While the Dean was busy bringing them up to speed on how the new battle format would work, outside in the arena the judge was already addressing the crowd, explaining the updated rules and how the match would be carried out.

_ _

After a few minutes, all the proper introductions had been completed by the judge. It was finally time for him to usher in the teams that would be competing.

“For the two matches taking place today,” the judge announced, “we will first have Bloodline Academy facing War God Mage Academy. The second match will be between the Ember Citadel Team and the School of Silent Night.”

From inside their tunnels, the teams could clearly hear the judge’s voice echoing through the arena.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t already know who their opponents would be, but hearing it announced again made everything feel far more real.

For the mages of Ember Citadel, simply hearing the name School of Silent Night sent chills down their spines. Even though no one openly talked about it, it had become an unspoken truth among the competing teams—everyone was trying their best to avoid facing them.

Not only had no one figured out a reliable way to counter Takeda, who still hadn’t even revealed his full strength, but fighting someone who possessed five bodies was already troublesome enough.

There were also rumors circulating that Takeda’s main bodies wouldn’t be considered summons under the new rules. The restriction only applied to external clones or summoned entities, meaning his core ability would remain largely unaffected.

As Babatunde sat quietly, listening from the Ember Citadel side, he couldn’t help but let out a small snicker.

To him, it almost felt ridiculous.

The judges had introduced a new rule that supposedly restricted certain abilities, yet it barely affected the School of Silent Night at all. If anything, it only placed small limitations on them while pretending the playing field had been balanced.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed as if the judges were subtly favoring Takeda—almost like they were quietly guiding him toward victory.

_ _

“Now let’s welcome the first team into the battle arena, from the right side, the mages of Bloodline Academy,” the judge announced, beginning the introductions.

As they stepped out, Dragov Dragonmir walked at the forefront, a short distance behind him was Damien, followed by Carmilla, Lupus Connor, and finally Kira Nightfang.

It almost looked as if they had arranged themselves according to their hierarchy within the team.

As usual, their uniforms were striking and stylish, as each mage wore the same base design, but the edges were accented with different colors, almost as if the uniforms had been tailored to complement each of them individually.

The primary color of the attire was a dark crimson-black, giving off an intimidating aura.

For Dragov, the edges of his uniform, designed almost like a military coat—were cyan. Damien’s accents were a vivid blood-red, perfectly matching the nature of his vampire bloodline, while Carmilla’s color was also red, but hers carried a slightly darker shade, far less bright than Damien’s.

Meanwhile, Lupus’s trim was silver, reminiscent of the moon, while Kira’s was pure black, making it seem as if her uniform carried no special accent at all.

The moment the Bloodline Academy team appeared, many of the high-class mages from the Northern Kingdom began to cheer loudly.

Meanwhile, the fanatical supporters of War God Mage Academy simply sat back and looked around with a certain air like the Bloodline Academy was none of their concern for the day.

To them, Alec had returned, and that alone meant that no obstacle truly mattered, they firmly believed that since Alec had once defeated Dragov, he would be able to do it again, this time with even less effort.

Seeing the northern crowd, which greatly outnumbered them, finally divided now that two academies from the Northern Kingdom were facing each other brought smiles to the faces of many mages from other kingdoms who had chosen to sit back and watch this match neutrally.

After all, the Northern Kingdom fans had been heavily mocked during the earlier stages of the tournament, and there was a saying back then that their academies would never amount to much, however now they had two academies in the semi-finals.

Thinking about it now, none of them had expected things to turn out this way.

The only Northern academy most people had truly rated from the beginning was Bloodline Academy, as not only had they proven their strength repeatedly, but records also showed that they were the official champions of the Northern Kingdom.

In fact, the remaining teams in the tournament were all champions of their respective regions, the School of Silent Night which represented the Eastern Kingdom champions, Ember Citadel which stood as the Southern Kingdom champions, War God Mage Academy who were the true champions of the Northern Kingdom, while Bloodline Academy were the champions personally chosen by the Northern King himself.

Of course, most people didn’t know the last few details, only the mages from the Northern Kingdom were aware of it, and none of them were eager to expose their king’s corruption.

As revealing such things would only give other kingdoms ammunition to mock them later during drunken arguments in taverns and pubs.

“Now, for the team they will be facing, let’s welcome the War God Mage Team!” the referee announced, this time pointing toward the opposite tunnel, inside the tunnel on the left side, Alec began calling out names.

“Lucas, Brandon, Endrick, and Pale. You guys will be participating in this battle with me.”

After saying that, Alec immediately stepped forward and walked out without waiting for anyone.

Lucas and Brandon didn’t seem surprised that their names had been called, almost as if they had expected it. Endrick, however, looked slightly startled, while Pale clearly hadn’t anticipated being chosen at all.

Even so, they quickly followed.

Brandon and Lucas stepped forward first, leaving the tunnel shortly after Alec, while Endrick and Pale came out just behind them.

To the audience, it looked as if Alec had entered the arena first, followed closely by Brandon and Lucas, with Endrick and Pale trailing slightly behind.

Almost immediately, many spectators turned their attention toward the customized uniforms of the War God Mage Academy, while the Fanatic Fc started cheering.

As usual, the base color was black with crimson red linings. Alec’s outfit was styled more like a kimono, decorated with the academy’s insignia and additional design elements that gave it a refined yet intimidating look.

Lucas and Brandon wore a more standard uniform design, long-sleeved tops paired with fitted combat pants, though Brandon’s outfit had buttoned cuffs along the sleeves, giving his attire a slightly different appearance.

Lucas’s long sleeves, however, were covered with intricate runic inscriptions, they were clearly newly added, and from the way they shimmered faintly, it was obvious that War God Mage Academy had invested heavily to upgrade their uniforms to Tier-5 cloth equipment.

As for Endrick and Pale, their styles were quite different from the others.

Pale’s uniform contained far more runes than the rest, and its design resembled that of a military officer’s service uniform, though it lacked the traditional white cap that usually accompanied such attire, but he had a more combatant pants instead.

Endrick’s uniform appeared more ordinary at first glance, but a closer look revealed numerous plant-type runes woven into the fabric. The embroidery carried a strange color. something between brown and gold, spreading across his uniform like subtle vines etched into the cloth.