The situation in the other houses was much the same.
The only house doing relatively well was the Knight Academy—they had likewise won two higher-tier challenges.
But they still lost to the Magister House by a single point.
From the looks of it, the Magister House had already secured an unassailable lead.
Already ahead by nearly a hundred thousand points, the Magister House would widen that lead to a full two hundred thousand points after winning this dueling tournament!
That was a gap virtually impossible to overcome through the houses' actual credit differences and final exam results alone.
This meant that the Magister House was all but certain to win the Academy Cup.
As everyone gradually came to realize this, the atmosphere outside the Magister House became especially gloomy.
Soon, only the Magister House students in the Ring Belt remained cheerful and laughing.
Once the captains of all four houses had submitted their applications to end the challenge, the host, Judy, returned to the stage and announced the end of the competition and the Magister House's final victory.
For audiences all over the world, watching this event had absolutely been worthwhile.
But for the students, thrilling duels alone were not enough to satisfy everyone.
When it became clear that the Noble House had no hope left, Dulong fiercely twisted the end of a magic firework, intending to vent his anger by setting it off—only for it to make a soft "pfft" and misfire.
Dark hurriedly held back his laughter. Though he did not care much about whether the Noble House won or lost, he knew it was better not to laugh at a time like this.
Besides, the Noble House's defeat also meant losing the Holy Grail, which was indeed no good thing.
Still, as a simple spectator, he