401 Chapter 401: Strategy Meeting (1/2)
\”Our next opponents are very tough,\” Harrison informed the team solemnly. Even though our mood had been celebratory and we were on a high after making it to the round of eight, our team captain still had one eye on the bigger picture. His somber mood was enforced particularly after we were informed of our next opponents.
\”The Saint Teresa Academy, huh?\” Craig mused, stroking his chin as he glanced at his smartphone. Unlike Harrison, he was grinning in anticipation and relishing the upcoming match. \”This will be good.\”
\”We are finally facing one of the big guns this time. This isn't just any elite academy, it is the Saint Teresa Academy. One of the top four teams from last year. Third, actually, since they won against Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy in the third-placing match last year after narrowly losing out to Pendragon in the semifinals.\”
The big guns. One of the big names. Among the most prestigious academies in the Global Federation.
At Harrison's words, everyone went rigid, knowing that this was no laughing matter. This would possibly be the most powerful team we had faced thus far in the tournament. All the other teams we had eliminated along the way would be nothing compared to the superlative swordsmen and swordswomen of Saint Teresa. Only Pendragon Academy had a better record when it came to swordsmanship and blade magic.
\”Well, we came this far and surpassed everyone's expectations, so we can't really complain.\” Theodore shrugged. He looked as if he found our cirumstances a pity, but understood there wasn't anything we could do about it.
\”You're right. We came this far.\” Harrison straightened up and narrowed his eyes. \”I'm not going to give up after having come this far.\”
\”Eh?\” Everyone stared at him in surprise.
\”You're seriously planning to challenge Saint Teresa Academy and win?\” Pearl asked disbelievingly. Harrison nodded.
\”Of course. Who the hell goes to a match resigned to lose? We might as well give it our all. You don't seriously think we should just give up and forfeit after coming this far, right?\”
\”Well, no, but I think it's unrealistic to expect that we will win against the likes of Saint Teresa Academy,\” Sheila pointed out glumly.
\”The only expectations I have of everyone is for all of you do to your best. Fight like your lives depend on it. Give your all. Leave the match with no regrets – and if we win, we advance. If we lose, we can hold our heads up highly proudly because we gave it our best shot without holding anything back. We have nothing to lose, so we might as well try.\”
\”Harrison's right!\” Craig growled. \”Why are we even discussing this? Let's go kick Saint Teresa Academy's asses!\”
\”If only it's that easy,\” Lily murmured softly. She looked at Harrison square in the eyes. \”I hope you have some sort of plan.\”
\”As a matter of fact, I do.\” Harrison grinned and waved at his smartphone, projecting a gigantic holographic screen into the air for us to see. His grin grew wider as he displayed a table of statistics and numbers, backed up by tiny windows of videos featuring the members of the Saint Teresa Academy team. \”I've noticed a pattern in the way they deploy their team. It appears that they rely heavily on five or so core members, and the reserve members are not even half as good as the others. To the extent that they actually have their members fight two or three matches at once during the individual matches.\”
Every team was given the option to choose if they wanted to swap their current member out or not after each match, provided that member had won his or her match – obviously defeated members of the team were counted as eliminated and had lost the right to participate any further in the individual and team matches for that day. However, as long as you won your match, you could opt to stay on stage (or the captain could choose to leave you on stage), and continue fighting the other members of the opposing team. Most teams didn't do that because they wanted to give their other members experience, or rest their core participants, or because the other team would choose to send out a member whose magic and techniques countered the current opponent's skillset. However, a few elected to keep their faith in their core members and leave them in the arena to continue knocking out as many of the opponents' members as possible. It also served as a strategy, so that the core members you had in mind for the team match wouldn't be eliminated before it even began. For example, Harrison would sometimes have Bu Fan repeat a couple of matches because we all knew he was only going to participate in the individual matches, so as to minimize the risk of the main party for the team match getting unexpectedly broken up and eliminated.
\”They have obviously built their team around their captain, Kureha Franklin.\” Harrison glanced at me. \”I think she's an acquaintance of yours, Richard.\”
\”We've met and worked together briefly,\” I admitted. \”Back when Troy was alive.\”
\”The dragon incident,\” Dong Fang Yue Chu recalled, awestruck. \”The three of you worked together to slay two dragons.\”
\”Something like that.\”
\”That's right.\” Harrison nodded. \”So you know firsthand how strong and skilled Kureha can be.\” He then pointed toward the glowing holographic screen that hovered in the air. \”She knows how powerful she is herself, and is extremely confident to the extent that she would participate in at least two or three matches to reduce the opposing team to cinders before leading her party in the team match. And for her to do that, she has won all the individual matches she participated in.\”
\”Scary,\” Craig remarked, a mocking note in his tone. He smiled derisively as he turned to Harrison. \”So we're going to make use of her arrogance to create her downfall.\”
\”Well…I was thinking we should showcase some arrogance of our own,\” Harrison replied jokingly. \”But in more concrete terms…as long as we can eliminate Kureha Franklin, Saint Teresa Academy will suffer a huge blow to their strength during their team match against us. We can then take advantage of that.\”
\”She's not the only main threat in the Saint Teresa Academy team, is she?\” Pearl questioned, frowning as she studied the multiple holographic diagrams and replay videos. \”You said that they have five core members.\”
\”Yeah, I did. And if I'm not wrong, they have no qualms sending all their core members out for the individual matches if they have to. That's how confident they are. As you can see from their match against Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy, Kureha Franklin was confident enough to not swap out after she defeated Chang Cheng, and fought a head-on battle against Cecilia Stuart.\”
I watched Kureha's match against Chang Cheng. She had used an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm, ahem, I meant, she used an advanced, highly destructive spell that took the form of a colossal golden beam of devastating mana that blasted out of her sword to obliterate Chang Cheng's Great Wall and pulverize him.
He never stood a chance. Not because he was weak (in fact, he had won almost all of his individual matches before this, with none of his opponents ever able to penetrate his gigantic barrier), but because Kureha's anti-fortress technique perfectly countered his fortress spell.