?’ His body even shuddered, wondering if he was seeing a ghost.
John was just as bad as him, if not worse.
"Elliot? You..." He couldn’t help but point directly at him, anger rising inside him.
Elliot smiled softly when he saw him, but Master Steward didn’t even utter a word before continuing on his way. He didn’t want to cause any trouble here.
Elliot followed closely behind him, and when he passed John, he put a hand on his shoulder.
"I’m back, John Clark, Clark family. You spent a lot of money last ti, but I’m still back. Are you surprised? Hehe, don’t be too surprised. Soon, the surprise will be even bigger. I’ll be waiting for you in the arena." After that, he pushed Elliot slightly, forcing him to take a few steps forward.
’So powerful?’ he thought, shocked, and looked back, his anger growing.
But before John could react, Alexander Clark moved abruptly to grab Elliot’s neck: he wanted to kill him imdiately, so his hand was destined to crush his neck.
Even so, before his attack could land, a black sword reacted by getting between them, and at the sa ti, Master Steward’s hand firmly grasped the attacking hand.
"Clark, what’s with the arrogance? What are you doing with such murderous intent toward one of our mbers? Do you want to fight ?"
Alexander frowned when he saw another hand grabbing his arm. He even ignored that soone else had displayed Master Rank power.
"Steward, do you want to fight?"
"You and ? Hahahaha, do you think you’re worthy?"
Alexander shook his arm with all his might, managing to break free from Steward’s grip. His power shook the room and rattled the clothes of those present, causing Steward to face him directly.
"Are you really going to get in the way of revenge, Steward? Your Angelic Wave... is not worthy of withstanding our wrath."
"Your anger? Heh, it seems you have so backing. I wonder if they’re enough to withstand ours."
"..."
Seconds later, Alexander withdrew his power and glanced sideways at Elliot. "You did well this ti. Let’s see how long your luck lasts." Then he turned and left.
John, at his side, decided not to say anything either. He simply shot Elliot a hateful look before leaving.
"Aren’t you afraid to get involved in this, Mr. Steward?" Elliot asked as he watched the Clarks disappear from view.
Steward glanced at him sideways. "Afraid? I don’t know the aning of that word. Besides, the Clarks are not worthy."
"Haha." Elliot agreed that they weren’t worthy. "You’ve investigated , so you should know who my father was. Do you really think only the Clarks are involved in that?"
"Well, who knows?" he replied. "The world is a big place, Elliot. There are a lot of powerful people out there, but that doesn’t an we have to live in fear of them. Besides, I’m just protecting a mber of my guild. If you ever want revenge, that’s on you."
Elliot had nothing more to say. What he was saying made a lot of sense, and he was right.
So the three of them went their separate ways, with Jenna silent, seemingly studying the situation or not thinking about anything in particular.
--
As they walked away from the scene, Alexander Clark and John Clark stopped at a corner.
"What happened? I’m pretty sure he was reported dead," Alexander said, staring at his son.
He wanted to reprimand him for the failure.
But this ti, his son had sothing to defend himself with.
"...Father, I only managed to find one ally for this raid. The failure of a mission in which you participated more than I did has nothing to do with ."
"You..." Alexander almost exploded with rage, but he knew how to calm himself quickly, like a good Master.
He seed thoughtful about several things. Moving so many people had cost them a lot of money.
They had even taken advantage of the situation with Broken Leaf and caused internal chaos... But they had failed to kill their only target?
Worse still, they had reported him dead when he wasn’t even injured.
That made him furious.
"Father, I want him dead too. But that bastard seems to be pretty slippery," John complained.
Alexander looked at him and sneered. "Bastard, you had your chance to kill him and you blew it. You cost an item that could be worth 30 million! You were humiliated by that slippery cockroach!"
John was forced to lower his head. That was his mistake.
"I underestimated him that ti, Father," he said, but he looked up again and his eyes flashed with hatred. ’But I’ll kill him. It’s only a matter of ti. With any luck, I could kill him tomorrow."
"...I hope so," Alexander said, stopping to look at his son. "I hope so." He repeated. Then he leaves.
’...Such a grand plan failed to kill him. Soone who cos out of Tall-Or can’t do it by luck. As expected, that bastard has your blood, you bastard brother.’
’But don’t worry. Soon I’ll send him out of this world.’
--
After returning to the guild that day, all the mbers of the Angelic Wave team were taken to a room where a large television was on, showing information about the Tournant.
There were only 10 people in the room.
Andrew Koval, the team leader and the Hamr Guy.
Elliot Clark, the rising star.
Jenna White, the Sword Master.
Chris, quiet and calculating, a good backup strategist.
Rich Ford, Speaker with Legs.
Philip Taceo and Andy, the two bench players. One is an Attack Fire Mage and the other is a Defense Fire Mage.
Further back were Steward and two more Professors, the team’s strategic leaders.
This large group watched intently as the television broadcasted the tournant format and rules.
Not even they knew all the rules, because they tend to change from one tournant to another.
There they were, introducing the team’s first.
Among those that stood out in Elliot’s eyes were Team Clark, Broken Leaf, and Elental Academy, because they had the current strongest Star Knight.
Among the participants, there were a few who stood out, either because they were heavily promoted (John Clark) or because no one expected them to be there (Elliot Clark).
Many of those who had t him before were surprised that he was participating. Wasn’t he a misfit?
Thanks to this, rumors about his awakening spread like wildfire, and even social dia began to discuss him extensively.
He was trending.
There were eight teams in total: Angelic Wave, Clark Group, Ashle Group, Falcon Fury, Broken Leaf, Golden Eagle, The Cats, and Elental Academy.
And the tournant was pretty simple, but it would be full of action.
It was a classic tournant, starting with the quarterfinals, but with a double-elimination format.
That is, if soone loses once, they will be relegated to the losers’ bracket and must lose a second ti to be eliminated from the tournant.
Those in the losers’ bracket will have to play more matches, but they can still reach the final in the sa way.
That was all.
Now, as the most basic tournant of all, it takes place in a single location: the Battle Arena. The battles are... Seven Against Seven.
Steward frowned when he heard that on the Association’s TV.
"Seven? Did I hear that right?" He looked at the teachers beside him, and they were also confused.
"Why did they change the rule?"
Everyone was confused, but the TV clarified the rule again, and indeed, seven were going to participate.
"This is strange." Steward said, grabbing his cell phone and suddenly stepping out to make a call...
A few minutes later, he returned looking slightly annoyed.
"Those bastards," he complained, but then went back to watching the TV.
The explanations of the rules continued to co. They were all the sa, except for that one. Shortly after, the broadcast ca to an end.
’Tsk, whatever. They caught us off guard with that rule, I guess it’ll be harder to win now.’ Steward sighed and stood in front of the boys.
"Go back and rest. We’ll have a final eting tonight, where we’ll discuss how to approach this new rule and so strategies."
After a brief farewell, Elliot and the others returned to their temporary rooms inside the guild.
anwhile, one of the teachers approached Steward.
"Sir, don’t you find this strange? At the last minute, they changed such an important rule, even breaking an unwritten rule of the System. Could there be soone behind this?"
"Huh." Steward shrugged, still annoyed. "If there were anyone, only those from the Academy would have enough power to do it, and they have the team to do it."
"Huh? What do you an?"
"Didn’t you see? Those seven Academy kids have a class selection and skills that are just right for a group of seven. anwhile, so of us still have to repeat the sa elent to et all the team’s needs."
The teachers nodded in understanding.
"I see... that could be the case. But, what’s the point?"
"Who knows." Steward left the room with those words.
--
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