All six rounds of Group F were complete. The rematches were both surprising and predictable at the same time. In the rematch between Sakura and Franchesco, the winner was Sakura, as expected — the only difference being that Franchesco put up a much better fight, managing to take some points from her by enduring and almost making her faint. In the end, both gave a final statement when asked about their performances.
"Damn, that was really bad, but I'll get a better ability — you'll see."
"I managed to win, but I realized I'm still far from reaching the strongest ones, so I'll enter intensive training with my parents."
In the rematch between Liang and Nicholas, the two ended in a draw, to everyone's surprise. Nicholas had shown great potential in that fight, but he was still below Liang in terms of power. He managed to draw by trying a plan similar to Enrico's, which ended up catching Liang off guard.
"I can't believe I got caught by a plan similar to Enrico's... next time, I won't underestimate someone I've already beaten."
"I feel like I'm getting closer to becoming one of the strongest, so I'll do my best to keep it up."
Both were asked about their performances — with a mix of satisfaction and disappointment. Liang for having underestimated someone in the sixth round, and Nicholas for still being far from his rival's level.
"It was fun, and I found my rival, so I'm very satisfied."
'In fact, I hope he uses that new magic on me hehehehe.'
On the outside, Lira was completely different, but inside, all she could think about was fighting Enrico again. Well, she'd have to get in line since Kai and Danyana, upon seeing that, seemed dissatisfied that there was now someone who might delay their rematches.
"Even if I didn't get very far, I'm satisfied."
"I think we managed to prove my academy's power as the first place, even though I still have to go to the tiebreaker."
"If I win the seventh round among those tied with me, I'll go home happy."
The other participants also had their moments to speak, with only the last three matches remaining, which would start soon — and Enrico, who had just woken up, came only to watch the final battles. His arm was bandaged since the magic he used against Sakura seemed to have broken it.
"Enrico, you're practically among the top fifteen already, so you did really well, even being only rank five. What did you think of your performance in the preliminaries?"
"Bad. I wanted to be first. I made some mistakes in my plans because of my opponents' level, but that's my fault. I should've analyzed all my adversaries better."
"But you were literally in a tough group, and you even fought evenly against the rank two of your academy."
"That's no excuse for me to say I did well... since I lost, I'll use that to improve my performance."
Enrico's face was serious and frustrated with himself. If he kept going like this, he and the world would be destroyed by the evil gods. To defeat those abominations, he'd need to reach Circle Ten — and even surpass it, just like Kai did in the original story.
'I'll need other Circle Tens too, so I have to help the others improve as well.'
Spending the entire day in his room after that, Enrico watched all the remaining matches from there while being fed by Yumeha, with the others — both boys and girls — staying to watch until the end of the day. Whenever he noticed something in a fight that could help his companions, he pointed it out so they could pay attention.
"Seriously? Doing that wind magic will be hard for me."
"You talk too much for someone who got a potion to improve reaction speed."
"Looks like Caelan's jealous."
"Of course I am! That's unfair!"
While the two argued, Enrico turned his gaze to the Group F standings displayed on the large dome screen.
Final Points of Group F — Sixth Round Complete
1st place — Lira Xuefeng — 43 points
2nd place — Enrico Solcren Ferreira — 35 points
3rd place — Liang Xuanwu — 23 points
4th place — Nicholas — 14 points
5th place — Sakura Himari — 13 points
6th place — Franchesco Giovanni — 0 points
Beside the arena were the fifteen qualified contestants, except for the 14th and 15th places, since ten people were tied with the same score and would go to a seventh round to determine the final two. There were two reasons why people were so excited about Group F — first, the interest in Lira and Enrico, both from Astrong, as well as Sakura Himari from Ryuuen and Liang from Shengtian; and second, the level of power displayed. If it had been just about close matches, other groups had that too, with most of their top ranks even losing twice.
'Looking at it that way, those groups were more competitive — ours just surprised them, mainly because of Nicholas.'
Enrico didn't think his group was that competitive, so it was definitely the level shown that made it more entertaining for the audience.
Fifteen Qualified for the Thrones of Runes
1 — 60 points — Victoria Aetherwell, Rank 1 of Astrong Academy
2 — 49 points — Mei Zhaolan, Rank 1 of Shengtian Academy
3 — 45 points — Giulia Rossetti, Rank 1 of Della Corona Academy
4 — 45 points — Lívia Caetana, Rank 1 of Floravita Academy
5 — 44 points — Takeshi Arakawa, Rank 1 of Ryuuen Academy
6 — 43 points — Lira Xuefeng, Rank 2 of Astrong Academy
7 — 40 points — Elaris Wyntherion Velaryndel, Rank 3 of Astrong Academy
8 — 38 points — Caiu Rafael, Rank 2 of Floravita Academy
9 — 36 points — Roberto Vioren, Rank 4 of Astrong Academy
10 — 35 points — Enrico Solcren Ferreira, Rank 5 of Astrong Academy
11 — 35 points — Ramon Dino, Rank 1 of Sentinela Academy
12 — 34 points — Matteo Nero, Rank 2 of Della Corona Academy
13 — 34 points — Ren Haotian, Rank 3 of Shengtian Academy
14 — 33 points — To be decided
15 — 33 points — To be decided
"Throne of Runes" was the official name of the continental academy battle, given by the Sixth King of Sanos — the one who created these inter-academy tournaments — and the other four kings agreed, as a way to demonstrate their nations' power.
"I knew my subordinate would make it."
"Congratulations, master! I'm sure you'll crush everyone when the Throne of Runes begins!"
"Damn, I need to get stronger soon so I can get my rematch."
"Your rematch? I was the one he defeated first, so I get to go first!"
Seeing their argument, Enrico sighed as he stood up, scratching his head before leaving — it was time to explain what that magic had been.
'Damn... I wish I understood it myself.'