My Soul card is a Reaper

The day of the finals has arrived.

Even though it would officially start at 9 o'clock, tens of thousands of people barged into the academy at early 4 o'clock to acquire the tickets.

By the time it was 6, a huge line could be seen at the stadium that stretched all the way to more than five kilometers. The entire police department and military of Northern Qudour had to work together to keep the line in check.

Adding on top of that, WAMO also deployed two peak-rank-8 experts to keep an eye on the city to prevent possible terror activities.

More than three thousand seats were reserved for hosting academy students (thousand), other participating academies (twenty-five per one academy), relatives of the finalists (ten per one finalist), higher officials of the government, VIPS, and so on…

Of course, they plan to sell 135000 seats overall. So, reserved seats don't matter. The only problem is that the capacity of the Grand Arena is only a hundred thousand. So, the last 38 thousand people could only watch the matter through the screens while sitting in other Arenas.

With tickets heavy in demand, some people started reselling them to the people who were at the back of the line.

Since it isn't considered illegal, the police could only try to maintain the order, watching several people cashing the money right in front of their eyes.

And once all the tickets were sold, private auctions were conducted everywhere with a VIP ticket selling for an astronomical price of 15 million Northern Qudour Krocs (120 million Credits).

It's 8 a.m. now and more than 90% of the seats were filled in all the stadiums. THE VIPs were yet to arrive but almost all the officials of the Northern Qudour's government and secret services of other nations were seated.

Currently, the screens are playing the highlights of the previous matches of the finalists.

The first-timers who were mostly from other nations, couldn't help but scream in excitement as they watched several astonishing movements like Leah cleanly cutting down the Arcana that dared to rebel against her, Vann's overpowered Golden Dragon, Amazing synchronized attacks of the twins from Freyles Academy, and Azzy's feat of the lifting of a 7000 pound Rhino and throwing it away.

Of course, there are thousands of people who hated Azzy though. Not just because he belongs to the hosting nation but also because of his dark abilities like absorbing the soul energies from the opponents and allies alike, killing the Arcana of opponents with a  punch, and bathing in their blood, throwing those irritating laughing skulls.

Unlike last time, as the local citizens were less in number in the audience section, one could say that team Twilight has far fewer supporters.

An hour passed away and two beautiful hosts, Exea, the teacher of hosting academy, and Laverne Sparks who is a popular actress and former miss world arrived on the stage.

The Cheers grew wilder as both of them addressed everyone. "Welcome to the Finals of Champions League, 1994."

This time, under the orders of Barton, Exea let the Global star Laverne be the main host. "Let us welcome our Champions to the Arena with a huge round of applause."

"First, Solo category…"

"I present you, Leah Pendragon from the Heavenly Academy of Arcana."

As the beautiful princess of Camelot entered the stadium while waving at the audience with a smile, the stadium was completely submerged under noise pollution.

Exea didn't even get the chance to explain her achievements as she felt it was no use.

As Leah joined the stage, the actress continued to introduce.

"I present you, Vann Hildegard from the Moon Academy of Arcana."

"Duo category…"

"I present you, Irene Ash and Albin Ash from the Freyles Academy of Arcana." 

"I present you, Laura Drake and Izetta Smoke from the Phoenix Academy of Arcana."

"And finally, group category…"

"I present you, Team Merciless Executioners from the Dragon Academy of Arcana. Captain: Alan Tauris, Webster, Arthur Corals, Dove, and Hazel Hemlock."

"Last but not least, I present you, Team Twilight from the Aclein Academy of Arcana. Captain: Claire Lefeuvre, Azrael, Snivy, Mia Leveret, and Gideon."

Meanwhile, the screens displayed their basic information like their name, age, grade, academy, nationality, realm, etc…

Man students and teachers of the Aclein Academy were greatly surprised as they found Azzy's nationality was described as Northern Qudour when everyone knows that he was from the south.

Azzy was already told about it before. So, he didn't mind about it and just straightly walked towards the stage.

Everyone arrived on the platform and stood in an order where Leah, Vann, Irene Ash, Laura Drake, Captain Alan, and Captain Claire stood in the front as representatives while everyone else stood behind in their respective teams.

As the spectators were calmed a bit, Exea finally got the chance to speak. Handing over the mic to Leah, she asked her what she does think of this movement and how confident is she in winning the tournament.

Everyone expected her to be modest but contrary to their expectations, Leah didn't give any sort of lengthy speech.

Her reply shocked many people. "There's no option of defeat. Either I win or die trying."

Seeing a serious look on her face which usually has a bright smile, her fans were stunned for a moment.

Even Vann was taken aback by her statement.

Meanwhile, Azzy was glancing at a girl named Dove from the Dragon Academy. Of all the people, only she has the aura of death surrounding her.

That would only mean that she would die within the match. He doesn't know what fate holds for her but Azzy decided to change his strategy from targeting the captain to throwing her out of the barrier.

Just at the moment, he heard Leah's statement and quickly glanced at her from behind.

He doesn't understand the reason behind her proclamation when she's the one who offered an alliance against the beast all because she couldn't defeat him alone.

As he couldn't see any aura of death on her, Azzy could only let her do whatever she wants.

As Exea was a little bit stumped by her reply, her co-host, actress Lavern quickly came to the rescue by handing her mic to Vann. "Do you want to say anything to her?"

With a smile on his face, Vann looked straight and replied, "Let's hope that you go back home in one piece."

As his provocation only added fuel to the fire, the actress quickly managed the situation by snatching the mics from them, "Okay, let's give a round of applause for these two heated rivals and let them cool down while we move on to the next finalist."

She then nudged the flustered Exea, who calmed herself and interview the others.

At last, it was Claire's turn to speak. Maybe, it's because Exea was rooting for the team, all of her stress was gone the moment her eyes fell on her students.

Claire gave a prepared modest answer to which the Dragon Academy captain simply replied that they intend to give their all in the finals and become a winner. 

However, Azzy's teammates were never more composed even under sheer pressure.

Looking at their expressions, Exea further continued her interview, "which member of the opponent's team is the most threatening for your team?"

She first asked Claire to which she replied by giving another textbook answer like all of them are equally strong to keep their strategy safe.

On the other hand, Captain Alan outrightly spoke that Claire is the one he feels the most threatening to their strategy.

His reply surprised a lot of spectators as it is well known that Azzy was the strongest in the team.

Of course, some higher realm experts realized the hidden meaning in his words. It means that they have a counter for Azzy.

"What do you think of that?" As Exea asked her, Claire simply smiled and said thank you. No one knows the meaning behind her thanks nor do they know what she was feeling inside.

With the short interviews finished, everyone returned to the waiting rooms.

For the next hour, the audience was entertained with several performances from national and Global artists, and dance groups arranged by the organizing committee.

In the meantime, the VIPs arrived. The Current President of Northern Qudour, Vice-President of WAMO, a few Revered Arcana Masters (rank-8s) who are the heads of various organizations. Finally, the last one to arrive is none other than the Northern Qudour's King, who was accompanied by Principal Barton, a mysterious white-robed priest, and the Royal Ancestor.

After the performances are over, another hour was wasted by boring speeches from the Vice-President of WAMO, Barton, the hosting nation's president, etc...

Actress Lavern and Exea then announced that the first finals is about to start and lifted the spirits of the crowd once again.