Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The battle went on for more than half an hour and it was every bit of a roller coaster and eye dazzler as the audience had expected before the participant from the Sea god's trident won the match.

The audience wasn't surprised by the outcome of the battle and gave a huge applause for both the participants. Though the participant from the Crimson Demolition guild had lost, he had done his utmost and used every bit of his skill.

"That was a good fight, for a second I thought the Crimson demolition guild might secure a victory against the Sea God's Guild"

"Haha, I thought so too. As expected they are the number one guild for a reason" the audience was enamoured by the battle and continuously chirped about it.

Their elation didn't last long and was stopped short when the moderator declared a particular participant's victory. The crowd was shocked to see the participant from the Kingdom of Blackthorn walk down the stage unscathed after defeating his opponent.

"Vin Borseki lost? How did he lose?"

"I-I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to their match"

"How could this be, Vin looks completely spent while his opponents seem more than ready to fight another bout"

The audience seemed lost as to how the participant from the kingdom of blackthorn achieved a victory against a participant from the top five guilds. They asked people beside them only to get the same answer, they too were not paying attention to this match.

"That energy feels oddly familiar" Simon narrowed his eyes as he watched the participant from the kingdom of blackthorn slowly walk away. Including him, only a few people saw how he won and similarly furrowed their brows, the people from the Assassin's guild were the same.

The audience brooded over this for a while before they moved on, there were plenty of other eye-dazzling matches for them to feast on and everything was going on simultaneously that they wished they had more eyes.

The participants from the big guilds and factions went all out and displayed their skills to defeat their opponents in hope to catch the eye of the moderator and get selected for the next stage.

The enthusiasm of the audience was all-time high when it was raised even further when participants such as Marcus and Hallie May started coming down to the stage to face their opponents.

Needless to say, they achieved a complete and flawless victory without spending much efforts. Their opponents cursed their fate for having to go through a matchup like that before finally accepting reality and giving their best.

The crowd too clapped for them, although inevitable, they did their best and gave everything they had. After these matches more and more star participants from the top five guilds and foreign nations came down to the stage to battle.

Everyone was enjoying the second day of the battle of the finest tournament when suddenly they heard a miserable scream come from the direction of one of the stages. The spectators that were watching the battle unfold, had dreadful looks in their eyes as they watched the back of the man who had brutally defeated his opponent.

Fresh blood splayed everywhere and the condition of the other participant didn't seem to be good.

"Hehe, this is how a true battle should be. Not like those pointless fights going everywhere. It's too bad that the rules don't allow us to kill an opponent" Oman said, his tone sounding a little regretful.

"Isn't that participant Graydon Brown from the Kingdom of Ingolf? To think that he would be this heavy-handed even while he had so big of an advantage"

"Yeah, he was the very same person who defeated all the other participants on his stage during the 'battle royale'".

Talks about the man named Graydon Brown and his savagery spread wildly amongst the crowd. They had seen how he hadn't given his opponent a chance to admit defeat in the beginning and beat him until he fainted.

The relationship between the two countries wasn't good in the first place, and added that with the unseemingly conduct of the man, it was only natural for the audience to jeer at him.

Especially the guild Graydon's opponent belonged to, looked at him with hostility in their eyes. However, as if to say that he wasn't fazed by it one bit, he calmly walked past them.

The crowd which was set agitated, suddenly went silent when they saw a young man no more than twenty years old, wearing white robes embroidered with red and holding onto a staff, walk up to the stage.

"What do you think? Will it be another surrender in the beginning by the opponent?"

"You bet. Even if the opponent is from a big guild, they wouldn't dare fighting prince Erwin and risk being unable to fight in the other matches".

The spectators chatted, they who had seen his previous two opponents surrender at the start of the battle were predicting if the same would happen once again or not.

"Participant Bastille from Baskerville guild admits defeat, with 3 wins participant Erwin obtains complete victory in the second stage" the moderator announced loudly and with pride in his tone.

The words of the moderator, proved the audience right. All of his opponents surrendered at the start of the round allowing the price to win without having a need to move.

Although the crowd was disappointed a little, they knew that the other factions didn't want to fight the third prince and risk being put out of commission for the rest of their battle. Being knocked out and being unable to continue with the remaining matches would be a humiliation for any guild.

The action to concede defeat could be seen as a tactical retreat and everybody would understand, after all, their opponent was the third prince, someone above level 400.

Above level 400 and below level 400 were two different realms that was incredibly difficult to gap. The people who achieved victory by default due to their opponent surrendering, were Erwin, Denzel from the Sanguine empire, Marcus and Graydon whose last opponent conceded defeat right at the start.

In the case of Marcus, he only had to fight once while the rest of his wins were by default. By the time sun was about to set, all the matches were concluded and the audience was tightly rooted in their seats, patiently waiting for the names of the top fifty participants from the five groups to be announced.

These fifty participants would be the main show of the third day of the battle of the finest tournament. Everybody knew that most of the spots in this ranking would be taken by the participants from the top five guilds.

Nevertheless, the other big guilds and factions were still hoping that some of their star participants who managed to attract the eyes of the moderator, would be able to get into the list.

After a considerate debate where all of the moderators came together, the list of 50 participants who would be competing on the main stage of the coliseum on the third day, was handed to Cyrus to announce to the crowd.

The crowd settled their murmuring and placed their undivided attention on the royal knight captain who was about to call out the names of the selected participants now.

"The fifty participants with the most potential that are selected are... Erwin, Denzel, Marcus, Hallie, Alice…"

As expected, he called out the names of the participants who had established their powers right at the start of the strength assessment test. The audience wasn't surprised, they were the strongest participants in this tournament and were bound to get to the main stage.

The names that came afterwards were from the top five guilds, foreign nations and a few from the big factions. There were also a few dark horses from the other regions who had shown boundless talent and strength in the previous rounds getting into the list.

"These are the fifty participants who would be competing on the main stage tomorrow. The format of the competition would be the same, each of the fifty participants would have to fight a total of three battles out of which only the top ten participants would be selected for the final day ranking tournament."

"I wish all the participants all the best for their upcoming battles. With that said, it is time to close today's event; however, before that, as I had mentioned yesterday, if there is any competitor who is unsatisfied with any of the top fifty selected, they may challenge them for a battle and in the case they do win, they might replace the other in the rankings".

His words reminded everyone that he did say something like that yesterday. The crowd, the guilds and the participants that had lost, fell silent. Getting into the top fifty the words may sound very enticing; however, the condition was that they had to defeat the other participant in a one on one duel.

These words might sound easier said than done since all of the participants that have been selected, were the cream of the crops and have been sifted from 5000 other contestants. Plus they have experienced first-hand how powerful each of them were.

The silence lasted for a while and just when Cyrus thought that everybody was content with their standings, a competitor who looked like he cannot accept it, suddenly raised his hands and step forward.

"A moment please sir knight captain. I would like to challenge somebody".

The crowd was stunned, so there was someone gutsy enough to challenge these fifty participants. When they shifted their gaze towards the direction they heard the voice from, they saw a man donned in a black armour, looking unsatisfied.