“You know, our last battle was a bit awkward, wasn’t it…” Bobby’s words echoed within the mostly empty courtyard, the world around them silent but for the distant sounds of impacts and a strange wind blowing around…

Well, the wind also seemed to be causing a huge sandstorm outside the school, but here in the ‘eye of the hurricane’ there wasn’t even a hint to what was going on outside.

“Yes it was… I hadn’t even gained my Armament then, and you were prowling the inside of the school looking for enemies to take down.” Julian’s statement was punctuated by a raising of his scimitar, the brown tassel not swaying at all, further showing the irregularity of the winds within the school.

Bobby did not need to be a rocket scientist to know that it was probably Yusuf, terrifying as the other Sage was.

“Yeah, I wasn’t strong enough to fight off everyone back then, and the third years had been four Stars longer than I had been… so I had to fight smart.” Bobby thought back to the SWT of the previous year.

He had been the victor, taking first place there, and later getting to the top four of the International Juniors… at least the person he lost to eventually became the champion.

But the day Bobby and Julian had fought, Bobby was too weak to do as he did today, challenging any and all who would dare approach him.

Instead, Bobby had to conserve his strength, battling weaker opponents and only facing stronger opponents sparingly, taking breaks in between.

Of course, with the ten minute map reveal, he had also done a few quick retreats, something Bobby found distasteful, but necessary.

Retreating was not cowardly, Bobby knew this, but still found a dislike of the practice.

It was while he was moving to a new hiding spot that Julian had encountered the future Tyrant.

“I was quite surprised, turning a corner to see a charging Sage carrying an axe on his shoulder, I hadn’t expected to so suddenly be in a fight.” Julian’s statement was said with narrowed eyes and a dangerous smile.

“You say that, but you reacted pretty quickly, blasting me in the face with a ray of light… granted, it didn’t really do anything but blind me for a moment, but in a moment of danger you struck back instinctively.” Bobby reminded and Julian had the decency to look a bit sheepish at his reaction back then.

“Yes… but even blinded you had managed to battle me for a few moments before you hit me into the wall. I was knocked out instantly.” Julian said, eyes narrowing while Bobby nodded.

“Yes, I’m a Metal and Lightning Sage, you happened to be carrying a metal sword and the human body does possess bio-electricity, it’s how our brain works, and how the body sends signals and your heart pulses because of it.” That admission got Julian to go wide eyed for a moment while Bobby smirked.

It was a terrifying image of the tall dark skinned Sage carrying a great axe, smiling down at you before a fight… and yet Julian found himself giving a nervous smirk in return.

Julian was of no illusions of reigning victorious over Bobby… but he would fight, because that was what he wanted to do.

“Oh don’t worry… I don’t know of any Sage strong enough to effect the inside of the body of another after all. Otherwise Wind Sages could suck the air from your lungs, Water Sages taking the blood from your veins or any other method of killing.” Right, right, Julian had forgotten that fact…

It was still a scary thought, knowing that the man before him could feel his heart beating from where he was standing.

“That certainly explains why you never seemed to be ambushed during the SWT… I’ll have to figure out my own variation.” Julian admitted, already thinking about how to use the Earth Element to do so, though it might be easier than he thought.

“That you will… now, how about we get this fight started. I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously reach four Stars during this fight.” Bobby admitted, and Julian felt his own power pulsing within him, still three Stars, but at the peak of such an existence.

And while Bobby looked well and rested, he was also tired from fighting other Sages before Julian.

Julian would have liked to fight Bobby at his strongest, but like the Bobby from the year before, he had to take advantages he could.

Bobby’s axe now rested in both hands, and Julian’s blade raised, both inching towards each other…

While this happened in the centre of the school, the outside of the school had the first year S-Class walking through the storm, a path forming around them.

“…This is super scary.” Vince’s statement was met with nods all around, even Edward and Kazuya looked nervous, seeing the sand blowing all around them, and yet curving once it hit their small pocket of space, with the pocket stretching to a certain direction.

Once in a while they’d hear shouts inside the sandstorm, there was even a case of someone bursting into the bubble and trying to attack them before they kicked her back into the sandstorm.

Well, Edward did, kicked her without even a warning, leaving everyone a bit confused, and Vince chuckling at the sight of a dynamic exit.

She was probably a second or third year, but, well… an injured person couldn’t really defend themselves as well as a perfectly rested person.

Especially not when she had just arrived out of what had to be biting sand wearing down at her skin and then suddenly got a full kick to the stomach.

“Of course this is scary. Sandstorms can chip and shape at boulders let alone the human skin. We might be more durable than normal humans, but that, that should still hurt.” Jade said, pointing towards the sandstorm and the rest of the group nodded at her words…

And that’s when the air-pocket seemed to… bulge oddly, and as one the group realized they had reached their place… walking out into a much larger area.

Within the area stood two people, one was a darker skinned student who had his hands on the ground, sand wafting off of him before it was picked up and pushed into the sand storm by the second, the person they came here for.

“Ah… you finally got here. I’ve been waiting.” It was a bit theatrical, given that Yusuf was the one who had been shaping their path towards him even as he caused this massive area attack.

“You knew we were coming… I must say, senior, this is scary.” Leah said, looking around before staring back at him, the Maestro blinking at her words while smirking.

“Yes, yes it is. I heard about this trick from my mother during a time where she had to partner up with the King of Earth during the War. She had managed to shut down an entire battlefield for a few days using this method… while I can’t affect such a large area, a kilometre or two is possible.” What made Yusuf’s words so terrifying wasn’t the range…

It was that even within that range he had a huge amount of control. He had managed to hold this air pocket, and theirs over a distance, and the school and the inside courtyard was experiencing none of this. The control required…

It was like taking a piece of paper and throwing a bucket of water onto it in one go without getting the centre wet.

It was no wonder Yusuf managed to charge into the realms of the S-Class despite only having one Element…

Yusuf was sufficiently scary… but also enlightening, knowing that they too would one day be this strong, maybe even stronger.

“Still, we aren’t really here to talk about my mother or this sandstorm trick… no, we’re here for a test, aren’t we?” Yusuf’s eyes glinted as he glanced at Leah, making it clear that he wasn’t talking about the SWT which was in itself a test.

“Yes… you said that if I wanted to learn the Atmospheric Lock, I’d have to prove myself to you at some point… you said I should battle you here, at the SWT.” Leah said, focusing and Yusuf nodded.

The other third year, the one that was creating the sand, rolled his eyes at the drama taking place in front of him… the only one who noticed was Liza who was looking at the quiet third year.

She felt sorry for him being a bystander to such a situation.

“That I did… though you brought the rest of your classmates… tell me, why are you all here, this doesn’t really concern you?” Yusuf’s question was met with blank stares in return.

“Of course we’re here. We’re a team, and this is something important to Leah, we want to be here to help her if she needs it… which she probably will really.” Edward, the spokesperson of the group said with a thump of his fist on his chest.

“Really… that’s nice actually. That’s an important state of mind right there, know when to compete, and know when to work together.” Yusuf said while pointing towards himself.

“I’m unable to battle as many people as Bobby, I need teammates to help and support me. It’s because I know this, and worked for it, that I’m considered a good team leader.”

Yusuf gestured to his teammate, who nodded with a sigh.

“Yes, you’re pretty good Maestro, but I’m a bit lost as to this situation you know?” the older teen sighed as Yusuf blinked before scratching his head slightly.

“Right, sorry Raj, it’s just that the shy girl over there wants to learn my special technique and so I told her if she wants me to teach her she has to prove herself.” Kazuya stared at the older teen with an incredulous look, as if anyone would actually-

“That makes sense.” Raj just accepted it as it was said, shrugging as he finally stopped generating sand, standing up to look at the first years.

“So… let’s start this then? Don’t worry about the sandstorm, it’s not a part of our fight…” Yusuf smirk said a lot as the first years glared at him, each readying their weapons, with the exception of Leah who was a focus-less caster, and Edward who raised his gauntlets in challenge.

Acting against the group of seven, Yusuf’s cane appeared in his hands with a small flurry of wind, Raj summoning a brown hexagonal shield strapped to his right arm.

There was a moment where everyone stood still, yet the sandstorm raged around them… and then there was movement.

The first to move forward was Edward, with Kazuya coming up just behind him, Tony trailing behind the two with Jade to his side, Leah and Vince standing right at the back.

While these six did this, Liza strayed closer to Kazuya and Edward, Nirvana in her hands as she moved in a strange blurring motion.

Time was still an odd Element.

On the other side, Yusuf stepped forward, Raj remaining behind despite possessing a shield, this was because Raj was not truly a part of this battle, but had to make sure a stray shot didn’t hit him.

A two Star Sage probably couldn’t hurt him too much without planning to, but there were three Star Sages amongst the enemy team.

“Let my orchestra begin.” Yusuf smirked, flicking his cane at the first person to come for him, Edward, causing the younger student to duck into a roll, not wanting to take a hit from that absurd weapon.

Yusuf didn’t let the dodging stop him from attacking, flicking his wrist so that the point of his cane was aiming at Kazuya before he struck out in a standard fencer’s thrust.

Kazuya had barely a moment to react at the speed of said thrust, managing to draw his blade while coating it in Darkness, making Yusuf smirk in approval when the burst of wind from his cane vanished into Kazuya’s blade.

There was no ‘strongest’ Element, but Darkness was quite the contender, if it weren’t for Darkness being so slow it would definitely hold that position…

As for its opposite, Light, Vince had aimed for the moment after Yusuf thrust at Kazuya to take a shot with his Light Element pistol, Yusuf twirling his cane while pulling it back into a fencer’s stance, creating a shield of ‘still wind’ to block the laser.

The shield was gone after the hit though, leaving an opening for Liza who struck out with Nirvana, leaving Yusuf confused at the small girl…

While she was fast, faster than a three Star Sage obviously, she wasn’t faster than Yusuf, who began to parry the blows with a look of surprise on his face.

“Whatever Element you have, it’s interesting.” Yusuf said without much fanfare as his cane shortened into its baton form, flicking the much smaller weapon only for a gust of wind to blow Liza backwards and over Kazuya and Edward.

The melee then got a bit congested as the five melee fighters of the first years managed to all get to Yusuf, Leah boosting the speed and defence of the group while Vince attempted to have the grass growing on the ground tangle Yusuf’s feet.

It wasn’t taking Yusuf down, though it was becoming difficult for him as he weaved through the blows much like the Wind Element he possessed.

“Brilliant teamwork, I must admit…” Yusuf said as he blurred through the attacks aiming for him, at times pulling one of the first years into the way of another attack so as to trip them up.

They never really hit each other after the first time Tony kicked Edward in the chest, knowing that Yusuf could do such a thing had them being more careful with their attacks.

“…But that isn’t quite enough.” Yusuf finally struck back, flicking his baton back into its cane form as he swung at Tony’s skull, hitting hard enough for Tony to buckle, giving Yusuf the change to grab the first year and throw him into Jade.

Ignoring those two because Jade wouldn’t just let Tony fly away from the hit, Yusuf knew, Yusuf turned and focused on Kazuya, who was exceedingly dangerous with that sword of his.

Not the best swordsman Yusuf had ever seen, but Kazuya was indeed dangerous, leaving Yusuf to block with his cane whenever he couldn’t dodge, finally seeing a chance when Kazuya’s foot shifted slightly because of the sand on the floor.

Using the opening, Yusuf’s cane was once more used as a rapier, thrusting forward and impacting heavily on Kazuya’s shoulder, a credit to the younger student in that the pain did not cause him to let go of his weapon when Yusuf thrust once more and impacting on Kazuya’s stomach, a gust of wind blowing the younger student away.

Liza was next, the most… irksome, of the opponents Yusuf was facing, in that despite not using any Element control that he could see, she was quite well versed in using her staff and whatever she was doing caused her to move strangely…

It was like watching a video in fast forward, that’s the closest Yusuf could get in the analogy, though he wasn’t certain on the specifics, it could be that Liza somehow had a Diversity at three Stars, or that her Armament boosted her speed in a strange manner, Yusuf wasn’t sure.

Either way, Yusuf was quite powerful as a Sage, but physical fighting was not exactly his specialty, he was more of a caster/crowd controller type than a close combatant and Liza was fast enough to give pause to Yusuf, even with Yusuf boosting his own capabilities a bit with Wind.

Reinforcement was something hammered into Yusuf’s skull by both his parents to the point that he had a higher ability with the skill than his own parents did when they were his age, but somehow whatever Liza was doing boosted her speed more than Wind did.

So at this point, Yusuf had his own thoughts on Liza’s power, mentally pegging her as either a Light Element Sage or a Lightning Element Sage, with the caveat that her Element control could not be done with her weird fast forward effect.

So a strange dance of clangs and muted whizzing sounds went off, Yusuf’s cane finally moving into a blur as he struck against Liza’s Nirvana, and while for a moment it seemed almost equal, with Liza’s staff being blown back a bit more than Yusuf’s cane after a collision, it really wasn’t.

Because barely a few seconds after they started striking the weapon of the other had Liza’s Nirvana been forced back so much that Yusuf was practically beating the weapon out of her hands, giving himself enough space to launch a kick into Liza’s chin, sending her flying backwards, and possibly knocking her out…

The bracelet didn’t break though, so Yusuf would assume that she was still in the fight, if just barely, a blow that heavy to the chin had to hurt, though he felt as if the blow didn’t connect properly.

Yusuf couldn’t remain focused on that as Edward managed to hit Yusuf, much to the elder student’s surprise, but hey, he wasn’t perfect, he had already taken a few lighter blows from element use and the occasional scratch from Kazuya or Tony’s weapons.

The blow was the first solid one of the fight, hitting Yusuf square in the calf with that low kick before trying to continue, but Edward would find himself surprised when Yusuf dismissed his cane…

And then almost seemed to dismantle Edward in basic hand-to-hand, in a terrifying style that Jonathan also seemed to use.

It made use of grabs and quick blows to injure and disorient the opponent before landing a final blow to end the enemy.

In this case, Yusuf reached out and hit Edward in the shoulder, shocking the younger Sage at the force of the blow before grabbing Edward’s wrist.

Then, placing his other hand at Edward’s elbow, Yusuf used Edward’s forearm as a leaver, turning said arm so violently that Edward buckled sideways to ensure his arm didn’t break, giving Yusuf the chance to kick in Edward’s knee from the side, taking his hand off of Edward’s elbow to launch a blow to the throat.

The breaking of a bracelet echoed throughout the clearing as Edward asphyxiated and lost consciousness from the final hit, without a doubt his throat would have been bruised or almost broken if it weren’t for said bracelet.

The first years collectively winced at the loss of their third strongest fighter, and at how he was taken out… granted, they were all in a bit of pain after Yusuf’s counters, but still, Edward got taken out particularly violently, the moment after he landed a good hit.

Yusuf looked at his fallen opponent, bouncing his leg a bit to check its usefulness, noting that he’d probably have a bruise or something with how solid that kick was.

Yusuf could, as demonstrated, fight bare-handed, but he wasn’t a specialist at that, being more of a caster type, and Edward was brutishly strong for a three Star Sage.

Yusuf had the vague suspicion that Bobby wasn’t that strong physically as a beginner three Star Sage… well, unlike Bobby, Edward’s weapon was his body, even if Bobby was also a heavily physical fighter.

He’d be interesting when he got stronger, Yusuf acknowledged, looking away from the downed fighter to look at the leftover six.

“One down… and Leah… you’ve shown to be a good support, but are you really any good?” Yusuf frowned at the younger girl, still seeing the conviction, leaving him weary, but not seeing any action beyond helping her teammates fight him better.

Which was good, she seemed determined to be a supporting role for her teammates as a Sage, she was on the right path for that, but it just wasn’t impressive to Yusuf, despite his team-oriented state of mind.

She didn’t say anything, Vince, standing next to her smirked, guns still pointed at Yusuf as he chuckled.

Yusuf wouldn’t say it to his face because he might get a big ego, but Vince’s shots were irritating to deal with in the middle of a fight since the Light/Wood Sage was scarily accurate, hamstringing any attempt made by Yusuf to move too far away from one of the closer fighters.

“Don’t worry about shy girl, she’s a quiet one, but when she hits…” Vince’s warning had brought a smile to Yusuf’s face.

This was a good team, Yusuf could admit. They had four close range fighters, two long-range fighters and a person who could do both in Jade, who occasionally let loose spears of Light by thrusting out with her rapier.

And then each member of the team further diversified, the Kazuya was a weapons expert, Edward a fist-fighter, the shy Lightning/Darkness Sage a pressure fighter and Liza…

She was fast, and her abilities weird, Yusuf couldn’t categorize it yet.

Then for the others, Leah supported, Vince harassed and Jade could slot into whichever role was necessary for her, though he noted her skill as a crowd-controller when she managed to cut off paths he would have taken out with those ‘blade-bombs’ of hers.

This was still an interesting fight, despite the fact that they didn’t have a realistic chance of winning…

But the fact that Yusuf was a bit crippled in power was something he wouldn’t let the enemy know.

He was, in fact, still controlling the sandstorm. And with that level of control, it was all he could do to use those quick gusts with his Armament, and why he hadn’t used Atmospheric Lock against the group.

He’d still win seeing as he was a four Star Sage and they were a mix of three and two Stars, but it would be a bit difficult without the help of Raj, not that Raj had any right to be in this particular fight.

Beyond their team though… the first years supported one another, or at least supported Leah in her moment.

He’d respect that, and so Yusuf moved forward once more.

No one noted the thin sheet of water covering the floor near the third year.

In the centre of the school, Julian was regretting his challenge against Bobby…

No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t regret his choice, but he was aware of how painful it was to make.

“This is so much fun!” Julian winced at the booming roar of the Tyrant, stumbling backwards into a roll, barely dodging the massive slab of steel and electricity Bobby dared to refer to as an Armament.

The Khan Axe, as Bobby referred to the weapon, was indeed huge, arcing bolts of electricity from the blade on occasion, it didn’t really hurt to get hit by one of those odd bolts, but even a nick from the blade was enough to damn near paralyze whoever was hit.

Julian knew that from experience, frowning at his bleeding left arm, but still unable to take a break.

The Tyrant deserved his title, charging with a roar and attacking, his defence strong enough that any counter probably wasn’t going to do any major damage.

The only reason Julian was still in the fight was because Bobby was tired and a bit injured from other fights, not enough to be incapable, but enough that the giant wasn’t as fast as he’d normally be.

The only faster Sages in the school were Yusuf and Kim, despite his size Bobby was not slow.

Standing up from his roll, Julian was forced to sway to the side, raising his Armament to bat at Bobby’s incapable of stopping the heavy weapon and only being able to vaguely redirect it, or use the recoil from even trying to redirect it to bounce away.

Fighting Bobby was much like fighting an avalanche, surviving was in of itself an accomplishment.

“You’re really good, even stronger Sages falter before my attacks sometimes.” Bobby noted as he placed his other hand on the axe handle, thrusting forward like it was a spear.

That action had Julian jumping away from the inevitable epicentre when a lightning bolt hit where he had just been standing when Bobby had started the motion.

Another annoying thing about the Khan Axe was that it had two blades, kind of like how people pictured an old Viking great axe, with a gap in between… that gap had a constant arc of electricity flowing between the two blades, making it look very much like a massive bladed stun gun.

And from that bit of electricity, if making a thrusting action like the aforementioned one, the Tyrant could let loose a bolt of lightning…

Bobby couldn’t do it a lot, as despite his strength his weapon was still a massive axe, it wasn’t made for thrusting attacks and doing so was awkward.

The only times Julian even got a hit in was after those blows, as Julian sent a slash of Light at Bobby, the Light giving Bobby a wound that was just a bit deeper than a paper cut.

It was something at least, not a lot of people could say they made the Tyrant bleed.

The Tyrant found the cuts slightly negligible, but he had rarely done that attack, knowing that there was a reason the term ‘death by a thousand cuts’ was a thing.

He only used that attack when Julian was getting a bit too far away, in the hope that Julian would come closer rather than run away, which made sense.

Between the two, due to Elemental degradation lower ranked Sages suffered, Bobby’s Lightning was actually faster than Julian’s Light, meaning that, at the same distance, the Tyrant’s attack would hit first…

Too far away, and Bobby would be able to launch more attacks and dodge, too close and Bobby would destroy Julian.

Julian had to find that sweet spot between the two, and it was getting to be a bit difficult to do such a thing considering Bobby was stronger, faster, and generally more skilled than Julian.

Again, the fact that he was surviving was still a miracle, even if this fight was what Julian had been training for.

Hearing a beep, both of the fighters glanced towards their wrists, the bracelets letting them know how many fighters were left…

It was under one hundred, and Julian looked back up to see Bobby smirking at Julian, leaving the younger Sage to gulp in fear.

Right… the final eight would go to the International Juniors… and Julian doubted that Bobby would so easily let Julian enter that vaunted competition.

“Come on, I doubt this competition is going to be going on much longer… will you last to the final eight against me, or will I crush you?” Bobby spoke aloud as the fight started up once more.

Back with the first years, their fight was reaching a final point, Yusuf had been injured slightly due to Edward, leaving him with an occasional hobble and buckling leg though Yusuf managed to stay in the fight in spite of said injury.

The first years were, instead of becoming cautious due to the loss of one of their members, fighting harder than before, with even Leah occasionally sending in elementally controlled whips of water.

Understandable that she and Kazuya both refused to use Wind in this fight, knowing that with Yusuf’s Authority he would take control of their attacks and ruin their plans.

It was for that precise reason that many Sage teams had different Elements between their users, so that in the case of fighting a higher ranked Rogue Sage, they would not be useless in the fight.

It still wasn’t enough, despite their struggles they were clearly waning in strength, Kazuya had only a loose hold of his sword, Leah only stepped in on occasion, and Tony was holding a hand to his bruised/cracked ribs.

It was barely noticeable but the first years had finally clued on to the fact that Yusuf wasn’t as strong as he should be, despite defeating them.

The first years would have had problems with Ludwig even as a team, and Yusuf had devastated the other third year easily. Not only that, but Yusuf hadn’t been using his Atmospheric Lock technique, which further clued the first years into the weird situation.

Sure, Yusuf might be giving them a chance, but Yusuf wasn’t so altruistic as to weaken himself for further fights just to fight the first years on even ground. Their goal was Yusuf, his was the International Juniors, so it made no sense unless he couldn’t use his full power.

“This… has been… interesting…” Yusuf was also breathing a bit deeply, his Armament back in his hands and in its baton form, he looked at the first years with a sigh.

They had been strong, as a group… but Leah just hadn’t been as good as she should have been if she wanted him to teach her the Atmospheric Lock.

Not only that, but of the first years, Edward had been knocked out, as had Vince once Yusuf managed to get close enough to more accurately attack the less durable first year, leaving the ranged options of the group dismal, especially as Jade had also been injured in her legs, leaving her essentially out of the fight…

Two of their long-ranged combatants out, and their strongest bare-handed fighter as well, the rest all tired and bruised with the exception of Leah who had managed to be protected by her classmates…

Yusuf’s first thought at the change in dynamics was that they would really need to begin sharing their abilities, sure some had no talent in certain areas, much like Yusuf knew he wouldn’t be able to ever fight like the Tyrant that was his best friend… but he at least knew how to, even if it was a poor imitation.

The first years would need to start diversifying early, otherwise when one section of their team failed, they would collectively lose hope.

So why was it that the first years still looked so confident?

“But I’m certain I can finish this now. I’m afraid that I won’t be teaching you, Leah.” Yusuf sighed as he raised his baton, ready to end the fight as his weapon lengthened.

“Maybe you can finish this. But…” Leah spoke, standing up for herself as she stared at Yusuf, it was a glare without anger, no, it was backed by determination as she raised her small wand which she rarely used.

“We aren’t going to lie down quietly!” Leah’s surprising shout got a few smirks from her remaining classmates while Yusuf frowned, unseeing as to how they could still hope.

With that girl being protected by her classmates, with her lack of a killing instinct, with her being a liability… and yet they trusted her enough to get in front of Yusuf every time he tried to charge her instead of fighting them.

Yusuf was an idealist… but he was also aware that such a relationship was just so rare among Sages… he felt jealous.

Knowing that the fight had to end now, especially with the beeping of his bracelet, Yusuf concentrated the Wind around his cane, and for the first time in the fight, ignored the sandstorm.

“Whatever… Dust Devil.” Yusuf called the name of his last attack against the first years carelessly, certain of his victory as he aimed the tightly compressed whirlwind of sand at the four… four? Wait… where was-

“Ah!” Yusuf let loose the attack just as he heard the grunt from behind him, having launched the attack, Yusuf was well aware that using one of his stronger attacks had taken his focus as he turned to Raj, the source of the shout.

“What…” Yusuf heard laughter, even as Kazuya and Tony attempted to block the attack from hitting Leah and Jade to minimal effect, the attack drilling through their barriers of Earth and Darkness respectively due to Yusuf’s power…

And despite having landed a telling blow, hearing four bracelets breaking behind him, Yusuf stared as a bracelet broke in front of him… and Raj fell, taking deep breaths with shock in his face at having been eliminated.

“What the hell?” Yusuf, calm and composed Yusuf, finally had a crack in his mind during this fight, looking at Liza who turned to him, looking at her own injured and unconscious comrades.

“Our target… wasn’t you.” Liza’s words rang with finality as she turned to Yusuf, having somehow slipped beyond Yusuf’s grasp when he…

When he began to focus on Leah. When he began to focus on using Dust Devil…

When his attention was off of her, Liza had moved…

But that still didn’t explain why Raj, a four Star third year was taken out so easily, it didn’t make sense!

When Yusuf said as much, Liza tapped her staff, Nirvana, onto the ground.

“I used all my strength… and so did Leah.” Yusuf blinked, snapping his head back to look at the unconscious girl lying on the floor after having been thrown backwards by his attack.

“My Nirvana lets me use four unique abilities at my current power. I used magga, path, to move to a place I had been in the past ten minutes.” Yusuf recalled that throughout the fight Liza had most likely been somewhere near Raj at some point, and it wasn’t like the fight was stationary.

A selective teleportation technique… but it probably couldn’t be done as often as proper teleportation users could… it explained how she got behind him…

“And throughout the entire fight Leah had been setting up a trap. She’d been letting small amounts of water cover the area near your partner, leftovers from her attacks, you’d ignore them right?” Normally, a Sage would, when a Sage made something it usually vanished shortly unless they focused on keeping said thing in the world.

It was why Jade’s Blade-bombs weren’t much of a problem as they’d vanish by themselves after a bit.

“Using that bit of water… she suffocated your friend.” That, that was a surprisingly vicious move from Leah, letting Yusuf look at the younger girl with contemplation before looking back at Liza.

“That’s not the whole explanation, Leah can suffocate Raj, I can believe that, but there’s no way Raj would just let that happen, he’d fight back, make a noise, something up until now.” Yusuf reminded, looking at Raj who was still a bit shell-shocked at having been defeated so ‘easily’.

“And that’s where I came in. Another of Nirvana’s four abilities is nirodha, ending. It essentially saps the stamina of those who I hit with it. It’s negligible really, but if someone is already losing stamina, it’s a multiplicative effect.” Yusuf realized what happened immediately.

“So instead of only holding his breath for a few seconds, it probably felt more like a couple minutes, he was about to pass out from exertion when the bracelet broke, and so did the bubble of water around his head.” Liza was clinical about it, but that was a scary ability.

Yusuf could also make a ‘bubble’ around someone’s head to prevent air from entering, suffocating someone, but doing such a thing was ill advised as you’d have to either prevent their head from moving, an impossibility unless much stronger than the other, or move your ‘anti-breathing’ bubble with the opponent, arguably harder considering the difficulty of keeping something in place was less difficult than moving it like that.

It wasn’t worth it, and yet, by combining that bullshit stamina drain ability, along with how tiring it is to hold ones breath, they managed to essentially instantly assassinate someone much higher ranked than them.

Liza was three Stars, a rank lower… Leah was two, and the two alone defeated Raj in but a moment essentially.

“That’s terrifying… granted there were probably quite a few factors that worked together to get you that, but it’s still amazing… but why, why aim for Raj and not me?” Yusuf asked as Liza smiled.

“We doubted it would work on you, given you were actually focused on the fight… but if someone just watching a fight was suddenly attacked…” And there it all came together.

“So you struck my partner because you couldn’t take me out… well played. I’m both impressed and very angry.” Yusuf admitted with a sigh, looking to Liza who had looked at her own bracelet before wordlessly removing it, signifying her disqualification as it broke.

He then looked to Raj with an apologetic tone in his eyes, only to be met with a shake of the head.

“My fault there, Maestro. I knew I could leave the fight to you, but I shouldn’t have let my guard down, we were both still in a battlefield, I shouldn’t have been taking it easy.” Raj admitted with a sigh as he stood, scratching his head before looking at the first years.

“I’ll be helping them out of the battlefield for now… and don’t worry Maestro. If these bracelets were as strong as the ICT ones I could have fought back.” Ah, another point as to how it worked… these bracelets broke when one was considered ‘heavily injured’ or ‘too tired to continue’ instead of ‘dying’.

“You’re probably right…” Yusuf said softly as Raj began to move the unconscious six along the ground while Liza fell onto the moving platform, leaving Raj to just sigh as they moved.

Standing alone, Yusuf looked around the sandstorm, raising his hand as he took back control, and then, willed it to get worse the moment he felt those eight leave the area.

“He’s right… but I hate this feeling.” Yusuf had wanted a perfect victory… this was not one.

And within moments, a beep rang out from eight bracelets.

The final eight were chosen.

Bobby Dore, Yusuf Grant, Kim Ellis, Su-Li, Vera Harvey, Kenny Princeton, Mika Andersdotir, and Julian Benjamin would be advancing to the International Juniors.

Of the two fights, Bobby versus Julian, and Yusuf versus the first years…

No group truly felt like they won.

As a side note, Yusuf hit Bobby upside the head once all was said and done… why, you might ask?

“How did you get the weapon triangle wrong, sword beats axe, axe beats spear, spear beats sword! Get your facts straight before you say things like that!”

“Alright, alright, I was wrong you crazy bastard!”

With that, the School-Wide Tourney came to a close.