The first combatant to step on the stage was the strongest member of the Owlite Team, Seath.
With a sword in each hand, he waited for the Earth team to send his opponent. He didn't back down despite knowing that his team had little to no chance of winning the Match.
For a prideful individual like him, admitting defeat before even putting up a fight was a disgrace.
As a warrior at heart, Seath always enjoyed a good challenge and what could be more challenging than a face-off with an Earth's Alpha Chosen?
Meanwhile, within the seating area of the Earth Team, Henry stood up and excitedly volunteered to fight Seath.
To which, no one paid attention to and looked at Jay for his decision. Instead of answering, he turned to his right and asked Brandon, "Other than Olivia, Sergei, yourself and myself, who do you think would be the best to send?"
The other team members didn't see that coming. Ever since the beginning of the Tournament, Jay was the one who made the decisions without the others having a say in it.
As someone who had prior knowledge of the Tournament and how it was conducted, they didn't question his decisions, not even once.
Upon scoring so well in Round-2 just by following everything Jay said, that turned into a blind trust. To them, one thing was made apparent; as long as they do everything Jay instructs them to do, winning the Tournament would be in the bag.
When Jay asked Brandon for his opinion, they contributed it to his confidence in winning the Tournament; if not, there was no way the usually stern Jay would do that.
It wasn't just the others; Brandon didn't expect that either. Although the Earth team members were united the whole time during the Tournament, each of them knew that there was a division among them.
While Sergei, Kasim, and Andrea sided towards Olivia, the rest were on Brandon's side, except for Jay and Dante, who were neutral to both sides.
Although Jay didn't take either side, Brandon believed he would likely side with Olivia and make her the next-in-command for the Earth team.
After all, he noticed the strange dynamic between them. He long ruled out the possibility of a romantic relationship since just the mention of Jay brought waves of fear in Olivia.
From everything he had observed, he connected the dots with the silver shockwave incident on Day-2 to the time Olivia awakened a Grade-10 Innate Talent and Jay's ability to make Atlans stronger without raising their levels as he did with Rock Magmoids.
The conclusion he came up with was that Jay has the ability to increase the grade of others' Innate Talents and have them under control.
That was a massive revelation for Brandon. Even though he found it hard to believe, everything pointed towards the inevitable truth.
Jay's power alone was something to be feared, and with a heaven-defying ability in tow, he would remain insurmountable.
Only when he learned that did he realise why Jay didn't care if they formed groups or established Organisations because nothing they do would make a difference to him.
In the end, they would all have to be under him. So, when Jay suddenly asked for his opinion on whom to send first, he fared better than the others.
Before answering, he deliberated to himself, 'Since Seath has a Time Innate Talent, a Space Innate Talent user such as Min-soo would be a good choice. But his combat awareness is lacking in dealing with someone as skilled as Seath. With Dante's ability to predict his opponent's moments, he would be a wise choice. However, if the opponent chooses attrition over a direct approach, he would lack the Spirit Energy and Stamina to hold the ground. That leaves only Kensei and Henry. Kensei was the best option among those two since he has a just like Seath.'
After careful consideration, Brandon replied to Jay, "For the 1st Bout, Kensei would be the best choice, followed by Dante and Min-soo."
Jay didn't inquire about Brandon's reasoning and just nodded before turning to Kensei, "Go; even if you can't win, make sure to exhaust your opponent."
As a man of few words, Kensei replied with a simple head-bowing gesture and walked onto the stage with a sheathed sword in hand.
Jay then called out to Dante, "Carefully observe the way Seath fights and his attack patterns. You will be facing him next."
Dante was puzzled by Jay's words and asked, "From what we had seen in Round-1, that Owl man barely defeated a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster, whereas Kensei is almost as strong as a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. There shouldn't be any suspense, right?"
"Indeed. That would be the case if only Seath didn't grow stronger since then."
Jay's reply made them look at Seath in a new light. But many still wondered if he could really defeat Kensei.
After all, Kensei's combat awareness was second only to Brandon and Sergei, if not the same.
Just as Felarial announced the start of the Match, Jay's voice rang in Brandon's mind.
'You are quite a bright one, aren't you? Yes, I do in fact have the ability to increase the Innate Talent Grade. Not just that, doing so allows me to use the Innate Talent of whom I use that ability on.
For a brilliant tactician like you, I could offer an upgrade to Grade-9 along with other benefits in exchange for your absolute loyalty.
This offer is valid till the end of the Alpha Program. Whether you take up the offer or not, keep what you know about this ability to yourself. Because if you don't, I will know and trust me, you don't want that for yourself. Got it?'
It took Brandon a few seconds to fall out of the daze and nod at Jay, with shock still evident in his eyes.
Never did he expect Jay's ability to be more heaven-defying than it already was.
Whether it be Jay's diverse skills or his often rise in power, everything began to make sense to Brandon.
While the offer was tempting, he didn't wish to lose his free will over more power. But he didn't outright say that, nor did he need to with Jay seeing through his thoughts.