The audience was ready to be blown away once again.
After all, among the next contestants was yet another one of the Class 1-A students; the last one competing, in fact.
"Round twenty-five of the preliminaries… involving Lan'griz, Ras'ta, and Ad'oni..."
However, he wasn't the only star of the show.
"I-isn't that Lan'griz?"
"The genius of Stage 3?"
"He's the youngest of their class, yet he is said to be the best."
"Ohh! I heard it from my daughter. Every girl in school has some sort of crush on him!"
"I want to root for the Stage 1 kid, but… this is just unfair, isn't it?"
"He doesn't stand a chance…"
That was the general consensus of the sensible watchers of the match. There were a few, of course, who still held out hope for the underdog.
But, they all knew that his victory was an unrealistic expectation.