[Lex79]

I just wonder how you say Indra has been too hyped up in the story to lose his match against Mahabali. But then you say certain teams will win because we haven't seen much of them. Well we haven't seen much of Mahabali. And besides Indra being one of the Top 10 and being really hyped up as the most favored to win the tournament could be used to have him losing to Mahabali. Plus didn't Ishibumi say he wanted to focus on the young gods a bit and wouldn't Mahabali count as a young god?

When I say that characters we haven't seen much are going to win, I'm referring to characters I expect will have an important role in the story and need to be hyped and developed. This is the case for the super devils and the longinus users, not for Mahabali whose only role seems to be to be defeated by Balberith and Verrine to give credibility to their strength.

Diehauser never had an arc. If you're talking about his involvement with Qlippoth, that wasn't really anything except an jntroduction. I really can't imagine Diehauser losing against Zeno though even with two Super Devils on the team. And plus this won't be the last we see of Balberith and Verrine.

Blazor 98 answered perfectly to this point.

With Cao Cao meeting Vali in the semifinals, I.just don't see it. They have already fought each other before and I don't believe Ishibumi will have him face opponents he already has fought before in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

I simply don't see Surtr playing any major role in the story, plus Vali needs his revenge.

With Dulio vs Tobio, I thought the same thing at first. Then I remembered something. Back in Volume 11, when Dulio was first mentioned by name, it was mentioned that Dulio was at the top of Vali's 'want-to-fight' list. And besides the fact that Tobio has his own series seems to me the reason why he shouldn't win. I don't think Tobio should really get a whole lot of attention in DxD because he has his attention as the MC in his own series, Slash Dog. And I just don't see a fight happening between them considering it has already happened. And also if Dulio lost while having Rudiger as his supervisor, it would be kind of disappointing. It just seems more interesting if Vali had to overcome the 2nd most powerful Longinus, a team of Brave Saints(who have both the advantages of their cards and the evil pieces due to the tournament, and having Rudiger as Dulio's supervisor. It seems more likely Vali would have to overcome all of that instead of Vali facing someone he has already fought before. I just see this one going to Dulio.

To me it seems more interesting to have a big fight between Vali and Tobio, considering that we had a big fight between Issei and Dulio a few volumes ago. This could help developing Vali and make Tobio look cool, which in turn could help the sales of his own series.