“Well, it’s time for the tournament. Just in case you forgot the rules, I’m going to say them one more time.” Jonathan said, pointedly looking towards Vince who was getting a slap upside the head from Jade for his previous lack of attention.

“Unlike the inter-grade or single class only matches, the Inter-Class tourney works in a team format. How it works is that students from different classes will be pit against each other for the first battle, but from there it is possible to win until you would fight someone in your own class.” Jonathan said, drawing some shapes on the board of the classroom.

The tourney was set to start in an hour, so they had the time.

“For this tourney only, in the case you would fight someone of the same class, that person is instead added onto your team, and the two of you continue. If you lose once, you can’t fight again in the tournament, but in a team you can spread the fatigue.” Jonathan warned, and they got the idea.

If they ran into each other, they’d be able to cover each other’s weaknesses in a fight and multiply their strengths.

“In addition, for this tournament we have these.” Jonathan began to hand out bracelets to the students who each took them with confusion.

“These were created by the King of Light. They only work for people with two or three Stars of strength, but what they do is essentially a safety net.” Jonathan demonstrated…

Taking a spare bracelet, he put it on Edward who was the closest… then Jonathan punched the prince so hard he flew into the nearby wall.

A noticeable cracking sound was heard, but instead of it being bones or anything like that, it was the bracelet Edward just had placed on him… and Edward was seemingly alright.

“As you can see, he’s fine despite taking a hit that would probably liquefy the brain of a normal two Star Sage. These bracelets register your strength and will break only when you would die, or nearly die.” Jonathan explained as the students got Edward out of the wall…

The prince clearly looked quite disturbed with what just happened… the rest also felt disturbed but for them it was more about the fact that Jonathan was clearly holding back quite a bit during the rare times he sparred with them…

According to Jonathan he basically killed Edward in one hit, but Edward felt nothing… nor did he see anything…

Jonathan was actually too fast for any of them bar Liza to see when he hit Edward just now, and Liza only managed to see the moment of impact which had Jonathan’s knuckles brush the side of Edward’s head.

Once more, the casual display of power drove in the fact that the students weren’t as strong as they wanted to be.

“So if at any point your bracelet breaks, you’re out for the rest of the tournament. By the way, Liza, you won’t be fighting with your classmates, instead you’ll be placed with the other three Stars… in other words, the second and third years.” Jonathan warned…

Liza’s oddly determined look drew no surprise. She was the only three Star Sage amongst the first years, meaning that any fight involving her was technically unfair.

The only time she’d be allowed to face two Star Sages would be during the school-wide tournament in the third term. Along with the International Juniors, they were the only tournaments which featured matches between Sages with different amounts of Stars.

And while the motto of Sages, might makes right, applied to most of the school, it was also a fact that the tallest tree caught the most wind.

As the strongest first year student, Liza was actually too strong to be included amongst the rest of her year, forcing her to compete with people a year or two above her.

It sounded unfair but that was life. Liza would be alone against classes of students, and in all honesty no one truly expected her to win, it was basically impossible.

Knowing this, Kazuya placed a hand on Liza’s shoulder, getting her attention.

“Regardless of the result, try. You’ll be facing our seniors a whole three months before we do, meaning you’re our only chance of getting any information on them. Simply being there is a victory for us.” Kazuya didn’t try to appeal to her emotions…

Liza wasn’t much of an emotional person, ignoring her obsession with Kazuya and that time she cried in front of him, Liza rarely showed or acted upon her emotions.

So instead he appealed to her sense of logic.

“I understand. Observation.” Liza nodded in agreement, looking back to Jonathan who was smirking, having hoped that someone would catch what an opportunity this was for Liza.

“Okay, I also want you all to understand this… other than your spars with me and our occasional jaunt into the Mystic Zone managed by the school, this will be your first time working together in a fight, especially against another group.” Jonathan frowned, knowing that it was an issue only solved towards the end of the first or second years for students at Elem High.

“You know each other, and you know yourselves. Knowing your enemy is the last part of the battle, so I’m going to give you all some advice as your teacher. Vince is your most observant member, work around what he lets you know.” Jonathan’s suggestion was barely a surprise, with guns being his weapon, of course Vince had good vision…

But they understood the idea, watch their opponent, consider their own skills, consider the skills of their teammates, and work from there.

Leaving the room shortly after that, the students moved towards the stadium… noticing two identical ones next to the original.

Looking to Jonathan with blank faces, the teacher shrugged at the confusion on his students faces.

“The Headmaster knows a lot of people, including very powerful Earth Sages.” Ah, it made sense when that was taken into consideration.

“Okay… but why were they not there already?” Kazuya asked, Jonathan looking to the side.

“Well… we originally had three, but one was destroyed during a spar between Bobby and Kim, near the end of last year, and another was destroyed in a battle between Yusuf and Vera that took place on the same day.” Jonathan’s words drew blank stares from the students as they looked to the separate stadiums.

“It’s because of this that we no longer let S-Class students spar against each other during their third year, at least, they can’t spar in the stadium without supervision, we do something else for them.” Jonathan allowed, and that was once more a terrifying thing.

Granted, any of the students could probably destroy the stadium given time, but it sounded like the stadium(s) were just accidental damage in a battle between four Star Sages…

It reminded them of the power difference between Sages.

If a one Star Sage registered as ten times the strength of a normal human, then a two Star Sage registered at one hundred times the strength of a normal human. Three would be one thousand times, and four would be ten thousand times.

Again, it wasn’t that clear cut, but it was a scary thought, the difference between one hundred and ten thousand…

“Anyway, go ahead. The Headmaster will make sure no damage occurs for both Stadiums. Liza, follow me, we’ll be heading to the second Stadium.” Jonathan waved off his students, taking only their strongest member to the second Stadium.

“I’m guessing the first one is for two Star Sages, the second for three Stars, and the third for four Star Sages.” Kazuya’s words were agreed to by everyone, as that idea made sense…

It also had them all looking at the third Stadium with a shiver in their spines…

“Someday. For today though, we’ve got a tournament to win.” Edward said with a smirk as they arrived at the entrance to the stadium.

“Name, Element, Class and Rank?” a secretary-like person sat at the entrance, another on the other side of the entrance to ease the flow of traffic as the S-Class students all stood in the same line.

“Edward Valzard, my elements are Fire, Ice and Earth, first-year S-Class, rank three.” The long introduction had the secretary looking up from her work and using Sage Sight to confirm that Edward wasn’t just talking nonsense…

And also because his surname was a bit famous most likely…

“Okay then, here you go.” Kazuya admired her professionalism, after the initial scrutiny she showed no reaction and calmly did her job.

Stepping forward after Edward drew a number from a lottery, Kazuya introduced himself…

Once more the secretary had to look up, once more at the mention of his ‘Element’ of Essence.

Looking at the four behind Kazuya, the secretary only had a small twitch in her eye to show her emotions as she let them in one by one.

After moving past the entrance, the six S-Class Students were looking at their numbers.

Vince had drawn twenty two, so he was in the first quarter…

Jade drew a six so he would meet up with Vince first.

Kazuya had drawn forty five and was near at the end of the second quarter/first half.

Leah had drawn Forty four so she would meet up with Kazuya in after two fights.

Seventy four was the number assigned to Tony, being in the third quarter.

One hundred and three was Edward who was kept far away from the rest in the fourth quarter…

Looking at the strange tournament list, the group considered everything.

First, everyone would fight, halving the group of one hundred and six students to fifty three.

Depending on the results, the group of fifty three would either find themselves fighting again, or partnering up with a class mate, and the victor of the fight between 105 and 106 would get a pass to the third round, though whether that was a good thing or not would be up to chance.

This would continue with allowance for one student to occasionally get a free pass, but never the same student.

It was a complicated system, and the six S-Class students had to wonder how the school faculty planned to keep track of everything…

“Well, I’m up third, so I’ll move on.” Jade said, waving to the group as she moved to the prep-room, the others were allowed to enter the stands instead and watch.

It was a large crowd, and the S-Class was preparing to go search for a seat when they heard someone calling for the S-Class students.

Seeing ‘The Tyrant’ Bobby Dore holding a sign with ‘S-Class’ on it waiting for them was both funny and a bit wrong… nonetheless the group moved closer.

“Ah, there you all are… wait, where’s your rank one?” Bobby asked for a moment as Kazuya thumbed towards the exit.

“She’s a three Star Sage unlike the rest of us. She’s over at the second stadium… that being said, why are you here?” Edward explained Kazuya’s action while Bobby nodded in understanding.

“Well, I don’t really care about this tournament… it’s the only one where I can’t fight my classmates, and they’re the only ones who challenge me. So I was given a choice, either fight in the tournament or not. I chose not to.” Bobby’s explanation got narrowed eyes glaring at him.

“Was there any conditions to each decision?” Leah asked after a moment, and Bobby nodded as if realizing something.

“Oh yeah, if I fought then there’d be no problem, but if I don’t then my results will be grouped with the rest of the S-Class.” Bobby’s explanation worried the younger students.

“Bobby, so if your four classmates lose against the other one hundred, wouldn’t all five of you be expelled?” Edward asked with a raised brow getting a chuckle from Bobby.

“Please, there’s no way my classmates would lose to anyone other than me… okay, and Yusuf. Yusuf’s pretty strong, and he’s only rank five in our class due to outside circumstances. If he were judged accurately he’d probably be rank two.” Bobby admitted and again the students wondered at Bobby’s only male friend.

Only a Wind Element and yet in the S-Class, capable of challenging the strongest in said Class… it made a lot more sense now that they knew that Yusuf’s mother was Rabia Grant nee Baqri, the King of Wind.

It also explained, in hindsight, why Yusuf had a Middle Eastern name but his father a western one.

“Still a bit worrying, but okay.” Kazuya admitted as they took their seats… and then noticed the oddity.

“Um, Bobby, are we supposed to be sitting on velvet cushions with some food being served to us by waiters, in a stadium?” Vince asked, staring at the lavish food before them, though it would not make them full, they were fighting soon after all.

Also noticeable was the glares of the other Students who either had nothing or were eating a hot dog at best.

“Of course you should, you’re S-Class, you deserve pampering… though don’t eat too much.” Bobby fit right in, already working on his third steak…

Figuring that they should just go along, the students ate a little, watching the first and second fights with interest.

The first fight was between an A-Class student and a B-Class student, with the A-Class student winning after blasting the other off the stage with a wall of Fire.

The second fight unfortunately pitiful, a battle between a D-Class student and another A-Class student… the difference between power within Stars was obvious, though the D-Class student was weaker they notably tried hard and succeeded in pressuring the A-Class student a bit…

Kazuya wondered if that was due to their fight against the S-Class, the D-Class students respected them whenever they ran into each other, and on occasion one would challenge an S-Class student to try some new tactics.

It was for this reason that Kazuya considered the D-Class students a dark horse for this tournament, ignoring his own S-Class’s participation though.

But clearly the gap between D and A was a bit far to bridge at current… though Kazuya considered that some D-Class students might start swapping places with C-Class students.

The third fight arrived, and Jade stepped onto the stadium, getting cheers from the six (when including Bobby) S-Class students in the stands.

She notably glared at them for eating while she was fighting, but there was still a smirk on her face as she waved back, turning to her opponent, an A-Class student…

Well, that was luck of the draw right there, three A-Class students all in the first three matches? Had all three won their fights they would create a team pretty soon.

Had.

Jade’s opponent was a user of Earth, and she wielded a large war-hammer, swinging it at the ground in front of her to hinder Jade’s approach…

Unfortunately Jade had Light as one of her Elements, and Light was widely known as the fastest Element. Such a slow weapon and form of attack would never hit Jade in such conditions, as Jade appeared next to the surprised girl, pointing her rapier at her throat.

Without a single attack hitting, the third match was over, Jade’s victory.

She soon appeared in the stands to eat with the rest of the group as she watched the following fights along with her classmates.

The following fights were as expected with the exception of a case where a C-Class student defeated a B-Class student, and another soon after with a B-Class student defeating an A-Class student.

“They’re pretty lucky, for this inter-class tournament, if you defeat someone from a higher class then you will swap places with that person after the tournament. Of course if the winner is higher ranked nothing will happen though…” Bobby noted aloud as they looked at the end of the eighth fight.

“What if a team of D-Class students defeat an A-Class student though?” Jade asked, curious on how the faculty would take those situations.

“Well it depends, but normally not. If the teams were of equal size, yes, but if the weaker one has a certain amount of members then it would be negated. For D-Class students… they can have double the C-Class students, three times as many as the B-Class, and four times as many as the A-Class.” The ratio made a bit of sense to the six as they watched the ninth match start.

“When it’s a C-Class team the ratio is dropped by one, two times as many as B-Class, three times as many as A, and so forth. And the highest ranked members of the teams would be the only ones to move up.” Bobby disliked those people, but he could acknowledge that people who got stronger in teams definitely existed.

“What about if they defeat an S-Class member?” Tony asked quietly, getting a glance from Bobby before the Tyrant turned back to the stadium.

“Automatic expulsion for the S-Class member and replaced by the highest ranked opponent, regardless of the size of the enemy team. Even if it were one against twenty five, lose and you’d be expelled.” The first years all paled as the ninth fight finished, listening to Bobby’s words.

“It’s because of that threat that since the induction of the S-Class at Elem High, there has never been a case where the final team was not S-Class.” Bobby clenched his fists for a moment.

“Other Classes envy us for our privileges, not knowing the drawbacks to said privilege.” Bobby’s dislike of the other Classes was easily explained when one thought of it like that…

It was like possessing envy for someone with a nice car and not knowing how much time, work, and effort was put into earning said car.

The matches continued with D-Class students being defeated one after the other, up until the eleventh match which was Vince’s.

Stepping onto the stage, Vince was faced with a woman of the B-Class who was tense as she prepared her wand, a casting type.

There was little fanfare for the match, Vince mimicking Jade’s boosting with the Light element and almost seeming to teleport into place next to the poor B-Class student who had never faced someone that fast.

Blasting at the poor girl with light bullets, she was forced into flying away from Vince.

She did try to save herself by having a tree root grow from the ground and grab her before she flew off, only for the root itself to be blasted apart by Vince.

The match took barely a few seconds, getting silence from the stadium.

“See. That’s the attitude an S-Class member must possess. The fact that two of you are kind of shy…” Bobby looked to Leah and Tony with worry in his eyes.

Indeed… Bobby was the ‘Tyrant’ of the school, but he wasn’t always like that. He cultivated his attitude of keeping the weak outside of his mind and dominating his fights in the S-Class.

One can’t be weak in mind if they are to stand at the top.

“It’s fine. The rest of us can afford to let them be shy.” Kazuya said, patting Leah’s shoulder, not seeing the blush she had.

“…Must be nice I guess.” Bobby glanced at Kazuya before looking back to the fights, a contemplative look on his face.

The fights began to reach the point of monotony, especially since the next S-Class fighter was Leah in another ten or so fights.

Vince was soon with the group in the stands once more, talking to Jade boisterously about how he tried to use her movement strategy, only to get told off for entering close range combat when he was a long-range specialist.

Vince didn’t catch Jade’s smile as she turned, though Kazuya did and couldn’t help but smile at that…

He quite liked it when everyone was happy, and was a bit of a closet romantic.

Even if he wasn’t looking for any relationship at the moment.

When Leah’s match finally arrived, her battle was against one of those three A-rank students they met before, the quiet Barry Nim.

“…I-I-I hope we have a good match…” Leah offered with a small nod, getting nothing but a stare from the purple haired boy.

Then he blushed, looked away and nodded.

He’s shier than even Leah! -the thought the S-Class had.

The match began with some interest, wanting to see how one of the top students would handle an S-Class member…

Granted, the other students weren’t quite aware of the S-Class rankings, the only one they knew was that Tony was the lowest ranked out of the seven.

Barry’s Element was Darkness, kind of obvious with his hair colour, but that was stereotyping. Not to mention that Kazuya’s hair would normally have him pegged as a Water Element user.

Barry’s weapon of choice was a bow, an odd choice of weaponry for a Darkness user, but it wasn’t completely strange…

What would have been strange would have been a dagger or stiletto.

Darkness, along with Metal and Earth, were the ‘heaviest’ Elements and as such Sages with those elements typically had larger, close-ranged weaponry.

Again, it was a stereotype that didn’t have to be followed, as shown with Barry.

“Well… I think this might be one of those beautiful matches.” Kazuya’s words were soft, but it caught the attention of his classmates who looked to him with a chuckle.

He had already admitted to his group that while he didn’t place much stock in ranged fighting, being a close-ranged specialist, he could admit that there was a certain beauty of the opposite.

Long-ranged fighting, especially spell-casting, actually looked beautiful, the battlers looking on as they decimated the landscape around them, untouched by the rigors of battle…

Kazuya could wax poetic at times.

The match properly started with Barry firing off an arrow formed out of Darkness, with Leah waving her baton.

Spell-casting was mentioned many a time, but they hadn’t gone into any in-depth explanation on it, as Jonathan claimed that he would teach them a bit more on it in the third term.

But suffice to say spell-casting was not the same as pure Element control, and depending on how it was done it would appear as if literal magic was being done, such as when Light element users healed others.

Leah’s response to the arrow was quite unexpected for her, as instead of blocking the arrow she twisted to the side, having moved just as the arrow was being released, sending a blade of wind at Barry in response.

Barry’s bow was clad in darkness as he swung it like a bat, something that would be impossible with a normal bow…

But this was made for Sages, it was much stronger than the ones used by normal humans, and that was before it was reinforced by Barry’s Element.

“That’s an interesting idea…” Kazuya’s words were a pre-warning to his friends that Kazuya might start experimenting with a bow and arrow.

Batting away the blade, Barry and Leah began to trade blows across the stadium; actively moving as they did so…

But unlike with most combatants, these two moved away from each other as they fought, both trying to move into their optimal ranges.

While Leah’s movements were minimalistic while parrying and countering where possible, Barry’s were slightly more exaggerated as he spun his bow as if it were a quarterstaff, sometimes firing an arrow while stopping the spin.

“While his movements seem dextrous and impressive, they’re a bit… wasteful.” Bobby criticized, getting a nod from Kazuya, again, he was the weapon expert of the class.

“Yes, my guess is that he hasn’t sparred with anyone capable of making such actions impossible.” Kazuya added, getting a chuckle from Edward.

“Yeah, Jonathan beat any unnecessary additions to our movements out of us a few months ago.” Once in a while the S-Class students still made mistakes, they were still human after all, but if they were to do anything unnecessary, Jonathan would suddenly appear in front of them and knock them out of the fight, regardless of how strong he was in the spar before then.

You quickly stopped adding an extra backflip when you’d suddenly lose consciousness and wake up with an extreme amount of pain.

“I’m more surprised at how Leah’s fighting…” Jade admitted, looking at Jade staring resolutely at Barry, who had quickly lost his blush when the fight began.

“Well… I think it’s because of Yusuf.” Kazuya said, looking at Bobby who was nodding along with a smirk.

“Yeah, that seems to be the case… You fight differently when you have a concrete goal after all.” Bobby’s words were accepted unanimously, given his knowledge as their senior.

“I see… before, Leah was fighting a bit reluctantly, she honestly doesn’t like hurting people, but if she wants to gain Yusuf’s approval she needs to be stronger than she currently is… though that still doesn’t explain why she can move like that suddenly.” Jade added, hearing a cough from Kazuya.

“I might have been sparring against her during the weekends. We fight two times a day, once where I only defend, and once where she isn’t allowed to defend.” Kazuya’s words got a bit of paling from Tony, Jade and Vince who knew well how strong Kazuya was.

“Don’t look at me like that, the first spar is to get her into the mind set of ‘it’s okay to attack’ and the second spar is to get her to move more, take advantage of her stamina which is building up thanks to her runs.” Kazuya’s words made sense, but that didn’t detract from the scary mental images of Kazuya chasing a scared Leah with his katana.

“So, what did Liza have to say about you and Leah spending the weekends alone together?” Edward’s words were teasing obviously, but Kazuya just blinked at the question.

“Nothing, she just said it was okay… wait, do you all still think Liza and I are dating?” Kazuya’s question got immediate nods from everyone, even Bobby who wasn’t in their class.

“Suffice to say a girl sitting on your lap is usually a sign of interest man.” Bobby replied to the looks he got from the other students.

“But we aren’t actually dating. She never asked me out, I never asked her out, we don’t go on dates, or anything like that. We’re just friends?” Edward’s face-palm was audible, and his forehead red as he grabbed Kazuya by the shoulders.

At this point, sad as it was to admit, the fight in the stadium was not as important, even if Leah was layering a really thin amount of water over the entire floor.

“Man, she claimed you in front of all of us, she clings to you, she gravitates towards you so long as you are within the same area, how do you not get this?” Edward’s question got nods from everyone else, even Tony.

“Maybe because she agreed that we aren’t dating? Though the ‘yet’ she tacked on at the end was suspicious she as much as admitted that we aren’t really dating. Me spending time with another girl does not equate to cheating, especially when I’m not actually in a relationship with Liza.” Kazuya’s words were a bit of a record scratch in the conversation.

Oh, and Leah pulled off a brilliant trap, lifting the water off of the floor and encasing Barry in a bubble while siphoning all the air out of said bubble, suffocating the A-Class student into unconsciousness.

But that wasn’t as important, though Kazuya noted that Leah was getting good at pulling off traps… it might be her signature at this point.

“Wait, she agreed that you aren’t dating, at least yet, and doesn’t mind you hanging out with other girls? I wish my fiancé was that nice…” Edward’s words were another bombshell on the group.

“Wait you have a fiancé?” Jade asked, eyes wide as Edward nodded, even Kazuya nodded along with the ‘prince’.

“Uh, yeah, it’s kind of expected amongst nobility to have arranged marriages, especially in the Empire… though on occasion they are annulled and we marry outside of nobility.” Edward admitted, though the latter case was super rare.

And usually involved said partner being able to equally fight one of the nobles… they wanted consistently strong progeny after all.

“Yeah, though I only knew that because my dad beat up a noble in the Empire over my mom…” Kazuya admitted with some reluctance, few wanted to even acknowledge that their parents were human beings with… needs, like everyone else.

And the idea of Kazuya’s mother falling for his father because of him beating up someone for her seemed strangely normal given how odd the two were.

“…Man, you two have some strange relationships.” Was all Vince could say, though he looked a bit awkward himself as he said as much.

“I’m back… Kazuya, did you see me win?” Leah asked, and Kazuya smiled as he showed a thumbs up.

“Yeah, you’re getting better with your traps, I’m sure we can actually get Jonathan to help you specialize in them.” Leah’s blush was near fluorescent and Edward wondered…

Edward wondered if Kazuya realized that he was giving mixed signals to Leah at the moment.

…He probably didn’t know.

it was then Kazuya’s turn to go, finding his opponent to be another A-Class student, a lower ranked one though…

Let’s just skip that, it was a sad showing as Kazuya practically slapped his opponent out of the ring with a wall of rocks after he learnt his opponent used the Wind Element.

A few fights later it was Tony’s turn, facing a B-Class opponent… one who had challenged him once before…

The B-Class student surrendered without much fanfare, not even trying.

“Mistake, he could have made Tony tired for his classmates.” Edward criticized.

He had the leeway to criticize given his match was second to last in the first round.

And when Edward’s match approached he acted in a manner similar to Kazuya… except with his physique, Edward acted much more like an unstoppable tank rather than a Sage.

The result was the same, forced out of the ring.

Very few people have had their revival bracelets used during these matches, people still holding back subconsciously…

Oh there were one or two cases where they were needed, but those were majorly mistakes made in the heat of battle, especially between Classes with a gap between them, such as A versus D.

The second round began soon afterwards…

The results were that there were five team ups, three for the A Class, one for the B Class and one for the D-Class.

The D-Class team included Kevin actually, and unfortunately there were only around six of them left after their battles.

Of course, all six would be getting an upgrade in position to at least C-Class.

As for the A-Class teams, one of them included June and Dean, the top and second-ranked student of the A-Class…

For the second round, the two A-Class victors of the first and second match teamed up, so they would not be fighting currently.

The second (or first) match of the second round was between Jade and a C-Class student.

Jade hit the poor girl so hard her bracelet broke outside the arena, letting them know that Jade might have accidentally killed someone…

Jade accepted it was a pale face, acknowledging that she did not control her strength correctly.

There was no such thing as a perfect fighter, and with how powerful Sages get, it was considered a show of finesse if you could perfectly control your power.

The Headmaster was the youngest King, and he still had issues adjusting to his new strength after being a King for over two decades, so he rarely made physical contact with other people.

The three matches after Jade’s were all won by A-Class Students, though it was a bit of a toss-up each time given that they were battling B-Class students…

“It’s a pattern of sorts… When the gap is one Class, such as C against B, no one knows who will win. But if the gap is two, such as C against A, it’s almost always A without fail.” Kazuya said as Vince went down towards the ring to face his own A-Class opponent.

The battle was a bit tougher than expected, with the A-Class student possessing the Element of Ice, freezing the arena floor and preventing Vince from growing his plants…

Vince barely managed to eke out a victory by doing some creative ice skating and hitting his opponent with such a whirlwind of Light lasers that his opponent’s bracelet broke.

“I didn’t know you could ice skate…” Edward offered as Vince returned, Jade looking just as interested as Vince scratched the back of his head.

“Well I am from the Soviet, it’s really cold there. It would be almost dishonourable if I wasn’t good at winter sports.” Vince joked, laughing nervously about his unexpected talent.

“Right… by the way, Vince, you might want to research plants that grow in near freezing conditions, there might be something.” Jade offered, getting a nod from Vince, having immediately seen the weakness in his combat style against this A-Class opponent.

His opponent hadn’t expected Vince to be a better ice-skater than her though…

But Vince’s combat style had himself as a mobile turret and his plants harassing his opponents, keeping his enemies in place if he could.

Without one, the other was a bit harder to do, as without his plants Vince found it much harder to keep his enemies at a distance.

“I guess I’m going to need to start bringing more than one pair of pistols…” Vince’s complaint went unheard to everyone but Bobby who raised an eyebrow, saying nothing.

Again, the following matches were dominated by A-Class students who were beginning to grow in momentum, realizing that they had the most students still in the tournament…

Two victories by the A-Class, two A-Class students teaming up, and another A-Class victory preceded Leah’s match against a B-Class student, who tried to put up a fight with his Lightning Element, hoping to prevent Leah from using her Water.

It would work had Leah actually used that Element in the match.

Leah had seen her opponent fight, she knew he was a Lightning Sage, and so decided to use only Wind against him, knowing she didn’t have the leeway to be making Pure Water.

“That girl… heh, I thought she was weak but maybe not…” Bobby mumbled to himself, seeing Leah stride perpendicularly to her opponent, waving her baton to control the Wind near her opponent from a distance, striking him from whichever angle she chose.

She didn’t get away unscathed, the boy sending blasts of Lightning in her direction using his spear, and while some might have hit they clearly didn’t do much beyond making her twitch a bit…

Kazuya was quite good with the Lightning Element after all, and it was his preferred Element when battling her.

And unlike her opponent, Kazuya was on the verge of becoming a three Star Sage, he had more power in his blows compared to the B-Class student facing her.

The victory was hers as eventually the damage built up and the boy surrendered, unwilling to be the boxing bag of someone who seemingly felt nothing when he hit back.

The next match was Kazuya’s, fighting an A-Class student.

This match was quite different from his previous battle against an A-Class student, proving this one was perhaps higher ranked than the other.

His opponent was stronger, using a one handed-sword and shield…

That was honestly a rare combination, as media typically made the shield seem obsolete and well, teenagers.

This opponent used Lightning, shrouding his weapons in them as he moved forward at a low and stable angle…

Knowing a ‘Knight’ fighter when he saw one, Kazuya felt the smirk come over him as he grasped his sword and his sheathe, preparing his quick-draw…

The following exchange was a blitz for everyone but a few.

Kazuya slashed out, his blade blurring with Light as it struck the shield, dealing only a scratch as his opponent struck out with his sword, stabbing at Kazuya.

Kazuya, in response to the stab, fell back into a roll, kicking up to knock his opponent’s blade skyward.

In the stands, his classmates winced, knowing that Jonathan would complain about his ‘needless’ acrobatics…

But Kazuya was quite agile and used that fact to his advantage many a times.

Despite his actions, Jonathan rarely berated Kazuya for his acrobatics because Kazuya always managed to keep options open for himself.

His opponent was clearly surprised by the action, but still willing to try and attack, rushing forward with his shield to try and bash Kazuya flying.

Unseeing, yet feeling the approach using minor control over Earth, Kazuya didn’t flip, instead placing himself onto the floor, his sword and sheathe discarded for the moment.

“That’s something I feel sorry for… Kazuya is using a Metal stronger than his own Stars, so he can’t control or summon that sword like I would be able to.” Bobby didn’t quite know what Kazuya’s Element was, only knowing that Kazuya was second strongest in the first year’s.

“…I wonder…” Edward chuckled wearily, not wanting to try and explain to Bobby about Essence and how they weren’t sure what would happen with Kazuya increasing in Stars.

Kazuya’s ability to use each Element equally was amazing, but again, there was a reason that the saying ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ came into existence.

Would Kazuya even be capable of making unique Metals like Metal Sages could?

They’d only be able to find out after he gained more strength…

For now, Kazuya was now seemingly laying on his stomach, his opponent trying to slash down to harm Kazuya.

“Mistake.” No one knew who said it, but all the S-Class students felt the same thought take hold…

Kazuya was a weapon specialist… so he was admittedly weaker without a weapon in hand.

But… one didn’t survive in the S-Class long without being able to hold yourself with different styles.

Even Leah, the physically weakest of the S-Class, knew a bit of Judo to defend herself in close quarters without her wand.

Spinning like some crazy dance move, Kazuya’s leg came up, a sheen of Darkness covering his leg as he kicked the blade to the side, Kazuya’s other leg coming up to try and kick his opponent in the skull.

The boy managed to block with his shield, but still got forced back a few metres, even in spite of his block, shocking the boy.

Well, it was to be expected when Kazuya was the third strongest physically in the class, and the only two stronger physically were Edward who fought without weaponry, and Liza who was a Three Star Sage.

Flipping to a standing position, Kazuya stared at his opponent…

The boy was well and truly weary now, stabbing out with his sword to direct his bolts of Lightning at Kazuya, who was approaching…

The boy was beginning to panic, recognizing Kazuya as a threat while Kazuya flexed the Essence within his body to his will.

It started as a pin-prick, but burst into a ball of blades so iconic that Jade involuntarily shouted out something about Kazuya stealing her move, the next Lightning bolt instead veering towards the Blade Bomb he had created.

“Lightning takes the path of least resistance man…” Kazuya said as he slipped next to the boy, who was well and truly worried.

He was right to be, as Kazuya coated his hands in Lightning, grabbing the heater shield the boy used and pulling, dragging the boy off balance as Kazuya punched forward.

A light hit to the nose, breaking it and disorienting his opponent, Kazuya was now visibly in a sort of boxing stance as he shoulder checked his opponent, at the same time driving his foot on top of his opponent’s, anchoring him.

With being forced back, and also being kept from flying back, the boy’s ankle popped, drawing a shout of pain as the boy began to fall.

As he fell, Kazuya followed through with a right towards the boys forehead, tipping over with the boy as Kazuya drove his fist, and the skull of his opponent into the dirt.

Knocked out, and judging by the breaking of the bracelet, the boy would have died from having his brain shaken like that.

There was silence as Kazuya walked away to fetch his blade and sheathe, leaving behind his broken foe.

“Wow.” Bobby summarized their thoughts nicely, having seen Kazuya emulate Jade and Edward, combining some of their moves with his own to demolish his opponent.

“…I think Kazuya is scary.” Edward admitted softly, no one really catching his whisper.

The next three matches were skipped due to them being team ups instead, and then a few more matches occurred before it was Tony’s turn to fight.

Tony’s fight was against a lower ranked A-Class member, and while he still felt a bit indecisive, Tony couldn’t appear weak after following Kazuya…

Kazuya was the representative of the first year S-Class disregarding Liza who wasn’t around.

And if he made such a dominating showing, the rest of them couldn’t slack.

Tony managed to actually cut off a limb, causing quite a few people to gag before the bracelet activated to heal his opponent, ending the fight…

But Sages were not strangers to gore and blood, having to kill and dismantle Mystic Beasts and many having fought in the Fae Wars, Sages of a certain level no longer cared to feel disgust…

So long as they had something they cared about at least.

Edward had a similar showing to Tony, facing someone who actually used chains and a Metal Element, but unfortunately… said person was in the C-Class.

The S-Class dominated the majority of their fights, barring Leah’s fight against Barry and that guy who had an advantage against her Water, and Vince’s slight weakness against the Ice-Sage.

And the majority of those fights were against A-Class students, who had consistently been defeating C and D-Class students, only suffering the occasional defeat against a B-Class student or the S-Class.

So at this point everyone knew that if the S-Class faced a B-Class or lower student, it was probably not going to be much of a fight.

So as interesting as his opponent’s fighting style was, it didn’t stop Edward from causing his opponent’s chest to concave when all ribs were broken from one of his heavier attacks using the Earth Element.

Thank the King of Light for those bracelets…

With that the first two rounds were over…

So long as the S-Class kept winning?

Three rounds left.