It was finally about time for Round 5 to start. If Celaine wins her match then she will at least make it in the Top 2 and have a chance to fight for the Number One spot. And if Nisha wins then she will be in the same position. All of their battles so far have been stomps and Mira feels like that their battles to make it to Round 6 will also be similar. Celaine has shown that she can fight people above her cultivation level due to her talent with the saber. Nisha has shown her excellent skills with her Dark Element along with her beautiful dagger play.
"We will now begin Round 5! For this Round and the next 3 rounds, we won't have both groups fight at the same time. We will start with Group 1 and move onto Group 2 afterward! Will Anna and Celaine please come up to the stage?!" The announcer informed everyone that only one battle will be fought at a time.
Anna was the winner from the first bracket in Group 1 and is a Stage 5 Qi Condensation Realm Expert. The difference in Cultivation for Celaine is getting wider and wider, but with her saber skills along with her strong body, she is able to clear this gap with her skills.
Celaine walked up on the stage and glanced over at Mira and just saw Mira looking at this fight with a bored and nonchalant pose. This shocked Celaine even more as she expected Mira to be more invested in this fight than the others, but this only made her more nervous.
'What does this mean? Does this mean she's expecting me to win so I can advance and fight with Nisha? Or does she not care and is satisfied with me coming this far-No! What am I thinking?! This is the woman who threw me into beasts like a rag doll because I refused to fight them then proceed to use me as bait against a beast that just needs to breathe on me to kill me! She's clearly thinking this will be a boring match!' Celaine thought as she took out her saber. If Mira thinks that this will be an easy battle, then it should be the case. Celaine relaxed a little and already started to underestimate her opponent. Anna also readied her sword and waited for the judge to start the match.
"Fight!"
Both Celaine and Anna dashed towards each other, but Mira could tell that Celaine didn't rush in with as much fervor as before. She frowned at this and knew that Celaine is going to have a rough time. It turns out that Mira was right because Celaine couldn't find an opening and was even getting pushed back.
Celaine kept swinging her saber at Anna, but she was able to parry or block all of her attacks with ease and wouldn't fall for Celaine's bluffs. Celaine backed off to try and get the momentum back, but Anna charged in that split second of hesitation and started to pressure her. Celaine turned to the one being on the receiving end and Anna's attacks were also a lot stronger than her previous opponents. Celaine started to lose her head a bit as she thought about the possibility of her losing.
The fight went on for another 10 minutes and made for one of the longest matches today along with being Celaine's longest match. Celaine knew that she wouldn't be able to regain the momentum and there is only 1 solution that she could come up with to win this match. She had to wait until Anna goes in for a final move to end it then strike, but this is incredibly risky since she's never done this before.
Anna was attacking constantly, but started to get a little impatient since her opponent is 3 Stages below her in cultivation. She felt like it was now time to end this and was setting up for an attack to the neck. She kept attacking and waited for an opening and after a couple more moves she saw that opening. She quickly stabbed towards Celaine's neck, but when she prepared that attack she noticed that Celaine had already switched positions and launched her saber towards her neck. Anna didn't have any time to change the trajectory of the attack since she knew that she would miss and in that split second, Celaine's saber was against her neck.
"Group 2, Number 31, Celaine, Winner!" The Judge ended the match.
*WOOO*
The crowd went wild after seeing Celaine pull out the win even in a situation like that.
"Did you see that?! She actually ended up winning even though she was losing the whole time! What a talent!"
"Crazy! What an amazing fight! They are both amazing!"
"I can't wait to see the next matches!"
The audience talked about that match and how amazing it was. They never would have guessed that Celaine would win.
Celaine had a tired smile on her face as she bowed towards Anna and cupped her hands.
"That was a good fight. You are amazing, Anna!" Celaine said to Anna.
"You really surprised me there with that move. I will make sure to remember this battle and won't fall for the same trick twice. Congratulations on the win." Anna said politely as she walked off the stage. Celaine also did the same but had a big smile on her face. Winning that match felt really good. But this happiness lasted but an instant when she noticed a cold gaze directed towards her. She knew it was Mira and even though she couldn't see her face, she knew that there was a deep frown planted on her face. Celaine wanted to say that it was her fault that things turned out this way but knew that is a bad idea. She decided to just shut up, put her head down, and walk away to wait for her next match. She was right because Mira was incredibly disappointed with that fight. Mira knew that a win is a win, but Celaine lost from the start and only got lucky to be able to pull off that stunt.
The next match then started and it was Nisha's turn to fight. Mira truly didn't think much of this fight. Nisha, Celaine, and Audra are clearly the best fighters here. Anna was good as well, but the main reason she wasn't nearly as skilled with the sword as Celaine was with the saber.
"Nisha, Mae, come up!" The announcer called the next fighter. Both of them walked up to the stage and took out their weapons. But Mae seemed to want to say something to Nisha before the battle.
"I know I'm no match for you, but I'd still like to fight with you." Mae said before she took out her sword.
Nisha just nodded her head before taking out her dual daggers.
"Fight!"
Nisha did the same thing she's done since the beginning of the tournament and coated her body and sword in darkness. She then walked towards Mae then suddenly dashed forward. She was trying to catch Mae a little off guard, but it didn't seem to trick Mae as she dodged her attack. Dealing with dual daggers is incredibly annoying once they enter their range of attacks so Mae tried her best to keep her distance. But know and doing are two separate things and it didn't take long before Nisha's daggers were placed against Mae's neck.
"Group 2, Number 42, Nisha, Winner!"
Another crushing victory for Nisha! The crowd got even more pumped up to see Celaine and Nisha fight in the next round.
"Thanks for the fight. You sure are incredible." Mae said as she bowed and left the stage while Nisha just nodded towards her and left the stage as well.
It was now time for the next round, but Mira didn't feel like watching this round. The only person worth watching anymore in Group 1 is Audra. The rest weren't anything special. Mira just started to think about what she will do starting tomorrow. She needs to earn more Spirit Stones, learn more about Rhydian's species, break into the Foundation Realm, figure out ways other than pills to temper the body, find some kind of job that she can do to make a lot of Spirit Stones, find ways to increase the strength of the 500 women following her, keep teaching Maria and maybe Celaine, learn more about the area, gain a deeper understanding in her Absolute Ice Doa, find a way to make her Ice Elemental Essence stronger, and increase her scythe skills. Mira just sighed at all of this.
'So much to do, but I'm in no rush. I will just keep getting stronger until something requires my immediate attention or I hit a blockade in my training. I think my main concern should be breaking through to the Foundation Realm and getting more Spirit Stones. The other stuff I'll do in my free time. While gaining a deeper understanding in my Dao and making my Ice Elemental Essence stronger will have to wait until I go out to adventure or find something to help me.' Mira thought to herself as the 3rd battle in Round 5 just ended and it was Audra's turn to fight.
"Audra, Hazel! Come up!" The Judge said as Audra finally raised from her seat and approached the stage. She got up on stage and took out her spear. Hazel got up on stage as well and took out her sword. Audra stood there with her spear in hand looking incredibly imposing. She looked as steady as a rock while waiting for the judge to start the match. Mira perked up when she saw this and started to pay attention to the fight.
"Fight!"
Audra immediately charged towards her opponent with the spear parallel to the ground and the spear tip pointing at Hazel. Hazel also shot forward as she wanted to get the first strike in, but things didn't seem to go her way as Audra stopped out of her range and started attacking her just outside of her attack range. She tried to dash forward to get within range, but Audra would just reposition, always keeping her out of range. After a minute or two of this, Hazel started to get a bit frustrated but tried to immediately calm her mind. Audra didn't let this chance go and immediately swept her spear until it almost hit the side of Hazel's neck.
"Group 1, Number 49, Audra, Winner!" The judge announced as both Hazel and Audra stored their weapons and left the stage. Audra glanced over to look at Mira as she left the stage and saw her leaning back in her chair with her arms and legs crossed staring back at her. Audra would be fighting Mira after she won her next battle and if she was being honest then Audra would say that she's been wanting to spar with Mira since the Group Hunt Test. She knew Mira was strong, but defeating a Rank 4 beast while still in the Qi Condensation Realm doesn't determine someone's skills with a weapon. She felt her battle intent rise as she turned away and found somewhere to sit.
"We will now determine who will be 3rd place in both Groups! We've determined that they are in peak condition right now! Anna, Mae, come up!" The judge announced as both Anna and Mae walked up to the stage and readied their weapons. These next 2 fights didn't catch as much attention from the audience or Mira as they were looking forward to the next 2 battles.
Anna won against Mae, and Hazel won against her opponent. Both weren't anything special, but they did earn themselves third place along with the reward that comes with it.
"This brings an end to Round 5! We will take a short break and allow everyone to recover then get to the Group Finals!"