The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　So sometimes, things don't just happen because you want them to. Right now, they can only sit in the audience and watch.

　Watching Justin Wayne completely transform into a paladin, and seeing Justin Wayne display his clearly stronger strength in the dueling arena.

　It must be said that Justin Wayne is indeed a perfect fit for the Paladin role; his current strength is vastly different from his time at St. Marian Academy.

　Even as an outsider, Dak could clearly sense that he had indeed found his own path.

　He even saw the shadow of Albert from "The Twins" in Justin Wayne.

　"Having the courage to break free from the past and pursue the path you want is also a kind of courage."

　"It just goes to show that Justin truly lives up to his reputation as a student of the Knights Academy." Dark, however, saw a positive side in Justin Wayne. He greatly admired someone who steadfastly pursued his own ideas.

　Because he himself is often indecisive.

　……

　The duel between the forest elf and Justin Wayne was quite exciting in a very ordinary way.

　However, Justin Wayne finally used the "Graveyard" in this duel.

　He revived the dead magical spirits from the "graveyard" and launched a surprise attack on the forest spirits, thereby gaining a temporary advantage.

　But the forest elves were equally tenacious, fighting to a standstill. This duel was arguably the first truly protracted battle since the start of the tournament. Ultimately, the paladin, renowned for his skill in prolonged combat, emerged victorious. Justin Wayne returned to St. Marian Academy, winning his first battle.

　After the "Elf Magic Academy" and the "Holy Mystic Academy", it was finally the turn of the "Royal Academy" and the "Public Magic Academy" to take the stage.

　These two colleges are currently the most high-profile college and the most low-profile college, respectively.

　Also from the lower grades, the "Royal Academy" sent a third-year mage who also studied magic.

　However, the one representing the "Public Magic Academy" was a...

　dwarf.

　These two fighters performed a different kind of duel in front of the audience.

　The dwarf player starts with a "Field Card".

　However, the "Field Card" he summoned had a small range, and the core of this "Field Card" was not a buff effect, but rather an arrow tower on the field. That's right, basically, it was equivalent to him summoning an arrow tower in the duel arena.

　He climbed the arrow tower and immediately began using the mechanisms on it to fire arrows at the "Royal Academy" contestants.

　The students of the "Royal Academy" summoned a "Giant Shield Guardian".

　The "Giant Shield Guardian" held a giant shield and was half-crouched on the ground, but even so, he was still taller than an average person.

　The student hid behind the "Giant Shield Guardian" and unleashed a barrage of spells!

　He used magic cards as the main element, filled the gaps with his own magic, and demonstrated extremely strong magical control abilities in the process.

　The arrows fired from the dwarf's arrow tower couldn't reach him at all. His magic, however, couldn't destroy the dwarf's steel arrow towers for the time being. A magical duel had essentially turned into a tower defense game between the two. After that, the dwarf summoned new magical spirits to take his place as the archer.

　Then, new arrow towers were summoned, and the magical spirits were deployed there.

　The magical spirits he summoned were the "Dwarf Legion," a legion-type magical spirit card consisting of seven dwarves.

　This means he can build seven arrow towers, or seven similar structures, which can be controlled by seven dwarves.

　He himself... then transferred to a giant robot!

　Although the most famous ones right now are actually the Elven "Iron Warriors," it wouldn't be surprising if the Dwarves and Goblins, who have been conducting research, were secretly developing even more powerful giant robots.

　Seeing this, the students of the "Royal Academy" on the other side also built a fortress in front of their own field.

　He stood behind the fortress, constantly summoning ranged magical spirits to bombard the dwarves' positions.

　The dwarf has a giant robot, and with the aid of magic, he constantly uses tricks to hinder the giant robot's progress.

　The positions and fortifications of both sides rose and fell, much like the clash of artillery fire during wartime.

　The giant robot that the dwarves initially summoned was riddled with holes from the constant bombardment—but no problem, they could just replace it with another one!

　He truly fulfilled Dark's dream of some time ago: the appearance of the giant robots he summoned was too crude, like poorly made industrial products.

　Dac expressed his regret over this.

　If it were him, hmm...

　Okay, the dream is over.

　Dark continued watching the duel.

　Mages face significant limitations in such duels. The spells they can unleash in a short time are low-level spells with limited power, and archmages, who must constantly summon spells during a duel, cannot sustain long spellcasting sessions.

　Only a few unconventional mages can do things that normal mages cannot.

　For example, casting mid- to high-level spells without chanting or with a shorter casting time. If that's possible, it would essentially achieve the same effect as the sea creature Lyrella.

　The mage from the "Royal Academy" clearly couldn't do that. His low-level spells were simply no match for the giant robot's defenses.

　Under the relentless advance of the dwarves, he was finally unable to hold his ground and was completely overthrown.

　This also means that his defeat is inevitable.

　The students of the Royal Academy, returning from the dueling arena, displayed remarkable dejection.

　Surprisingly, the students at the Royal Academy did not show him any harsh criticism.

　The dwarf contestant, who took to the stage for an interview, excitedly expressed his love for the giant robot.

　After rambling on and on for a long time, he suddenly realized what he had said, scratched the back of his head with an innocent look, and turned to ask Judy, "What question did I just ask?"

　Senior Judy gently said she hadn't asked anything, and then invited him to leave.

　With all eight academies taking turns performing in the exhibition match, she had achieved half of her mission objective, and now it was up to her to improvise.

　Thinking of this, Senior Judy smiled slightly with excitement. She glanced at the audience outside the arena and saw that they were also waiting for her to announce the next rules of the game. She then waved her hand slightly, moved the magic device to her side, and wiped the bar chart off the screen.

　“Next, let’s try a different game,” Judy said with a smile.

　Then she gently patted the magical artifact, and words burst out one by one, bouncing around in the air like beans.

　"These words will form the names of all the pre-qualification contestants."

　“From white to blue to purple to orange and then to gold, the more you call these names and the louder they become, the deeper their colors will become, eventually turning into a brilliant gold.”

　"That's right. Next, the audience will nominate the contestants—of course, the two selected contestants must be from different colleges and in the same group. After all, we are here at the College Championship."

　As soon as she finished speaking, the words transformed into a dense array of names. Eight colleges, twenty-four contestants from each college, totaling one hundred and ninety-two names.

　These 192 names are divided into eight squares according to the academy. Each time someone calls out a name, the name will flash briefly, then the color will deepen, and when it turns purple, it will glow.

　Look

　At this point, the spectators outside the arena became excited. They had never seen a duel like this before, a duel where the audience could choose their own characters to appear—it couldn't be more interesting.

　Unfortunately, it's not possible to designate players from the same academy for a duel, otherwise...

　Ultimately, St. Mary's Academy has the most dueling branches in the human kingdom, so the audience at the event is mainly human.

　Although many new venues have been built in the territories of other races during this period.

　The more human spectators there are, the greater the probability of a human contestant being selected. Among the three major human academies, the duelists from St. Marian Academy are the most renowned.

　If there were no restrictions between different colleges, in the end, it would probably always be the two duelists from St. Marian College fighting each other.

　So what now?

　St. Mary's College VS All Other Colleges

　Has this model been mentioned before?

　On the viewing platform, Darkdemon couldn't help but frown.

　He believes that the exhibition match segment has always been prepared for the pre-competition contestants who failed to qualify for the main competition.

　But if the contestants are chosen by the audience, wouldn't the main competitors also have to participate?

　This is undoubtedly very disadvantageous for the selected contestant in the main competition. Moreover, he is quite aware of his current popularity. If this format continues, he will definitely be one of the 192 names shining brightly.

　He wasn't prepared to play today, and his magical spirits were all doing what they liked—many of them were even watching the match from the circular stands in the arena!

　"Alright, this is really going to turn into an exhibition match."

　As Dark pondered the magic cards he could currently use, his expression turned blank. His divine weapon, the "scabbard," was still lying in his dormitory, preventing him from even performing a "holy sword" demonstration in the dueling arena.

　Of course, he's not that competitive. It's not a big deal for him to cooperate in an exhibition match and put on a show. It's just that it's a bit troublesome to put together a deck on the spot.

　"Well, it might not be my turn yet. Aren't Pandora and Winnie the seniors holding the fort?"

　"After their duel is over, we can offer some suggestions and ask Senior Judy to ban the St. Marian Academy team from the list. We can't have a St. Marian Academy player in every match, can we?"

　"Reasonable!"

　Dark clapped his hands, feeling his idea made a lot of sense. So he stopped worrying and looked up at the stage. Senior Judy was excitedly announcing the start of the name-calling process.

　The layers of audience projections transmitted through the space hub erupted in excited cheers.

　The 192 names on the stage instantly began flashing continuously.

　The audience doesn't really know the names of people who are not from their own race, and they basically just choose from the names they recognize.

　Among these 192 names, the most well-known is not Dark, nor Pandora or Winnie.

　Instead, it was Anna and Angie, who were princesses of the kingdom!

　"Anna, your name is misleading."

　"Anqi, your name has turned blue."

　"Ha, Blue is faster than you."

　"My name is in blue too!"

　"Yeah, yeah, you've turned blue too. Not just blue, you're almost purple."

　"There's nothing I can do, I'm just that incredibly famous." "Then you go first!"

　"I'll go first, after all, I'm the older sister." "What a joke!"

　Anna and Angie's shouts kept ringing in his ears. But Darker stared unblinkingly at the names on the stage.

　Anna and Angie's names certainly rose to prominence quickly, but his name was not to be outdone.

　The name of the Valkyrie's son has become increasingly prominent, especially in the last two years. The speed at which his name has gained recognition today shows that the name Darkdemon has taken root in people's hearts.

　But in reality, this has little to do with the title of "Son of the Valkyrie".

　After all, two years ago, he wouldn't have been recognized even if he walked down a crowded street.

　On the other hand...

　Vitgot, who wears the title of "Son of the Hero," is seeing his name light up at an increasingly rapid pace.

　Two princesses, the son of a Valkyrie, and the son of a hero.

　These four names, due to their respective identities, have become incredibly widespread among the kingdom's people.

　compare to.

　The names Pandora and Winnie are actually more widely known among dueling enthusiasts.

　But this time, the audience that squeezed into the duel arena to watch the matches were not just duel enthusiasts.

　Therefore, although their names also appeared frequently, they did not surpass the four names mentioned above.

　Even Aurora, who made a strong showing in the parliamentary elections, has just as much popularity.

　Aurora's rise to fame was not unexpected, but it seems that public attention to the free city is indeed increasing.

　In short, the most popular students on St. Mary's Academy's side are quite obvious. In order, they are Anna, Angie, Dark, Victor, Pandora, Aurora, Winnie... and then there's Doron, who just stole the show.

　After all, some people would recognize his name just by memory. And outside of St. Mary's Academy, the popularity among contestants from other academies quickly became apparent.

　War Totemology

　The popularity of the academy is basically focused on Grace Leon, the twenty-second prince of "Lionheart".

　In addition, the orc royals around him also enjoy considerable popularity. And Spiclaon, who just appeared, is also showing high popularity for the same reasons as Doron.

　Next up is the Elf Magic Academy.

　Among the list of Elf Magic Academy members, the most eye-catching one is Nono Artemis, followed by several moon elves and a few other very famous elves. The grassland elves, who were previously mentioned, also showed high popularity.

　This is quite surprising.

　Faced with this result, Nonothemis could only gape, speechless.