Test 2 Part 3

After I got in my seat, I was forced to sit down, and watch the most boring matches of my life.

The match that I had against that Juliet girl was the fastest, and most one-sided of the whole day.

The only matches that could compare were Juliana, Kari, and Ariel's matches because everything else was too even.

I don't know who made this stupid tournament format, but I wanted to punch their lights out.

My match ended within thirty-seconds, but some of these matches were last upwards of 2 minutes!

My fingers couldn't find something to as I waited for the literal next hour for the matches to end.

I just wanted to do something other than sit around, and watch the lamest matches I had ever seen.

Even the old man was nearly falling asleep.

He was awake just a minute ago because Kari went out, and won her match, but then all of us were nearly put to sleep by the next match.

Ariel had won her match while Juliana and I went to the bathroom, so all four of us had finished, but we still couldn't leave.

I just wanted this torture to end.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Nearly 2 hours after I won my match, Round 1 finished.

At least the main battles.

They still had to set up the brackets that would decide overall placement, but I couldn't care at this point, and neither could the old man.

Arthur, at this point was fed up, and extremely bored.

"Students!" he yelled his usual phrase louder than normal, "I am extremely short on time at this point, so I will be skipping the losers' brackets for now."

"Instead of doing it now, we will now proceed to end the winner's bracket, so that those who won their matches won't be held back any further!" He continued his excuses, "I will now start Round 2, so can I get James Arthur and Saige Blue down in the arena."

Two students walked down from the same section, and shook each others' hands before they even got into the arena.

If you took a closer at the bracket, one could see that they both were seeded her instead of winning their match in Round 1.

Oh, the contract signing bums, I realized, Why the hell would they be seeded to face each other if they were given a pass to the second round? 

Despite the stupidity of the situation, I wasn't upset by it.

The amount of boring matches that were coming from Round 1 were still going to be impossible to sit through, so these fresh faces--who had a chance of being entertaining--were always welcome.

I looked up at the board, and stared at the aura around their pictures, they were both green.

Why are they trying to waste two Green Grades? I wondered, Why is the Arthur kid so nervous?

James Arthur was shaking a little as he walked up to the stage, and when he was shaking Saige's hand it wasn't noticeable by those far away, but it was there.

When they got in the arena, the old man started the match without a second thought, and I saw why he was scared.

Saige immediately summoned over a dozen ice spikes, and sent them like a wall towards the petrified James.

He didn't dodge any of them, and just stood there taking the full brunt of her swarm of icicles.

Somehow he got knocked out from that, and the match ended without him getting punctured even once.

Saige was declared the winner, and James was sent to one of the beds.

What was that? I wondered.

The now unconscious child had been able to completely take the hit that Saige had sent his way.

It didn't make sense unless it was his talent.

There was no intervention from any of the staff, but I couldn't confirm that because I didn't have the glasses on.

They were completely useless when trying to figure out the talents of the kids, so I took them off.

Ignoring the fact that the glasses were useless, James didn't seem to be such a waste.

His talent was capable of blocking attacks from those in the same grade with very little effort.

If that wasn't useful, then I needed a reality check.

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The matches continued after that melodramatic opening, and eventually I was called up to face one of the contractors.

It was another girl, but instead of being a Yellow Grade,  she was a Blue Grade.

Unlike Juliet she zealously charged straight at me.

When she was less than 10 meters away, she swung at the air.

I didn't want to take any chances, so I leaped toward her.

My hair was slightly in the area where she swung earlier, but it was cut a second after she swung.

Luckily I had leaped low, or my head would have been gone.

I rolled across the ground as I move within an arms length, and then I sprung at her.

Upside down, I pushed off the ground, and launched my feet toward her face.

She pulled her head back, and she dodged my feet.

She didn't just let me get away with it, while doing the limbo, she turned it into a backflip, and tried to kick me while I passed over her.

While my body passed over her, her foot nearly got close enough to smash my face, but I quickly shoved her leg to the side, and she lost her balance.

I quickly landed, and rushed at her as she tried to do what I had just done.

So I just turned my body to the side, and readied my self for the finisher.

When she landed, I shot towards her legs, and swiftly grabbed her by her legs

Once I was secure, I started to swing her around.

It didn't take long before she was starting to act like a doll, so I drew her over my head like a sandbag, and threw her towards the ground.

While she hit the ground, I spun around, and sent an axe kick towards her stomach.

She bounced off the dirt floor, and had her gut smashed with my heel.

After I finished her off, I picked her up, and threw her towards the medical center.

This time they were ready for what I was going to do, so they caught her, and quickly assessed her vitals.

Turns out that she was fine, or that is what I am assuming because I saw them do the same J sign, and the old man declared me victorious.

"The Winner is Zen!" the old man passionately announced.

I just headed back to my seat to get back to watching the boring matches.

When I got back, all the girls were looking at me weirdly again.

"Two for two," Kari mumbled with wide eyes.

Ariel and Juliana only nodded in agreement as I took my seat.

"What?" I was confused, "Do you need to track my win rate? It says which bracket I am in everytime its my turn."

The girls only looked at me with even weirder faces.

"How did you even beat a Blue Grade without using your talent?" Ariel asked, "I saw that she was using her talent, so why didn't you?"

"My talent doesn't even work here," I blatantly said, "She didn't even need my talent to defeat her anyways."

"If she could use her talent properly, I wouldn't even be here," I continued.

"If she had sent out a second attack as I did my first roll to her feet, I would have lost immediately," I quietly mumbled.

Kari was surprised, "You're already thinking about that? You must have some mental issues if you're already beating yourself up for that."

"Huh", I looked her in the eyes with a confused expression on my face, "What does that have to do with me critiquing my match?"

"Well for one your re--," Kari was going to go on a tangent, but Ariel covered her mouth, and quickly took her away before she could finish.

I blinked a few times in their direction, and after a little staring into space, I turned my attention to the bracket. There were at least six more rounds of the winner's bracket, but the screen didn't show the bracket's final.

Thankfully, these matches were progressing faster than before.

I watched the matches, and eventually just zoned out until the round ended.

In round 3 and beyond, everything was more entertaining because the contestants could actually fight decently.

In Round 3 I crushed the Yellow Grade that was gloating over winning his match in Round 1.

It was so short that even I was disappointing.

He had a talent that let him summon wood, but when he faced me, he only threw darts at me.

I caught every single one he threw, and just threw them at him.

He threw himself out of the way, and managed to dodge them, but left himself open, so I kicked him.

I kicked him in the head--it made a loud crack, and he was sent flying out of the arena.

Somehow he didn't die, but it was one of the least fulfilling things I had done in my life.\

In Round 4, I was up against another pleb, but they just gave up when they saw that I was their opponent.

The same happened in Round 5, and 6.

In Round 7, the semifinal, I was against Kari, but she also gave up.

In the final--Round 8, I was up against Juliana, but even she gave up.

So with that melodramatic ending, I was declared the winner.

Thankfully, I was allowed to leave early because I had finished everything I had to do, but I decided to stay, and watch the match for 3rd place.

It was going to be Ariel versus Kari because Kari had given up against me, and Ariel had given up against Juliana.

None of us had used our talents in any of the matches, so I don't know why I had stayed longer.

I guess I was just insane, but I wanted to see the two fools fight against each other.

Maybe I was hoping I would see an actually good fight.

The blonde walked into the arena, and the brunette slowly strode towards the center.

They shook hands, ready for the duel ahead.

Slowly, they took 10 steps back, they didn't turn their backs from each other, and then the match started.

They quickly charged at each other, pulling their fists back in a wide swing.

Then they shot them towards each other, and slammed them together.

And played Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Kari took the first round with a powerful Rock crushing Ariel's scissors.

As punishment for losing that round, Kari sent a spinning roundhouse kick into Ariel which sent her tumbling down the arena.

Ariel struggled to stand up, but managed to pull herself together.

She slowly returned to the center of the arena, and they started the second round of Kari versus Ariel.

The match started with an even Rock to Rock.

When the match up was Paper to Paper Ariel started to sweat.

But when it was Scissors to Rock Ariel cheered.

Then she launched up into the air, and started doing front flips.

She jumped high enough to do a triple front flip, and she turned it into an axe kick that landed directly on Kari's right shoulder.

Kari crumpled under the immense force from Ariel's devastating kick, and it seemed like she was down for the count.

Ariel crouched down, and stared at the laying down Kari.

She said something that I couldn't read, and Kari immediately jumped up for the third round.

Kari couldn't use her dominant arm because it had been rendered useless, but she still pulled out her left hand.

The match was decided in an instant because the first draw was Kari's Paper to Ariel's Rock.

Ariel immediately stood up straight, and Kari jumped up to match her.

Mid-jump, Kari hooked her left foot behind Ariel's head, and smashed her head into the ground like a pancake.

Kari immediately landed on her new mat, and glared at the old man.

"T-The winner is Kari," the old man said with a stutter.

Immediately after that was announced, Kari got off of Ariel, and helped her up.

They shook hands, and left the stage to get healed.

After I had watched the whole ordeal, I turned to Juliana who was sitting with.

"What was that," I said with a deadpan expression.

"That was what they said was going to be a special surprise that they planned while we were in the restrooms," she muttered with an irritated expression.

"Well, tell them that it was funny for me because I am leaving now," I said while I stood up.

I left without waiting for a response, and walked up to the woman managing the entrance.

She didn't even ask for my ID this time; instead, she pointed me towards the old man who had snuck up behind me.

"Well done young man," he muttered through a grit teeth, "Would you like to come to Bronzeheart Academy to further yourself with quality education?"

"Thank you for your offer," I solemnly replied, "While appreciate it, I have already signed a contract that forces me to go to an alternative Academy."

His face relaxed and he let out a laugh, "Oh, what a relief. If a talent like you was going to be wasted, I would have had to teach you myself."

"Could you perhaps share which fine institution you are going to?" the old man asked with a smile.

I looked him in the eyes and muttered, "I signed an NDA."

"Oh," his brows furrowed, "What a shame. Once again, congrats on winning the tournament."

"Have a good night," he said with a small wave.

I gave a quick wave back, and started my trek home.