Capítulo 1068: He Is Back 3.

The entire crowd was going wild as the next day finally arrived, there was ponly one battle happening that day but it just so happens that it is the one they’d all been waiting for, the match that would decide which team would join the other three academies as one of the semi-final academy contenders.

Mages from the Central Kingdom seemed to be cheering the loudest, clinging desperately to the hope that the mages from the Blade clan must have learned from their mistakes now and would finally work together this time around, and they were also banking on the fact that, they’d already triumphed in two previous loser’s bracket matches and came out on top.

Their fans were praying for that same magic to strike again, which would give them the edge over both the War God Mage Academy and Shinsei Academy.

For many spectators, the War God Mage Academy team barely registered as a threat in the battle that was about to unfold; they’d come to watch what they assumed would be the team’s last match.

Despite the War God Mage Academy showing great promise in earlier stages, rumors had spread like wildfire that Lucas’s injuries were severe and wouldn’t be able to participate, and even though the healing department had done their best to help him out, without external aids like healing pills or advanced resources, it would be impossible to restore him to full health.

There was also buzz about the girl from the Marionette clan, who is still unconscious. Before her last battle, no one had paid much attention to Beatrice, but now almost everyone wanted to know more about the lady who commands a Tier 7 living puppet from the Ancient Marionette clan.

With these swirling rumors about their key players’ conditions, no one truly saw the War God Mage team as a serious contender in the three way team battle about to unfold.

Most just felt it would come down to a showdown between the Blade clan and Shinsei Academy, and since news of Hoshino Ren’s condition had been kept under tight wraps, fans from the Central Kingdom began spinning their own wild theories.

Claiming that he might not have fully recovered after his intense battle against Ember Citadel, and that Shinsei was just covering it up because they didn’t want any of their fans finding out they’d lose so soon.

_ _

While the fans in the stands debated fiercely about who would come out on top, Old Man Alderic and the Dean entered the VIP section a bit late, only to realise that the other deans and heads from the various institutions that had participated in the origin tournament were already seated.

Snickers and snorts rippled through the room as the Central Kingdom and Eastern heads clustered together, it was clear they were showing solidarity with the other two academies in the match, not that Old Man Alderic minded.

In fact, the sight made him grin inwardly, from their expressions, he could tell that the news of Alec’s return hadn’t circulated yet.

This prompted him to glance up at the elevated VIP section, slightly offset to the side, where he could see the judges and key figures: ancient clan patriarchs from other kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom’s king, and emissaries from the other royal courts.

The king’s face only widened Alderic’s grin, he knew without a doubt that the monarch was behind all the leaked news and rumors, like the details of Beatrice’s and Lucas’s injuries spilling out.

The health department answered to him, after all, making such information easy to obtain, and since he despised the War God Mage Academy, he’d found ways to spread it while feigning ignorance.

He’d even circulated tales of Alec fleeing the team because he knew he couldn’t win. But that smear hadn’t caught on, as the fanatics supporters of the War God Team who overheard anyone badmouthing Alec went so far as to beat up the rumormongers.

“Old man, you seem to be smiling from ear to ear, don’t tell me you’re that eager to watch your team lose,” one of the Shinsei elders sneered, causing many other high-rank members there to burst into laughter.

Though many of them had seen Old Man Alderic accompany the Dean each time, However, not all of them were truly aware of his real identity.

To them, he was just another high elder from the War God Mage Academy who seems to have been sent to spy on the New Dean.

“Oh, let’s see who’ll be laughing at the end of the battle,” Old Man Alderic replied, but instead, all he incited was more rowdy laughter from the elders of various top institutions seated around.

Many of them had come solely to witness the downfall of the academies that wouldn’t advance to the semi-finals—after all, the academies of most of those laughing had already been eliminated.

As for the Deans and leaders of the various academies, they stared straight ahead, acting as if they couldn’t hear the disrespect being hurled at the War God Mage Academy by elders and instructors belonging to their academy.

But clearly, even Alderic knew they must have tacitly approved such displays.

He understood that the elders wouldn’t act this way without support from their deans—and indeed, those leaders said nothing, maintaining their hypocritical silence.

Alderic couldn’t help laughing inwardly when he saw this; he was ready for them to be utterly surprised later on when the battle started, it was then that even he realized that whenever Alec was around, he too felt completely at ease like the other member of the War God team , as if everything were winnable.

And after what Terran had told him yesterday about the Gordons clan’s unusual victory, even Alderic began to feel he might have been underestimating Alec far too much.

Unlike Terran, he suspected Alec might have something to do with why the Gordons clan had survived what seemed like certain calamity.

That’s why he was so confident they’d win this battle now that Alec was back, and just like that, the voice of the presiding judge drew the attention of everyone.

“People, it’s finally the time you’ve all been waiting for, the time for us to call on the three teams to come to the stage and duke it out to see who becomes the fourth team!” the man who appeared on the stage announced, as the crowd erupted into wild shouts once more.

From the crowd, only the Central and Eastern fans were cheering, with some neutral spectators joining in to throw shade at the notably quiet Northern side.