"We can't just sit here and wait for defeat!"
At the Aust Mansion, the captain of Bel Gordon Knights Academy shouted passionately in the reception hall.
"I've heard about Solz Magic Academy's offensive behavior. It would be a disgrace if an academy like that made the Top Ten! The farther they go, the more of a joke this Championship Tournament becomes!"
The captains of the invited academies exchanged glances.
"Habair Knights Academy won't take part." Ai, the Armored Girl, was the first to stand.
"Neither will Freya Holy Academy." She had thought this was an ordinary gathering.
"Targeting an academy outside the competition is not something a priest would do," said the captain of Pudding Castle Abbey.
"Who invited me? We didn't even make the Top Ten!" shouted the captain of an unfamiliar academy.
Only the Barbarian from Tannamurdo Academy asked with interest, "What do you have in mind?"
"Uh... you're not joining us?" The captain of Bel Gordon Knights Academy froze.
"You got twenty-one invitations because that was all you could get. He got sixteen because that was all he needed..." Ai looked at him with pity, but remained seated.
"We should go." The captain of Freya Holy Academy stood.
She knew that man's Large Elementals could cover the entire Empire's Gladiator Arena, but she had no reason to tell them.
The captain of Pudding Castle Abbey followed her out. Bourns watched them leave, thoughtful. "It seems there's something we don't know..."
They investigated further and learned what Annan had done during the Lower Hive Contest. After that, they grew uneasy.
In the upcoming Top Ten Championship Tournament, their very first match was against Solz Magic Academy...
Captain Bourns told the remaining academies, "They turned the Lower Hive Contest upside down and stole what should have been ours."
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