"Who did you select?" Novius asked, wondering if he had misheard Gabriel. He really hadn't expected Gabriel to select the two strongest challengers out of the six. ",
Novius had fought Axion and Qin personally when the two had arrived here. He knew just how strong those two were compared to the others. If anything, Gabriel should've selected the weakest out of the six.
"I said I will select Axion and Qin," Gabriel repeated. "You wanted me to select one, and I selected them."
"Young man, I think you didn't hear me clearly when I introduced all of them." Cylix was also somewhat surprised. Even though he had noticed Gabriel looking at Axion and Qin repeatedly before, he hadn't thought that it was because he was seriously considering them as opponents.
"It's either that, or you're really not thinking straight. The two you've selected... They are stronger than you think. With them as your opponent, you should just forget about being able to reach us."
It had been a really long time since there was a challenger here. The last person to get here was Izen, and that too was decades ago. Cylix really wanted to fight Gabriel as well since he didn't know when the next person was going to get here.
Even though he asked Gabriel to prove himself, that didn't mean he wanted him to select the toughest opponents and let go of any possibility of getting through to them. To Cylix, it looked as if Gabriel was closing the doors of opportunity.
"You still have time. Think again and think cleverly. Don't be hasty," he reminded Gabriel as if seriously signaling them that Qin and Axion were beyond his league.
"I don't need to think." Gabriel clenched his fists. "I've made up my mind. I've come all this way, not to take the easy way out. If I'm here, I want to fight the best of the best as that's the only thing which can improve my skills and make me stronger!"
"If I can't even face the younger selves of the legends in the outside world, how can I face my real enemies, who will have decades of experience and much more Knowledge than me?"
The people here were the strongest Mages under the age of thirty, but that was just for the tower. The real world wasn't going to have any limitations that the enemies needed to be under thirty. In fact, his real enemies were the Churches, which had mages much older with much more knowledge than the youngsters here could possess.
The Izen here was one of the strongest students of his time, but he didn't even have a fraction of the strength that the current Izen had in the real world. The Izen here was younger than thirty, but the Izen outside was supposed to be a mage who had decades of experience and a strength, almost rivaling the Heads of the Churches, without any Holy Grimoire.
If he couldn't even fight people like Izen here, how could he fight the real Izen outside in case he came like an enemy? If he was scared now, could he really reach the level he wanted to reach? If he couldn't even defeat some youngsters, could he really bring all the Churches to their knees to create the world anew the way he wanted?
He wanted to fight Axion and Qin. He wanted to fight the person who was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light in the future! He wanted to fight one of the most talented mages of Darkness!
Seeing the determination in Gabriel's eyes, Novius could see that he didn't select these two names because he was an idiot. He also didn't select these two because he was arrogant. Instead, he wanted to challenge himself. He knew how risky it was as the access to the hundredth floor was on the line, which many people dreamt of reaching.
Even after coming this close to the hundredth floor, Gabriel didn't let greed overwhelm him. It didn't even look like he was thinking about the hundredth Floor. He was instead thinking about making himself stronger through this opportunity.
This determination of Gabriel actually impressed Novius, and he finally started taking some interest in Novius. Even Cylix was somewhat impressed.
Both Cylix and Novius gazed at each other, nodding.
"Alright. We accept your selection," Cylix told Gabriel. "You will receive the opponents that you have selected. Qin and Axion will be your opponents."
He stood up. Novius also stood up. Since he was finally taking an interest in Gabriel now, he didn't look bored and sleepy anymore. Instead, he was curious to see if Gabriel could actually pull this off successfully, the chances of which were too low.
Cylix gracefully raised his hands and clapped once. As soon as he clapped, the mark of light on his left hand shone. The entire hall was filled with bright light, which even forced Gabriel to close his eyes.
Gabriel also felt a change after the light appeared. Even though he hadn't opened his eyes, he could feel that his surroundings had changed.
The hall where they were previously was much colder, but the surroundings were warmer now. He could also feel warm winds brushing against his skin as if he was out in the open.
He also felt like he wasn't standing on the hard floor like before. Instead, he was on something quite different. It was like he was standing on sand now.
After the bright flash of light disappeared, Gabriel opened his eyes, realizing he was right. Instead of being in the closed space, they were now in the vast open desert.
As far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but sand. The sky was clear, not having any clouds. Bright sun could clearly be seen in the sky.
There were only three people other than him here. Cylix and Novius stood in the distance, both with hands behind their backs. As for the third person, it was Axion.
He couldn't see Qin anywhere for some reason.
"You won't find Qin here. He will be waiting for you on your second battlefield," Cylix informed Gabriel as if he was able to guess what he was thinking.
"Next battlefield? That means I will just be fighting Axion here?" Gabriel asked. He had expected that he would be fighting both at the same time based on the words that Cylix had used before.
"That's right. You will be fighting Axion only first, and then you'll be fighting Qin. You won't be fighting both at the same time," Cylix answered.
"Initially, we wanted to have you fight two opponents at the same time, but that was when we expected you to select the weakest two." Novius further explained.
"You've surpassed our expectations, so we had to change the rules a little. Having you fight both Qin and Axion at the same time would be too unfair for you, even with your Summon present. That's why you'll be fighting them one at a time, your first opponent being Axion."
