Chapter 363: Winner

"..." Ellia just looked at Theo who was still falling from the air before turning around coldly.

Theo gritted his teeth, not even understanding what he had done to deserve this treatment.

However, it was true that Ellia had actually unleashed enough power to show that she could become the winner in this ranking competition.

Of course, the ranking competition couldn’t exactly show how good people were, considering they would keep exhausting their energy. Their opponents did the same, but there was a case like Vera, who almost defeated Clarice.

That was why people thought that even if Ellia managed to win, she might still not be the strongest. She just happened to pick the right strategy and get the best bracket.

Either way, they continued the match. It didn’t take too long before they reached the semifinals.

The semifinal candidates were quite expected. They were Ellia, Antonio, Selena, and Kallarnos University’s treasurer, Kite.

The last person was supposed to be picked between Kite, Clarice, and Vera. In fact, people expected Clarice to win.

However, Vera appeared out of nowhere and almost defeated Clarice, causing enough injury to force her to retire in the next match. This allowed Kite to advance to the semifinals.

Ellia couldn’t help but smile when she saw the bracket. She would actually encounter Selena in the semifinals.

As soon as her name was called, she returned to the arena immediately, ready to fight Selena.

Her eyes were as cold as her thoughts. ’This woman has been quite daring all this time, especially when it comes to flirting with Auric. She doesn’t even know him, but it feels like she’s going to devour him. She has no shame. Such a woman needs to be cut down.’

Selena could feel her hostility as soon as she entered the arena.

Her expression remained calm, but there was no one who knew what she was thinking.

Even though Selena had been acting like a healer who couldn’t even fight properly all this time, she had proven everything wrong in this competition.

She was more than capable of fighting toe-to-toe with the likes of Antonio despite having such a disadvantageous element.

In a way, she was quite a dark horse.

That was why people were wondering if Selena would make another uproar in this match.

"Hello!" Selena waved her hand with a big smile on her face.

Ellia’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but she still nodded, returning her greeting.

"You may—!" The referee raised his hand, announcing the beginning of the match. To everyone’s surprise, Selena raised her hand and interrupted him. "Ah, wait a moment."

"Is there something wrong?" The referee asked.

"Yes." Selena nodded. "I would like to give up on this round."

"!!!" Everyone widened their eyes as soon as they heard her decision.

"What?!" The students couldn’t believe Selena would actually give up.

"Well, I have advanced more than enough as a healer. Even if I can heal myself, I don’t like to waste my energy to keep fighting when it’s clear I won’t be able to win the match."

The referee didn’t expect this decision, but since Selena had made her decision, he had to respect it.

"Understood." The referee announced, "Student Selena Bellegarde from Lech-Aistia has forfeited the match. Ellia Stroph Astler from Esfrata won!"

There was silence in the arena. On the one hand, they were disappointed that they couldn’t see more about Selena. On the other hand, they understood the reasoning.

Ellia was overwhelmingly strong. At the very least, Selena needed to do something big to win this battle.

That was why, rather than fighting Ellia, Selena chose to conserve her strength for the upcoming competition. There might be people challenging her in the universal competition after all.

Besides, she claimed herself to be a healer. She had advanced more than enough as a healer, so it was understandable if she chose to stop.

Even if she lost, it would be understandable.

When they heard it, they didn’t say anything bad to Selena, knowing she deserved this position.

Ellia’s body shook. She was already planning to beat Selena quite hard for flirting too much, but she didn’t get the chance.

More importantly, Selena made a small smirk while speaking in a playful tone. "Well, good luck, Ellia. I’ve given you the victory, so I might as well claim a small dinner date with Auric."

Ellia clenched her sword tightly. She really wanted to cut her down, but she held back.

Rather than people like Milinda, Katarina, or even Maya, Ellia realized that this woman was actually a much more powerful rival.

Unfortunately, the rest of the match wasn’t as interesting as people thought. They originally believed Selena would have a big fight with Ellia.

Whoever won would fight Antonio.

However, the fight didn’t happen. As a result, Ellia managed to conserve her strength for the final.

On the other hand, Antonio’s opponent also came from Esfrata. That was why there was a big fight between Kite and Antonio. Kite was trying his best to win, but he fell short.

Originally, Katarina was supposed to be leading in the Rank 3 competition, while the student council president at Kallarnos University was supposed to fight in the Rank 4 competition.

Now that Katarina had become the leading figure even among the Rank 4 students, Ellia ended up as the team leader. Ellia’s status was quite sensitive, considering Kallarnos University decided to pull their offer to invite her to join Kallarnos University.

Because of the big fight between Kite and Antonio, the latter ended up using too much of his energy before the final, while Ellia conserved a lot of energy.

In the final, Antonio fought to the best of his ability. His phoenix element had a powerful self-regeneration effect, aiding his recovery.

Small cut wounds wouldn’t be enough to take him down. However, Ellia was strong enough to take him down as Antonio ultimately ran out of energy.

The final itself was anticlimactic, disappointing the people. Still, even if people were blaming Antonio for not winning the tournament, the rest of the people were defending him, saying that he was exhausted because of the final.

If not for that, they believed Antonio would win.

In the end, Ellia ranked first in this tournament. It was an achievement that she needed to get acknowledged by her grandfather.

Her grandfather was known for both his strength and wealth. Now that she had proven both her strength and wealth, her parents would no longer have any means to defeat her.

Even her grandfather wouldn’t have an easy time suggesting her marriage.

In other words, she could gain a bit more freedom in exerting her influence within the family, including in the family business. In other words, there would be basically no more repercussions even if she had to help Auric investigate Eric’s case anymore.

At the same time, Selena won third place. As if she were predicting everything, Selena chose to forfeit the match against Ellia, knowing full well she would be defeated.

Instead, she conserved that energy to get ready for the third place, knowing that either Antonio or Kite would be her opponent.

Since Esfrata wanted to win, they would spare no effort in defeating Antonio in the semifinal. In other words, no matter who her opponent was, they would be heavily injured and exhausted. It would be an easy victory for her.

With this, the Rank 3 competition was over.

Auric was smiling. People could say she was lucky, but she also needed to face someone like Theo. Yet, she managed to overwhelm him, so she still demonstrated her strength.

"Congratulations." Auric smiled.

Ellia nodded gracefully. "Thanks to you. It’s a shame that you are in a... weird position. You are registered as one of the Rank 2 students on this trip, but because of what you revealed yesterday, you ended up being somewhat in the middle of Rank 2 and Rank 3. If not, you would have dominated the Rank 2 competition."

"I know, right?" Katarina chuckled. "Auric would dominate the Rank 2 competition, but he wouldn’t be strong enough to compete in the Rank 3 competition. That’s a shame." Katarina turned to Auric. "I mean, I know you are strong, but can you really do it?"

"My firepower is good enough, but overall ability? Not yet." Auric shook his head helplessly.

Ellia knew that as well. In fact, this was the reason they had this group.

Auric turned to Katarina. "Well, it’s your chance this time. Can you win?"

"I don’t know yet. Looking at my bracket, I am supposed to have an easy time until the semifinal. I don’t intend to lower my guard, but because Gloria is no longer there, then yes...

"In the semifinal, however, I have to face that muscle gorilla, Alexander. His power is something I can’t underestimate. He has a strong offense and defense, so it will be quite tricky.

"On the other hand, Theressa Lee and Timothy Wellington would most likely face each other. However, Theressa’s element had a rating of 4.9, so the elemental suppression shouldn’t normally work on her.

"The problem is that her opponent is Timothy, who has a Pure Water element, which is considered the absolute water element. That’s why I don’t know if she can win even with her sun element."

"I believe you can." Auric nodded with a smile.

"Your expectation is killing me, ugh! Well, I’ll do my best. Let’s see how far I can go." Katarina chuckled while stretching her body. "You should be prepared for your competition with Nicholas. In addition, there will be plenty of people trying to challenge you. Alexander is just one of them. He will come to you more intensely, knowing that you have a Rank 3 element."

"I know. I’ll handle that matter myself. Good luck."

...

Just as Katarina predicted, Katarina and the other three people advanced quite smoothly. There were many powerful opponents, but they were simply one level above the rest.

These four people dominated the Rank 4 competition, showing a tournament unlike the previous three.

As a result, they reached the semifinals quickly.

The first match would be between Katarina and Alexander.

"Hahaha. So, you will be my opponent. This is perfect. I don’t have a grudge against you, but I definitely want to challenge Auric Elfe. If I beat you here quite... hard, I wonder if that will provoke him enough for him to challenge me?"

Katarina snorted. "Why don’t you just give up? Maybe if you surrender, I will convince Auric to challenge you."

"Unfortunately, I can’t do that. A great conqueror can do everything but surrender." Alexander cracked his fingers. "That’s why it’s unfortunate, but I don’t intend to hold back even if you’re a woman."

Katarina smiled. "That’s good because I don’t intend to hold back either."

Katarina summoned her bullets while lightning sparked from Alexander’s body.

The referee took a step back and announced, "Match begins!"