Roughly thirty or so minutes after the abrupt interruption, the tournament continued, as if nothing had happened. Since there were over five hundred applicants, nearly 250 of them would be disqualified after the first round.
Since Caesar had already won two matches, he wouldn"t need to fight again until there were only one hundred and twenty-five people left. This gave him some time to rest and spectate the other matches.
He once again swept his gaze across the training grounds, in an attempt to identify any formidable opposition. However, to Caesar"s dismay, all of the stronger opponents had already finished their battles, including Falthor.
Seeing this, Caesar just shrugged his shoulder and sat on the cold ground. He wasn"t in a rush to fight, due to the fact that the tournament was progressing quite quickly. If it continued at this pace, the top 50, along with the clan heads, would start fighting in a few hours.
This was, of course, merely speculation. A number of mishaps could potentially delay the tournament for a much longer time than antic.i.p.ated. Although Caesar knew that the trolls had many spies infiltrated within the fox-kin stronghold, he highly doubted that they were bold enough to cause a huge disruption.
Thinking to here, Caesar decided to stop looking around the training grounds and instead, he started practicing his mana manipulation technique. He would need all of the strength, energy, and practice if he wanted to triumph against Musashi. If he didn"t progress a significant amount in comparison to the last time he sparred with Musashi, defeat would be inevitable.
Thus, to an outsider, a strange picture was formed in the small arena where Caesar resided. Small darkish blue and almost ethereal strands of magic starting revolving around Caesar"s body. They were not thick nor long, in fact, they didn"t look extraordinary at all, however, it required a great amount of control to move such small strands of mana around your body. This wasn"t a very hard technique for seasoned veterans such as Musashi, though, it would pose to be quite difficult for any young talented warrior.
Caesar"s personal training was practically transparent, therefore only a few with keen eyesight even noticed it. This included Musashi, a few clan heads, and Falthor. The other spectators were too busy observing the other matches.
This continued for about another half an hour until the matches for round two were all completed… leaving only, one hundred and twenty-five warriors left. Right as round three was about to start, Caesar"s red eyes flashed open as he stood up from the ground.
He directed his attention towards the large podium where Musashi was currently seated, he figured a new set of rules and placements would be announced relatively soon. And as Caesar had expected, Musashi soon stood up and cuffed his mouth.
He loudly cleared his throat and garnered everyone"s attention, "let me first congratulate all of those that have won both of their matches, you are amongst the top warriors in this clan and have fought valiantly" his words paused as he clapped his hands, along with the clan heads.
Like a wave in the ocean, following the lead of Musashi and the clan heads, the spectators and the warriors that were defeated started clapping. Soon, a deafening cheer came from the surroundings, bringing a smile to nearly all of the applicants.
After a few minutes, the clapping and cheering died down with Musashi"s raised hand, "now for the more pressing matters, as I said at the start of the tournament, the last 13 warriors will take the position of clan head. However, the clan heads will not be partic.i.p.ating until there are only 30 warriors left. This means that you must once again, win two more matches before you can get a chance at a seat on the council" As his words entered into the ears of applicants below, their expression became downcast.
After observing the crowd for a few moments, Musashi"s lips curled as he continued, "Since you, as the top 125 fighters, essentially do not gain any reward, I have decided to be magnanimous. I will allow each and every one of you to acquire a new and pristine weapon from the vault once the tournament is over" the warriors" downcast expression quickly faded and was replaced by one full of joy.
Once again, loud cheering echoed throughout the training grounds. This reward was merely thought of to placate the warriors that had won until now. None of the elites, nor formidable fox-kin, required a new weapon.
After the cheering died down, Musashi gave his final speech, "the referees" of each arena will guide you to your next opponent, please follow them and prepare for your next battle, that is all" he explained curtly and sat back down on his chair.
Caesar nodded and shifted his attention to the young referee, standing just a few meters away from him. The referee grinned broadly in response and gestured for Caesar to follow. The young man brought Caesar even closer to the middle podium and placed him in an arena just a few meters away from Musashi and the clan heads.
Seeing this, Caesar couldn"t help but shake his head whilst glancing at Musashi, "surely this isn"t a coincidence" he quietly whispered to himself while looking at Musashi who was in a verbal distance.
Musashi, as if he didn"t notice Caesar"s glance, just turned his head away and spoke to Ahri who located to his right. This made Ahri smile wryly while glancing back and forth between both Musashi and Caesar, as she had seen the entire exchange.
The clan heads didn"t complain at the current arrangement, many of them were intrigued by Caesar, especially Faust. To this day, many people know that Caesar had bested him in a duel, however, others still don"t believe it, alas, Faust knew better than anyone, the distance between them.
This, however, wasn"t the reason Faust was interested in him. He was more intrigued as to what race Caesar was, as he was certain that Caesar was no human. Even a fool would know that a human physique is not capable of handling ice magic, let alone, the large amount of ice that Caesar weaves.
Caesar, of course, noticed the curious gazes from the various clan heads, he even smiled in response whilst waving at the green haired clan head, situated on the far right. The man clearly held a strong hatred toward Caesar, which couldn"t help but make him want to tease the poor lad.
And as expected, the green haired man just frowned in response. After playing around for a few more moments, Caesar turned his body and looked for his next opponent. He scanned left and right, but to his confusion, no one was present.
He glanced at the referee and tilted his head in puzzlement, to which the referee just shook his head and pointed downward. Caesar followed the referee"s finger and soon caught a glimpse of his foe. He was a man of very short stature, standing at around five feet, he was very slim and had long black hair covering his face, in fact, Caesar wasn"t sure whether it was a male or female.
This piqued Caesar"s curiosity, and he wasn"t a conservative man, thus, he took a step forward and half bowed with a wide smile on his face, "are you a woman, or a man?" he asked.
His abrupt question shocked both the referee and the a.s.sailant, "I-I"m a woman!" the girl replied angrily. Her long hair fluttering in the wind, revealing her very young countenance, causing even Caesar to take in a breath of cold air.
She had glossy skin, slender eyebrows, a spherical, and cute face, coupled with her raven black hair and piercing blue eyes, she was quite beautiful. Even Caesar couldn"t help but praise her in his mind.
Though she was a bit too young to gain Caesar"s attention, he still appreciated her beauty, "my apologies la.s.s, I had thought there were no female, fox-kin elites…" he replied with an apologetic smile.
In fact, even Musashi opened his eyes wide in surprise, he turned towards Ahri and whispered into her ear, "since when did we allow women soldiers" he asked slyly, to which Ahri rolled her eyes.
"You should research your soldiers more often…" she replied, dumbfounded.