________________________

Resounding cheers could be heard from the crowd when the announcement of the tournament was to begin.

Azreal then made his way to the waiting area of the participants where he met with Phaeton.

“How did your training go?.” Azreal made a smile. “It went well, I also met the strange guy who won against the other noble.

“So how was he?” Phaeton asked curuisly.

“I'm not sure, I wasn't able to glean any information regarding him, however, I did feel that he was very dangerous.”

Azreal then pointed at the guy, as all of them were gathered in one place.

Azreal recalled the chilling sensation he felt when he locked eyes with the other guy. It was like there was a mountain pressing down on him or not, a feeling of terror and fear.

“How so?” Azreal then described what happened.

Phaeton pondered and tried to make sense of what Azrael told him, then he glanced at the guy.

“He does look the part."

The announcer then looked at the crowd and then the participants.

“We will now begin the last phase of the selection. All ten of you will be participating in a tournament, the matchups will be based on how you performed on the previous tests including the entrance and potential test.”

“I’m sure you all didn't just come here because you want to become a normal soldier part of the military. We will only be giving 3 rewards for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of the tournament.”

“The 3rd placer will be given an option to apply to any division.” The announcer laughed. “Whether the division accepts your or not will depend on your abilities at any rate if you don't get accepted you’ll still get a “Metal” magic weapon from our Armaments”

“Woah! A magic weapon? It's metal at that.“

“What’s the big deal about that?” Azrael asked Phaeton seemingly astonished by the reaction of the crowd.

“You don’t know?” Wide-eyed, and was about to not believe Azraels comment, retracted what he was about to say.

“Right, you don’t use any weapons. Let me explain, magic weapons are divided into 4 ranks, Ordinary, Metal, Runic, and True. Hearing it the first time, Metal Ranked weapon may not sound strong but at that rank, the weapon can greatly enhance the user's ability, you can even add in customizations if you know the know-hows of forging or you just know someone.”

“You should aim for 3rd place seeing as you don’t have a weapon yet,” Phaeton said as he smiled mischievously.

“You can have the 3rd place, I’m aiming for the 1st place, I need to get a sure-fire ticket to the Force Division!” Azrael said as his eyes shown determinedly”.

“What a coincidence, Force division is my target as well since my brother is there.”

“2nd placer will be given the choice to select their squad or regiment, and a chance for a promotional test right after the Military academy additionally you’ll also get Metal” magic weapon of your choosing.”

The participants clamored when they heard this. Initially, after entering the military, it would take at least 1-2 years for anyone to get a Promotional test moreover there's a set amount of accomplishments required before you can qualify which it takes a lot of effort and skill.

“The 3rd and 2nd placer rewards are already beyond what we expected, I wonder what the 1st place rewards will be.”

“Finally the 1st placer will be allowed to have our forgers create a custom weapon. The champion can also select any squad or regiment and this selection will be finally whether your superior likes it or not.”

The announcer paused and smiled while shooting a glance at each of the participants. “Now! For the last prize which Princess Hildegard promised, which I am also getting a little bit envious about. Her highness extends her hand to the champion, the opportunity to become her sword.”

“Woooaaahhh!!!” The participants including the crowd went wild when they heard this. Becoming the personal sword of the royal family entails massive benefits, aside from having partial ‘royal authority, the combat and training resources they have at disposal is immense.

Azreal shook his head when he heard this. Winning was one thing but he didn't want to become a personal sword after all he had a goal in mind which can only be achieved while in the force division.

“I’ll worry about it when I win this thing.”

The board and brackets of the tournament were then shown”.

Azrael vs Isabelle, Peter vs Angelo, Phaeton vs Thanatos, Nikols vs Ruby....

Surprised by the matchups, Azreal looked at Phaeton. “You should be careful, I know I couldn't provide any concrete information but you should refrain from making big moves without analyzing his abilities first.

Phaeton nodded at Azrael. He was indeed right. Aside from beating the other noble easily, they knew nothing. PT cant asks Isabelle as they weren't on good terms in the first place, he was going in blind. However, this didn't discourage him in any way.

“Heh, you should be more worried about your opponent, Ill be fine, besides the person I want to fight is you!” PT yelled.

Azrael smiled. “Well, I’ll be waiting”. He then glanced at his opponent.

“You’re matched against Isabelle. We’ve sparred a few times in the past, the noble clans hold spars for their children all the time just like the gathering a told you last time, I hate to admit it but she is pretty strong, you’re both long-range fighters so this should be an interesting fight”. Phaeton explained.

“Well good luck”

________________________

“1st Match, Azrael Anguis vs. Isabelle Eridanus!”

Phaeton then looked shocked. “You’re a Noble? Why didn't you tell me.”

Azreal brushed it off. “It didn't come up in the conversation, also it doesn't matter.”. Azreal then made his way to the Ring.

Isabelle also arrived. “I didn't think that you were also part of the clans. Well, I suppose it was an understandable mistake, Anguis has been declining as of this late, no wonder you didn't look competent.” Isabelle laughed.

On the observational stand.

“2 nobles right off the bat.” Hildegard looked curiously. “There were Anguis clansmen here in Regraud?”

Escariot then replied. “Yes, your Highness a few of them reside here. Although I'm not familiar with that person, the Eridanus noble should win this easily. Such a shame, the Anguis was undoubtedly the strongest clan before.”

Hildegard kept quiet and continued to observe Azreal.

“Match start!”. The announcer shouted.

As soon as the voice sounded off, Azreal went into combat mode and began gathering light.

The light magic strength lies in its ability to accumulate, the strength of the magic is only limited to the user's accumulation.

Light particles gathered around Azrael's body as he activated light steps.

On the opposite end, Isabelle brandished her staff. The staff had an intricate spiral etching design embedded with small sapphire stones, each of them possessing a subtle glow.

“Let's see what you’re made of.” She then waved her staff and focused on her mana. A gush of water flowed out from her staff and turned into two large torrents of water spinning in front of her.

Azrael looked at the torrents seriously and distant himself. “Approaching her directly might be dangerous”.

He then moved around the arena in circles.

On the stands, Phaeton remembered his fight with Isabelle and looked worried. “Damn, I forgot to tell him about this, that he shouldn't keep too much distance. That's a trap.”

Grinning, Isabelle slashed her staff forward and a screeching blade of water flew towards Azrael at High speed. “Hydro slice!”

With his quick reaction, Azrael dodged it using light steps only to find 2 more blades flying towards him. “Shit!”

Azrael then activated his light reserve to cast a higher level of light step which moved him to the opposite end of the arena.

“You are like a scurrying rat just like your family, living on the scraps the nobles give you,” Isabelle said as she prepared to fire off more.

“This is troublesome, I can't just approach her with those Torrents moving about in front of her. On the other hand if I don't go, I’ll be a sitting duck here.”.

This was a large dilemma as he didn't know what other skill Isabelle had however after a second thought Azrael grit his teeth and charged towards Isabelle and blinding speeds.

Isabelle’s face turned into a sneer. “What a fool!”. She then waved her staff inward and the two torrents converged to her position.

The mana flow on Isabelle was gathering large rate. Despite this sight, Azrael still pushed forward, as he neared the torrent, he flicked his wrist, and a flash of light enveloped the stage.

“Blinding Flash!”

“Ugh!”. Isabelle covered her eyes with her hand trying to orient herself. Without giving a chance for her to recover, Azrael moved to the side where there was an opening and fired a light beam straight for her.

While still blinding, Isabelle in her desperation slammed the staff on the ground. “Tidal Wave”

The large torrent gushed out with huge waves pouring out. Despite this, the beam still managed to pierce and hit Isabelle on her side, although the damage was superficial, this attack wounded her pride.

“Too weak, the waves managed to disperse my attack.”

“You’ll pay for this.” She then slashed her staff multiple times. “Hydro Slice”

Azrael then moved to dodge and started firing off his own light beam attacks “Let's see you defend as well.”

Isabelle then manipulated the water waves to move her along the arena.

Then battle turned into a projectile exchange, they each fired and dodged each other's attack. Little by little, water filled the arena.

“I need to do something to break this stalemate,” Azrael said as he tried to wrack his brain.

“I already practiced this a lot, so might as well test it on her.”

As Azrael was dodging he slowly decreased his rate of attack and stealthily made a drawing motion with his fingers. Light particles appeared and were shaping up into a magic circle.

One by one magic circle were being drawn in the air as he continued to dodge.

Not failing to notice what was transpiring, Isabelle summoned 3 water torrents and fired them at Azrael.

“Don’t think I’ll let you do what you want!” Isabelle shouted.

“You think your attack will be faster than mine?”. Brilliant lights filled the arena as multiple magic circles appeared.

It then intensified its glow and fired light beams at Isabelle. The moment the beams hit Isabelle, the water torrents weakened and swerved in random directions.

It should have been a mutual destruction scenario, however, Azrael was observing how Isabelle cast and controlled her spells.

Based on her movements, it would seem that those water torrents required a decent amount of concentration to maintain, this is more evident if she uses it offensively.

When the explosion settled, a disheveled figure has slowly become visible. It was Isabelle, she had multiple scalds and wounds on her body. Her face contorted with rage.

“You haven’t won yet! I’ll make sure you pay for this.” Isabelle then held her staff and slammed it to the ground three times then on the 3rd slam she poured her mana on her staff.

Water gathered around her and turned into a protective ball of water, then a large tornado of water formed.

“YOU’RE FINISHED!!”

Azrael frowned, this was a large spell in the making. Due to the amount of water in the arena, Isabelle had access to using a large-scale spell.

“Do I really have to use it now?” Azreal frustratingly thought.