After weeks of tests, the dreaded mid terms were finally heading to an end.
On the final day of the tournament, all of the first year students gathered inside the training hall. In the middle of the hall was a single propped up stage that they surrounded.
Now that the herd had been thinned to down to seven people, the remaining battles would be fought on a single stage with everyone watching.
The hall was abuzz with excitement and discussion. Everyone was anticipating the opportunity to witness the strength of the strongest in their year. Many of them dreamt that one day, they would be the ones to stand on stage in front of their fellow students.
Before the fights could begin, the free pass had to be allocated. Unsurprisingly to the boy himself, Kaden was the one chosen to skip to the next round.
Four of the remaining students also breathed a sigh of relief. If Kaden wasn't given the pass, one of them would have to be the sacrificial pawn that went up against him.
The eliminated students in the crowd were slightly disappointed that they would have to wait. They were looking forward to see the best students fight. Naturally the stronger, the better, and so far Kaden had proved himself to be worthy of his number 1 ranking. The students who had only heard of his one move exploits were anticipating seeing it in person.
But for now they had to wait for the other fights to finish. First up was two students Kaden had never seen before.
There was a few cheers as they went on stage, most likely from their fellow classmates. The fight began but Kaden didn't remember much of it. It was very unmemorable to him, neither of them seemed to be particularly strong.
The rest of the fights were much the same. Raphael, while unable to defeat his opponent in one move, was clearly stronger and had an overwhelming advantage. It didn't take too long for him to finish his fight.
The same went for Chet who was also getting stronger at a rapid rate lately. A fire had been lit in him ever since the bet, the tournament had been a major factor in his recent growth.
To the students watching however, these fights were the best they had seen in their whole life. As it was finally Kaden's turn to go on stage and face Chet, their excitement was reaching it's peak.
Kaden's fan club was especially out in full force, more akin to a flock of mindless fans than students of a prestigious academy.
Kaden shook his head at their antics. Usually the kids in the Federation were quite mature for their age, but in cases like this their true colors shined through.
Up on stage, despite the crowd's loud clamoring, Chet and Kaden faced each other calmly. There was an understanding between the two that only they knew of.
As the referee prepared to start the fight, the students quietened down, anticipating the upcoming fight with a gleam in their eyes. This right here could go down in history. Throughout the academy's entire history, it was unheard of for someone to defeat everyone in their year with just one move.
But…
As the match began their hopes were instantly betrayed. Without any moves being exchanged between the two combatants on stage, Chet raised his hand and surrendered. The referee declared Kaden the winner by forfeit and the match was over just like that.
The disappointment for the crowd was immeasurable, but for Kaden and Chet it was a matter they had already discussed before hand.
Chet was the one to bring it up, suggesting that there was no need for him to waste his strength and potentially get injured. If he was in a better condition for his fight with Raphael, the odds of him winning would be higher.
In an anti-climactic manner and without a single scratch, both of them left the stage. On the way back to their seats, Chet recieved more than a few angry glares from depressed students.
Somewhere else in the training hall, there was also another student who was feeling both disappointed and angry.
Raphael was already getting nervous, but now he found out that the two were willing to use such a shameless trick, conserving all their energy for the fight with him. He still had another fight now, meanwhile both of them would be relaxing, ready to face him in their best condition. Thinking about it now, he shamed himself for not foreseeing something like this occurring.
When he went on stage to fight, the situation was only made worse. The student facing him was ranked 4th and certainly had some skill to back it up. In their drawn out battle, Raphael took a few solid hits before winning. Now he was in a bad state, but Kaden whom he was about to fight was still at his best. Even though he won, he couldn't be happy about the outcome.
Getting down from the stage, Raphael grumbled angrily on the way back to his seat. He was only getting 15 minutes to recover before the final would begin. It wasn't enough to restore his energy completely.
The seed of doubt was only growing bigger and bigger. Ever since he saw Kaden's overwhelming power he had been doubtful of the final outcome. He was starting to think that he was the one who had overestimated his strength. So far Kaden had been true to his boastful words, only using a single move in all of his fights.
But it wasn't good for him to dwell on it, all Raphael could do was remind himself that he only had to beat one of them. As long as he won one of the fights, he would also win the bet. In his mind, his ranking had already taken second place to the gamble, for the sake of the money he didn't have. For a moment he even considered forfeiting the match against Kaden and just focusing his efforts on beating Chet. But only for a moment.