Silence came among the masters and was broken only when the next contenders were called. Orion and Amanda the sword girl ranked third.

  The top three sent a different aura than those who have competed with them so far, their strength is different from the rest but it is not enough to change the result.

  'Your name is Amanda, as far as I recall. Nice to compete with you, my name is Orion.'

  'Nice to meet you too. I'm not as easy as the ones before me.'

  'That's how you think then, let me tell you a funny fact. None of us has shown more than half of our skills so far. Try and you'll understand.'

  A sharp and sarcastic look at the same time made Amanda's blood boil; her head devoid of all thoughts except one thought, "make him pay the price."

  'May I have a question?'

  'What do you want?'

  She replied to his question in an angry tone as if she did not intend to answer it.

  'Are you good with the aura of the sword? If you were, what do you think about changing the way we compete?'

  'Yes, I learned it two years ago. How do you want us to compete?'

  'Let us strike our swords as hard as we can so we know which one has the strongest aura and so the winner is determined.'

  Amanda regained her self-confidence and saw the light again. Thinking it was the perfect chance to win, Amanda did not know she chose her loss with her own hands.

  Orion made the proposal to the teachers and Maximus gave them two wooden swords for this competition.

  The two stood three steps apart and formed a halo on their swords waiting for the starting signal.

  As soon as the signal was given, the two waved their swords with all their might. A deep blue aura for Orion and a yellow one for Amanda. The two forces collided and created a shock wave that was followed by a small explosion. Seconds after the smoke dissipated, Orion was pushed one-step back from the shock while Amanda was pushed several steps. The two swords got smashed into pieces and determining the winner failed.

  'Are we doing it again with real swords this time, Master?'

  'I'm giving up; I won't be able to counter another blow like this.'

  The competitor gave up after realizing that her chances of winning were non-existent. The two competitors shook hands and Orion whispered a few words in her ear.

  'I learned aura just two weeks ago to be in your knowledge.'

  A feeling of cold and chills overwhelmed her and she returned to her seat with difficulty. Her face gave the expressions of a terrified person, a person who has met an unbeatable beast.

  'What happened a little while ago? Why are you so terrified?'

  'He told me he learned aura only two weeks ago.'

  This is undoubtedly a joke, that is what they thought at least thinking it was a psychological ploy from the opponent. After looking again at her words, it does not seem to be a joke, so what will an opponent capable of winning overwhelmingly benefit from confusing his opponent?

  'Even if it's the truth, it won't change anything in the fight, a loss is a loss even if we decorate it. My turn is next.'

  Second-ranked James also stepped forward to receive his loss with open arms.

  His rival was Aliana, a spirit summoner. Neither has an advantage over the other, and the combat style of both disciplines is very similar.

  'My name is Aliana and I am honored to compete with you.'

  'My name is James and I also am honored to do so.'

  'I apologize in advance because I will be cruel and end the fight quickly.'

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  'Thanks for the favor; I wanted a short and non-humiliating fight unlike my colleagues.'

  He seemed neither sad nor angry, exactly was careless. Why bother himself if he is going to lose in all forms?

  Once the fight began, Aliana summoned the five spirits and took out the pocket watch. Combining spirits gives a much stronger spirit and speeds up combat, but its use time is limited. Aliana merged all five spirits and the mysterious mid-ranking spirit like the one the teacher showed to her during the training came out.

  Everyone was surprised by what they saw, even the principal except Master Maximus, who was laughing until his eyes teared.

  'What does this mean? What- What happened? Why does she have a strange spirit?'

  'It's a device that merges spirits; that watch comes with it. Her opponent is done for sure.'

  .........

  "What happened there? I do not understand what it is but it is dangerous. I have to protect myself."

  As soon as James completed the 'Ice Spears' spell, he threw it straight away and then began preparing several defensive spells in case of danger.

  The mysterious spirit moved at a steady speed towards the opponent while destroying the ice spears. As soon as it touched the first layer of defense, a huge explosion occurred that destroyed two other layers and only the fourth and last layer remained, the spirit did not stop at all and continued to approach James, who was desperately escaping. Neither attack, defense, nor dodging helped to avoid the spirit that touched the shield again, causing a smaller explosion than the previous one, leaving James with some bruises.

  Albus announced the end of the match to prevent further injuries. James, who was on the ground, got up laughing madly.

  'This is the real fight, for the first time I felt I am in danger. I am honored for dueling with you, miss.'

  He bowed down to his rival, and then returned to where he was sitting, and then turned to top seed Freddy.

  ‘It is your turn to receive your share of beatings, friend.'

  'Sounds like you've been waiting for this impatiently.'

  'Not quite, but why would not I want to see you beaten, my rival that I cannot beat.'

  'You have a point of view to some extent. It's my turn anyway.'

  'I wouldn't refuse to see you severely beaten days before you graduate. It's an irreplaceable opportunity.'

  Freddy got up and headed to the ring, suppressing his anger while James was still laughing. None of the rest found a proper response or comment to the situation and tried to suppress their laughter as much as possible.

  .........

  'My name is Freddy, a senior year student and ranked number one at the Academy.'

  'I'm Dante; it's a pleasure to meet you.'

  James examined his opponent thoroughly, as soon as he saw him he was sure that he was an assassin but he has not yet taken out a weapon.

  'Aren't you going to use a weapon?'

  'No need for a weapon, you might become seriously injured.'

  He did not feel anger or annoyance, but fear and tension. His opponent does not want to use a weapon so as not to harm him, which indicates the big difference in level between the two.

  "I'll at least try, I won't lose anything by trying and I won't get anything if I don't try."

  With the starting signal, Freddy stepped towards his opponent and waved his hammer hard horizontally; Dante dodged the blow and tried to punch his opponent's exposed ribs after waving the hammer. Freddy changed the trajectory of the hammer, allowing him to twist his body and protect himself with the handle of his weapon. They each took several steps back and waited for the opponent to move first.

  Dante engaged again towards his opponent who was ready to counterattack at any moment. Freddy waved his hammer at Dante but strangely enough, it passed through him and then his body disappeared like a pile of dust.

  Dante appeared behind his opponent and pushed his foot, which knocked him down; at that moment, Freddy waved the hammer over his head to hit his opponent who was behind him. The hammer stopped halfway and refused to move. Dante grabbed the handle with his right hand while choking his rival with his left arm.

  'Damn, it would have been dangerous if it wasn't me. You're very skilled, boy, but unfortunately your opponent was me.'

  Freddy's consciousness began to become shallow due to lack of oxygen, Dante did not let him escape until his muscles relaxed, and he completely lost consciousness.

  The game was short but it impressed everyone as both contenders showed exceptional performances but one outperformed the other in the end.

  It took some time before Freddy regained consciousness and found Dante sitting next to him.

  'Oh! You seem to have woken up, boy. It was a great game. Come on; get up from your place.'

  Dante helped him get up and everyone in the audience applauded the two for their impressive performances. Although Freddy lost the game but he was amazing and that was more than enough for him.

  .........

  'These students of your academy are amazing, Albus. They only lack an excellent teacher and will reach the sixth rank in less than two and a half years. Think about it.'

  'I thought of something similar before but the model wasn't as great as I expected it to be so I gave up the idea.'

  'I had a very good idea that will help us in the future. I'll announce it tomorrow so will you accept to chair it for me?'

  'If it's for the future of the world, this old man doesn't mind.'

  The two of them continued their conversation and forgot to conclude the competition even leaving everyone on the waiting bench...