Chapter 120 Second Round— Inter High I

"SATOSHI?!" The first one to notice him was none other than Hiroshi who covered up for him when they couldn't find him a few minutes ago. "Where have you been? How did you get here?" He hissed, trying to get his thoughts together since the scene was too good to be true.

"SATOSHI?!" Midori was the second one to exclaim, followed by everyone else who saw him appear out of nowhere. No one knows where he spawned from but they didn't mind that at all. They were just grateful that Satoshi managed to arrive in time before the fated second round commences.

"Let's talk about all that later. Do we have some sort of— "

[Satoshi, you've lost affinity with your other familiars... four of them to be exact]

[You haven't used them now summoned them ever since you got them. And now they've been sent somewhere they couldn't get out of— the PC]

'What do you mean the PC?' Satoshi thought to himself as his sentence was interrupted by Dex.

[The PC stands for Purged Conduit, not a personal computer. They've been transferred there by some unknown force connected to your superpower. As of now, I don't think you'll be able to get them back from there.]

'I see' Satoshi said to himself with a sigh. Dex was right, he really couldn't detect the other four familiars he got back when he was preparing. One of them was Sain, probably one of the most powerful familiar that Satoshi ever got. In any case, there was no use worrying over spilled milk. If there's a way, then he'd be able to find it sooner or later. Just as he thought, there was still a lot of mystery revolving around his superpower.

"Satoshi, are you all right?" Cherry asked with a bashful tone. Just like everyone else in the group, she was relieved that the core of their team has returned, but seeing the unusual expression on his face made her worry a little bit.

"Yes, just a bit shook. In any case, let's focus on the second round. What will be competing at this time?" Satoshi said, just shrugging off what just happened to some of his familiars.

"WHOA! LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING'S HAPPENING AMONGST THE UNITED SUPERHEROES ACADEMY CANDIDATES!" The commentator suddenly exclaimed, starting the broadcast. "In any case, it seems like all their hard work weren't for nothing this morning! We certainly enjoyed watching them scamper around, right?"

"For the second round, the management decided to hold off on the information due to the unfairness during the first round. It was a bit underhanded to leave the USA hanging while everyone else got all the information they needed. NEVERTHELESS! They managed to survive the first round and now entering the second round! EVERYONE! LET'S GIVE THEM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE!"

Clap! Clap!

"Certainly needs getting used to." Shidou rubbed his nose as his face reddened a bit. He still wasn't used to being in the spotlight even though this was their second day in the Inter-High Stadium.

"FOR THE SECOND ROUND! We'll be having the superhero celebrity Henna to announce it for us!"

A superhero wearing a nice masquerade mask and a flowy black dress suddenly walked towards one of the platforms before it floated up. She had long wavy black hair and her body was slender yet proportionate. Her introduction truly befitted her appearance. "Thank you so much, dear commentator. It is an absolute honor to have even just a minor part in such a big event. Ehrmmm~~~ "

"For the second round, it will be much simpler compared to the first round. Since we have a grand total of six schools— namely the United Superheroes Academy, the Great Mountain Academy, Mirai High School, Flowing Wave Academy, Stillwater Academy, and the Great White Shark Academy,"

As soon as it was announced, everyone in the audience started hollering and screaming in enthusiasm and excitement. Of course, who wouldn't be excited when they were looking forward to such competition for a whole year. They weren't expecting it to happen in the second round though because usually it is done in the third round.

"The rules are as follows: Every school will be pitted against another school and they will battle it out until one side has lost or has given up. Everything goes during this match, even killing intent which wasn't allowed during the first round will be fine, as long as you don't kill anyone of course. No matter the injury though, the Nurse is only one call away."

"That said! Here are the brackets for the second round!"

Amidst the cheering from the audience, a huge screen appeared in the middle of the stage with six rectangles displayed on it. In the background, a drum roll started playing and a couple of texts started rolling down as if every rectangle is a portion of a roulette.

[Flowing Wave Academy versus Mirai High School]

[Great Mountain Academy versus Stillwater Academy]

[United Superheroes Academy versus Great White Shark Academy]

....

Primal licked his lips, he awaited this moment where he'll be pitted against the United Superheroes Academy. This will be the day when they'll prove themselves worthy of first place as a reform school, giving Kronos Schiltz the good name he deserves as its founder. They were elated, not because they were one hundred percent confident that they will win, but because they could tell that they'll be able to go head to head with the United Superheroes Academy. Ultimately, they were aiming to win, but as long as they put up a good fight, they were sure to make a name for themselves as the Great White Shark Academy.

"Cyborg, we don't know what to expect but I want you to continuously watch over Satoshi. Leave all the other candidates to us. Your sole job is to extract as much information as you can on Satoshi's superpower but don't get in too close, observing from afar is more than enough." Primal said with a grin.

"Yes, Leader," Cyborg responded without hesitation.

"How about us, leader?" Viper asked, her slithering tongue as uncontrollable as ever.

"All of you? Just have fun. I'll take care of Satoshi and the rest while I'm at it. Just don't get in my way." Primal said, cracking his knuckles.

Since all the fights will be happening at the same time in separate stages, every school didn't really have a chance to prepare for strategies and such. In other words, they were thrown into the battlefield without prior notice and it's up to their raw power if they'd be able to win or not. And adding to that, these schools were the top six schools after the first round. All of them had their own strengths and those strengths were expected to clash with each other in the second round— this time though, the clash would be more orderly since each school in question will be able to work as a team right from the start.

While the countdown continued to go down, Satoshi turned around so he could get a clear view on his team. He could feel the uneasiness within due to his disappearance and somehow he felt bad because of it. Nevertheless, he knew he had to say something so they'll be fired up right from the get-go. Right now, morale's all they need.

"I'm sorry about what happened this morning. Something came up and I'll tell you all about it later. But right now, there are still some things I need to take care of and I wouldn't be able to do it while I'm participating in the second round. That's why let's make this quick. The Great White Shark may have gotten first place in the first round but we all passed the first round nonetheless. They aren't superior to us, and besides, they're also students just like us."

"Just give us the orders, leader, we'll get it done," Shidou said with a smile, jerking a thumbs up towards Satoshi.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about your six. We'll guard that with our lives. Just move forward," Fuuka said.

With a sigh of relief, Satoshi realized that he didn't need to bolster their morale. They were already fired up in the first place and their expression was probably just a sign of their nervousness. This is the second round of the Inter-High Tournament after all and there are a lot of things on their plate right now— the expectations of the school, the expectations of their parents, and the expectations of everyone watching who concluded that the United Superheroes Academy will get the trophy this year once again. All of those mixed into a ball of nerves in each of their systems.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

Once again, every school was transported into their respective stage/arena and the second round of the Inter-High Tournament has finally commenced. Satoshi gulped. It was at this moment he felt everyone's reliance on him, causing him to forcefully grin as he carefully watched the Great White Shark Academy on the other side of the arena.