Chapter 144: An apology

Words : 1597 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

On the side that was the sitting area of the Dragonic Magic Academy, it was enveloped in deep silence as all of the students and teachers stared at the arena with sad and disappointed faces. The Vice Dean let out a helpless sigh before asking some teachers to go help Teacher Christi bring Glen and the others from the arena. The referees had already gone to carry them out of the arena, and they were handed over to their teachers, who were waiting outside the arena, all with solemn faces. They were brought back to the sitting area of the academy while the next academies went up the arena. Since they had only been knocked out and didn’t sustain any heavy injuries, there was no need to use healing gels or healing spells on them as they would recover after a few hours of rest. The tournament continued. After a while, the four who had been unconscious since they were brought back finally regained consciousness. After realising that they had been brought back by their teachers and had lost the match, they all had a depressed look on their faces. Glen was the most obvious after learning from his classmates how he had lost, the other student had gotten up before him. He silently clenched his fists with a hard expression in his eyes. Seeing the expression on the face of the kids, the Vice Dean sighed again before saying. "Don’t get discouraged just because of one defeat, you have won one match and still have one more chance; that’s all that matters, just do your best in the next match." "That’s right. Besides, it was an unfavourable match-up with their lightning element. You already did your best by taking out the rest of their team." "Yes, yes. We even had a chance of victory if not that they targeted Amelia first. They knew both of you were the hardest to deal with so they had two of their teammates fight you while they took Amelia out." "Correct. Don’t be discouraged, you still have the next match to win a point." "Besides, the Windmere Magic Academy was ranked higher than us in the last tournament, it’s not a surprise if we lose to them." After hearing the words of the Vice Dean, the rest of the students immediately jumped in and started to cheer the four up. Some of their words were true while some were just to make them feel better. All in all, the mood of the four finally lifted a bit after everyone joined together to comfort them. That’s right, they still have the next team match to win and get another 10 points. Then, Alex just needed to win one of his matches and they’ll qualify for the second round! With this thought in mind, the four were finally able to relax and some of the stuffiness from losing the match disappeared from their chest. They focused on watching the match going on in the arena. All this while, someone just sat in the corner and watched everything without saying a word. This person was obviously Alex, he had a contemptuous smirk on the corner of his lips as he stared at the students who were motivating Amelia and the others. They couldn’t even defeat an opponent that was ranked 16th in the last tournament yet they still dare to speak about redeeming themselves in their next match? Did they forget that their opponent was the Crimson Tide Magic Academy, which was ranked 9th place in the last tournament? And from the match yesterday, did they think they could win against that academy? Alex found it laughable but he didn’t say anything. In his opinion, the Vice Dean had just said what she said to stop them from continuing to feel bad; their only hope to reach the next round of the tournament, now that Amelia and the others had lost one match, was him. If he couldn’t win both of his matches, then the Dragonic Magic Academy would leave the tournament in the first round. That would be a worse result than what they got during the previous tournament. Time passed as the other academies came up to fight. The fights of the top 4 academies were just the same as the previous day. No matter which academy was their opponent, it was an overwhelming defeat. They didn’t even need the whole team to act, just one or two members of the team were enough to wipe out their opponents’ team. It was devastating to the point that the students and even teachers of the Dragonic Magic Academy started to feel that their defeat at the hands of Windmere Magic Academy wasn’t so bad and was still acceptable. After all, the match had been a close call and not a total beatdown like what these academies were facing at the hands of the top four academies. Hours later, the last match that was between Whisper Hall Magic Academy vs Dominion Magic Academy came to an end with Dominion Magic Academy claiming victory after a several-minute-long fight. Just like the previous day, Clint appeared in the arena as the teams of both academies left. He said some words before declaring the end of today’s round, and everyone started to leave the stadium after Clint left the arena. Alex rose up as well and was about to leave when someone called out to him from behind. Turning around, he saw it was the Vice Dean; he recognised her voice after all. The students and teachers also turned to look at the two, wondering why the Vice Dean would call Alex. Teacher Arnold gave a secret glare of dissatisfaction at the Vice Dean before storming off. "What is it? Alex asked, his tone wasn’t polite but wasn’t rude either. "Come with me." The Vice Dean stated after a moment of silence and began to walk away, not giving Alex any chance to refuse. Alex’s face twisted in annoyance but still followed behind her as the two of them left the sitting area of their academy. They walked into the inner structure of the stadium, where there were few people before coming to a stop. The Vice Dean turned around and stared at Alex, he stared back with a raised eyebrow. There was silence as the two stared at each other. The Vice Dean finally spoke after several seconds had passed. "You’ve changed." She stated. "What do you mean?" Alex asked calmly. "Your gaze, it’s different from before. You have no regard that I’m the Vice Dean or any respect that I’m a stronger mage than you, it’s as if you don’t fear anything. Of course, this is a good thing, but it can also be bad if you don’t know your look limit." The Vice Dean explained, a soft expression on her middle-aged face. Alex lifted an eyebrow at the Vice Dean’s words. He guessed such a change was expected since he wasn’t the previous Alex and he possessed a system, plus, he was currently at the highest mage rank; who could he possibly be afraid of? "Is that all?" He asked after a brief moment of silence. The eyes of the Vice Dean flashed with surprise, slightly taken aback by Alex’s response. She felt like her words had gone into Alex’s head through one ear and went out through the other. A soft giggle left her lips as she thought of something. "No, I actually called you for something else." Said and Alex looked at her with an expression that urged her to speak. "I guess you already know that the next team mode match is more or less gone as well, the academy’s only hope right now is you. You two matches are what we need to make it into the second round of the tournament. What I want to ask is, how confident are you?" Her eyes were fixed on Alex’s face, a somewhat hopeful look in them. Alex paused, arms folded in front of his chest. "You’ll know when the time comes." He replied with a smile. But to the Vice Dean, that smile resembled a grin; a mischievous one. After saying that, Alex turned around and left. But before he could walk too far, the voice of the woman came from behind him. "I’ve heard about you from some explorers. I heard you joined their group and went on some missions with them. Apparently, they think you are more capable than most Core mages due to the advantage of your space element; I believe them." Her words paused before continuing. "Alex, I know that the academy has failed you. We neglected you when you didn’t show progress and turned a blind eye when you were oppressed. As the Vice Dean of the academy, I sincerely apologise. Please, win those two matches for the academy." Alex didn’t turn around after the Vice Dean stopped talking. Silence lasted for half a minute before Alex’s steps continued, and he left without saying a word. A helpless smile formed on the face of the Vice Dean as she watched Alex’s back till he disappeared into a corner. "I guess I asked too much. After all, his opponents are going to be from the top 6th and top 12th academies in the previous tournament; they definitely won’t be weak." She stood there for some minutes more before leaving. Meanwhile, Alex walked out of the stadium with a sharp glint in his eyes and a smirk on his face. "I didn’t plan on losing anyway."

Chapter 144: An apology

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