The announcement sounded: "Number of participants remaining: 19."
Damian wiped the sweat on his forehead, holding his breath. The survival round was almost over. Only three more people had to be eliminated to enter the top 16.
He walked away from the crowd of fire in the forest. Suddenly, there was a loud noise from beside Damian. A slender student appeared, his blond hair flowing and his silver robe fluttering. Two small swords were held in his hands.
"Finally, I meet you, rank 9," the student greeted, clapping his hands together. "My name is Zeid Rukthaven, rank fourteen, second year. You can call me your senior."
Damian lowered his head and held his knees, then said. "Hello senior, I know that I have to respect all the seniors in this school, but we are in a tournament, so you have other intentions than introducing yourself to me. So, sorry for this time I have to defeat you, senior, because my friends and I have made a promise to be able to survive this round."
Zeid laughed softly. "Then you have to apologize to your friends because you won't be able to keep your promise. I have no problem with you, but I just want to show you that your position on the leaderboard is wrong."
Zeid attacked first. Lightning flashed around his feet, and then he was right in front of Damian, swinging his twin blades quickly.
Damian summoned ice into his palms, forming short blades as shields. But Zeid's attack was too fast.
CLANG! CLANG!
The first blade managed to graze Damian's cheek, while the second swing cracked the ground behind Damian. Damian dodged to the side and formed a barricade of ice in front of him, but Zeid slashed through the barrier with a laugh.
"You're fast, but not good enough!" Zeid taunted.
Damian took a few steps back, sweat dripping down his forehead. He realized that ice magic alone would not stop this duel. With a swift movement, his right hand reached for the hilt of the sword that was wrapped and at his waist.
The air around him instantly turned cold. Damian drew Setsu'ryū from its sheath.
Zeid narrowed his eyes at the sword that Damian had not drawn in previous fights. "So you're serious now?"
Damian didn't answer. He stepped forward and swung the sword horizontally, creating a wave of ice that froze the area hit by his slash. Zeid managed to dodge, but Damian's ice froze some of his clothes.
"What...?!" Zeid's voice was gasping.
Damian increased the intensity of his attacks. Each swing of Setsu'ryū made the area around them gradually covered in ice, giving Damian an advantage and making it difficult for Zeid to attack because the surface around them had become slippery, which prevented Zeid from moving quickly with his lightning magic. Zeid tried to retaliate with his lightning magic attacks, but Damian's defense was too strong, especially when combined with the advantage he had now.
Finally, when Zeid started to let down his guard, Damian managed to land a hard kick right into Zeid's stomach, and Zeid was pushed back and fell to the ground.
"Zeid Rukthaven is eliminated," Instructor Van's announcement echoed throughout the arena and all the forest areas where the tournament was held, marking the end of the epic duel.
On the other side of the forest, Bronzar Velgan was facing Elric. As a third-year student ranked 11th, Bronzar looked confident.
"You won't be able to eliminate me from this tournament, brat," he muttered flatly.
Elric only replied casually, "Who said I want to eliminate you? I want to beat you until you faint."
Bronzar swung his fist at the ground, creating a wave on the ground that briefly pushed Elric back a few steps.
"Whoa, okay, this is exciting!" Elric exclaimed excitedly as he tightened his fists.
Elric began to coat his body with mana, then charged forward. Fist after fist was launched, the sound of thuds and cracks echoed around them. Bronzar also began to direct his mana to his hands. However, Elric took advantage of the situation. With one jump, Elric was right in front of Bronzar, and he did an uppercut to Bronzar's face, causing Bronzar to be pushed up for a moment before falling hard and unable to get up again.
"Bronzar Velgan is eliminated," came the official announcement from the magic loudspeakers that had been spread throughout the forest where the tournament was taking place, ending the fierce duel.
Cheers erupted in the stands as the audience watched the replay on the crystal screen:
"Oh my… that sword is being pulled out now?!" shouted one student.
"Setsu'ryū! I thought Damian wouldn't pull out that sword!" exclaimed another.
"Not only did he use ice, he froze the entire area," commented a senior third year, his eyes sparkling.
"And Elric? He beat Bronzar, ranked 11th!" The excitement grew louder.
A few students from the second and third years exchanged serious glances in the tournament forest:
"If they're this crazy in the early rounds… what will they do in the knockout stage?" muttered one.
"We have to be careful from now on," replied another in agreement.
Then, an announcement was heard:
"Remaining participants: 16. Survival round ends."
In the forest where the tournament was held, precisely behind one of the trees in the forest, Damian stood leaning against a tree while taking deep breaths, Setsu'ryū still tightly held in his hand.
"Playoffs, how did I manage to survive until now?" he thought.
On the other side of the forest, Elric wiped the blood on his right hand with a tired smile. Nero patted the shoulders of his two opponents, who were lying down, Liam put the bullets into his holster, and Lucien stood firm despite the visible wound on his cheek.
They all looked up at the sky, ready to face the next challenge.
After the announcement had been heard by all participants, all participants began to walk back to the tournament arena at school. Damian stepped from behind the tree he was leaning against and walked towards the gathering point in the middle of the school arena. When he arrived there, Liam, Lucien, Elric, and Nero were already waiting.
"Elric, you have a lot of wounds on your hands, huh?" Damian punched Elric's shoulder lightly.
Elric just shrugged with a tired smile. "Well, just a small scratch. Besides, I asked for a duel with the person who gave me this wound."
Lucien approached them, holding a shield in his hand. "At least I don't have many wounds because of this shield."
Liam pushed a bottle of water towards Damian. "Drink first, Master Damian. You look out of breath after that duel with Zeid."
Damian accepted the bottle with a smile, then looked at his friends one by one. "We survived until we were the last 16 survivors. Not bad for a rookie if you ask me."
Nero approached, his voice very low. "You're all idiots. We already had a cooperative tactic at the beginning, but you all just had fun fighting on your own." After that, they all laughed, and the tournament that day was finally over.