The Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance had defeated Capth in the Battlecraft Combat category. Even though it wasn’t the final victory, it was still something worth celebrating, as no one expected that they could go this far.
Everyone was shocked that both candidates that were ranked No.1 and No.2 in Earth Confederation had lost; it was still kind of unbelievable.
While everyone in the alliance was cheering, the students of Capth could do nothing but silently watch them. They had finally realized how defeat tasted like.
"Congratulations to your team." Flash shook Best’s hand; they finally had time to greet each other.
"Thanks, but I’m not sure if I should be happy or not. Clearly, a monster has been born in the community of Battlecraft Combat." Best faked a smile. After all, Wang Tong was not a student of Bernabeu, and his emergence had caused the community to reshuffle its rankings.
Somehow, Flash felt the same way too, but a big part of him was filled with anticipation, because he had finally found the perfect rival. After staying at the top for that long, perhaps it was time to recharge himself through suffering a defeat.
The candidates of Capth then headed back into their resting lounge while leaving the victors to celebrate on the stage. Somehow, the sorrow of Capth and the astonishment from the students of the other academies were the best "trophy" for the alliance.
On the other hand, Halmond sighed while faking a smile. To be honest, he was ready for anything, but didn’t expect this to happen.
"Congratulations, Principal Samantha. Our current score is 2-2, and I’m looking forward to this afternoon’s METAL Combat. Now, if you would excuse me, I’m going to check on my students."
"Thank you, Principal Halmond, and yes please."
The other candidates of Capth were standing outside the lounge, and as Halmond approached, Bisu pointed his finger towards the door. In fact, Bisu had no problem with defeats since he was ranked below Flash. However, Flash had never tasted defeat for quite some time already, and it felt bad, especially in matches like this that didn’t involve luck.
Halmond smiled and said, "Let’s take a short break and go get some lunch. Let’s not forget about this afternoon’s matches as those are even more important… Flash needs space to calm down, and all of us should trust him. After all, the students of Capth are not crybabies; we are fearless fighters. So suck it up, because this is only a small obstacle in life!"
"Rest assure Principal Halmond, we’re gonna crush them this afternoon for sure!" Wally grabbed his fist and said. Obviously, he was quite mad about the previous matches.
Halmond nodded and dismissed the team huddle.
Flash was all alone in the resting lounge, wiping his face with a towel…
Not only Capth was unable to obtain the final victory before noon, they were even forced into a 2:2 draw with the Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance! Most importantly, Capth’s Battlecraft Combat team which,h was also known as Earth Confederation’s strongest team, had been devastatingly defeated by the score of 1:3!
Most of Capth’s students were still unable to accept the fact they were defeated in the previous round, while the other students who didn’t go to the arena were shocked to hear about the result. Especially the news about both Bisu and Flash losing to the same guy, it was absurd indeed!
It was known to all that age had nothing to do with one’s performance in Battlecraft Combat, which explained why Flash was able to dominate in this category. Even the students from Yalden were intimidated by his level of strength. Yet, no one expected that his dominance would end right here!
Who on earth really was this Wang Tong fella?
The Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance immediately became the center of attention while the team was having a lunch break at Capth’s luxurious cafeteria. Ironically, they had been branded as a "team of weak
lings" for the past four days. No one cared or paid any attention to them, and people were disrespectful to them. Yet now, the team had become the hottest topic of everyone’s gossip.
The alliance’s dining area was filled with laughter and cheers. Most of them seemed relaxed and pleased with the current result, as they had never imagined that they would be this good, except for Wang Tong, Apache and the rest of the team. In Wang Tong’s point of view, the final victory was the only thing that mattered. As for Apache, he was not the type of person who would celebrate another person’s victory, not to mention he still had to fight in the afternoon. However, they couldn’t force everyone in the team to think the same way as them, as the most important thing in this tournament was the team’s confidence. After all, instead of personal victory, this tournament was all about team victories.
Nevertheless, Carl had proven to the others that he was not a weakling through the previous match, and he had what it took to be put on this team at the very beginning.
The alliance headed back to their resting lounge after lunch. They had to rest and recharge themselves for the sake of this afternoon’s rough battles. There was no turning back, and they were already one step closer to defeating Capth.
On the other hand, Samantha was congratulated by the principals of the other academies during lunch break. The alliance looked weak in the beginning, and the principals too didn’t expect that they could make it this far. Yet the craziest thing was their victories had nothing to do with Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan, but some random folks named Wang Tong and Carl. The principals were also amazed by the brilliant performances of the other two students who had lost in the last two categories.
If the alliance were able to continuously amaze everyone, Ayrlarng would definitely be able to regain its former glory as the top notch amongst A-Ranked academies in no time, and it seemed like Samantha really meant business.
The upcoming matches in this afternoon had created an immense uproar amongst the students of Capth, who were somehow cool and arrogant in the beginning. Everyone was excited to witness the team that drove Capth to the edge of a cliff, and those unbelievably strong candidates of those two A-Ranked academies!
Halmond had decided to change the venue for the upcoming matches to a bigger arena, due to the increase of spectators. Apparently, Capth did have such facility because they had been hosting quite a lot of big events from time to time. Initially, this intercollegiate tournament was held in the current smaller arena since it was only a small event.
The number of spectators had increased dramatically. Then there would also be the epic battle between Li Ruo-Er and Ma Xiaoru; everyone was eager to find out who was the stronger "enchantress"!
Wang Tong, Ma Xiaoru, and the other candidates were initializing their tactics in order to maintain their best condition in the upcoming matches, and those who had already finished their part in the tournament were hanging around freely. They were obviously happy about their pleasant performances.
All of a sudden, Li Ruo-Er barged in and wished to speak with Ma Xiaoru.
The team turned towards ma Xiaoru. She nodded and said, "It’s okay guys, don’t worry. I’ll be back in a minute.". No one asked anything as Ma Xiaoru walked out. After all, both "celebrities" of Earth Confederation had their own privacy too.
Finally, Ma Xiaoru came back after she was gone for more than ten minutes. Everyone seemed curious of her conversations with Li Ruo-Er, yet they chose not to ask because she obviously wouldn’t tell. Even the busybody Carl knew this was the time to keep quiet.
The second half of the tournament finally began at half past one in the afternoon. This would officially be the epic final showdown between Capth and Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance. Apparently, a number of familiar faces had also attended aside from students and teachers of Capth. As it turned out, they were the senators of Earth Confederation. They originally came to Capth for its founding ceremony. However, they didn’t expect that they were just in time for this interesting event.
It was known to everyone that it was easy for the principals of military academies to step foot into politics, since they possessed enough influence and connections to make everything even easier. In short, military academies were the best place to kickstart one’s life as a politician, especially principals that had good relationships with the current politicians.
In fact, principals of S-Ranked academies had much higher chances of getting hired for an important role in the senate, not to mention he or she would also be able to have a huge influence throughout the military.
After a while, the students of Capth began to look excited, and even the principals of every other academy stood up as an older man walked into the arena. He was about seventy years old, yet looked very sturdy.
The man was none other than the most respected figure throughout Capth, Lieutenant General Flark; the Principal of Capth had arrived. Events and celebrations were always more exciting when the principal was around, not to mention those who had graduated from Capth would be back as well. They were mostly ordinary students when they graduated, yet all of them had become well-respected warriors when they returned to Capth. Some of those students had even become fleet commanders and generals, and more of them were expected to attend since it wasn’t war period currently.
Honestly, Flark seldom attended events like this, as he would let his vice principals handle them for most of the time. He would only make an appearance in a few important events, yet he surprised everyone by showing up at this tournament. Even Halmond was surprised to see him.
Flark was indeed well respected amongst the students of Capth. In fact, he was one of the greatest principals of Capth. Flark was nicknamed the "Blood and Iron" Principal of Capth, after he managed to repress a military coup by teaming up with the principal of Yalden. It was the time when an emerging military and political force (which was currently known as The Golden Hawk Union) had decided to get rid of the House of Li and house of Ma. Originally, the union wanted Flark as the new president of Earth Confederation, but Flark declined and halted the union’s plot with his influence. Later, he managed to put an end to the ruckus as both House of Li and House of Ma agreed to step back.
Flark didn’t do that because of any special connections with both House of Li and House of Ma, it was simply because out of the three main political powers, Ivantians’ political forces were the ones that needed to be feared. As a matter of fact, after going through their own civil war for more than two hundred years, the Ivantians had successfully formed their own political system, and the people on Moon were very supportive of having their very own political system led by both House of Dower and the "Iron Curtain" House of Zhang. Although Ivantians were also a part of mankind, they tended to dislike Earthlings because they were once repressed by the Blade Warrior during the strongest period of their nation. Environmental conditions played an important part in a nation’s military and political situation. Moon was too small and too fragile to become a place for some complicated power struggles, which was why its people preferred both new and old forces to work together instead.
However, the situation on Mars was kind of different. Although Martians were known to be aggressive, religion played a critical role in its political system. In fact, Church of the Deity partially ruled Mars as approximately ninety percent of the Martians were its followers. Furthermore, House of Lie was closely related to the Church itself, and although Martians were democratic like the Ivantians, yet it looked like they were living under the dictatorship of a family, as the House of Lie would eliminate any rebellious forces at all costs. However, this type of political system seemed to fit Mars very well.