The Quarterfinals were no longer predetermined matchups; this time, a drawing system was used.
Because there were prizes for the Top Four, the system was temporarily changed to a drawing to prevent any underhanded dealings.
The management found out that Alexia was behind the shady dealings, but no one dared to come forward and expose her.
After all, she was a princess, and they couldn't afford to offend her.
However, they also didn't want Sino, who had no real strength, to sneak into the Top Four.
So, they simply changed the competition rules.
A box was placed directly on the competition grounds, into which two red balls, two blue balls, two yellow balls, and two green balls were thrown.
It was a drawing system; the eight contestants would draw lots themselves.
Sino was arranged to draw first.
"Sino, you can do it!" Claire said when she saw Sino.
"I will, Big Sister!"
"That hateful Milia, I must find a chance to fight her!" Claire said angrily.
"If your seal were undone, you might be able to beat her, but with your current strength, Big Sister, it's unlikely!" Sino thought to himself.
Sino drew a yellow ball.
Although Sino could cheat without anyone noticing, he didn't do so.
He wasn't interested in the championship; he was just here to play.
Then, inexplicably, he made it to the Top Eight.
And Sino's sister, Claire, also drew a yellow ball.
The two looked at each other!
"Sino, I'll go easy on you; I won't hurt you!" Claire said... "Quarterfinals, first match!"
"Sino Kageno vs. Claire Kageno!"
"A sibling showdown! I never thought this guy would have such good luck!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Sino glanced at the stands at this moment; Jaka and Yuro seemed to have been taken away.
Jaka and Yuro had borrowed high-interest loans and were taken away to work to pay off their debts.
"No, wait, our friends Sid and Sino have money; you can ask them!"
The loan sharks completely ignored their shouts.
Even brothers settle accounts clearly; it was basically impossible for the two to expect others to pay their debts for them, as others were not their fathers.
"Sino, you can't be distracted during a fight!" Claire said before launching a fierce attack.
Sino subconsciously dodged Claire's attack.
Because he was distracted just now, he instinctively dodged.
"Not bad, Sino, your strength has increased a lot!" Claire praised.
Claire launched a continuous barrage of attacks, and Sino feigned a mistake, getting struck by a sword and immediately lying on the ground, playing dead.
Sino was different from Sid; he didn't like playing those fancy types of playing dead; a simple playing dead was enough.
"Winner! Claire Kageno!"
Claire walked over to Sino and anxiously pushed him.
"Are you okay, Sino? Did Big Sister hurt you? Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine!"
Sino stood up, patted the dust off himself, and said... Alexia's opponent was Princess Oriana.
The two stood with swords drawn, ready to fight.
"Battle start!"
The two swung their swords out at extreme speed, their blades clashing together.
Oriana had used all her strength, while Alexia looked at ease.
"Senior Oriana, let me give you a piece of advice! Go home and take a look!"
"Princess Alexia, what do you mean by that!"
"I don't know, someone asked me to relay a message to you!"
After saying that, Alexia's magic power erupted, converging on her sword.
Princess Oriana suddenly felt the aura of the person in front of her change; white magic power gathered around her, and terrifying magic power raged.
Princess Alexia swung her sword with force.
Princess Oriana felt a massive force transmit from the sword in her hand, pushing her entire body away.
Princess Oriana flew out at an extremely fast speed, crashing into the wall of the audience stands.
The entire venue was silent for five seconds, then erupted in cheers.
"Princess Alexia!"
"Princess Alexia is so amazing; her strength must be close to Lady Alice!"
"Too strong, she actually sent President Oriana flying; that's incredible!"
Oriana remembered Sid; Sid could stand up after spitting blood so many times, so she couldn't just fall down like this.
Oriana tried hard to stand up, but her body couldn't muster any strength.
Everyone who had held hope for Princess Oriana now completely turned into fans of Princess Alexia.
Before the competition, everyone thought President Oriana was the strongest contender for the championship; now that President Oriana had lost, no one would be a match for Alexia.
As everyone expected, a few days later, Princess Alexia defeated Claire in the final and won the championship.
Alexia would represent Midgar Academy in the Martial Heart Festival.
"Where I fall, I should get back up from there; Martial Heart Festival, here I come!" Princess Alexia thought to herself.
Princess Oriana, whose injuries had already recovered, came to find Alexia.
"Alexia, what did you mean by what you said earlier!"
Princess Oriana asked impatiently.
"I don't know either; someone asked me to tell you! He should have your best interests at heart!"
"Who is that person?"
"It's a secret, unless you can beat me someday, then I'll tell you!"
"..."
"I also want to give you a piece of advice, and this advice only represents me!"
"You'd best go and see!"
Princess Oriana thought about it and felt that the other person seemed very mysterious, and Princess Alexia also seemed to trust that person a lot.
"If even Princess Alexia, who is so strong, trusts the other person, then..."
At this moment, Princess Oriana suddenly remembered someone.
She had been kidnapped as a child, and a boy younger than her, wearing a simple mask, killed all the human traffickers and rescued her, and that was when she fell in love with swordsmanship.
"Could it be Suave Thug Killer! If it's him, I really should go home!" Oriana thought to herself.
The next day, Princess Oriana directly requested leave and left the Midgar Kingdom, heading for the Oriana Art Kingdom.
...During the Martial Heart Festival selection period, Princess Alice never appeared.
At this time, Princess Alice was in a secret room, constantly swinging her sword, striving to swing it again and again; she wanted to become stronger, not wanting to be left behind by Alexia.
She wanted to be a sister who protected her younger sister, not a burden of a sister who was left behind by her younger sister.
But the more she worked frantically like this, the less she was able to become stronger.
At this moment, Alice remembered someone, Milia.
Alexia couldn't tell her how she became stronger, so she could go to Milia.
Milia must have a way to make her stronger.
At night, Princess Alice came to Milia's room and knocked on the door.
But there was no response.
After knocking for a while, Alice directly found the dorm supervisor and asked for a spare key.
Upon opening the door, she found that Milia was not there.
Alice left a letter for Milia.