Once Group A's match concluded at 7:15 sharp, Yu Shen immediately gathered the Rodova team and led them to the assigned changing rooms, with Major Hen and Professor David following closely behind.
The changing rooms, much like everything else hastily built for the circuits, were cramped — just ten small wall-mounted lockers per team. Still, given that they had to construct facilities for over 2,000 teams, the space constraint was understandable.
"Alright! My gear from the Phoenix Group finally arrived!" Su Yang said with barely contained excitement, drawing every eye in the room.
Instead of the standard team-issued armor, Su Yang's locker held his custom order — and judging by his smug expression, it was exactly what he had been waiting for.
"Oh my god, that hurts my eyes!" Enzo groaned, shielding his face as he stared at the gaudy set.
Su Yang had chosen an outrageous golden-and-red color scheme that, while matching his golden eyes perfectly, was otherwise bright enough to be seen from orbit.
"What the fuck is that armor, Yang? Are you trying to paint yourself as a goddamn target visible from a mile away?!" Professor David barked, his voice sharp with disbelief, while Su Yang simply smirked in response, looking unfazed by his words.
"Circuit rules only require the academy badge to be visible on all armor sets, while there are no other restrictions," Su Yang replied smugly, pointing to the Red Rodova Military Academy emblem on his armor set, as he took the piss out of David.
"So long as that's there, the rest is none of your business." He said, clearly undermining David's authority, as the professor's left eye visibly twitched at the insult.
"Listen, you little shit. You will not wear that eyesore in the forest map today. Save it for the individual rounds. As your instructor, I demand you take it off." David yelled, however, Su Yang simply shrugged in non compliance, as he brushed David's words aside as if he were nothing more than background noise.
"Oh, fuck off. Like hell I'd listen to you." Su Yang replied, as he continued to gear up in his gaudy armor, as David clenched his fists in a ball, before turning to Hen and Yu Shen for support.
David hoped that since he was talking sensibly, one of them would at least back him, however, much to his dismay both Hen and Yu Shen remained calmly indifferent to the subject, offering him no support, as he was forced to swallow his pride and back down.
Everyone in the room knew David had a point, yet none dared to intervene — after all, Su Yang wasn't technically breaking any rules, and nobody had the heart to rob him of his armor choice.
"Aww, hell no," Leo muttered as he checked his own locker, already sensing something was off.
Inside, instead of the pitch-black assassin armor he had requested, was a sleek dark gray and blue set. The base was a muted, near-black gray, but what stood out — much to his annoyance — was a soft blue scarf draped around the neck plate.
The armor was lightweight, flexible, and fit perfectly, exactly as specified in terms of function. But aesthetically, it wasn't what he wanted. It wasn't even what assassins usually wore. The design leaned closer to a fashionable military uniform than the standard assassin gear.
"Holy shit, your armor looks very cool, Skyshard! That Horizon Dominion branding in light blue really pops," Minerva commented, clearly amused, as Leo's frown deepened.
The Horizon Dominion group had been crafty with the armor badging.
While the Rodova emblem was present, it was etched in dull black, nearly invisible against the dark gray armor, but still technically satisfying regulations.
And in contrast, Horizon's own logo — was printed in bold and crisp light blue — which stood out glaringly on his chest, wrist plates, neck scarf, and even on the hilt of every dagger he carried.
*Sigh*
Leo sighed, realizing he looked less like an assassin and more like a walking advertising billboard, as he was covered in Horizon badging from head to toe.
However, despite being a little pissed about wearing such an armor, Leo had to admit — it did look pretty damn good on him.
If one ignored the blatant branding, the dark gray and blue dual-tone matched perfectly with his fair skin and gray eyes, giving him a sharp, intimidating presence.
More importantly, the armor provided excellent mobility, feeling like a second skin as he moved.
Leo wasn't an expert in metallurgy, nor did he care to be, but even he could tell that this custom set was several kilograms lighter than Rodova's standard issue.
He had no clue how the Horizon Dominion managed to make it this light without sacrificing protection, but he wasn't about to complain about free agility.
"Team Rodova, reporting time in 30 minutes. Please queue up for mandatory teleportation spell casting," a tournament organizer announced, prompting Yu Shen to gather the team.
Without delay, they made their way to the nearest Transcendent Mage Station, where each of them was marked with the standard emergency teleportation seal — a critical failsafe to eject them instantly from the arena if they took excessive damage or suffered a life-threatening injury, or were just eliminated in general.
Once the process was complete, they lined up near their assigned entry gate, eyes drifting toward the massive countdown clock above the tunnel, steadily ticking away the minutes.
[00:05:49]
Yu Shen stood at the front, projecting calm and authority as he addressed the team one last time.
"This will be a walk in the park. The average opponent you'll face here won't even come close to the average classmates you have left behind in Rodova, so don't panic even if a few surround you."
His eyes swept over the team, voice firm but steady.
"Just remember to keep your heads open, and more importantly, watch out for your teammates. We don't need any heroes. We need points."
He raised a finger for emphasis.
"I want 100 points from each duo. No excuses. Got it?"
Yu Shen demanded, as the team nodded and cheered in response.
His speech helped kill some time and eased the team members' nerves, as when the clock dipped below [00:01:59], Yu Shen called for the team to huddle around him once again.
"Okay, come on, one last chant before we go out.
We are Rodova, and today we must fight with the pride of the 55 wins our academy has previously scored—" Yu Shen said, as he huddled the team around himself, as they let out one last chant in unison.
"Strength above all—Heart beyond strength— Rodova Forever!"
As with that, the clock timer finally hit [00:00:00], and the gates opened, allowing the Rodova team to enter the forest map from their designated entry gate.
—----------
Nobody wasted a second after the gate opened, as within 5 seconds, the 5 Rodova team sub-groups spread out in all directions looking for prey to kill.
Leo, focused and locked in, was hungry to score some crucial points, when not even 15 seconds into the preliminary round starting, he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, by his senior teammate Enzo.
"I'm the senior here, Skyshard, let me take the lead on where to go and fight, so that we can avoid unnecessary traps.
I've trained in the jungle during our summer camp…. So trust me, I know what I'm doing—" Enzo said, as he tried to play the role of a reliable senior.
However, Leo just shook his head in dismissal and threw a couple daggers near the nearby tree branch, as a hidden enemy suddenly fell down from the branch, being eliminated from the preliminary round.
"Huh? Where did he come from?" Enzo mused in shock, as Leo simply tapped on his head like he were a little lost puppy.
"Do you have [Absolute Vision] that can see everything happening in your surroundings without leaving any blind spots? Can you spot enemies hidden behind trees, leaves? Or those that dig holes in the ground to hide?" Leo asked, as Enzo shook his head in denial.
"I thought so…. So please shut up and don't slow me down… because I already know where the next 15 enemies are around us— and I can probably kill them all in under 5 minutes" Leo said, as he turned and locked in on the hunt once again, forcing Enzo to follow him around like a toothless puppy.