"Hey, sweety!" The ravishing beauty stood opposite Law as she greeted him.
Law stood in silence as he observed the very person he has been wary of the whole exam.
He had tried avoiding her in any way possible but in the end, he had to face her in the semi-finals.
"I heard about the grudge you hold against that guy." The girl's eyes landed on where Ellis was watching them.
"He did quite a number on you didn't her? Hurt the people you swore to protect, broke your little group of friends up." The girl talked while walking towards him.
Law gathered his magi particles as he prepared to launch the fire projectile towards her if she came any closer
"I can let you win, but you have to grant me 1 thing I ask of you no matter what." The girl stood 5 meters away from him as she offered Law the deal.
"Think about it. If you fight me then you will have to employ all your trump cards against me. That is tandem to revealing it to him." The girl enticed Law.
"Even if you somehow manage to win against me, you might have to end up using your rank 2 accumulated magi particles. Do you want all your effort to go down the drain? Not to mention, your next opponent won't necessarily have to be him. He could be defeated in his next match, which I highly doubt, or he could give up like your friend. After all, he seemed to have achieved what he came for. Won't you have wasted too much just for an uncertain match?"
Law hesitated for a moment before he opened his mouth "What do you want in return?"
Hearing what she had been waiting for the girl flashed a smile as she posed a thinking position before replying. "How about you let me tag along with you for a day that I choose?"
Before Law could reply she carried on to show that her condition was non-negotiable "I will give you 20 seconds to make your choice." She started counting down
Law quickly thought about it and made a decision as she counted "9!"
"I agree."
"Very well. I will come find you on the day I choose." The girl smiled charmingly towards Law.
"Don't you need me to make an oath or something?" Law asked her.
The girl shook her head as she looked towards Rondell, while replying "I think I don't need to explain the consequence of what happens when you break your promise with me."
Law shuddered as he followed her sight to see Rondell in his match against a girl.
"I give up!" Law watched in fear looking at the girl walking off the arena.
'Not just my friends, she is threatening the existence of everyone close to me.' Law thought as his match was concluded.
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The top 5 took in a deep breath marvelling at the new remodelled hall.
They had fought early in the morning and was given time to rest until noon.
The change that happened to the massive hall and its surroundings in the few spare hours was astounding.
The walls of the hall and roof had been taken out, instead what replaced it was stands surrounding a massive arena. On the stands sat people, mostly previously disqualified students along with teachers and a lot of other people whom Ellis assumed to be nobles and other big shots.
Everyone was cheering wildly as the top 5 entered the large arena, surrounded by translucent barriers.
The barriers were there to ensure none of their attacks reached the outside or any interference was made during the match.
"Welcome everyone to the Finals, where the final 5 students will fight amongst themselves to find the Valedictorian of this years graduation batch!" Everyone clapped and cheered as his highness John stood in the middle of the arena giving out announcements. His voice was magnified so that everyone around the massive stadium was able to hear him.
"This year we will have something different. Before that let me introduce you to two special guests." Law waved his right hand to two people sat at the very front.
An old man in his 60's dressed in a red suit with a badge of rose pinned on his chest accompanied by a young man wearing a blue suit.
"Let's welcome our honoured guests, the head of the Magi association Merlin and an Envoy from the Thorn Commandment Family Mr Al!" Everyone cheered thunderously at the honoured guests, who sat behind a glistening blue table.
"These two special guests of ours will be the judge for the finals along with doing special something called live commentary." Everyone quieted down wondering what live commentary could be.
"I am not going to explain and spoil the suspense so just wait and see what is about to happen." Prince John smiled as suddenly 4 large screens appeared 20 meters above the centre of the arena, displaying the close up of Prince John who was standing in the middle.
Seeing this, people started whispering at seeing something new. Usually, everyone had to hope they sat close to a performance to watch what they wanted. But now the screen enabled them to see what they were missing out on.
"Now lets now begin the draw for the finale." As Prince John said it a small glass bowl floated in front of the 5 participants.
As it did so the names and badge number of the 5 students came upon the 4-screen letting everyone clearly see their badge number.
Lawson Fowler -00572
Alister Bright-01571
Dan Stands- 02234
Emma Redwood-04326
Ellis Wright- 10090
"Please proceed to place all of your badges inside the bowl please." John instructed the 5 finalist.
The 5 of them did as instructed.
Everyone watched as the badges started to whirl inside the bowl while the bowl slowly turned opaque.
After a 20 seconds a white bowl was placed in front of the Albert and Merlin.
"Would our kind honoured guests please pick a badge each from the bowl please?" Prince John kindly requested of the two.
"My pleasure your highness." Albert grinned as he went first and picked a badge.
Merlin sighed while wondering how he was coerced into doing this, while picking a badge as well.
'All he remembered was Prince John offering them both a free opportunity to cook their ingredients.
He had naturally rejected due to his social awkwardness, but the next moment prince John offered Albert an extra free opportunity if he were to convince him.
Without losing a second the old man had resorted to looking through his list of blackmail records to force him into this.'
'The only good thing is that I just have to analyse the battle while the old man took care of the rest.' Merlin sighed as he looked down at the badge in his hand.
"Looks like our first match is between badge numbers 10090 versus 00572 or in names Ellis Wright versus Lawson Fowler." Ez announced to the surprise of Law contestants.
Law had expected they would have to put his all in his fights before reaching the finals to face Ellis. That was how the stories in his original world went.
However, reality and fate had seemed to have other plans.
-----------------------
Steven sat in front of a bed with an extremely rare expression of gentleness, as he observed the comatose middle-aged women sleeping on the bed.
"Not long my dear." Steven sighed in mourning.
*Knock**Knock*
"Come in." Steven ordered excitedly.
Isabella walked in dejectedly.
"She wasn't there?" Steven asked seeing her dejected expression.
Isabella nodded her head. "It seems we might have received false information. She wasn't present amongst the final contestants."
Steven became silent for a while before a glint passed through his eyes. "Hahaha! Good one old man! You managed to nearly fool me." Steven started laughing hysterically.
Isabella was confused by seeing Steven reaction.
Steven calmed down before asking Isabella "Did you check all the final contestants?"
Hearing this Isabella was silent for a while before disbelief plastered her face, as she quickly ran out of the room disappearing from Steven's sight.
'Dammit, how could I forget it? She doesn't need to be present in the finals.' Isabella thought as she ran out of the mansion.
'Lord Albert must have been got the information that the finals will be held in public in advance due to his participation as a commenter by Prince John. He knew if the competition was held in public that we will be watching. And if we noticed Sophia then that was the end to their plans.
However, that information had given them a headstart.
He must have informed Sophia, and she must have decided to back out of the competition and chosen to control her puppets from behind the scenes.
After all, all she needs to do is make sure her puppets can retrieve that one strand of his hair or blood for her. She doesn't need to personally get her hands dirty.'
Isabella quickly arrived at the stadium where the finals were held and walked in.
She observed the 2 students currently standing inside the arena. She excluded Ellis right off the bat, as Sophia wouldn't dare do something stupid to reveal herself so blatantly. After all, he is someone close to Prince John and is always being monitored by all the commandments.
'Then what about the blonde-haired boy who is known to be Natasha's friend. Not him either, his eyes are alive and seething in rage, something her puppets are incapable of showing.'
Isabella quietly observed the other 3 students sat outside the ring.
'Interesting all 3 of them are observing Prince John, subtly.
Wait, that girl.
The burning sense of desire and adoration in her eyes. Found you!' Isabella made a smirk of victory on her face as she looked around the stadium.
'Now for the puppet master, where are you?'