The Golem Mage

The next day came and it was finally time for the remaining ten teams that had progressed to face each other—and funny enough, this time the War God Mage Academy was fighting in the very first match.

War God Mage Academy vs Argent Guild

Solarium Sanctum vs Bloodline Academy

Battle Mage Academy vs Ember Citadel

Crimson Dawn Academy vs Shinsei Academy

Blades Clan Team vs School of Silent Night

Even though there were only five matches to decide the five teams that would move on to the next stage, every matchup looked so tight that even the fans found it hard to predict who would advance to the next stage.

There were also the neutral fans who just supported any team that fought well, and they were having a hard time looking at the new fixtures, because no matter who won, they were guaranteed to lose a couple of top teams after this round.

So, rather than spoil their mood, they simply decided that they would cheer as hard as they could for each of the clubs playing.

With all the teams ready in place, the first two academies to face off were called onto the waiting area, as the judge began to announce that this battle would follow a slightly different format from the previous day:

As only five members from each team would be fielded, while the rest would have to act as reserves in case their team advanced and one of their top fighters was too injured to continue in the next round.

Hearing this made Alec snicker, as he immediately realized this rule had been put in place to restrain the War God Mage Academy.

When all eleven of them qualified in the last round, the judges hadn’t thought much of it, since they had been banking on Ashmaw Academy to defeat them. But now that plan had failed, they had tweaked the rules a little in the name of “fairness,” to make it look more like a proper team battle because they had realized that the war god mage academy having eleven fielded mages was too much of an advantage.

The moment the announcement was made, the entire War God Mage Academy team turned to look at Alec, eager to see who he would choose to fight in this round.

While his team was looking toward him, Alec was focused on the Argent Guild on the other side, watching to see who their captain would choose.

Once he saw the five selected, he made his decision on who to send forward.

“For this round, the five who will be representing us are Knight, Endrick, Pale, Sophia, and myself,” Alec said.

Those who were picked brightened with excitement, while the ones left out felt a bit down, though they still patted their teammates on the back and wished them victory.

Only Lucas and Beatrice didn’t show any strong reaction to Alec’s choices.

Unlike most captains who simply picked their strongest fighters for every battle, Alec had always been a bit unique, he didn’t mind choosing a more diverse lineup that could counter the enemy team.

And most of the time, the team he picked might not have had the raw power to match their opponents, but he still sent them out there to give them the much-needed experience they required to break past their current limits.

“The teams have both picked the five who will be representing their academies, and from the War God Mage Academy side, we have the captain leading them,” the judge said as he appeared on the stage, turning toward the War God Mage Academy’s side as he began announcing the participants.

“Alec Gordons, Knight Gordons, Endrick Gordons, Sophia Gordons, and Pale Zero,” the judge called out one by one as they stepped onto the stage.

It wasn’t that he knew their names personally; but there was someone backstage using a facial recognition spell to scan each mage as they entered, then swiftly transmitting their names to the judge through voice transmission.

The judge simply spoke them aloud smoothly, without letting the crowd notice the brief pauses where he waited for the next name.

By this point, all five members had already entered the battle ring, and the judge turned toward the Argent Guild’s side, about to begin announcing their lineup.

“Now, from the Argent Guild team, we also have the captain leading them forward—Rodric Vale. Along with him is the vice-captain Serena Marq, and following is Cassian Dome, Talia Frost, and finally, Grayson Holt,” the judge announced as the crowd erupted into cheers.

There was a different atmosphere in the stadium today, and that was because, for the first time, it wasn’t just high-rank executives and participants seated inside.

The citizens and fans who had travelled from all over the five kingdoms had finally been allowed to watch the battles from within the stadium itself.

This was only possible because, after yesterday’s round, the judging committee—who called themselves the Mages of the Origin World—had invited a mage with a high level of inscription mastery to set up a powerful protective array around the stadium.

This array was designed to block shockwaves and stray attacks from reaching the stands, ensuring the safety of the fans they wanted to give an up-close chance to witness the battles.

New inscriptions had also been drawn across the arena-wide battle ring; the ring had been destroyed far too many times the previous day, causing multiple delays between matches, since special mages had to be called onto the stage to infuse mana into it in order to accelerate its recovery before the next battle could begin.

Even though that process only took a few minutes each time, the Origin World mages, who always chased perfection, saw it as an unnecessary waste.

So they had their inscriptionist raise the durability and strength of the battle ring to withstand peak even Tier 7 battle prowess.

It cost them a lot to get everything ready, but to them, it was worth every bit, as at this moment, the roar of the crowd gave the entire arena a completely new feel.

However, the fact that they had now opened the arena to low and mid-rank mages who used to watch from outside didn’t mean they had shut down the four aerial viewing screens at the four axis of the palace.

On the contrary, even after filling the stadium to capacity, the screens were still active, and there were still countless mages outside watching from all four viewing axis, and there were even more people present than the day before.

This was because, as if by miracle, many more had travelled from afar to witness the continuation of the Origin Competition, and fortunately the arena have been open to some se of people or the Four aerial viewing centers would have been so over crowded.