Kiernan walked over to Ariadne, shared a short nod with each other, and then stood next to her in silence.
"Thorsten, you're up."
Thorsten said it as soon as it was his turn. Dietmar nodded and added him to Thorsten's team on his notepad.
"Ariadne, your turn."
"I'll choose… Willa of Azura Academy!"
Ariadne said with a smile.
The brown-haired girl walked over to their team. She was all smiles. She was the ace of Azura Academy, the fourth-ranked school in the nation.
"I'll choose Lionel."
Thorsten said, looking at the young man with quite exotic lion mane hair.
With a smirk on his face, Lionel joined their side. It looked pretty good on their side, as Thorsten and Dietmar were both extremely strong.
While he knew that Tiamut High and Azura Academy were both powerhouse schools, he thought that their aces were only girls, so how strong could they be?
He wasn't the biggest believer of women being able to be as strong as men. There was a great physical difference, after all.
"I'll choose Mirin of Valderose High!"
The red-haired girl walked over to their side. She was the last girl among the aces, and now all three girl aces were on the same team.
Miroslav mumbled and joined their side. He had buzzcut hair and a scar on his cheek. He was the ace of Foxfire High, which was the fifth-ranked school in the nation.
Each leader had one choice anymore.
"I'll choose… Kenneth of Drakensfjord High!"
Kenneth joined their team.
"Alright, Roy, come here."
Thorsten said to the last person to be chosen.
Roy joined their side. He was the ultimate ace of Baobab High, with a reputation for never losing a battle.
No one knew whether it was actually true that he had never lost a battle, but the sheer confidence in his stance made it seem probable.
"Each team has three minutes to decide the positions on the field. Then we'll start the game."
Dietmar said, and Thorsten's teams retreated some distance away to discuss the positions.
While Ariadne's team went to do the same, a small crowd had started to gather around the field. A word had come out that ten aces of different schools were going to play a game of Punch Ball.
It interested many fighters, so they rushed to the field to watch.
"First of all, I think we should decide on a goalkeeper. Who wants to?"
Ariadne said, but no one volunteered to be one. All of them wanted to be on the field, scoring goals.
Seeing that no one was saying a word, she was about to order someone, but then the bubbly-looking girl raised her arm.
"I can be the goalkeeper. I can't guarantee that I will be any good, but if no one else wants to, I can be one."
Willa of Azura Academy said.
"Good, thank you, Willa."
Ariadne said with a smile.
"Now, the two attackers. Who wants to be an attacker?"
The rest all raised their arms. It was obvious that they all wanted to be one.
"The time is running out, so I have to choose. I will be an attacker with Kiernan."
Ariadne had to make the choice. There was only a minute left before they had to make the final decision.
Despite not being happy about the decision, Mirin and Kenneth still nodded. Their strongest fighters as attackers made some sense.
A sound of a whistle echoed throughout the air.
"Alright, positions have been decided!"
"Our goalkeeper is Lionel. Attackers are me and Dietmar. Defense is Miroslav and Roy."
"Our goalkeeper is Willa. Attackers are me and Kiernan. Defense is Mirin and Kenneth."
After that, the two teams went to their positions. The goalkeeper went to the goal, the defense went to the back, and the attackers went to the front.
"Who will take the start?"
Ariadne asked Kiernan.
Kiernan stepped ahead and stood in the center of the field right in front of Thorsten. They were going to be the ones to fight for the start possession.
Dietmar appeared between them with a ball in his hand.
"Let's have a clean match. Let's try not to injure each other intentionally!"
Dietmar said, and then whistled before throwing the ball high into the air.
The ball perfectly went straight up. It didn't move to the left or right and just perfectly ascended into the sky.
It soon reached the peak height and started falling down.
Kiernan smashed his fist against Thorsten's block. It rocked his block and forced him to take a step back.
'What the hell is that crazy strength? My block has never shook so much before!'
Thorsten thought in shock.
He shot his hands forward, trying to grab Kiernan, but he slapped and smacked the hands away, then pressed his body against Thorsten's, using the power of his body to push him away.
The ball came down, and he caught it with ease.
Ariadne said and started running towards the goal.
Kiernan did a no-look pass, and the ball perfectly found its way into Ariadne's arms. She was already running at full speed, her beautiful blonde curls flowing behind her.
Miroslav and Roy stood in her way.
"Ariadne! Ariadne! Ariadne!"
The crowd cheered her on.
Ariadne went from running full speed to an instant stop. It happened instantaneously. She then stepped to the left before bursting through the defense on the right.
The two defensive forces were caught off guard and unable to keep up with her speed.
At that moment, Dietmar came rushing like a wild bull and tackled Ariadne off her feet. She quickly spun around in the air and landed on the grass field with a stunned look on her face.
She didn't expect anyone to be able to catch up with her.
Roy slapped the ball out of her hands and grabbed it before she could react. He immediately started making his way to the goal.
Ariadne ran after him and then slid into his legs, making him fall backwards onto the hard ground. With a loud thud, the ball rolled out of his possession.
It was now without any possession!
However then, Thorsten grabbed the ball from the ground as he happened to be the closest and then ran past the middle of the field towards the goal.