From the booklet that Zenit's No.1 Traveling Poet Matt Razi created, Fei felt like this young prince named Shevchenko was really average. From the comments Matt Razi wrote, it seemed like there was nothing special about this prince; he was only ranked 32 out of the top-50 masters of the competition.
In a normal setting, it was impossible for him to get into the top-4.
Actually, it would even be hard for him to get into the top-13. However, no one expected that a small character like this young prince was going to get three free passes after only winning his first match and get into the top-4 list.
"Is someone manipulating the match-making process?"
Almost everyone had this question on their minds. After the initial surprise, almost everyone in the audience started to question how Shevchenko got a free pass again. Except for the seven masters on the stage, all other people started to chant.
Since a lot of people were booing and a lot of people were questioning the process, the head judge for the competition had to pause the competition and asked Second Princess Dominguez to quickly investigate into the match-making process.
Many people in the audience were thrilled as they felt like they busted the biggest cheating in the history of this competition, but the result of the official investigation was surprising.
There was nothing wrong with the match-making process, and the reason why Shevchenko got another free pass was purely due to his good luck.
After the official investigation was completed, the uproar died down a lot.
People started to be curious about Shevchenko.
This young man's luck wasn't just good; it was insane. There was a good chance that he would get a great position in the new battle legion that was about to be formed.
There were many warriors looking at Shevchenko who was sitting in the audience with envy and jealousy. After thinking that there would be no free passes after this round of the competition, the jealous warriors couldn't wait for this Shevchenko to be smashed by the other masters.
...
Since there were only three matches and they were all high-profile matches, they didn't happen at the same time. Instead, they were all going to take place on the No.1 Sword-Testing Stage sequentially.
The first match was between [Goddess of Archery] Elena who was really popular and [Wind Thunder Staff] Kanort who was from the Gudong Kingdom.
Except for Shevchenko who was somehow really lucky, everyone agreed that [Wind Thunder Staff] Kanort was the weakest among all seven masters. From just the look of it, [Goddess of Archery] Elena got a good match.
The reality wasn't too far off from the hypothesis.
Elena who was stronger than a peak Six-Star Warrior was able to penetrate through the protective magic array around the stage with her arrow. Kanort who was only a low-tier Six-Star Warrior wasn't her match.
Although this savage-like master warrior tried to take the initiation and attacked proactively, he wasn't able to get the advantage. He tried to get within the close-range and use the weakness of all archers, but Elena who was an experienced archer from Diablo World didn't let him get close at all. After all, Elena had danced around numerous monsters and demons in Diablo World and had fleet footwork.
In a few fast dashes, Elena had already gotten out of her opponent's attack range like a phantom.
While she was moving, her arrows didn't decrease in power. After a few frost arrows were shot out, the temperature on the No.1 Sword-Testing Stage dropped dramatically. Kanort tried his best to smash away all the arrows, but the frost energy still got into his body silently. The frost energy suddenly exploded and reduced his reaction speed and movement speed.
Bam!
After 30 seconds into the battle, Elena shot out an arrow and destroyed the staff Kanort was using.
When Elena pulled on the bowstring again, three sharp and chilling frost arrows appeared on the bow with a blue death glare. The three arrows were targeted at Kanort who had lost his weapon, and this master of the Gudong Kingdom felt like he was targeted by a terrifying beast as he sensed a chill on his forehead.
"I surrender!" After knowing that he was no match to Elena, this warrior surrendered as he jumped off of the Sword-Testing Stage.
It was like an instant win!
This match was very one-sided.
After a short moment of pause, loud and explosive cheers sounded around the stage.
Elena who was powerful and beautiful had more fans than Kanort to begin with, and all the men in the audience felt an adrenaline rush after seeing their secret crush win so dominantly. They all shouted Elena's name, and they were as passionate as fire.
However, Elena didn't show much excitement after getting the victory.
After she packed up her bow, she jumped off of the Sword-Testing Stage and went to the resting area. To her, it felt no different from killing a monster in Diablo World.
However, all her fans liked her cold and noble presence, and they cheered on even louder after seeing her reaction.
After this battle, Chambord already secured one spot in the top-4 list.
...
After half an hour, the royal mages finished checking up on the magic array and runes around the No.1 Sword-Testing Stage.
The second match was about to begin. It was between [One Sword] and [Silver Armored Vicious Sword].
Most people favored the former No.1 Warrior among all affiliated kingdom [One Sword]. Although [Sky Covering Fist] the king of Chambord's growth speed made people question [One Sword]'s No.1 Warrior status, no one doubted [One Sword]'s strength.
[One Sword] only used one strike when facing his opponents.
This was a wild and arrogant statement that made a lot of warriors' blood boil.
However, this was an accurate representation of this average-looking prince.
In comparison, [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] was only a warrior who got famous after he entered this year's competition. Although he did make his way to the top-7 list, he wasn't as strong as [One Sword] in a lot of people's mind. After all, a lot of people remembered that he battled with [Destructive Finger] Cech for a while before winning using one secret strike.
How could a man who was on the similar level as Cech Peter defeat someone like [One Sword]?
The only question people had was about that final "white light" strike this [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] used. How powerful was that strike? That was the only trump card this warrior had.
This intense battle was about to begin as everyone focused their attention on the stage.
"Hahahaha, I can defeat [One Sword] with one hand! It is too unfortunate for him..."
The loud and arrogant voice sounded on the stage. The silver armor was shiny under the sun, and his white cape was fluttering in the wind like a girl's dress.
With everyone's eyes on him, [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] jumped onto the stage using a very fancy pose as he tried to show off his strength.
Just judging from the look, this most arrogant participant [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] was tall, slender, and muscular. He also had white skin, sharp eyebrows, big eyes, and thin lips. He could be considered as one very handsome man.
On top of all that, he was the prince of the level 1 affiliated kingdom, Polo, from the eastern battle region. With his background, look, and strength, he had a lot of fans. However, most of his fans were girls in between the age of 15 and 18. These girls wanted their Prince Charming, and [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] fitted that description very well. They were crazy about him since he was young, handsome, powerful, and "brave".
Therefore, ear-piercing high pitch screams of young girls sounded around the stage as [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] showed up.
In comparison, [One Sword] who was wearing a rough robe and carrying a rusty sword looked like a bystander. He looked very calm, and he didn't receive much cheering.
This low-key and cold swordsman was just like his rusty sword. They all had shortcomings and looked very average.
"Hahaha, you dare to accept the challenge? You are not my match. It is better to surrender."
[Silver Armored Vicious Sword] rubbed his chin and flipped his smooth long hair. He maintained his perfect image in the eyes of his female fans, and he didn't seem scared of this famous [One Sword] at all as a casual smile appeared on his face.
"Draw your sword." [One Sword] said as he moved his eyebrows.
"Hey? You really want to fight? There are a lot of people watching the fight. If you lose, it would look really bad! How about you just surrender?" [Silver Armored Vicious Sword] tried his best to explain the situation to [One Sword].
His voice was clearly heard by everyone through the Amplifying Magic Array on the stage.
Many people almost fell to the ground after hearing that. "This guy is really arrogant! He dares to say that to [One Sword] with no shame on his face?"
Tink!
[One Sword]'s response was one dash of Sword Energy.