Ti flew like an arrow, and the preliminary rounds ended with swift efficiency. One hundred and twenty-eight students had erged victorious from the initial chaos, their nas now etched on the boards for the main competition.
Over the past few days, students like Azrael who had received automatic advancent had been subjected to the Organizing Committee's mandatory attendance requirents, forced to occupy the bleachers daily to watch the matches in progress. From Azrael's perspective, this was nothing more than a colossal waste of precious ti, hours that could have been better spent in ditation or training.
"Bureaucratic nonsense," Azrael muttered to himself as he watched another predictable match unfold below.
Logically, these advanced students should have been allowed to return ho after the opening ceremony and simply wait for the main competition to begin. But apparently the court officials of the Empire of Aetherlight had other ideas about how their ti should be spent.
Aside from Azrael, only Gabi from Silverbrook High School had managed to advance from her school to the main competition. This didn't particularly surprise Azrael; he had observed her steady progress over the months, watching as she thodically created additional Black Iron level cards to compensate for the inherent limitations of her Three-Tailed Fox.
Based on Azrael's analysis, Gabi's next logical path of advancent would be to evolve her Three-Tailed Fox into a Six-Tailed Fox, probably at the Gold level. After all, he'd seen her father Gustav's Six-Tailed Fox in action, and that card was definitely Silver or higher. However, the Demon Fox series presented unique challenges; the evolutionary leaps from three tails to six tails to nine tails created massive gaps that required creative storytelling to successfully bridge.
If Gabi couldn't create additional narrative elents like Azrael had done with Yoriichi's transformation, she would likely face serious obstacles. Without reaching Bronze level status, she'd probably be eliminated in the main competition rounds.
Fortunately, Gabi had real talent. Otherwise, she might not have survived the preliminaries at all. Azrael's observations over the past few days had revealed sothing disturbing: nurous Bronze-level Lore Cardians had entered the preliminary rounds despite their advanced status. Whether they were hiding their true strength or had only recently reached Bronze, their presence ant that the competition was far more dangerous than initial assessnts had suggested.
Azrael's group assignnts had been announced. Since he'd skipped the preliminaries, his group contained a total of five competitors, aning that each participant would face four matches in a round-robin format.
In addition to himself, Azrael's group included another Bronze-level Lore Cardian nad Sasha, whose skills had been revealed during the preliminary rounds. In Azrael's estimation, her power was relatively modest; the cards she had shown during the preliminaries were Bronze-level Purple quality at best. While that was a devastating advantage against Black Iron-level opponents, it wouldn't be enough against Azrael's skills.
Had she been assigned to any other group, Sasha might have had a real chance at advancent. Unfortunately, fate had placed her directly in Azrael's path.
Since deceased cards were subject to a twenty-four-hour cooldown, sa-group matches could not be completed within a single day. Whether by special arrangent of the Organizing Committee or simple luck, Azrael had no scheduled matches today. The value of the delay was questionable; after all, he would face each group mber in turn, regardless of the timing.
However, it provided an excellent opportunity to study Sasha's cards more thoroughly. His previous glimpse during the preliminaries had been disappointingly brief.
From his position in the stands, Azrael studied Sasha's summoned card with analytical focus.
"Ghost type," he concluded with certainty.
The identification was straightforward, its normal human card hovering eerily above the ground with no visible ans of support? Spirit-type cards had significant advantages over lower-level physical cards, using their incorporeal nature to devastating effect.
However, as the old saying goes, "ten thousand demons cannot enter the holy realm. Pure spirit types faced increasing restrictions at higher levels of play. Death-type mythological systems from various cultures, sun-based mythological fraworks, and nurous other power systems all had effective counterasures against spectral entities.
For example, while high-level Underworld cards retained ghostly characteristics, they were more accurately classified as divine entities rather than simple ghosts.
If Azrael only possessed Luffy, this matchup would indeed be challenging. Victory would still be possible, but he'd be forced to reveal Luffy's Gear Third techniques, trump cards he preferred to keep hidden. After all, Luffy still didn't have access to Armant Haki, let alone Conqueror's Haki.
Luckily, Azrael had turned Yoriichi into a Soul Reaper, creating the perfect counter to Ghost-type opponents.
On the field below, Sasha's card unleashed its devastating potential. With the triple advantage of level superiority, quality dominance, and type effectiveness, she claid both of today's victories with almost contemptuous ease. Her opponents barely managed to put up a fight before they were overpowered.
However, this dominant performance confird Azrael's suspicion that there was no third Bronze-level Lore Cardian in their group besides himself and Sasha. The competitive gap was simply too great.
The following rounds proceeded with predictable speed. Azrael thodically dismantled his Black Iron-level opponents, while Sasha continued her own streak of effortless victories. Their paths inevitably converged toward the final confrontation.
Heading into the final day, both competitors had perfect records of nine points each. Today's match would determine who would advance to the elimination rounds and who would go ho.
The stands were filled with an unusually distinguished audience. Nearly every guest who had attended the Opening Ceremony had turned out for this pivotal competition. Several factors drove their interest: this was the final day of the main competition, with relatively few matches remaining, and Azrael had been designated a priority target for observation throughout the event.
While his previous opponents had all been Black Iron level, today he would finally face another Bronze level Lore Cardian. Such a confrontation was exactly what the assembled dignitaries had been waiting for.
On the field, Sasha regarded Azrael with undisguised caution. Hailing from Pengcheng in the northernmost region of Greenridge Province, she had no information about her opponent beyond his status as a seeded player who had received an automatic bye.
Underestimating such an opponent would be foolish in the extre.
"As long as his cards lack Energy-type attacks, victory is still possible," she silently calculated.
During the preliminaries, Sasha had encountered another Bronze-level student who had clearly underestimated Ghost-type traits, falling prey to her superior tactics and preparation. She intended to repeat that psychological warfare today, luring Azrael into the sa tactical errors.
In the gallery, Gabi's expression darkened with concern. Her father's position as Association Director had provided her with extensive knowledge of Ghost-type cards and their low-level advantages. She understood exactly how problematic this matchup could beco, especially knowing that Azrael's Bronze-level cards leaned heavily toward physical combat styles.
Standing beside her, Yurek voiced the question that haunted his thoughts, "Can Azrael actually win this?"
As an ordinary student with no advanced knowledge of Lore Cardian, Yurek saw little aningful difference between Azrael and Sasha beyond their shared Bronze-level status. Despite their classroom friendship, he couldn't muster confidence in Azrael's victory.
Gabi shook her head thoughtfully. "Winning shouldn't be the real problem, but he'll probably have to reveal his card information."
Her assessnt was based on careful observation; even though Azrael had never explicitly stated Luffy's quality level, she strongly suspected that it was Gold level or higher. However, the type disadvantage might force him to use all of his cards, eliminating any tactical advantage for the elimination rounds.
"Unless Azrael has additional cards we haven't seen," she mused aloud.
The speculation wasn't unreasonable. After all, Azrael had reached Bronze level a month and a half ago. Continued improvent in that ti would be natural for soone of his abilities.
The referee's whistle broke the tension in the arena, and a figure materialized before Azrael in response to his summons.
A man in flowing black robes appeared, his presence exuding an otherworldly authority that imdiately caught the attention of any observer. The design of the uniform was clearly alien to the aesthetics of this world, suggesting origins in distant mythological fraworks.
Seeing this familiar yet transford figure, Gabi's pupils contracted in shock. "This is..."
She recognized the card Azrael had summoned, the sa one he'd used during the rank tests at their academy. However, Yoriichi had been Black Iron level during that earlier demonstration. His current appearance showed dramatic differences from those earlier manifestations.
"He advanced to the Bronze level?" she whispered in amazent.
More worrying was her mory of Yoriichi's previous limitations. In his Black Iron incarnation, he hadn't shown any particular advantages against ghostly entities, proving more effective against zombies and ghouls than disembodied spirits.
"Azrael," she breathed, understanding that this match would reveal far more than anyone expected.
The murmur of the crowd grew as they witnessed the manifestation of the unusual card. University representatives leaned forward in their seats, notebooks appearing as they prepared to docunt whatever abilities this mysterious figure would display.
Sasha's confidence wavered slightly as she studied her opponent's choice. Sothing about the dark-robed figure felt fundantally wrong, not in terms of power level, but in terms of conceptual opposition to her ghost-type advantages.
Azrael stepped back, allowing Yoriichi to take his position on the field. His expression remained carefully neutral, but inside he felt a surge of anticipation. This would be Yoriichi's first real combat test since his transformation into a Soul Reaper.
The stage was set for a confrontation that would not only determine advancent, but also reveal new depths to Azrael's growing arsenal of supernatural allies.
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