The eighth battle ended much faster than anyone could have predicted, it was between Gates Academy, which represented the Northern Kingdom, and Shinsei Academy, representing the Eastern Kingdom.

Just like the other two Eastern academies that had already won in record time and with overwhelming style, there were high expectations placed on the Shinsei academy also—and they truly lived up to it.

In a way, they were similar to Ashmaw Academy in technique, but instead of bonding with demonic beasts, they bonded with spirits instead, and the captain of Shinsei Academy had bonded with a high-rank spirit.

A Tier 7 realm spirit, showcasing a completely different realm of power than others—which allowed him to end the battle almost instantly.

With that, they joined the other two Eastern academies in qualifying, and gave the Eastern fans outside the stadium even more bragging rights as they cheered louder, proud that every academy from their kingdom had performed so well.

By now, each of them was slowly being given a title:

The School of Silent Night was being called the East’s Hidden Dagger.

The Crimson Dawn Academy was being called the East’s Raging Battlefield Demon.

And Shinsei Academy was now known as the East’s Calm but Terrifying Spirit Path.

–

#Recap of the Eighth Battle

Immediately after the battle began, the mages of Gates Academy started summoning their demonic beasts, while Hoshino Ren, the captain of Shinsei Academy, walked calmly toward them and said,

“I would appreciate it if you all surrendered without a fuss.”

However, instead of intimidating them, his words only made them angry as they felt they were being underestimated. In the very next second, he summoned his Spirit General—Akagami.

A massive, semi-transparent yet solid-looking figure appeared behind Ren, overlapping his posture like an avatar, Akagami was about three meters tall, wearing old, cracked crimson lacquered armor layered like samurai plates, with ghostly gaps where those watching could see faint, smoky spirit flames flickering underneath.

The armor looked clearly battle-worn, with dents, slashes, and scorch marks still visible on it, as if it could never be fully repaired, on his head he wore a helmet with a curved horn crest, and from beneath it spilled long dark red hair.

His face was pale and sharp, with dark runic markings beneath his eyes.

The same eyes glowed with a blood-red hue, and in his hand was a long, slightly curved spirit blade, almost like a nodachi—seemingly forged from condensed moonlight mixed with blood mist.

The edge looked solid, but the rest of the blade wavered like smoke.

“Akagami isn’t some random ghost spirit, he is the spirit of an ancient warlord—a commander who once led armies under the blood moon against a massive horde, and died standing, surrounded by corpses and still gripping his blade. Over time, his rage, pride, and unfulfilled will harden into the powerful war spirit you see before you now.” Ren explained

“So before things get out of hand, I’m begging you to surrender,” Ren continued.

But his words fell on deaf ears as they attacked him almost immediately, sending their demonic beasts at him first, Ren was forced to move, forming hand signs as he cast a spell.

When he was done, the image of Akagami behind him swung his left hand forward, and countless fallen soldiers began to rise from the ground as a huge crimson summoning circle appeared with Ren as the center focus.

Shadowy figures of his fallen soldiers emerged and charged toward the demonic beasts and mages of Gates Academy, wielding ghostly spears and blades.

While this was happening, Ren cast another spell—Crimson Overlap—and then rushed into their midst, slashing and striking, every move he made was mirrored by Akagami behind him; no matter the angle Ren attacked from, Akagami was already there, swinging his own spectral blade in perfect sync, doubling the reach and weight of every strike.

To the mages of Gates Academy, it felt like they were facing a single human slash... but it was followed by a second, heavier, undefendable cut layered on top of it.

And the funny thing was, they couldn’t hold their own at all against Ren, who now seemed possessed by Akagami’s memories, displaying wild and overwhelming battle prowess.

In just two minutes, the entire Gates Academy team was dealt with by Ren, with a bit of help from his teammates, who summoned their own spirits to slay the demonic beasts of the gate academy mages and in the process it canceled the summoning of the demonic beasts, which in turn disrupted their focus during combat against Hoshino Ren.

Because of the pain of having their summons killed, they were left vulnerable for a few seconds—moments which Ren exploited perfectly.

Even while facing so many opponents at once, with Tier the 7 Akagami augmenting each of his attacks, he was able to fight at a level they simply couldn’t handle.

—

After Hoshino Ren’s display, the ninth battle between Shaolin Temple Academy and the Blades Clan began.

At this point, many mages from the Central Kingdom outside the stadium started shouting in protest, claiming the matchups were biased against the Central academies, as it stood, one Central academy had already been eliminated (Axis Arcanum, who lost to Bloodline Academy), and the remaining two—Shaolin Temple Academy and the Blades Clan team—were now forced to fight each other.

It meant only one of them would advance from this stage, while the other would have to fight through the losers’ bracket for a chance to reach the next round.

But no matter how loudly they complained, it all fell on deaf ears as the Blades Clan mages and the Shaolin monks clashed, with the Blades Clan eventually coming out on top, it was an insanely intense battle, but the Blades Clan mages showcased a different kind of combat style with their weapon combo strikes.

With Liang Shen’s battle against Kaelus Blade being the highlight of the match. Liang Shen fought without yielding, every strike of his feeling like a mountain was crashing down.

However, after enduring a long, draining series of cuts from Kaelus Blade, he bled until he entered a critical state, Liang Shen practically lost consciousness while still standing, which only emphasized how much of an unmovable mountain he was.

But once he finally passed out in that condition, the judge called the match in the Blades’ favor, as the rest of Kaelus’s team had already taken care of the remaining Shaolin mages.

But despite ending their battle on time they were still not allowed to interfere in the final battle on going, because Kaelus insisted on defeating Liang Shen himself , all because he wanted to prove they were not on the same level.

He, Liang Shen, and Serena Vael were being called the future leaders of the Central Kingdom, and with Serena already eliminated, all he wanted to do was defeat Liang and prove he was on a level above them all.

As a core member of the Blade Clan who had been spoiled since birth and raised to believe he stood above other geniuses, he naturally had his own pride and was determined to show he shouldn’t be placed on the same level as people who couldn’t even fight him to a draw.