Three remaining strongholds, six remaining squads, ten allies, and countless eyes locked onto them.

"So, how do you want to do this?" Wu and Ver walked up to Lily as the strategists of the two groups put their heads together. It's not as if Fatera fought without using her head or anything, but rather, she's more interested in the ground level battle strategies than the overarching tactics. Instead, they let the nerds do the talking, and the rest of them just headed out to scout out the battlefields.

"Three remaining strongholds there, all of them occupied by one squad each." Lily said, making three tiny mud piles before putting rocks on top of each of them.

"Then, there is one more squad roaming about, correct?" Wu asked, holding another rock in his hand. Lily looked back at him and nodded.

"The strongest squad in this tournament. They are the ones roaming about." Lily said, her eyes focused and tone serious.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense." Ver said quickly, "If they are the strongest squad, why haven't they taken over all of the strongholds yet?"

"If they are all working together to keep us from winning, then it won't matter." Wu said, and Lily shrugged.

"Beyond that, it's because they don't care where they are at that particular moment." Lily said, "Realistically, they could have taken over all the strongholds if they wanted. Whenever they wanted."

"Just how strong are they?" Wu asked, and Lily smiled with visible nervousness on her face.

"Two Channelers, both at the dominance level." Lily started, glancing towards Fatera's direction as she and Augen hid behind rows of trees and peeked around the corner, "Two Manifesters, both with Perfect Synchrony. One Caster, who has enough fire power to burn the Academy down."

"Talk about a power creep..." Wu sighed, and Lily chuckled before planting her fist on the ground with her knuckles facing towards him.

"We are at the Infinite Academy. The only place in the world with stronger individuals walking around casually is the headquarters of the Sky Guardian Corp." Lily responded, "And most of the strongest students from the Academy are heading there next. Also, I believe those five are also all deemed too strong and uncontrollable for the PORA’s conversion processes. In exchange, they simply fight here for their own pride and reputation."

"So what do you suggest we even do?" Ver asked.

"We attack first." Lily said, pointing her fingers at the tiny rubbles she sprinkled in between the three, "We attack the strongest squad head-on, while keeping those in the strongholds in the dark."

As the outer radius of the bubbles continued shrinking inwards, the three remaining strongholds stationed in a equilateral triangle formation towered over the rest of the forests. Far above them, the eyes were all focused on those fighters on the ground and in the individual strongholds. There were Scouting Eyes of all shapes and sized implanted all throughout the battlefield, giving the audience a full view of all that will be happening.

"Just...what are they planning?" Jolyne asked, a sweet taro paste bun held in her hand. She had been nervously snacking non-stop ever since the start of battle despite all of the talks of confidence, and her brother, Joseph, seemed to have run off somewhere at the most crucial of times.

"Even I can feel your anxiousness." The King said, "But look, they have been safe and sound so far, and honestly, nothing's even happening here."

He was right. Up in the floating structure, the majority of the world leaders simply watched the Summer Selections while talking over politics and exchanging pleasantries during the down time of the battles. The air of tension that came along with such international diplomatic events would always be there, but as far as Jolyne and the King could tell, there were no danger.

In fact, Wu and Lily's squads were about to put themselves in the most danger of them all with the next steps of their crazy plans.

"I've gotta say." Wu said, his Void suit fully activated and shields up, "This is one of the craziest thing that I will have ever done."

"So far." Lily said, smirking though she had long given up on hiding her own nervousness, “Like I said before, I am sure we will do a lot more crazy stuff together in the future."

"Assuming we can make it through this." Wu replied, and felt a strong squeeze in his shoulders.

"We will make it through this." Lera said firmly, "and we will win. Together."

"So long as we follow the plans. I can tell you had all been training hard, and still, this will be the hardest battle you had ever fought." Lily continued, glancing towards Lera who had finally picked up her Book of Casts from the ground and nodded back towards Lily.

"Then...let's begin. See you all on the other side." Wu said, and Lera slammed her fist down onto the ground, instantly activating a Cast array that spanned the entire area that remained within the bubble.

The Cast Array had been infiltrating underground for a whole-hour during Lera's preparation, and she had been drawing Wave from the environments around her to replenish and resource the Wave for her own Cast array. Now with everything under her influence, the battlefield had now become her chestboard.

The activation of the Cast Array sent a slight ripple through the local Wave field, and it was immediately sensed by each and every one of the remaining Wave users on the battlefield. That tiniest of changes awoke the beasts that napped in the middle of the battlefield as five of the strongest Wave users within the Academy sat up.

"The challengers have arrived, at last..." A man with blonde hair and a split face said, the entire left side of his body appearing to be asleep as the eyes are shut and the arms and legs stationary. Upon closer inspection, sets of glowing chains were wound around his ribs, hips, and legs, keeping things tied down for some odd reason.

"As expected." A girl with pale blue skin, dark blue eyes and a rather provocative mohawk hair said, her voice modulated by the face mask she's wearing, "John's goons are useless. He should have done his own dirty work if he’s a true leader."

"Who cares about what he wanted to do?" A short girl with long straight pink hair that dripped down to her waists and big red eyes said, her hands on her disproportionally curvy hip as she raised her split eyebrows, "We beat up the last two squads easily, and then we take all the strongholds and walk away as winners. John can play his stupid games whenever, but my Sky Guardian Corp bonuses are dependent on how good I look!"

"Dolly...we are all fighting to win here." A taller man with bold head but same coloured eyes said before he reached over and played with Dolly's hair.

"Shut up, Ajax." Dolly tossed Ajax's hand away, "Stop being so close with me! You are why I don't have a boyfriend yet!"

"Of course." Ajax laughed, snapping his fingers around Dolly's face as she tried to swipe him away like an annoying fly, however, he always managed to move out of the way just in time for Dolly to hit nothing but air, "It's certainly not your looks, or attitude."

"I think Dolly looks great." The fifth person of the group, a young man with black hair that looked so normal it felt wrong to put him together with the five. However, the scars all over his body hidden underneath his white union armour seemed to want to tell another story.

"Aren't you a sweet one, Ilias?" Dolly said happily as she crossed her arms satisfied, "If you didn't have to marry a Necrovian Prinicess right after this, I might even consider you to be my boyfriend!"

"Marrying a princess of my nation will be my utmost honor." Ilias said, his eyes fixating on the environments around them, "If we can, I'd like to focus on securing our victory first. Right, Bez?"

"Of course." The man with blonde hair and split face replied with a tone of respect and politeness that matched with the humble Ilias's very own.

That was when suddenly, swirls of dark fluids formed underneath the feet of each of the Wave users. At the same time, dark shadows illuminated over each of the three remaining strongholds before a veil of darkness and silence cut them off cleanly from the outside world.

"So this is their move..." Ilias said as his body slowly sinks into the fluid, a chilling sensation crawling up from his feet, "I suppose I will see you all...later."

"Come on, Ilias! Say the thing!" Dolly said, her short arms waving in the dark fluid. Ilias smiled warmly, and he waved his fingers in the air.

"Be careful out there, Dolly."

"AWW! How can anyone hate this man!" Dolly fainted back, her heart taken by the earnest boy, "Why don't you learn a thing or two from Ilias, bro?"

Ajax, Dolly's brother shrugged before he squatted down, getting fully engulfed by the dark fluids first. In the meanwhile, the girl with blue mohawk, Icy, and Bez shared a glance with one another before they both submerged into the fluids.

No words were needed between these two members of the strongest squad. All five of them belonged here in this very position, and they would fight to defend their honor and prove their power. They did not care for whoever's attacking, or whatever plans their opponents may have.

All they need to do is to show off their overwhelming strength, and walk over the bodies of their adversaries.

Bez, the man with his body nearly split in half, looked on with his functioning eye as a trio of figures emerged from beyond the treeline. The air smelled like burned grass, and a faint yellow shadow coated over the earth.

"Oh...hahaha...how interesting..." Bez let out a slow chuckle as the faces of the figures became more apparent through the haze, "So this is your plan, bringing each and everyone of us all the way out here?"

"That's right." The voice of Yuna came through the middle before she dropped into a low lunge, the outline of a tiger forming over her smooth brown skin as her eyes sharpened, "Better unleash your better half right now."

"Oh...don't you worry." Bez reached across, his fingers glowing before he yanked away the chains that were looped around his body, "You shall see him soon enough."

A blast of air nearly blew aside the yellow haze that bathed the forest around them, and the left side of Bez's body awoke with black veins pulsing underneath his skin. A demonic smile filled that half of his face, and an animistic growl accompanied the bone chilling aura he now carried as the mouth opened, exposing the slimy fangs.

"So...who are we eating today?"