My Soul card is a Reaper

"Now, that was some spectacular performance," Exea commented while clapping along with everyone else as both of the hosts once again stepped onto the stage while the singer left right away because of her tight schedule.

"Now, let's look at the group stage standings that were decided randomly. First, solo category…"

The screens displayed the teams in Group-A, then, Group-B, and so on up to Group-H with five members in each group.

As the host nation, Northern Qudour received 8 chances of choosing their own group of which four belong to Egrein Academy and the other four belongs to Aclein.

With Leo no more, as there isn't any powerful contender, Barton saved up his chance for the other categories and left the solo contestants to their luck.

And the lady luck seemed like she was angry at Barton as two of them ended up at Group-B and the other two ended up together at Group-G. 

Coincidentally, the Egrein academy chose its contestants in Group-G and Group A. As the remaining two were selected randomly, they were landed in Group-A and Group-B respectively. So, the fellow countrymen might have to fight against each other to qualify for the Quarterfinals.

Some of the contenders from the other academies couldn't help but feel delighted, looking at Northern Qudour's bad luck. The others didn't care as they didn't take them seriously.

However, most of them were indeed surprised that Azzy wasn't on the list. After Leo's true identity is being exposed, they heard a rumor of Azzy is participating in the tournament as he was seen training with the Twilight.

Now that there's no Azzy in the solo category, the contestants assumed he might be participating either in the group category or not participating in the league, at all.

If the latter would be the case, it would greatly disappoint a few spectators who came all the way to see Azzy's prowess and recruit him. Most of them were from hidden dark organizations and Azzy being a necromancer and the holder of a platinum grade beast is a great piece of news for them.

As for being a twin Arcana user, naturally, most of them thought it was just a false rumor as he never showed the second Arcana spirit to the public during the two public battles.

Only the direct spectators of that duel with high soul power knew that he was the host to two platinum grade spirits as they witnessed the possession during the battle with Vann. The rest of the spectators only think that the wolf is the one that summoned the undead. After all, it was a dual attribute with one of them being dark.

Back to the tournament, after announcing the list in the solo category, the authorities went to the duo, and later to the group category.

This is where Barton had used two of his chances. He placed the Twilight group in H, where the rest of the groups were a bit weaker. Unicorn team led by Zona was placed in Group-C where there isn't a winning favorite either.

Thankfully, this time, the two teams from Egrein Academy were also placed in different groups. Barton and the supporters who are rooting for Northern Qudour were also satisfied with the outcome.

Once again, disorganized cheers were filled in the stadium with everyone supporting their favorites. Of them, the cheers for Maple and Dragon Academy seemed louder than others.

"Without further ado, let's get to the draw for the first match."

The screens displayed the fixtures of the solo category.

"Solo category"

"Group-A: Newton vs Gerard"

"Group-B: Carl Sands vs Shelton Roots"

.

.

.

"Group G: Rowan vs Drake"

"Group H: Leah Pendragon vs Walter"

The appearance of the Pendragon surname caused a commotion among the audience. Whether it was a civilian or an Arcana master, everyone knew the history of the legendary Empire of Arcana.

In fact, it was only after its downfall, the term epochs were introduced into the society in which it changes every ten thousand years. If not for Arthur Pendragon to pass away in the great battle, the kingdoms and nations would have been united under one empire to date.

While the people started to murmur among themselves, wishing luck to contestants, the two hosts left, and very soon, the stage disappeared as if it didn't exist.

Then, Barton threw an eight-star card on the ground.

Similar to the annual tournament finals, a huge platform was created in the middle of the Arena which is two hundred meters long and a hundred meters wide. The only difference is that instead of a dome-shaped golden barrier, around the platform, a cube-shaped sapphire barrier was created to contain the damage of the battle and save the audience from becoming victims.

The height of the barrier goes was restricted to 200 meters under the instructions of the organizing committee.

After creating the barrier, Barton landed on the platform and spoke the rules of the tournament for formality even though everyone knew them. After all, they weren't being changed for the past ten thousand years.

Even though it was titled rules, but there aren't actually any rules in the Champions League.

Other than getting outside of the barrier, there aren't any restrictions placed on the participants like no time limit.

They can also use any skill card or item card whether they are normal or forbidden. Of course, killing isn't allowed as it would make the team disqualify from the tournament.

However, if it's an accidental killing, then, they would term as the losers of only the match. But, it is up to chief judges to decide whether it was a deliberate killing or an accidental one.

WAMO sent a peak-rank-7 expert to be the proctor of all the matches in the tournament. So, it's unlikely, killings would happen.

Still, for the safety of the students, the academy's instructors can be on standby, outside of the golden barrier to save their students at any time.

Any intervention from the instructors will be considered as a win to the opponent team.

A win will give 2 points. The draw will give 1 point. Losing will not earn any points. And at the end of all the matches, if the first two ranks were having equal scores, then, they will settle the match with a duel. If the top three rankers will have an equal score, then, it will be settled by a three-way-duel.

After informing everything as the principal of the hosting academy, he announced, "As for the moment, Champions League 1994 has begun…"

*Snap*

With a snap of his finger, suddenly, the dueling platform inside the barrier turned into a plain grassland to give off the feeling of a battle in the wild. Watching it, the crowd erupted in cheers once again.

Meanwhile, inside one of the four waiting rooms allotted to Aclein, team twilight and others were watching the screen which was installed in each room to let the contestants know what's going on in the Arena.

Everyone is amazed at the transformation of the habitat.

Looking at the fixtures, Gideon turned his head and commented, "Looks like you are going to up soon…"

Rowan nodded his head seriously with his gaze fixed on the screen because he knew this person very well. In fact, they even had a couple of arguments in the past week due to the latter's bullying of his classmates.

A couple of hours later, it's finally his turn.

"Good luck, Rowan" "Fighting" "Go and win the match, Rowan"

Everyone in the room cheered for Rowan as he stood up on his feet and followed the staff member who informed him to get ready for the next match.

Azzy too slowly wished him luck but it went unnoticed because of enthusiastic cheers from others.

Rowan reached the battlefield where he was greeted by the sight of his opponent.

From Aclein, the Vice-principal Sahara is acting as their representative instructor. She landed behind Rowan while the Egrein academy's representative instructor landed on the other side.

Taking out his lightning sword, he charged forward towards his opponent.

20 minutes later;

Taking heavy breaths, Rowan pointed the sword towards the heavily injured opponent, "Do you admit defeat?"

His opponent, who looked down on Rowan because of the difference in their academic backgrounds, didn't want to give up. However, as soon as he tried to stand on his feet, he lost consciousness and fell on the grass, making the proctor declaring Rowan's win.

Barton was happy about the first win of their academy.

"Now, the next match..." The proctor then announced the names of Leah from heavenly academy and Walter, who represents the Sun academy.