Over the next week, the servant battles between America and Korea would take place. The two would struggle against each other however America dominates their opponents in the score 3-1. At the end of the 3rd week of the Tournament, the Leaderboard now looks like this,
China - 13 points
Japan - 11 points
America - 8 points
Korea - 7 points
Meanwhile, Akumu still sat in that dark room with a busted TV. Despite it being a week the girl he was trapped with was still in a comatose state. Out of sheer boredom, he began to poke her face. That was when the rusty bracelet began to vibrate excessively. He shouted in pain before trying to rip it off his arm, but it seemed like it quickly tightened around his wrist. As the orange-suited men barraged into the room to see what was going on the room was engulfed in a strange teal light.
As he slowly awakened Akumu found himself in an apocalyptic land. The City that he was in was abandoned, it had no life except for the abnormal plants and moss that had taken over in the absence of humanity. Akumu gaining a sense of familiarity began to slowly walk through the city.
He eventually came across a sign written in Japanese, with this he inferred that he was no longer in Russia. As he continued to walk he came across a dark-robed figure, Akumu tried to speak out to him,
"Hello?"
From the man's back suddenly bursted a pair of pitch black angel-like wings, then at terrifying speeds, he flew towards Akumu before he was even able to react. The Angel reached out to grab his neck which revealed his bone-like hand that stretched out towards him, before he could however Akumu was able to get a small glimpse under the man's hood. Under it, he was able to see the head of a skeleton.
Before the Cursed Spirit could fully grab his neck the bracelet began to glow the teal-like light that it did once before. This time as it devoured Akumu he found himself back in that dark cell, with two unconscious orange-suited men on the floor.
As he looked at his wrist he was surprised to see that the once rusty bracelet had transmuted into a silver color with a strange symbol embedded onto it. Akumu silently whispered to himself,
"What the hell is going on?"
That was when he then heard a strange groaning noise from behind him, the teal-haired girl had finally woken up. Akumu quickly asked her,
"Who are you??"
The girl simply replied, "I'm not sure."
As if on Cue Katerina enters the room and is greeted with her two unconscious guards on the floor. She immediately drew her sword while restricting Akumu as she shouted, "WHAT DID YOU DO???"
After a long while Akumu quickly explained what had happened, she then heated her blade before telling Akumu, "Your team has beaten all the opposition. The only thing that's left to do is for you to win the master battle."
Akumu then asked, "Are you going to let us out now?"
"Only for the fight, the second the match finishes you are to return here until you can make it back to Japan."
Akumu while Sulking asked Katerina if he could at least get a bigger TV. However, she silently leaves the room while dragging away her men behind her.
The Next Day
Frosty Whipp shouts over the upgraded Megaphone, his voice now echoing to even the skies as he shouted, "ARE YOU READY?????????"
The Audience shouted once more as Tyrece took over the mic, "Today Marks the beginning of the end, This will be the last game before the end of the Tournament. The Master Battle Bracket will first start with a 1 on 1 battle between each party leader. The Winners of their 1 on 1 battle will fight against each other until we find out who the strongest sorcerer of this generation is!"
leonie takes over, "Due to some circumstances a teammate from the servant match will be representing the Americans team in the master battles."
Frosty Whipp then shouts, "FOR THE FIRST MATCH WE HAVE MARIA GERALD VS SAIGO AKUMU."
The Arena shouts as the mysterious Maria enters the arena. Her familiar last name was thought to be a mere coincidence to a certain someone, but everyone just shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Then Katerina suddenly flinched and ran off from the Commentator booth. Tyrece tried to shout for her but she had already disappeared.
After 5 minutes passed Akumu finally entered the arena. Yukiko slapped her hand on her forehead while sighing, "How typical."
The Timer finally started to countdown signifying the start of the match,
"3..2..1.. GO!"
Akumu quickly creates a black whip construct similar to that of a bow. He fires an arrow that shoots towards Maria at a harmful speed. She simply made a hand gesture while chanting,
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure, Domain Expansion."
The Black arrow that was fired toward her is instantly kicked out of her domain as a black sphere quickly expands. As Akumu is engulfed he quickly opens up his simple domain in hopes of defending. Akumu then spoke,
"This domain is different from what Taori described?"
Maria then responded, "I lied earlier, this is just a curtain imbued with a binding vow that forbids violence, in exchange you have the permission the destroy it whenever you like. Saigo Akumu, I would like to have a talk with you about a certain man."
Akumu thought to himself, what could he have that someone from America could want?
Maria then continued, "I will take your silence as permission to continue. Am I correct that you have encountered a man by the name of Senjuro?"
Akumu stunned shouted, "How do you know about him?"
"My cursed technique also grants me the ability to prophesize small parts of the future. I have been using it to track down the person who killed my Father, Stew F Gerald. I joined this tournament specifically to ask for your help." She says.
Akumu then asked, "Why didn't you just ask me outside the fight? And Why me specifically?"
Maria then replied, "Senjuro is constantly watching us, trapping you in this curtain was the only other method I could think of. As for why you specifically, your future foretold many interactions between you and him which I would like to be present for."
"And What's in it for me?" He asked
She then responded, "I inherited quite a bit of inheritance and influence from my father which I used to insert myself here in the stead of my captain. I would like to offer you $10,000,000 as well as some information on that teal-haired girl."
Surprised Akumu shouts "How do you know about her?"
"I told you that I'm a prophet remember? She is also crucial in the fate between you and Senjuro." She stated.
Meanwhile, on the outside, the audience had grown angry. They had come all this way to watch this fight just for it to be blocked off by a curtain. Katerina was contemplating whether or not she should jump down and break it, and then suddenly the curtain began to shatter.
Akumu then spoke as he took a fighting stance, "You make a nice proposal however, I came here to fight not to chit-chat. If you want to stand next to me so badly then show me how strong you really are."
Maria also gleefully responded, "This too was an outcome that I had already forseen."