System's POV

Chapter 737  Knights Of The Apocalypse [Part 1]

A day after Thirteen made the announcement, all the Wanderers who were part of the tournament received a copy of the rules of the Special Event the teenage boy orchestrated.

Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, and Group 4 would all be sent to different locations within the world of GANDAM.

Thirteen had decided to finish the elimination rounds in one fell swoop, with only two people surviving in each group.

The rules were simple—eliminate as many as you can, and the top two would fight in the semifinals of their respective brackets.

But, this was not a simple elimination match.

There was a twist in it.

The losers would only have one life, while those who won the tournament had two.

This meant that, after the winners were eliminated once, they would randomly spawn somewhere on the map and get a second chance to secure victory.

But for the losers, once they were eliminated, they would no longer be able to advance in the tournament.

Simply put, it was a Royal Rumble Death Match.

Eliminating one of the opponents would earn the participant one point. If the participant was completely eliminated, all the points they had gained would be transferred to the person who defeated them.

Of course, the previous winners who had two lives in the tournament would only have their points transferred to the one who defeated them after they were taken down. This was the advantage they possessed over the others.

The Death Match would last for ten hours and would only end when there were only two people remaining on the battlefield.

To ensure that the battle would end in ten hours, Thirteen created a map that shrunk as time went by.

During the last hour, if the participants were still hesitant to fight each other, Rank 7 Sovereigns would appear on the map.

They would then randomly target any of the survivors and eliminate them from the tournament.

The Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families backed this special event and even gave Thirteen bribes—errr, donations to make sure that his idea would be actualized, allowing the Prodigies of their families a second chance to have a comeback.

The Winners in the tournament had taken these changes in stride.

Some of them had even secretly contacted each other, forming alliances to ensure that they would be able to come on top of their respective brackets.

Naturally, the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families were using the short break as a means to hold secret meetings and negotiations with each other.

Of course, this meant that those who were not affiliated with them also had private meetings, including the Hero Party, Thirteen's Squad Captains, and the teenage boy's siblings.

Thirteen didn't attend any of these meetings and took a hands-off approach.

At least, that was what it looked like on the surface.

While everyone was thinking that he was off doing something else, he was actually in a secret meeting with Clark Ashford, Char Lotte, and Vincent Osborn, who had all lost in their respective battles.

"Well, then. Are you guys interested in forming a team together?" Thirteen asked, making the three look at each other with frowns on their faces.

"We're in different group brackets," Clark was the first to reply. "How can we form teams together?" Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Thirteen smiled and clasped his hands behind his back.

"They say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend," Thirteen replied. "Although you are in different Group Brackets, don't you have friends in other brackets?"

"Why are you doing this?" Char, who still didn't understand Zion's purpose for doing such a thing, asked. "Did you have some kind of agreement with our Families to give us this second chance to participate in the tournament?"

"Yesn't," Thirteen replied. "This special event wasn't part of the program, and I simply made it on the spot. Of course, I have my reasons for doing so, and part of it is to prevent ill feelings between the different factions.

"By adding this special event, your families will no longer hold any grudges against the winners of the tournament. After all, you guys have been given a second chance."

Vincent nodded, finally understanding why this Special Event was made.

The first ones to be eliminated in the tournament had been the Seeded Candidates from the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families.

The winners were the members of the Hero Party and Thirteen's Squad Captains, as well as the teenage boy's siblings.

The results must be difficult to stomach for the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families.

They probably thought that Zion Leventis took this route because he was worried that they would hold grudges and harm the winners in the tournament using subtle means.

What they didn't know was that, the main reason Thirteen went through all the trouble was due to his dissatisfaction with the result of Roland's and Clark's battle.

If Roland had won with his abilities and was conscious during the process, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to change the program of the tournament.

However, Fate intervened and activated Roland's Plot Armor, allowing him to win his battle while being unconscious.

This was something he couldn't accept, so he decided to flip the table and start all over again.

"Also, my main reason for gathering the three of you is because I plan to create a Secret Organization among Wanderers," Thirteen said with a smile.

Char's expression turned solemn because the wish that Thirteen asked of her was to become part of his Secret Organization. "A secret organization?" Clark crossed his arms over his chest. "And what's the goal of this organization?"

He found Zion's objective quite amusing.

Clark was the scion of the mighty Ashford Clan and could get anything he wanted if he wished for it.

For him, joining some kind of organization wouldn't bring him any benefits whatsoever.

However, he had to admit that Zion Leventis was a very interesting individual, and he had this kind of charisma that made him want to listen to whatever he was going to say next.

"The name of this organization will be called Knight of the Apocalypse," Thirteen explained. "And once you join it, you cannot leave it even if you want to."

Thirteen paused as he gave the three teenagers a solemn gaze.

"The goal of this organization is to open the doors of the Apocalypse," Thirteen stated. "Open the doors of the Apocalypse?" Char asked in a teasing tone. "Are you talking about the end of the world? You want the world to end?"

Her voice sounded mischievous, but when she saw how serious Thirteen's expression was, she realized that the teenage boy was serious.

"Mmm, something like that," Thirteen answered. "Don't worry, we have milk and cookies. I'll make sure that all of you are fed well."

The three teenagers exchanged glances with each other, not knowing if they should take Zion's words seriously or not.

"Let's say that we join this secret organization of yours," Vincent said with a helpless smile on his face. "What are the benefits? And how can you be so sure that we can't leave it? Heck, how can you be certain that we will not divulge these secrets to others?"

Thirteen smiled faintly because these questions were the questions that he was waiting to be asked.

Of course, he planned to answer them all as honestly as he could because he didn't want them to think that he had tricked them into joining his organization.

He then began to explain the pros and cons of joining his organization.

The more Vincent, Clark, and Char listened to his explanation, the weirder their expressions became.

All three of them were thinking that he was just talking nonsense because Zion said that once they were part of their organization, they would have Majin Princes, Majin Princesses, and even an existence that was similar to a God as their sponsors.

Clark was starting to regret joining this meeting and was starting to think that Zion was a nutjob.

Vincent, on the other hand, was doing his best to keep the smile on his face from breaking due to how incredulous Thirteen's explanation was.

Char blinked once then twice, and he wondered if Zion had been kicked by a Majin King in the head.

The more the three teenagers listened to him, the more they thought that the teenage boy was trying to drag them to a sketchy organization and squeeze the three of them dry, draining the resources of their respective families in the process.