"You can head that way if you’re injured and need healing..." the tiny voice echoed out from a Fallen lady who stared long at the holes on Ryuk’s body.
Only now did Ryuk remember—at the last second, he had refused to block all of the card attacks, in exchange for cleaving off Caelum’s head, and that had been enough for a few holes to appear on his body.
But it wasn’t that serious, as Ryuk could feel his own injuries rapidly closing.
He waved calmly at her before edging toward the seats and taking a place.
His eyes couldn’t help but scan the area, and Ryuk noticed a few things.
"All of the Ultima Ten are done with their opponents before me..."
Right now, the front row of the hall still contained the ten seats, and a total of ten Fallen geniuses were already sitting on it, seemingly waiting for the next round.
Counting the number of people around, Ryuk discovered he was number 12 currently in the room, meaning he was the second to finish his fights quickly.
A few gazes were drawn onto him—from the instructors and even the top ten themselves—as they looked at the unconscious Caelum by the side, who was busy with treatment.
It seemed they all were aware of the young man’s ability, as they looked at him while murmuring.
"Impossible. The human progressed to the next round and defeated Caelum Aegis."
"Caelum might possess no real combat ability, but he is still one of the top 12 Lost Families regarded."
"Their Mighty Skill, Reflecting Shield, makes them almost invincible."
"Even if Caelum were to be defeated, it would take a pretty long time, and somehow the human was able to easily defeat him—and so quickly too."
"He didn’t seem to suffer that much from fighting Caelum either..."
"Just how is that possible?"
The various murmurs were quiet, but with Ryuk’s sharp ears, he was able to easily pick everything up, even though he remained motionless to everything.
Not long after, another student appeared, and then another, and then another, until there were a total of 20 seated in the hall.
Ryuk couldn’t help but notice that this time, Quinn wasn’t sitting amongst them.
It didn’t take long for Ryuk to find him, as he was among the currently hospitalized students who had been injured and lost.
The state Quinn was in now wasn’t very bad, but he was unconscious, and Ryuk could see the few lines on his body, as if a blade had been carved into his skin.
It was slowly healing up, but it was so bad, Ryuk’s heart shook, and his eyes couldn’t help but settle on one of the top ten in the seat and soon narrow out the figure who could be responsible.
His answer came as fast as possible: a short Fallen genius of about 1.7 meters in height, oozing with an incredibly sharp blade aura.
"That must have been the work of Darius Crescent..." he muttered to himself silently as he looked at the back of Darius before eventually taking his gaze away.
Somehow, Ryuk didn’t feel much for the state that Quinn had been reduced to.
This was a competition, and the rules had been made clear.
They all vied for a spot, and it didn’t matter how they proceeded.
Badly beating up the opponent, and cases of torture like the one Quinn had seemingly faced, were all allowed.
In the end, the only thing that could be blamed was their strength.
If Quinn had taken his growth seriously, perhaps he wouldn’t have been reduced to such a pathetic state.
There was no need to take revenge for him or even any mention of revenge at all.
They all were just trying to win, and with all processes allowed.
"I hope he gets well soon..." he prayed, the only thing he could do, as all of the injured students began getting weaved out of the hall, leaving just the remaining 20 geniuses seated.
"Congratulations to the 20 of you who are still sitting down before me."
"You have all successfully completed the semi-final stage of the choosing and qualified to be in the final selection."
"Just like before, the rules are the same. You all will pick up your cards and fight against a random opponent."
"There are some of you who are still injured from your previous fights, so the final test will not immediately begin now but early in the day after tomorrow."
"But still, your choosing will be made now, so you become aware of which opponent you will be fighting in the next round..." the man said, as the Fallen lady stretched out her hand once more, and just like before, cards appeared in the air, a total of twenty, before rapidly weaving randomly amongst each other and floating to the top of every genius’ head.
With hearts loudly hammering in their chests, all of the geniuses moved their hands at the same time to pluck up a card, and Ryuk was no exception.
But when Ryuk saw the name on his card, his heart shook fiercely, furiously pumping within his chest as his eyes dilated uncontrollably.
On the card was the singular number "1"!
And immediately, Ryuk’s eyes snapped forward as he found the person already looking at him with a smirk.
It was none other than the Number 1 Genius of the Ultima geniuses.
The one who had been the first to complete the semi-final test.
"Ignatius Blade."
"The human will be my opponent. Hahahahaha..." Ignatius himself called out loud as all of the geniuses turned their shocked gaze to Ryuk, with some of them looking at him in pity while others simply clicked their tongues at his unluckiness.
"Somehow, he just had to pair up with the strongest of the Ultima geniuses."
"Well, at least we already know Ignatius will be earning himself a spot either way."
"The result wouldn’t have changed much if it was any of the geniuses either."
"Perhaps Morgaine or Calidor would have been able to do something, but then the chances of them pairing up are too low and now non-existent."
"This is just fate in the making..."
This time, it was the top Ultima Ten that were making the announcements, causing Ryuk’s eyes to narrow even more.
"Tch!"