Chapter 298 - Aquarius Alorde (2)
The hosts were speechless from Aquarius's words. They looked at each other and seemed to talk amongst through their mind.
"W-We have to consult the judges about that–"
"We allow it," the Raven Justice boomed, cutting Irv off. He stood from his chair and raised his right hand, "We will consider Champion Aquarius's suggestion due to the fact that he is, after all, a God title bearer. His opinion will be considered for a vote and we have reached a unanimous decision to agree."
"Thank you," the blue-haired man bowed slightly, turning around and stood where the other Champions for the round lined up.
"He could do it since he's a royalty."
"What will they do about Veena's record? She used up mana for her first attempt, it will affect her second one."
"This is unfair. That Aquarius's head is getting bigger just because their team is leading!"
…
The voices of the people in the bleachers started to get louder. It wasn't until a few moments later that they all screamed boo at Aquarius, some tried throwing things at the field but were unable to reach the Champions since they were too far.
"Calm down, everyone," Zia said. "We can settle this like civilized individuals that we are."
"Veena's record will stay but as a compensation for the sudden rule change, we will add two thousand points in her score," Irv announced. "Two thousand points might sound small, but I promise you, there have been a lot of instances where the winner had a lead by only a few hundred points."
The crowd's rants started to silence after hearing the host. They nodded at the decision, agreeing at the compensation for Veena.
"Such *ssholes," Aquarius whispered to himself. He wanted to roll his eyes at the people, but he couldn't do it since there were a lot of recorders around. Wanting to let out his frustration, he settled on a sigh of disappointment in the end.
"It was a bit your fault too," Susan, who was beside him, spoke. "If you suggested it before the first participant did her measurement, you would've received less hate."
"I don't care, really," Aquarius replied. "All I care about now is if they would make me replace that measuring device if I break it."
"You can't break it," Susan chuckled. "That device can withstand up to a hundred and fifty thousand magic points. And you need at least fifty thousand more to break it."
The blue haired man smirked and stared at the device, "Watch me then."
There was a few minutes of pause where the Casters and event staff prepared the materials for the draw lots. It wasn't after a while when the hosts hovered above the Champions with Irv holding on eight sticks.
"Each stick has a number below it," Irv said. "The number goes one to eight, one goes first and eight goes last. Is that clear?"
The Champions nodded and walked closer to the man to draw. Aquarius was the first one to do it since he was supposedly the second one to record his power. The people on the bleachers booed the man, throwing hurtful words at him for the delay that he caused.
"Drama queens," Aquarius forced himself to not roll his eyes again and just draw a stick. He took one out and showed the number to Irv without looking at it himself. "I know this is eight."
"A-Azure Scorch Guild's Champion had drawn the number eight!" Irv yelled. "He will be last in the measurement and will bear the pressure of surpassing the other Champions' records."
Aquarius snorted at the comment and waved his hand to dismiss it. He spun and walked back to the Champions' line, speaking before he finally reached there, "Wow, host. I could smell your hostility even from over here."
Aquarius chuckled after seeing Irv's flustered expression. His face was red for a moment before he hid it by looking down. After seeing this, Zia immediately took over.
"Extend your hand, Irv let our second Champion draw," Zia said. "From the Cosmic Arch Guild, Susan!"
This time, the audience were filled with cheers and hollers. They were clapping wildly after the woman's name was called. They intentionally did it to piss Aquarius off, the man was now on their blacklist.
"Whatever," Aquarius whispered to himself and let the crowd boo him.
The line followed one by one, Champion by Champion were instructed to draw until all the Champions had their number.
"And now, here is the new order of our match," Irv said, raising his scepter to show the list of Champions.
As expected, Aquarius was last. The other seven Champions were randomized with the new order, placing everyone in a new spot.
"This is going to be exciting," Zia cheered. "Now for our first Champion…"
As each Champion took their turns in the measuring device, Aquarius felt like yawning. His teammates saw this and they all couldn't help but feel worried. The man was usually laid back and calm, only bringing up humor once in a while.
"You just don't know, but that man is nervous as hell right now. Look at him tremble lightly," Minos chuckled. "He acts like that when the attention is in him, telling things that he didn't mean and uttering words that he couldn't stop himself from saying. It's Aquarius greatest weakness."
All the others formed an O with their mouths. Now they understood why the man had acted that way.
"He still hasn't gotten over that fear?" Luck laughed from the other side of the stadium. "That man is so pathetic sometimes. Him acting all nervous like this would make you think he's unable to defeat an Inner Sea Wanderer by himself. Hell, he could even solo a Leviathan given the chance."
"He just needs more time," Frederick said. "He's still young."
"That dude is almost thirty, the hell you saying young?" Luck scoffed. "If he doesn't get over his nerves soon, I'll smack him in the guts and blow his head up."
"At your current state? Doubt," was all the guild master replied, ending the conversation fully.
They continued watching the match, and right now it was Susan's turn to measure her magic. She was smiling at everyone, waving her hand as she walked in front of the large crystal sphere. "Here goes nothing!"
Susan raised both her hands in front of her, pointing her palms at the gem and taking a deep breath, "Blessed Light!"
White lines of magic twirled from her foot up to her palms, gathering the energy and forming it into a sphere before she fired a beam into the gem. The crowd cheered at the effects of her flashy magic.
"And we have–" Irv cut himself off after seeing the numbers. "-75,000?"
A cricket could be heard in the entire stadium. The previous cheers, hollers, and claps from the audience was replaced with a thick layer of silence. Nothing but silence.
"B-But it is understandable," Zia recovered the situation. "Remember, Susan is a healer. She does not rely on high damage magic output, but she recovers them. We will talk about the judges if this number should be converted into an absolute number since, again, she is a healer."
This made the people clap silently. The previous energy from them instantly went down the drain.
Without another second to spare, the hosts hovered over to the judges high balcony and asked for their opinion. It took them a minute before they both nodded and went back to their positions.
Irv cleared his throat first, "Okay, everyone. We now have a decision. According to the judges, the negative number on Susan's measurement will be turned into an absolute number, meaning the negative wouldn't count."
"That means she's currently leading the pact!" Irv cheered. "Will our final Champion surpass the large gap of Susan from them? She is leading with more than twelve thousand points from the second Champion."
"What will the God of the Seas do in this situation?" Zia asked excitedly. "I cannot wait."
"Bringing up my title," Frederick chuckled. "So pathetic."
The man stood in front of the stone. The crowd was silent, their boos and their utter disgust towards the man was silenced as they watched him raise his right hand, pointing at the gem with only his index finger. "I'll show you power."
"Our last Champion will now measure his power," Irv said. "From Azure Scorch Guild, Aquarius! Three, two, one, and fire!"
A small sphere formed on Aquarius's fingertip, it fired a thin blue beam that was fired into the magic measuring device in a split second time.
They all waited for a few moments to see what happens next. When a few seconds had passed, the crowd was about to laugh when the giant spherical gem exploded with a strong surge of water coming from inside of it.
"I told you I should've gone last," Aquarius smirked at Irv, the man feeling victorious outside was actually trembling in nervousness inside.