Kai watched Nicolas’ match with rapt attention. After all, there was a chance he might have to fight against him if he made it through the next round. Nicolas’ style of sword fighting was similar to his own. He relied on his power to pressure and crush his opponents. Even with the great sword in his hands, he was agile and dexterous.

A scream rang out as Nicolas literally chopped off his opponent’s arm. The healers would be able to fix that in a matter of minutes, but it still left psychological scars on those who couldn’t handle the pain and trauma. Kai wasn’t proud of this, but the first time he lost a limb, he ended up hiding in a city for a month. Despite his limb being restored not even a day later, he wasn’t willing to go out until Lucian dragged him out of the city and back into a fight.

In any unsurprising victory, Nicolas was announced as the winner, and the first among all the students to make it into the finals.

Kai was up on his feet the moment he heard his name. He gave a side glance to his opponent, Michael Wilson, a student whom he had often sparred against in his melee tactics class. If he was being honest, he probably lost more times than he won against Michael. The man was a prodigal sword user, and while Kai had put in an incredible amount of effort training this year, Michael trained often despite his tremendous natural skill.

Michael was well known among the first years for being the strongest fire magic-user. It was an impressive title considering fire was one of the most popular and common element types among humans in the Ashboune Kingdom. If Nicolas hadn’t attended the academy, Michael would have been the favorite to win the tournament.

[Human – Forging Level 21]

With dirty blonde hair, Michael stood a head taller than Kai. He possessed a roguishly handsome face that had been rumored to help him bed a quarter of the female students. Despite his rumored activities, Kai found himself liking Michael. The man was down to earth and lacked the arrogance typically seen in those who stood at the top of their year.

Michael was one of the students he had honestly hoped not to fight. If Nicolas or Michael could have knocked each other out of the running, his run in the tournament would have been a lot easier. He had long acknowledged Michael as one of his greatest obstacles to winning the tournament. The man gave him a feeling similar to Allister of the third-year students. They both had great focus and drive. As the son of a mere knight, Michael had ascended to his current level without any family aid.

Imitating Kai’s previous opponents, Michael began unequipping his armor, knowing it would do nothing but slow him down in the fight against Kai. It was a calculated risk and a smart one. Kai would have nothing to damage him at a distance. And all Michael had to do was be the better swordsman as they fought. If Kai couldn’t best Michael with his sword, even under his own gravity, then he would have no chance of winning. Unfortunately, his gravity wasn’t strong enough to completely debilitate Michael.

Heading out to the arena, he left his mace with Nicolas. There was a time and place for such a brutish weapon, but this wasn’t it. Michael and he had both spared together with swords in their class and so their match would be concluded with swords. Besides Kai was under no illusion that he was adept at using the mace yet. It would hinder him more than help in this match where the sword would bring victory or defeat.

Out on the field, Michael gave him a grin. “I can see from your smile that you are looking forward to this,” Michael said.

Kai didn’t even know he was smiling. “I could say the same about you,” Kai chuckled, looking at the wide grin coming from Michael.

He looked at Michaels’ bare torso. The man had even removed his shirt. Thankfully he had kept his pants on. “Are you sure you don’t want to wear armor? Aren’t you cold?” Kai teased.

Shaking his head, Michael readied his longsword. “I’m sure my fire will warm us both up!”

Without waiting for the announcer to officially start the match, Michael ran to Kai, longsword at the ready. [Gravity Pillar] fell into place onto Michael, his speed visibly slowing. Still, he ran out of it quickly. Halfway to Kai, Michael let go of his sword with one hand and put out a palm facing Kai. A fireball shot out of his hand across the field quickly. There was no way Kai was bold or confident enough to take a fireball head-on, even if he thought he would survive it. He jumped to the side as [Lightfoot] came into play. Still, he felt the heat scorch his right side as it passed by. For a moment he felt his step become even lighter before it returned to normal.

Right as Michael came into his domain range, he activated it. Instantly, Michael’s eyes darkened as he stepped into the gravity field. Holding his hand over the bottom of his blade, he swept it up to the top, causing fire to sprout and surround his blade.

Walking up to each other, they held their blades in guard positions, as they circled one another. Since Michael had the longer blade and arms, Kai decided to strike first and not let him dictate control of the match. Their swords clashed as fire licked Kai’s blade.

Heat emanated from Michael as his skin began turning red. In response, Kai’s armor glowed even more brightly, the wisps more pronounced as it absorbed the heat from his opponent and lightened its weight.

Kai’s initiative didn’t last long as he felt himself backing up slowly. Michael had begun pressuring him. Avoiding a stab to his stomach, Kai sidestepped and struck back at Michael’s arm, only to be repelled. Swinging wide, Michael’s sword swung at his side. Turning his body, Kai blocked the blow by jumping back to dissipate the force.

Kai’s arms strained as he blocked another strike from Michael. The man was showing that even encumbered slightly, he could perform his sword abilities. Using his favorite overhead strike, he knocked Michael’s sword out of the way as the gravity increased the power of his strike down, as it pulled on both sword and arms. Before he could capitalize on Michael’s broken defense, his boot kicked away Kai’s sword in a surprising move.

The battle quickly turned into a dance. Both matched each other as they gracefully fought. Even the slightest mistake could mean losing or death. The roar of the audience had dimmed. Kai’s focus was purely on the individual in front of him. Each shift and movement gave away Michael’s next move.

The stalemate was broken when Michael’s blade pushed past him bashing on his shoulder guard. The powerful blow wrenched his body down for a moment. Kai was immediately thankful Knock had created such wonderful armor. The tournament would have ended there if he hadn’t been wearing it.

Smashing his blade against Michael’s, heat licked Kai’s face as their blades held strong against each other. The flames on the sword were obstructing his view. Pulling his sword back, he broke the stalemate. As the flames shifted on the sword, Michael was grinning as an orange glow appeared to emulate from below his chest. Looking down, he realized his mistake as Michael launched a stream of fire into his own chest point-blank.

Kai’s eyes flashed white as he was temporarily blinded as fire flashed over his body and face. Stumbling back, he felt his armor lighten immediately. For a moment his armor lightened as it turned uncomfortably warm.

Everything had become blurry. Blinking didn’t help, his vision remained blurred. He felt the heat before it hit him. The next second fire once again washed over his face. There was a searing pain as his skin bubbled and burned. Inhaling was a mistake; the heat and smoke burned his lungs after one deep breath. His only saving grace was that he had managed to close his eyes before the flames reached his face.

Shuffling back, his domain still active as he tried to buy time for his eyesight to return. Through his fuzzy vision, he saw a pale and black silhouette approaching him quickly. Acting on pure instinct he guarded his body by placing his forearm in front of his body just as Michael’s sword slammed into the armor, wrenching it down. He muffled his cry as he jumped back. Pain flared up as he grabbed his sword’s handle with both hands. Might be broken, he thought.

Vision clearing, he suddenly created a [Gravity Well] behind Michael. With the changing orientation of gravity, Kai charged in the split second of Michael’s confusion and adjustment. Between the gravity well pulling on him and lightfoot, he reached Michael faster than the man had guessed. Kai could see it, Michael’s blade was still pulled back to strike at Kai, not expecting him to already be in front of him, nor had he accounted for the pull on his sword and arm, slowing him down slightly. Not wanting to accidentally kill Michael he lowered his shoulder and bulldozed into the unarmored man. Instead of falling, Michael jumped back with the blow, landing on his feet as he slid a few meters.

Recovering, they slammed their swords into each other. Ragged breaths escaped both of their mouths. Their blades pushed against each other in an attempt to gain the upper hand. The only problem was Kai started losing the pushing contest, as the pain in his arm crippled some of his strength.

Sliding his hand down the blunt side of the blade, he placed the palm of his hand at the tip end of his blade and pushed with renewed strength. Using the extra leverage, he dug his toes into the ground as he pushed even harder. His muscles strained as Michael began losing ground, moving back step by step. Their blades held strong despite the strain on them. He had to trust his blade wouldn’t break against a mere Forging realm human.

Drawing back suddenly with a hand on each side of the blade, Kai used [Heavy Blow] and crashed his sword into Michaels. The unexpected force caused Michael’s blade to fly out of his hands. Letting go of the top of the blade, he whipped his sword at the neck of a frozen Michael, stopping as it touched fleshed.

Michael’s mouth opened but no words came out. As his eyes found Kai’s he finally said, “I surrender.”

“Winner Kaismo!” screamed the announcer.

A group of healers appeared the next moment, healing his and Michael’s injuries the next second.

Returning to the waiting arena, he was greeted by the only remaining first-year left, Nicolas. Giving him a smile, Nicolas held out a blue vial that looked oddly familiar. “Here.”

Taking it, he gripped it tightly. “Why?” Kai asked. His mana was very low. It was likely that he and Nicolas would fight before Kai’s mana even returned to half, thus giving the prince the advantage.

“Why?” Nicolas laughed. “If I’m going to fight my best friend, then I want to match to be as even as possible.”

It was a small gesture, but the sides of Kai’s mouth curled up a little. Downing the potion, his mana began returning to him.

To this day, he still hadn’t told Nicolas of his intentions to go to Titan Prime. He briefly thought of telling him, but he quickly dismissed it. He felt bad but he didn’t want Nicolas to hold back when they fought. Only through winning the tournament legitimately would he earn the right to attend Prime Academy.

Anyone who watched the two for the next hour could tell Nicolas and Kai were good friends. The entire time the other years were concluding their semi-finals, they talked. Not about the upcoming match, but about anything else. If Kai was honest with himself, it helped ground his nerves.

It wasn’t much surprise when Allister made it into the finals. He was without a doubt the favorite to win, after having won the past two years.

“Now, the fight you have all been waiting for. Nicolas Gilmonash, the 12th Prince of the Ashbourne Kingdom, Ash Juggernaut, versus, Kaismo Cineris, Gravity Vanguard. Please come to the arena!”

Sitting next to Nicolas, he smirked at Kai. “You ready?” Nicolas asked, handing him his mace.

“Yea,” he said, standing. “Are you going to get in trouble when you lose?” Kai asked jokingly.

“A month or two in the dungeons. Not to worry, the rats will keep me company.”

They both ended up laughing as they walked out of the arena side by side. Separating, they each went to their respective side and turned to face the other.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he inhaled a deep breath of the warm humid air. The plan as always was to get next to his opponent and beat him down. Just this time it was one of his close friends. If he couldn’t go all out against Nicolas, he felt like he would have no chance if he ever confronted Lucian in the future.

His eyes shot open when suddenly there was the dreaded and familiar heaving of the earth. Within a few seconds, the intensity had already ramped up to the previous quake and then surpassed it. Sounds of crumbling rock, screaming and cries rang out all around.

Kai watched in horror as part of the audience’s seating collapsed, falling into the empty space of the waiting area below. Some people had taken flight, as they escaped the shaking of the ground.

Falling to his knees, he waited it out.

Less than a minute later, the shaking subsided. Guards were running around trying to help others. The royal booth was a flurry of activity, people leaving and coming at a rapid pace.

Exchanging looks with Nicolas; they both knew the finals would be put on hold. Then it happened again. Shaking. It wasn’t even close to as bad as before. The ground shook for a second then stopped. An aftershock? A few seconds later, there were heavy tremors again, only this time they were a little more intense. It wasn’t enough to knock down buildings or anything, but it could be felt.

Appearing as a prelude to a disaster, Akane teleported next to Kai. Not even sparing him a glance, she growled facing the location of the unseen Ashbourne Mountains. The enchantments blocked the sight of the ever-imposing mountains. The shaking and heaving of the ground intensified as it continued. It wasn’t like any earthquake he had ever felt. It was too… rhythmic.

Despite the injured and trapped people below, the arena began quieting down. It was the calm before the storm. The only thing ruining the silent moment was the increased shuddering and shaking every few seconds.

Then a sound the likes he had never heard before started reverberating throughout the city, loud and high pitched. Over the sound of the audience clamoring, he was able to make out what the sirens were for.

“Monster incoming!”