Second Round

Both Corbin and Alex greeted Thomas back up at the stands with a smile and a high five each.

"Great battle, knew you would beat that little punk!" Corbin was thrilled.

"Yeah, I knew the moment we met you would amount to something great! Shame on your second round though," Alex giggled.

"We will see about that!" Thomas challenged Alex with a serious look.

But he could not hold it for long and the three of them laughed before heading for lunch. There was a lunch break before the next rounds would start.

The idea was to let the first round combattants have a chance to recover. Especially since some were going to face people who were fully rested and supposedly higher status or stronger.

They ordered a few sandwiches and a couple of apple juice boxes. Corbin thought it would be wise to have some more replenishments for later during the later rounds.

"By the way…" Alex munched away… "How did you figure out there was a vine whip closing in from behind to attack you?" Alex asked.

Thomas thought for a second how to answer Alex's question and pretended to take his sweet time chewing.

"It made a different sound than the rest, did it not? Kind of dreaded over me once it got up close and gave me a bad feeling to look behind in case there was something there," Thomas responded.

"Yeah right!" Corbin did not believe him, "You just got lucky, admit it!" Corbin playfully punched Thomas' shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe a little," Thomas laughed it off and Alex joined in.

Alex was extremely attentive when it came to observing things in battle. He could tell Thomas was being dishonest based on his instant reaction when he turned around and cut the vine.

"Well luck will not work against me," Alex grinned and pretended to let it go for a second.

After they finished having lunch, they walked back to the large battle building with their reserves for later. Once they got back the matches were already underway and Olivia had already won hers.

The rest of the matches were rather slow paced and people were careful with each attempted strike. It made Alex yawn from the stands and close his eyes.

"Wake me up when Corbin is battling," Alex decided to nap for a while.

It took some time but it was finally time for Corbin's battle. He was versus this Chris kid who also had water as his ability and mirrored Corbin's background of being an upper-class noble. The battle was long, but in the end Corbin managed to outsmart and clinch the victory.

Soon it was finally Thomas' turn versus Alex. Thomas was slightly nervous yet excited. Even though he never managed to beat Alex once during their training leading up to Friday, Thomas was still looking forward to seeing how much he has improved since then.

Cassie signaled the victor of the match before theirs and turned to the stands.

"Thomas versus Alex is next! Come down and prepare yourselves," Cassie yelled.

"Good luck you two," Corbin tapped both their backs and cheered them on.

Once they were on the battling platform, Thomas unsheathed his sword and gulped. Alex could be quite intimidating when he got all serious.

His Arcane Foresight did not work once when Alex was in full serious mode. The intervals between Alex's attacks or speed were greater than the system's or Thomas' current level of reading and foreseeing things.

"Relax Tommy, I will give you a full minute, since we are friends and all," Alex beamed with confidence.

Thomas knew Alex was doing him a favor, but it sure did not feel like it by the looks of how excited Alex already was.

"Are both of you ready?" Cassie checked and turned to both of them.

Two nods were given and Cassie signaled the start of the battle. Alex immediately sprinted in and prepared his flaming sword while clenching his other fist.

[New Quest Added]

[Beat Alex and proceed to the next round]

[Reward: 100 Exp]

[You are kidding me right? Oh well, might as well try for the exp…]

Thomas interacted with the system before looking at Alex. He knew Alex would create some fire flares, the question is how would he use them. In the past he would always blind him, but Alex surely would alter his pattern sooner or later.

"By the way Cassie, we are making this an official one. You do not mind, do you Tommy?" Alex licked his lips excitedly thus doing his signature mark prior to battle.

"Not at all," Thomas readied his stance to intercept whatever Alex would throw his way.

[Intercept the attack to right of your waist in 2 seconds]

He listened to the system and parried Alex first attempt and slowly began dispersing his flaming sword. Alex smiled in response and quickly opened up his fist.

[He will try to scorch your left knee]

[Kick his hand to disrupt the flare's inner balance and make them vanish]

Thomas made an upper kick immediately and knocked the flares out of Alex's hand. The system made sure Thomas would not fall to the fake and showed him a countermove.

"You are improving Tommy," Alex got even more excited.

[Opener found]

[You have less than a second to thrust through his chest]

Thomas blindly trusted the system at this point and listened, thrusting his sword forward. However it was futile and Alex had already leg sweeped Thomas before he even realized he was staring up at the ceiling. Upon Thomas' fall Alex rapidly sidestepped behind him and kicked his back. It brought Thomas back up on his feet, thus preventing the fall and resetting the battle.

"You said you would give a minute!" Thomas complained.

"Sorry, but you have already improved enough to beat me if I give you any freebies," Alex apologized.

From there on out Alex toyed for about twenty seconds or so around with Thomas before willingly nullifying his flaming sword. Alex then instantly formed a shorter flame sword with his other hand and pulled it against Thomas' throat.

"I surrender," Thomas sighed.

"Alex is the victor!" Cassie declared.

[Quest Failed]

[No shit… it was as expected!]

Alex and Thomas bumped fists for good sport before heading back up.

"You sure have improved! No more freebies from now on!" Alex complimented him.

"Do not worry though, I will win this whole thing! You will have lost to the champion," Alex smirked.

Thomas had no doubt about it. He was a bit sad about failing the quest since it offered a juicy amount of experience, but Thomas expected to lose. Maybe someday he would be able to beat Alex.

The only one who really stood a chance against Alex would have to be Olivia.