My System: An Evolved Computer I Made With My Unique Ability—

The audience started cheering hysterically as soon as it was announced. Well, what's better than a two-way match? Of course, a three-way match. More chaos, more unpredictability,  unexpected alliances, and betrayal. All of those could only be experienced in a three-way fight. This wasnt the first time a three-way fight became part of the Inter-High Tournament so no one found it weird that it became the finals.

"Three-way fight? I knew it." Fuuka muttered to herself.

"Yeah, I guess not all of us are going to fight, huh," Hiroshi told himself, crestfallen. Although he was looking forward to getting on the stage just like any others. They knew that a three-way fight is limited only to three or five matches. And just like before, they had to choose representatives amongst themselves.

"Don't worry, if anyone wants to fight then just say it out loud. I'll be backing out of this match." Satoshi called out to everyone. Unlike the second round where he fought everyone single-handedly, he deemed it best to let everyone get the spotlight even though that would lower their chances of getting the trophy for this year's Inter-High Tournament. Quite frankly, Satoshi didn't really care about the title... all his wishes were already fulfilled when he got a superpower, got into his dream school, and even got the opportunity to enter the Inter-High. All of those experiences were more than enough for him. That's why he didn't think twice about putting the others in the spotlight.

"Ehrmm," Tuxedo cleared his throat before proceeding with his speech. "The three-way match will have a grand total of five rounds. Now, let me state the rules for everyone. Participants, please listen carefully since I"m only going to say this once."

Everyone gulped as silence befell the entire Inter-High Coliseum.

"First would be the Picks! In a three-way match, there will be three participants so the first pick would be at a disadvantage. Every round we will be having a pick instead of letting the management decide. This way, we can watch our dear high schoolers strategize first-hand."

"The first one to put up their pick for the corresponding round will receive 50 points under their name. The second pick will get 100 points. And lastly, the third pick will receive 150 points. Now, you might think that this is unfair since the third pick has the most points. But! This means that the first pick will always get more points if he was able to defeat the other picks. Pretty fair, right? If you look at it objectively, the first pick can get a grand total of 250 points if he wins, the second pick can get a grand total of 200 points, and the third pick can get 150 points. And yes, the points assigned to you can only be claimed by your opponents, not by yourself when you win. The more points you have under your name, the more you're at a disadvantage."

"Now, one might think that getting the first pick puts you at an advantage... no, it increases your chance of being defeated because the second and third pick could simply pick out their teammates who could easily defeat you. Think about all that before you choose your path in this last round."

"Also, the winner of the previous round could either back down or continue on to the second round if he or she wants to. That means, winning the previous round will earn you the right to get the first pick. BUT! You can only get that first pick if you go to the next round as the winner of the previous round. If not, then the first pick would be given to the two schools who lost the previous round."

As the leader of the USA Candidates, Satoshi knew that it was up to him to come up with a strategy. But before he could do anything, everyone else in his team raised their hands in an instant. All of them seemed to have a plan in mind and as much as he hated to admit it, he was the only one clueless as to what the plan was about.

"We're getting the First Pick for the first round!" Hiroshi screamed out loud, obviously laying out a challenge towards the Flowing Wave Academy and the Great Mountain Academy.

"Hoh, it seems like the United Superheroes Academy wants to give us a show. Let's give them a round of applause!" Tuxedo screamed, extending his hands as he addressed the audience, to which the audience responded by cheering and hollering much louder than usual. "Now that we've got the First Pick for the first round... you should announce the name of your representative so we can get the ball rolling."

"MIDORIYAMA SATOSHI!" Everyone shouted in unison, much to Satoshi's surprise.

"W-w-what?! What are you all doing? Didn't I tell you that I'll back out in this one? I thought you all wanted to fight in the third round?" Satoshi hissed. He didn't want to cause a scene so his voice was much quieter than normal.

"This is retribution, Satoshi, for disappearing from our sight." Sassu pointed out.

"Yeah, as our leader, you shouldn't have done that. Now it's your turn to redeem yourself in our point of view." Hiroshi said. The reason why he looked crestfallen a few moments ago wasn't that they already planned for Satoshi to be the First Pick of the first round.

After all, that was just half of the plan.

"Guys," Satoshi called out a second time but Midori already activated his Berserker Superpower and dragged Satoshi towards the Stage.

"We will get the Second Pick!" Saturn, from the Flowing Wave Academy, called out. "Oculus, you're up."

"What?! ME?!" Oculus said, wondering why their leader picked him when he cannot even stand a chance against Satoshi. He was aware of that since he has already watched plenty of materials from Satoshi's previous fights.

"Yes, you know what to do." Saturn continued.

"Oh, so that's what you were talking about," Oculus said. As he glanced to the side, he saw that Aljier, the leader of the Great Mountain Academy, was inconspicuously nodding at Saturn.

The alliance between the Great Mountain Academy and the Flowing Wave Academy couldn't be any more obvious.

"Grior, you're up," Aljier said. He didn't have to announce that their school is the Third Pick since that was the last pick anyways.

During the second round, Oculus only used one of the perks of his superpower since he knew that they'd be able to get into the Third Round anyways. In short, he didn't feel cornered during the second round thanks to the incredible leadership of Saturn, their leader. But now that they're in the third round, it's a different matter altogether. His superpower is pyrokinesis and he decided to not hold back. As for Grior, his superpower is wind manipulation. It might not be as powerful as the superpowers in his team, but it should be mentioned that he's the best wind manipulator in their school and that's why he was picked out as a candidate for the Inter-High Tournament. With his expertise in wind manipulation and his ally who can use pyrokinesis, they knew that they have a chance of defeating Satoshi.

Satoshi stepped forward, feeling rather guilty, not because he didn't want to fight, but because he was chosen against his will. He didn't know what his friends were thinking and he assumed that they deemed this the best option to win even though they wanted to experience fighting in the Inter-High Tournament.

Unbeknownst to him, though, everyone already knew what he was up to last night and they knew just how much hardship Satoshi had to go through just to save the world. His identity may not be in the news but based on what they heard from Satoshi's parents, he really was the one behind the cleared Gates all around the globe. They didn't know how to cheer Satoshi up so they decided to just give him the opportunity to win a landslide victory so he would at least feel better.

"With all the picks in place, I guess I should signal the First Round before someone started complaining haha~~~ Here we go! Ready! Start!"

The first thing That Grior did was surround Satoshi with heavy walls of winds, trapping him inside a tornado. In an instant, Oculus realized what Grior implied so he lit the walls of winds on fire. Oculus knew that ordinary fire won't affect Satoshi since he's got insane regeneration skills so he broke through his limiter and produced fire more intense than the sun's heat. This caused the thin layer of the protective dome to break but fortunately, the coliseum was too big so the flames didn't go to the audience.

"With this, Satoshi would burn and admit defeat... if by any chance he wasn't affected by this, then he'll just run out of oxygen and asphyxiate." Grior told Oculus.

"Be prepared. As soon as we defeat Satoshi, we'll be fighting against each other." Oculus smirked.

"You know..."

"... You really shouldn't count your chickens before they're hatched." A voice came from behind them.