Lisa summoned Pochan out as soon as the fight began. One glance and Pochan already knew that Paul was a very powerful opponent. Despite the odds were against her, Lisa did not felt hopeless. Instead, she was eager to try her limit.
Lisa looked at Paul before ordering Pochan to stand by her. She wanted Pochan to protect her. She then discussed her strategy and plan with Pochan and from his expression, it seemed like Pochan did not like the plan. Next, Lisa summoned several small white tigers and ordered them to attack Paul.
Paul indifferently looked at Lisa and the incoming attacks. He then drew his broadsword and dashed toward the white tigers. Paul was originally a warrior.
Despite holding such a big sword, his movement was very agile. One slash from his sword, 3-4 small white tigers were sent away. Very quickly, Paul arrived in front of Lisa. He then attacked Lisa who was covered by Pochan. Unexpectedly, his sword bounced back because Pochan body structure was actually similar to a jelly.
Although they could resist and weaken Paul attack that way, Pochan and Lisa were still receiving some impacts. Pochan felt like he was hit by a truck and, while Lisa received some internal injuries.
Paul did not let Lisa to catch her breath. He kept attacking her non-stop with his broadsword. His attacks were both fast and powerful. Nevertheless, Lisa and Pochan were still able to hold on, at least for a little while.
"What is the girl doing? She is clearly not the boy match. Why didn't she just simply admitted her defeat?" One of the audience asked his friend. It was actually a question which did not need an answer. It was more like a mocking question.
Linda was also confused with Lisa decision to hold on. She was worried that Lisa overestimated herself and accidentally injured herself in the process. In her opinion, Lisa was clearly not Paul match so there was no point to hold on.
"Silly girl." Olivia sighed. Everyone thought that Lisa was just being stubborn and refused to admit her defeat due to her pride. Slowly but surely, Pochan and Lisa were unable to hold on.
After receiving a heavy attack, Pochan defence finally broke and Lisa was left wide open. Fortunately, Paul managed to stop his sword few inches before Lisa neck. Otherwise, Lisa might receive a fatal injury.
Surprisingly, Lisa was still able to calmly look at Paul in the eyes. Her eyes did not contain any fear.
"Do you not fear death?" Paul found Lisa attitude to be interesting. Of course the judge and some elders would probably interfere when they thought that an attack would threaten one or both contestant life. In the previous rounds, there were some situations like that.
"I knew that I could trust you. First of all, let me apologize in advance for taking advantage of your gentleness. Secondly… Pochan!!" Lisa slowly said before she suddenly shouted out loud.
Pochan broken body was shining brightly and it was followed by a big explosion on the stage. Pochan unexpectedly decided to self-destruct! As a summoned creature, because his soul had been branded by a summoner, Pochan could still reconstruct his body as long as his true soul did not perish or received any fatal injuries.
Everyone was dumbfounded. They did not expect Lisa to have such a plan. She was actually holding on to catch a glimpse hope to win.
The dust settled and people could see Lisa in her defensive suit. She had actually made enough preparation for her plan. As expected, there was no sign of Pochan on the stage. People assumed his soul had already gone back to his original world.
As for Paul, he was covered in injuries but none of them was serious.
"Not bad." Paul said with a smile. He did not get mad after being deceived, instead he respected Lisa choice of plan, at least she tried. He then continued "So will you admit your defeat now?"
Lisa sighed deeply before replying "I know that you are very powerful, but I do not expect that our difference is this big. I admit defeat."
The fight concluded and both contestants went down from the stage accompanied by a big round of applause.
"You have a good granddaughter." The principal talked to Madam Olivia. Sir Adam also nodded expressing his agreement. Madam Olivia simply smiled in return.
After Paul and Lisa match, the next three fights were all won by the favourites. In the end, amongst the 16 winners, 15 of them were those students in the TOP 20 of new students ranking. Mozart was the only underdog remaining. His win over Max Well was still being discussed even during the lunch break. There was a short lunch break after the sixteenth match concluded.
"Are both of you okay?" Elsa asked when she saw Lisa and Linda walked together toward her and Erza. Lisa and Linda were coming back from the infirmary.
"We are fine. No worries." Both Lisa and Linda answered simultaneously.
"Good. You two have fought well." Erza smiled and said. She was happy with her friends performances.
As they were eating their lunch, Elsa tried to ask Erza about what happened between her and Veronica. "Did you have any problem with that paladin girl?"
"Nope." Erza replied nonchalantly.
"Then why did you not simply defeat her? Was there any need to embarrass her?"
"It was unintentional. My element was fire. It burned away things and turned them to ashes. If I was an ice mage like you, then her outfit would surely be intact." Most people and even Veronica herself were indeed thinking of the same thing. They never thought that Erza did it intentionally. They believed that it was a pure accident due to the nature of her magic.
Elsa rolled her eyes in return. She did not completely believe what Erza just said. Her explanation was making sense but Elsa knew that Erza had other ways to win the fight. However, she decided to drop the issue and talked about something else.
The lunch break was over and the TOP 16 rounds would start soon. Similar to previous round, Erza fought in the first match. This time, her opponent was a boy named Victor Mono, a skinny boy with black short hair. He was a thief ranked at 12th.
Erza and Victor both excelled in speed. Thus since the beginning, both contestants decided to compete in speed. Against Victor dual daggers, Erza surprisingly decided to fight barehanded and she also did not summon her wings. Even though Erza was fast, Victor was still a bit faster.
Slowly but surely, numerous cutting wounds started to appear all over Erza bodies. Her battle outfit was drenched in blood. Average people might think that Erza was on the losing side, but for those who had good insights, they would know who was actually on the losing side.
Victor was not without any injuries. In fact, he was bleeding internally due to Erza punches and kicks. Few of his bones were also broken. Although Victor was faster, Erza was stronger. Her body had been tempered during her breakthrough to Knight realm.
Even though she was bleeding all over her bodies, Erza was actually enjoying the fight. On the other hand, Victor gradually slowed down due to his injuries. He was also starting to cough out blood from his mouth. Their fight was really the bloodiest match in this tournament so far.
As a result, the judge was seriously considering whether to interfere with the fight or not. Standing not far from the stage, Mozart was looking at Erza with a gentle expression, totally different from his usual cold attitude. His heart was beating faster than usual.
"Beautiful." Mozart muttered and smiled.
Erza suddenly stopped moving. She bowed slightly and said "Thank you for the fight. You had done enough to prove yourself. However, I would suggest you to admit your defeat now and get yourself treated as soon as possible."
Victor looked to Erza in the eyes then sighed. He knew his body condition better than anyone else. Erza was right. He was barely able to stand straight.
"I admit defeat." Victor said before continued "Thank you for the good fight as well. I hope you will win this championship eventually so that I could say that I lost to the champion."
After that, the second match went on. The winner was Qi Di. He would be Erza opponent in the next round.
Subsequently, the third match was won by Qi Long, while the fourth match winner was Meghan. Hence, Qi Long and Meghan would fight each other next round.
Finally, the fifth match would start soon and the audiences were getting excited. People were betting on who would be the eventual winner. It was the most anticipated match in this round as it was a fight between Elsa and Mozart!