Inside the strategy room Kira had stopped pacing and was now watching the screen with the girls. After seeing the death of Haela, Kira thought she could get lucky and have the tournament cancelled. Unfortunately it looks like the principal took counter measures against that.

Rhina and Daisha on the other hand were totally focused on the fight as the scene of Haela’s death and Iolas’s transformation left them shocked. Looking towards their silent teacher, both girls decided to ask her to give her opinion.

“Instructor what was that transformation? Was it an elf king bloodline?”

“Hmm.. I don’t know. Its nothing that I’ve ever seen before, nor is it something I can say I’ve read about either.” Looking at both girls, Kira was glad that their match was last, especially since both class 1 and 8 were disqualified meaning less opponents. Although that Maeve girl might be somewhat troublesome. “From what I can tell that transformation didn’t seem like it was his own.”

“What do you mean?” Although Rhina often called Daisha an idiot, she was truly curious about things she didn’t understand.

“Did you see the weapon he was using?” Seeing them nod their heads, Kira continued. “To me it looked like it was supplying him with power that he couldn’t comprehend, which lead to him losing his mind and killing that chain girl.”

“What about the transformation itself?”

“I’d guess that his weapon changed part of his body to make it more compatible with the power it gave him.”

“Is it possible for a weapon to do that!” Shock was written on the face of both girls. Although Rhina was trying her best to hide it.

Looking at the instructors removing the young man from the arena, Kira replied in a grim voice. “Not for tier 3 and below.”

“Tier 3? You mean that could be a tier 4 weapon!!”

Seeing the excitement on Daisha’s face, Kira tried to rein in her overexcited heart. “I don’t know, weapons of that tier are said to be myth and legend. For all we know that bow could be a tier 2 weapon with some unique properties.”

“Oh…That’s still interesting.”

“I guess.” To be honest she was also interested in finding out what exactly that weapon was. It was only a shame that right now her worry outweighed her curiosity.

…

Back at the arena, two different teams approached their starting positions. On the right was class 6 which consisted of a red haired elf wielding a two handed sword that seemed way too heavy for her to carry. There was also a purple haired gentleman to her right wielding two small war axes. And the last member was a light blonde girl with a pair of daggers in each hand.

Class 2 consisted of a similar set up with two girls and one guy. The only difference was it seemed that the guy looked like he was the leader. He had raven black hair and slightly pale skin. In his hands was a slim long sword that lacked a hand guard. To his right was a short haired brunet wielding a metal bo staff. On the left was a girl with lime green hair wielding a simple sword and shield.

The leader of class 6 was the redhead named Syndra, the other girl was called Vaalyun and the last member was called Círdan.

The leader of class 2 was called Daeharice, the girl with the bo staff was called Chasianna and the girl with the sword and shield was called Elaria.

Before the match begun, the announcer actually announced that there would be a change to the rules. “Due to the death of one of the participants, we have decided to change the matches from 3 on 3 to 1 on 1. Each side will pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd participant to fight and they will be sent up in that order. The matches will be best out of three so the first team to win two matches will advance, whereas the loser will be put into the loser bracket.”

Seeing that both teams understood, the announcer gave them 30 seconds to decide their formation before starting the first match.

To everyone’s surprise the first ones to fight were actually the captains of both teams.

Seeing Syndra standing opposite him, Daeharice made a funny face. “I guess your team had the same idea as us.”

“You mean win the first match, boost morale, then cruise through the second and advance?”

“More or less.”

Hearing his response, a smile formed on Syndra’s face. “Then I guess we both have a reason to win.”

“I guess so.”

“BEGIN!”

With the announcer signifying the start of the match, both combatants raised their swords then charged at each other.

*SLASH!!*

Dodging Syndra’s first slash, Daeharice twisted his body to deliver a kick to her stomach but was stopped when she summoned a shield made of ice. However what she didn't expect was that when Daeharice’s kick landed on her barrier, it was infused with the law of fire causing the barrier to crack when he applied more force.

*CRACK!*

"It's gonna take more than a shield to stop me, next time I won’t hold back.” He smiled as he teased her, jumping back in retreat, he once more got into his combat stance.

Although it wasn’t completely unexpected, Syndra didn’t respond to his taunting the way he wanted. Instead of recklessly charging in like he’d hoped, she chose to steady herself and prepare for the next assault. Well aren’t you a clever girl. Smiling slightly Daeharice also prepared for their next clash.

*SLASH!!*

Instead of confronting him head on like their previous encounter Syndra swiped her sword which caused some confusion in Daeharice before his sense of danger shot through the roof. Jumping backwards he managed to avoid the wind blade coming at him. Fuck! That was close.

Feeling like he’d taken her too lightly, he enhanced his speed with the law of air and charged at her with the intent to end things as fast as possible.

Seeing him shoot towards her, Syndra summoned a row of earth spikes in front of him, expecting this to give her the opening she needed to end this.

Seeing through her plan, Daeharice smiled and used his enhanced reflexs and agility to leap into the air and sent down a large barrage of flaming sword strikes at her.

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

As she saw the flaming sword strikes approach her, Syndra panicked a little because she had never encountered such a style of attacking before. When it came to sparring against those in a similar age group as her, she’d always ended things fast never allowing them to get a good hit in. It was only when she went up against elves from the older generation that she panicked. Because of this she never experienced what it felt like to encounter someone from the same generation that was able to push her into a corner like this.

Despite her sudden panic, she quickly adapted and summoned a earth igloo barrier around her in order to withstand the barrage.

*BOOM!!*

*BOOM!!*

*BOOM!!*

*BOOM!!*

*BOOM!!*

Once the barrage had come to an end, Syndra transformed the earth igloo into several earth spikes and shot them towards the falling Daeharice. She also shot out several fire balls in case the earth spikes failed.

Seeing the attacks aimed at him, Daeharice felt adrenaline course through his body.

His pride as a mage knight yearned for a stimulating battle and with such an opponent facing him, he couldn't ask for anything more.

Gathering the wind element around his blade he performed a move that left the audience dumbstruck. By simply swiping his sword towards the incoming attacks he utilised a move that was seen only in the first match.

“DRAGON’S ROAR!! WIND BLADE STRIKER!!”

*SWOOOSHH!!!!!!*

A huge amount of the wind element gathered around his blade, rotating at unimaginable speeds causing the air around it to feel sharper. When he released the wind blade, it instantly tore through opposing attacks and rained down upon a defenceless Syndra.

As she saw him obliterate her earth spikes and fireballs, Syndra stared dumbly at Daeharice.

How the fuck am I meant to beat an opponent that can do that!!

She couldn't help but fell annoyed that she had to fight such a freak. She'd trained a whole year in preparation for this tournament and thought that although she may not be the strongest, she would be able to hold her own against anyone in the same generation. But after seeing someone like Maeve and fighting against Daeharice, she felt like she was lacking too much.

*BOOOM!!*

Barley managing to avoid getting seriously injured by that last attack, Syndra found her laying flat on her back with Daeharice’s sword pointed at her throat.

“Good fight.” Smiling at his defeated opponent, Daeharice couldn’t help but respect Syndra for pushing him so far.

*Sigh* “A loss is a loss.”

“C’mon don’t be like that.” Helping her up off the floor Daeharice held out his hand. “If you’d enhanced yourself with the law of air when I released my wind blade you could have easily dodged my attack.”

“…WHAT! I forgot I could do that! Damnit!” feeling like an idiot Syndra criticised herself for panicking during the last attack.

Seeing her back to her old self, Daeharice could help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at! Next time I’ll be the one standing victorious!”

“Ha I don’t know about that, but I welcome the challenge.”

“Winner Class 2” Announcing the results sent the audience wild. Not only once, but twice today have they seen 2 students that had the capability to fight second year students. Although Daeharice wasn’t there just yet, his last attack showed how much potential he had locked away.

…

Inside their own strategy room, Maeve, Azariah and Zara sat watching the events of Daeharice copying Maeve’s attack.

“Guess it wasn’t that special if some random guy could copy it on his first try.” Zara couldn’t help but say.

“If you think its so easy, why don’t you do it on your first try!” Looking towards Maeve, Azariah’s gaze dropped slightly. “Will he be a problem for us?”

Looking at the face of Daeharice, it took a moment before Maeve answered. “No”

“But he performed your attack didn’t he? Surely that must be something to worry about.”

“He merely imitated it. His attack lacks the essence of the dragon’s roar.”

“Essence of the dragon’s roar?”

“Did you see that girl dodge at the end?”

“Yes.” Nodding her head, she continued looking at Maeve.

“If the attack had been performed correctly, the dragon’s roar would have stunned the girl and the attack would have landed.”

“I see.. But doesn’t that still make him a genius.”

“Yes. But not a genius to worry about at this moment in time.”

“But what if me or Zara faces him due to our formation line up?.”

“You’d probably win, Zara will lose. Either way we only need two wins to pass so Zara losing isn’t much of a problem.”

“HEY!!”

“If you say so. I wonder how strong his other teammates are?” Ignoring Zara, Azariah continued speaking with Maeve.

“Since he’s the leader they’re probably not as strong as him.”

“I’m the leader and I’m not as strong as you.”

“Our set up is unique. The leader is usually the strongest one on their team.”

“So you don’t think any of the remaining teams will have someone who’s stronger than their leader?”

“I don’t think the first years would do something like that.”

…

“Kira who’s our leader?”

“Why you asking me? Does it look like I give a shit.”

“Then can I be the leader?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Performing a small dance, Daisha’s radiant smile was practically blinding.