However, Noah Sharp had run into Charles Clarissa in the second round. There was simply nothing to be done about that.
That made Stanford the last shred of dignity among the Twelve Heroes.
He could not afford to lose.
The matches continued as usual. The ninth duel.
"Mysterious Orc" Mephis Gram won.
The tenth duel.
The Sage of Phoenix City won.
This was the only Sage to advance into the main draw, naturally drawing everyone's attention. The eleventh duel.
Professor Steven Harvey won.
There had been no surprises in any of these three duels.
The mage who had graduated from Saint Marian Academy lost.
The Goblin warlock from the Goblin Kingdom lost.
The Twelve Hero who could not afford to lose still lost.
By now, only five duels remained. The third round of preliminaries was nearing its end, and the names of those advancing into the main draw were appearing one after another. The audience's excitement gradually rose to its peak.
The contestants who had yet to take the stage were also growing increasingly tense.
It was known that the contestants in the twelfth duel were Quintina North of the Kingdom Royal Academy and a butterfly-woman mage from a minority tribe.
The contestants in the thirteenth duel were a foxfolk priest from the Orc Kingdom and a professor from Saint Marian Academy—Professor Kazel!
That foxfolk priest was skilled in methods of bewitching the heart and excelled in Fairy Type spells and Charm-related magic.
But Professor Kazel's mind was as firm as stone. It was impossible for him to be bewitched by some other seductress.
With prior preparations in place, the odds of him losing this duel were infinitely close to zero.
Thus, among Saint Marian Academy's contestants, only Dark Demon had yet to be selected.
Leaning against the back of