Chapter 8: The Final Round
Next day early morning,
As the Participants made their way toward the stage, the audience cheered wildly. But because it was the final round the tension in the air was increasing with every second.
After they were on the stage, they were greeted by Vice Principal George. The Vice Principal started by first congratulating the finalist and then saying the rules for the final round.
"After discussing the whole day yesterday, we have decided to make the final round the same as the year before. A one-on-one battle will take place among all the participants."
The participants looked at each other, every year the Royal Academy would select 200 students, but this time the number of participants was 401 which means 201 participants will be disqualified in this round. But the question was, how were they going to fight a one-on-one battle when the number of participants was 401?
Vice Principal George glanced at everyone with a smile and after noticing their worries he said in a calm tone,
"I know what you all are thinking but worry not. To make the number of participants even, we have decided that one lucky student will be exempted from the final round, directly entering the Royal Academy."
All the participants and even the crowd went wild hearing the Vice principal words. It was the first time in history that the strict Royal Academy was choosing someone based on luck.
The weak participants, who had less chance of winning in one-on-one battles started praying to become the lucky ones. But a certain someone had a hunch that he would be the lucky one, considering he passed the last two rounds with cheating.
Kyle looked at his brother, who was also praying for Kyle to become the lucky one. Then he looked at the Vice principal with a complicated expression. Entering the prestigious Royal Academy was good and he would gain a lot of resources through them, but now Kyle was having second thoughts.
Was the skill he learned this important that they were willing to let a weakling enter the Academy?
He knew in this dangerous and big world he was just a side character with meager power and normal looks, that's why he just wanted to have a normal life.
He was not cut to become a hero nor does he want to become one. It's not that he didn't have ambitions like others, he also wanted to become someone powerful in the future. But considering his talent was only (B)-Rank he knew not to dream of the impossible and accept reality.
"All the students will be given number plates according to their tokens. And I will call someone from the crowd to pick a random plate to decide on the lucky student. The rest of the students will fight one-on-one battles according to their number plates. The participants having number plate 1 will battle the participants with number plate 400, number 2 will battle number 399, and so on."
After announcing the rules Vice Principal George took out a big box before placing it in front of everyone. He randomly picked someone from the audience.
All the participants were given number plates according to their tokens, they all looked at the randomly picked person with expectations, she was an elderly woman who looked to be in her late fifties.
The elderly woman was happy to be picked, she went toward the Vice Principal and looked at the big box in front of her. With the Vice principal's signal, she put her hand inside the box and picked a random number plate from the box before giving it to the Vice Principal.
Vice Principal George looked at the number plate and announced the result with a loud voice,
"Token Number 1055, plate number 303 please step forward."
Kyle released a big sigh and stepped forward, he wasn't surprised at all because he already expected this to happen.
The Audience cheered as Kyle stepped forward but when they saw who it was everyone went silent. They all have seen Kyle's strange situation in the first round and he also passed the second round without any difficulty. And now he was also the one getting the lucky spot! How can someone be this lucky?
All the participants looked at Kyle with suspicion. They all had one thought in their minds. Is he cheating? but considering the Royal Academy never accepts deception and is always fair in their entrance test, no one voiced their suspicions.
Kyle's brother Neon stood up from his seat and cheered at the top of his lungs. He still can't believe Kyle the lazy ass of their family got into one of the biggest Academy in the kingdom. He wanted to rush to the stage and tell the whole world about his brother's luck, but they were still in the middle of the final round that's why he controlled himself.
Meanwhile, the Vice principal had a dazed expression on his face as he saw Kyle stepping forward from all the participants.
'The heck! How did this lad get selected.'
The Vice principal didn't know what to do anymore. He already talked to the Principal last night with the help of a communication crystal, and the Principal told him not to help Kyle.
Even though the Ice Dragon's inherited skill was important to the Principal, nonetheless he didn't want to have a useless student in his Academy.
'Even though he lacks potential, with this much luck even I am envious of him.' Thought the Vice principal inwardly before he snapped out of his dazed state.
The Vice principal asked Kyle to sit with the teachers instead of going back to the Audience seats. He just wished Kyle could learn something from the incoming battles.
The final round finally started, with twenty different participants fighting at the same time. Alec, Carcel, Mia, and Lara were not up against each other, it seemed the Academy made sure not to put the talented individual against each other. They didn't want to miss out on any talent.