"Puhahahaha! Get a load of this dude!" roared Donner in laughter, garnering a fair bit of attention and snapping Hal out of his trance."You, champion?! Delusional!"
Naturally, Hal did not appreciate the second seed’s words.
"Heh, what can I say, I’m confident in my chances," he sneered in response, adding, "Unlike you."
Hal wouldn’t lose anything except for a bit of aura and a gold coin if he lost the bet, anyway.
Why not trick the annoying, dumb bastard in front of him into making a bad one?
If he really pulled it off and became the champion, then not only would things become infinitely better for him, but he could also gain a bit of satisfaction from Donner’s setback.
It depended on how well he could dupe the guy.
"Huh? The hell are you saying, small fry? Do you know who you’re talking to?" the disciple of the former Thunder Magna retorted in a cold tone.
"The hell would I care to learn who your ugly mug is? You don’t even dare bet on yourself, and yet you mock others for daring to? Laughable!"
And so, the ragebaiting began...
Veins popped at the sides of Donner’s head.
Did this damn small fry truly think he was on their level after defeating a measly seventeenth seed?
The next moment, he pulled out a purple card from his wallet and swiped it at the Manatech Payment Processor at the desk, uttering each word loud and clear:
"Two gold coins on me, Donner Rakurai, becoming the champion."
In truth, although the disciple of the former Thunder Magna was confident that he had a decent chance of winning against Felix, he couldn’t dare claim he would win for certain.
He was simply forced to place a two-gold-coin bet on himself to put his money where his mouth was.
"Heh, now who’s not confident, brat? I swear if I get my hands on y—"
"Only two gold coins? Pshh."
"YOU ONLY BET ONE! YET YOU STILL DARE BELITTLE MY BET EVEN THOUGH I DOUBLED YOURS?!"
Naturally, by this point, a few people had noticed the commotion.
Even Akari couldn’t help but peer from behind the tent covers to see what was going on.
"Hmph! I bet one gold coin because that’s all I, someone from a border village, have, and I dared to bet it all on myself. You, on the other hand, wouldn’t even feel the loss of two gold coins. We’re not the same."
Hal then turned to leave after responding, smiling as he heard:
"FIFTEEN GOLD COINS ON MYSELF BEING THE CHAMPION!!"
"HAL FENNEC, I’LL MAKE SURE TO RUB EXTRA SALT ON YOUR WOUNDS AFTER MY VICTORY. ALSO, YOU BETTER PRAY I DON’T GET MY HANDS ON YOU. I’LL DESTROY YOU, YOU HEAR ME?!"
He would have to defeat them all if he wanted to win big anyway, so why would Hal care about a bit of bad blood?
He wasn’t new to such stuff.
Time passed, and everyone finished placing their bets, delighted after learning about the earlier verbal war between Hal and Donner.
The tournament was getting better and better for both the viewers and the sponsors!
Soon, it was time to resume the tournament and begin the battles to decide who would advance to the quarterfinals.
Akari once again ascended the stage with a heartfelt smile on her face.
I appreciate everyone’s patience and wish you all luck with your bets," she began. "To those who bet on contenders making it to the top eight, you’ll soon find out whether you chose right or wrong. Please ascend the stage for your match, Competitor Donner, Competitor Hina.
The first battle was between the hot-headed second seed and the serene thirteenth.
Unfortunately, a calm heart only mattered in a battle between equals, and Donner was certainly far superior.
He easily overwhelmed his opponent with a ferocious onslaught of ravaging thunder, not even allowing Hina to counterattack more than three times.
Donner was fierce in battle, but he wasn’t usually this intense.
Hina simply had the bad luck of facing him while he was still seething with anger.
After defeating his opponent with a merciless wave of thunder, the hot-blooded second seed looked Hal’s way and gave a mocking thumbs-down, his tongue nastily hanging out of his mouth.
Hal merely sneered in response, not intimidated one bit.
This economy version of the Fellkin young master, Arran, sure can talk.
The next battle was between Kairo, the seventh seed, and Yue, the twelfth seed.
The match was fairly exciting as Yue put up a fierce resistance.
Unfortunately, she was ultimately defeated by Kairo’s tides, proving that the water element’s adaptability and low mana consumption were a nightmare to face in a drawn-out battle.
The third battle was between Ennya and the eleventh seed, Kim.
As always, her enemies tried to stop her from casting spells by taking advantage of their superior cast times.
However, the midget had long grown accustomed to such a style.
After calmly surviving and managing a successful first spell, the second, third, and those that followed came much more easily.
It was simply too difficult to contend with her head-on.
She also managed to advance to the top eight, successfully avoiding punishment from Freyra.
The third seed, Pierro, took the stage in the fourth battle.
His conjured mana puppets, chains, and other spells proved far too difficult for the poor eighteenth-seed to handle.
Luck in match draws could only carry one so far...
The third young miss of the Grand Aristocratic Clan of Ignis, Aurora, showed everyone why she was the fourth seed in the fifth match.
With a horrifying icy onslaught, she dismantled her opponent even faster than Pierro had, ending the fifteenth seed’s impressive run by encasing him in an icy tomb and sending him out of the tournament before a minute had even passed.
She also seemed far too ruthless for her age, making it clear to experienced observers that Aurora Ignis was no pampered young lady.
The first five matches were so thrilling that before anyone realized it, the much-anticipated match between two Grand Magic Academy students—Hal Fennec and Vyse Vandralis—was up next.