68 Rematch

After Greyson's match, the people had not calmed down and continued whispering to each other trying to figure out what happened. Not many people could use the same trick, thus it was not as well-known with the normal students. Some people could almost figure out, but would never be sure if they are correct or not. Not paying attention to the curious glance pointed his way, Greyson silently meditated on his chair. That match did not wear him out or injure him seriously so he had no reason to go to the physicians' area for someone to heal him. Just recovering his mana was enough for the next match. Thinking about it, he realized from now on it would be people challenging each other instead of set matches. As the winner of the third match, he was third in line to choose an opponent. Filtering through the other nine people, Greyson could not come to a decision on who to challenge. Juggling with the different options for a moment, he decided to just wait for the fifth match and the first and second challenges to finish. At that point, he could just pick one of the people who has not gone up in a while.

Opening his eyes, Greyson realized that the fifth match and the first challenge had already begun. Tristian chose Ignis as his first challenge while Leopold and Bromwood were going up against each other in the fifth match. At first glance, Tristian looked to be overpowering Ignis so Greyson quickly lost interest in the match. Focusing on Leopold and Bromwood, his eyes lit up in interest. Surprisingly, they were tied. No one had an obvious advantage over the other. Although Leopold had two elements, Bromwood's lightning element was not weak either. Lightning compared to the other elements was rare. Its offensive power was much higher in destructive ability. Although Leo was combining his water and fire elements, Bromwood's smooth manipulation of the lightning was keeping the attacks at bay.

Bright purple boots were covering his feet which boosted his speed many times that of Leopold's. Greyson recognized the spell as the Fulmen family's Lightning Boots movement spell. Apparently, the founder of the Fulmen family had found the two spells Lightning Boots and Lightning Burst inside ancient ruins. Leopold continued chasing him around and attacking before finally stopping in place. Chasing around Bromwood would only further exhaust him and waste mana. Starting to look complacent, Bromwood looked arrogantly at the exhausted Leopold. However, to his surprise, his opponent did not get angry but instead smiled back. Narrowing his eyes, Bromwood brought out his saber that arced with lightning. Looking to finish the match with his strongest spell, he gathered energy for Lightning Burst. Leopold only looked on as he also gathered his mana to execute a new spell he had learned.

A ball of lightning forming at the tip of his saber, Bromwood burst into action and stabbing straight towards Leopold. Instead of moving to block the strike, Leopold struck his spear into the ground. A huge circle of fire exploded out in all direction. The large vortex covered the entire stage leaving Bromwood without the ability to dodge. His Lightning Burst spell had broken apart the first impact of the spell, but the vortex spun back around for a second wave which he could not block. Caught in the fire, Bromwood let out a pained shout as he was badly burned. Leopold quickly dispersed his spell in order to prevent any permanent damage. The judge stepped in and declared the winner while calling the physicians to carry away Bromwood for healing. Leopold let out a long breath before slowly getting off stage to hit seat. Plopping down next to Greyson, Leo took the opportunity to catch his breath.

"Congratulations." Greyson remarked.

"Hahaha, Bromwood would not be aware, but I only learned that spell recently. My grandfather kept lecturing me about how my attacks were too direct and easy to avoid if the opponent was faster or stronger than me. Taking his advice, I learned a spell that had a large area of effect. Turns out I was right to listen to his advice." Laughing heartily, Leopold was quick to admit his luck. But it was exactly this easygoing attitude which won Greyson's respect.

Waiting just a little while longer, Tristian and Ignis' match ended with Tristian's victory. It was now time for Greyson and Natalia to challenge someone from the top ten. Luckily for Greyson, Natalia's choice was rather quick. She picked out Bella. Looking slightly upset, Bella decided to just admit defeat which automatically placed her at tenth place temporarily. Contemplating his choices, Greyson's eyes finally landed on the pink haired beauty sitting next to him. Although Luca also had not fought in a while, he was the winner of the fourth match and would be fighting next. This left Ezra as his best choice. Thinking of her earlier show of strength, he was excited to try to fight her. However, Ezra did not share the same opinion and quickly admitted defeat.

"I'm not sure, but something tells me that I won't be able to beat you. Plus, how could I bear to beat up such a cute face~?" Her tone was playful, but her eyes looked deeply at Greyson. Blushing a little, Greyson just nodded before sighing. She was not wrong. He looked forward to fighting her to try out different opponents, but he was fairly sure of his victory over her. Disappointed, Greyson sat back down needing to wait for his turn over again. The next fights would be Ezra versus Bella and Luca versus Caedis. Not interested in the matches, Greyson decided to close his eyes and meditate to make the time go by faster.

After a little while, Greyson felt someone elbowing him. Opening his eyes and looking to his side, he saw that the person who got his attention was Leopold.

"Hey, the matches are finished."

"Oh, who won?"

"Luca and Ezra won."

"Ah, I see." Slightly bored, Greyson did not pursue the conversation. The winners were who he expected from the beginning since the twins just were a level lower than the rest when they could not fight together. He thought they would feel a bit more conflicted about it, however, looking at the two of them, Greyson could tell they were aware and did not mind at all.

"Hahaha, well aren't you quiet. Feeling bored?" Leo chuckled looking at Greyson's obviously sleepy expression.

"Hehe, yeah sort of. I guess I was hoping for more action."

"Really? I have just the solution for that!" A glint flashed in his eyes. Attention piqued, Greyson glanced over at him.

"Did you forget whose challenge turn it is? I challenge you!" Smiling with fighting intent gleaming in his eyes, Leopold quickly declared his choice. At first shocked, Greyson froze for a moment before smiling back and quickly getting up. Almost running to the stage, he could barely stand still and wait. More than just because he was getting bored, the only reason he stayed for this competition was to compete with Leo and Natalia once more. Laughing happily, Leopold quickly joined Greyson up on the stage. Staring at each other, they were almost about to start when they realized the judge was running up to catch up to them.

"Wait, wait, wait for me!" Calling out to the enthusiastic duo, the judge stopped them from continuing. "Hold on for just a moment so the other match up can be decided."

"No need, I have already decided on my opponent." Tristian's voice soon called out and they all looked over at him. Tristian and Bromwood were standing on stage getting ready to fight. Leopold and Greyson both turned around and smiled at each other.

"Finally. I hope you have improved after all this time, otherwise this match will be over too quickly." Greyson commented.

"Hmph. I beat you once so I will do it again. I only hope that you don't disappoint my expectations." Leopold scoffed back.

"Alright the both of you, bow first!" The judge started, and the both of them followed his directions. "START!" He shouted and leaped off to the side to get out of the way.

Both boys blurred out of sight until they met in a clash in the middle. One holding a spear and the other a sword. Rebounded backwards, both were thrown back to the edges of the stage. Smiling, Greyson's eyes turned brown and blue. Vines covered in icy spikes burst from the ground rapidly advanced towards Leopold. Admittedly he stole the move from Ezra, but he added his own flare to it. Leo swung his spear that lit up in flames and cut down the vines coming for him, however, they would just grow back and keep coming for him. Frustrated, he slammed the spear into the ground and set the stage floor on fire. Greyson's eyes lit up red and was able to completely ignore the flames, but the vines could not say the same as they all burst into flames. Leo quickly rushed in slashing down at Greyson with a combine ice and fire spell. Feeling the incoming strike, Greyson disappeared into ground through the shadows. The strike slammed into the ground leaving a huge crevice in the stage breaking through the protection inscriptions on it.

It was at this small breakage in movement when the audience released the breath they didn't realize they had been holding. Too exciting! Everyone's eyes were glued to this fight almost completely ignoring poor Tristian and Bromwood's match. From the start, Greyson and Leopold jumped right into action holding nothing back. Most of the time people would first send out some test attacks to start to feel out the level of their opponent and build up to the last moment. However, none of this passed through Greyson or Leopold's minds. They both could only think of attacking with their best from the beginning which stemmed a lot from the respect they had from each other. Why hold back when they knew their opponent was just as strong as they were? Additionally, both of them had their own confidence that the other had not been able to surpass them.

Seeing his attack fail, Leopold just smiled as if he had expected it wouldn't be that easy. Greyson appeared on the opposite side of the stage. Both of their smiles had faded to seriousness. Not intending to drag out the fight, Greyson decided to use his strongest attack. Saving it for later matches was not necessary as just because his future opponents see the move did not mean they would be able to block or avoid it even he felt proud of his creation. Pulling out Genesis once more, the sword and his eyes reflected each other becoming a mix of blue, purple, and green. Clouds overhead began forming while rain dropped down, wind blew, and lightning cracked in the sky. Feeling the fast gathering of mana, Leopold became wary and started summoning his strongest spell as well. Instinct was telling him that this was Greyson's best spell at the moment. In the audience, Principal Grimlow sat up in his seat and stared at the Greyson's forming spell with surprise.

"Really, a monster... Just what sort of kid did that Sweetbow pick up?" Quietly murmuring to himself, Grimlow suddenly felt regret for not paying more attention to the entrance exam 5 years ago otherwise maybe it would be his disciple on stage right now.

Around the blade of Genesis, all the elements spun around combining. This was a spell that Greyson had taken most of the five years to come up with. Combined element spells were the hardest to find and the most expensive to buy, plus most multi-element magicians believed that spells made from your own comprehension were the most effective. Two elements were not as difficult as three, but Greyson had watched a rainstorm once and was suddenly inspired on how to combine three of his elements. From then on, through a lot of trial and error, he created this move, Thunderstorm. Stomping in the ground, Greyson swung down his blade as he quickly approached Leopold. Red and blue had gathered around Leo's spear tip as he met the attack with his spear. A large explosion sounded off like a boom of thunder. Even the poor audience was soaked and thrown in a disorder by the rain and strong winds. Thankfully the lightning was contained, otherwise there would be a lot more injured people.

Suddenly, the clouds cleared revealing the peaceful blue sky once more. Excited, the crowd quickly looked around for the two boys. When the mist cleared, everyone could clearly see the standing Greyson and the kneeling Leopold. Coughing out blood, Leopold could no longer hold himself up and fainted. Still in shock, the judge had not declared the winner yet. At some point, one person had begun clapping until the rest of the audience joined along. Soon the entire place was filled with thunderous applause and the judge regained his calm and declared Greyson the winner. Physicians ascended the stage and carried down Leopold for healing.

Slowly getting down the stage, Greyson sat in his seat feeling satisfied. Although losing was fine last time, it was impossible to not be bothered. After all this time and training, if he could not beat Leo this time, he felt his mentality would have been affected. This fulfillment was something that could not be explained, but it felt as if something that had been weighing down on him was gone. One of the last chains holding him in the Idris Kingdom was unlocked. The journey to the Beast Kingdom was becoming his new goal. Soon, the Idris Kingdom would not be able to hold him. He would have to move on to the next part of his journey. A new fire was ignited in him and the impatience to leave right at this moment was growing.