67 First Matches

Morninghand waited a couple more minutes before floating up in between the two stages and silencing the crowds.

"The second half of the competition will now begin! The first five matches are chosen randomly, afterwards each person will get to challenge whomever to fight. The moment someone refuses a challenge they are admitting defeat and will be bumped down to 10th place automatically. The second person who gives up will fight with the other and the loser of the match becomes the new 10th place. The next person who gives up fights the now 9th place student and if they win, they are 8th place but if the they lose then they are now 9th place and the 10th place can challenge. Matching up like this will continue until a number 1 has come out and everyone accepts defeat and their placement. Two matches will occur at a time."

Turning towards the top ten sitting in the seats, he referred to them this time.

"Alright, you guys all come over. There are ten balls all labeled with a number 1-5. Whoever has a matching number with you is your opponent. Now, come on up and choose." Waving his hand, a bag appeared in his hand. One by one, everyone went and grabbed a ball. Greyson was in the middle and he chose the number 3. After all the top ten chose a ball, they started revealing their numbers. Looking around, Greyson tried looking for the other number 3 when his eyes finally rested on the gloomy raven-haired 18-year-old who stood next to an almost identical female. His lip slightly twitching, Greyson felt utterly speechless. In his past life did he commit some sort of unforgivable crime towards the Absinthe family. If not, why were his opponents always them? That's right, his first opponent was the male twin, Caedis Absinthe!

Slightly disappointed, Greyson hoped that this twin was more creative than the rest of his family. Otherwise, his first battle would be way too boring. Looking at the other match-ups, however, there were quite a few exciting competitions about to happen. For the first battles, they were all extremely exciting: Leopold vs. Bromwood, Tristian vs. Bella, Luca vs. Ignis, and Natalia vs. Ezra. Glancing over to the two girls, he could already see the sparks flying between the two. Other than Leo, he had yet to see any of the top ten really fight, so he was looking forward to watching the matches just as much as the audience. The people who drew numbers 1 and 2 would go up to the stages first. They were Tristian and Bella with Natalia and Ezra. As the pairs ascended the stage, Greyson couldn't help but feel the expectation within him rise. Especially with Natalia as he had heard all about her prowess over Leo five years ago. Tristian and Bella were an interesting match-up due to the ongoing centuries-old feud between the families, but Greyson, the audience, and even Bella knew that without her twin brother she would not be a match. The twins were talented; however, their prowess came from how well they can battle in sync against their enemies. Alone, they are not as much of a threat.

"Ugh, you and your brother should just fight together. Otherwise, this battle will be just too disappointing. I want a real fight, wiping the floor with you is so unsatisfying. Fighting with cowardly assassins already puts a bad taste in my mouth. Let alone a weak one." Tristian openly showed the distaste for Bella on his face.

"Stupid ape, with your intelligence even if you wanted to you could not pull off something that requires so much finesse like assassination. Don't think you'll have such an easy time, either. You will regret it if you underestimate me too much." Bella sneered at him.

Tristian ignored her insult and instead looked to the officiating judge indicating for him to start. Taking the hint, the judge quickly had them bow before announcing the start. Getting the signal, Tristian started right away and made a hard slash down with his ax. Bella completely dodged away. Greyson could already see that this battle would be like a bear chasing a mouse. One obviously stronger but too slow.

Looking to the other side he watched the other girls, he thought there would be some great dialogue with them as well. However, they just quickly bowed and got in position.

Leaning over to Leopold, Greyson quietly whispered over, "What's with the two of them? Why do they hate each other so much?"

"Them? Honestly, no one knows. Maybe they are just both jealous of what the other has? Ezra is very easy to get along with and has a lot of friends, but Natalia always seems to intimidate everyone so she is not really close with anyone. Ezra is always underestimated because she also uses poisons and seduction, so she is jealous of Natalia's strength and talent that everyone recognizes. In the end, they both respect each other but are too awkward to admit it. At least, this is what I think the issue is." Leo sighed wearily.

They respect each other? Well, this is one unique way of showing it. Greyson just pushed the thoughts out of his mind and continued to watch the match.

Ezra had pulled out a long rose and thorn covered whip that looked like it was made of twined vines, while Natalia grabbed her sword hilt. Before long they both leaped into action, Natalia disappeared in the wind while Ezra catapulted herself forward with the earth. Swinging her whip towards Natalia, Ezra willed the vines to extend and unwind to grab onto the target. However, Natalia quickly slashed out with her sword and the wind blades cut the vines. Smirking, Ezra watched as her vines quickly regrew on the whip and grabbed onto Natalia's ankle. Thorns cutting into her skin, Natalia frowned slightly before her body quickly disappeared from sight. Before she could turn her head, Ezra quickly made her vines wrap around her body to form a wall. Just as she predicted, Natalia had transported herself using spacial magic right behind her opponent and sent a fire and wind slice towards Ezra's back. Cracking under the pressure, the vines split apart and allowed some of the sharp wind through which cut up Ezra's back. Grunting with pain, Ezra landed back on the stage with some shallow crisscrossed cuts. Natalia also limped while leaning onto her good ankle while the other bled from the sharp thorns earlier.

To the audience's confusion, however, the both of them just smiled at the other. Ezra quickly grabbed a seed from her spacial ring and willed it to grow on her back. The growing herb stopped the bleeding and the wounds quickly scabbed over. Intrigued by this move, Greyson slightly leaned forward in his chair. Although, he had heard that the earth element could also heal, he had never seen it in action. Looking at Ezra's pale expression, it seems the spell was not as low mana usage as the light element healing spells. Natalia had a slight upset expression, as she could not heal her own wounds, but she knew that she still had a lot of mana left.

Seconds after she withdrew the seed and activated it, she crouched down, swiftly touching the ground. Quickly a beautiful red flower bloomed that entranced the audience. Peeling back one by one, the petals of the flower revealed a cute, miniature girl. She had butterfly wings and leaves for clothes. Giggling mischievously, she glanced at the audience before looking towards Ezra. Looking closely at her, Greyson felt a name pop into his head.

"The Fey race? Is she allowed to use her?" Sweetbow had told Greyson about the Fey before in one of his lessons. Apparently, they were naturally formed creatures who were originally plants that gained intelligence. They come in all sorts of forms and sizes. Some never even change from their plant shape. There are trees that are Fey as well who can spiritually communicate. His master had told him that the race usually hid themselves from everyone except the elves who often made equal contracts with the Fey similar to Lucius' and his relationship. The Fey were innocent and childlike but loved to prank and cause trouble. Normally each individual of the race was blessed with a special ability related to their original plant form.

"As long as it is not your partner beast whose injuries are hard to fix, you can use whatever. Technically, it is also ability to be able to partner up with a strong magic beast or the Fey in this case." Leo explained. Glancing over at Lucius, Greyson thought about maybe using his magister level beast, but quickly decided against it. Although Lucius could be called his strength and good luck, he wanted to win with only his strength.

Ezra gave the little Fey a look, after which the girl nodded and giggled. Her laugh was like the light jingling of a bell as she flew up into the air. Breathing in deeply, she blew out pink dust into the air around Ezra. However, would Natalia continue to just watch her opponent? Before whatever spell was happening could finish, Natalia teleported in front of Ezra and quickly slashed her sword while she summoned the wind to blow away the pink dust to the audience. Ezra had kept her guard up so she swung her whip and blocked the sword strike, but looked helplessly as the now tired Fey retreated into her flower and disappeared back into the earth. The audience who was lucky enough to be underneath the Fey's spell felt their bodies were rejuvenated and their mana was overflowing. Looking at the reaction of those people, Natalia grinned knowing it was good that she had acted quickly. "It's over." She quickly declared. Grabbing onto weakened Ezra's arm, Natalia spun around summoning a small tornado of wind and fire that consumed the both of them. Once the wind subsided, a torn and cut up Ezra was lying on the stage while Natalia was slightly panting but still unharmed. The judge called the match to an end and declared Natalia the winner. Ezra was carried while Natalia limped over to the physicians' station to get healed before their next match.

Tristian and Bella's matched also ended quickly after Bella's mana had run out. Tristian had very strong offensive light magic, but he quickly realized that this was going to be an endurance battle so he only used his physical strength to attack Bella and force her to continue dodging with her dark element. Bella had tried her best by throwing hidden needles, however, most of them were just ignored by Tristian. Even if they hit, his light element healed him.

"Hmph, I give up. What is the point of trying to beat this stupid beast? I'm just wasting energy." Without even changing her expression, Bella quickly raised her hands in surrender. Just like that, the first two matches ended.

...

Three and four were next, so Greyson quickly jumped from his seat onto the stage. Caedis was slower and appeared from the shadows onto the stage. Studying his opponent, Caedis felt rather apprehensive as from the start this half-elf boy had an odd smile on his face like he was planning some trick. He was correct, as Greyson had already thought of a clever move that his master taught him after watching Bella's fighting style. If Caedis fought anything like his sister, then this match was doomed to a short ending. Under the judge's instructions, both of the boys bowed to each other before the match was started. After the man's arm dropped signaling the start, Caedis pulled out matching daggers while Greyson pulled out a bow and arrow. The audience and his opponent were all caught off guard by the sudden change in weapon. Naturally nocking the arrow, Greyson's eyes flashed red as the arrow caught on fire. Bursting out with power, the arrow shot towards Caedis. Shaking off his initial shock, Caedis smirked as he began to sink into the ground to dodge the arrow. In his distraction, though, he didn't notice Greyson's evil grin the minute he had made his move.

Eyes flashing black, the arrow landed onto the shadow that Caedis had disappeared into. Suddenly, Greyson flew towards the shadow with rocks forming around his fist. Confusion was present on everyone's faces as no one knew what this young boy was up to. Did he think that punching the shadow would do anything? However, at that moment, the previously escaped Caedis popped back up from that same shadow instead of appearing elsewhere on the stage. Before he could even gather his wits about him, Caedis tried to raise his daggers to block the incoming fist. A flinch-inducing *CRUNCH* rang out and both his arm bones broke and Caedis was sent flying into the ground outside the stage.

Silence permeated the stadium. Even Luca and Ignis on the other stage had stopped fighting and looked over. No one had expected the match to end so quickly.

"What happened? Did Caedis' spell not work? Why did he show up right back in the same spot?"

"The kid must have done something..."

"Yeah, but what?"

The Principal Grimlow's eyes sparkled with interest and laughter, "Another Shadow Escape? What a sneaky move! It was definitely that black-hearted elf, Sweetbow, that taught him this method. This Absinthe boy is really unlucky."

Grimlow was spot on. Once when he was fighting his master, Greyson tried to use Shadow Escape. However, Sweetbow had fired a disguised arrow containing a second Shadow Escape that made him appear right back where he started. A rather mean-spirited move, but it works so Greyson felt no shame.

In the seats, Ezra had started giggling, "Caedis really met his match this time."

Bella glowered at her, but flew off to make sure her brother was okay. Picking up the fainted Caedis, she hauled him over to the physician's for healing.

Greyson ignored the looks of confusion, before walking off stage and sitting back in his seat.

"Grey~ tell big sister. What just happened?" Ezra leaned over seductively.

Uncomfortably backing away, Greyson just grinned lightly, "sorry, trade secret."

"Hmph! No fun!" Pouting cutely, Ezra sat back into her seat. Helplessly shaking his head, Greyson just ignored her and started to meditate to recover his energy.