The stadium had been cleaned up completely after the destruction of the tournament. The broken stone battle arena was replaced by a massive wooden stage.
Isbell and a few staff members made their way onto the platform as the excitement of thousands of spectators filled the stadium with loud cheers.
One of the staff members handed Isbell a microphone, lowering his head respectfully before stepping back.
"We shall reward the top three teams with the best performance in this tournament!" Isbell's voice carried across the stadium. "And every team member shall be given an official rank. Once that's done, the high authority may request a challenge match within Team Seven!"
The crowd roared with pure excitement. Down in the participants' stands, only Team One, Two, Four, Five, and Seven remained seated together.
[Team One] Luhas Moral [Support] sat completely alone. He was wearing dark cloth wraps over his upper body and face to hide the raw scars where his mask used to be, sitting dead quiet and calm.
[Team Two] Furnai Han [Leader] sat up straight in a high-collared white silk dress with black embroidery, radiating positive energy. Beside her, Jin Youhang [Attacker] wore casual black clothes under a red jacket, looking indifferent. Sheila Lina sat to his left, wearing a light pastel pink combat dress with polished silver buckles.
[Team Four] Joon Lloyd [Attacker] sat with his arms tightly crossed over his chest beside Marim Lloyd [Leader], who had fallen fast asleep with her head slumping against the wooden bench. Both of them were dressed in sleek, dark assassin clothes.
{It seems sister is doing better now...} Joon thought, looking down at his trembling palms. {I'm still moved, but it's not that much of a big deal now.} Joon turned and lightly slapped Marim's cheeks to wake her up.
[Team Five] Dip Haid [New leader] sat with a calm smile, his eyes closed. Beside him, Reilly Vahal [Support] shifted uncomfortably. Both of them wore brand new, dark martial arts gis with tight wrist wraps. Reilly kept trying to glare past Rey's head, staring directly at Lynx.
{Move!! Moveee!!!} Reilly thought, her eyes twitching in pure annoyance.
Rey noticed her glare right away. Smiling mischievously, Rey pulled down the skin beneath his eyes with his fingers and stuck his tongue out, mocking her. Reilly snapped, instinctively starting to stand up in anger, but Dip reached over and held her shoulder firmly. "Sit down, we will have our time."
[Team Seven] Rey Moonsa [Attacker] sat right on the edge of his bench, leaning back and forth to make sure Reilly couldn't lay her eyes on Lynx for even a second. Lucia Hayat [Attacker] sat beside him, her legs shaking nervously as she ate from a box of popcorn. Lynx Vrren [Leader] sat beside her, his cold, narrowed eyes staring at the stage.
On the open platform, Isbell raised her hand, silencing the crowd.
"We have a list of player names and their assigned ranks based on the high authority's judgment! To all participants who lost, those outside the top three have already been rewarded with a generous amount of gold!"
The spectators joined Isbell in a massive, booming countdown.
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1...!"
"Team Five, taking the spot for third place, please make your way to the stage!" Isbell announced.
Dip and Reilly stood up together, leaping over the railing of the participants' stands and landing cleanly on the wooden stage in a flashy entrance. The spectators clapped loudly for them.
They stepped forward to face Isbell, who held a tray of medals and a piece of parchment. She read out loud:
"Dip, placed in Rank C!" Dip lowered his head, and Isbell placed a solid silver medal around his neck.
Dip took two steps back while Reilly stepped forward. "Reilly, also placed in Rank C!" She lowered her head, and Isbell placed a matching silver medal around her neck.
"Now, Team One taking second place, please make your way to the stage!" Isbell announced with building excitement, the crowd roaring along with her.
Dip and Reilly waved around in circles to the crowd while walking back down the dark entry tunnel.
Dip held his silver medal up, staring at it in confusion. {Wait... shouldn't we get bronze medals for being in third place?}
Luhas stepped out from the darkness of the tunnel stairway, walking past Dip and Reilly without a word.
"Congrats," Dip said, glancing back over his shoulder.
Luhas completely ignored him, continuing his slow walk toward the bright arena light. The moment he stepped into view, the crowd exploded into massive applause.
Luhas walked onto the stage, turning his head toward the participants' stands to stare directly at Lynx with cold, lifeless eyes.
"Luhas, placed in Rank S!" Isbell announced over the noise. "He has also been granted a title from our Administrator: 'The Oblivion Celestial'!"
The spectators cheered at the top of their lungs. "DESERVED!!!"
Luhas snatched the glowing gold medal straight out of Isbell's hands without letting her place it around his neck, turning around and walking back down the tunnel instantly.
"Now for the winners... Team Seven! Make your way to the stage!" Isbell yelled, and the crowd began jumping and clapping as they chanted in rhythm.
Rey stood up and vaulted off the railing, executing a clean backflip mid-air before landing on the ground and making his way to the stage. "Time to farm some aura!"
In the next microsecond, white lightning sparked across the ground as Lucia speed-blitzed straight onto the stage. "I'm first to make it here!" she grinned, looking back at Rey.
"No fair!" Rey complained, stepping onto the stage.
Lynx walked out calmly through the main tunnel entrance, doing nothing flashy. Yet from above, the drones dropped hundreds of fresh red rose petals through the air while massive golden fireworks flared up around the perimeter of the stage.
Rey stared at Lynx, blinking in disbelief. "Oh... he is taking my spotlight..."
The crowd went completely wild, the deafening cheers showing no signs of stopping.
"Lucia, placed in Rank A!" Isbell announced loudly. "Title given by the Administrator: 'The Light that Eyes Cannot See'!"
Lucia lowered her head gracefully as Isbell placed a gleaming medal made of solid diamond around her neck.
"That's so cool!" Rey clapped, stepping aside as Lucia moved back. Rey stepped forward, glancing up at the stands. {The crowd is so loud I doubt anyone can even hear what the ref is saying.}
"Rey, placed in Rank S!" Isbell continued. "Given the title by the Administrator: 'The Hand of God'!"
Isbell placed another diamond medal around Rey's neck as he bowed his head. The second it was on, Rey took a few smug steps toward Lucia with a wide smirk. "I'm S and you are A! Nub, nub, noob~, nuby, nuby, nuub!"
Lucia remained completely calm, simply sighing and rolling her eyes at him.
"Hmm... let's see..." Isbell paused, staring at the parchment in her hand as Lynx stepped forward. "Lynx, given two titles by the Administrator and an Unknown Authority for the match interruption! Given by the Administrator: 'The One Beyond Names'!"
She stopped, her eyes widening slightly as she read the second line. "And... given by the Authority being... 'The Unknown Attribute'!"
Lynx narrowed his eyes into a sharp, cold glare. {Why would someone give me a title and keep themselves hidden? Did they figure out what I actually did...?}
"As for his ranking..." Isbell cleared her throat. "Lynx is placed at Rank F."
The moment the words left her mouth, the loud cheering of the crowd vanished instantly. The entire stadium fell dead quiet, completely confused.
Rey and Lucia stood frozen. Lucia stepped forward, her voice ringing out in protest. "What is the meaning of this?! F is far too low for his skills!"
Isbell raised her hand, trying to keep control. "I am sure The Administrator has good reasons for this decision—"
Lynx suddenly broke into cynical laughter. "Ah... I see... good reasons... First, you interrupt my match, and now you rank me at the absolute bottom. You really don't need to compare me to the rest of them. No matter what I accomplish, you people will always find stupid excuses to place me last..."
Lynx raised his hand, pointing his finger directly up at the floating surveillance drones.
"Look at yourselves! You sent all your elites, all your highest tiers, and yet an 'F-Rank' weakling outplayed every single one of them. Did they lack any advantages? So what happened to their power and abilities? Rank me below all of them. It only proves how pathetic your judgment truly is when your absolute greatest fall to the lowest—"
"If you have a problem with the rankings of The Administrator, then why don't you challenge your teammates right now and prove yourself?" Isbell cut him off sharply, her face turning completely serious.
"Alright then..." Lynx turned his head, his cold eyes locking directly onto Rey. "How about a death match with no rules?"
Lucia looked between them, complete confusion written across her face. "What are you talking about?! Is this rank really that important to you?!"
Before anyone could move, a sudden cold wind swept over the wooden stage at dusk.
A group of mysterious figures clad in dark assassin gear leaped down from the spectator stands, drawing curved daggers mid-air and rushing straight toward the stage at terrifying speed.
Lynx smiled menacingly, staring directly at Lucia as the assassins bared their weapons. "We will kill you! Princess... Lucia Isotta!" one of the assassins shouted.