Sam Richwald

From this point on, there was no longer a need to wait in between fights. With 10 fighting platforms in the courtyard, it was more than enough to accommodate the 16 participants left.

However, it was too demanding to make the participants keep fighting without rest, so mana potions were actually provided for the winners after each fight.

Healing magic for the externals wounds, and a mana potion for the internal mana reserve, all that was left was for the participants to regulate their own mental state.

"Who do you think will win?" one of the senior apprentices seated among the audiences asked his friend beside him.

"There are probably only three outstanding individuals here. Sam is not bad too, but Kyle, Adrian, and that Henrik from Sand Academy are obviously a cut above the rest," his friend answered in surety.

"I can see that as well! I'm asking who you think will win among the three!"

"It will depend on how they perform during their individual matches, the one who gets careless will definitely lose!"

"And who do you think will get careless first?"

"In the heat of battle, it is difficult to maintain your focus. Anyone could experience a lapse in concentration."

"Spouting all that crap, you have no idea, do you?"

"…"

Similar conversations were happening among other audiences. It was obvious from a glance that there were three outstanding individuals, but no one could tell who would emerge as the eventual victor.

After some resting, all 16 of the remaining participants stood before the crowds, taking up 8 different fighting platforms as they faced each of their opponents.

But at this time, Adrian's opponent was breaking out into cold sweat. His brain was running on overclock, rapidly trying to think of a way to beat Adrian.

His 10 year old opponent had just showed in his previous round that he had no qualms matching the speed of his opponent's charge, and that it would be difficult to reach him before his ranged attack landed.

Weaving left and right with hope that his opponent would miss seemed to be his only option at the moment.

But was it really a good idea?

Nevertheless, he had to try! As long as he managed to get near his opponent, he could at least try to force a proper fight. Otherwise there would really be no chance of winning.

The moment the match started, he did exactly as he planned, sprinting diagonally forward as fast as he could.

It was a smart improvisation from simply charging straight towards Adrian.

No doubt it would have been a meaningless gesture if Adrian had full control over the use of his Spiritual Aura, but the current Adrian did not have such masterful control over his own Spiritual Aura yet.

That was the reason why he could only utilise his Spiritual Aura in a way to strike at his opponent, rather than completely pressurise his opponent into submission.

At the same time, this lack of complete control also meant that Adrian's attack could actually miss its target if it was too quick for Adrian to follow.

Unfortunately, his opponent did not possess such speed.

It was another complete victory for Adrian as he once again knocked his opponent over from a distance, not allowing a single opening.

Top 8!

After his victory was announced, he took a look around at the other fighting platforms to see how his future opponents were faring in their fights.

Previously, he had immediately entered meditation after each of his fight in order to maintain his top fighting condition, so this was actually the first time he was trying to gain intelligence that could help with his next few rounds in the ranking tournament.

Of the different fighting platforms, there were only two others that seemed to be extremely one-sided.

As expected, Kyle and Henrik were dominating their opponents.

Kyle's opponent kept throwing out attacks, but none of them managed to even come close to hitting Kyle who had already boosted his own physical capabilities with the Haste spell. There was no doubt that it would only be a matter of time before he found an opening to slot in an attack of his own to end the fight.

On the other fighting platform, there was no semblance of magic in the fight at all as Henrik's opponent desperately tried to match him in hand-to-hand combat. He was quite capable in that aspect as well, definitely much better than Adrian, but it seemed Henrik still held the upper hand. Henrik landed hit after hit as punches continued to rain on his opponent.

Why bother holding on stubbornly when he no longer stood a chance? That was just prolonging the pain for no reason at all.

Adrian shook his head in pity.

There were no surprise upsets in this round as Kyle and Henrik eventually emerged victorious.

Sam also managed to beat his opponent after launching another round of his hyper aggressive offense, overwhelming his opponent with his flaming punches.

However, he could only smile wryly upon seeing who he was matched up with next.

He was to face Henrik, one of the top favourites in the ranking tournament.

"How unlucky!" Sam complained to Adrian as he downed the mana potion that was handed over to him after his match ended.

"Indeed, but it's not like he is completely unbeatable," Adrian was already done with his share of the mana potions long ago.

However, Adrian had forgotten to lower his voice when he replied, and Henrik naturally heard what he said.

Magic users had exceptional perception abilities due to their spiritual sense, and this extended to their ability to pick up on voices. Henrik was no exception to that.

Adrian's eyebrows perked up in surprise as he felt Henrik's spiritual sense swept over them, and immediately turned around to look in Henrik's direction.

They made eye contact for a moment, but Henrik simply gave a smile and looked away.

It was not a friendly smile.

In fact, it would probably be more accurate to call it a mocking scoff rather than a smile.

Both Sam and Adrian frowned upon seeing that.

It was probably natural for Henrik to act this way upon hearing them openly discuss that it was not a certainty for the other party to win. In a way, it could be seen as a condescending conversation.

Still, they couldn't help but feel a sense of unhappiness swell up within them.

After a short period of rest, it was finally time for the remaining participants to take the stage once again.

8 of them, 4 different matches. Just from that alone, one could tell that the ranking tournament was nearing its final stages.

"You might be confident in your abilities, but that doesn't mean that I am not!" Sam announced loudly as he faced Henrik on the fighting platform.

His loud declaration drew loud cheers from the crowd that comprised mainly of Gryphon Academy apprentices. After all, Sam's relationship with his fellow freshmen was relatively good.

However, it similarly drew some jeers from the visiting freshmen of Sand Academy. Henrik was already their de facto leader with his previous performances, so how could they just stand and watch as his opponent trash talked towards him?

"Excessive words. Let's see if you can back them up," Henrik's voice was ice cold, lacking any hint of being riled up.

"I definitely will!" Sam, on the other hand, had his passion burning strong as he heard the audience being at its loudest.

"Fire punch!"

Sam charged forward at Henrik and directly threw out a burning punch towards his face.

Henrik's response was immediate, thrusting his palm out to block the punch before it could connect.

However, Sam suddenly pulled back his fist, and sent out a low kick instead.

It was a feint punch leading to a kick, and an extremely well concealed one.

Due to the palm strike that was intended to block the initial punch, even if Henrik could obviously see Sam pull back his fist, his vision would be blocked by his own outstretched arm from seeing Sam's low kick.

The trajectory and angle of the kick was immaculately calculated after Sam saw Henrik's response, and it definitely paid off.

Bang-!

A loud clap sounded through the courtyard as Sam's kick landed cleanly on Henrik's thigh, sending him tumbling back a few steps.

Henrik did not fall from that, but after being sent backwards with a powerful kick, Henrik's eye opened wide in disbelief.

He had always been the one suppressing the opponent, and now it was the first time in the ranking tournament that he had been pushed back!

"Why are you even surprised?" Sam grinned in triumph, but he knew that the match was far from over.

It was as if his words triggered Henrik, and the latter immediately refocused and charged forward once again.

Another kick was sent straight towards Henrik, this time it was aimed high at his chest, seemingly to halt his approach.

But an attack that he could clearly see coming was never going to stop Henrik's advance.

With a slight tilt of his body, Henrik easily sidestepped the kick, moving straight into close proximity with Sam.

Sam instantly pulled back his leg, apparently not having channelled all his strength into the kick, and rapidly stepped backwards to increase the distance between them.

But no matter how fast he was at treading backwards, there was no way that he could be faster than Henrik who now charged right at him.

"Magic Seal!"

An arcane symbol appeared on his palm as Henrik thrust it out towards Sam.

The audience all stared intently at what could be the deciding moment of this match. They had already seen this multiple times today, whoever got hit by this attack of Henrik's will completely lose the ability to use magic for the rest of the match.

And all that was left would be for Henrik to completely overpower them. This was the bane of all magic users!

And facing this attack that anyone would choose to evade, Sam did the complete opposite.

"Fire punch! Doubled!"

Both of Sam's fists burst into raging flames as he emptied all of his remaining mana for this one moment. He punched both fists out simultaneously, aiming to match Henrik's attack with brute force!

Henrik did not expect this to happen, but it was too late to pull back now. He could only hope that he would not receive too much damage as a trade-off for sealing the other party's magic.

The collision of magic resulted in a loud blast the resounded across the courtyard.

Except for the other participants who were too focused on their own fights, everyone's attention was instantly attracted to their fight.

Everyone looked intently as the smoke slowly dissipated to reveal the two figures standing opposed to each other.

Sam didn't look too affected from that clash, but only he himself knew best. It felt like a blockage had appeared in multiple parts within his body, disallowing the flow of any mana whatsoever.

But that was to be expected.

He already knew that he would no longer be able to cast any spells for the remaining of the match after being struck by Henrik's attack, and that was why he had expended all his mana in that previous attack to deal as much damage as possible to his opponent.

That was the best plan he could come up with for this fight.

Now all that was left to be seen was what he managed to achieve in exchange for landing himself in this state. That was his strongest possible attack, but he knew too little about the opponent to predict the result of the clash.

As the cloud of smoke cleared up, Sam saw that Henrik was panting heavily as he struggled to remain standing. The skin on the arm he used for the previous attack was charred black, and so were part of his clothes. But his stubbornness to fight on could be seen from the glimmer that remained in his eyes.

"Look at Henrik's arm!"

No one knew who shouted that out first, but that comment drew everyone's attention towards Henrik's arm which was left hanging lifelessly by his side. It seemed like the arm was not just charred, he might already have lost all control over it.

Gasps of astonishment and shock sounded throughout the audience, and even the professors sat on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what the result would be.

Still, Sam did not think that he already had this in the bag.

He had completely lost the ability to use magic. As long as the opponent could still move properly, even if he lost control of a single limb, the fight might end up in favour of his opponent instead.

Such was the power of magic.

For example, even if Sam landed 10 normal punches on an opponent, it would still not be as devastating as a single Fire Punch.

"You are tougher than I thought," Sam forced out a helpless smile as he commented.

"I…I won't lose…this easily," Henrik was still panting heavily as he struggled to readjust his mental state.

But from that one conversation, Sam suddenly caught onto something – he still had some time!

It was not his intention to test out his opponent through conversation, but seeing how his opponent struggled to even reply, Sam knew that it was now or never. He had to make full use of this small time frame before his opponent recovered, and quickly finish off the match.

With that, Sam pounced forward without further warning!

Henrik might be severely weakened, but he was not unprepared for this at all. He immediately raised his remaining arm to parry Sam's punches.

However, Henrik's mental state was in turmoil right now. He was only able to summon bare amounts of mana to coat his remaining limb as they exchanged blows. While this coat of mana still allowed every strike of his to overpower Sam's, he was definitely not fast enough to parry the attacks that came from both of Sam's hands.

Sam knew that he was at an advantage after the first few exchanges. With every attack he made, Henrik would completely blow away his attacking arm with a parry, but Sam's other hand would always connect after that since Henrik no longer had control over both of his arms.

Punch after punch connected on Henrik's body as the Sand Academy freshmen fell into a dead silence. Even those from Gryphon Academy could not believe their eyes.

Was Sam always this strong?

The answer was no.

Sam Richward was an apprentice with high talent and high physical prowess, but neither aspect was able to compare with that of Henrik's. However, his passion far outstripped the latter's, and that had resulted in him always doing better than usual when faced with a strong opponent.

On top of that, this was a mere ranking tournament.

Although winning was important, no one would have thought of expending all of his mana in an attack to exchange damage with the opponent.

Similarly, Henrik had never expected the opponent to completely empty all of his mana into a single devastating attack, all in a bid to deal as much damage to him before he could seal the opponent's magic.

When he finally saw Sam's final attack, he wanted no more than to dodge it, but Sam's calculation and timing in this fight had been exceptional, giving him no chance to avoid the exchange.

Perhaps it was the faint sense of superiority within him, but he had not place as much emphasis on this match. He had always been looking at Kyle and Adrian, whom he thought might be able to pose him some challenge.

This slight underestimation of the opponent had resulted in an exchange that would ultimately seal the result of this fight.

"The winner is Sam Richwald from Gryphon Academy!"

The referee excitedly announced as Henrik finally fell under the fierce onslaught of attacks by Sam.