Seeing the wall of golden flames, Castiel could only smile because victory was only a step away.

"I win!" Castiel cast flame cloak and just as Blake had done, he risked his skin and stepped into the flames.

​​

"No, you don't…"

When Castiel dashed through the wall of golden flames he couldn't help but curse because not only were the flames hotter than expected, but there was another wall of flames.

'Shit!' Having no intention of becoming barbeque, he used his remaining mana to increase the power of the flame cloak to reduce the hotness of the flames but to his utmost surprise, the moment he crossed through the last wall of flames he saw multiple wind blades coming his way.

"F*ck me!" Having run out of energy and close to zero mana, Castiel could only watch the wind blades assaulted him causing the golden barrier from the badge to protect him from the attacks.

"Winner, Luciano!" The activation of the life-saving mechanism of the badge marked the end of the match.

"You need to be more original. I had prepared for Blake's suicidal attacks, so dealing with you was easy." Luciano gave Castiel a hand and lifted him from the floor.

"Nice match guys, that was breathtaking..." Blake said with a smile as Castiel and Luciano joined them.

"I feel good knowing we all made it into the top 5..." Blake said with a relaxed expression.

"It would have been the top 4 but Beyoni was lucky enough to be paired against his weakness so late into the tournament." Brian shook his head in disappointment.

"How am I his weakness?" Blake asked with a confused expression.

"I don't know how you do it but you are everyone's weakness. I have a feeling you would have even handled Damon or Castiel way better than Luciano." All of them nodded at Brian's words, Luciano included.

[Not sure how they know you can easily counter the darkness element, but I agree with what he says.] The system could only agree to Brian's words.

Without including the space element, Blake's combination of fire and lightning element made him a force to be reckoned with. If he was to face a submerger he would easily win the fight with the help of lightning element.

Even if he was to fight against a water and Earth user which is meant to be his counter he would bombard him/her with a barrage of attacks and since water and earth aren't offensive they wouldn't able to do anything but wait for their defeat.

As for the darkness element, it was the easiest for him to counter. All he needed was the systems sensory skills and the darkness users location will be as clear as day, that was why he didn't worry much about Damon.

'I guess he is right…' Blake thought.

…

Back in the principal's office. After the 5th round, a warp gate suddenly opened.

"Your Highness, what brings you here?" Principal Lovren asked as he stood up and bowed.

Just a moment ago he and the prince were watching the match between Luciano and Castiel. So it was quite surprising that he came to meet him because if there was a problem the communication link was still on.

"To watch the finale one needs a drink." Prince Bryon said with unhidden enthusiasm as he found a seat and took out a 2-century old wine from his dimensional amulet.

"…" Principal Lovren was stunned by prince Bryon's reaction and didn't know how to react.

"Don't stand there the wine won't drink itself." Prince Bryon beckoned for Principal Lovren to take a seat.

"Who is your bet on?" Principal Lovren asked.

"Blake of course… What of yours?" Bryon glanced at him before he turned his attention back to the screen.

"…" Once again Principal Lovren was stunned. He didn't expect Bryon to deny his brother so outrightly. Although he knew the prince must have weighed the advantages and disadvantages of both fighters, he didn't expect him to be that blunt.

Quickly getting out of his reverie, Principal Lovren answered. "Blake…"

From everything he had seen so far, principal Lovren couldn't deny that the odds we're against Luciano. Apart from Blake having superior firepower, Luciano had used a lot of mana from his fight with Castiel.

He had used a lot of AOE spells and had maintained the wind domain for quite some time and even though a lot of time was given to them to rest, Blake's mana reserve would be greater than that of Luciano giving him an added advantage.

"Nice choice. You should already know that there should be a reason that Luciano hadn't challenged Blake yet. There might be other reasons but knowing him full well, Luciano isn't someone that would fight a losing battle." Bryon said.

"This should be a match to test Blake's strength without many repercussions and even if he is strong enough to defeat Blake he would still lose not to give away his true strength before the real challenge... That's what I would do, don't know about him." Bryon chuckled when he realized he had been thinking aloud.

…

In a room in which the professors of different years were watching the live feed, instructor Zirrack entered through a warp gate.

"You all were here when I proposed the bets should be only on the top 3 students to keep things simple and mitigate everyone's loss, but the greater majority decided to make things more exciting. So, I am here to collect what's mine." Instructor Zirrack said with a grin that made many in the room frown.

The main reason he had organized the knockout exam was to host a bet where he could get a lot of rare materials from the professors who were unlucky enough to lose their bets.

At first, they complained that their options were too simple so they included the option of predicting how far a student of their choice would go in the competition and this increased the odds of the bets meaning greater returns, but things didn't go as most had expected.

Almost all of the professors had placed their bets on the top 10 students to reach at least the 4th round, but things began going downhill when Haldor the rank 4 lost in the first round to Beyoni, while the rank 5 lost to the rank 3 in the 3rd round while the rank 3 who many had bet to reach the 5th round lost in the 4th round.

Chaotic!

That was the entire knockout exam in one word, but Instructor Zirrack didn't care about what they thought of the exam.

'Hand them all to me… Haha.' Instructor Zirrack's usually dull eyes lit up when he saw the number of materials he collected from those that lost their bets.

"Now for those who are still in the bets, we shall know the winners and losers after this match." Instructor Zirrack announced before turning to Alfred the alchemist professor. Alfred was a man with a slim build, standing at 193 cm (6′4″). He had brown hair and a perfectly shaved goatee with emerald-colored eyes.

(AN: You guessed it right. It is the same Alfred that gave Instructor Zirrack a potion that caused him explosive diarrhea… XD)

"Since you placed your bet on Luciano and mine on Blake, why don't we make a personal bet. If Luciano wins you get 2 king-ranked beast cores, but if Blake wins I get 2 bottles of your rejuvenation potions. So what do you think?." Instructor Zirrack proposed an offered that shocked the other professors in the room, professor Tacitus most especially.

Zirrack had the moniker "Kingslayer" because he had a record of having hunted and killed over 20 king-ranked beasts. This also meant he might have that same number of king ranked beast cores which were sorted out by many but had no market price. Beast cores of that rank could be used by high-level cultivators since the cores of lower ranks were proving to be inefficient, also they could be used to make powerful arrays and enchantments to weapons, amours, etc.

On the other hand, there was the rejuvenation potion that almost on par on rarity when compared to the king ranked beast cores.

The rejuvenation potion was able to completely replenish the mana, energy, and mental strength of the user. It might not sound like much to those in low realms but when it was used by those with astronomical mana capacity its effects could be said to be heavenly.

"Make it one bottle of the rejuvenation potion and it is a deal." Professor Alfred counter proposed as he stroked his goatee.

Not only were the resources needed to craft the rejuvenation potion rare, but there were a lot of troubles in harvesting them even after finding them.

"Deal!" Instructor Zirrack said with a smile as he shook professor Alfred's hands to seal the deal.