Chapter 419 (Patreon)

The next day arrived and the people of the Northern Kingdom had been waiting for the final match of the annual tournament.

Excitement had spread throughout the capital long before the teams entered the arena. Merchants had gathered around the streets leading toward the academy, students from other years had crowded into every available seat, and even nobles who normally showed little interest in academy competitions had come to watch.

After all, this year's final had produced something the tournament had never seen before.

Team Gorgeous had reached the championship match without losing a single member. Not one competition pendant had been broken.

They had defeated every opponent with clean formations, careful coordination, and almost flawless execution. If they managed to win the championship without suffering a single casualty, their achievement would not simply be remembered as another tournament victory.

Their names would likely be written into something legendary in the history of the Northern Kingdom.

The odds, however, heavily favored Suri's team.

Boris's team had earned a completely different reputation.

They were reckless. Their battles were chaotic, unpredictable, and often looked as though they had been planned by ten people who had never spoken to each other before entering the arena. Some spectators believed their unusual approach simply caught their opponents off guard. Others thought they had been fortunate.

There were even people who insisted that Boris's team should never have reached the final. After all, they had nearly been eliminated in one of their earlier matches when half of their members had lost their competition pendants.

Their success was entertaining. Whether it was repeatable was another question. The final match was scheduled for the middle of the day, shortly after lunch, when the academy grounds were at their busiest.

Above the arena, the sky was bright and completely cloudless.

The sunlight poured across the enormous battlefield, illuminating the banners hanging from the surrounding walls. Even the weather seemed determined to cooperate, as though the gods themselves had decided to provide the perfect stage for the final battle.

King J was present. So were the highest officials of the Northern Kingdom. Their presence alone caused another wave of excitement throughout the crowd.

Everyone wanted to see the children from Saltrain Village.

Two years ago, the village itself was unknown. Now, one of them was guaranteed to become the champion of the annual tournament from the same unknown village. Not to mention, possibly the youngest champion the academy had ever produced.

For most of the previous decade, the championship had belonged to fourth-year students. Third-years occasionally managed to reach the final, but even that was considered unusual.

And there was another rumor that had survived from the previous year's tournament.

If the copper first year class students had not surrendered...

They might have become champions then as well.

The gates opened. The crowd erupted.

Suri's team entered the battlefield first. By now, the girls had grown accustomed to the noise. They walked forward without showing much reaction to the thousands of people watching them, their armor and equipment catching the sunlight as they moved.

Suri, however, received considerably more attention than the others.

“Suri!”

“Good luck, Suri!”

“Win the championship!”

A group of young men near the front began chanting her name. Suri glanced toward them. Then she smiled and waved. The cheering somehow became even louder. The other girls exchanged glances before continuing forward, some of them waving to the audience as well.

Every member of the team was fully equipped.

Armor covered their bodies, weapons hung from their belts, and various pieces of equipment had been prepared for the final. Even Suri was wearing the green robes and ridiculous-looking hat she hated. She had complained about it repeatedly. But she had agreed to wear it if it helped the team win.

Today, apparently, her pride had a lower priority than victory. Several moments later, the opposite gate opened.

Boris's team entered. Hen de Grey was the only one who bothered waving toward the crowd as they walked.

The others maintained serious expressions. Boris looked straight ahead. Andel carried his weapons. Roy walked quietly among the others. Adam, as usual, looked like he had been built specifically to make the battlefield feel smaller. Toby looked as though he was already regretting every decision that had led him here.

And then there was Thorne.

The little lizard was participating again. She wore her tiny armor, which had been specially fitted around her body, and held her head high as she walked beside the group. Every time someone in the crowd noticed her, her little neck seemed to perk up another inch.

She was enjoying the attention.

But something else immediately caught everyone's attention.

Adam was dragging something behind him. At first, the spectators assumed it was another casket. Then they got a better look.

It was difficult to call it a casket anymore.

The thing was enormous. It was perhaps five times larger than an ordinary casket and thick enough that several people in the audience began whispering among themselves.

“Even some of the officials looked confused.

Adam continued dragging it across the ground as though hauling an oversized piece of luggage into the battlefield were perfectly normal. Boris's team reached their starting position.

The announcer stepped forward.

His voice echoed across the arena as he began his speech, introducing the importance of the final and reminding the audience of the accomplishments that had brought both teams to this point.

Then came the introductions.

One by one, each member of Suri's team was announced along with their class.

The crowd responded with cheers.

Then Boris's team was introduced.

The cheers were noticeably different.

Some were enthusiastic.

Others sounded more like people waiting to see what disaster Boris's team would create this time.

Suri smiled proudly. Boris sighed. Then their eyes met.

For only a moment, the two looked directly at each other from opposite sides of the battlefield.

Suri quickly looked away while Boris did the same.

Both seemed to silently hope that the other would not take the final too seriously.

Boris, however, was not convinced. He knew Suri. At least, he thought he did. She had never been particularly competitive before.

Lazy, yes. There had been times when Kana had practically dragged her into training.

But now? Suri had developed a frightening habit of taking every competition seriously.

Boris squinted  his eyes. Is it because of Kana’s influence?

He remembered the way Suri had fought throughout the tournament. She was not lazy anymore when victory was on the line. She even wore something she hated.

The little lizard stared at him for a moment before looking toward Suri.

Boris followed her gaze.

Suri was standing on the opposite side of the battlefield, one hand resting near her staff while her eyes remained fixed on his team.

She smiled.

It was not her usual friendly smile. It was the smile of someone who already believed she had figured out how to win.

Boris's expression hardened.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Tody is going to be a hard day.”

….

The match began with a resounding explosion outside the arena.

BOOM!

The sound shook the ground beneath everyone's feet for a brief moment, sending a ripple of surprise through the audience. Several spectators instinctively looked toward the arena walls, wondering whether something had gone wrong.

It hadn't.

The explosion was one of the latest creations of the Scholarly Club.

They had apparently been attempting to develop a more powerful explosive, only to produce something that was almost completely harmless but loud enough to make the entire academy think the earth itself had cracked open.

For the audience, however, it was the perfect opening to the final.

The moment the sound faded, Suri's team moved.

They had clearly prepared for this.

The girls immediately moved, staying close enough that no one could easily isolate a member of their formation. Their movements were smooth, as though they had already repeated the opening sequence dozens of times.

“Barrier!”

Several layers of defensive skill formed around them. Dana moved next. She placed both hands against the ground and poured a tremendous amount of mana into the ground.

Wood erupted from the battlefield. Large branches twisted upward, thick enough to resemble young trees, spreading in different directions until they formed a maze around the team.

The structure consumed an enormous portion of Dana's mana.

Over half of it. But she had a reason for doing so.

Boris's team had built their reputation around confusion.

They attacked from unexpected directions, broke formations, and turned the battlefield into a chaotic mess where conventional tactics became difficult to follow.

Dana's maze was designed to prevent that.

By surrounding themselves with obstacles, they could limit the angles from which Boris's team could attack while forcing their opponents to approach them one at a time.

It was a counter specifically designed for the Muscle Team.

Except...

Boris's team didn't move. Not a single step. The audience slowly grew quieter.

Boris stood at the center of his formation. He stretched one arm forward and took a deep breath.

Then he reached toward the enormous casket behind him.

Even Boris struggled to lift it. His muscles tightened as he grabbed the thick structure with both hands. For a moment, it seemed as though the casket might be too heavy even for him.

Then he roared and heaved it upward. The enormous casket left the ground. And Boris threw it.

Not toward Suri's team.

Straight into the sky.

The massive object rose higher and higher, turning end over end as it climbed.

Suri followed it.

They had already simulated this.

Several times. The casket had been one of the biggest unknowns in Boris's team's arsenal during the previous matches, and Suri had spent plenty of time thinking about how to counter it.

If they threw the casket toward her team, she wouldn't destroy it.

She would redirect it. The plan was simple. Guide the casket away from them and back toward Boris's team, forcing them to deal with whatever they had placed inside.

Suri watched the enormous object continue rising.

“Just like we practiced.”

Yuri raised a hand above her eyes to block the sunlight. “Is it going higher than usual?”

Rin never took her eyes off Boris's team. “They should be running by now.”

She glanced toward the sky. “But they're not.”

Every member of Boris's team remained exactly where they were.

Waiting.

Rin frowned. “They're waiting for it to come down on us.”

Yuri gulped.“Maybe they're planning to release a lot of moving bones again?”

“Might be,” Rin said.

But something about it felt wrong. The casket was still climbing.

Then it reached the peak of its trajectory.

For a moment, it seemed to hang in the sky.

Suri prepared herself. Her eyes followed the enormous object as it began falling.

She waited. 

The casket continued falling.

Then...

Crack!

A section of its enormous body broke apart.

Suri's eyes widened.

Something white shot out from inside. At first, it looked like nothing more than a small cluster of bones. But as it descended, its shape became clearer.

A long skeletal body. Large wings. A sharp, bird-like skull. It was still high above them, making the creature appear small from the ground, but both Suri and Rin recognized it immediately.

Their eyes widened at the same time. “Tavis Titan!”

The creature's bones suddenly darkened. A strange black aura spread across its skeletal body. Then it turned its head downward. Its empty eye sockets locked onto Suri's team.

And it dove.

It didn't fly.

It couldn't.

Yet somehow, the enormous skeletal bird accelerated through the air as though gravity itself had become its weapon.

The creature's entire body became a projectile.

Suri's expression immediately hardened. That was not part of their simulations.

“Forget everything else!” She turned toward the three girls beside her. “Misty! Serene! Dana! Stack the barriers! Now!”

The three girls reacted instantly. They abandoned every other preparation and focused entirely on defense.

Mana surged around them.

One barrier appeared.

Then another.

Then another.

Layers of defensive magic overlapped above the team as the girls poured their mana into the spell.

Yuri looked upward. The shadow of the descending creature grew larger.

Much larger. The skeletal bird was no longer a distant shape in the sky.

It was coming straight toward them.

Suri clenched her teeth. “Hold the barrier!”

The Tavis Titan continued its terrifying descent.

And Boris's team still hadn't moved.

Post note:

Tavis Titan-the large bird from the early chapters where they were trying to get the egg of it.1st chap of the week!Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

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