SSS Awakening: Conquering Worlds with My Cupid System

[HAS VALECREST ALREADY WON?]

This was what the entirety of New Liberty was currently seeing as the headline for the Inter-Academy Selection Tournament. The tournament was being broadcast across all the media stations and social media platforms.

Currently, it was only the City Qualifiers for City A that was being streamed, and everyone seemed to have the same thought, which was projected as the headline. The earlier battle was a testament to that.

Unlike the academies, which were struggling, Valecrest seemed to be just strolling through. It was as if nothing posed a serious challenge to them. Everyone in City A knew of Silas and Chloe, the new S-Ranks.

Everyone in New Liberty was aware of their presence in the tournament, but no one expected that their team members would be terrifying in their own right, especially the feminine-looking boy and the Amazonian girl.

The headline projected the people’s thoughts, but the tournament was for three days. It wasn’t yet over. Anything could happen.

***

The Blackridge Expanse was enormous.

That fact became increasingly obvious the deeper the academies ventured into it.

From above, the region looked almost like an enormous forested city that nature had swallowed whole. Mountains rose in the distance, rivers cut through valleys, and enormous trees formed canopies so thick that sunlight barely reached the ground.

Somewhere within that wilderness, six academies were pursuing six distinct objectives, and each believed they were the main characters of this tournament. They were about to learn otherwise.

***

Ironwood Saints Academy...

BOOM!

A massive fist slammed into the ground.

The impact created a crater several meters wide. A monstrous creature, nearly five meters tall, stumbled backward, roaring as dust covered its body.

"Again!"

A young man charged through the dust. He wore heavy green-and-silver armor, and a massive battle axe rested in both hands. His name was Marcus Steelhart, one of Ironwood Saints Academy’s strongest students.

He swung, and the monster’s arm snapped sideways. Before it could recover, another student appeared behind it.

"Hold it!"

Chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the monster’s legs and torso, dragging it downward.

"Now!"

Marcus grinned. "My pleasure."

He raised his axe. The weapon descended, and the monster collapsed. The surrounding forest became quiet. Marcus planted his axe against the ground.

"That’s one."

A girl standing nearby checked a holographic map. "Territory One secured."

Ironwood Saints had been assigned a simple objective. Capture three designated monster territories. Simple did not mean easy. Each territory contained an unusually dense population of monsters. Rather than avoid them, Ironwood Saints had decided to do the opposite.

They were going to take the territories by force. Their leader, Marcus, looked toward the distant mountains.

"Move."

One of his teammates frowned.

"We just finished."

"And?" Marcus picked up his axe. "We need three."

The team followed. Their first territory belonged to them; their second would soon follow, but they didn’t know that another academy was approaching the same region.

***

New Liberty Vanguard Academy...

Farther south, another team was having a completely different problem.

"Why is the convoy so slow?!"

A young woman screamed while running beside an armored transport vehicle. The convoy consisted of five enormous military-grade trucks. Each was packed with supplies.

The objective was straightforward. Protect the convoy. Unfortunately, the Blackridge Expanse had other plans.

A roar echoed from the trees, causing everyone to stop. The convoy drivers immediately accelerated.

"CONTACT!"

A monster crashed through the forest, followed by another, then five more. The students of New Liberty Vanguard immediately formed a defensive line.

"Protect the trucks!"

A student slammed both hands together, and a wall of earth rose from the ground. A monster crashed into it, and the wall cracked.

The student gritted his teeth.

"That’s stronger than the briefing said!"

A second student raised his rifle.

"Don’t let them reach the convoy!"

Gunfire erupted.

The monsters charged. The students fought back. One of the trucks suddenly swerved.

"What happened?!"

The driver shouted through the communication system.

"Something is underneath us!"

Everyone froze. The ground beneath the convoy began moving. Then...

BOOOOOOM!

A gigantic creature burst from underground. The rear truck was thrown into the air.

"PROTECT THE SUPPLIES!"

The Vanguard students rushed toward it. Their objective had suddenly become much more difficult, but they weren’t giving up, because unlike the other academies, their mission wasn’t about reaching a location or collecting resources.

Their mission was about protecting something, and if even one truck was destroyed, their score would suffer. Their leader looked toward the forest.

"We’re not letting anything through." His eyes hardened. "Not even if we have to die here."

***

Aethercrest Academy...

The atmosphere around Aethercrest was completely different. While Ironwood Saints fought, and New Liberty Vanguard defended, Aethercrest walked carefully.

Their team moved through an ancient section of the forest where the trees were much older than those surrounding them.

Their leader, a silver-haired girl named Seraphina Vale, held a strange compass in her hand. It wasn’t pointing north. Instead, the needle pointed toward the ground.

"Thirty meters."

The group stopped. One student looked around.

"There’s nothing here."

Seraphina shook her head. "There is."

She knelt. Her fingers brushed against the dirt.

"Something is beneath us."

Aethercrest’s students immediately began clearing the area. Someone suddenly gasped.

"I found something."

A stone surface appeared beneath the soil. It was covered in symbols. Seraphina’s expression changed.

"Everyone, stop."

She crouched. Her fingers traced the ancient markings.

"This isn’t part of the modern world."

One student swallowed.

"Is it... an awakened ruin?"

"Older."

"Older than the Rift era?"

"Much older."

The team exchanged glances. Their objective was to locate an ancient structure, and they had found it, but Seraphina didn’t look happy.

She stared at the symbols. There was something about them she didn’t like.

"Don’t touch anything."

A student raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

Seraphina slowly stood.

"Because this structure wasn’t built to be found."

A cold breeze passed through the trees. Then something deep beneath the ground made a sound.

THOOM.

Everyone froze. Seraphina’s eyes narrowed.

"We’re not alone."

***

Blackstone Academy...

Meanwhile, Blackstone had discovered the easiest way to complete their objective: Kill everything, take the cores, and repeat.

"NEXT!"

A monster was thrown into the middle of a clearing. Five students immediately attacked, and the monster fell. A student extracted its core.

"Twenty-seven!"

Another student raised his weapon.

"Twenty-eight!"

Another monster appeared.

"Twenty-nine!"

Their team had turned monster hunting into an assembly line. Blackstone Academy’s objective was to accumulate monster cores, and they were taking it very seriously. Their leader, Darius Blackwell, stood nearby with his arms crossed.

"Efficiency."

One student wiped blood from his cheek.

"Boss, we’ve been fighting for two hours."

"So?"

"I’m tired."

Darius looked at him. "Then kill faster."

"..."

Nobody argued. Another monster charged, but the student sighed.

"Fine." He raised his weapon. "Thirty."

BOOM!

The monster died, and the core dropped. Blackstone’s numbers continued climbing, but their greed had a problem. The more monsters they killed, the more attention they attracted.

Something in the Expanse was beginning to notice them.

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