Rise of the Crusader

A few hours passed, and as the tower session was over, it was time to move on to the final round of the tournament.

Among the seven divisions, the most delighted was the elite division, as not only did Raphael ascend onto the twelfth level of the tower, but Aliyah was also able to achieve the feat.

"Hahaha!!!"

"What can I say, we are called elite for a reason."

Whether it was the student or the instructor from the elite division, they were all excited as it felt good rubbing their achievement in the face of the others.

"Two students with the potential to become an SS-Rank, or even go beyond that, I must say, a bright future is ahead of the elite division."

Grayson blurted, and unlike his words that seemed to be full praise, the expression on his face was grim.

"The murderer division was also able to produce two students at the eleventh level, so your future in the academy and the world isn't so bad after all."

"And rather than focusing on who was the bright future, you should hold on to your students, or else someone else would do the job for you," Kai said.

A deep frown appeared on Grayson's face as Kai spoke.

"Vermont, if the assassin division ever wants to make a move against the elite division, then you can count on my division helping to obliterate them," Grayson said.

Vermont sneered, "Even if we want help from a division to take care of them, which we don't, it still wouldn't be the murderer division."

"You should be more concerned about protecting yourself, Grayson," Vermont said.

"Haha hahaha!!!"

Grayson burst into laughter a second after.

And a brief moment later the others joined in as well.

"Ehmm... Ehmm"

Suddenly, the students who were behind the director let out a light cough.

He stared at the directors, and as they moved their gaze to him, he spoke. "Among the students who entered the tower, forty went beyond the sixth step, while the others couldn't."

"Those who attained the tenth, eleventh and twelfth step are usually given automatic qualification, which only fourteen students got up there."

"Should we put those twenty six through another test, or should we begin the final tournament as usual?" He asked.

The directors glanced at one another after the male student spoke.

"We can't simply put those who got to the sixth level and those who attained the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth together, where is the fairness." Grayson blurted.

"They have to be something that makes them worthy even for a little bit to allow them to stand with the others. Or what do you think?"

Grayson said, staring at the other directors.

As a nod came from the other directors, Nicholas spoke.

"What about a loyalty test."

"Not only do we need exceptionally talented metahuman, but we also need those who will be very loyal to the academy," Nicholas said.

"It wouldn't do much good if we pay extra attention to the very talented ones and then ignore those who are loyal to us." Nicholas paused, "Let's give this even more consideration."

"Nothing is more noble, venerable, or even powerful than loyalty."

Even though the students had been told that those who got to the sixth level were qualified for the third round, it wasn't so.

Instead, it was those who got to the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth level that were given the qualification to participate in the third round.

"We would be changing the rules here, Nicholas. It's well known that only the gold students participate in the third round." Layla blurted.

And after she spoke, Nicholas nodded his head.

"Yes, we will be changing the rules, and I think that's what we should do." He said.

"I'm not asking for all the silver students to be in the third round. Only a few of them. But let's give all the core student a chance."

"For a change, let's put loyalty at the same value as talent."

In the academy, there were four types of students.

The nominal students, the silver students, the core students, and lastly the gold students.

The students who attained the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth level were referred to as the core students in the academy, and those who didn't get to the sixth were addressed as silver students.

While those who went beyond the ninth step were deemed as gold students.

"So, what do you think?" Nicholas inquired.

The director wasn't overly convinced by Nicholas's suggestion, as regardless of how neutral they had tried to act in the academy, the truth was they had always favored the talented students over the mediocre ones.

And the grand prize in the final round was only won by the gold students only.

However, after a few rounds of discussion, they agreed.

"Alright then."

"Let's give this a shot."

As the director began to consent to his suggestion, Nicholas's lips curved into a smile.

"I'm sure none of you would regret this," Nicholas said.

He then continued, "One of the mistakes we made in the past was giving those with enormous potential the platform to perform, and then ignoring the loyal ones."

As the expression on the director's changed, Nicholas's voice rang out.

"I'm not saying it's bad, but we created monsters. Students who were very talented and way too smart, that at the end of it, they came hunting us back."

There were no lies in the words that Nicholas said, and the directors knew he was saying the truth.

"So, what do you suggest we do now, how do we know who is loyal to us or who can be completely loyal to us?"

"It's not so difficult, in fact, I have been preparing for this for a very long time." Nicholas retorted.

He then whistled.

The directors were wondering what was going to happen. However, they didn't have to wait too long as a few seconds after the whistle, five huge cages materialized in the sky.

They were all coming down the stage and as they saw the pompous look that was on Nicholas's face, they instantly knew this had a thing to do with him.

Inside the cages were the legendary meta-beasts, and as they arrived at the stage, everyone got to see them.