The team and individual matches that followed proceeded smoothly, and before long the round-robin stage was underway.
Per the tournament rules, after the first two rounds of elimination, thirty-six teams advanced to the round-robin. These teams were divided into four groups of nine, with each group playing eight rounds, every team facing each of the other eight in sequence.
Once the round-robin concluded, the top four teams by points in each group advanced to the top sixteen, with the final rankings then decided through a knockout bracket. Only the top sixteen received prizes. The same rules applied to both the youth and adult divisions.
"We weren't placed in the same group as Shrek," Tang Wulin and Xie Xie noted, talking it over among themselves.
"That means we'll at least get to watch all eight of their matches."
Even with Arthur around, they weren't about to let their guard down. If anything, they were more motivated to pay close attention to Shrek's every move and look for ways to counter them.
"It's starting. This one happens to be Shrek's round-robin match."
In the private box, Xie Xie slapped his thigh and dragged Tang Wulin toward the window. Xu Xiaoyan hurried after them with her soul recording device, excitement written all over her face.
"Heh heh heh, I'm logging all their attack patterns. The more I know, the better I can hide behind Arthur. I'd hate to get knocked out by some move I never saw coming."
At that point, Arthur, who had been completely indifferent to the matches up until now, drifted over as well. He watched as Shrek sent out the same seven members as before.
"Same lineup, no changes." He frowned slightly. "What exactly are they planning to beat me with?"
He understood why Shrek wanted to win back their reputation given how the public had been talking. But these seven alone had no chance.
Lower-ranked soul masters might assume Arthur had simply caught them when their soul power was already spent, but Shrek's leadership couldn't possibly be that blind. The outcome had nothing to do with that.
Even if Arthur's sword intent couldn't be felt through recorded footage, his combat technique alone should have made it clear to anyone watching that these seven were not going to win.
So why is Shrek letting them compete? Arthur turned it over quietly in his mind.
Something felt off. A quiet instinct nagged at him. Shrek's leadership wouldn't sanction this unless the team had something to fall back on.
Without an ace up their sleeve, letting the same seven compete again and lose in front of everyone would leave them no room to spin the story.
"Arthur." Wu Changkong stepped into the box, and for once his voice had lost its usual chill. "I just received word that Shrek Academy has dispatched an elder from the Sea God Pavilion, and they're on their way to the Skysea Alliance Grand Tournament."
"A Sea God Pavilion elder?" Everyone in the box stopped watching the match and crowded around instantly.
"What does that mean?" Arthur looked puzzled. "What's a Sea God Pavilion elder coming here for?"
"Please tell me they're not coming after me."
At that, Gu Yue and Na'er's expressions darkened at the same time. Na'er clenched her fist.
How dare they. Touch my Arthur and Shrek will find out what it's like to anger a Dragon God.
"Nothing like that," Wu Changkong said. He thought back to what Shen Yi had told him not long ago, walked to the window, and fixed his gaze on the Shrek team below on the stage. His voice was serious.
"Shrek Academy isn't just fielding those seven."
"They've registered a substitute."
"Who is currently traveling here with the elder."
"A substitute?" Xie Xie's eyes went wide and his voice shot up involuntarily. "They're adding a substitute now? We're already in the round-robin! What is Shrek playing at?"
Xu Xiaoyan lowered her recording device, brow creasing slightly. "Isn't that against the rules?"
"This is Shrek Academy." Wu Changkong's tone was even, and the name alone said everything about the privileges that came with it.
"What's this substitute's level?" Arthur asked.
"That's exactly what I came to tell you." Wu Changkong stood with his shoulders squared.
He was practically glowing with importance. Arthur inwardly acknowledged that Wu Changkong had come through. Eastsea Academy's finest scout, no question.
"The youth division's age cap is fifteen." Wu Changkong's voice carried a complicated edge. "Whoever they're sending is almost certainly Shrek's strongest student at that age."
"From what I've gathered, this student is on the verge of entering Shrek's inner courtyard."
He paused for a beat and looked at Arthur. "And by inner courtyard standards, that means at minimum a Spirit King cultivation level."
"Plus a one-word battle armor title."
"A Spirit King?!" Xie Xie's shout nearly blew the roof off the box. He instinctively stepped back, his face stripped of color. "A fifteen-year-old Spirit King? About to enter the inner courtyard? Is that even humanly possible?"
Xu Xiaoyan's recording device slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor. She didn't notice. "A Spirit King," she murmured. "That's two full major realms above us. And with one-word battle armor on top of that. How are we supposed to fight that?"
Tang Wulin's pupils contracted sharply.
Through everything Wu Changkong had taught them about battle armor over these weeks, they had a very clear picture of the kind of power boost it provided.
One-word battle armor granted a direct equivalent boost of twenty soul levels.
A five-ring Spirit King wearing it would have combat power on par with a seven-ring Spirit Sage.
Hold on. We're a bunch of nine-year-olds fighting a Spirit Sage?
Xie Xie swallowed hard. The confidence he'd walked in with deflated rapidly. "One-word battle armor, and the rest of us combined are only at three rings or two."
"And this is a team match, too."
"Even if Arthur can handle him alone, you can't ignore the rest of their team backing him up!"
There was no sugarcoating it anymore. Shrek had brought real pressure to bear.
Arthur's brow furrowed slightly. At his current level, the most he could realistically match was a soul master at Spirit Emperor cultivation. A Spirit King with one-word battle armor pushing to Spirit Sage territory represented a qualitative leap beyond that, not just a numbers gap.
Wu Changkong took in the group's fallen spirits and spoke steadily. "Do what you can. I'll also allow you to forfeit."
"A one-word battle armor master."
"That's not an opponent any of you should be facing right now."
A heavy silence settled over the box.
From the opening of the Skysea Alliance Grand Tournament until this moment, it was the first time Arthur had gone completely quiet. Na'er moved over to Gu Yue's side, about to say something.
Gu Yue seemed to already know what she was thinking. She shook her head before Na'er could speak, and said quietly, "No. It would draw too much attention. We're only at Spirit Elder level."
"This is just a tournament. It's not worth it."
Na'er pressed her lips together and looked down.
"Shrek really thinks highly of me." Arthur was genuinely baffled. He hadn't even shown that much in his last fight. So why had they overreacted like this and sent a one-word battle armor master?
"Is this really necessary? A one-word battle armor master against a Spirit Elder like me."
"A fifteen-year-old going up against a nine-year-old."
"Even if they win, what does it prove?"
He walked to the window and looked down at the Shrek team on the stage below, analyzing the situation in a calm, unhurried tone.
"What they want is the result. The word 'victory.'"
"As long as Shrek wins, even if it's a fifteen-year-old one-word battle armor master steamrolling a group of kids averaging nine years old, they can spin it as 'Shrek's deep reserves on full display, talent blooming at every level, honor gracefully restored.'"
"As for whether the process looks ugly, or whether it's fair, there will always be legions of supporters ready to explain it away and paint it in a better light. Because in the end, winners write the story."