"We'll hold them off! You guys go score, quick!" Seven shouted to the other four teams of trainees.
Under Sig's "treatment," the disorganized fourth team began a fierce counterattack against the Kusa third team!
The trial participants from Kusa immediately began to curse and swear.
"Enough! Mutel just joined forces with us too..."
"You large clans only know how to exploit us small clans to kill each other!"
"It was that Fish-Man who contacted us first..."
"Then let's clear your scores first!"
At Sig's suggestion, Angel and the others initially only served to hold off Kusa, giving the other teams a chance to attack and vent their frustrations.
Sig also took this opportunity to use "Frenzy" to draw hatred from both sides, and then promptly used "Pacify" to clear away their hatred for Mutel.
With five minutes left, Sig called out to Angel, who immediately understood Sig's intention.
Mutel, counterattack!
At this point, Mutel was under much less pressure—Kusa's third team and the other clans' fourth teams were locked in a fierce battle and hadn't paid much attention to Mutel's first team.
Under a surprise attack, Mutel scored directly...
The others were taken aback, but then the other four teams from the other clans cheered—not for any other reason than they were happy to see Kusa lose points!
After all, there are penalty rules for Sky Ball...
Then, two squads from other clans even volunteered to help Mutel score another point.
After a brief pause in the scoring, with only two minutes left in the trial, looking at the score... everyone felt something was off!
6:2:1:0:0:0:0:0!
Kusa already has one team with zero points, and the other two teams have also dropped two or three points, while Mutel has already scored a high of six points.
This "unusual" situation calmed everyone down a bit.
Sig couldn't back down now, and Mutel became more discreet again to avoid being ganged up on in the last two minutes—although most of the Sky Island Warrior on the field were within the range of "Intimidate," that was Sig's trump card, which he was saving for "Strength Trial."
Mutel's continued low profile, Sig's reassuring cooperation, and the fact that Kusa's third team and the other four teams had already formed animosity, meant that, driven by emotion, no one targeted Mutel at this point.
With just over ten seconds left, Mutel suddenly unleashed his power, Sig, seemingly helping the other teams, pushed the ball into the net, not far from Mutel's only unmarked goal...
Angel then launched a long pass, Sig received the ball, immediately becoming the target of everyone's criticism—"Trying to get a perfect score? That's incredibly disrespectful!"
At this point, the idea of "stopping Mutel from scoring" was more than seven to one, and was undeniably "correct."
Sig is also ready for a strong attack...
Sea Current Shoulder Throw - Modified - Great Cloud Serpent!
Sig directly used the White Sea version of the Sea Current Shoulder Throw, and a surge of clouds enveloped the Sky Ball...
At the same time, under the "Mantra," the Sky Island person could also see that the Sky Ball in Sig's hand instantly turned into a dark blue— Armament Haki was wrapped around it!
In Sky Island, where the Armament Haki system is almost extinct, "entanglement" is already considered a top-tier technique.
Propelled by the "Great Cloud Serpent," the Sky Ball thrown by Sig spun and hurtled toward the goal.
Because the Great Cloud Serpent is a technique of "Fish-Man Karate," Sig, to a certain extent, could control the direction of the "cloud stream" as if it were flowing water. The serpent-like cloud stream swirled and tumbled past several trainees, then forcefully broke through their interference with the wind jets...
The last defender crossed his arms to block the Sky Ball, which was wrapped in Armament Haki. However, the incredible impact and the enhancement brought by the "wrapping" made it impossible for him to stop or destroy the Sky Ball. He could only lift his arms upwards to deflect it away from the goal.
However, at this moment, Sig pressed down with both hands, and the "Great Cloud Serpent," which still had a little bit of strength left and was supporting the Sky Ball from behind, lowered itself and adjusted its direction one last time!
Finally, with the help of the Great Cloud Serpent, the Sky Ball went straight into the goal...
At the same time, the match time also came to a complete end.
Cheers and a few boos erupted from the crowd—the cheers were for the truly spectacular final goal, while the boos... suggested that Mutel was trying to gain an advantage from both sides.
In the Sky Trial, achieving a perfect score of 7 is extremely rare, hence the cheers that usually follow.
Moreover, in the past, those who achieved this score were usually large clans with multiple teams working together, and one of these teams was a top-seeded team that was heavily promoted, so they also earned the clan's score.
As for some criticisms, Sig cannot completely avoid them. If he were to "appease" each Spectator individually, it would be too exhausting— Sig is already somewhat fatigued on a mental level.
Fortunately, after observing the emotions, Sig found that most of the Spectator did not have much resistance to Mutel.
After all, the scenes of Kusa's third team fighting against the other four teams made the Spectator feel that this was a conflict between a large clan and a small clan, and that Mutel... was just being cunning.
In this way, as emotions spread, people will likely become increasingly inclined to ridicule Kusa over time.
Of course, with a perfect score of 7, it was inevitable that Mutel would be wary of him afterward.
It requires the kind of mystical "Psychological Suggestion" like that of Sequence 6 "Hypnotist" to make someone completely and irrationally ignore this point.
Sig timely reminded Angel and the others, including Enel and others in the audience, and Lucky Roo also reminded them—don't cheer too much yet, save your "joy" for when you leave the scene!
Enel wasn't scheduled to play until the fourth match, at which point everyone collectively sent Angel's team out...
Afterwards, Angel will return to the inn to rest for eight hours before coming back to ensure he is in top condition for the "Strength Trial" to begin and maximize his advantage.
Although I just woke up and don't need much sleep, a short rest and recuperation would be good, and we can also discuss the tactics for the "Strength Trial".
The rules of the "Strength Trial" are that all 256 participants are assigned a number, and then they take the stage starting with number 1.
Each participant can choose how many people they want to challenge. For example, if participant number 1 wants to challenge four people, then participants numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 will all take the stage together.
For each person defeated, player number 1 gains 1 point. If player number 1 is defeated midway, they lose half of their existing points, which are then split equally among the remaining challengers. For example, if player number 1 challenges four people, defeats two, and gains two points, and then is defeated, they lose one point, leaving the other two to each gain 0.5 points.
Whether you are defeated or defeat all your opponents, you will be eliminated and the trial will end.
The player with the highest number who hasn't been eliminated yet takes the stage, and this process is repeated. The final score is the sum of the scores of all four players in each team.
In other words, each person may be forced to participate in the competition many times, but if they are defeated, they are completely eliminated and will not have another chance to participate voluntarily. The opportunity to participate voluntarily is only once...
If it's a large clan, it's like having dozens of teammates who know each other's numbers, giving them a lot of room to devise tactics. When taking the initiative to challenge, no matter who defeats the others, the score is added to the home challenger. If the same clan has numbers 1, 3, and 5, they can all be called up to fight together.
As for the numbering, it's mostly randomly selected. However, trial teams that score points in the "Sky Trial" have a "privilege": starting with the team with the highest score, they can decide the number of one person. Teams with the same score will be compared based on the number of points lost and the order of their scores...
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Mutel's 7 points should not result in a tie, so it's advisable to choose a number first.
"Angel, could I have the chance to choose a number?" Sig asked.
"Eh? Sure, of course... but what number do you want to choose?" Angel originally thought that Sig had no experience in participating in the trials and wanted to choose his own number to go on stage.
After all, the rules of the Strength Trial not only test physical strength, but also require tactical judgment...