The twins arrived on stage and were greeted with great enthusiasm by the host who was more than happy to see the royals at the finals.
He knew that the Emperor and the Crown prince were up in the tower, and they would be more than happy to see the two of them there.
Just as he expected, they were indeed quite happy to see the two there. The Emperor had a smug smile on his face as he watched his two direct grandchildren appear as the finalists of the competition that had students from 3 great empires in one place.
"Congratulations, your majesty. The royal family has managed to grow such amazing individuals. They will surely be a great aid to their uncle when he gets the throne."
The Crown Prince smiled meekly at the people that said that, but his smile hid a worry that none of them could see. Not even his own father could see.
"Of course," the Emperor said. "They are my descendants. If my own history is anything to go by, they will do incredible."
"Yes, yes," the nobles said.
"Who do you envision winning the finals, your majesty?" the ruler of the Redraven region asked.
"I do not care. Neither of them will prove anything to me in this match that they haven't already. Win or lose, they have already made me proud."
"Of course," the woman smiled and looked toward the stage.
Everyone did.
The host spoke a bit to hype up the arena while the prince and princess took the stage. The best of the best referees were brought for their competition, as simple ones wouldn't do it for two people that were both in the High Essence Soul realm.
While they prepared, the headmaster remembered something. They were to wait here after the competition ended. Which also reminded him of the piece of paper that he had handed Ning.
He nudged Ning who was standing below him on the seat. When Ning turned around, he asked him what had gotten him curious.
"That piece of paper I gave you, what did it say?" the headmaster asked.
Ning thought for a brief moment before he remembered that he had taken a paper at all. He had almost erased it from his mind, half believing that what was written on it was fake.
"Why did you give me that piece of paper, headmaster?" he asked. He wanted to know why the headmaster would say what it did on the paper.
"It wasn't me," the headmaster said. "I was told to give you that piece of paper."
"You were?" Ning got curious. "By who?"
The headmaster's eyes moved ever so slightly in the direction of the tower, but it was pretty much imperceptible. He shook his head. "I can't tell you that, young man. Just tell me what it said," he asked.
"Nonsense," Ning answered. "Or at least something that sounds like it. It was almost like someone was trying to prank me to make me lose in the competition."
The headmaster frowned. 'Prank? The Emperor?' he couldn't believe it.
"There's no way that was a prank," the headmaster said. "Are you certain it wasn't anything important?"
"If it was true, then it was important information," Ning said. "But it wasn't something I could apply right here. Not if the importance was true."
"What?" the headmaster's eyes narrowed.
"I'll have to check later to see if what was said in that letter was true or not," Ning said. "It's not something I can reveal to the public, even to you headmaster. I'm sorry."
The headmaster nodded. "That's alright. There must have been a reason why I wasn't allowed to look at it in the first place," he said.
Ning nodded and turned around to look at the stage.
He still couldn't believe what was written on the paper was real in any way. But… with all the weird things happening all day, there was no reason not to give it a try.
If it was a prank, nothing bad would've happened. If it was true, then he would have acquired a very fascinating asset to his arsenal.
His attention wavered at the loud sound of cheers as the prince and princess both brought out their weapons.
The prince brought out his signature axe that he had shown so much but hadn't used at all. The axe with the Fire Essence head and the Ice Essence shaft made its appearance.
Cold white mist dropped off from where the prince held the axe, making for a cool display that got everyone cheering again.
On the princess's side, her thin light sword appeared in her hand. She had only used it before when she had her Moonlight Essence on display, but this time, it was going to be her Magma display that she was going to fight with.
Neither the prince nor the princess wore any sort of armor at all, as nothing they could wear could possibly protect them from the attacks that were going to come at them.
Not only that, they both had Essence that was simply too strong to be bothering to use any other Essence. The Light Essence in the princess's sword was merely to distract her opponent.
Which made people wonder why the prince even had his axe out. Surely he didn't need the axe to use Ice Essence, and using Fire Essence made no sense for someone with Ice Essence core.
However, despite the confusion, the prince was still determined to fight with the axe.
The referees looked on either side and when they noticed that they were both ready, they began the match.
Allen did the honor of starting the match by quickly creating a few icicles around him that he sent flying.
Alena retaliated by sending 3 small blobs of Magma as well toward the prince.
The attacks crashed in the middle with the icicles immediately subliming to vapor that created a small explosion that left steam in the air.
When the steam was swept away by the breeze on the stage, they both started attacking each other at the same time.
