Celestial Bloodline

The next morning, just like the day before, all the first-year students headed towards the academy hall, eagerly anticipating the second round.

Once everyone had arrived and settled down, Professor Liam stepped forward and stood in the center of the hall. He glanced at the hundred students who had advanced from the first round and wasted no time in calling different students up on stage.

The remaining students who had lost the previous day watched from the audience, either cheering or feeling envious of the qualified participants.

Similar to the first round, Kyle, Alec, and the others easily defeated their opponents, securing their spots in the third round without much difficulty.

Out of the hundred students, fifty made it to the third round. And just like Kyle thought, the professors made sure not to match up the top ten students against each other, so all of them could advance to the next round.

The third round was also uneventful as Kyle, Alec, and the others breezed through, securing their places in the semi-finals.

But since there were an odd number of students, Elder Lu brought out a big box and asked the 25 winning students to pick a number plate from inside. The one who chose the plate with zero would automatically qualify for the finals.

The students quickly formed a line and started selecting number plates from the box. Kyle and Nine stood together near the end of the line.

Nine pulled out a plate and muttered a curse when he realized his number wasn't zero. He clicked his tongue and glanced at Kyle.

"What number did you get?"

A mischievous smile appeared on Kyle's face, and Nine had a sinking feeling. He leaned over to see Kyle's number plate and let out a loud curse.

"Lucky bastard! You got number zero!"

Alec and Carcel looked at Kyle's plate, their expressions filled with surprise. Alec walked over to Nine and, with a sympathetic look, patted his shoulder. Thе rеfеrеnсе vеrsiоn оf this сhаptеr is оn М*V*LЕМРYR.

"I can feel your pain."

"What the..?"

Nine swatted Alec's hand away, then turned to Kyle with pleading eyes.

"How about swapping number plates with me?'"

Elder Lu, who stood across from everyone, glanced at the duo before fixing his gaze on Kyle's number plate.

"The participant with the number plate zero, please return to your seat."

Upon hearing the deep, booming voice, Nine took a step back, a dry smile on his face.

"Just kidding."

Kyle and the others burst into laughter. Even Bia looked at Nine with pity. After laughing at Nine for a solid minute, Kyle made his way back to his seat with Bia perched on top of his head. Alec and the other students headed to their respective stages, ready for the long-awaited battles of the semi-finals.

Alec's first match was against Nike, who was ranked 16th in the class. Initially, Alec faced some difficulty as he didn't use any of his skills, but he managed to defeat his opponent within a minute. Carcel's battle was against Bill, ranked 19th in the class. Similar to Alec, Carcel also emerged victorious in under a minute.

Lara and Mia faced off against Jessica and Luna, who were ranked 12th and 15th, respectively. Initially, the match seemed evenly matched, but after a minute, Lara and Mia gained the upper hand, both emerging as winners.

On the flip side, Nine was seen crying and running around the stage, which made all the students in the audience seats laugh at him.

Nine was happy that his opponent wasn't among the top 6, but they still weren't weak. After struggling on the stage for over twenty minutes, he finally won by exploiting a small gap in his opponent's defense.

At the end of day four, 13 students made it to the finals. The rules for the final round were a bit different. In this round, all the remaining participants had to fight 12 battles without taking a break. Based on the number of battles won, the top seven students would be selected.

Instead of 20, there were seven stages set up in the center of the hall for the final round. As usual, Kyle and the others arrived together. Alec and his team had a high chance of winning since they were all in the top five.

Kyle was determined to win because he had to enter the Tower no matter what. Before the final round, Nine practically begged Carcel and Alec to let him win or else he had no chance. He didn't ask Kyle because he knew that Kyle needed the spot more than anyone else.

At first, Alec and Carcel were hesitant, but they agreed to Nine's request because even if they lost one out of 12 fights, they would still qualify for one of the available spots.

Then all the winning participants faced off against each other and started fighting after getting the signal from the professors. Alec went up against Lily, who was ranked 6th in the class. After defeating Lily, he moved on to the second stage where Carcel was waiting for him.

The fight between Carcel and Alec was intense, with both of them giving it their all. In the end, Alec won and moved on to the third stage. He fought against Mia and emerged victorious.

In the fourth stage, Nine was waiting for him, but instead of fighting, Alec admitted defeat and moved on.

Nine was thrilled when Alec admitted defeat. Then, he confidently walked onto the stage where Carcel was waiting, and to everyone's surprise, Carcel also admitted defeat.

The referee, giving Nine a sharp look, eventually realized that there were no rules prohibiting participants from helping each other.

'These brats! They're taking advantage of the loopholes in the rules!'

He massaged his temples with a sigh and announced Nine as the winner, asking him to proceed to the next stage.

But the next match wasn't so lovely for Nine. Lily, for some reason, launched a brutal attack the moment he stepped on the stage, nearly beating him to death.

The referee gave Nine a look, his eyes filled with mirth.

'You were destined for a beating, brat. Trying to cheat in front of me? No chance!'

Nine glanced at the referee, who gave a thumbs up to Lily, his expression filled with pain. He was about to admit defeat, knowing he couldn't defeat Lily. But it seemed the referee wanted Lily to rough him up a bit for cheating.

He felt like crying, but no tears came out because his next opponent was Lara. Nine dragged himself onto the next stage, his clothes all torn up. He just prepared himself for another beating, accepting the cruel fate that awaited him.