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

　Those individual points were not enough to change the outcome of the match.

　Unless Selena Teresa can secure a victory, she, who plays earlier, is destined to have her points reach zero first.

　During these duels, Pandora and Drogon proposed that a duel between the two of them should determine the final outcome for each academy.

　Ranking. But Selena and Tiffany both rejected the suggestion.

　When the next round of "Duel Time" begins.

　They all went forward without hesitation, challenging the strongest student at St. Marian Academy!

　Even though these challenges only made them realize just how big the gap was between them.

　But each of these challenges is a test of self-improvement. As the saying goes, only through repeated tempering can one become steel.

　Temporary defeats are not terrible; what is terrible is losing the will to win. And clearly, they have not been defeated by these repeated failures.

　However, under the current competition format, no matter how many times they try, they will never be able to defeat Pandora Doragon.

　When the two Selena Teresas finally exhausted all the points they had painstakingly accumulated in their final duel, the outcome of this year's Academy Championship was finally decided.

　But the competition was not over yet. The Sky Magic Academy team had only one member left! The next round of "duel time" was about to begin.

　Tiffany Neham didn't hesitate to challenge Pandora Drogon to a duel!

　And this became the final duel of this year's academy championship. A few minutes later.

　With Tiffany Neham respawning in her own "graveyard," her score was reduced to zero.

　The ever-circling white dragon in the sky and the endless roar of the dragon have become an unforgettable memory of this year's academy championship.

　Tiffany Neham left Duel City. Pandora Drogon returned to the team.

　St. Marian Academy ascended to the pinnacle of this "City of Duels." Suddenly, countless raindrops of light fell from the sky, beams of seven colors symbolizing various attributes descending one after another, transforming the devastated "City of Duels" into a dreamlike land.

　When Dark and the others looked up, a massive and complex magic array, so large it covered the entire sky, suddenly appeared above a dazzling expanse of sky.

　Within that "City of Duels," a sudden surge of intense activity erupted. Countless "divine beings," gathered there for a sacred ritual, were actually engaging in a duel.

　They became active outside of regular hours.

　Dark initially thought this was just a championship celebration ceremony prepared in advance by the academy. Unexpectedly, after the huge magic circle took shape in the air, a total of twelve beams of light suddenly descended from the sky, shining on the twelve contestants who were still inside the "Duel City" and those who had already left the arena.

　At this moment, even Principal Arte and the others showed a slightly surprised expression.

　As the twelve contestants were bathed in the twelve beams of divine light, the host, Judy, who had originally planned to wait until they stepped onto the stage before announcing the results, hurriedly took the stage and announced in the loudest and most impassioned voice: "After a month of honing our skills and three rounds of fierce battles, the champion team of the first Academy Championship has finally been decided."

　Let's give them a warm and heartfelt round of applause!

　"Now, let's all call their names—"

Chapter 1346 Darkdemon and the Gift of the Gods (4k)

　Although today's match ended unexpectedly early, the emotions of the vast majority of spectators were clearly unaffected.

　When the host, Judy, loudly announced the champion, the entire dueling arena erupted in thunderous cheers.

　The name of St. Marian Academy. The names of the twelve contestants. Their echoes lingered in the air above the dueling arena.

　But the twelve contestants inside the venue were bathed in those divine lights, their expressions varied.

　These twelve pillars of light that suddenly descended seemed to be some kind of gift. Those with a keen sense of divinity could immediately feel the faint but undeniably present divinity within those pillars of light.

　Dark's expression shifted slightly, and he immediately focused his consciousness into his body, deeply sensing the effects of the divine light on his body.

　But after a dozen seconds, the divine light dissipated naturally. He stood there, but did not feel any change.

　This puzzled him slightly, and he couldn't help but look at the other contestants around him. But looking around, some had serious expressions, some looked surprised, and some were clearly confused; it seemed that everyone had a different feeling.

　As the music of "Divine Cause" gradually faded away amidst the overwhelming applause, everything returned to its original state.

　Dark and the others exchanged glances, conveying their thoughts, before raising their heads and opening their arms in response to the cheers of the audience.

　We'll talk about the rest later.

　The most important thing now is to enjoy the joy of victory!

　"ended."

　"Pope" Sith Saint Patricis murmured softly amidst the deafening applause.

　But even as he spoke of the end, his aged gaze remained fixed on Pandora Drogon.

　Although it was only a projection and therefore not "clearly" visible, his transcendent perception as a saint allowed him to vaguely perceive the subtle change occurring within Pandora Drogon.

　Beside him, "King" Austin Clarissa was also whispering softly.

　"What kind of stage lighting effect are those twelve beams? Are they lights deliberately set up to focus the audience's attention on the champion contestants, or something else?"

　Unlike His Holiness the Pope, His Majesty the King, while muttering to himself, clearly and intentionally glanced to both sides.

　Unfortunately, no one answered his question.

　His Holiness the Pope is deep in thought.

　But the Valkyrie was doing exactly the same thing as the audience.

　The old king had to cover his ear on that side, his face showing distress. From the outcome, this academy tournament was undoubtedly a great success. Not only was the "duel atmosphere" across the entire continent aroused, but the Magic Alliance also essentially achieved its goals.

　And after the competition ended, there seemed to be some additional surprises.

　From his perspective, regardless of what those twelve divine lights actually were, their appearance itself was an opportunity.

　After a little manipulation of public opinion, it can be portrayed as something like "divine favor."

　Of course, this is not his specialty; what he is truly good at is the old fox sitting next to him.

　The most important point in conducting this kind of propaganda is to be ambiguous, leaving people guessing. Neither explicitly state nor deny it, relying entirely on guiding the public to fill in the gaps in their imagination.

　If duelists could perceive the final twelve beams of light as a miraculous reward they would receive upon winning such a large-scale dueling tournament, even without any tangible prizes, it would likely attract a huge following.

　The old king pondered for a while and then decided to bring up the matter at the next alliance meeting.

　His position as a first-level councilor of the Magic Alliance was solely due to his status; he hadn't actually contributed much to the alliance's founding. If he could offer a constructive suggestion like this at the appropriate time, it would at least slightly reduce the resistance from others.

　After all, there was still a long time ahead, and he couldn't possibly fight four trees all by himself. As Austin thought about it, he looked back at "Duel City".

　Besides the original purpose of holding the competition, this academy championship also naturally has the meaning of the various camps competing against each other.

　Although the Royal Academy, which represents the kingdom, is only ranked sixth, the Holy Mystic Academy, which also belongs to the kingdom, is ranked fourth. Together with the St. Marian Academy, which is ranked first, the human forces still have a significant lead.

　What? You're saying St. Marian Academy is a neutral force?

　Then why are almost all of those contestants human? "It's a pity that Anna and Angie are only in their second year..."

　Looking at the contestants, the old king couldn't help but start making plans again. The young mages he was currently focusing on training, besides the twelve outstanding individuals selected earlier, were Eliza and Charles.

　But now it seems that Anna and Angie also need to be given special attention and training.

　Although they are only second-year students now, they will be third-year students next year and will definitely become official players in the academy championship—if the competition format remains unchanged.

　In addition, there is one member of the royal family among the twelve official contestants present!

　"Eluri Clarissa...we need to have a serious talk with her father." "The true age of magic is finally about to begin!"

　More than ten minutes later.

　All the contestants were led by staff to the host platform floating in the center of "Duel City".

　Senior Judy had already taken charge of the event, with rousing music playing throughout the venue, and the audience eagerly awaiting the moment the awards would be presented.

　With all the contestants on the stage, the substitutes and the official contestants gathered together again.

　Then, in the back half of the stage, the IoIo contestants took to the trapezoidal platform in the following order: the official contestants stood in the front row, the substitutes stood in the back row, the higher-ranked contestants stood in the front row, and the lower-ranked contestants stood in the back row.

　In front of the trapezoidal platform, there were two separate rows of footrests.

　The contestants from St. Mary's Academy, who won the competition, also stood on the two rows of platforms as arranged by the staff.

　Then, the principal of St. Mary's Academy, the most dazzling jewel—Principal Cynthia St. Art—personally appeared to present them with the championship gold medals.

　In magical duels, there is only one champion.

　The other academy's contestants also received medals from second to eighth place, but these medals would be awarded by the sprites summoned by Principal Arte.

　As for the competition rewards, they will naturally be available after the competition. If the contestants are in a hurry to leave the academy, they can collect them directly after the awards ceremony.

　However, since there is an internal banquet at the academy tonight, the prizes will usually be awarded tomorrow.

　As for the dinner party...

　The banquet was originally scheduled to start after 9 p.m., but now it can be moved up to 7 p.m. This gives the contestants more time to choose their outfits.

　Those who bought full-day tickets but can only see the afternoon session might be a little disappointed.

　In short, all the contestants cooperated and stood on the platform.

　After Principal Arte presented the medals one by one, she handed the final trophy, engraved with "First Academy Championship Champion St. Marian Academy," to Darkdemon and Pandoradoragon, who were standing in the center.

　Dark and Pandora raised the trophy together, both with genuine smiles on their faces.

　"Click."

　This scene is forever captured in the photograph.

　After the awards ceremony, Principal Art made some formal remarks, such as looking forward to the next Academy Championship, envisioning the future of the path of magic, lamenting the rapid changes of the times, and hinting at the holding of the World Cup, etc.

　The contestants left the stage one after another... but not all of them did.

　All eight academies, including the Public Magic Academy, were stopped by staff, who hoped that each academy could select at least one person to be interviewed at the end.

　In essence, the college competition has no winners or losers. The participating colleges are simply ranked from first to eighth, and everyone has a ranking and everyone receives a reward.

　When the event organizers invited people to give interviews, everyone was interviewed.

　But after such an intense and difficult duel, everyone was extremely tired, both physically and mentally. Most of them just wanted to return to their dormitories as soon as possible, take a shower, lie down on their beds, and take a nap until the evening banquet began.

　In such situations, it's not appropriate to let substitute players play. Left with no other option, each college had to select players who weren't too tired to be interviewed.

　For example, those contestants who left the competition early...

　As for St. Marian Academy, this important task was entrusted to the son of a great hero.

　Then everyone else hurriedly slipped away.

　Dark and his teammates had all participated in numerous academy competitions and knew very well the consequences of not leaving now. Therefore, the best course of action was to slip away as quickly as possible while the student audience was still preoccupied with post-match interviews.

　However, after slipping out of the open-air dueling arena, they did not completely disband. The eleven main tournament contestants exchanged glances and then went to the office of a math professor.

　"Crack!"

　As soon as the door closed, the contestants sprawled out on the sofas and chairs without any regard for their image.

　Dark placed the championship trophy from the first Academy Championship on the bookshelf behind his desk.

　There are twelve contestants in the main competition, but only one trophy. It's going to be difficult to distribute the prizes.

　Dak shook his head and began taking snacks out of the drawers.

　He didn't actually keep snacks in his office. But every time he opened a drawer or cabinet, he would find it full of all sorts of strange and unusual snacks.

　Once he sat down in the chair, Aurora had already brewed tea and placed a cup of black tea in front of him.

　He said thank you, then looked up and asked, "Did you feel the gift from the Shinto ritual?"

　"Is this the effect of the ritual?" Aurora stopped and asked curiously. Dark nodded and said, "Most likely. Opening the Duel Domain is equivalent to connecting with the Divine Ritual. Every duel we have is a completion of the Divine Ritual, like laying bricks and tiles, contributing to the opening of the Magical Divine Path. Although I didn't think of it before, it's not surprising that it gives us this gift."

　“But not all gifts are easy to receive,” Aurora said. Darke replied, “That’s why I’ve gathered everyone here to discuss the pros and cons of this gift.”

　Even the contestants from St. Marian Academy only had a superficial understanding of the secrets of the so-called "divine rituals." Now, suddenly receiving a large amount of information about this from Dark, they naturally needed time to digest it.

　Dak wasn't in a hurry; he simply sipped his black tea and waited patiently.

　At the same time, he was repeatedly examining his body, trying to find that "gift" again.

　But until someone spoke up, he still got nothing.

　The so-called gifts of Shinto rituals are like a drop of water falling into a great lake, seemingly disappearing without a trace.

　Pandora was the first to speak.

　Seeing that the office was relatively quiet, she began, "Well, after being hit by that beam of light, I could clearly feel that some of the power within my body had become more harmonious."

　"It caused the fusion of various powers within the body," Dark said with some surprise.

　Senior Pandora nodded slightly, a glint of light flashing in her beautiful eyes, naturally exuding an aura of power.