The Autonomous Units flew silently through the sky, their cameras zooming in on the brilliantly lit scene below to capture the night's events.
Due to the impact of last year's Winter Festival competition, this year's games have attracted exceptional attention. It can be said that tonight, screens across numerous households in the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain are broadcasting images of the competition.
People discussed the young men and women who took the stage, recounting the stories behind the names of the academies and occasionally reminiscing about their own youth to the younger generation, sighing at how time flies.
"Edith Academy, Elinda wins!"
A girl with silver-white hair stood firmly on the field, one hand lightly touching the witch hat on her head while the other spread open to bow to the audience, then stood up straight. Beside her was a mound dense with knives, swords, and halberds, countless blades thrust into the ground like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
This student, a prodigy jointly cultivated by Edith Academy and Tri-Phase Moon Academy, had received a heritage that stemmed from a past witch famous for her mastery of weapons.
Before tonight's Winter Festival competition, many anticipated that Tilan would continue her winning streak and maintain her position, but there wasn't much confidence in the other students from Edith, as experience showed that even with one or two exceptionally brilliant geniuses, it wasn't easy to change the overall strength of an academy.
Yet, this year was full of surprises for everyone, with once-famous but declined academy names reappearing on screens. These students wearing two academy badges displayed strengths and heritages starkly different from the mainstream, leaving countless viewers in awe.
Tri-Phase Moon, Loath Eye, Yuanting Academy, Hot Surge Breakthrough, and so on. These names represented training modes and directions completely opposite of the current mainstream. Although their overall strength might not compare with the six major academies, the top students showed many viewers a certain possibility.
"Now entering is the student jointly cultivated by Edith Academy and Loath Eye Academy, Alice Narlanphilly."
A girl with golden short hair dressed in the classic blue and white checkered outfit stepped onto the battlefield. Each of her fingers was adorned with silver rings, seemingly, special Transcendent artifacts, as with a flick of her fingers, puppets dove from the sky and hovered behind her.
After the host finished the introduction, the young girl lifted her head slightly, revealing her deep blue eyes that shone like unmelting ice gems. As she opened her arms, puppets wielding spears and shields charged forward, their blade tips emitting faint blue Magic Power, tracing intricate and dazzling paths through the air.
"Puppetry Art: Rainbow Weaving."
Sharp light streaked across the night sky, weaving lines of seven colors that together formed complex Ritual Magic Circles, while the airborne opponents were like birds trapped in a cage, overwhelmed and suppressed by the glowing puppets without any chance of fighting back, falling in defeat.
Cheers and shrieks of excitement rose from the venue, and then the next battle gradually began.
The girl riding the Silver Scale flying fish shattered the Array set by Crystal Lattice Academy students, then engulfed her opponent in a sky of broken ice crystals, wielding ice spikes like lances to pierce through the night and run her adversary through, catapulting them into the sky.
"Edith Academy, Emil wins!"
The girl controlled the giant flying fish to leap and hover in the air, the feather badge and blue rose badge on her chest reflecting light.
With an explosive roar, a barrage of punches flew out, piercing the atmosphere. Although many were negated by the slashing blades, the faint golden Magic Power emitted felt as if it held concentrated rage and unyielding spirit, exploding layer by layer. The Thunder Edge Academy student on the receiving end frowned in pain, grimacing.
"Void Piercing Fist: Hundred Dragons Might!"
The figure was like a golden comet descending, the force of his punches compressing and warping the air. The trajectory of his punches resembled surging dragons, pouring down like a waterfall, unstoppable even by barriers as solid as cliffs. The force was like the compression of space itself, transmitting layer by layer, shattering the adversary's blades and leaving the Thunder Edge Academy student vomiting blood.
After using his full-powered Skill, the student stood panting, his upper body radiating heat, surrounded by small craters his onslaught and heat waves had created. Though near exhaustion, he did not feel discomfort; instead, his lips curled into a content smile, as his opponent had already fallen.
"Edith Academy, Xian Ta wins!"
As the host announced, the student lifted his arms, each wrapped with two gleaming academy badges, one with a black background and blue rose, the other with a flame punching through the atmosphere.
In the first night of this year's Winter Festival competition, Edith Academy took six of the top twelve spots in the warm-up matches, and of the middle twenty-four, they claimed ten positions. Such a record far surpassed that of other academies, exciting the entire venue and placing immense pressure on the other academies.
After the first night concluded, the main event of the Winter Festival competition began the second night. Last year's geniuses who had made their mark in the warm-up matches were mostly present on tonight's battlefield, prompting screams and anticipation from countless individuals.
"Saint Ingo Academy, Vivina."
"Edith Academy, Valke."
The two contestants who faced each other in last year's warm-up match final had not yet made an appearance this year but were already under intense media scrutiny. Both were considered the talents worth most attention in this year's Winter Festival competition, and as for Tilan, her existence was no longer a topic among ordinary students. Although there was still a long way to go until the final showdown, no one could imagine anyone surpassing this girl now.