The emergence of this unusual situation worried Dulong and the others as well. Meanwhile, the contestant who had been matched against Dark was treated as having received a bye and advanced directly to the next round. It was practically a free win.
Dark paid no attention to the Golden Cup.
The moment he decided to take part in Principal Arte's rescue mission, he had completely given up on the Golden Cup in his heart.
But throughout the Golden Cup, he did not have too many regrets.
What he had missed, he was prepared to win back in the Academy Cup! "Dark, you're finally back!"
The enthusiasm of his classmates made him want to retreat.
In the blink of an eye, they surrounded Dark, even squeezing Rose and Diana out.
Aside from asking where he had gone and what he had done, the second-years complained about why he had not returned yesterday.
They clearly wanted to see "Dark Demon of the Second-Year Noble House" compete in the Golden Cup, preferably remaining undefeated all the way to the championship.
Once he won the championship, none of his flaws would matter anymore.
But Dark Demon had withdrawn from the competition in a way nobody had anticipated.
It truly was a great pity.
However, the competition would not stop simply because someone was absent.
The Golden Cup's schedule had always been extremely tight.
Last Friday, after the Golden Cup's top-eight matches, four contestants from the Winners Bracket and two from the Losers Bracket remained. Only the two contestants who had suffered crushing defeats in the Losers Bracket had withdrawn from the tournament.
This Friday, in the Golden Cup's top-six matches, the four Winners Bracket contestants would duel in pairs. The winners would advance to the Winners Bracket finals, while the losers would drop down