Legacy of the Dark Sage

During the five minutes break, Kairo and the other army officers also had their discussion. They successfully eliminated Deo, but with Vanadin also out in the running, they barely maintained their advantage, with two wins and two draws.

Their wins would not be counted as a group because this was the Solo Competition. But if they did not play their cards well, Ganza and Osman would be the only ones moving to the Finals with an advantage of one win each.

Initially, they plan to have each one eliminate a Conclave member. Kairo would be forced to use 50% of his real strength to deal with Styx, but he was confident of winning against him. In any case, if they succeeded, they would all gain a win. Then Vanadin would resign to let the rest of them move up to the finals.

Alas, they miscalculated Disciple Tyr's strength. Though Vanadin getting eliminated was not a huge blow, the real problem was letting the former gain a win.

Their main objective was to have four members move to the finals. The reason they were doing this was simple. The Crown Princess promised to assign them their own divisions, with at least 2,000 officers, if they managed to eliminate the Conclave early in the competition.

It should be noted that, although Kairo and the rest had the rank of Major General, they did not have any men under them. The Royal Army had several mages with the same rank as them and no assigned divisions because most senior officers had yet to resign. Having their own division was equivalent to having more authority within the army, which was why they were willing to do anything, even agree to participate in the Joint Military Exercise though it seemed pointless to them.

"With Vanadin out, the matchup will move," Kairo told them. "Ganza, you already have one win, but your next opponent is Tyr. He will do something to win against you."

Ganza snorted, "I'd like to see him try."

"Your strength is not that much different with Vanadin," Osman said while looking at him with a slight sneer. "Tyr is only a Master mage but he managed to waste Vanadin. I heard he managed to hold his own against Lumley's Exalted mage. Honestly, I did not believe it. But now, I think that rumor has some truth."

Ganza scowled at him, "The Mercenary Hall Master saved his ass. That Exalted was not even trying."

"He won against Rhys," Rivka suddenly said, with a blank expression and a monotonous tone.

Among the five of them, Rivka mostly keeps to himself. He rarely joined in their discussion and would mostly be lost in his own thoughts. Then again, maybe because he was the only one who's not under Deputy Marshal Imman, like them, which was why he did not mingle with them much. Nonetheless, Kairo did care little about his character as long as he followed his arrangements.

"Rhys is a wuss. He's been a Master mage for years and is too scare to breakthrough," Ganza retorted.

"Tyr was only a High Adept when he fought Rhys," Rivka added.

His words immediately made the rest frown.

"What are you talking about? Tyr's mage level has not been updated after being away for more than a year, but he's already a Master mage when he fought Rhys," Ganza said.

Rivka did not respond. He only looked at them with a deadpan expression before looking away and staring into space.

Kairo looked at Rivka in silence. All of them knew about Tyr being a Master when he fought Rhys and found it strange the latter was unaware of it. But Kairo was not about to ask Rivka. He could already see how the latter would only look at him with a blank expression, anyway.

"... I see."

Rivka's monotonous reply made all of them look at him awkwardly. To be honest, they thought he decided to ignore them again.

"No matter," Kairo diverted the topic back on track. He looked at Ganza and said, "Drag the match and aim for a draw. He will face Osman next but the one who will take him out will be Rivka."

Ganza frowned at this, "Why?"

"You already have a win. If we want all four of us to move to the finals, Rivka will have to win at least once."

"He can aim for Tilda then."

"Osman will take her out."

"Osman? Then he will have two wins!"

Osman snorted, "Does it matter? Even if I win twice as long as the other side doesn't have anyone left, we all go to the finals. Besides, it's your fault for not giving her a fatal wound."

"Humph," Ganza crossed his arms, "She got lucky and evaded my sneak attack. Anyway, I wanted to throw her at least several meters and let her have a bad fall. But I miscalculated. I didn't realize she was that heavy."

"Excuses," Osman snorted.

"Shut up," Ganza retorted. He looked at Kairo and asked, "What about Styx? Who will take him out?"

"If all his matches ended with a draw, he will not advance," Kairo answered matter-of-factly.

"And you? Are you going to go after that Rake?"

"Yes."

Ganza heaved a deep sigh, "Fine. I'll play around that Tyr." A sinister smile appeared on his lips as he added, "As long as the match ended with a draw I can do anything to him right?"

"Do whatever you like. The Crown Princess values his Array Talent so just make sure you keep his head intact."

Ganza let out a mischievous laugh, "Alright. I'll just aim for a limb or two."

"Be careful with his Teleportation array," Osman reminded him.

"It is fine. I don't think he will be able to make another one," Kairo said while looking over at the Conclave's corner. Right now, the subject of their conversation had already finished replenishing the materials inside his wooden staff and had returned to sit with the rest of the Conclave members.

"I'll take my time with him then," Ganza said. But then he chuckled and said, "Ah, right. We only have five minutes each match. Such a pity."

"Yes," Rivka suddenly said. "Such a pity."

The three looked at him. But seeing him looking into space again made them wonder if what he said were meant to agree with Ganza or if it was because of something entirely different.

In the end, the three ignored him and waited for the Courtenay announcer to resume the match.

A minute later, the arena had been restored, and the female announcer announced the continuance of the competition.

"Participants for the sixth match, Tilda of the Conclave against Royal Army's Major General Osman!"

As soon as the matchup was announced, Tilda could not help but look at Kyran's profile. She had some doubts when he told them how the matchup had been arranged, but hearing the announcer just now, it seemed he really was correct.

"You know what to do Tilda," Styx said.

Tilda took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah."

Kyran told them Osman would likely try to take her out because her surviving the first match was not part of the army's plan.

The timer above started when Tilda and Osman entered the arena, and the announcer raised her hand before it struck 5:00.

"Sixth match, start!"

Tilda immediately took the axe on her back and held it in front of her with both hands.

On the other hand, Osman summoned a red magic array behind him and charged at Tilda. Small fireballs appeared and hovered on both his side. With a wave of his hand, these fireballs shoot forward.

"Rawrgh!" Tilda roared as light yellow magic arrays circled her arms. In an instant, both her arm muscles increased, which in turn made her body grew a few inches.

This was Tilda's magic, Augmentation.

She raised her axe above her head and, ignoring the incoming fireballs, slammed it on the ground.

BAM!

The ground exploded, with chunks of asphalt flying in different directions.

"ORA!"

Tilda stomped her foot on one of the bigger chunks of asphalt on the ground, forcing it up to block her path. The moment Osman's fireballs arrived, they hit the asphalt, which served as her shield from the bombardment.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The makeshift shield was riddled with holes from the fierce attack. Smoke filled the air, obscuring both Tilda and Osman's view.

"Humph," Osman sneered. He knew Tilda planned to use the smoke to hide her movements before launching a sneak attack. But he would not let her do as she pleases.

Without stopping his initial charge, he changed the rune writings on the active magic array behind him and in an instant, his body erupted in flames.

From within the smoke, Tilda ran toward her left while keeping an eye on her surroundings. She gripped her axe tightly before making a sudden stop and then changing direction.

The range of her magic sense was not that large, only about five meters. But it was enough to know when someone was near. Just now, she sensed Osman closing in, and it appeared he was enveloped in flames again.

Using her Augmentation magic, she further increased her body's muscle fibres before dashing out of the smoke and toward Osma.

"Rawrgh!" Tilda roared as she jumped, with her axe high above her head, poised to hit Osman's head.

Osman sneered as he turned to his right. He already sensed where Tilda was. He looked up to see her coming down at him with her axe.