Everyone witnessed Azeus's display of power and the crowd began chanting his name. Contenders who were near as he fought against the two warriors from Caprines took a second to look at him.
Back at Azeus's squad, an arrow fired by the Semperio team's captain managed to pass through Arsen and Mnesus's defenses. They were both startled as it was sudden, shot from far away, and passed through other squads.
But, that arrow cost the Semperio squad more than they thought. As soon as Adney changed targets, Grim strengthened his muscles to the best of his abilities, hid his head behind his arms, and charged without planning to stop.
His unstoppable assault made the Semperio squad sweat buckets. Their arrows were only capable of giving Grim shallow wounds. Adney saw no way of stopping Grim's onslaught, they're also incapable of carrying their flags and running away from him. At the last minute, Adney commanded her team to dodge, letting the Regas squad captain, Grim, destroy their flags.
"How remarkable! Grim, the Regas squad's captain, took out the Semperio squad on his own!"
Five squads remained after the elimination of Adney's squad. They are the Pantera squad with three remaining flags, the Regas, Akrisia, and Nesmos squad with two flags each, and the Kankavi squad with one.
Another twenty minutes passed when the next shrinking of the arena started. The once vast field is now close to the size of the arena in Pergis town's coliseum.
Among the remaining squads, only the one from Nesmos hasn't lost a single flag. Their team was composed of one male and two female warriors. They used a simple yet effective strategy with their Zeal. That was to surround the perimeter with their scent that would make the opposite gender incapacitated if they were to inhale it. Although some could try and hold their breaths, their backs would be defenseless against other squads. They used earth magic to block ranged attacks, leaving no hole in their impenetrable defense.
Aside from the Nesmos squad, nonstop fighting happened among the four remaining squads. Be it utilizing their Zeal to destroy others' flags, try to knock out their opponents, or use magic within their elements to aim for the same objectives.
With every magic and power that was shown, the commentator and the crowd would roar out of excitement. Seeing great young warriors trying to overpower each other using everything in their arsenal to win was a wonderful sight for everyone.
It didn't take long for another team to be eliminated.
"Grim! What's with this man? He eliminated the Kankavi squad! That's it for the Unbreakable Crab's Zeal-bearers!"
Soon as he defeated the Kankavi squad, Grim, the Regas squad captain, immediately went towards the opponents he saw as the biggest hurdle. The Pantera squad. They were busy fending off the joint attacks of two squad members from Akrisia and one of the female warriors of Nesmos who left the safety of their defenses to help eliminate the squad that was predicted to win this year's summit games.
Grim changed targets upon seeing the situation. He turned towards the flags of Akrisia with one person guarding them.
"What are you doing, Captain?!" Grani shouted. He knew that it was a great chance for them to eliminate the Pantera squad, and with them ousted, the odds of the Regas squad winning would be greater.
Grim also knows about it. But, his desire to fight Arsen and his squad head-on and overpower them was far greater than his yearning for victory in the summit games.
Surprise and terror rose on the Akrisian warrior's face. Still, it didn't stay for long as his determination to defend their flags took over. The Zeal of the Envoy of Balance glow brighter at the back of his neck. He pointed his palms at Grim, then, a surge of wind appeared to try and blow away the charging bull-like man.
His attack pushed Grim a couple of meters back, giving one of his squad members the time to come to his aid. Varin, from the Regas squad, left their flags to Grani to attack the Pantera squad while their attentions were caught by the others.
Varin unleashed tremors on the Pantera squad when he got close enough. Then, he cast spikes of earth trying to hit their flags. With the Zeal of the Proud Lion shining bright, and a scream that sounded like a roar, Arsen slashed through Varin's attempt with the help of his named sword enveloped with his flame. On the other hand, Mnesus and Azeus managed to knock down both the members of the Akrisia squad and the one from Nesmos.
Arsen's scream sent chills to everyone. Creating a wave of loud cheers and chanting of his name.
The Pantera squad has now some room to breathe. Yet, instead of resting, Arsen saw an opening. He asked both Mnesus and Azeus to look after their flags as he dashed towards the Regas squad.
His charge wasn't like an unstoppable bull like Grim, rather, Arsen was a predator eyeing for his prey. Both Grani and Varin felt the immense pressure cast upon them.
"Captain!" Grani shouted.
Although Grim was close to the Akrisia squad, he returned to his members without second thoughts after hearing Grani's call for him and seeing the person moving towards their flags. Grim ran the fastest since the start of the event. And a wide grin was smeared on his face.
"Arseeen!" Grim screamed. Running towards Arsen with his arms in front of his head, and the Zeal of the Mighty Bull glowing bright.
The Pantera squad captain stopped in his tracks. He rooted his feet with his stance and 'Hopebringer' resting in his hand enveloped in flames.
Grim laughed when he saw Arsen's serious expression waiting for him. He was very excited and couldn't conceal it. His muscles became firmer than they ever had. Prints of his bare feet were left on the tiled floor as he ran.
Arsen took a deep breath. The raging flame on his sword became tamed, coating Hopebringer like how water would. With the sun high up in the sky, his Zeal glowed brighter together with his amber eyes. His senses heightened as he waited for impact.
Grim increased his speed, he planned to hit Arsen with his arms. A frontal confrontation between young warriors who are known as the mightiest among their peers in each of their kingdoms.
Everyone watched with their eyes wide open focused on the two. They know that something amazing would unveil in front of them. People were shouting either Arsen's or Grim's name.
Arsen went for a downward diagonal slash when Grim was a meter away from him. His move confused the Regas squad captain as he missed his arms and body. Grim thought that Arsen made a grave mistake and that it would be his win once he hit him.
But, Arsen's sword hit Grim's right foot. He felt it and although it didn't go past the defenses of his strong muscles, Grim could tell that his foot attained significant damage. Still, it wasn't enough to stop him.
Grim gritted his teeth as he anticipated impact. But, all of a sudden, he lost balance. And what Arsen only needed to do was move out of the way for the Regas squad captain to propel himself through the ropes and out of the arena.
With a loud bang, Grim slammed himself on the walls of the stadium. Small rocks were shooting out of the wall and a smoke of dust emerged. Even before the dust settled, Arsen didn't waste a second and continued his attempt at the Regas squad's flags.
Both Grani and Varin were confused yet tried their hardest to ward off Arsen's attempt on their flags. The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Arsen using their strengthened arms and earth magic as their weapons.
It was two against one, yet, the arrow of victory points towards Arsen. Everyone could feel it. His calm and calculating movements against the two Regas squad members whose tiredness gradually became more apparent to everyone were beyond their expectations.
Meanwhile, the smoke of dust settled. Grim stood up from the rubble. His face was the definition of confusion. He stared at his right foot, though it ached, he didn't have a grave wound that would make him lose balance all of a sudden like he did. Even as his squad was trying their best against Arsen, all Grim could think of was how he was thrown out of the arena.
Grim stared at the place where he lost his balance. He saw a small yet deep crack at that location. Anger started to boil up within him as he realized that Arsen didn't try to fight him head-on and only aimed to make him out of the arena.
"Why didn't you fight me, Arseeen!?" Grim shouted.
He caught everyone's attention. Even his squad members. This gave Arsen the opening to attack their flags with fire magic. Eliminating the Regas squad which was second to the predictions of being this year's summit games winners.
While all of this was happening, Azeus was attacking the Akrisia squad on the other part of the Arena. It was a two-against-one battle similar to Arsen. And like Arsen, Azeus managed to burn their flags down, eliminating them from the event.
With the Nesmos squad remaining, all that the Pantera squad needed to do was hold their breath and attack. With the three of them on the offense, the two Nesmosian warriors couldn't hold them back and their flags were burned.
"They—they're eliminated! Which means, the winners of this year's summit games are none other than, the Pantera squad!"