[Best of Ten].
It was a style of competition where two parties would select ten representatives to fight against each other in ten individual battles.
Every member could participate once; and in the end, the club with the highest number of victories would be the winner. But, in the case where both teams have the same number of victories, then both clubs would choose one of their ten members to fight one last battle to decide the winner.
Of the different challenges in the War of Clubs, it was one of the most exciting, and because it tested the combat effectiveness of ten different members of the club, instead of individual strength, it was very popular among the clubs.
But for Bloed's club, [Machine Revolutio], this challenge was a nightmare.
For a very simple reason.
[Machine Revolutio] did not have enough high-level members.
Counting his sister, Machine Revolutio only had three A-Rank members; Eres, Sara, and Princess Elwha who just became an A-Rank. And even if Bloed included Liu Ying, Aya, and himself in the team, them Machine Revolutio would only have at most six members capable of facing an A-Rank.
The enemy team, on the other hand, had a total of eight A-Ranks and several peak B-Ranks. In other words, their combat power was much greater than Machine Revolutio.
However, Bloed was not planning to give up despite that. He was planning to complete the goal the Headmistress assign to him of making Machine Revolutio one of the top thirty clubs during this War of Clubs.
And to do that, he needed to win today.
Aware of that, Bloed decided to do everything he could to tilt the odds in his favor.
and due to that–
"… Liu Ying, do you know where Bloed is?" Princess Elwha asked with a frown.
Liu Ying smiled wryly and shook her head. "He only said that he needed to do something and would come later. I don't know where he went."
Princess Elwha fell silent. She then let out a long sigh.
"That idiot. The challenge is about to start but he is still not here. What are we going to do if he does not arrive in time?"
Yes, despite the fact that the challenge was about to start, neither Bloed nor Regina had arrived yet.
All the main members of the club had arrived but them, thus it was normal that Liu Ying, Elwha, and the others were slightly nervous.
Seeing that, a petite honey-haired girl spoke up with a smile.
"Don't worry about that, miss Elwha, my hero will arrive in time."
"Little Gina? Do you know where Bloed is?"
Gina just smiled mysteriously and did not speak. She just said that it was a secret, and no matter how much Princess Elwha and the other asked, she did not reveal anything.
Just then, a group of people approached them.
The group was led by a very beautiful black-haired girl. The girl was smiling softly, but strangely, you could feel a sharp aura pouring out of her.
The aura was so sharp that Liu Ying and the others could not help but release their mana as soon as they felt it.
"… The leader of Flying Leaves, Anna." Aya, who had been with Bloed when they met the girl a few days ago, recognized her immediately.
"You are Aya, right?" Anna replied smilingly before looking at the rest of the group. "And you must be the members of Machine Revolutio. Nice to meet you. I thought about greeting you before the start of the challenge, but… I don't see Mr. Bloed. Is he not here?"
"… He will arrive soon." Liu Ying spoke with a sharp tone. She did not bother to hide her hostility. After all, this group was their opponent for this challenge.
Anna did not mind it, though. Instead, she just smiled.
"Is it so? It's a shame. I wanted to talk to him a bit before the challenge. I thought about apologizing to him."
"… Apologize? Heh. It looks like you are sure of your victory, huh. Don't you think you are being too arrogant?"
"Of course not." Anna looked at Liu Ying with a smile. "Even though I admire Machine Revolutio and Mr. Bloed, unfortunately, you don't have any chance of victory."
Liu Ying's eyes narrowed. At the same time, the girls behind her put on sharp expressions.
Looking at the expressions of Aya, Princess Elwha, Gina, Sara, and Eres, Anna smiled slightly and turned around.
"Well, the battle is about to start. I hope you don't disappoint me too much. We prepared a lot for today after all."
The girls did not reply and just watched her leave.
"… I don't like her." Aya spoke up as soon as she was gone.
"Too arrogant." Eres nodded. "Does she truly think she can defeat my brother so easily?"
"Well, to be honest, they had the advantage right now." Liu Ying smiled wryly.
Just then, a person appeared in the sky above the arena. It was a middle-aged man emitting powerful mana fluctuations from his entire body.
A demigod, and the arbiter of today's challenge.
Liu Ying, Aya, and the girls tensed up as soon as they saw him.
"Are both clubs ready?" The man asked as soon as he arrived, looking at both clubs calmly.
Liu Ying and the girls panicked slightly. Bloed had not arrived yet!
But just then, a voice came from behind them.
"We are."
Surprised, the girls turned around only to see Bloed and Regina walking towards them smilingly.
"Finally, you are here." Liu Ying and the others sighed in relief. But before they could ask him why he was late, the demigod nodded and started to explain the rules of the challenge.
Once he was done explaining the rules, he spoke up.
"If nobody has any question, both clubs can send their first contestant."
The group turned nervous. Immediately, they turned towards Bloed to ask him who was going first.
But at that moment, a relaxed voice sounded.
"I will go."
Surprised, the group looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a brown-skinned girl leaning against a wall relaxedly.
"Are you sure?" Bloed asked with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the surprise and confusion of the girls, and the girl shrugged confidently.
"The first battle is important, right? Then, I will go. Don't worry, none of them can defeat me."
Bloed hesitated briefly before nodding.
"I leave it to you then."
The girl smiled. She then stretched out her arms before walking towards the stage calmly.
"… My lord, is that girl…?" Sara spoke up with an expression of surprise. "But I thought she said she would not participate in the War of Clubs. How did you convince her?"
"Well, I just offered her something that she wanted." Bloed smiled mysteriously and looked at the back of the gray-haired and brown-skinned girl.
Her name was Diodora, a half-member of Machine Revolutio.
At the same time, she was a Peak A-Rank Practitioner.