Today, the tournament finally officially began, and the main stadium of Zephyrus Academy was filled with rows of students from all three classes. The training arena, which was as large as a soccer field, had its center transformed into a duel stage. Right in the middle of the duel stage was a kind of teleportation gate, which would later transport all tournament participants to random positions in the forest outside the school.
The forest had been equipped with many magic cameras to broadcast the tournament so that the audience in the arena could watch it live. The forest that would be used as the field for this tournament had also been given boundaries at each end, and as time goes by, the boundaries become smaller, so that if there were students who left the boundary zone, they would be immediately disqualified and forced the students to fight. The safety of the participants would also be guaranteed because there was already a medical team that would be ready if anyone was seriously injured.
Professor Limbert stood on the podium right in front of the teleportation gate, his voice echoing from the loudspeaker. "Total participants: one hundred and three people. You will all be dropped into the same field. There are no rules that will hold you back from showing your strength; only those who survive until the last 16 will qualify." Damian stood on the edge of the arena with Liam, Lucien, Elric, and Nero.
Elric, casually warming up, then turned his head and asked, "Can we work together? At least until this round is over."
Lucien nodded slowly, his voice low, "There are no rules that limit us, so I think we can work together, at least until this round is over."
Damian stared at the arena, then muttered, "Interesting tactic, because I just don't want us to be attacked one by one by those seniors, so I think our tactic of defending together is good."
Liam checked his two revolvers, then said, "I will prioritize securing Mr. Damian's right side and guard against attacks from behind."
Damian nodded, putting a hand on Liam's shoulder. "Thank you, Liam."
In the midst of the tension, Nero stared at the teleportation gate. The power of shadows began to envelop him, he was ready to face any challenge.
They one by one began to enter the forest area through the teleportation gate, then spread randomly to every part of the large forest. The forest was very large, complete with large rocks, towering trees, shallow rivers, and ruins of towers in several places.
Damian looked around and said. "Battle Royale huh? Hmmm ... I think I know this game, I used to play games like this in my life before this, but now, I actually feel like I'm in the game, hihihihi ....". After that, he heard the roar of fire from the west, which was probably Rygar Ardent had attacked one of the participants. From another direction, there were heavy footsteps, indicating the possible presence of a large puppet belonging to Firi Puppetblade.
Then Damian looked down for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"Focus, Damian. Taking this test is already a sign that I am strong, and this test not only shows that you are strong, but also how far I have developed compared to when I first set foot in this school. Remember what your goal is, and use that to become your strength. "
With that determination, he stepped forward through the forest filled with tall trees, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.
A few minutes after the match started, Damian was up in a tree to observe the surroundings and avoid the crowd of students who were working together. Then he came down from the tree, and suddenly a student armed with a spear appeared in front of him.
"Ninth rank, huh? Seems weak for a special child," the student taunted.
Damian took a deep breath, channeled his mana into his right hand, and turned it into ice magic. Small shards of ice began to appear on his palm.
"If you think so... why don't you just attack me now, we'll see who's weak," Damian replied calmly.
Without hesitation, the challenger charged with his spear. Damian dodged to the side, then turned his body and touched the ground below him with both hands. Instantly, the ground around them became a layer of slippery ice, making the student lose his balance and fall.
Before he could get up, Damian's right arm, which was coated with mana, hit the student's face with a loud sound.
CRACKKK!
Then the student was thrown until his body hit the stone wall, and a large crack appeared in the stone wall.
"Your match is over," Instructor Van's voice echoed throughout the arena through magic.
On the large magic board in the middle of the arena, the student's name disappeared in an instant. Damian stood up straight, his breathing steady, even though his heart was still beating fast. He had just gotten his first win, and this was just the beginning of more difficult fights to come.
Then Damian started running towards the student and checked his condition. The student had fainted. A few seconds later, the medical team arrived at the location and told Damian to continue the match and ensure the safety of the student.
Then Damian continued walking through the forest.
The crowd in the arena shouted loudly with enthusiasm:
"Look, Damian is fighting!" exclaimed one student.
"Look at his ice magic, perfect and controlled," commented another.
"He's like Rygar, but the ice version," a light laugh could be heard amidst the applause of the audience.
On the other side of the arena, Elric was facing two students at once. One student swung a shiny metal chain, the other unleashed a whirlwind at him.
"Ah, two attacks? Creative!" Elric shouted as he stepped forward with a smile.
Elric stopped the swing of the chain with his bare hands, then pulled it hard until its owner released the chain's grip and the chain bounced into the air. Instantly, a whirlwind came attacking Elric. Elric deflected it with a punch of his hand, which was covered in thick mana, destroying the whirlwind.
"Two against one? Should have added two more to balance the fight," he taunted as he approached the two students, then knocked them both out in a matter of seconds, because they were scared to the point of fainting on their own, seeing Elric's power.
Then the names of the two students disappeared from the magic board, marking Elric's quick and easy victory.
Liam and Lucien stood in front of the ruins of an ancient building in the forest, their eyes focused on their surroundings. When a student sneaked up behind them and attacked Lucien, Liam raised his revolver and shot him calmly. The bullet flew straight to the target, knocking out the attacker before he could touch Lucien.
"One bullet, one target," Liam muttered to himself, lowering his gun. "You should be more careful, Lucien
Then Lucien answered. "I knew he was going to attack from behind, but I wanted to pretend I didn't know so I could show off my strength, hihihi….."
Liam took a deep breath and then said, "You, Damian, and Elric are the same, all of you want to show off your strength."
The magic alarm echoed, marking that one hour had passed. Professor Limbert's voice was heard from the magic speakers, which had been spread throughout the forest. "Number of participants remaining: 37."
Damian sat for a moment behind a tree, his breath panting and sweat pouring down his forehead, but he remained ready.
"Still 21 more to go before entering the top 16..." Damian said, then his eyes stared seriously because he knew he still had many enemies ahead of him.
Footsteps pounded in the distance. Damian slowly stood up, his posture straight despite his tired body.
"The mission is not over yet." He walked forward with high confidence to be able to survive this round.