The results were shown, and the numbers on each of their sticks were -
Sophia had number 1 (Section-G | Gold Section)
Jaden Redmar had number 4 (Section-C)
Enrick had number 3 (Section-A)
And Conner Ravenspire had number 2 (Section-B)
Which translates to -
First Battle = Section-G (Defense) vs Section-C (Attack)
Second Battle = Section-A (Defense) vs Section-B (Attack)
There will be 2 rounds for each battle, one section defending and the other attacking, then the opposite the next time. Axel glanced towards the 2 other important characters that appeared, Conner Ravenspire and Jaden Redmar. They were pretty strong, he had to admit. Each is worthy of being a fortress commander without a doubt.
With that decided, the professor cast a form of magic, and a transparent staircase appeared leading to the two remaining flying platforms. She ordered,
"Alrighty, Section A and B climb onto separate platforms each, and enjoy the show."
"As for the Gold section, go cross the bridge and take positions, the same goes for Section C, take your attack positions."
After that, she started floating and went back to the flying platform of the professors. Jaden Redmar, meanwhile, felt somewhat bitter from the moment results were revealed. Facing the Gold section wasn’t a good start, but the only saving grace was that the valkyrie herself would not be participating actively. But there were many other strong individuals in the Gold Section, while he wasn’t afraid of anything, he felt simply apprehensive about it.
As the Valkyrie turned after the instructions of the professor, all three other 3 fortress commanders could not help but take a glance towards her, it was almost uncontrollable that their heads turned around, to look at her for a last moment. It wasn’t their fault, actually; their male instincts were simply fighting against their willpower with all of its might.
They turned their heads backwards again in the next instant, everyone knew how sensitive, strong, and brutal she was; they had no death wish.
Sophia started walking towards the hanging bridge and signaled to his section from afar. Heinz shouted, "Okay, everyone, let’s go inside the fortress."
They apparently had 30 minutes to take positions; they all studied from the libraries about various details, like more positions tactics, in general, how a fortress war is done, from both attack and defense points of view. As he walked onto the bridge, it started to hang slightly low from the weight of it. On the other side of the bridge, there was a bag of wrist bands, engraved with runes and spells of various kinds.
Sophia inspected the magic bands; there were exactly 300 of them, and among those, there were 4, which were a bit special. One was for the fortress commander, and 3 others were for the 3 division leaders. These were telepathic communication bands. She picked one up and put it on her wrist, then gave the other three to Vyra, Thorian, and Heinz.
They also put it on, without needing to ask anything about it. Their professor did not mention anything about this; this was something they had to find out on their own through reading books related to the fortress war. The fortress commander with her band can send a telepathic message to any select individual on her section or multiple people at once, and even send a message to everyone at once, if she wishes.
As for the bands of each division leader, they can send messages to everyone in their division at once or to a single individual in their division. Also, it can send a message to either one of the other division leaders or the fortress commander at a time. As for the wrist bands of everyone else, they can be used to send messages to your own division leader. Nothing else.
Now, this might sound a bit complicated, but this is a hierarchical structure necessary for military activities; those on the lower chain of command naturally have less flexibility when it comes to communicating with the higher-ups. But the higher chain of command progressively can communicate and command more of the army.
And since all the 300 students will be spread around through different floors and such, and they also need to communicate and work flawlessly as a team, for that reason, the communication bands were necessary. The attacking team also had the distribution of these bands.
Everyone took one band each, and reached the gates of the fortress which was closed, The valkyrie being at the front, put her beautiful and delicate hands on the large metal handles of the gigantic steel door of the marble made fortress, the steel doors themselves were extremely large and heavy, the two parts of the door each likely weighted 1 ton individually.
Opening its doors is something that, by all means, should be beyond the capabilities of a first-phase Seeker, even for her who is at the peak of it. Yet, defying all common sense and logic as usual, she gripped both of the handles tightly and pushed. It didn’t even seem like she was struggling too much, or maybe not showing it, but the ground beneath her feet almost seemed to crack and cave from the sheer force generated from her.
The loud creaking noise of the door of the steel fortress opening reverberated everywhere as everyone from the gold section kept looking at the scene with their mouths agape and amazement visible in their eyes.
Not only that, the sound of the doors opening was loud enough that it reached the other side of the hanging bridge. Jaden Redmar, who was making sure that everyone was taking their positions properly and as fast as possible, heard the steel creaking noise. Everyone on the Section-C who was busy preparing heard it as well, they looked towards the source of it, and tensed.
A normal human might not be able to see clearly from this far, but they were all best of the best selected out Seekers, from all of humanity, their eyes could see with clarity that the thin and petite figure of the valkyrie, Sophia Evercrest was pushing open the doors of the fortress all alone, Jaden furrowed his eyebrows. Everyone else on his section gasped in disbelief.
They all knew just how heavy those doors were; all the sections each visited the fortress after all, none of them could alone make the doors even budge slightly, let alone open them. Even the other sections high in the sky watching from the platforms looked at the scene, their wariness for the gold section increasing unknowingly, even though the valkyrie would not be participating in the battle herself, she would only be commanding everyone.
Meanwhile, all the professors looked at the valkyrie with appreciation and expectation, but the mighty principal of the whole academy had his eyes on Axel, eager to see what the grandson of his closest friend would show; perhaps unknowingly, he was projecting the image of his old friend in the man’s grandson. That was the main reason why he was here and eager to see what spectacle Axel Nomrad would show him, and he had high hopes for the boy as well.