Round of Thirty Two

"That should have not been possible." Professor Ashburn spoke.

"What do you mean Professor?" Headmistress Zelester asked, a bit confused.

"I saw his test result and his mana output right now is way more than what he showed during his class sorting test. Because if he had that much mana, he would have been assigned to class one in the first place." The professor explained.

"He must have had a reason for that then." The headmistress assured him.

'What could his reasoning be?' The professor wondered silently.

All the matches in the round of sixty four ended almost exactly at the same time. The tournament is is now down to its final thirty two participants which includes twenty seven students from class one and five students from class two — two of which were Krios and Loras.

"Hey I saw a glimpse of you battle. That was intense!" Loras greeted Krios as soon as he saw him.

"Yeah it was, that guys was powerful. How did your battle go?"

"I made it to the next round as well!"

"We beat our own expectations of placing in the top forty!"

Krios laughed with his friend and they walked back to their resting area. They were again given an hour to reset and rest before the round of thirty two starts.

Krios took some medicinal pills to hasten his mana recovery and Loras did the same. They also tried to eat some snacks to give them a bit of energy.

On the stands, the crowd of students and school staff alike continued with their discussions. Some were arguing about who's going to beat who while some were just in awe of the amount of talent they were witnessing. Some upperclassmen in the crowd along with first years from class three to five felt some type of envy as they knew that this was arguably the most talented batch of students to ever set foot in the academy.

"I feel like Dion from class one has the highest chance of winning this thing." One student said.

"I agree with you. He has the highest cultivation out of everyone so that's a no brainer." Another agreed.

"I'm placing my bet on Julia. I think she'll win." Another student said.

"Are you forgetting that there's that kid from class two who can fight people from a higher realm?" Someone interjected.

"Yeah, but can he beat someone an entire realm above him? He's at the Late Core Reformation realm while Dion is at the peak of the Mana Compression realm!" Someone argued.

This conversation started a new wave of discussion amongst the crowd. This only heightened their excitement for the next round to come.

After a while, the gathered crowd set their attention to the display board when it finally updated the matchups.

"Looks like were both fighting class one students." Loras said dejectedly.

"Just do your best. But also don't forget to be careful." Krios patted his friends shoulder.

"Fighters, please proceed to your designated platforms!" The announcer spoke.

"That's one hour I guess. Good luck to you and I'll see you on the other side." Krios said and started walking towards his designated platform. Loras followed suit and went his way as well.

Krios' opponent would be Wella from class one. A mage on the mid Mana Compression realm. They stood on the platform face to face — ready to jump in to action.

"Fighters ready." The referee.

"Let the round of thirty two… begin!" The announcer yelled. And the crowd roared in response.

Krios did not let his opponent get the initiative as he took out his spear, imbued his legs with mana, then sped towards his opponent.

Wella was ready for him though. Two short blades appeared on both her hands and she blocked Krios' first strike.

Both of them were sent flying backwards after the first impact of their weapons. Krios imbued his spear with mana and its tip lit up on fire. He shot forward once again, ready to take the offensive once again.

'I really need some movement arts to compliment my fighting style. Imbuing my legs with mana to force them to move fast is very inefficient.' He thought to himself.

Their exhanges were getting fiery as manage to block and parry each other's attacks. The exchange ended on a stalemate once again as they both shot back away from each other.

"Let's get this done and over with." Wella spoke first the first time. Her mana rose to an astounding level shocking the audience with her power. Two rings of water formed around her that crisscrossed around her body.

Krios heightened his senses as he prepared to for to defend.

"Water barrage!"

Beads of water shot out from Wella's water rings which reached Krios in an instant. He was able to dodge most of them but the slight moment of shock delayed him enough for someto hit his body directly.

'What the heck, it hurts so much!' He felt like some parts of his skin tearing from the sheer speed of how the water bullets hit him.

"Fire wall!" Krios set up his only defensive arts as he was feeling the heat of Wella's onslaught.

The water beads sizzled and evaporated as they hit the fire wall in front of Krios. He quickly checked his body and saw it bleeding from a few shallow cuts and wounds. This was the first time he actually sustained any damage in this tournament.

Krios decided to fire back and sent multiple fireballs in Wella's direction. But like how his fire wall evaporated Wella's water bullets, her water rings doused his flames to nothingness.

They were at a standstill once again. But Krios knew that he was at a disadvantage. His fires would be rendered useless against water. His only choice was to make his flames hotter for it to evaporate the water before it can put the flames out.

But the problem was, he doesn't know such a method yet. He has only started training his flame arts the previos month and all he had were basic offensive and defensive arts.

"I guess this is the end for him."

"I agree. Water will always be able to beat fire."

"He fought well though, I would give him that."

The crowd watched with rapt attention as the barrage of fireballs and water bullets continued.

Krios new he would not be able to beat his opponent this way. So he decided to just play aggressively.

His flames started to coat around his body like ablazing aura. He hoped that the flames would be able to evaporate the water bullets before it touches his body.

'It's now, or never.' He thought, then he busted through his fire wall and shot towards his opponent like a streaking blue meteor.

He landed before her and he used his flaming spear to slash through her water rings. The blade of his spear sizzled as it touched the water rings.

Wella was forced to draw her blades once again as Krios brought the fight into close quarters. Krios utilized the length of his spear to attack from a slight distance, trying to avoid the rapidly spinning water rings as he knew that it would rip his skin if it touches it.

"Is this your last resort?" Wella asked.

Krios didn't respond and continued his relentless attack. His spear slashed against Wella, steam rising everytime it touches the water rings that acted as Wella's defense.

Alrhough Krios looked like he was on the offensive, the water bullets hitting him were taking their toll. Most of the bullets evaporated before contact but his flame armor could only do so much.

Wella jumped back and landed a distance a way from Krios.

"This is getting boring. Let's end it now."

Her water rings then combined into one giant water ring and she threw it towards Krios like a fast moving circular blade.

'No other choice!' Krios retracted his flame armor and focused all of his mana on his hand. He then released it altogether like a dam finally opening up its gates. Flames gushed out of his hand like flamethrower to stop the incoming attack.

Steam started to cover their platform as his fire made contact with the water.

The two attacks continued to push onto one another with fire trying to evaporate the water, and the water trying to douse the flames.

Krios knew the he would lose out on the exchange so through one last ditch effort, he threw a fireball in the way of Wella. But Wella had the same idea as she blasted off a gush of pressurized water in the way of Krios.

The crowd could not see through the cloud of steam covering the fighting platform so they relied on their soul senses to see what was going on.

And they were shocked when they saw the two attacks hit their mark at the same time.

Both Wella and Krios were blasted back by their counterattacks. The battle came to an abrupt halt when both the raging battle arts finally ceased.

The crowd was silent for a while, No one daring to move even an inch. Then the steam settled, and they saw a body laying on the ground.

Then they another, a blodied figure standing on their own two feet.

It was Krios. His clothes were tattered and he had multiple cuts all throughout his body. He looked miserable, but he was the only one left standing.

Then the crowd went wild.