Class F walked down the stage under the cheers of the audience. Their smiles were as wide as they can be. Jeben and his friends were all proud of themselves. Some of them even cried.
They could now properly hold their head high without being looked down upon again. They had been underestimated in school all this time, but now, everyone gave them praise and congratulations.
When the crowd parted and revealed Aldred nodding at them with a smile, they realized that all of this would not be possible if not for their master.
They wanted to rush at him and kowtowed under his feet for giving them this power, but Aldred did not allow them.
"Win this competition first," Aldred said. "Only then will you all be worthy to pay your respect to me."
The students looked at each other with a smile. "Yes, Master!"
Everyone got a half hour break, and Bartrem's stalls raked in millions of gold coins. Profit went up through the roof. Food that cost them 1 silver to make earned them more than a million gold coins. The profit margin was huge.
That was the advantage of selling products to the rich. And this place was packed with rich people.
After half an hour, the break was over.
"Ladies and gentlemen. The moment that you have been waiting for is here. As all of you know, teacher Biran has shown his supreme teaching skills year after year, and this year is no exception. But, we have seen that Class F has broken the norm and now has the chance to contend for first place."
The audience cheered as they split into two group. One side cheered for Class A, one side cheered for Class F.
"Class A!"
"Class F!"
"Class A!"
"Class F!"
"Class A!"
"Class F!"
"Class A!"
A lot of people cheered for Class F, the underdog of this competition. But even so, the support for Class A was still larger than theirs.
Biran laughed when he saw this. "You have done enough. Even though you will lose this competition, you are allowed to be proud to reach this far."
Aldred simply smiled and did not reply to him.
Biran noticed this and was slightly annoyed.
"Let our students do the talking, Biran. Our job now is to sit back and watch."
Biran snorted.
"Class F please come to the stage."
Jeben and his friends walked up the stage again with the same confident they have before.
"Class A please come to the stage."
Class A walked to the stage and they all had their chin up.
Jeben frowned, and then he lifted his chin. He lifted so high that he barely could see Class A.
Class A was angered to see this arrogant act.
"You're just Class F. Two lucky wins means nothing!"
The supporters of Class A cheered when they saw this.
"Destroy the underdogs! Class A will win!"
"Destroy Class F!"
Class F supporter retaliated. "Class A will be dethroned. There is a new king in town!"
The supporters and the students spat out insults at one another until the host stopped them.
"Let words be kept on your tongue and let your fist do the talking! Ladies and gentlemen! I am sure you want this argument to be solved with violence!"
"YEAH!"
"Then without further delay, began the fight!"
Both sides rushed at each other. They were as powerful as bulls charging at each other. And when they clash, the force cracked the arena.
Jeben frowned. Class A was stronger than he thought, but he roared in defiance and refused to back down. His friends were inspired by his roar, and they let out a roar of their own as they fought with all they had.
They just had their chin up, they couldn't afford to put it down again.
Class A couldn't lose as well. They burdened the expectation of many people, and they didn't want to disappoint any of them.
Both had strong motivation to win this battle, and so they all gave everything to this fight.
The audience watching this was both shocked and amazed.
"Their power increased as the battle progress…"
"And not only that, their power is already approaching the Bronze Rank. When have we seen a 7 year old having the power of a Bronze Rank before?"
"Anyone would be considered genius among genius if they can reach Bronze Rank power at the age of 7."
"But they are Class F, so they are not talented."
"No amount of treasure has proof of being able to do this, so that can only mean one thing."
They looked at Aldred. He was Class F's teacher, and ever since he came, Class F shockingly defeated Class E, and C so easily.
"I heard rumors he trained the students with a unique method."
"What kind of method."
"I don't know, but I was told the method was too vicious to describe. They even say the training doesn't look like training, but torture from hell itself."
They trembled when they heard that, but they were also curious as well.
"What kind of training did they experience…"
Round one was over, and the students retreated to their side.
They all breathed haggardly, exhausted from the first round already.
Aldred and Biran frowned. Both of them did not expect that the battle would be this long.
"I have to say, your students are quite resilient," Aldred said.
"I could say the same thing to you."
After a few minutes, the second round began.
Jeben did not care anymore and he recklessly charged forward and pounced on someone before using his full power to upper cut their jaw.
His enemy took that hit cleanly, but still could fight back.
The battle was brutal. It reminded Aldred of that spartan movie where children beat each other without care.
Only now did he recall that this empire was protected by the god of war. Training children for brutal battle shouldn't be a surprise.
Anyone that comes from a civilized nation would be shocked when they see something like this, but for the citizens of the Ceraisian Empire, this was commonplace.
