Leaving aside Lance who arrived first though the team ended up rolling on the ground ungraciously, the crowned prince didn't seem to be really affected by getting the second place, as if he expected it from the very begging.
"A bit too agitated for my liking, but it was a good round, Lance", said the crowned prince with his usual smile, which sent the female spectators in a frenzy.
The young spear, who was just got up and was dusting off his clothes, nodded at Terry.
"You still forced me to use Spear of unity, luckily my instincts told me to order my four companions who have wind affinity to use less mana than the rest of us, since they are the base of many of our movement type formations", said Lance, nor too complacent, nor too arrogant.
Clearly the two of them were wary of the other, since with just the slightest variation, the winner of this round could have been the other, though this time Lance got the upper ground.
That was one side of the ones that had finished, and were praised by the spectators, since they seemed to respect each other as rivals at least on the surface, the other side well… not so much.
"What the hell, how can it be that I got the fourth place!", shouted Ezequiel, as he glared at Walford's team, who was exhausted, apparently once they reached a straight line to the exit, Ryan stopped using mana sense and poured everything he had into increasing their speed even more.
Of course, Walford consumed the rest of his battle aura since they accelerated more, even the others who had other affinities used the basic wind spell "Breeze" to help, as a result, they passed Ezequiel's team at the last moment, getting the third place.
And that's how Ezequiel lost his temper right now, he lost half of his team to arrive early, it was well-calculated as the girl who was not only his strategist but also his favorite, counted the points they would get if they arrived first, which would have given them the victory.
Unfortunately everything crumbled apart as he got the fourth place, where he will remain for this round as he has less "surviving" members in his team.
Ezequiel could feel the judging gazes of the crowd and he grabbed his earth affinity subordinate by his neck.
"It's all your fault, you damn useless piece of trash, if your brother wouldn't be participating in the third round with me, I would have kicked you out of the team!", he shouted, but then he felt a soft hand bringing him calmness, it was his strategist who whispered at him.
"You can take it out on him later, for now, let's wait for the result and keep our cool in public, later we can play around a bit".
Ezequiel took a deep breath and then let go of his subordinate who was pale, if he were to take the blame, his family will be severely punished by the Blackfin Duke for sure, and that would mean his father would give him a nice beating, for making him lose prestige.
"Wen is right, I'll let you off the hook this time, work harder to become skilled in sand element next time", said Ezequiel in an upright manner.
"Yes, young master!".
…
Besides the four favorites, the rest of the teams took more time to get to the exits of their mazes, surprisingly three of the teams from the Elemental Sea was only two minutes later than Ezequiel.
It was the teams formed by the members of the sects from the Elemental Sea, with the exception of the Bamboo Forest sect, because Cassy's friends were still recovering, that was in part why Underwood was happy that his daughter joined Daimon's team.
Once again Daimon could feel some gazes aiming at his skybox, the three patriarchs, Skyfire, Stoneheart and Heartstream weren't happy, in their eyes if Jasmin as the princess of the Light Palace sect was leading their sons instead of going over to his team, then they would have most likely gotten a place in the top three.
And that could have been the case, if Cassy and Jasmin were in that team, they could have easily left Ezequiel behind, with Walford it would have been a more tight competition though.
Besides them, the next closest to them took around ten minutes more than Ezequiel, and that team was formed by members of, the Delphini, Keran, Arcarius, Blackfin and even Malleus families, probably they were members of the secondary branches.
'Oh, so the Minister isn't enemy of the Malleus, just of old Vincent', thought Daimon, probably those were related to the wife of the king, who was also Terry's mother, but to see all of them teaming up, it was probably done to show the "unity" of the kingdom to the guests.
Little by little the rest of the teams left the mazes and once the last was out, the formations deactivated, so that the medical staff could retrieve those who were left behind, they were wounded or exhausted but their lives weren't in any danger, and with a night of rest and medicine they should be fully recovered, for the sake of the continuity of the tournament the traps were limited to that extent after all.
The judged then descended from their skyboxes, during the first round only the Minister, Carlos and Annete talked, but they weren't the only judges, Vincent was one too as well as Aurora, but the Trident Marshal didn't participate, he personally supported Lance's team, as they are part of the army, but officially he refused to show favoritism to any unit, so Annete was sent as his representative, though she was a judge herself, as for Aurora she had little interest so she didn't participate as well, her granddaughter was in hold for now after all, though she gave an approbative gaze to the three patriarchs, given the decent result achieved by their sons.
Also, apparently the Delphini Duke was chosen by the king to be his representative, which would explain why Corey was the strategist of the crowned prince's team, whether it was done like that to incur in Annete's favor, or to mess with her, it was unknown, since no one knew whose advice's Triten was listening to as of current.
The Minister was the first one to speak, as he is the one hosting the event.
"Congratulations to all the participants, regardless of the results, all the teams finished the first round, which's level is higher than previous years, and thus you all should be proud of it!".
This was of course said to save face, even if they weren't in the tops, the participants were still part of the elite of the younger generation of two seas, so politics were in need to keep things peaceful.
"That being said, the top three this time are, the young spear of the neo noble faction, Lance Varsi!", with the announce of the champion of the first round, the people from the neo noble factions that was sitting on the bleachers, went crazy, they stood up and cheered, clapped or simply shouted, celebrating the victory of their representative.
Only when the Minister raised his hand, the noise slowly stopped, so that the judges could announce the next ranks, this time Carlos was the one to speak.
"The second place goes for his highness, the crowned prince, Terry Malleus", just like with Lance, people acclaimed and cheered for the crowned prince, this time it was those from the old noble faction as well as the founding families.
Surprisingly the one to announce the third place, Annete was the one chosen, instead of the Minister, probably he allowed it, since he as the host, would look bad if he showed favoritism to his grandson's team.
"The third place by a far distance, is for the Arcarius and Keran's family team, it was a good dynamic, never seen before", sharply said the queen.
Naturally, Annete never did anything without a good reason, in this case, she was mocking the Blackfin Duke by saying his son lost by a lot, while also accentuating the fact that the twin princes joined hands with the family of the host, the vast majority of the spectators didn't notice the meaning behind Annete's words, but for those to which they were directed, it was easy to get the message.
'This bitch!', screamed Norma in her heart, she wanted her sons to take the whole credit, to increase their status, with enough achievements they could claim a better noble title, and even the queen was forced to grant it, but just like that, this round's feat of defeating the Blackfin Duke's son, was disregarded.
Annete even gave Norma a disdainful gaze, how could she not know, what she was plotting, she has been sending complains since Daimon was granted the title of Marquis, since her sons are secured the title of earl in the future, and they will only get their titles once the next king is chose, so she was livid that a random kid was so easily given such aa high ranking title, instead of her sons.
The rest of the ranks were announced by Vincent and Aurora, each announced the teams of the other sea they were part of, as a sign of goodwill.
And with that the first round of the tournament ended, and the first day as well, since all the participants must be in a good condition for the three rounds.
The Minister waved his hand and a large portal opened at the same position at which it opened earlier when everyone was moved to the Calm Tri-Lake Forest.
"Please return in the same order at which you arrived, I hope you enjoyed the first round of the tournament and don't forget to enjoy the festivities that will be taking place for the rest of the event, in my Arc city!", said the Minister.
The spectators which consisted in nobles and the members of the sects from the Elemental Sea that accompanied Aurora, now felt calmer since the first day of the event went on without any problems.
The citizens of the kingdom were the same, thanks to the mirror plates and everyone saw it, saw the festive atmosphere flourished again, helping them forget the fact that the kingdom was attacked not too long ago.
Ignoring the instructions of the Minister, Vincent, Annete and Aurora went to Daimon's skybox and waited until it was Daimon's turn to leave, of course the minister who saw Thea giving him a taunting gaze, felt a vein popping on his forehead, but while he didn't mind clashing with Vincent, he as the Minister had to keep a decent image in front of Aurora, so he swallowed his anger and just said goodbye to them with a fake smiling expression.
"What do you think little friend, the second part of the first round was a nice surprise right, I have more surprises for you the heroes of the young generation", said the Minister trying to get back at Daimon.
"Well, it was interesting, not that it matters since I'm going to win anyway though", said Daimon, without even turning to see the Minister as he entered the portal.
The surrounding the minister trembled, only him and his family members were left, so he could let vent his anger a bit, Walford approached his grandfather with a serious expression on his face.
"Don't worry grandfather, I will show that guy, the strength of the Arcarius family!", said the holder of the third place, which made the mood of the Minister to improve, his grandson was replacing the Blackfin Duke's son as part of the top three, which was an amazing thing, considering the top tree in the young generation hasn't changed since they debuted.
"Very well, remember to continue with your practice, but don't overwork, tomorrow, you need to aim for a higher position!".
Leaving that small episode aside, once Daimon's group returned to the center of the city where they were before, the queen turned to see Daimon, she didn't have a chance to see up-close who he brought in to fill the remaining two spots, until a moment ago.
"So, are you not going to introduce these two missies to us, Gabriel?", said the queen with a curious gaze on her face.
Daimon shook his head in response.
"They will be staying with us, we can do the presentations later, for now, let's go to a more private place first".
Annete smiled, and then turned to see the Valas Duchess, who nodded.
"Uncle if you would, take us to sister Valas's residence, please".
Vincent sighed, he had a house in Arc city, but naturally just like he didn't allow the minister to get a decent property in his Warhammer city, Raymond didn't allow him to get one in Arc city, such was the animosity between them, fortunately, the Valas Duchess was well welcomed wherever she went, since she had the largest part merchant company, in what mines regard.
Even if Raymond didn't get along with Vincent, besides some restricted areas, he had no power to prevent him from moving through space, as his status was on par with him.
The Trident Marshal tapped his foot on the ground and then the whole group disappeared.
The next thing most of them knew was that the scenery changed from the center of the city, to the east side, in front of a large luxurious mansion to be more accurate.
