Twenty-One: The First Part of the Second Round

Akalea awoke early, got ready quickly, and then sat down on her bed. Her hair was a little damp, but it was almost dry. Black baggy long sleeved sweater, sweatpants, black socks, and combat boots were her attire. All she could think about in the minutes before Peace and Blood awoke was what the second round would be like.

Would it be a one-on-one battle between the kingdoms? Is it going to be a group match? Is this some sort of treasure hunt? Is this a team fight? Is there a weapon match? Akalea's head is buzzing with possibilities, and she's curious to see what it will be. She sits up with a grin on her face, realizing that she has a lot more time than she imagined, like an hour before the two get up.

After gently making her way down and out of the quarters, she decided to go for a jog around the Center. The sun is steadily blasting down on her as she comes out of the entrance, the sun having just come up. As Akalea glances around her surroundings, she notices traders setting up their stalls and getting ready for the day, some of whom are preparing food.

As she ties her hair, Akalea begins to jog about. As she jogs, she continues gazing about to view the city in all of its grandeur without the crowds, because she couldn't see things well yesterday due to the large masses. Akalea came to a halt in her 15-minute jog when she smelled something wonderful and followed the scent to its source.

The stronger the fragrance became as she moved closer to where it originated from the more she sniffed and followed it. After a few more steps, she found herself in front of a little stand where an elderly gentleman was preparing something that resembled pancakes wrapped around bacon and cheese.

It smelt exquisite to Akalea, so she prepared her interspace (a space where you store items that only you know about and can view) to retrieve the required funds. Akalea was relieved that her uncle, the king, had given her a prize, as well as her father giving her something the day before they went, bringing her total to 1,200 gold coins, minus 100 gold coins and 1 gold coin from yesterday, giving her a total of 1,099 gold coins.

She pondered about the money system as she remembered her father's remarks the day he gave her the 500 gold coins. Platinum is the most valuable, followed by Gold, Silver, and finally Copper.

"A Platinum coin could be worth 1000 gold coins,

- 1,000 Platinum coins is equivalent to 1,000,000 gold coins.

A Gold coin would be worth 1000 silver coins.

- 1,000 Gold coins is equivalent to 1,000,000 silver coins

A Silver worth 1000 copper coins

- 1,000 Silver coins equivalents to 1,000,000 copper coins.

Please don't squander your money, okay? My baby, go out and get something you really desire. Now it's time for you to expand your wings. Defeat them!"

While reminiscing, Akalea stares at the pancake stall and grins at her father's remarks. Her mouth was watering from the aroma and the sight, so she approached the elderly guy without hesitation. She was going to say something when she heard the smallest and cutest voice she had ever heard. "Grandpa, may I have one pancake, please?" a small child said, his voice tired, as he emerged from a tent that Akalea had missed until now.

The tent was just next to the elderly man's small stand, which Akalea must have overlooked because she was preoccupied with the pancakes. "I know you're hungry, my little one," the grandfather says as he prepares a pancake for him, wrapping it in tissue and blowing it to cool it down so the youngster doesn't burn his lips and tongue while eating it.

Akalea's mouth watered as the youngster took the pancake and bit into it, the expression of happiness and contentment on the small boy's face as he ate. "Excuse me, I'd want to buy one!" Akalea manages to say, and the elderly guy in front of his stall finally notices her.

"Oh, my child, I didn't notice you there," the old guy says sweetly as he chuckles and prepares a pancake for Akalea. As she takes the pancake from the old man's hand, Akalea inquires, "How much is it, sir?" "It'll be ten coppers, my child," the old guy says to Akalea, smiling. Akalea eats the pancake while retrieving a gold coin from her interspace.

The softness of the pancake blew her away the instant she bit into it; the crunchiness of the bacon and the melted cheese work well together, as does maple syrup, which the elderly guy offered to sprinkle on top. Akalea smiles as she takes another mouthful, and another, and another, until she's had enough.

"Mister, it was so good; I don't believe it's only 10 coppers; plus, the ingredients are so expensive that they're over 100 coppers above; I don't understand why you're only selling it for 10 coppers," Akalea says to the mister, holding the gold coin she'll give to the old man once she hears his answers.

"Actually, I know. The ingredients I have are all expired, but I have the power to revert things back to their original state. I buy expired ingredients for 10 coppers below and revert them back. Plus, I know how to cook here and there, so I set up this stall to earn money so I can buy things for my little one once my stall becomes popular."

"Oh, that's why. That's an awesome power, by the way; using it for something like that is a brilliant idea. How about I give you 15 gold coins for my pancake? That way, you can buy more ingredients and maybe find a place to stay so you and your little one don't have to stay outside in the tent, plus you'll be able to live a little more comfortably and buy things for the little kid."

As 14 more gold coins appeared in Akalea's palm, she handed them to the old man, who was stunned and unable to speak as a result. "Wait, hold on-" the elderly man rushed out to Akalea, who was already walking away, smiling as she waved farewell to the old guy and the tiny boy.

"Farewell, big sister!" the tiny boy says as he waves goodbye to his newly found big sister, as the old guy watches his child. "Do you think she'll be the one?" the tiny youngster said, his voice changing from childish to manly. Despite the fact that the region where their stand is located is sparsely inhabited, Akalea managed to find her way there.

"If she makes it to the final round, she'll be either the winner or one of the top candidates, but I don't doubt she'll be the best of them all. She's the only one, out of all the candidates in the years the tournaments have been held, who has come here, bought the pancake, and even given more than the price we were selling the pancake for."

The young boy gradually transformed his child-like physique into this 6'2 ft tall and well-built gorgeous guy, while the elderly man next to him, who was just 5'5 ft tall and hunched-back, transformed into a 6ft tall, hefty, late-30s man in a butler suit. "She's the only one who can get beyond the barrier I set up around this location; I didn't believe she'd be able to smell the pancakes because the barrier made the scent less likely to be detected outside."

"She's a powerful woman," the butler replies, smiling and clutching the gold coins in his palm. In this terrible and reality-filled world, he encountered someone so pure for the first time in his life. "She's gorgeous, too," the 6'2 ft man replies, a faint smile on his face, struck by her innocence and charm.

"I'll inform his Excellency about this," the butler says as he prepares to teleport back to the King's palace, but is stopped by the guy. "Take me with you. I'll tell him instead," the butler grins at the young master in front of him. "Have you already fallen in love?" The question made the guy scowl at the butler, yet he was blushing, and they teleported to the palace to see the king.

Meanwhile, Akalea was heading back to the quarters, glad that she had gotten a taste of the wonderful pancake and was hungry for more, but she realized she had jogged too far away from the quarters.

She arrived at the quarters after 30 minutes of walking and jogging back, slipping in to avoid disturbing the workers who were making the quarters ready. When Akalea returned to her room, she discovered Peace and Blood getting ready for the day.

"Master, you're back!" Blood ran towards Akalea and threw herself at her, that was caught by Akalea, who laughed at Blood's antics. "Yes, I'm back. I just went for a jog and ate a little," Akalea replies as she assists Blood in standing up straight and notices Peace beginning to wear a long sleeve shirt, his fit upper body exposed, causing Akalea to flush and then turn away.

Peace had worn the long sleeve shirt, completely oblivious to the fact that Akalea was blushing merely by gazing at his upper body. "Master," Peace says, addressing Akalea, who is still attempting to cool her burning cheeks. Blood could feel Akalea's blood surge to her cheeks and realized what had happened.

It didn't sit well with Blood. A knock came from the door, grabbing the attention of the three. When Akalea opens the door, she finds everyone else ready for the day outside the door. "Good morning, everyone!" Akalea says, and they return the greeting. "I just observed the other candidates walking to the lobby by the stairs; I believe Quinn and Dominic are in the lobby," Alice explains, notifying Akalea and the two because she had already informed everyone else.

"All right, you guys go down to the lobby; we'll meet you there; all I need to do is change my shirt," Akalea says, and they nod. While the rest of the group walked out to the foyer, Akalea and the two remained in the room.

As Blood shut the door, Akalea walked to her duffel bag and pulled out her black long sleeved, fitting shirt, removing her old one and replacing it. When Peace and Blood saw her change, Blood didn't react too strongly, but Peace became beet red and averted his gaze, still not used to it. It didn't matter because Akalea was wearing her sports bra.

"Let's go guys." Akalea says, and they exit, walk to the stairwell, descend, and enter the lobby. "Let's eat breakfast now that everyone's here." Quinn says as he sees Akalea, Blood, and Peace descend the stairs and takes everyone to the area where they ate supper last night.

Everyone sat down at their tables with their dishes of food. "After breakfast, we'll be touring you guys around for a bit before we head to the stadium for the second round of the tournament," Quinn adds, to the delight of the candidates, who had been unable to leave their quarters due to their instructors' and leaders' orders, with the exception of Akalea's group.

They were then led outdoors to be shown about after eating their meal. They were near the orphanage where Akalea, Peace, and Emmett were last night in between tours. Since the doors were wide open for everyone to see, Akalea notices numerous youngsters playing inside and outside. Emerson notices Akalea and rushes over to her.

Akalea felt little arms around her waist and turned to find Emerson holding her. "Big sister!" Emerson exclaims, a smile on his face. When the orphanage children observed Emerson going towards a young lady and hugging her, they stopped playing.

When Emerson's younger siblings saw their big brother holding her, they ran over to embrace her as well. "Big sister!" said the tiny siblings, whom they embraced Akalea over their big brother. Quinn and Dominic were stopped dead in their tracks, bringing the tour to a halt.

Everyone, even the children, began to stare at Akalea; Akalea's grin and the children's innocent smiles at her blinded them, and they had to shield their eyes. "What is this peculiar light?" enquired one of the applicants, perplexed. When Akalea turned around, she noticed that everyone was staring at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just couldn't help but go to big sister," the big brother apologizes, the candidates can't be angry about the tour being halted and look aside to avoid being swayed by the kids' innocent eyes, even the ones who were born mean.

"It's okay, little kid. How did you get to know this big sister in the first place?" Quinn replies with a smile as he walks up to them and asks the Emerson. The small child glances up at Akalea, clutching her blouse, as though frightened of Quinn. Akalea rubs Emerson's head, reassuring him that Quinn isn't a bad guy.

"She saved me when I was hurt and brought me home, and she also saved us, and ma was really happy last night, seeing as she bought everyone new clothes and food for breakfast earlier," Emerson says softly as his little siblings, who were still hugging Akalea, nod.

"What occurred that she had to save you?" Dominic inquires as he walks closer to them, perplexed as to why the youngster needed to be saved. Dominic has a soft spot in his heart for children. Emmett and his cronies were worried that Emerson would reveal the truth and say it was due to them. "It was because I stole something and was punished for it," Emerson says, tilting his head and seeming sad.

"I did it so I could feed my starving siblings." Emerson said a white lie, which was basically half the truth and half a lie, since he didn't want to cause trouble for Emmett, and Emmett was surprised by the kid's remarks, which made him regret it even more.

"Hm. It's mature for a small kid like you to realize what you did was bad, but to the point that she needed to save you did you get beaten up for it?" Dominic asks the boy again, and Emerson slowly nods his head, embracing Akalea even more. "Who was the fucker?" Dominic's demeanor shifted from calm to enraged as soon as the boy nodded. "It's alright now," Akalea adds, attempting to calm Dominic down.

"We treated him once we dealt with the man." Akalea says. "When we came to him, he was bleeding profusely," Kint interjected hastily, exacerbating the situation. "Sir Kint!" shouts Akalea in response to Kint's statements. Dominic's wolf fur began to emerge from his body as he became more enraged.

"Mister, it's all right. Don't be furious," Emerson said, ignoring his fear, and he rushed to take Dominic's hand to keep him from becoming enraged and shifting into his wolf form. Dominic sensed a small hand clutching his large hand, and his transition came to a halt as he saw the child's eyes. Dominic let out a sigh, and his fur vanished.

"I'm sorry, little kid," Dominic replies, not pleased with himself for displaying his rage in front of the child. As Dominic knelt down to his eye level, Emerson responds, "It's fine. Big sister and her friends saved me, no, she saved us." Emerson grins at Dominic, melting Dominic's heart. Even after all of that, Akalea and the others were moved by the child's innocent grin.

"We better get a move on. We only have an hour before we have to head back to the stadium." Quinn adds, his true feelings hidden. "All right, big sister, I'm sorry if I took up too much of your time." Emerson overheard Quinn's words and apologized to her. "It's okay, kid. It was lovely meeting you. I'll visit if I have time, okay? I'll bring lots of food," Dominic adds, as the big brother and his younger siblings all grin at the hefty guy in front of them. Dominic's heart warmed even more as he saw the children's grins. Quinn and Dominic returned to the front and are now continuing to lead the tour.

"Will you come back to see us, big sister?" Emerson asks, clutching Akalea's hand. "I'll come later tonight, and I'll bring food, okay?" Akalea says to the children, smiling. "All right!" the tiny kids said as they hugged Akalea farewell and returned to the other kids. Akalea returned to her companions, who had been left behind as the rest of the group walked ahead of them. The trip was completed in 30 minutes once Akalea and her colleagues caught up to it. They're on their way back to the stadium to go and get ready. Akalea was conversing with her companions on the way back when she was tapped on the shoulder. When Akalea turns around, she notices Quinn and Dominic.

"How may I assist you, sirs?" Akalea says, a grin on her face, while Quinn and Dominic clear their throats. "Will you tell us who the man is?" Quinn asks quietly, embarrassed, but Akalea hears him clearly. "What was that?" Akalea ponders, as Dominic gently nudges Quinn, who was already blushing. "I asked if you could tell us who it was that attacked the boy earlier," Akalea says, laughing. "It was the man at..." Akalea informs them of where the stand is, and they nod, remembering where it would be so they may go out and see.

They arrived at the stadium's entrance and walked in, they hear the cheers of encouragement from the crowd. Participants from each kingdom dispersed to their own waiting rooms to prepare. Akalea and her colleagues entered their waiting area and sat down to rest. "Welcome to the Second Round of the Tournament! I'm sure everyone here is as excited as I am right now! I've been getting chills just thinking about the participants showcasing their strength in front of us; this is only the second round and it's already this exciting!" the emcee begins, and the entire stadium erupts in applause.

"Can we call on the participants on the field so we can discuss the second round with them here?" the emcee asks, and all of the participants stood up and walked towards the field/arena. The cheers of everyone around them encircled the kingdoms' participants as they filled the arena. "Welcome to the second round, dear participants; aren't you a bit curious as to what you'll be doing?" the emcee says, and the participants all gaze at the emcee, who clears his throat briskly.

"Alright! The Second Round is about the Strength of your Power or Powers. As to how?" the emcee asks, and everyone waits for a response while the participants glance at the emcee, hoping he'll be direct. The emcee begins to perspire as a result of the participants' gazes on him, so he swiftly moves to the hologram that materialized on cue.

"Hello, everyone. It's me, the king. As the emcee said, it's all about the strength of your powers, and we have this one and only unbreakable Adamantium wall to measure your powers." At the same time, a massive ass wall made of Adamantium material materialized out of nowhere next to the hologram, measuring 10 feet tall and 10 inches thick. The abrupt appearance of the Adamantium wall astonished everyone.

"Now, as you can see, this is the Adamantium wall that you must penetrate or just make a scratch or a dent on it; it has been fused with my power, Enhancement, and it has been reinforced to withstand any all-out onslaught; those without destructive powers will be directed to this side, where the Ball of Light is located."

With that, everyone saw another big ass translucent ball, 5 foot tall, appear next to the Adamantium wall. Everyone glances at the big ass wall and ball before moving on to the hologram of the king. "The Ball of Light will be able to measure how strong your power is, even if it isn't destructive. The requirement for the Ball of Light to pass to the next part of this second round is that you have to have a strength of 10,000. Anything less than that will disqualify you. The same goes for the wall; if you can't scratch or dent it, you're disqualified. That's all from me. I wish you luck."

Before the hologram shuts off, those were the king's final words. Everyone in the stadium was conversing with one another, and the candidates were trying to comprehend what had just been spoken. "So we have to damage or dent that wall to pass? While those who don't possess destructive force must go to that massive ball to be measured and should have a strength of 10,000? Understandable." Akalea said, huddling her comrades around her and explaining it further. Following that, her companions completely comprehended what Akalea had to say.

After the king finished speaking, the participants were given a breather to attempt to better grasp the instructions. Some people were still confused after the break, but the majority had figured it out. The IronBreaker was the first kingdom to challenge. The leader led some of them to the Adamantium, while the remainder proceeded to the Ball.

Those accompanying the leader began to move, attempting to break the Adamantium. They couldn't even make a dent in the Adamantium with the hammers they took with them for forging weapons. Only four were successful in making a dent the adamantium, and the marks were glowing, indicating that they had passed.

Only three of the four people that challenged the Ball were able to achieve beyond 10,000 or exactly 10,000. As a result, only seven members of the IronBreaker remain from the original eleven. "It's okay, we weren't expecting something like this," the IronBreaker's leader explained to those who didn't make it. "You guys should head back to the waiting room." The warriors standing nearby nodded and led his members back to the waiting room.

The leader and the remaining 6 moved back to their place next to Abernathy Kingdom, while Ambrosia Kingdom went next since the ones who didn't make it went back. "Watch and learn," Emmett said with a proud and confident smile, as did the rest of his group. The other kingdoms just stood by and were unaffected. Akalea shook her head, as she could see the Adamantium's aura, which was rather powerful.

With a firm expression, Akalea glances at IronBreaker's commander, who was watching Ambrosia Kingdom struggle to make a dent in the Adamantium. "How was the Adamantium?" Akalea said, and the leader turned to face her, a little taken aback that she was speaking to him. Because he was speaking to Akalea, the leader couldn't think of anything blunt to say. Before turning back to observe, the commander just remarked, "Very robust." Akalea nodded and did the same. Akalea was completely oblivious to the fact that the leader's ears were becoming red with embarrassment. His members instantly became aware of their leader's ruby ears.

The time limit for the participants was finished, and 9 out of 13 Ambrosia kingdom participants made it. "Return to the waiting room and recover. Emmett said as he and the other eight who had passed went back to their positions on the other side of the Abernathy kingdom's participants, while the four went back to their waiting room to rest.

"See that? We did better," Emmett boasted to Akalea, addressing the IronBreaker kingdom's participants because Ambrosia had more, but Akalea and the IronBreaker kingdom's members were indifferent. Emmett remained silent, his cheeks flushed with humiliation. Emmett's members noticed the lack of response and chastised Akalea and the IronBreaker participants for failing to respond to their leader's statements. One of Emmett's members was particularly glaring at Akalea for attracting Emmett's attention when it should have been hers. "Just you wait." she grumbled.

The remainder of the kingdoms' players went next, with the following results: IronBreaker had seven participants, Ulric had seven, Archard had eight, and Ambrosia had nine. As a result, the kingdom of Abernathy is the last to face the wall and the ball. "Good luck, everyone. Save your energy for the rest of the second round, but make sure you make it, okay? I trust that your trainings will blossom with this and the future rounds," Akalea urges her members, who gaze at her with determined expressions, knowing they would undoubtedly pass.

Five went to the ball, while the remaining ten headed to the wall. Akalea watches her members begin assaulting the wall, which they were struggling to dent/scratch, before turning her head to gaze at those near the ball, seeing them touch the ball one by one, slowly accumulating their power scores. Akalea beams with pride as she looks at them. "You guys can utilize additional strength if you're having difficulties making a dent with your present strength." Akalea replies, permitting the 9 beside her to do so with smiles on their faces, as if they were waiting for her to give them the signal.

The crowd was perplexed as to why Akalea said it since their present strength was on par with the other competitors. Even the participants were perplexed, watching with increased vigilance, not expecting some of them to even make it through. Looking down on them, everyone was thinking that the humans would either not pass or would pass in small numbers.

At that point, Akalea triumphantly smiled as her members increased the strength of their strikes. The crowd was taken aback by the strength that emanated from them, which rushed through the field and into the spectators. The participants were particularly taken aback by how much strength they can still muster, and they now feel threatened by the humans they previously looked down on.

The 9 members with Akalea cleared the wall with flying colors as the time limit approached, pleased smiles on their lips as they each desired praise from Akalea. The 5 with the ball, hoping to be commended by Akalea as well, likewise passed with flying colors. It's now Akalea's turn.

"It's her turn now. It's strange that practically everyone passed with her left. If she passes, they'll be the first kingdom ever to have all competitors pass this round. I'm astonished." The audience begins to whisper. Words like this reverberated in the ears of every participant on the field. Akalea merely stood in front of the wall with her palm raised and her forefinger extended. Akalea focused her strength into the tip of her finger, knowing that the concentrated force would be more damaging than her striking the wall.

Everyone begins to whisper even louder about how absurd her technique is, even the participants. They had no idea how much power was truly stored in her finger. Akalea swells her finger with enough strength to make a small dent only to get through this section of the second round. She placed her finger on the wall, thinking her strength was enough, knowing how powerful the wall is because it was reinforced by the king himself. Instead of producing a little dent the size of her finger, it actually produced a hole the size of her hand which reach the back of the wall and also made a hole on the field's wall.

The shock of what had just occurred had everyone's mouths drop. Akalea is taken aback and glances at her members, perplexed as to why this happened when she felt she had used enough force. She realized that concentrating strength is more powerful and lethal than attacking with brute strength. Because of Akalea's tiny finger attack, everyone's perceptions of her have somewhat shifted. The participants were also taken aback by how powerful her finger assault was, as it blasted a hole in the wall, which was claimed to be impenetrable and indestructible.

"For the first time in all the years, Abernathy Kingdom takes the claim of having all participants pass! Congratulations to everyone passing!" the emcee exclaims, clearly pleased with the outcome. The audience begins to yell their support for Abernathy kingdom as the scene unfolds. The king stands alongside his son and butler, watching this. "That's the girl I was talking about." the son says proudly to his father, pointing to the girl, who is still stunned. The father chuckles as he glances at his kid and then at the girl.

Exactly like her father.

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Hey guyss! I apologize that it took so long for me to update a chapter. Things were so hectic and I got busy and stressed that I took a lot of breaks and didnt get to write the chapters. I'm really sorry. I'll try to update as much as I can whenever I have time!

What's up? What's poppin? How are ya'll doing? I hope you guys are doing okay. I wish you guys to have a good day, afternoon or night! Wish you guys all the best from the bottom of my heart!

Also, I think I'll be having a tough time with updating a chapter because of schoolwork but I'll do my best to write as much as I can so I can update next week but if I couldn't, then that means I've been busy and will update a chapter when I can.

I hope you guys continue to support and read my book! Please, read my other book, My Wishing Star, too! It means a lot to me, really. Thank you all!

Thank you all for reading until this chapter! I really want see you all in the upcoming chapters as well!

- Aki