Chapter 890: The Gauntlet
'We have finally gotten to this point...'
Rey and Lucielle stared at each other as they waited in the hallway dedicated to their Squad. Despite having only four people present, the space felt suffocating, to say the least. However, unlike how Lucielle was breathing slightly unevenly, Rey was completely calm.
He had no choice but to be calm.
'We just have to do well and make sure to defeat the enemies, else these two won't let it slide...' He glanced at Shai'ya and Kat'erin. 'Plus, since it'll let me copy more skills up close, it's just better we keep winning... so I can advance.'
Of course, even though the strategy was pretty simple, Rey was not without his worries.
'The Dragon Emperor is present, isn't he?'
Didn't that mean there was a chance that he would be found out? Unlike Lucielle, who permanently turned herself into a Dragon for the mission, he was using a skill to achieve the same result.
Granted, it was Skill that had been elevated to the SS-Tier, but he wasn't sure if that would be enough to fool the Dragon Emperor.
'This is why I needed Ater to be here... and yet...'
Ater would have either stood in for him, or maybe come up with a method to work around the problem. However, without such a solution, Rey had to simply cross his fingers and trust in his skills.
He hoped he was just being paranoid.
'All the other Squads have their hall... and the competition-while being a little unbalanced- is pretty straightforward.'
The current strongest Squad will have to face every other Squad one after the other to defend their title. If the challenging Squad lost, the next squad would fight the defending champion, and this would continue until all the Squads were cycled through.
Of course, if the current champions lost to a Squad, that Squad would take the place of defending champion, and they would have to face the remaining Squads one after the other.
'I can already think of a few problems with this arrangement...' Rey sighed.
For one, it was unfair as hell.
The Frost Dragon Squad was currently the strongest in the Empire, and its leader was O'jog. Rey knew how strong their Squad was famed to be, and after meeting them in person during the briefing, he could say for sure that they were unmatched when it came to the rest of the Squads in the Empire.
'This gauntlet system makes it so that a lucky Squad might end up fighting the defending champions who could be exhausted at that point.'
For any normal tournament, that would be inequitable.
But-
'The Frost Dragon Squad is just that strong.' Rey smiled wryly.
He wouldn't be surprised if the members didn't break a sweat even after their adversaries fought tooth and nail just to make a dent. In essence, this matchup was unfair... for those competing against the Frost Dragon Squad.
It was obvious that they would be the winners of this Exhibition as well. At least, that would have been the case if Rey wasn't in the White Dragon Squad.
'Sorry, O'jog... but I think I'll have to disrupt that win streak of yours.' Rey smiled to himself, glancing at the rest of his teammates.
Lucielle still looked nervous, but Rey knew all of that would vanish once they stepped into the ring. What about the other two members?
'As expected... they're calm.'
Was it because they were experienced veterans? Or were they that confident in their abilities?
The answer to both was no.
There was only one reason why the two Dragons didn't display any fear.
They simply didn't feel any, to begin with.
'They're Undead, after all...' Rey's eyes glowed as he once again observed their Status Windows. Not only were they Undead, but they seemed to be pretty high-level ones.
'Just like with Justin, they don't resemble Undead at all, though...'
Rey didn't quite understand why they were like that, but he wasn't in any position to pay special attention to it. Besides, it wasn't like he could ask them, since that would expose his ability to see Status Windows.
Of course, he could always use one of his many skills to find out the reason behind their Undead State, but he just didn't bother doing something that would possibly compromise himself when it wasn't particularly important.
'I'll make sure to do it later once the coast is clear, though...' With that thought echoing in his mind, he shifted his gaze towards the arena.
The first match was about to start.
"Frost Dragon Squad versus Storm Dragon Squad!" The host's voice echoed loudly, even infiltrating the many hallways that housed the respective Squads.
'Storm Dragon Squad, huh? Isn't that Adrien's group?' Rey thought that, but he knew the boy wasn't participating in the Exhibition.
Attending an Academy was one thing, but participating in such an elite event wasn't something a mere human could do.
At least, not yet.
Instead, five Dragon Generals—each of considerably great power-stepped out of their assigned Hallway, walking directly towards the three Frost Dragon Squad members that were
already on stage.
Each of these Squads certainly had more members than the representatives that were on stage, but per the Exhibition rules, a maximum of five people and a minimum of two people were required to participate in a fight.
'Which is why I still wonder why Frey'ja didn't just add Adonis to our team and make us a complete set of five.' Rey nearly sighed.
It seemed the Storm Dragon Squad had enough sense to go with the maximum standard in order to stand the greatest chance against their adversary. Since they were the strongest Squad-right next to the Frost Dragon Squad-it was clear they were more than willing to do whatever it took to win.
'I see a few familiar faces.' Rey looked at three of the five Storm Squad members and instantly recognized them. 'I thought I killed them back on the Elf Continent, but I guess those were clones? Interesting... so Adrien actually turned them into Undead and donated them to the
Storm Dragon Lord.'
It was no wonder the Dragon Lord treated Adrien with such an exception.
"Representatives... get ready!" The host's voice roared out loud, and the Squad Members instantly took to their respective positions.
Any moment now, and...
"Begin!"
... The match entered full swing.
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
All the pieces are gathering, and the conclusion is slowly being built up. I wonder if any of you
can guess it...