After an hour’s break was enough for the acolytes that remained to get back in shape as the remaining ascenders gathered on the arena floor, 50 in all, awaiting the pairings. The announcer appeared again as his voice echoed around the coliseum,

“Ascenders one and all, the pairings have been decided!” he said as the crowd shouted,

“the pairings were done by a team of independent advocates and the method of pairings were simple, the faction with the highest number of ascenders gets to fight everyone!” he said as a loud cheer followed,

Moyo smiled a bit, dominion in his hand as he tapped its sharp edges thoughtfully, the blade hummed with sentience seeing as it had evolved, but Moyo took his mind away from such stray thoughts and gathered his attention back to the arena,

“So, we get to fight everyone, nice” he said as Mrs. Martha beside him turned to him,

“How many rounds do you expect we’d win?” she asked,

He shrugged,

“7, maybe 8” he replied,

“9” Annika muttered,

“hopefully” Idris said,

“Hopefully?” Annika asked,

“I don’t want to underestimate anyone, especially the empire and the union” he replied,

Moyo turned back to the announcer who continued,

“And now for the pairings!” he said as a large screen appeared over them,

ACOLYTE 1VS1 BRACKET

I.F: independent Factions

BR: Brahma

LU: Luminian Theocracy

IM: Imperial Empire

EM: Glorious Empire

U: Union

F: Federation

C: Clan Titan Blade

I.F VS C

BR VS C

LU VS C

IM VS C

EM VS C

U VS C

F VS C

I.F VS BR

LU VS IM

EM VS U

F VS C

BR VS IM

LU VS EM

U VS C

BR VS F

LU VS U

IM VS F

EM VS C

BR VS U

LU VS F

IM VS EM

IM VS U

EM VS F

IM VS F

The arrangement to Moyo was fair, with the number of ascenders they had, it was to be expected that the clan would go round. The ascenders left the arena to prepare the space for the first fight. The announcers voice once again echoed,

“the first round is about to begin!, acolyte Jide of the independent factions on the path of the runes of Ifa versus Dominic on the path of the storm bringers!” he said,

Moyo sat up straight, eyes wide open, another of his people had somehow eluded his attention and with a path he was sure would be strong. Concentrating on the match, he saw Mrs. Martha glance at him curiously,

“Ifa is sort of a deity oracle from my tribe, I believe his power could be…. enlightening” Moyo said,

“we’ll see” she replied

***********

Jide had been a regular man who had gone back to his hometown for the holidays after graduating from college. Hoping to see how he could put his degree on Yoruba heritage to good use, he had voluntarily helped out with whatever occasions they had in his hometown, learning on the go with the elders of his hometown till eventually, he was trusted enough to learn the divine art of Ifa, the oracle. Taking over from baba, the elderly man who had acted as his mentor, had been progressed nicely enough till one morning he woke up blind. The doctors had been baffled and the oracle he consulted merely told him about it being a blessing for a calamity on its way.

Informing his parents back in Lagos, he had been told to stay back and continue with whatever help the elders of his hometown could provide him with, a bizarre reaction to the blindness from his parents and one that came with a lot of heated words about their carelessness, but Jide knew well enough that his parents were doing all what political figures did with offsprings that served as a source of embarrassment to them, hiding him. Not allowing his condition to deter him, he stayed back and continued his lesson, right until the day the archailect had arrived, the prophesied calamity that arrived. The oracle through his daily consultation had urged him to stay away from any building, an odd request seeing as he had nowhere to go, but when he told baba, a chair was placed for him underneath a large iroko tree and there he sat, right until the loud voices of the messengers arrived, informing them all of what was about to happen.

Pandemonium had broken out and Jide, in the heat of the moment was left alone, even as his HUD screen popped up despite his blindness, and the world was rebooted like a TV. He had woken up to see…colors, a myriad of colors that floated around in his sight, the welcoming message of the archailect along with the explanation of the new reality he was in. alone and stranded in the green zone, Jide had done the one thing he always did, consulted the oracle. With that he had unlocked the rare path of the runes of Ifa, his sight had been replaced from the regular sights of humans to one where he could see the color of whatever form of aether a person had, he could see the aether flowing around him and it was not until the acolyte stage where he could somehow wield the aether in the air, transforming it to whatever he needed, and as he stepped unto the arena, eyes tied with a red piece of cloth, Jide intended to show the world the power of Ifa, and what better way to do it than against the followers of the titan blade?.

****************

The two contestants climbed the arena ground, both silent as their cores churned, mana filling the air,

“Fight!” the announcers voice shouted,

Dominic blasted forward, thunder cloud forming above him as he gestured and a shard of lightning struck towards the position where Jide was. The blindfolded man tapped his bare footed leg to the ground, muttering something in between the second before the lightning struck and a green hazy rune circle appeared beside him, intercepting the lightning and seemingly absorbing it. Clapping his hands, the rune fizzled out into gas that swirled around him, Dominic jumping up in the air and landing on the thundercloud as he stretched his hands out, rain falling towards Jide. The path of the storm bringers at the acolyte stage was nothing more than a path of using lightning to tear through your foes, the rain falling was a means of conducting the lightning and as it pooled around Jide, it seemed like the fight was about to end.

Jide jumped into the air,

“Mine is the eyes that gazes upon doom and stands its ground, heed my call, igbajeki orisha, second of the deity, protect me” he shouted,

A giant rune script appeared below him as a giant humanoid monster made of green light rose from the script that served as a sort of gateway to summoning the creature. Jide was absorbed into the creature whose facial structure suddenly became that of Jide, its physique an imitation of the acolyte on the path of the runes of Ifa. Dominic wasted no time to call down a barrage of lightning that ravaged the arena, but left not even a single mark on Jide. The summons was fast, its arm moving at acolyte speed as it punched Dominic, thundercloud and man straight into the dome that protected the cloud. The storm bringer grunted and landed before producing a spear, twirling it before his bone crackled with electricity and he blitzed forward with the spear outstretched, slamming into the summons that cracked like glass to reveal Jide gripping the spear tightly, preventing it from stabbing his shoulders, Dominic smiled and with a move, lightning from the thundercloud descended, passing through his body, then through the spear that glowed with blue light before detonating and throwing Jide into the dome wall behind him.

Without giving Jide time to recover, Dominic blasted forward, intent on knocking Jide out, only for a large script to appear below him and with a shout, Jide stood up, body glowing as scripts danced around his head, with his acolyte speed he met Dominic half way and the two of them began to exchange blows, Dominic using the spear and Jide using his bare hands. At first it seemed like Jide was barely holding on, but overtime the crowd began to realize that the storm bringers’ moves were being predicted and countered, soon Dominic was on the back foot, trying to defend himself from the kicks and punches of Jide that had a green wisp following it. When a blow finally connected, it came with the sound of the crashing waves, Dominic was once again blasted backwards, however this time Jide didn’t follow.

His hands moving in an intricate gesture, he said

“Digi aye, mirror of the world, copy”

A large mirror appeared by his side and image copies of him appeared from the mirror, three in all. They had a glassy green skin that glowed and as he moved, they followed, surrounding Dominic who suddenly found himself fighting three acolytes at the same time, the storm bringer held on, channeling lightning after lightning and even including a gale that occasionally gave him space to dodge and move around. After breaking two of the images, Dominic was running out of mana, and Jide along with his image copy were not giving the storm bringer time to crush aether shards and absorb into mana. Dominic was left with his spear and his drained core but still the storm bringer held on, smashing the last image and focusing on the battered and panting Jide. At this point even Dominic was bleeding with broken bones but still the storm bringer wouldn’t fall, both acolytes drained of mana and their bodies protesting, it became a duel of fists, both acolytes landing devastating punches after another on each other till they were barely standing, panting they stared at each other, Jide with his blindfold on,

“let’s finish this” he said,

“I couldn’t agree more” Dominic rumbled

Jide stretched his hands wide, ripping the blindfold from his face to show milky white eyes with no irises that began to glow green,

“Eyes of the oracle, summon the armor of the guardian!” he said,

The very ground around him glowed green as his body was encased in green glass, shattering after a minute to reveal Jide in a glowing green scaly armor that covered him from head to toe. Dominic extended one leg back, gripped his spear tight as his eyes sparked with lightning,

“Pierce, spear of lightning” he rumbled,

Then both of them blitzed towards each other, and collided in a clash of power that blinded the entire arena, force waves blew and battered against the advocate dome that covered the arena. After a few seconds everywhere settled to reveal Dominic lying on the ground, passed out and a bloody Jide with his eyes closed and bleeding, swaying on his feet as he raised his fist upwards in victory, the crowd cheered,

“The victor of the first round, Jide of the independent faction!” the announcer said as the crowd went wild, Jide promptly collapsed and passed out.

**********

Up in the private viewing room of the titan blade, Moyo kept staring at the fallen figure of Jide, a smile on his face,

“Recruit him” he said,

Mrs. Martha who sat beside him turned to him,

“No hard feelings seeing as he defeated our sect?” she asked,

He snorted,

“His path is overpowered, even right now at the acolyte stage he can keep up with the fire power of one of Annika’s’ people” Moyo said, glancing at the fuming advocate who tapped her feet on the ground,

“I’ll handle Dominic” she replied,

Moyo raised a hand, shaking his head,

“He did well, the path he faced was one that could predict moves with other secret skills such as summoning, he did his best” he said,

Annika gave a quick nod but kept on staring, Moyo shook his head with a smile on his face, he doubted she’d listen to him. The table in the room flared to life as an image of Samantha appeared, arms folded,

“I want that ascender” she said,

“Well good day to you too advocate Samantha” Ayo replied,

Samantha rolled her eyes, turning to Moyo,

“His path deals with runes, the versatility of it alone proves to lean on both offense and defense, he would be a good addition to the clan” she said,

Moyo nodded, arms folded,

“Indeed, however one tiny issue, he can’t fit into any of the sects, he doesn’t follow their paths and unless we want him to just be a citizen of Bastion or we give him a rare dungeon core to set up a stronghold, he would be just that, a simple member of the clan, however I feel that’s not what you want, right?” Mrs. Martha said,

“No, I want him under my tutelage, I can help him draw out his latent potential, uncover new runes and delve into his path” Samantha said,

“Then create a sect” Mrs. Martha said,

The other sect leaders and Moyo sighed at the incoming argument, it had been an issue Mrs. Martha had been pressing. She wanted Samantha to create a sect, seeing as the powerful mage that practiced a path of overwhelming power could go one on one with any of the sect leaders around, Samantha however, didn’t want the responsibilities of having a sect. she chewed her lips, Mrs. Martha with her fingers stapled together and a slight smirk on her face,

“you’re asking too much, I merely want a disciple” Samantha argued, glancing at Moyo,

“I want him as well, however if I’m right, the other factions would be making a move on him” Moyo said,

The man had defeated a member of the clan, with his diverse skills other factions would be moving on him,

“Whatever we have to offer him, it has to be something worth it” he finished,

Samantha sighed, turning to Mrs. Martha,

“I don’t want a domain” she said,

“You could always stay in Bastion” Mrs. Martha replied,

“I also maintain my job, as the mage inventor that I am”

“wouldn’t change it for the world”

“Plus, I still maintain my right to pick my sect members”

“you sure?, I have some acolytes from the independent faction you might like”

“No, I choose whenever I feel like”

“Fine, the name of your sect?”

“Octagram” Samantha said,

“agreed” Mrs. Martha said,

“Good, when should we be expecting him?” Samantha asked,

“As soon as our clan leader can talk to him” Mrs. Martha replied,

Moyo rolled his eyes as he stood, the announcer already calling for the next round,

“Sure, not like I don’t have another match to watch” he grumbled,

“Oh, it’s not much of a fight, Genevieve against some acolyte from Brahma” Idris said,

Moyo winced,

“Ouch, so the brutality begins?” he asked,

“indeed” Boyle said,

“Alright, time to go convince an acolyte why working for the clan would be the best option” he said as he opened a spatial rift and passed through it.

*************

Jide sat in the infirmary near the coliseum, from the shouts coming from the coliseum, it seemed clan titan blade was leading. He woke up after a few minutes and with the healers on standby, he had been able to make a full recovery, as he stared at the diamond coin in his palm, his mind wandered back to the discussion he just had when a man in a military uniform with a large white star on its chest entered the infirmary, sighting him and walking briskly up to him,

“acolyte Jide?, excuse my disturbance, I am lieutenant Dylan of the union, I come with a proposal for you” lieutenant Dylan said,

“I see” Jide simply said with a smile,

The advocate of the union chuckled,

“Glad to see you have a sense of humor, your outlook even after that grueling match is the reason why the union wants you, we can FastTrack your growth safely to advocate and in a few years’ time, you could be one of the top members of the union” Dylan said,

“that’s…. nice, however I’ve gotten an offer” Jide replied as Dylan nodded,

“as expected, but how many factions apart from the clan can boast of the strength the union has?, you might not see it now, but the coming matches would show you our might” Dylan said,

Jide scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile,

“Plus, you get a salary of ten golden coins per week and a monthly bonus of one diamond coin, it would increase as you ascend, and also with a rare dungeon core, you could own your own stronghold in the union lands” Dylan said,

Jide sighed as he nodded, a smile still on his face,

“Nice offer, I’m humbled that the union wants me, but I’m afraid I’d have to decline” Jide replied,

“I see, perhaps our offer wasn’t up to standard?” Dylan asked,

“Oh no, nothing like that, it’s quite tempting, however I’ve been offered something a bit better, by the clan” Jide said,

Dylan froze, hands folded behind his back,

“Something better?” he asked,

“Apprenticeship under an advocate along the way of my path, plus a higher pay” he said,

“I’m not sure what you were told, but I doubt the clan can pay you more than the union can offer, the union is full of fresh zones untapped and resources unharvested, most of the clan lands have been taken and they simply don’t or may not have the resources to field such claim” Dylan countered,

“Bold of you to assume the capabilities of the clan, don’t you think” a female voice said as Samantha appeared from between the folds of the corridor leading to another section of the infirmary,

“My apologies, advocate, who might you be?” Dylan asked as he glanced at Samantha,

“Samantha of the six-sided mage, advocate of clan titan blade, and his master” she replied as her eyes glowed green with runic circles rotating in them,

“Then you don’t belong to any of the main sects that make up the clan I presume?” Dylan said,

“I’m more of a freelancer, I do my own thing” she said,

Dylan snorted and turned to Jide,

“is this what you want?, to be relegated to a side of the clan with no ties to the main sects?, are you that inconsequential to the clan?, is that how the titan blade treats his followers?” Dylan said,

Suddenly the very air in the infirmary grew cold,

“careful there, I can accept an insult to myself, the titan blade?, well, that’s just toeing a line” Samantha said softly,

Dylan turned to her, a grim smile on his face,

“Once again, my apologies, I will take my leave now, although, one more question, how much did they offer you?” Dylan asked,

“a hundred gold coins per week and ten diamond coins a month” he replied,

Dylan stood rigid in surprise, then with a sharp nod he opened the doors of the infirmary to step out,

“Oh, and lieutenant Dylan?” Samantha called as the advocate turned back,

“The coming matches will indeed prove our worth, I hope I meet you in the arena” she said with a smile,

The lieutenant stepped outside and walked briskly away, Jide turned to Samantha who swirled and looked at him with a smile,

“Well, welcome to the octagram vice sect leader” she said,

“Octagram?, a new sect?” he asked,

“Indeed, and you’re the vice sect leader!” she said,

“How many are we in this sect?” he asked,

“Well, seeing as we’re a new sect, two”

“Two, as in me and you?” he asked,

“yup” she replied,

“Is it too late to back out?”

“Ha ha, very funny” Samantha said as Jide chuckled.

“Ooh, another advocate is coming, back to hiding for me!” Samantha said as she practically skipped into the other room,

“Sir titan blade shouldn’t have left her behind” Jide muttered as the door to the infirmary opened,

“hello, acolyte Jide?, nice to meet you” the man said.

*******************

After their first defeat in the second round, clan titan blazed blitzed past every other meeting they had six times in a row, effectively beating every acolyte from each of the six different factions. Genevieve the sentinel had effectively smashed through the acolyte of the Bharat in one hit, as if in retaliation of the perceived disgrace the storm bringer Dominic had suffered at the hands of Jide, formerly of the independent faction. Then they went on to trounce the Luminian empire with a dawn archer, the imperials faced another storm bringer that was better than Dominic, the glorious empire faced a sentinel that used a morning star to near perfection, the union faced an acolyte of the hammers of Ogun who practically disassembled the turret the unions acolyte created and kept on disassembling anything he created before using the same metals to create an army of robots that trashed him, finally the federation duked it out with a sentinel of the clan that no matter how many times he got frozen in ice, his force path kept breaking it, resulting in a fist fight that drove the crowd into a frenzy and at the end, the clan titan blade was being chanted.

The rest of the battles played out till the second round was done, the clan once again had six people left, Jide still represented the independent factions for the duration of the tournament and as such was the only win out of the two ascenders the independent faction had. The Brahma empire had only one ascender left, a hulking man that practiced the path of the rotating swords, the Luminian theocracy had three priest acolytes left, the union had four ascenders left, the federation had 3 people left, the imperials had three knight acolytes left and the empire had three acolytes left also.

Originally, there should be 25 ascenders left, but one of the clans acolyte dropped out for unknown reasons the clan itself was unwilling to share, but all in all, 24 candidates were left going into the third round to cut it down to 12. After another hour, the remaining ascenders were once again called to the arena to see the next pairings for the next round.

THIRD ROUND OF THE ACOLYTE BRACKET

I.F VS BR

C VS C

LU VS IM

U VS EM

U VS C

LU VS F

LU VS C

U VS F

IM VS EM

LU VS EM

C VS IM

U VS F

************

Back in the secluded chambers of the union, president frank inhaled his cigar as he crossed his legs and tapped his hands against his arm rest, staring at the pairings. Loathe as he was to admit it, they had all underestimated the clan, they looked like favorites to once again blaze through this round, leaving the rest of them to fight for scraps. Exhaling the smoke that danced around in front of him, he spoke,

“report” he said,

A figure appeared behind him, clad in what looked like military camouflage fatigue as he shimmered. With a brief salute he spoke,

“Access of Ife itself was rebuffed by a hand of the Anansi, the clan is ever vigilant, cells were nowhere to be found, intel states they were given priority jobs around Bastion, hence they couldn’t report to the rendezvous point” the man said,

President frank had made a slight lie when he told emperor Han that contact couldn’t be made with the cells, he meant not just anyone could make contact, he could though and he had been expecting better intel, but it seemed like the clan had unknowingly used the cells that were posing as merchants in certain endeavors. It wasn’t a bad thing though, it could serve as another source of intel into the workings of the clan, however he wanted the intel when he was still on clan territory as sending long distance info even through HUD were risky. He inhaled his cigar again and exhaled,

“Tell the rest of the team to stand down, now that the hands have sensed someone trying to break into their territory, they’ll be on high alert, blend with the crowd and act normal” president frank said,

The soldier saluted and shimmered away, president frank stood up and blinked as his HUD came up, typing a message to his subordinates and closing it. They might lose to the clan in this round, they would lose, but he didn’t want to end up like the Brahma empire who had been poor in this tournament, it was time to prepare for the advocate bracket, this bracket was already a lost cause for anyone save the clan and the imperials. As he stood up, a call came in from Han, picking it to see the scowling face of the emperor,

“I warned you not to underestimate the clan” he said as a greeting,

“I don’t see you Kungfu hopping folks faring better” frank replied,

“Careful president frank, we fielded our best, I don’t see you all doing that” Han said,

“The unions best are advocates emperor Han, the acolyte brackets are for kids playing at power, we’ll show the world the true superiority at the advocate brackets” frank said,

Han laughed out,

“are you aware that the advocates of the clan are the vice sect leaders?, those who were peak acolytes during the landing and they didn’t lose a single one of them?” Han asked,

Frank frowned, it was indeed true, and their rapid climb into advocate had astonished everyone,

“Your advocates might be the top dogs of your continent president frank, but I assure you while they would indeed prove their worth tomorrow, make no mistake what would happen, our only hope lies in the initial plan” Han finished as he cut the call,

It was clear that emperor Han was shaken by the defeat his vaulted martial dragons of the east had suffered in the acolyte brackets, but president frank wasn’t bothered, this time tomorrow the whole world would see the overwhelming power of the union’s advocates, but to be safe he contacted them, back to training.

************

The third round as blazing as the second round, Genevieve of the sentinels once again blazing past a union’s acolyte with the bunker path, demolishing him in revenge for stopping the clans rampage during the first round. Jide defeated the last Brahma acolyte hereby ending their participation in the acolyte bracket, the glorious empire tried their best, valiantly putting on a display of martial artist skills, but it seemed like their true worth wasn’t visible at the acolyte rank and at the end, only one ascender was left. The theocracy had two priests left, the union also performing poorly and produced only one acolyte left, the federations’ acolytes had two left in the fight, the imperial squires also had two acolytes left while the independent factions had only Jide left in the tournament.

As once again the contestants took an hour’s break, the sun finally dropping from the sky, the atmosphere was charged up due to the festivities that night, they pairings for the final six contestants for the fourth bracket appeared,

FOURTH ROUND OF THE ACOLYTE BRACKET

C VS C

I.F VS U

EM VS C

LU VS F

F VS IM

IM VS LU

The fourth round was quick and brutal display of power, nerves were frayed from the constant fighting, Genevieve of the sentinels defeated a fellow archer of the clan with a quick decisive victory that saw Ayo giving Annika 500 gold coins in a bet, Jide stepped into the ring, summoned his familiar guardian spirit and crushed the unions sub machine gun user acolyte with one hit and walked off the arena with the crowd staring with eyes wide, Moyo laughing as he saw traces of Samantha’s runes in his circle. The empire lost their last acolyte to the rage of a female storm bringer that literally saturated the arena with lightning as she weaved in and out of the blasts to finish off the bling and shocked artist, the federations top acolyte defeated the priest of the Luminian theocracy as he encased him in ice, entered the dome and beat the priest into submission, the priest shivering pitifully as he was escorted off stage, the federation winning their next fight against a squire of the imperial empire in a battle of a broad sword vs a bastard blade. The last squire of the empire winning his last battle against the priest, effectively knocking the Luminian theocracy out of the tournament.

By now the remaining 6 ascenders once again took to the stage to hear how the next fifth round would be placed,

FIFTH ROUND OF THE ACOLYTE BRACKET

C VS F

C VS F

I.F VS IM

The announcer as he usually did, appeared again, smile on his face,

“congratulations to the last six ascenders!, your next round would be as you have seen!, Goodluck!” he announced as the crowd cheered,

The first pairing was Genevieve of the sentinels vs Andrei of the federation, an ice sickle path user who had demolished the priest in the previous round. The battle proved to bring out the beast in the female sentinel as she broke through every ice shield he put up, dodging the ice sickles Andrei conjured and clashing with the acolyte in a shower of force and ice power. The battle was short and bloody and by the end, Genevieve stood over Andrei, blood dripping from her face and body where the sickle had torn her, panting as the crowd went wild.

The second fight saw the female storm bringer go up against Alexei the last acolyte of the federation in the tournament, ice vs lightning, a bad matchup for Alexei that almost immediately ended up being shocked to submission. Jide with two batons he had picked up went toe to toe with the last squire of the imperials, but true to his path of the oracle, every sword swing of the squire was met with the baton and before long the squire raised his hands in surrender, both of them panting as the crowd went wild once more.

The final round was approaching and the three ascenders sat in the arena awaiting the announcer when instead of the announcer, the titan blade appeared in the air. All noise ceased as Moyo smiled benevolently upon the finalists,

“Welcome finalists, you have proven your worth. All the acolytes who participated in the brackets had proven their worth, they are the best of the best from their factions and to had entered the brackets alone had proven their worth, however here we stand with the last three ascenders, are you ready for your last round?” he asked,

They nodded,

“Good, I should hope so, for you three fight against my very presence, the last of you left standing would be the winner of the first ever acolyte tournament” he announced,

Moyo inwardly chuckled at the mortified looks on their faces,

“Have no fear, you do not fight me personally, I simply want to give you all a glimpse at the bare minimum of the archailect at large, what we would face in the coming weeks” he stated,

“For if we do not have the strength to survive, then I fear for our future, show me your resolves acolytes, the final round starts now” Moyo announced and with his core shrouded to acolyte level, unleashed his realm around them and increased the pressure from his realm,

Their knees buckled, they shook, the crowd cheered them on and they persevered. Moyo could feel their cores churning out intent and mana respectively, his realm increasing the purity of the aether as Geneviève, the sentinel roared and slammed her mace into the ground, using its handle to prop herself up, the storm bringer summoning a thundercloud inside the realm and using it to prop her weight as she sat on it, legs folded. Jide took Moyos’ attention, two green arms appeared from runic circles below his feet and propped his arms up as he kept on whispering inaudible words he couldn’t hear. He increased the pressure and the storm bringer collapsed, frothing at the mouth as Moyo used his willpower to place her outside the realm, Genevieve crashed to a knee as she shivered, Jide maintained the same posture, his body shivering. Moyo increased the pressure again to the peak of acolyte and bordering on advocate, Genevieve crashed to the ground, frothing at the mouth too, and Moyo released the realm, catching Jide as he passed out and the arms dissipated to dust, the announcer appeared again in the air, his voice loud,

“ladies and gentlemen!, ascenders, advocates and dignitaries of the different factions, I present to you, the first winner of the acolyte bracket of the tournament, acolyte Jide!”

The crowd went wild….