The hundred battle royales had already ended.
On the organizers' side, they had also drawn the groupings for tomorrow's knockout stage.
"This person…"
Himeko looked at the information showing her opponent.
It was a local Trainer from the Lighthouse Alliance.
After looking through the footage of the other party's match today, Himeko judged that their strength was probably around the peak Gym-level.
For an opponent like this, there was no pressure for her at all.
"Hm… There's even an official ranking?"
Himeko continued scrolling through the information sent by the organizers.
To her surprise, they had even compiled a strength chart for the one hundred contestants in the knockout stage.
The rankings on this chart were based on today's battle royale performances.
Ranked first was the Trainer who owned Articuno, Okano Shuzo.
The intimidating presence and powerful performance of a Third-tier Legendary let him take the top spot of the rankings without any doubt.
Ranked second was Miyazato Aisa.
That Dragonite of hers had also stolen the spotlight.
Its overwhelming performance, sweeping through the entire field, let her occupy second place.
The third place that followed was also someone Himeko knew.
It was none other than the Military Elite Four who had come to participate in this competition with them, Shime Ukyo.
His Charizard had also displayed strength that drew attention and amazement in yesterday's match.
As for the contestants who came next on the list, Himeko was not very familiar with them.
She counted downward all the way.
At last, she found herself in twentieth place.
"Only twentieth?"
Himeko was a little surprised by her own rank.
No matter how one looked at it, what she had revealed was Elite Four-level strength.
Yet among these one hundred contestants, she was actually still ranked in this position.
She swept her gaze upward over the information of the contestants ranked above her.
Good grief!
Every single one of them actually had Elite Four-level strength!
One had to know that Elite Four-level figures were big shots and top-tier combatants in every Alliance.
She had not expected this competition to gather so many of them at once!
It seemed the road to taking the championship would still be somewhat difficult.
Perhaps she would have to let Shiko and Mew appear on stage ahead of time.
The next morning.
Himeko appeared in the waiting room right on time.
Today's one hundred contestants would have a total of fifty matches. They would be divided into five rounds, with five matches starting simultaneously in each round.
The one hundred fields in the main venue had already been merged back into five fields. Not only were they spacious, but terrain such as forests, deserts, rivers, and grasslands had also been reconstructed.
Himeko's match was in the final round.
This also gave her time to properly observe the matches of the other contestants.
In the five matches of the first round, Miyazato Aisa and Shime Ukyo appeared at the same time, facing their respective opponents.
Then, in the second round of matches, another contestant who drew Himeko's attention appeared.
It was the Trainer who owned Articuno, Okano Shuzo.
The moment he entered the field, the hundreds of thousands of spectators watching from the stands, and even the contestants preparing to fight on the other fields, all focused their attention on Shuzo at the same time.
As for his opponent, their expression was gloomy and bitter to the extreme, as if they had gone completely blank from shock.
"Come out, Articuno!"
The Poké Ball traced an arc through the air.
A red beam of light condensed into the outline of a giant bird spreading its wings in flight.
Articuno's body appeared above the arena.
"Kree!"
With a high cry, it circled once, then dove down and landed beside Shuzo.
Seeing this noble Third-tier Legendary once again, the spectators at the venue still could not suppress another wave of astonishment.
There was no need to say much about the battle that followed.
Although Shuzo's opponent was already in the upper-middle ranks among these one hundred contestants, having reached the level of peak Quasi-Elite Four-level, against the overwhelming Articuno, they still did not have even the slightest chance of victory.
They did not even have room to resist.
The three Pokémon they sent out for battle did not last a single round.
After each of them took one Ice Beam, they directly lost the ability to battle.
The entire battle lasted less than three minutes.
Shuzo once again easily secured victory.
Amid cheers and exclamations that filled the sky, he calmly walked down from the arena and returned to the waiting room.
(End of Chapter)
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