Once the Plum Blossom Academy and the Scarlet Academy were both on the stage, Thalia Laurens spoke into her microphone, and her energetic voice resounded throughout the entire arena, “I will now explain the tournament!”
“The Knight Tournament and the Magic Tournament will take place together with the Knight Tournament starting first! The rules are simple, each side will send out a fighter, and the two fighters will fight until one of them loses consciousness, forfeits, or gets thrown out of the stage perimeter. When that happens, the school that lost a participant will send in their next fighter— until there are no fighters left.”
“Once the Knight Tournament ends, we will immediately jump into the Magic Tournament, and the same rules will apply.”
“Your school will receive one point if you win a tournament, so you can receive two points maximum at a time. Once all 55 schools have gone, those with the same amount of points will be paired with each other until there is only one school leading in points.”
“However, since we have an odd number of participants this year, there will be one school that will automatically advance with 2 points. Some might argue that this isn’t fair and has nothing to do with skills, but I will also argue that having luck is also a valuable strength. No matter how talented or strong you are, if you have bad luck, you could die an early death.”
Thalia proceeded to take a deep breath before continuing, “Now with that all said and done, let’s finally get the party started! Plum Blossom Academy, Scarlet Academy, please send your first fighters onto the stage! And don’t forget to introduce yourselves when you’re on the stage!”
“Devin Borges.” The male student from the Plum Blossom Academy gave a respectful bow.
“Henry Grimson.” The Scarlet Academy’s student returned the bow.
The very moment they lifted their heads, their faces turned serious, and they retrieved the sword that had been supplied to them by the tournament organizers.
Both swords weighed exactly 50 kilos, or 110 pounds. They also had the exact same shape, length, and appearance. This was obviously to make the competition as fair as possible.
Furthermore, they consumed a Mana Suppressing Pill beforehand.
“When you hear the buzzer, the match will begin! If you hear the buzzer again anytime after the first one, you are to freeze your movements no matter what you are doing. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.” Thalia said to them moments before a loud noise resounded, signaling the start of the tournament.
Both Devin and Henry immediately confronted each other and began swinging their swords at each other.
Things started out fine at first, and it looked like the two students were on equal footing, but the audience would quickly realize that Henry Grimson was matching Devin’s capabilities as a way of subtly mocking him.
When Devin realized this, he immediately started moving more aggressively, his face flushed with anger.
However, because of this, Devin lost focus and failed to notice his mistakes, something Henry quickly took advantage of, quickly ending the fight with consecutive blows on his opponent’s body.
Even though the stage and the participants were protected by powerful magic, it did not mean that they would not feel pain. In fact, they felt pain normally, and their skin could even be penetrated by the swords. However, there was a limit to how much their body could be injured.
For example, if a participant took a sword strike directly with their arm, they would normally lose that arm, but while they are on the stage, that would not happen, and the cut they would receive from the strike would only be a centimeter deep.
However, they would still feel the pain of their arm being severed, and they could even have broken bones from the impact.
Naturally, this meant that accidents could happen, but the chances were so slim that nobody really paid attention to it.
After the Scarlet Academy won the first round, Thalia spoke again, “You can either stay on the stage and continue fighting the next participant, or you can swap out with one of your teammates as long as they haven’t lost yet.”
“I will continue.” Henry spoke without any hesitation, his expression as calm as a still lake.
The Plum Blossom Academy sent out their second student a moment later, and within minutes, Scarlet Academy received their second victory.
The fights were so one-sided that the spectators were already begging for the Magic Tournament to begin.
Meanwhile, inside the Four Witches Academy’s room, Leo asked Eve, “Scarlet Academy… How are they related to the Scarlet Family?”
“The Scarlet Family founded the academy, so they’re deeply related to the Scarlet Family,” she said.
“And how powerful are their students compared to our own?” He then asked.
“Overall, they have more talented students than us. However, when it comes to the top students, I would dare say that we’re slightly ahead of them. With that being said, they have a little monster—”
pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ “Lia Scarlet, right?” Leo interrupted.
Eve nodded with a solemn look on her face, “Lia Scarlet, who had inherited her family’s most powerful feature— the Scarlet Eyes. She’s definitely one of the most annoying and dangerous competitors for this tournament. Her S-Rank Gravity Magic Affinity is also no joke. She could easily crush most of her opponents without taking a single step.”
“What are my chances of defeating her?” Leo suddenly asked.
Eve immediately responded without any hesitation, “If you can take her by surprise, you’re guaranteed to win.”
“Take her by surprise, huh?” Leo mumbled as he watched the match between the Scarlet Academy and the Plum Blossom Academy through the television in the waiting room.
Ten minutes after the first match began, the Scarlet Academy defeated the Plum Blossom Academy in the Knight Tournament with just a single student, which was no surprise to anyone.
After the Knight Tournament, the Magic Tournament immediately began.
“The Magic Tournament between Scarlet Academy and Plum Blossom Academy will now begin!” Thalia announced.
