Absolute Soul
69. The Match That Will Begin

Salvia and Verna's attacks clashed against each other, successfully creating a great explosion that shook the entire Skymaze Academy. If not for the interference of some high-level Blazers as security officers working to control the protectors in the arena, then there is a possibility that this entire arena has been destroyed thanks to the style of the two girls.

"This is really the power of a first-class Blazer candidate?"

"They're both not Blazer-level candidates anymore."

"This kind of power should only be possessed by an Expert-level Blazer or so...."

The spectators could only be pensive to see the impact of the explosion just now on the arena field that had turned most of it into thousands of tiny rock fragments. They wouldn't believe this was caused by two first-rate Blazers if it wasn't for seeing and feeling the impact of their own power.

On the edge of the arena itself, Haikal looked at the arena field so worriedly. He knew very well how powerful Salvia was even though the soul energy concentration technique used a moment ago shocked him, but if his intuition was not mistaken the quality and power of Verna's soul energy was still above Salvia.

Statistically, Salvia has lost to Verna who is really focused as a Wizard-type Blazer, not to mention Verna's Soul Arc ability which is not just one magic element like other Wizard-type Blazers, but five magic elements at once.

As far as his observations were concerned Verna could even combine the two magic elements into one, which could amplify his attacks. It could be seen from the appearance of Verna's Elemental Dress that ficklely adjusted the magic she released.

For Salvia who only has one element of magic, Verna is a bad opponent because it can adapt to the magic elements of her opponent, especially the magic element Salvia is snow, the magic element is cold that easily melts.

As Haikal's worries peaked, the dust and steam covering the view outside the arena field began to thin out little by little, revealing a shadow standing alone there, it caused great curiosity for the entire audience.

A few seconds later, the shadow finally revealed the figure of a beautiful girl about one and a half meters tall with a long bright purple scatter beautifully blown by the wind, accompanied by countless streaks of sweat flowing down from all over his body.

"The winner... What's still standing is...." The host pointed to the girl in the middle of the arena court while exclaiming loudly, "The team leader, Verna Galvoria!"

The host's victory statement was greeted by cheers from Verna's supporters, followed by a flurry of Salvia supporters watching her idol have lost twice throughout the tournament.

Haikal slightly widened his eyes as he heard the winner's announcement from the host, he then let out a long sigh and scratched the back of his head, "When I had time to hope their match result was at least a draw."

Not wanting to waste any more time, Haikal quickly entered the arena grounds and approached Salvia who was lying helplessly on the arena field floor, who had been walking to the ground, while on the other hand Jack also came to Verna who is now falling to her knees out of energy.

"Salvia, wakeful. You okay?" Haikal asked. Different from the previous round, Salvia's current condition did not look too severe, even her consciousness still persisted even though her eyelids were half closed looking at the sky.

Salvia turned to the source of the voice, "Ah, Haikal, huh?" He smiled faintly as he said so before shedding a tear, "Sorry, I lost again."

Haikal raised his eyebrows for a moment looking at the tears that had soaked Salvia's cheeks, not understanding why Salvia had put on such a sad face just because she had lost. He wanted to say something about the meaning behind the expression, but Salvia's tears were rushing more and more making him feel hesitant to ask.

Salvia could see the difference in Haikal's facial features after she apologized, she then realized her eyes were shedding tears so swift and immediately hid her beautiful face using an arm that she could move freely.

"Sorry, I'm sorry.... Sorry, I can't win...." Unwittingly, Salvia's cry became more and more so as the movement of her lips that now vibrate chanting the word 'sorry' many times, "Sorry, Haikal... Sorry, Heru.... Sorry, dad.... I'm sorry for this weak one...."

Haikal wanted to stop Salvia, but Salvia's last sentence stopped her from saying, "Sorry, mother...." After the sentence was uttered from her lips, Salvia did not make any sound other than sobs.

Haikal was a little surprised to hear those words coming out of Salvia's tiny mouth. Only from that sentence could Haikal know that all this time Salvia was not fighting for her sake alone, but fighting for someone who was valuable to her.

It was at this time that Haikal only realized that Salvia was not much different from him. Haikal lost his father as a child and one of his goals in trying to become a Blazer is to find out the truth behind his father's death, while Salvia fights for her mother who is most likely to have died.

Haikal dared to draw such a conclusion because during his training together at the residence of Volksky, he never once saw a woman who was called mother or wife by Salvia and Veindal.

He does not know the past of Salvia that makes the girl can reach this level, but Haikal little understand the feelings of Salvia. His chest ached slightly as Salvia's tears were still flowing.

In the end Haikal took a deep breath confirming his determination, he then pulled Salvia's arm that covered her face and looked at the bright purple eyes with steady eyes, "Don't apologize, Salvia. You've tried everything you can. That's more than enough."

Salvia's tears stopped flowing in response to Haikal's words and immediately covered her face again, "No, this is not enough. I've lost, twice even."

"Then, why would you lose?" Haikal raised his tone sounding resolute, shocking Salvia until her tears that flowed back suddenly came to a halt, "You know the saying 'what doesn't kill you will make you stronger'?"

Salvia was stunned to hear Haikal's words, her teary eyes now fixed on the young man's eyes while nodding slowly like a child. Haikal's expression softened to see Salvia's reaction.

"Yes, I understand," said Salvia softly while nodding softly. Seen as a sweet smile formed on his lips, making Haikal stunned for a moment.

"Ekhem!"

Haikal had not yet regained his consciousness, he was struck by the loud sound of darkness coming from behind him. Spontaneous Haikal turned to the origin of the voice and found Veindal standing upright while folding his hands in front of his chest.

At once Haikal pulled his hand from Salvia's head and immediately turned to salute Veindal with cold sweat pouring down his forehead, making the middle-aged man raise next to his eyebrows, "What are you doing?"

"Ah, no. It's nothing, Principal." Haikal instantly released his respectful reflexes while laughing wryly.

Veindal did not care much for Haikal, he immediately approached Salvia with the medics behind him, "How are you, Salvia?"

"I'm fine, father," Salvia replied with a dry smile, "It's only minor injuries and fatigue."

Veindal glanced at one of the medics who examined Salvia's condition, the officer nodded slowly confirming Salvia's words. The middle-aged man heaved a sigh of relief knowing that the princess was not seriously injured like the previous match.

Veindal then directed the medics to bring both Salvia and Verna to the infirmary, but Salvia refused, "Dad, if I could I'd like to watch the Haikal match up close."

Next to Veindal's eyebrows raised high hearing the wish of his only daughter, "It's true that you're not seriously injured, but that doesn't mean your injury can be ignored, moreover, you just recovered from your former fight with Edward." His face seemed so worried about Salvia's current condition.

"Please father," said Salvia firmly, "I want to watch the Haikal match directly through my own eyes."

Salvia said so not without reason. He was defeated by Edward in a match last round and suffered a severe injury, but after that Salvia heard that Haikal was furious and ended up challenging Edward and beating him.

So far Salvia has often seen Haikal fighting style, but it never crossed his mind that Haikal really able to defeat Edward who he could not even defeat.

That was why Salvia wanted to ascertain just how strong Haikal's true strength was with her own eyes this time around.

"Me too, Headmaster." Veindal had not yet responded to Salvia's words, Verna also asked for the same thing. Verna explained that she had no significant injuries and was simply exhausted, "Let us both watch this match from the edge of the arena."

Veindal put on a tangled look to hear the request of these two girls, even though the condition of both looks alarming but can still delay treatment. He sighed for a moment before responding to their request.

"Alright, but the medics must be by your side to treat the injuries." Veindal reminded that even though both were not injured too badly, they still needed medical treatment so as not to leave scars, considering that both Verna and Salvia were women.

"Even if you two are candidates for Blazer, still scars are not a nice thing to see, especially you are still young girls," Veindal said smiling and looking at the two girls flirtatiously, "You don't want to look bad in front of people you like, do you?"

As Verna and Salvia realized that, their faces turned red instantly, especially Salvia who was now covering her face so shamefully. Veindal, Jack, as well as the medics there chuckled at the reaction of the two.

On the other hand Haikal who heard all of that frowned slightly confused. She knew Verna already had Heru as her lover, but Salvia? Judging from his attitude so far Salvia should not have someone like that—according to his knowledge so far.

"Well, Salvia is famous for her ability and appearance, not a few who fell in love with her. I don't think it's surprising that he has someone like that" Haikal said shrugged his shoulders not wanting to interfere too much with Salvia's personal life.

After the small conversation Veindal directed several medics to accompany Verna and Salvia at the edge of the arena watching the final showdown of the Welcome Tournament up close. He then turned his head towards the two youths who were now standing opposite each other, "The match will be temporarily postponed until the arena is fixed. You better get ready first."

"That's not necessary, Principal." Jack rejected Veindal's offer and wanting to start the match immediately, he looked at Haikal in front of him with a smile, "In addition this arena will still be destroyed later."

Haikal smiled broadly in response to Jack's words, "You understand what he looks like, Jack."

"Of course, I'm not a fool to underestimate you after defeating Edward" Jack smiled back at Haikal fearlessly.

Veindal wanted to say a few more sentences, but he understood that whatever he said would not stop the wishes of these two young men. In the end Veindal canceled the workers to repair the arena and gave the stage to Jack and Haikal.

The host was a little confused not understanding what was going on down there, but Veindal gave a sign to start the match as soon as possible.

"Well, the last game of the most awaited 25th Welcoming Tournament, Jack Calvin of the Verna group against Haikal Aldra of the Salvia group...." The host raised his hands high before dropping him and exclaimed loudly, "Start!"