The Messenger of Death

"Ahh, if only someone wasn't so stubborn and went ahead and killed Duna on the academy grounds, I wouldn't be so worried about our first group stage match." Drake sighed as he shook his head.

"Ahem!" Camron brought Drake's attention back to what he was saying.

"As I was saying, if we do this according to the plan, we should be able to win this with a bang." Camron smiled as he looked at Adrian. "And Drake, don't you think that it's a good thing that Alex isn't here with us at the moment? He has been carrying us so much that I didn't realize how strong we were. Did you think that we would make this far into the competition without Alex?"

"Well… no, I didn't even imagine us reaching the quarter-finals after they imprisoned him," Drake confessed.

"And we haven't shown most of our trump cards." Katherine chipped in.

"Well, I guess that it won't hurt to say that we are crazy strong." Drake smiled as he praised. "However, compared to Alex, we are lacking a lot, and all of us here know that. If all goes well for us, we can surely make it to the finals. After seeing what most of the teams are capable of, I am confident that if we play our cards right, we will make it there. But if Alex was here, it wouldn't be a matter playing our cards right, it would just be a matter of time." He added.

"Drake is right though," Emma chuckled. "But he isn't here at the moment. You can stop daydreaming about Alex, if he knew that you were thinking of him all the time, you know that he would beat you up, right?"

"He would ask if you are gay for doing such." Gustavo chipped in with a chuckle. His comment made all of them laugh. They all knew how Alex behaved, after spending so much time with him, it would be weird if they didn't know a thing or two about their friend.

"Alright, alright, let's get back to what's on the ground. Our match is in an hour or so, we need to revise our strategy." Camron interrupted as he reigned in his impulse to act like Alex a bit while he was speaking. "Cough, cough! From what I've seen about the team that we will be fighting against as our first fight in the group stage, the Nymph team, they have a very smart leader.

I am sure that he has already predicted who and who is going to come up the ring to battle them and thought of ways to counter this. Our best play to many people would be to let me, Adrian, and Emma go up first. If nothing goes wrong, we would be able to win the battle easily… only if nothing goes wrong.

However, that is not our best card. We still have skills that we haven't used, and our opponents don't know that, yet. Instead of Emma going out with us, Gus will be taking her place. With his ability to take on attacks without getting injured easily, he would be alright for a while, meanwhile, Adrian will be preparing his attack.

When he is ready, he will give me the signal… to avoid being affected by the attack too, I'll have to be next to Gus. With this, we should have an element of surprise." Camron briefly explained what they were going to do, and of course, he had alternatives that they would also resort to if their main plan doesn't go as planned.

"Alright guys, Let's go make ourselves proud once again." Camron smiled.

…

In the big battle arena of the Severance academy, thousands of people sat, some standing, waiting for the battle to commence.

Unbeknownst to the Seraphim team, they had a lot of fans and supporters that just wanted to see them compete, especially the people of the Eastern continent and those of the severance academy. They have been cheering for the two teams from the Severance academy that qualified to continue in the competition.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! It is almost time for the first match of Group D to commence. As we all know, the two teams that will be starting are the 'said' strongest of this group. All of the people have been making speculations and have placed bets on who will win and who will lose.

Today, we shall find out if some people are going to lose money, or win some." The loud, amplified voice of the host that had been commentating on the competition since it started, reached everyone's ear. The owner of this voice is in his early 60's, and for a cultivator with a long span of life, this man was still young.

"From what my colleagues have gathered about the bets placed, most of the people that placed their bets on the Nymph team to win this match, and only about 30-37% placed their bets on the Seraphim team to win." The commentator added.

While the Seraphim team had a lot of supporters, it was hard to deny the fact that their opponents has 2 Nirvana realm cultivators, and 8 late-stage Disaster realm cultivators, while the Seraphim team has only 7 members, but with one out of the picture, only 6 of them are participating. Only Camron had made it to the Nirvana realm, while the rest, had made it to the late stage of the Disaster cultivation realm too.

Most of their fans were just here to cheer them on, and they wouldn't miss a chance to earn some money. Even if the Seraphim team can't take first in their group stage, if they can make it to second place, they would be able to make it to the finals too.

"Alright, everyone! I'm getting news that both teams are ready to start the match, but before we proceed with that, let me announce the rules of this match for those that do not know about it yet.

This match is going to be a 6 on 6 tag team match, where only a total of 6 people from each team can participate in the match, however, not all of them would be able to stand on the battle ring at the same time.

It is going to be a 3 on 3, where if another participant from either of the team wants to join in on the match, the person would have to substitute a player from his team by making 2 seconds physical contact. The person that will be going in is not allowed to enter the ring until after this 2 seconds physical contact.

And also, the physical contact is null if the player that is already on the ring doesn't initiate the contact first. If any of these 3 players from each team gets knocked out or off the ring or submits, no one will be able to substitute that player… meaning that the team would have to compete with 2 players left... if all 3 players from a team are thrown off the ring, then the team with a player still on the stage wins. No player out of the ring is allowed to provide assistance for any player on the ring!

With all of this being said, let the competitors come out!!" The commentator said and the crowd of thousands began cheering.

"Yeeahh!!!!"

"Wooohh!" They cheered vigorously.

From different entrances to the ring, the Seraphim team and the Nymph team made their way out of their waiting positions. They slowly approached the stairs that lead to the stage from opposite sides. When they arrived there, all of them stopped and awaited permission to get on the stage…

"As we all know, killing during the group stage is not allowed, but injuries will be hard to avoid. With that being said, the starters from each team should get on the ring!" The referee who was already on the stage announced.

From different positions of the ring, the Seraphim team and the Nymph team looked at themselves anxiously. Both sides were wary of each other.

Camron was the first to climb the stage from the Seraphim side, followed by Adrian. Then on the Nymph side, Camilla, Victor, and John had already made it to the stage. The moment John saw Camron and Adrian on the stage, a smile appeared on his face, but the moment he saw Gustavo coming up the stage, his smile turned into a frown.

Camilla looked at John with a questioning brow. "I don't know what they are up to, but this wouldn't work in favor for them unless they have a trump card that we don't know of. Or they might just be doing this to wear us down first before making a switch with Emma. If they do have a trump card hidden, then we also have ours, we just have tread carefully." John whispered to Camilla and Victor.

"Are both teams ready!?" The asked.

John gently nodded his head in reply, and Camron did the same. Seeing their answers, the referee jumped off the ring first before announcing; "Let the battle start!!"