Final Round (3)

Emily finishing in first place was the expected result, even the fact that she did it in record time, but that did not stop the audience from cheering loudly. Their shouts were like an earthquake, alerting even the few who had no interest in the evaluation. No one could think of a more exciting time than this, but there were different levels within this excitement as well.

Those who celebrated out of the pure joy that the cute little girl rose to expectation, were quite passionate already, but those who had gained or lost something tangible were even more emotional.

"Yes! I can pay off my debts!"

"Not again!"

"Damn it, I should have bet more!"

It was unanimously decided that Emily would win, so the main bet that people were involved in was about the time she would take to finish the puzzle. There was a ten-second difference between times given, and the winning time would be the shortest time that hadn't passed. There were some who had thought even the Little Puzzle Princess wouldn't be able to break the record in the final round, but most had believed in her. Unfortunately, figuring out what her exact time would be was based on their luck.

While everyone else was celebrating her victory, the array grandmasters in the audience were shocked about something else. The process hadn't reached completion, but they could sense that a qualitative change was happening to Emily's soul. This was a very familiar process to them as they had also experienced it.

"Well, this is interesting."

The difference between a regular array master and an array grandmaster, wasn't only in the tier of arrays they could draw. Since the Sky Realm was when cultivators truly began to study the natural laws, arrays meant to be effective on them had to have a more in-depth connection with those laws. Therefore, all array grandmasters had a stable link with one of the natural laws. They would only be able to draw arrays that used the natural law(s) they were connected with as the core, but the power would be far greater than arrays below tier 4.

The link hadn't been fully created yet, but array grandmasters as well as Masters with particularly strong souls, were able to sense that she close to making that crucial step. She was technically still a tier 3 array master, but it was unknown if she would be able to maintain this vague state until the main evaluation, so the Array Association Head had to make a decision.

'It's not difficult to suppress her advancement, but I could always give her the reward she would get for placing on the Minor Ranking using my own funds...'

This was a very rare instance, which meant he didn't have an example to look back on either, so he struggled to come to a decision immediately. Meanwhile, Emily was still on stage with a dazed look on her face. Normally, the winner would be given the opportunity to make a speech, but since none of her competitors, were close to finished, she had nothing to do for the time being, and she had no problem with that.

The main evaluation awaited her, and the target of her vengeance was still unharmed, but she felt as if she was submerged in a peaceful ocean. She didn't feel particularly happy, or relieved, or surprised, she didn't know what to feel. She grabbed Dull Harmony and looked up at the audience. They were still in fervent celebration, so it was difficult to spot Shui, but she was sure he was there, watching. It was the same for Grandmaster Astar, Alicia and Alex, and maybe somewhere else in the city, her family. There was someone who she knew wasn't here, but she imagined that he was sitting next to her master in a front row seat. Both of them would have kind smiles as they watched her, but they never parted their lips.

To all the people she thought of, as well as the fans gained, Emily bowed.

"Thank you."

A few minutes later, Emily was given a seat at the edge of the stage as she waited on the other participants. The audience was now silent, but the participants' keen senses picked up their urging to hurry up. The least confident of them wanted to give up due to this pressure, but they had to solve the puzzle in order to leave the cage, so they kept trying so that they could escape as soon as possible.

Less than five minutes after Emily was finished, a second person left their cage. He had some fame as an array master, but the disparity between him and Emily was too great for more than a few polite claps to come from the audience. He hadn't set up any plans to kill her, but he glared at her for a moment after leaving his cage. He didn't want to harm her, but the envy he harboured was too great to hide.

Subsequent to the second place winner, more participants finished their puzzles and sent similar glares at Emily. She ignored them, but there was one who she had to be wary off. When the young duke solved the puzzle, the killing intent in his eyes was more intense than before, but also better controlled. He seemed determined to kill her with certainty, so even though she should be safe, her guard stayed up.

The young duke didn't plan on making a move now, but suddenly, the malice that he thought was under control, exploded from his heart. Instantly, his vision turned red and his reason quickly faded as he looked at the object of his rage.

"Emily...!"

He growled. The veins of his muscles bulged out and his teeth all became canines as he lost the reins of his own body. These were signs of mental collapse, but the cause didn't matter at this point. His faint sense of self desperately searched for the solution, and regardless of whether it was truly his choice or not, he found one.

He allowed himself to pounce on Emily, thinking that he could regain his calm once she was dead. Additionally, it was something that he was excited to do, so the consequences did not dissuade him.

No one could respond to his swift movements as he dashed towards her, so within a few seconds, his hairy arms and claws reminiscent of a beast's were within range. He wanted to rip out the eyes that looked at him with pity, however, that was as far as he could go.

"Audacious!"

The imposing aura of the Array Association Head slammed the young duke into the floor and pinned him down. He knew that the young duke wasn't in a proper mental state, but he was now resolved to protect Emily so he would allow no accidents.

"You, you, dare!"

Even while extremely distraught, the young duke scolded the Array Association leader for this rough treatment. The effects of mental collapse withdrew, but as his suppressed hatred had been freed, he could not back down.

"You old man, unhand me this instant! Do you think I won't expose your failures here? Huh!"

The Array Association Head chose not to lend an ear to the young duke, and sealed his cultivation with a thought

"Take him away."

"What do you think you're doing? Stop it! Stop it right this instant!"

People from the Array Association came up to the stage and dragged the young duke away in handcuffs. His guards wanted to rescue him, but before any of them could take action, the Array Association Head's senior brother, the mayor, gave them a cold glare.

He didn't show it, but he was in a terrible mood after having let those criminals run wild in his city, so he had no reservations against disciplining the duke's dogs.