The third day ended well as all three of them made it through to the top 50. Now they were already up to the fourth day, according to the schedule there were only two more days left before it was all over.
Kaden and Chet were feeling good about the upcoming matches, but they were also worried for Damien's sake. That boy was too frivolous, he hadn't put in the effort that he should have.
In his battle to enter the top 25, Damien went up against a rank 30 student from one of the special classes. If Damien had put in the hours, he would've won quite comfortably. Instead they had a tough fight, trading blow after blow. Kaden and Chet were full of worry as they spectated the battle up on the arena.
In the end after a tense battle, it was the other student, not Damien, who came out on top. The rank 30 student ended Damien's run in the tournament, knocking him out of the single elimination bracket.
For the rest of the day, Damien would have to fight for the spots between 26 to 50. However he was already doomed to fall several spots down the leader board. After the entrance test he had been ranked 15, but even if he won every fight in the losers bracket, it was impossible for him to advance past rank 26.
In the end he settled down at rank 29, effectively going down a whole 14 ranks in one single tournament.
Kaden and Chet knew from talking with Damien how highly his father valued martial arts. It was unlikely that he would be pleased with his son's performance in the tournament.
But there wasn't time to hang around and discuss this, Kaden and Chet still had many more matches they had to focus on.
Kaden in particular was busy watching as many matches as he could. Now that the field was narrowed so much, there was a high chance that he might end up facing some of these people later.
Watching the fights from the sidelines gave him a better overview. He could better find hidden flaws and take advantage of them if they met in the tournament later. Besides that it was also a good experience. The remaining students were all formidable, having their own tricks and techniques. Even if his technique was stronger, it was beneficial to his development to see as many different martial arts as possible.
After spectating so many interesting fights he was also starting to get pumped up. When it was finally his turn to go on stage, he wanted to exchange a few moves and have a proper fight with his opponent. Unfortunately he couldn't deviate from the plan, as all the times before, Kaden's opponent was brutally sent soaring off of the stage.
This student was rank 20, but he was defeated just as easily as all the other students who were unlucky enough to meet Kaden. Being defeated so one-sidedly by someone so close in rank, the student began questioning his own martial arts.
But it wasn't him who was weak, Kaden was just too much of a monster. Especially in the Body Tempering stage, the demon physique was too powerful when up against the frail physique of regular humans.
Seeing Kaden's display of overwhelming strength, Chet also became inspired. He followed in Kaden's footsteps shortly after, advancing into the top 25 by finishing his fight in less than 20 moves. It was a good display for anyone who wasn't Kaden.
After eating in the cafeteria, Kaden and Chet recieved notifications detailing their next match up.
When Chet opened the message, a pleasant look appeared on his face. For the next match he had recieved a pass, meaning he would pass straight into the top 13. Because of the number of remaining students was uneven, someone had to receive a free pass to the next round. In total the academy would have to give in the next two round as well, to accommodate the structure of the bracket.
Of course only one person could get a pass per round, so Kaden wasn't as lucky. But his luck did shine through in other ways. This time the person he was going up against was someone who's match he had watched. When spectating he had already figured out several flaws in the opponents defense. When he went up to fight, the match ended even quicker than usual as Kaden took advantage of a few weak points.
For the next batch of fights, Raphael was the one given the free pass. Kaden thought it was likely that the academy was following the order of the top 3 when handing out passes. If that was the case, the final one was going to himself.
But he certainly didn't need a pass as both him and Chet ended the fourth day by advancing to the top 7. The seven students left in the tournament at this point were all in the top 10 on the martial arts ranking and had been seeded for the tournament. The eliminated students were starting to stir with excitement for the upcoming matches and also because of Kaden's method of progression.
So far he had used a single move to deal with all of his opponents. If he continued doing that through the final few fights when he had to go up against the best of the best, it would be a legendary feat. There was only one final day left of the tournament, the students knew they had a chance of witnessing history as it took place.
Kaden also started to heat up, the battle with Raphael was getting so close he could almost touch it. This battle and the bet it included was what he was looking forward to ever since the first day of the tournament.