With Edward's victory, the winds of reaction were swept to the side of the Lower Class once again.
Now lit with hope once more, the people cheered for the victory of one deemed worthless, and the loss of an elite.
I watched Edward leave the stage, showing exhaustion. He panted as he dragged his feet on the ground.
Some medical experts rushed to the stage to carry Eben and treat his injuries, while others noticed Edward's awful shape and also approached him. The boy seemed reluctant to accept their help, even looking at where I sat for what my take on the matter was.
I sighed in near annoyance and gave him a slight nod with a knowing look.
'You should take care of your body! Go with them!'
With that, Edward raised his hands slightly in surrender and followed the medical unit to a specialized exit in the Hall.
It wasn't possible for any student who wasn't injured to gain access to the place—and even if they were, medical experts had to escort them. If that hadn't been the case, I would probably have gone to see Ana and Edward in their sorry state.
"Hoo, I hope those two are fine..." A whisper unconsciously leaked out of my mouth.
My eyes trailed to the stage and Klaus was already beginning to make announcements for the Scholars to appear on stage. A slight thought wandered in my head as the two qualifiers climbed the platform to commence their contest.
'Edward defeated Eben in the Semi-Finals, leaving him as the only one left in the competition...'
Even the Scholars who were about to compete had the same fate. The one who won would be the last one standing. It begged the question as to what exactly their Finals would be like.
If they had advanced so far, did that mean they didn't have any Final Matches? No, I doubted it. But, even if they had one... who would their opponents be?
My concerned eyes met the Upper-Class elite and the Middle-Class student who were about to face off. It was clear the Upper-Class one would end up victorious.
'After that, then what?'
"Begin!"
*************************
The round was soon over and, as I had predetermined, the Upper-Class Student—Reinhardt Ciera— won flawlessly.
When it came to knowledge and skills, no one could best the Upper Class who had been given more than enough to enable their quick growth—in addition to their already extreme talents.
"We will now begin the round of the Second Years!" Klaus declared, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I raised my head to watch the Magic Users gather—eight in number—as they would begin their preliminary matches.
'Just like ours, their goal will be to defeat Automatons within the allotted time frame...'
I was curious to see how well they would perform, and how superior the quality of their numbers would be in comparison to us First Years.
Since only the Upper and Middle Class passed, it would be quite the fun match, wouldn't it?
The stage shook slightly, and just as earlier, Automatons appeared from the holes that scattered across the tiled ground.
My eyes bulged slightly upon realizing the mechanisms that appeared differed from the ones we encountered.
They had four arms, and their shapes were thinner. A tail also stretched behind them, forming what seemed like a razor edge.
'Ah, I see... so the difficulty of theirs is even higher—as it should be.'
If they were to use fodder Automatons for our seniors, it would be too easy, and they would only waste resources in the venture. The best course of action was to generate constructs of superior quality to even things out.
Judging by the shapes and sizes of these new models, I guessed they focused more on speed and reach.
Considering they had four arms and nimbler bodies, they would be more difficult to hit. Not only that, but they even had more variations in combat so their patterns would be more difficult to determine.
Four arms meant more damage, but that wasn't the main focus of the preliminary round—at least, from what I surmised.
'A Magic-User had to be able to conjure Spells quickly and adapt to all situations properly!'
For our seniors, this would be the ultimate test to prove that.
The Automatons began gathering, whirring to life as the Klaus prepared to announce the start of the round.
"Begin!" His voice matched the sound generated by the timer that began counting.
>WHOOOOSHH!!!<
As expected, the Automatons rushed at the Magic Users on stage.
However, considering the skill they had in the proper use of their Mana, the seniors had no problem dodging the assaults of the Automatons.
The problem was how to deal attacks on them—which was the main essence of the round. If one spent too much time on defense, such an individual wouldn't get enough strikes to count as kills.
I guessed the structure of these Automatons wasn't very tough, so they could be easily dealt with if they were caught. That was a good handicap, considering their immense speed.
A wide grin formed on my face as I forgot about the worry I had for Edward and Anabelle. My eyes were fixated on the march and I watched with great interest, somehow wishing I could be allowed into the ring.
"Let's see how you guys fare!"
***********************
One minute elapsed too quickly, much to my disappointment, and the contestants were told to stop.
Klaus took his time to explain the grading system—just as he did with us. After our considerate moderator was done, he revealed the results on the broad screen that covered the air.
All of us looked up and observed the rankings. Of course, I wasn't surprised by the list and even the number of kills since I had been keenly watching since the match started.
Unlike our round, the numbers of Automatons defeated weren't as high, but that was understandable.
Also, the ones who took top spots were all the Upper-Class elite, leaving the last three positions for the Middle-Class members.
It was disheartening to see, but that was the reality of the Exchange.
