As soon as the City Lord's resounded in everyone's ears, the audience and disciples couldn't stop their blood from boiling! The Battle Maiden Sect has become extremely domineering during this tournament and the other Sects can't wait to knock them down a notch.
With almost half of the contestants coming from the Battle Maiden Sect, almost every round will consist of one of their disciples. But as everyone took notice of the brackets, they couldn't help shaking their heads.
The Battle Maiden Sect was truly too lucky this time around. Not only did they not have to face off against each other in this round, but even the matchups are extremely favorable for them. At least half of them were probably going to pass this round, which would essentially guarantee first place for them during the duels.
,m The first one up from the Battle Maiden Sect was Sia. She was up against the arrogant man from the Immortal Sword Sect. He was one of the ones that Mira guessed would make it rather far in this competition. His cultivation is a lot higher than Sia's and his aura was as sharp as a sword. Mira could tell that this man does nothing other than cultivating and swing his sword around.
Mira's conjecture was right as the fight between the two of them barely lasted 20 seconds. Sia kept up as long as she could, but he was just too strong for her.
None of the girls felt bad about this and Sia didn't feel bad either. This was within everyone's expectations as only Mira, Alexa, and Cleo could possibly defeat him.
Next up was Maria and Mira was rather looking forward to this fight. Maria was going up against an Elf whose cultivation was at the Low-Xiantian Stage, but Mira wasn't the least bit worried. She's been working Maria to the bone for many years now. Not only that, but Maria's been receiving personal sword training from one of the Elders for about a year now.
She's not comparable to the dumb little girl from when they first met. She now has the skill and experience of a battle-hardened veteran, though this isn't what's so terrifying about her.
What's extremely frightening about Maria is that one can't help but underestimate her. She gives off the impression of a little girl and seems so pure and innocent. Her opponents are just children that can't help but subconsciously lower their guard in her presence.
As Maria and the Elf stood on the stage to face off against one another, the Elf did exactly what Mira predicted. His grip on his sword, his eyes, and shoulders all loosened. Elves seem to have a higher affinity with people's nature and Maria's nature isn't much different than an 8-year-old's.
'This shouldn't be too hard. This girl may have decent cultivation, but I can't feel any malicious intent from her. She gives off the feeling of a child who has yet to experience the world.' The Elf thought to himself when he gazed towards Maria.
"Battle!"
The fight between the two started and Maria immediately charged towards her opponent.
The Elf slightly squinted his eyes at this, but still felt that victory was assured. The two of them started slashing towards each other.
In terms of sword skill, Maria wasn't any less than the Elf, but the difference in cultivation was a bit of a hindrance for Maria. Elves also have a relatively strong and flexible physique and even with Maria's tempered body, it was still rather difficult for her to make up for this.
Maria wasn't the least bit worried though. She learned a few tricks while training with Elder Bridget and she was about to display that trick.
Maria's next strike was a bit stronger than her previous strike and if one looked closely they would be able to see a mini star on her sword.
Her next strike was even stronger and added another start to her sword.
This went on for the next 7 strikes until there were 7 stars on her sword.
Maria took a deep breath in and activating her light sword. Her sword was now like a mini star in her hand and also became longer.
'Seven Stars Strike!' Maria screamed in her mind as she launched her next strike. This strike combined with her Light Sword was incredibly compatible. The power behind this swing was many times more powerful than any normal strike. It was also more powerful than her Triple Draws Sword Art.
The Elf was taken by surprise by the sudden burst of power and before he could even react, he felt something cold pressed up against his neck as blood trickled down.
"Winner, Maria!" The judge called before the Elf could even process what just happened.
Maria withdrew her sword and jumped with joy! She giggled while skipping over to Mira, leaving the stunned Elf in his place. The Elf just subconsciously walked off the stage as his teammates started cursing at him for being so stupid.
"Did you see that Mira!? Wasn't that amazing?! That's one of the things I've been learning from Elder Bridget! Maybe I'll finally be able to beat you, who knows? Hehe." Maria giggled like a little kid showing off to her mother.
Mira just glanced at her and nodded indifferently. She was rather impressed that Maria was able to learn a move like that, but it still wouldn't be enough to beat her. Her sword skills need to improve much more for that to happen.
The tournament carried on smoothly and more Battle Maiden Sect Disciples were eliminated in this round.
Layla, Sia, Hera, Anya, Anna, and Ellie were all eliminated this round. This means there are still 9 Battle Maiden Sect Disciples who are moving onto the next round. 9 out of the 16 disciples during the third round will consist of people from the Battle Maiden Sect. But this will have to wait for the next day as the sun was starting to set.
As Mira made her way back to the inn with Dominique she felt a chill down her spine. She immediately looked around to see if anyone was directing any ill-will towards her but became extremely puzzled when she couldn't find anything.
This only caused goosebumps to crawl all over her skin and her awareness was raised to the peak. She took out her scythe and started emanating a bone-chilling cold around her. The other disciples around her looked at her and became vigilant as well.
"Mira, what's wrong? Is someone going to attack you?" Maria asked cautiously as she knew that Mira was serious about something.
Mira just ignored her as she was too busy trying to find what made her feel like that. She started to have a bad premonition. It was like death was looming right over her, but she couldn't figure out why.
Her silence only made the other disciples becme serious as they all know Mira's temperament. If she's this serious then there must be something happening.
After a few minutes, Mira retracted her aura and stored her scythe, but her vigilance was still at her peak. She looked around to see the other disciples looking at her curiously and seriously.
Mira knew these girls were just children and there's no way they could be so sensitive towards death as she was. She's lived for almost a millennium, been through countless battles, killed millions of people, and even died 10 times. Her intuition was hardly ever wrong and she's survived so long due to her ability to sense incoming calamities. And right now she's feeling like death is coming for her.
Since it isn't something in her vicinity then there are only 2 options it could be. Either someone is scheming against her and they are planning on sending a Core Formation Expert to kill her or something huge is coming for the city. The Bladed Wind Sect is the only thing she can think of who might send someone to kill her, but not only is it unlikely that someone in the Core Formation will come and kill her, but she also doesn't have that kind of feeling.
Usually, when someone is targeting her she can feel the killing intent that's directed at her even if they aren't near her. This is how she was able to know about the intruders earlier.
But she didn't feel any killing intent, only a faint premonition of death. If Mira was being honest, she'd rather fight against someone in the Core Formation Realm rather than some unknown calamity. At least this way she has a chance to live as she should be able to last long enough for an Elder from the Sect to notice.
Mira calmed down a bit as she knew that there isn't anything she can do right now. She took a deep breath and spoke to the other disciples that were waiting for her to speak.
"It seems this city will soon face a calamity." Mira muttered in a low voice.