<h4>Chapter 36: The Grand Finals</h4>


    *YAWN*


    Shye slept way too early yesterday which caused him to wake up way too early today. He felt a little cold as he rubbed his belly while yawning.


    Still, he felt refreshed after a good long rest so he didn''t go back to bed and instead, he chose to have an early breakfast.


    Shye carefully walked down the stairs and headed straight to the kitchen.


    On the way, he saw Maia sleeping on the soft couch and It seemed like she fell asleep while watching the matches yesterday.


    Although Maia seemed like a cute and innocent little girl, she liked watching skirmishes and duels inside the academy through the television.


    Her daily routine consists of eating, training, and watching matches. She couldn''t roam around on her own so there''s nothing for her to do anyway.


    Shye retrieved a nket from Maia''s room and covered her with it to prevent her from feeling cold.


    He then continued on towards the kitchen to prepare his breakfast and after half an hour of cooking, breakfast was ready.


    Shye cooked Maia''s portion as well but he didn''t want to wake her up so he simply covered her portion with a te and left it on the table.


    He felt like having rice today with fried egg and pork so that''s what he ate for breakfast. After enjoying a hearty meal, Shye took a bath, prepared himself, and left the dormitory.


    ...


    ...


    A guy with ash-colored hair stood in front of a whiteboard. After leaving early, he nned to check the tournament brackets to see who advanced.


    Shockingly, the first ss to be eliminated in the losers'' bracket was 3rd-ranked Theoden Bathory''s ss. 11th-ranked Leonardo Regulus made a name for himself yesterday but he fell a bit short when he fought the crafty 2nd-ranked Eusford Banehollow''s ss.


    Fortunately, one of Shye''s ssmates was the type of person to always arrive too early in ss. He was currently beside Shye exining to him what happened yesterday in the losers'' bracket matches.


    It seems that everyone was shocked when Leonardo defeated Theoden.


    "So that''s why he was so confident in winning against me..."


    Shye thought to himself. He didn''t pay any more attention to Leonardo though since his ss was already eliminated.


    In addition to this, Shye had improved a lot through the system upgradespared to when he defeated Theoden.


    His ssmate also told him that the battle between Eusford and Siegfried yesterday in the losers'' finals made the crowd go wild in excitement.


    The seemingly crafty Eusford fought Siegfried head-on for a long time before the battle maniac Siegfried came out on top after using a skill that allowed his sword to phase through Eusford''s sword.


    Eusford was caught off guard and was sent flying out of the stage and his ss was ultimately eliminated.


    Theoden''s ss finished in fifth ce, Leonardo''s ss finished in fourth ce and Eusford''s ss finished in third ce.


    Due to ranking lower than they expected, these three hated Shye to the core for taking their spots from them and they vowed to have their revenge.


    Unfortunately for them, it wasn''t going to happen in this end-of-semester tournament since it would be Siegfried''s ss vs Shye''s ss in the grand finals.


    The reason why they were so angry was because the ss rankings that would be decided for this tournament would be the rankings until they graduate.


    They felt that they let their ss down by losing to the other captains because their ss activities for the second year up to the fourth year would be limited by their ss budget.


    The three of them med Shye instead of Siegfried because they felt that it was easier to me Shye than the 1st-ranked Siegfried who was like a mountain towering over all of the first-year students in the warrior course.


    Shye and his ssmate returned to their seats after their conversation about what happened in the losers'' bracket.


    As time passed by, their ssmates arrived one by one, and after half an hour, everyone wasplete.


    Instructor Fienna looked at Shye and smiled upon seeing his confident attitude.


    "If he''s not nervous then everything should be fine..." Fienna muttered to herself


    The crowd went wild as the referee walked up to the stage and called two sses for the first grand finals match of the day.


    "16th-ranked Shye Crowley''s ss, 1st-ranked Siegfried Lionheart''s ss, pleasee up to the stage."