District 14.
Luna Isabel was in her office with a complicated look on her face. She had this expression on her face for the last week.
“Boss, are you still worrying over the destruction of the 3rd District?”
The one who asked her that was a teenage boy around 15 or 16. He had short black hair and blue eyes. His face looked like that of a troublemaker, especially with that grin on his face.
“Of course I'm still worrying about it, Sami! That Jin Makoto really fucked me over!”
She slammed her hand on her desk and broke it.
“I told him to kill one girl and he destroyed the entire district! Not only did he kill the girl he killed my comrades and countless more business associates in the district!”
“Do you believe that he did it on purpose, and wasn't forced to when fighting Andre Bernard?”
“You don't know Jin Makoto, Sami. That man could've beaten Andre Bernard from the start if he had used real ability.”
“Real ability? Do you mean the Eclipse Element?”
Luna shook her head.
“The Eclipse Element is a combination of Jin's two abilities. That power is absolutely terrifying but Jin didn't need it to defeat Andre Bernard. If he had used his Day Element instead of his Night Element then he could've easily suppressed Bernard and carry out his mission, but he instead chose to fight a hard battle just so that he could have an excuse to fuck me over!”
Luna slammed her hand on the desk again.
“Hmm, I didn't know that the Black Reaper was so shrewd.”
Sami looked amused as he said those words.
“That bastard disappeared and now I can't even get the chance to pay him back.”
Said Luna.
“Wait….If I cant hurt him directly I can still hurt him indirectly.”
She looked at Sami.
“You're taking part in this Ranking Tournament, right?”
“Of course. That bastard Flow is competing this tournament so I have to compete too.”
Sami quickly said.
“Then there's something I need you the 2nd Throne to do.”
Luna had a cruel smile on her face as she said so.
The day of the ranking tournament arrived with much fanfare.
All of the buildings were withdrawn into the ground by Gaia and a grand coliseum was erected in its place.
This coliseum was the stage for the tournament.
“Quite a grand stage don't you think?”
Miko said as he floated in the air and looked down upon the academy.
Regis and Ishma who was next to him looked down on it with a curious gaze.
“So everyone is just going to fight in that place?”
“Nope. It's an elimination style tournament. I heard that everyone outside the top 20 have their opponents picked at random, and grade doesn't matter. Meaning a first year may get matched up against a fifth year. This is to give those who are exceptional for their year the chance to fight on a bigger stage so that they can truly grow and won't have to waste their time on people who are clearly below them.”
Miko explained to Ishma.
“So what rank are you?”
Regis asked.
“I'm ranked at the bottom.”
Ishma started laughing.
Miko didn't get angry and just smiled.
“Its to be expected. I've never participated in a tournament before.”
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He folded his wings and allowed himself to fall to the ground.
*Boom!*
He landed on the ground and caused the earth to crack open. This drew the attention from everyone who were near the coliseum.
“The Heaven Demon King!”
The moment the crowd saw him they started to scatter.
“…….”
Miko was slightly surprised to be treated like a plague.
“What did you expect? You caused such a spectacle with your fight against Sebas plus your Demonic actions during the war shook everyone to the core.”
Miko looked and saw Mayumi approaching him.
“You're fighting as well?”
She shook her head.
“You're taking part so I would definitely lose. Besides, I plan on leaving the academy with you after the tournament, so fighting for a rank here would be meaningless.”
She said with a shrug.
“Is that so?”
“Yup, I'll be cheering for you in the stands.”
“Thanks.”
He then looked around as if searching for something.
“Did you find Sapphire?”
The moment he said that Sola and Yota appeared out of nowhere wearing the Invisibility helmets.
“Yes. With Sir Code Breaker’s help we were able to find her hiding in the ruins of the 13th District.”
“The 13th District? I guess with her powers she should be able to survive there if she wants.”
“It was pure luck that we were able to find her too. No one would expect her to be there after all.”
Said Yota.
“So where is she now?”
“She's with the Boss Lady.”
“With Tia? Well, they are acquainted so it should be alright.”
Miko secretly hoped that Tiamat didn't decide to toy with Sapphire when she got bored.
The day Jin disappeared Kaido contacted Miko.
“What? Jin went into hiding?”
“Yeah. I just met him myself; he seemed to be on the verge of having a breakdown.”
“I see. With Jin gone the Pillars will be temporarily weakened.”
Kaido nodded.
“Wait. What about sapphire? I heard that she and Jin had been moving in secret as of late.”
“I don't know, but I doubt that she's with him. The way Jin spoke and acted he clearly intended to disappear alone after cutting all ties and then come back for one final battle.”
“Is that so? Then that isn't good. Sapphire was along with Jin when he carried out his orders so it's highly likely that she's gonna get targeted by his enemies which may include the Pillars.”
After thinking about it a while
“It might be best that I find her and keep her under my protection.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Sapphire is somewhat of an acquaintance of mine and I don't really like the idea of the Pillars getting their hand on her. There's also the fact that I had always planned on taking her back with me to my kingdom. Not only her, a squad like Silver Crow would surely come in handy.”
Miko didn't want just a part of Silver Crow, he wanted the whole thing, that was the reason why he took in Sapphire.
*Boom!*
Miko looked up and saw fireworks exploding over the coliseum.
“Looks like the tournament has started.”
Said Mayumi.
“I'm going to get a seat. Good luck.”
Mayumi turned to leave after saying that, but stopped first before facing Miko again.
“I should warn you as a precaution. Be careful of the Top 5 Rulers. Kaido is obvious but the other four are incredibly strong. Especially the the 1st Throne.”
“The 1st Throne is called Flow right?”
Mayumi nodded.
“His name is Flow Mizune. He's Jun Mizune’s son.”
Miko was slightly surprised to hear this but it was then he realized something.
“So that's how it is. That bastard Jun Mizune invited me here not to build ties with my clan but to use me to nurture his son’s growth.”
Miko said to himself.
“I guess I who's from such a powerful bloodline would make the perfect stepping stone.”
A dangerous glint appeared in Miko's eyes. Seeing that Mayumi quickly turned and left.
“Yota and Sola.”
“Yes!”
“Go to your stations and wait for your turn to fight. If we're pitched against each other, you are to forfeit immediately. Otherwise fight to the best ofyour ability and show the world just how powerful Exsul is.”
“Yes,Don!”
Saying that sola and Yota quickly left.
“Ok. Let's go.”
Static started appearing at Miko's feet, and with a step his figure disappeared.
Miko soon reappeared inside the coliseum like a bolt of lightning.
He stood in the waiting area looking at the huge monitor at the center of the coliseum.
“Good morning, Everyone!”
At that moment, Jun Mizune’s figure appeared on the stage for all to see.
The moment he appeared the crowd started to cheer wildly.
“It's seems that even after Sebas’ lost the Pillars popularity are still high.”
Miko mumbled to himself.
“Are you all ready?!”
“YEAHHH!”
The crowd responded.
“That's good to hear! Then without further ado tournament START!”
Jin's figure disappeared and names started flashing on the screen.
After a while the first names were shown.
“Oh?”
Miko instantly became interested because one of the first fighters was Bloom.
“Looks like the tournament will immediately shift into high gear!”
Jun’s voice once again echoed through the entire area. It looks like he was the host this time around.
“First up is the girl hailed as the strongest female student in the academy! The 6th Throne, Gravity Queen Bloom Newgate!”
“Looks like bloom is being used to open the show. She's a Throne so she has the right to change opponents if she wishes or advance automatically but she didn't do so. She must be quite pissed.”
As he said that he saw Bloom exiting out of a tunnel.
The moment the crowd saw her they went wild.
However Bloom showed no reaction to their cheers and silently walked to the combat field.
She stood there and waited for her opponent.
Her opponent was a 5th year who was rank 39th . Compared to Bloom he barely got any cheers.
Obviously no one expected for him to win; and from the look on his face not even he was confident enough to face bloom.
He stood on the other side of the combat field and gulped as he looked at Bloom.
“Okay! Now that both fighters are ready, let's begin!”
Jun announced.
The male student nervously took a fighting stance.
Bloom didn't even looked at him and raised her hand to the sky.
“Sorry. I'm not really in the mood to play around.”
The moment she said that something fell from the sky and landed on the male student.
*Boom!*
It caused a huge explosion which resulted in a huge crater.
When the smoke cleared and everyone was able to see what had fell from the sky, they were shocked silly.
“A s-satellite?”
That's right. Bloom had used her power to drag a satellite out of orbit and made it crash into her opponent and instantly defeated them.
Bloom didn't gave her opponent another glance and left the stage.
As for Miko who watched all this.
“Well, damn.”
That was all he could say.