Alice's POV:
It was finally my turn, my turn to show what I could do. My fighting skills were certainly not the best, but I believed I wasn't weak either.
The person in front of me, a tall boy with an intimidating mask on, stood straight, looking confident in his abilities. It seemed like he looked down on me, but I didn't do anything, but stare right back at him.
I hadn't heard of this student before, so he had to be an average person. If I was right, then I should be able to handle him, but if he was stronger, I feared I would loose.
The referee yelled: "Let the fight begin!"
I waited for the boy to make a move first. But he didn't do a thing. He just stood at the same place as before.
After a minute or so, I got a bit angry. Why didn't he do anything?
As I was emerged in my thoughts, a cold voice rang out: "If you don't want to fight, just give up. You know you have no chance of winning against me."
He surely was confident in his skills. What would happen, if I crushed his fighting spirit? Then he would be the one to give up. I could already imagine his dumbfounded expression.
He also didn't look as strong as he made himself out to be.
I began to charge at the boy, screaming: "Fine, but don't come and beg for mercy, after I've dealt with you!"
---
Idris smiled at her remark. He thought she was foolish to just attack him. But he didn't care and took it as a gift.
Alice casted Water Armor. Water started to cover her body and formed a protective barrier.
She used Waterball, a beginner spell, and threw it at Idris. His smile didn't disappear as the ball came flying at him.
Against every expectations, he didn't move. Only as the sphere was almost touching him, did he raise his hand and slashed down onto the ball.
It exploded and the water fell on the ground.
Alice had a astonished expression when she saw this. How was he able to just slash it and it lost its power? Idris wasn't as simple as she had believed. She needed to get serious.
She casted Waterfield and tried to bind her opponent to the ground, so he couldn't move. Then she used Wave. A big wave appeared. It was more powerful than a normal one and would probably put someone in the 3rd layer in a hard spot.
As the wave washed over Idris, Alice wore a dominant expression. She had won. That's what she thought.
Suddenly a whisper came from her side: "Don't ever let your guard down. Even if you're sure you've won."
She was able to look back. Idris stood besides her, his mouth directly at her ear. He held his hand at her back and casted Windblade.
A deep cut went into her back and she fell down, with her belly on the ground. Idris sat on top of her, pressing her wound. Alice passed out due to the pain she endured because of his weight.
The referee looked at the scene and stated: "Idris wins the fight! We need the medical team please."
Two people came running. They were both light element users and were able to heal others.
"Could you stand up please?" One of the two men asked Idris who still sat on Alice. A forced smile appeared on his face, as he wanted to get his job done as quickly as possible.
Idris looked up into the eyes of the man and answered with a question: "What if I don't?"
The man almost couldn't hold his current face any longer and said: "If you don't stand up, we need to get you down by force. Others are waiting for you."
Idris laughed and retorted: "Even though I don't like being threatened, I must admit you've got a point."
As he got up and passed the two men, he added in a cold tone: "You'll have to be on guard tonight. Maybe someone will attack you."
Idris went to the other students who wore perplexed faces. They hadn't known there was someone so strong.
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The rest of the first round went as expected. No one was especially good and the fights were boring. Others seemed to enjoy it though. They were always hyping up the matches.
The second round was going to be held the next day. From the initial 80 students were 40 still in on the fun.
The day after tomorrow the competition would resume with 20 children. After that the two weakest would be picked from the last ten and would fight. The others would resume as normal.
To pick out the two weakest was necessary, since the number of people would be too many. One would always remain. The organizers had to choose between throwing one of them out or the just explained procedure.
They came to the result to introduce the latter, so they wouldn't offend or exclude someone.
The matches of the last eight and the quarter and semi finals would be held on the same day.
The finale was on the last and fifth day. After the fight, the best ten students get prizes. It was still unknown what they were, but they couldn't be bad, remembering the great efforts put into this tournament.
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The man from the medical team stood on his balcony, yawning. He thought about the things that had happened earlier today.
"That damn little brat." He whispered as his thoughts shifted to the boy that had threatened him.
The man was almost at the 5th layer of Martial Beginner Realm and some student dared to say anything against him?
He had to admit, the strength the boy had shown was quite impressive, but long from enough to deal with him. Even the wide known princess of the Amorite Kingdom wasn't strong enough to touch me, and she was at the 2nd layer of Martial Beginner Realm now.
If this boy should advance to the next tournament, he would be beaten by her and learn the harsh reality.
"Hey, wanna go down and drink something?" He asked into the room. There should've been his teammate. They shared a room in this little inn and couldn't afford two.
After waiting and asking again, he noticed something was off. Maybe his teammate was already sleeping, but it was still early in the night.
He went inside. The inside weren't big and normally he should've seen his friend there already, since the bed was located right in the middle.
Only one possibility remained. The man cautiously tiptoed until he arrived at the door to the bathroom. He knocked several times, but no answer. An obnoxious feeling began to send him shivers down his spine. It was too quiet.
He slowly opened the door.
He opened his eyes wide at the sight that unfolded before him.
His friend's corpse laid on the floor.