With a total of exactly thirty-two registered students, a student would need to win five straight matches before they could claim the championship title.
First-year matches usually took a fair while, given that they were still amateurs, meaning whatever fight broke out tended to drag on longer than expected.
And every spectator in the stands was counting on exactly that. Even Lurker Zoldia himself, someone from the elite region, knew perfectly well he’d likely have to sit through a long wait.
But that didn’t bother him in the slightest.
"Is he here? The student said to hold an A-Grade Talent?"
The woman standing beside him, a Rank-C hunter, answered calmly. "I believe he’ll be fighting in the next wave."
An A-Grade Talent student was a genuinely rare find, even by elite region standards. Which was exactly why, the moment word reached him that Central’s academy had discovered a talent that rare, Lurker had come straight to this tournament to gauge exactly how promising it truly was.
If the talent turned out to be that impressive, he intended to recruit them and bring them into the elite academy.
Lurker watched the first-year matches with a bored expression, finding them genuinely dull. None of them showed particularly high skill progress, their talents all looking painfully average across the board.
One student attacked recklessly, and just as Lurker figured that student was finished, the opponent countered back with a surprisingly unexpected move.
Making their fight look dramatic on the surface, even though it was riddled with mistakes underneath. ’What’s actually going on with these students? Is the Academy even teaching them proper combat technique?’
Bored, Lurker was about to look away, but then his gaze landed on one of the platforms, where a girl stood holding a standard sword provided by the Academy.
’Oh, her fundamentals actually look solid?’
The girl showed no trace of fear, only sharp focus, her stance, the way she gripped her sword, both were noticeably above average compared to everyone else.
The moment the match began, the girl lunged forward instantly. Her opponent flinched, firing off his skill haphazardly, but that simple carelessness became exactly the opening the girl needed, swinging her sword and finishing him off in an instant.
"..."
The referee announced the girl’s victory, and the host looked visibly stunned, along with the crowd in the stands.
Lurker took it all in, but stayed silent himself.
’Her movements were flawless, she didn’t waste a single motion, unlike everyone else out there. On top of that, her swordsmanship style looks like something only someone trained in the Elite Region would ever learn.’
Of course, Lurker could easily be misreading things. She’d only fought once so far, and hadn’t really shown much of substance. So Lurker decided against jumping to conclusions and simply chose to keep watching.
The first wave wrapped up in roughly thirty minutes. As the second wave began, the female Rank-C hunter leaned in and whispered to Lurker.
"My lord, he’s here, Lukas Smith, the student with the A-Grade Talent."
Lurker’s gaze shifted to the student climbing onto the platform. He watched the student who’d actually pulled him out here to this tournament, someone with an unremarkable build, though carrying an expression brimming with confidence.
Fair enough, considering Lukas was currently the top-ranked first-year student around. But watching him now, Lurker’s brow furrowed slightly.
’Careless.’
Unlike the girl earlier, Lukas came across as arrogant, openly underestimating his opponent, not even bothering to draw his sword from its sheath.
Lurker felt a flicker of disappointment.
Once the match began, Lurker finally got a look at his skill, and sure enough, it lived up to A-Grade status, clearly something that could become a genuinely formidable skill with proper development.
The match didn’t wrap up nearly as fast as the girl’s had, but Lukas still finished off his opponent fairly easily, without breaking much of a sweat.
"What do you think, my lord?" Right then, Lurker heard another one of his subordinates speak up, a young man who’d only just graduated from the elite academy a few months back and currently sat at Rank-D.
Hearing that question, Lurker mulled it over for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "Plenty to correct there, he’s far too arrogant. But his talent’s too good to just let slip by. I think we could try bringing him in."
Lurker’s mind drifted back to that earlier girl, and for some reason, he found himself growing increasingly curious. What exactly was her Talent?
***
The first four waves finally wrapped up in roughly two hours. The total number of surviving first-year students had now dropped down to sixteen, advancing on to the next round.
"Did you see that earlier? He literally tripped over his own skill! Haha, this year’s crop is every bit as ridiculous as usual."
"Don’t laugh too hard, remember? The first-years everyone used to mock back in the day turned genuinely impressive by the time they reached third-year. Still, can’t deny they’re pretty hilarious right now."
"Isn’t Kiena a little too overwhelming though? She’s finishing everything off so fast, or maybe her opponents are just weak?"
"Just as expected from Lukas, winning that easily. He really is this year’s top student."
As the next round, made up of two waves, got underway, the crowd’s enthusiasm hadn’t dropped in the slightest, even as their backsides started aching from sitting through it all.
"Are you all ready for the next round?"
"Wooo!!!"
The host called out, met with an enthusiastic roar from the crowd. Just like before, Kina climbed onto the first platform, while the remaining platforms were filled by students who’d won their earlier matches.
On the third platform stood Lukas, drawing an enormous amount of attention.
The host shouted out this and that, while, once the match began, Kina immediately settled into a state of sharp focus.
She wondered whether she should start showing off a little something fun here.
But after thinking it over, she decided to hold back.
’Let’s save that for the semifinals and finals.’
Kina studied her opponent, and unlike her previous match, it was clear this one had come far better prepared.
"Just because you beat Roland once doesn’t mean you can take me down easy!" the student shouted at her, then, sword in hand, lunged forward, charging straight at Kina.
Kina didn’t bother responding to any of that, simply charging forward at the same moment, drawing her own sword.
The student’s blade flickered with a wavering flame.
Slash—!
Kina ducked her head down, the strike sailing over her, a searing heat cutting through the air right above her, but that was all it managed.
After that, Kina clenched her free hand into a fist and drove it straight into the student’s stomach.
Baam!
"Gahk!"
His body flung backward, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his face twisted in pain as he forced his focus back together, but the moment he looked up at Kina again, all he found was the sole of her boot filling his entire field of vision.
Baaam!
His body went flying clean out of the arena.
Kina won the match, advancing to the next round.
She wiped the dust off her face, then turned her gaze toward the third platform, where the top-ranked student Kina herself recognized was standing.
It seemed Lukas had just finished his own match as well. Kina blinked a few times, then looked away and walked off.
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