The matches began early in the morning.
All of the students from classes I to V were gathered in the training hall.
After a lengthy speech with no particular substance, the professors acting as the judges started calling names to enter the arena.
The rest of the students took their places on the spectator stands, awaiting their turn.
Watching fight after fight, Cyril slowly came to realize the average level of this year.
Few received proper training before coming here, and there was not enough time spent studying to make up for it.
Still, the people around him seemed excited as they discussed what's happening in the arena with great enthusiasm and cheered when someone won.
He was starting to get a bit bored when finally his name was called.
It looked like he would be the first out of his friend group to participate.
After he reached his side of the arena, Cyril turned to take a look at his opponent.
It was a student from class II; he carried a two-handed sword with him;
His face was making a gloomy expression.
With his sharp hearing, Cyril could hear him cursing his luck.
"No spirit at all, very weak." Rhamn observed his opponent with contempt.
The student didn't say anything to Cyril and only gave a small nod in greeting.
"Commence!" Soon the judge announced the beginning of the duel.
Seeing how his opponent was unwilling to approach him, Cyril decided to move first.
He was quick and reached him in a moment, which startled the student, causing him to make a desperate swing with his sword.
Cyril easily parried this flimsy attack and immediately struck him on the head with the spear, sending him flying.
He didn't have to worry about harming anyone because every participant had to wear a special bracelet.
It kept an altered barrier spell active and projected your score above your head when you were on the field.
The student lay still on the ground for a bit, admiring the ceiling.
Only after the judge declared the winner did he slowly get up while clutching his head.
Evidently, pain can still be felt to a certain extent.
"Let's hope the next fight will be more worthwhile."
Yeah...
Without wasting any time, Cyril went back to his seat to observe.
While Cyril already had a reputation, not many outside of class I saw him fight firsthand, so the duel just now surprised a lot of people.
By the time he sat down, most students around were still discussing it.
The rest of today's matches held no interest for Cyril. Leaving aside Myra, even Rose and Edmund won their duels easily
Since their matches for the day had concluded, the group decided to leave the training hall.
The next match was tomorrow, and there was no point in waiting there till then.
"Man, I thought the people here would be more... battle-oriented? they are even weaker than me," Edmund stretched on the way.
Judging by his satisfied face, he didn't mind such a situation.
"Too many people are participating, and not all of them are warriors. By the third day, only the stronger students will be eligible for challenges, and you'll have to defeat them to win." Rose said with a smirk
"Right." Edmund replied, while losing his assured smile.
Without much else to do, Cyril chose to spend the rest of the day studying magic.
...
The second day, as expected, was not too different from the first one.
Cyril got two matches today, one in the morning and one in the evening.
He wasn't too lucky and got some scholarly-looking students as opponents.
They proved to be even less of a fight. One even gave up before the match began.
Myra similarly passed this day with no trouble, which cannot be said for the rest of their group.
Rose's opponent in the evening happened to be a strong-looking student, proficient in defensive magic.
He blocked whatever spell Rose threw at him.
Thankfully, after a couple of minutes of running around the arena, trying to avoid his sword, she managed to crack his defensive magic and knock him out with a lightning bolt spell.
When she returned to her seat, she was tired but excited about her hard-earned win.
Edmund also won his fights, but both were a clear struggle; it was a pure contest in swordsmanship, and he barely managed to defeat his opponents.
His morale took a slight hit, causing him to start devising a certain plan for future duels.
...
Finally it was the third day.
They were still gathered in the training hall, but this time they could choose who to fight.
Cyril already had a certain person in mind.
It wasn't Myra. he had fought her plenty of times before
Cyril chose Cedric.
He had long since wanted to have a duel with this celebrity of their academy. Today seemed like a good chance.
Just as he wanted to approach him, surprisingly, someone challenged him first.
It was a female student from class II with a brown bob.
Coupled with the academy training uniform, she was wearing a scarf, covering half of her face, leaving out only her sharp eyes with a dangerous glint within.
On her back she was carrying two short swords.
Cyril had never fought anyone using two swords before.
"Cyril Felling, please, accept my challenge." Her words were quiet and polite.
From the way she moved, one could tell she had received strict training.
"Alright, let's duel." Cyril replied.
He saw no reason to refuse, so they went to an unoccupied arena and waited until one of the judges was free.
Noticing his appearance, many idling students gathered to watch this fight.
"My name is Regina; please advise me." She gave a bow and readied her weapons.
Upon the judge's signal, she dashed at him with incredible speed.
Cyril was barely able to block her twin swords when she jumped back and continued with another attack.
With one sword, she deflected the spear's path, and with the other, she tried to slash at his throat.
Thankfully Cyril was able to move his head out of the way in time.
Seeing her attack fail, she immediately jumped back again.
Cyril was ready this time and tried to pursue.
She expected that and, during the jump, sent out a throwing knife aimed at his body, forcing Cyril to dodge and waste time.
Her fighting style was all about speed and precision.
Regina continued to repeat the same attack again and again, always aiming at the throat or the heart.
What martial art is she learning exactly!? Cyril thought with frustration.
She refused to enter into a direct confrontation with him, instead trying to go for a decisive blow with a quick dash.
At one point she became even faster after a flash of light.
It was becoming difficult for Cyril to keep up, and he got grazed a few times, slowly changing the color of the barrier closer to yellow.
How can she be so fast? Is it magic?
He had less and less breathing room, but as the pressure mounted, he became calmer.
Cyril found himself adapting to this speed.
He stopped attacking and focused on defense, trying to grasp the timings of her dash.
Just as she went in for another attack, Cyril suddenly exploded in a dash of his own, thrusting his spear straight at her body.
Regina wasn't able to react in time and ran into it with all her speed.
The impact made her body resemble a drawn bow, sending her flying outside the arena, where she rolled a few times before finally stopping.
Seeing this, the judge announced Cyril's victory, and many of the onlookers started excitedly discussing the duel.
At last! What kind of technique was that? Can magic be used that way?
Relaxing, he fell on his knees, panting.
"How annoying! She was afraid of facing you directly and kept doing that dash attack again and again. She should be ashamed."
If a technique is working, then it's a valid technique.
"But it didn't bring her victory, so my point still stands."
This fight did give Cyril quite a scare. He didn't expect someone so strong to be hiding in class II.
Soon he noticed academy staff coming over with a carrier.
It turns out Regina couldn't move.
"Please, do not worry about me; it is a consequence of the magic spell. I will be fine in a few hours." Regina said to calm down the staff.
Then she slowly turned her head towards Cyril and continued "I am convinced; this time it is my loss."
With that, Regina was carried out of the building.
Having been treated by the on-site healer, Cyril decided to rest up a bit before partaking in another fight.
Taking a quick look around, Cyril noticed all of his friends were currently fighting.
Myra was having no trouble as expected. Her opponent was using a sword and shield, and his face currently showed despair.
Rose was having a classic mage duel with someone. She appeared to have the upper hand and slowly cornered her opponent.
Edmund's challenge also proceeded smoothly. Earlier he told them he would try to challenge the weakest opponents he could find.
Eventually they joined him on the spectator stand, where they talked about how their fights went.
Cyril also found Leo Arken in the crowd.
He expected him to fight Cedric by this point, but he was currently fighting another student from class I.
"Maybe he is having a warm-up? Or maybe he is simply a coward who can't follow up on his words"
Leo was using a sword in one hand and casting magic with the other, a popular fighting style of today.
He was winning, but Cyril didn't pay too much attention to the fight, and continued talking with his friends.
Some time had passed, and Cyril felt like he had recovered enough.
Once again, he got up and headed straight for Cedric, who also happened to be free at the moment.
And once again someone called him before he could achieve his goal.
"Rested enough? Good, you'll need all your strength to have a chance at besting me; I challenge you!" exclaimed an arrogant voice.
It was a shady-looking male student.
His hair looked like a green bird's nest, and he had a haughty expression on his face along with deep eye bags.
"Where are all these clowns coming from? Why are they only challenging you?"
They are not confident in fighting Myra, so they went for the next best thing, I guess.
"Sure, I accept it." Cyril would never run away from a duel, so he agreed, and they went to find an arena.
"You better remember my name; it is Bonzo the Poison Hand. You'll be hearing it quite often in the future... And don't be too scared; the judges already approved of my magic; it won't harm you too much." Bonzo said with a sneer.
His body resembled a matchstick, but his self-imposed title implied he was capable of providing an interesting duel.
"Poison? Let's see what you got." Cyril didn't underestimate the man and prepared to give it his all.