One hour before the challenge.
Bloed knew how difficult the challenge against Flying Leaves would be. To be honest, he was not confident about his chances of victory.
Thus, he decided to visit someone before the start of the challenge and try to convince her to help him.
That was the reason why Bloed was seated across a gray-haired and brown-skinned lady right now.
Her name was Diodora, and she was one of the members of Machine Revolutio.
Or at least, she was a half-member.
Well, the truth was that she had not gone to the club even once since the first time that Bloed saw her.
"So you came to ask for my help, huh." The girl, of around twenty years of age, said with an amused expression. "And why do you think that I'm going to help you? I explained to you my circumstances before, right? Did you forget about it?"
Bloed smiled bitterly. Of course, he had not forgotten.
Diodora was a member of Machine Revolutio only in name. In truth, she belonged to seven different clubs, but she did not belong to any of them at the same time.
The only reason why she 'belonged' to these clubs was to use them to acquire the resources and knowledge that she was interested in, and in exchange, she helped them occasionally.
However, she did not participate in stuff such as the War of Clubs, after all, she was already threading in the edge of the rules when she belonged to seven different clubs simultaneously. And if she participated in the War of Clubs representing a specific club, she would be unable to continue doing that.
After all, what if she decided to help all seven clubs during the War of Clubs? Nobody would allow that.
But despite being aware of that, Bloed still decided to come here.
He was confident he could convince her.
Perhaps aware of that, Diodora narrowed her eyes and stared at Bloed with a scrutinizing expression.
"… Tell me your offer. Let me see why you are so confident."
Bloed took a deep breath and spoke up.
"Access up to the second floor of the Great Library. You will be able to enter and read any of the books there for one week."
Diodora's amused expression cracked up briefly, showing shock. However, it disappeared instantly, replaced by a sharp look.
"… I see. That is indeed a very attractive offer."
The reason why Diodora was in seven clubs at the same time was due to the knowledge and resources she could obtain from them; knowledge being her priority.
Duo to that, access to the Great Library, where most of the knowledge of Academy City was stored and where few people could enter, was certainly something that she wanted.
Bloed remembered that she asked him about it when she was in Machine Revolutio last time. Thus, Bloed knew that using it was the only chance to convince her to help him.
And as he expected, Diodora seemed tempted by his offer.
The gray-haired girl fell silent and put on a pensive expression. She then closed her eyes before opening them and looking at Bloed with a glaring look.
"I'm sorry, but I can't believe your words. I have tried for a long time, but I have only managed to get access to the first floor. Why should I believe that you managed to do in one month what I could not do in years?"
Bloed said nothing. Instead, he took something out of his storage device.
It was a token. Something that the headmistress gave to him before coming here.
To be honest, even Bloed was surprised when Headmistress Wave accepted his request, but she said that it was one of the perks of being her disciple.
Most likely, she knew how difficult Bloed next battle would be, so perhaps this was her way to help him indirectly.
Thanks to that, though, he could persuade the brow-skinned girl in front of him.
Diodora fell silent when she saw the token. She knew what it meant.
Thus, she sighed and smiled bitterly.
"… Even though I don't want to do this, this is an offer that I can't reject."
"Then, will you help us?"
"I will." Diodora sighed and nodded. "I will have to apologize to the other clubs later, though… Sigh, I can already imagine the fuss."
Just like that, Diodora's participation in the challenge was secured.
And now, the gray-skinned girl was standing in the arena with a calm smile.
In front of her, a twenty-something young man belonging to Flying Leaves was looking at her with a keen a cautious look.
The reason was simple. He had not seen Diodora's information in the information about Machine Revolutio.
Moreover, despite being just a few meters away from her, he could not feel her mana rank at all. No matter how much he looked at her, she looked like a normal person.
But that was impossible, a normal person could not enter this city.
In other words, it was the complete opposite.
'… She is strong.'
The fact that she could hide her cultivation from someone like him was enough to speak of her abilities.
Contrary to the wary expression of the young man, though, Diodora seemed extremely calm, as though she did not find the young man dangerous at all.
While they were observing each other, the demigod in charge of the battle looked at them and spoke up.
"Are you ready?"
Both of them nodded.
"Then start!"
As soon as the words of the demigod sounded, the young man moved.
In an instant, a spear appeared in his hand. Then, he rushed towards Diodora at an extreme speed!
He was so fast that most of the audience did not manage to see him move. In just an instant, he was in front of Diodora, his spear just centimeters away from her chest.
But in that instant, his eyes widened.
His face turned pale, and his eyes shook. Then, his face flushed violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
At some point in time, Diodora had disappeared and appeared behind him, her hand touching his back.
Moreover, the demigod had appeared between them, using his hand to grab Diodora's wrist and stop her from hurting the young man further.
Looking at the smiling Diodora with an expression of surprise, the demigod's eyes narrowed in wariness.
This girl...
Meanwhile, Diodora just continued smiling, as though nothing was wrong.
The demigod grunted coldly before removing his hand.
Then, he announced the result of the first battle.
"The first round goes to Machine Revolutio."
With that, cheers erupted from the audience.
The Score was 1-0 in favor of Machine Revolutio.