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

　Therefore, although Dak did not know their background, he could at least call them by name.

　In addition, there are several long-lived species that hold a very high status in this circle, second only to Disney, which is also quite obvious.

　One of the long-lived species has skin as white as jade, even radiating a luster, truly like a piece of jade, and seems to be a chalcedony species.

　According to Dac, it has a bit of the feel of jade artifacts coming to life.

　This long-lived member of the Chalcedony clan is called Tess. She has no surname and is a soft-spoken, gentle, and delicate girl who looks as fragile as porcelain...

　There is another long-lived species called Sami Tommy, which belongs to the "Tree Spirit" category, but is the Tree King among the "Tree Spirits".

　Sami Tommy of the Tree Royal Family is tall but not muscular; he is a slender, horse-faced handsome man.

　Furthermore, Dark strongly suspects it is the "King of the Sycamore Tree," unafraid of fire-type attacks. This is because Phoenix feels a sense of warmth when looking at it.

　In short, these two long-lived students are central figures in the lower grades' circle. Unlike the somewhat unreliable Disney, one is calm and the other is steady.

　However, this is the kind of demeanor that long-lived species should have.

　Disney, Tess, and Sammy are probably the core trio of the Sky City team. Among the remaining nine, there may be some "secret weapons," but there probably won't be many.

　St. Marian Academy's knowledge of Sky Magic Academy was limited to this. In contrast, Sky Magic Academy knew much more about St. Marian Academy. Not only had Disney been paying close attention to the dueling tournament for a long time, but the academy also had as much information as you could possibly need about Dark and the others—and those weren't things they needed to hide.

　Moreover, the more they look at those materials, the more they will fall into deep thought.

　The afternoon sun was slightly dazzling, casting many shadows in the dueling arena.

　As the host, Judy, was introducing the two teams, Parvana Lemaître, the deputy city lord of Sky City and known as the "Elf Dragon," was sitting with the professors of St. Marian Academy.

　She had an additional purpose today: to observe Witt Gold closely.

　Many years ago, she and Granny Maggie of Norwegian Forest made a prophecy about Werther's heroic deeds.

　But the world is changing so rapidly that she can no longer understand it at all.

　The so-called prophecy of the hero, besides predicting "who the hero is," also implies that during the time the hero grows up, the world... at least the human world, will face a crisis of destruction.

　This crisis has been interpreted in the past as the "revival of the demon race," the "resurrection of the Demon King," or the "birth of a new Demon King." But now, there is no information left about the Demon King.

　The Demon King sealed within the Holy Church also "died" after the Demon King's execution ceremony.

　Then the world's era suddenly jumped to the stage of "the revival of the gods".

　After that, the trajectory of fate became veiled, becoming more blurred and difficult to discern.

　Past prophecies have not come true, present prophecies cannot be fulfilled, let alone those for the future.

　Parvana Lemaître's brow furrowed deeper as she looked at the chart. She was very confident in her abilities as a diviner, which only deepened her confusion.

　What exactly went wrong?

　Was her prediction correct?

　"St. Marian Academy, they shouldn't lose, right?" Eliza muttered to herself. She deliberately raised her voice a little to start the conversation. Claire merely glanced at her and smiled. The Twin Paladins completely ignored her.

　Instead, the three people in the front row started discussing the topic. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and listened intently.

　"St. Marian Academy's strength is beyond doubt, but this time the opponent is from Sky City... In fact, before last week, I didn't even know that there was an academy in Sky City."

　After the old king finished speaking meaningfully, he glanced sideways at Alvitt. Of the three, the one with the deepest connection to St. Marian Academy was undoubtedly the Valkyrie.

　However, Arvitt showed unexpected composure at this moment.

　This was certainly not in keeping with her usual behavior, but one must speak appropriately to different people. After all, she was with the King and the Pope by her side, so she couldn't be too flamboyant.

　It's quite simple if you just restrain yourself a little.

　It was Pope Sith who spoke: "The long-lived beings of Sky City, though indifferent to worldly affairs, are indeed extraordinary. However, the long-lived beings participating in this 'Academy Championship' do not have an age advantage, even if they possess special abilities... but we must have faith in the strength of St. Marian Academy."

　Then, Arvit said, "If St. Marian Academy wins this round, the next round will be against the Holy Mystic Academy, right?"

　The Pope stroked his beard and chuckled, "If we can face each other, that would certainly be a good thing. We can't afford to be eliminated in the first round."

　"Heh." King Austin was momentarily speechless.

　"It's time to devise a strategy," Arvit reminded them. "I wonder who St. Marian Academy will send."

　Pope Sith said, "The first duel is quite important. The captain doesn't necessarily have to start, but we should choose someone with a high probability of winning. I think it's the prophesied hero."

　"Witt is a possibility," said Arvit, "but..."

　"They'll definitely assume we'll send Vittoria on."

　On the stage of St. Marian Academy, Dark casually toyed with the strategy card in his hand and said.

　“Veter’s abilities largely depend on the ‘Holy Sword’ to be effective, and they will definitely make preparations to counter that. For the first duel, they will send a fighter who can counter or oppose the ‘Holy Sword.’ So we’ll do the opposite. For the first match, Vivian, get ready.”

　This is one of the pre-set policies.

　Therefore, Vivian Alvind was not surprised. She nodded slightly, preparing to go on stage.

　Darke gestured for her to calm down: "The countermeasures period isn't over yet, so don't let them find out it's you who's taking the field."

　Vivian sat up straight again and said, "That's true. It's indeed crucial." Under normal circumstances, in a duel between 6+1 and 6+1, the starting lineup can't be too bad.

　However, if this is anticipated, it is possible to send corresponding players to confront them, or send players to "exchange pieces" with them.

　Vivian Alvind is a dark elf who can fight against the Seven Star Magical Elf, "Vampire Heiress," with her own individual strength.

　She is the offspring of the Dark Elf Matriarch, born through forbidden magic, and is the only remaining Dark Elf priestess in the Dark Elf race.

　In order to give birth to Vivian, the Dark Elf Matriarch consumed a full third of her life force, which enabled her to successfully acquire the dark element and magical talents to become a Dark Elf priestess.

　And her most lacking ability—magic manipulation—has also made great progress during her year-long study at St. Marian Academy.

　Although she has not yet reached perfection, in terms of individual ability, she has indeed reached, or even surpassed, the limits of her age group.

　This can be easily seen by comparing them with the previous round of contestants from the Elf Magic Academy.

　Despite not possessing the secret elven "Magic Combat Techniques," Vivian, also an elf, displayed the strength of a seven-star magical elf. If she were to master "Magic Combat Techniques," she might even advance further.

　If magic techniques are not considered, even Julia Amelia, the strongest "Rain Elf" in terms of raw power among the lower grades of the Elf Magic Academy, might not be her match.

　In just two more years, she could become St. Marian Academy's secret weapon.

　Of course, not yet.

　This is because her deck composition is indeed lacking.

　.

　The dark elf heritage she inherited from her family was also difficult to apply to magical techniques.

　Now that she's on the dueling stage, if she wants to compete against her peers, she can only adopt a tactical system centered around herself.

　However, she doesn't have any weapon cards, so she can only strengthen herself with support-type magical spirits and special weapon cards.

　Based on this, there is only one tactic she can use, and that is the "decapitation tactic"!

　Vivian Alvind was not a low-class horse to be used as a "trade-in". Darke started her in the first duel to "surprise" her, so that the "decapitation tactic" could be executed to its fullest potential!

　After all, compared to third-grade students, Vivian, who is only a second-grade student, doesn't have much information circulating outside.

　Moreover, sending a second-year student into the starting lineup at this time would definitely mislead the students of Sky Magic Academy into thinking that this is a "trading" tactic.

　If the students of Sky Magic Academy make a misjudgment because of this, that will be the time for them to pay the price!

　The time for countermeasures is about to end.

　The captains of both academies stood up one after another, selected a countermeasure card from the list, and stamped it on the countermeasure table.

　Covering the card is to conceal tactics.

　But deliberately revealing one's hand is also a tactic, it's just that no one has used it so far.

　Dark covered up the "Vivian Alvind" player card and looked up at the other side.

　Disney Neham stamped the player card, then his eyes lit up, and he raised his hand and waved vigorously in their direction.

　Dark lines immediately appeared on Dak's face.

　"Time for countermeasures has ended."

　Host Judy announced that the time was moving to the next stage, snapping her fingers with her right hand holding the microphone.

　Suddenly, projections of the two starting players appeared in mid-air. Then, feigning surprise, she exclaimed, "Unbelievable! St. Marian Academy's team has fielded a second-year student in the first duel! Is this second-year student St. Marian Academy's secret weapon, or a casualty of their exchange strategy? Either way is possible. In any case, let's shout out her name first—Vivian Alvind!"

　Although most of the audience had no recollection of the name, they still shouted it out under Judy's guidance.

　Just like at this moment, Vivian Alvinde became the star of the show.

　Vivian, who stood up from her seat, was unmoved by this. She walked expressionlessly toward the lift platform.

　But on the border of the kingdom, within the territory of the Ode family, the former Dark Elf captives, now the Dark Elf matriarch, are quite pleased with them.

　To restore the greatness of the dark elves has been her goal all these years.

　Unfortunately... the scene before us is merely the result of the host's guidance.

　These days, how often can one garner such a massive response without a host's guidance? Therefore, she wouldn't mind giving Vivian a little verbal praise.

　Oscar Odd sat to one side, watching his sister gradually rise in the projection, his heart filled with joy.

　The dark elves who have been gathered here over the years have been observing the future dark elf priests very carefully.

　Vivian Alvind, step onto the stage!

　"Sky Magic Academy certainly didn't expect St. Marian Academy's response. Unsurprisingly, they've sent a third-year student to this duel. Let's see... Pamela... Pamela Ingersoll! Let's give them a warm round of applause!"

　It's not Disney Neham, who is the captain; it's not Tess of the "Chalcedony Clan"; and it's not Sami Tommy of the "Tree Royal Clan".

　The Sky Magic Academy's starting lineup this time was Pamela Ingersoll, a third-year student who was not particularly noticeable in the team.

　From the perspective of St. Marian Academy, one can't help but wonder if this was Sky Magic Academy's response to anticipating the "exchange of pieces" tactic.

　But in reality, Pamela Ingersoll is the secret weapon that the Sky Magic Academy uses to deal with the "Hero" Vitgold!

　Therefore, seeing that the other side did not send Vitgot, Disney was a little confused.

　“It seems that St. Marian Academy doesn’t want a direct confrontation with us,” said one of the long-lived species.

　"They actually chose to avoid war!" The long-lived creature's tone was full of disappointment and frustration.

　DisneyNeham hesitated for a moment, then looked at a second-year student in the team: "Carmen, you're also a second-year student. What do you think of the contestant sent by St. Marian Academy?"

　Carmen, who was short with a watermelon-shaped haircut and a round face, said with a slight shyness, "Vivian Alvind is the top student in the second-year magic academy. She is very diligent and hardworking, and also very capable. I can feel a thrilling magic power emanating from her."

　"Isn't 'heart palpitation' the same as 'throbbing'?" Disney quipped. Carmen, however, corrected her, "It's 'throbbing'!"

　“Alright.” Disney patted his forehead and turned around, saying, “Since she’s the top student, the chances of her exchanging favors are slim. Tell Pamela to be careful.”

　Tess, standing beside him, nodded slightly, her lips barely moving. Pamela Ingersoll, standing on the elevator platform, immediately nodded slightly as well.

　Pamela Ingersoll is a girl.

　But she habitually wrapped herself completely in a dark, opaque leather coat, revealing only her small, oval face.

　Her features, apart from those of the crow-tribe beastman Koro, are similar.

　Aside from the similar small eyebrows, they are all quite exquisite.

　Today her hairstyle was a short ponytail tied at the back of her head, and her hair color was black. But her small eyebrows were as white as frost and snow.

　As a long-lived species, Pamela Ingersoll is still an infant in her life cycle. But her eyes already hold a great deal of determination.

　She was very low-key in the Sky City group, speaking softly. Apart from her leather coat, she didn't leave a strong impression.

　Furthermore, she did not exhibit any particularly obvious racial characteristics. Therefore, her ethnicity remains a mystery.

　However, if one wants to win this duel, the secrets of one's race will most likely be impossible to keep hidden.

　The contestants from St. Mary's College are on stage.

　Dark and the others focused all their attention on Pamela Ingersoll.

　“I thought it would be the Jadeite Clan,” Emma said, frowning.

　“Tess of the Jadeite Clan has a light-based constitution; I sense she can absorb light,” Sarah said.

　Witt touched his nose and said, "I can do without Zoffy..."

　“Since it’s not Tess, but Pamela, there must be a reason,” Dark said. “Now we can only pin our hopes on Vivian’s abilities.”

　Aurora frowned slightly and said, "Just a moment ago, I felt a sense of familiarity from that senior student."

　A sense of familiarity washed over Dark, and he immediately had a guess. "Could it be... a chaotic type?"

　Vitgold's iconic "sword" is "Zoffy, the Greatsword of Light".