Tournament

It's the day of the tournament and Krios was sitting beside Loras inside the training arena along with six thousand or so students and spectators.

The atmosphere was electric and the excitement was palpable as everyone was excited for the ranking tournament of the first years.

"Are you ready? I'm feeling quite nervous." Loras asked.

"I feel fine. I mean, we did prepare as much as the free day yesterday allowed us right?"

They previous day, the two of them explored the academy grounds while talking about their strategies. Krios also found out that Loras was attuned to wind magic like his mother.

"How does this tournament go about again?" Krios asked.

"There are about a hundred and thirty of us competing. Eighty from our class, then fifty from class one. We'll be randomly drawn into fighting pairs for the first round of matches." Loras explained

'So there's a chance that I might get matched up with a person from class one right from the get go.' Krios thought silently.

"How high do you think we would place?" Loras asked again

"Taking into account that there are fifty from class one, we'd be lucky to place on the high forties." Krios answered.

But knowing his own power, he knew he can rank higher. But he has decided to not use his chaos energy this early in his academy life. He did not want to attract unwanted attention to himself.

"You're probably right. They are definitely in class one for a reason." Loras answered nervously.

"Good morning young talents!" A woman suddenly spoke through a amplification formation.

The crowd cheered in response and the excitement level rose to a new high.

"The match ups will be posterd right about… now. There it is. Please refer to the formation to the right an see your matchup for this round." The announcer spoke once again.

Everyone turned their attention to the formation that displayed the names of the participants and to which class they belong to.

'I am going against someone from class two.' Krios saw his name and the name of his opponent .

"Krios, I know that guy. He's from the same city I am from. Mathaios uses flame magic as well. You have to be careful as he is quite powerful."

"Thanks for that. I'll be sure to take precaution."

"Fighters of the first sixteen matches, please proceed to your respective platforms!" The announcer spoke once again.

Krios stood up and started to walk towards his designated platform.

"Good luck Krios!" Loras cheered him on.

"In position! The referee told both of them.

"The rules are simple, you have five minutes to subdue your opponent. Use whatever weapons you have but no maiming, no killing, no extensive violence."

Both Krios and his opponent nodded.

"Let the fights, begin!" The announcer shouted and the crowd cheered back.

"You know, you can surrender now. You are a realm below me so just save yourself from the beating you're going to receive." His opponent spoke. Hew was indeed a realm above him as he was already in the early Mana Compression realm.

"Nah, I'd rather fight. Come on, let's get this done and over with." Krios answered in return. His opponent smiling smugly.

"Fine, but don't blame me for what's to come." His oponent's hands started to light up on fire.

Krios' oponent moved towards him in a flash surprising him.

'So fast!'

Then a fiery fist went in to strike him but Krios was able to block it using his two arms covered in mana. But the barrage of his opponent's blazing fists didn't stop.

"Wow, look at that guy just raining in flaming punches." One person in the crowd commented.

"That must hurt." Another one chimed.

The punches continued on and Krios ad no choice but to defend. The final punch came and Krios was sent back a few meters with his arms crossed in front of his face.

"You're not bad!" His opponent mused.

"Thanks for the compliment. But now let me reply in kind." Krios answered, light blue fireballs manifesting on both his hands.

"Look at his flame, it's blue!" One person in the crowd pointed out.

"Not just blue, it's a lighter shade. That only means that it's hotter than normal flames."

The crowd seeing their battle went on a discussion about the properties of Krios' flames.

Although blue flames are not rare, they are not common either. And the quality of Krios' blue flame was very evident even to the spectators.

"So, you're like me." Mathaios

They might be using the same element, but Krios was a mage and Mathaios was a warrior and they were not the same.

Krios didn't answer and instead, started hurling three consecutive firballs at him.

"Your flame might be hotter than mine, but it won't hurt me in any way." Mathaios laughed loudly as he started evading the rain of fireballs.

One fireball went straight to his face and Mathaios just scoffed and put his blazing hands in front of his face to block the attack. What he did not know was those fireballs were imbued with more mana than any normal fireball and was compressed into a small ball.

BOOM!

The fireball exploded on his face and he was sent flying back but was able to land on his two feet.

"How the hell was that fireball so explosive?!" A flabbergasted audience asked.

"That was not an ordinary fireball." Another added.

It was indeed not an ordirary firaball as it came from his extremely compressed and strengthened core that can release extreme amounts of mana in a short amount of time.

Krios used this opportunity to close the gap as he imbued his legs with mana and blasted off towards Mathaios. His spear appeared on his right hand and he reached Mathaios in an instant.

Mathaios was still in a state of shock as he was not expecting the fireball to be that strong when all of a sudden, his feet was swept by the shaft of Krios' spear and he fell into his back.

"My fire might not be able to hurt you, but my blade can." Krios spoke as he pointed the tip of his spear towards the neck of his opponent.

"Concede." Krios added.

Mathaios was dumbfounded by everything that has transpired and was speechless for a second.

"I concede." He spoke after a while.

The crowd focusing on their match was silent not imagining the match to end that fast.

"He just beat someone from a higher realm!" The silence was disrupted by one audience member.

"Yeah but he was only able to do it because he was able to surprise his opponent." Someone answered.

"Still, you don't see it happen every day!" Another chimed in.

Krios sent his spear back into his storage ring and held out a hand to help Mathaios up.

"Platform twelve winner by surrender, Krios Whiteflame!" The referee announced.

The crowd cheered and the loudest one of them was Loras.

"That was a nice battle. But how is your fire so explosive?" Mathaios asked.

"You can't expect your opponent to tell you their secrets right?" Krios answered sheepishly.

"I guess you're right." Mathaios answered and they both began walking off the platform.

"What the hell Krios! That was amazing!" Loras said with excitement.

"Thanks. But stop wasting your energy before yor match." Krios answered.

"You're right." Loras sat back down.

"But you took him down so fast. It only took you about two minutes. And he was a realm above you! And that fireball of yours was abnormally strong. Why is that?" Loras rambled.

Krios just smiled and continued watching the other students battling it out in the arena.

After another round if matchups, Loras finally stood up as he was now about to fight.

"Good luck out there." Krios called out to him.

Loras just nodded and went straight to his designated platform. It did not take a while before the battle started.

Loras took out his twin daggers and immediately went into the offensive. He moved swiftly like the wind was carrying him, which was somewhat true as he used his wind magic to lighten his body.

His opponent fought back ferociously swinging his saber made of thin sturdy ice to push back. And the crowd went wild as all the other fights were picking up pace as well.

Loras' blade and his opponent's saber struck out each other and they were both sent flying backwards.

Then Loras' started sending wind slashes so thin and sharp they were barely visible. One of the wind blades sliced through his opponent's side slightly and blood started soaking his robes.

But his oponent did not let Loras get the initiative as he shot ice projectiles towards Loras and immediately sped towards him.

While Loras was busy evading the icicles, His opponent arrived in front of him quickly swinging his saber horizontally. Everyone screamed in terror as they thought as student was going to be bisected by the waist but they were shocked with what followed.

Loras bent backwards in a very steep angle, with the saber missing his body by a tiny margin. He followed it with a flip, kicking his opponent by the chin sending him flying up.

The crowd went even wilder with the sequence of events they were witnessings

But Loras did not stop there. He flew ahead and caught his oponent mid air, landed on their feet, and placed him on a headlock while pointing one of his daggers on his neck.

"It's over." Loras told his opponent.

"I concede." His oponent announced and Loras finally let him go.

"That was crazy!" Someone shouted.

"That would definitely break my back if I did that." One of the crowd spoke.

And the crowd continued with their discussion. While the rest continued watching the other ongoing matches.

"That was a nice combo you did back there." Krios patted Loras by the shoulder as he arrived back in their seats.

"That was close but I did it." Loras said wide eyed.

"I know. But it's just the start. So in to the next."

They both looked back into the other matches ongoing, more determined than before.