The competition went smoothly. Lawrend's children used single-elent spells instead of their combination spells. The duels weren't hard enough for them to put in their all.
After the second round, there were only 168 contenders left. Plus Inferno, which totaled 169.
"For the semi-finals, all of you will be sectioned into groups of thirteen. It will be a round-robin round where everyone will duel each other. The top three for each group will move on to the finals, where we will go deeper into the Phoenix Garden to conduct the finale," the old man announced.
And so, ti passed quickly.
Lawrend and his maids spent their ti casually watching. They set up their own outdoor parasol table. So of the duels were interesting, but due to the low levels of the kids, they were nothing for everyone.
…
Inferno, Veronica, Nephilim, Eina, Hanz, Law, Courage, Zio, and Straw easily won all of their round-robin duels. Oddly enough, they were all placed in different groups, preventing them from dueling each other.
Lawrend knew that it was the old man's doing. He purposely made the rounds complex, so he could manipulate it. The more everyone watched on, the crazier their reactions beca.
"Who could stop these kids?"
"Is he really the father of all of them?"
"The rumors must be true…"
"He's a son of one of the ancestors."
The crowd basically confird the rumor that Lawrend was the son of one of the ancestors. In their eyes, it was impossible that he wasn't the son of an ancestor. The chance of soone having such a powerful and pure bloodline from outside was certainly impossible.
…
Three days passed, and the semi-final round finished. Lawrend's children beca the dark horse of the competition. There were so popular kids, but they were easily defeated by them.
"For the final round, we will go deep into the Phoenix Garden," the old man said.
He took the lead, and everyone followed after him. Those that lost were frustrated, but they still followed because it was the finale. Miraculously, Thug was still in the competition.
He glared at Inferno's group. He wanted to show them who was boss, but he didn't get put into the sa round-robin group as any of them. He could only keep his frustration to himself.
"Finally, sothing interesting," Lawrend said as he flew quietly.
Watching his children fight was interesting, but the whole experience wasn't enjoyable. Many of these children sucked at using magic as a whole. It was better for him to close his eyes and have grapes fed into his mouth.
Lawrend was still curious about the identity of the old man. Never did he see a difference in the magic in his body. He looked like a Divine Earth Mage no matter how hard Lawrend focused his eyes.
The area in front of them turned into barren land. It was a stark contrast to the phoenix garden. Farther on the horizon, there was a glimpse of a red-hot lake.
"What is this place?" Lawrend asked Ember.
The concentration of fire mana in the air rose rapidly as they got nearer. It reached 20 tis that of the normal levels outside. It was almost to the point where the fire mana could turn into a mana fog.
"This is the place…" Ember muttered, and her words stopped.
She stared at the lava lake with a despondent expression. Lawrend looked at her and at the lava lake before realizing what was going on. He rembered that Ember's mother died in the depths of the phoenix garden.
So for her to show sadness on her face, it must be the place where her mother died.
Lawrend raised his hand and patted her on the head.
Ember got off her reverie and looked at him in confusion. He didn't explain himself to her and simply smiled. This was Lawrend's way of comforting her.
It was his signature move. Whenever any of his maids were feeling sad, he always had the urge to pat their heads. Suffice it to say, it worked all of the ti. His maids always felt better after he patted their heads.
Ember was embarrassed by his actions, but she didn't stop him. Deep in her heart, she felt warm and fluffy.
"Sister Ember, is sothing wrong?" Aleshia asked as she flew beside them.
Aleshia had been very keen on Lawrend and Ember's relationship. She got an affirmation from Lawrend that she would still be the first wife, but she was still nervous. She couldn't help but go between them.
"My mother… died here," Ember replied, and her eyes beca teary.
Paeia glanced back and flew farther ahead. His silhouette was covered by a gloomy aura.
Lawrend left Ember and Aleshia alone. He flew after Paeia ahead.
"Father-in-law, can you tell what exactly happened?" Lawrend asked.
"Why?" Paeia responded coldly.
"I want to retrieve mother-in-law's body," Lawrend replied.
Paeia stopped and instantly turned to Lawrend. He stared at his eyes seriously. He took a deep breath and relaxed his tense body.
"If you can retrieve it, I will fully accept your relationship with Ember. As a father, I still can't accept that my beloved daughter is soone's maid," Paeia replied.
"You got it. I will do my best. I also want to know what's below," Lawrend replied.
He didn't care that Paeia didn't like that Ember was his maid. In Lawrend's mind, it had already happened, and Paeia wouldn't be able to change reality. Even if he tried to fight him, Lawrend was confident of victory.
"Her body could actually be retrieved by my grandfather, a Heaven Mage, but he refused to do so because he didn't approve of my relationship with her," Paeia explained.
"You're both similar," Lawrend casually responded.
"Yeah… That's why I didn't stop Ember's relationship with you with all of my force."
Paeia frowned even more.
Lawrend sighed seeing the man look so pathetic. He patted his back and said, "You did the right thing. Otherwise, you'd have no more magic."
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