The final qualifying round was set and the arena was cleared from the recent battle.
...…••••••••••••••••••••••....
This group was purely occupied by humans since only three of the contestants were non-humans and humans are the dominant species in Pardour.
Viola Haruno was a tall 15-year old girl who had olive green eyes and wore a white kimono outfit and an olive branch in her mouth -reminiscing of a samurai, possessing a golden sword.
She had long blinding bangs for her hairstyle, which was purple in color and covered her right eye.
Despite her beautiful but ruthless-looking facial expressions, she's actually a calm and reserved individual who rarely talks.
Zhu Li, on the other hand, was Jason's age-mate and was quite similar to Jason, but taller and much more brash and more aggressive.
He had messy yellow hair, bandages wrapped around his right arm, and had his canines protruding otherwise normally.
...…••••••••••••••••••••••....
Jason -albeit nervous- had one motive behind the back of his mind: to get revenge for Maki's defeat by advancing to the finals.
He and his two opponents joined in the fighting arena for their instructions.
They were Viola Haruno from Team Kumo and Zhu Li from Team Phoenix.
The same procedures were taken and the gong was beaten to begin the round.
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Jason and the others did not make any advances towards each other for a while, but Zhu was the first to speak to break the silence.
"Hey, kid. It seems you're still wondering about your friend earlier. Hehe!!," he taunted Jason which actually got on his nerves.
"Just shut up!!," Jason said, as he tried not to let him get into his head.
Vincent outside the arena, noticed the commotion and concluded, "He's trying to get Jason to make an irrational move by mocking Maki's defeat. What a bastard!!"
Zhu, enjoying every bit of the taunt, replied, "Don't worry, she wasn't strong enough to last anyway!! She was a girl after all!! Also, you'll join her soon enough!!," he said with a vicious smile that even irked Jason.
That made Jason crack and he rushed towards Zhu, who dodged his attacks effortlessly.
Viola, however, said and did nothing but sat down with her legs crossed and holding her sword in a somewhat meditative pose.
Vincent seemed downcast after what he feared happened but couldn't blame Jason at all either.
Esmeralda was watching on and she said to Dante while smirking, "Looks like your student needs some anger management before he gets hurt making a rash decision."
Dante -although annoyed at Esmeralda's taunt- kept his cool and replied, "You shouldn't rule anyone off so easily. He might not be the strongest-looking, but trust me, he's a special one, that lad!!"
By that answer, Esmeralda was not pleased which made Dante smirk even more.
"Guess I struck a nerve!!," he thought pleased with his counter.
But something was off about Viola and Dante sensed it.
He made a hand sign and started looking at her aura, indicating a surge of Mana rushing from her surroundings all over her body into her sword.
"This is not good at all!! It seems whatever she's preparing for is designed to end this fight once and for all!!," he analyzed to himself but couldn't hide his emotions as his worry was written all over his face.
"Ah I see!! So he noticed Viola's Mana Harvest!!," Esmeralda thought after looking at Dante's reaction to her student's ability.
But even she herself was terrified as she saw Viola's Mana transferring into her sword.
"This is—" she gasped as she realized the magnitude of the situation.