[Dragon Academy’s Team’s First round points: 5,151,621.]
[Dragon Academy’s Team’s Second round points: 130,522. ( 100,000 points for second place).]
[Total Points: 5,282,143.]
The monolithic screen practically vibrated with the weight of the numbers. For a long, agonizing mont, the grand arena of Galaxy City was trapped in a vacuum of utter silence. Then, the dam broke.
"Wow!! A whole five million points!!!" Soone scread from the audience in shock, tearing at their hair.
"This is crazy!!! Such huge amount of kills!! Who can achieve that!!" Another added, their voice cracking as the sheer, brutal mathematics of the score registered. It wasn’t just a victory; it was a massacre.
"Yes!!! That’s my empire! I won the jackpot!!!" A bettor roared from the upper tiers, waving a handful of physical wager tickets.
"Hahaha! Sa!! With that many points, we already won the competition!!" An old man added, tears of nationalistic pride streaming down his weathered face.
Down in the designated combatant section, the Dragon Academy students were celebrating in a frenzy small fireworks. First and second rounds combined, they already had five million plus points. Mathematically, they had won the competition already. The pressure was entirely off their shoulders.
"Five million points!! How?!" Andrew yelled in absolute, horrified disbelief. The Sword Academy’s warrior stared at the screen, his fiery aura completely snuffed out by the cold, hard data.
"Kill a world Boss gives you 500,000 points, and she killed 5 of them... A Boss gives you 250,000 points, which she killed more than ten. She also killed a demon pillar, and adding it up with the small flies, the points here aren’t wrong." Jessica said.
Her voice was devoid of the shock that crippled her teammates. Her terrifying mind had instantly reconstructed Mirabella’s bloody path through the southern region. Slaying a World Boss required an army; tocribing five of them to a single student, alongside the apocalyptic threat of a Demon Pillar, shattered conventional power scaling. Without waiting to console her shattered team, she turned and walked towards the grand exit.
"Captain, what about the other rounds?" Ophelia asked in surprised, reaching out a hand.
Jessica continued walking, not even looking back at her. The strategy had fundantally changed; they were no longer fighting for first place. They were fighting to survive Mirabella’s shadow.
"Wow! The Dragon academy just showed us the flas in their hearts!! This is wonderful, five million points In just the first round, this is amazing!!" Davy yelled in surprise. The announcer was sweating profusely, trying to maintain professional decorum while staring at a score. He turned to the audience:
"Now, let’s check the top five individual ranking!" He said, his voice amplifying as five high-definition portraits materialized before the millions of spectators:
[First Place: Mirabella: Kills: 2,683. Points: 5,067,621.]
[Second Place: Jessica: Kills: 921. Points: 1,116,915.]
[Third Place: Nirvana: Kills: 267. Points: 256,581.]
[Fourth Place: Eve: Kills: 148. Points: 230,813.]
[Fifth Place: Honky: Kills: 198: Points. 206,891.]
"These are the five leading students for the first and second rounds, it’s an honor to be on this ranking!" Davy said. The gap between first and second place was an impassable chasm, highlighting the absolute dominance of the Dragon Empire’s apex predator. He took a deep breath and continued:
"As for the third round, that will take place tomorrow morning by 8 O’clock! I can see so of our students are exhausted, they’ll need the ti to recuperate, and gain back their strength!! Students, your accommodations have already been handled by your academies, so et your Teachers to know where you will be staying in Galaxy City!! Take note, the competition board is the ruler of Galaxy City, it isn’t in any empire’s jurisdiction! So no fighting!"
He gestured to the massive exits, reminding the volatile powerhouses of the absolute neutral law that governed the tropolis. "You all can go and have your rest, we will continue the competition tomorrow." He said.
__
Deep within the luxurious, steel-reinforced hallway leading to the Sword Empire’s royal room, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Jessica was moving with a dark expression, the cheers of the arena a distant, mocking hum. She paused, her boots halting on the pristine marble, staring at the grand, gilded door which suddenly opened. Nadia walked out, heading directly towards her.
Jessica imdiately lowered her head, her previously unshakable aura crumbling. "I am sorry Master, I failed--"
"--Forget about the competition!" Nadia cut her off viciously. The points ant nothing to her. She stopped inches from her student, her eyes blazing with a predatory intensity, and asked: "What about the Beast?" She asked.
Jessica swallowed hard, her throat painfully dry. "I lost it."
"You what?!!" Nadia yelled at her in genuine shock, her energy leaking out and fracturing the marble walls of the corridor.
Jessica quickly looked up at her. "I searched for it and almost caught it, but I t a realm stage Boss--"
SLAP!
A clear, bone-rattling slap rung out all over the hallway.
Jessica stood completely frozen. Her face was thrown to the side, her pale cheek rapidly blooming with an angry, bruised red. Her usually sharp eyes were filled with profound confusion and raw hurt.
"You knew you couldn’t take on that Summon, why did you still have to summon the wyvern again?! You also know you can’t control it!" Nadia yelled at her, towering over the young lady.
"But that Summon wanted to take my life--" Jessica said, her voice trembling slightly, not daring to look back at Nadia’s furious face.
"So?!! Do you think you’re more important than a Lv500 tad Beast?!" Nadia snapped at her, ruthlessly shattering Jessica’s remaining dignity. In the brutal calculus of the higher realms, a Level 500 mythological asset held vastly more strategic value than a replaceable human prodigy.
"I am sorry, Master..." Jessica whispered, the words tasting like ash.
Nadia stared at her broken disciple and let out a cold, disgusted sigh. "Maybe I should have picked Ethan..." She muttered in a low voice, twisting the knife. She added aloud:
"Go, leave ! Just make sure our team holds second place." She said, sweeping past Jessica without a second glance.
"Pathetic... I will never let my investnt go to waste ever again. And what Realm Boss? Anyway, I should investigate this." She said, while walking away, her footsteps echoing down the empty hall.
Jessica stood alone in the oppressive silence. Slowly, she clenched her fists, feeling the warm trickle of blood on the side of her split lip.
’Mirabella, this is all because of you!! My Master slapped because of you!!’ She thought, her logic warping under the extre emotional trauma and the desperate need to redirect her pain:
’I will avenge this humiliation, and show my master I am the strongest; maybe... No, she will forgive then. I will make sure to get a higher score in the coming rounds.’ She thought, her nails digging so fiercely into her palms that dark blood welled to the surface. She needed to be the perfect weapon. She needed to prove she wasn’t a wasted investnt.
’Just you wait, Mirabella.’
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