“This concludes the first round,” The captain spoke up after the dueling field was cleaned up, “Our finalists include Aaron, Zachary, Heather, Sergio, Shuhua, Elkie, Theo, and Jean-Pierre. The second and final round will commence in the afternoon but we will draw the matchups now. Judge Fletcher, will you do the honors?”

  The overweight figure of Jeremy Fletcher stood and walked up beside the captain. He wrote names on slips of paper and put them in a sailor’s hat. He then shook the hat to mix up the names.

  Zachary took his eyes off the judge and glanced at the remaining survivors. Any one of them could be his opponent. He had to win one match to go home. He wondered who it would be.

  Out of the seven people, Aaron and Jean-Pierre were the strongest. Zachary would have to go all out if he wanted to beat those two. Even then, he couldn't guarantee it.

  The others weren’t weak either and he couldn’t take them lightly. But he would rather get drawn with them. As for Heather...

  She turned to with a small smile, “Don’t worry about me, a promise is a promise.”

  He nodded at her, showing his appreciation.

  “Let’s draw the first match. Judge Fletcher, please.” Captain Willis said.

  The judge reached into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper.

  “Elkie!”

  The judge pulled out another piece of paper.

  “Sergio!”

  The first matchup was Elkie against Sergio. The two men whose names were called looked at each other, sizing up their opponent. They both did not have convincing wins in the first round and they were considered among the weaker opponents. They were lucky to have been drawn against each other. However, this was bad news for Zachary as the chance of drawing a tough opponent grew much higher.

  “Next match… Shuhua… and Heather!”

  Heather and Shuhua looked at each other in surprise. They had been teammates for the longest time. Now they had to fight each other. However, instead of showing animosity, they smiled and hugged each other. Zachary was happy for them. Heather would be able to help one of her teammates go home, fulfilling her promise. All of her efforts would not be in vain.

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  “Next match… Theo!”

  A name was drawn for the third match and Zachary’s heart jumped. With this, there were only three names left, Zachary, Aaron, and Jean-Pierre. He suddenly felt a bad premonition, as if what he wished the least would come to pass.

  “Jean-Pierre!”

  The third match was now set, Theo against Jean-Pierre. With only two names, there was no need to draw them for the fourth match. It was Zachary against Aaron.

  Zachary cursed under his breath. Why did it end up like this? He immediately wondered if the draw was rigged. Across the field, the judge who had just completed the task wore a casual, unreadable expression.

  As the captain called their names, Zachary and Aaron glanced at each other. Their eyes locked and there was instant friction. Aaron sneered. He put his finger to his neck and made a cutting motion.

  Zachary glared, welcoming the challenge.

  “Wahaha! I knew it!” Wander laughed, “Grudge match!”

  “Wander… this is serious,” Zachary said.

  “I know, I know. Don’t worry, he’s not a match for me!”

  Zachary shook his head and looked away from Aaron’s detestable face. The captain stated that they had some time to rest and strategize before the afternoon matches. He found some shade and sat down to think.

  It was just one more battle. Until now, he had survived sharks, man-eating seagulls, and countless other ferocious creatures throughout the jungle. He had even fallen into a watery abyss and almost died. But he survived and emerged with an eternal summon, stronger than ever. A random person named Aaron wasn’t going to stop him.

  “It’s going to be a tough fight,” He said.

  “I’m ready for anything!” Wander replied.

  "Alright, here are my ideas..."

  His adept rank summons included Wander, Onkie, Voodoo, Elmont, and Doro. Doro was the strongest at the Four Paths Adept Rank. Wander came second at the Two Paths Adept Rank. The rest were all still at the One Path Adept Rank. He also had Flash, the giant seagull, but it was a newly captured Ensouled and he couldn’t rely on it completely. He was also a Four Paths Adept Rank summoner with an eternal summon. This meant he could bring out three adept ranks aside from Wander which limited his options.

  On the other side, his opponent started the year as a Six Paths Adept Rank summoner. By now, he had surely improved to the Seven Paths Adept Rank or even the Eight Paths Adept Rank. If he had seven or eight adept rank Ensouled, the gap was difficult to overcome.

  Zachary looked inside his supply bag at the handful of anima crystals he had remaining. It probably wasn’t enough to help Doro reach the Five Paths Adept Rank. And even if Doro advanced, it didn’t mean that he could also break through.

  He looked at the other summons he owned, the novice ranks. There was Boba the boa snake, Blue the blue bird, Whiskers the catfish, Dream the rainbow fish, Sugo the seaweed slug, and Timber the mantis. All of them were at the Eight Paths Novice Rank.

  He could spend a lot of anima crystals and try to raise one of them to the adept rank. But that wouldn’t solve the problem. He would still be at the Four Paths Adept Rank and could only summon three adepts beside Wander at any one time.

  No, he would have to rely on his novice rank summons. Although the duel would mostly be a battle between adept rank beasts, there were still opportunities for novices to make an impact. He had to even the odds somehow. He had to use his novice ranks to negate some of his opponent’s adept rank summons.

  And all of that depended on whatever tactics he could come up with.