The three contestants of Group 1 were then urged to take their positions in the battle arena, where a proctor in charge of the first round was standing.
As soon as they took their places, the proctor then said, "Alright, listen up!! You have an hour to duel and beat your opponents to advance to the finals."
The rules are simple: No fatal blows and fight your hearts out!! Understood?!"
"Yes, sir!!," the three contestants responded.
The proctor then left the arena and motioned towards a bald man with a large drumhead standing next to a 300-pound golden-and-red gong.
"Ready. Set. Begin!!"
————————-/——//————————————
The gong was then beaten and Vincent, Itsubo and Ghorza suddenly rushed towards each other.
Each traded blows with each other and it seemed they were evenly matched.
But Vincent was particularly focused on Itsubo.
...…••••••••••••••••••••••....
Itsubo Himeragi was a young male member of the elf race -a well-known race of humanoid creatures with their iconic pointed ear tips and a strong connection to nature.
He was around 240 years old - around 16 years in human age and was the oldest student in the academy - and wore a simple yet sleek green attire and had a golden headband around his forehead.
Ghorza Murbol was an young female Oni : a race similar to Orcs but less war-driven and preferred less violent alternatives to disputes.
She was the same age as Vincent but a few months older.
She had dark skin and wore a purple attire, and had orange hair and green eyes.
...…••••••••••••••••••••••....
"I don't know why, but I have to be weary of him the most," Vincent thought to himself about Itsubo as he was dueling both him and Ghorza at the same time.
"Dang it!! I forgot this is a three-way battle!!," Vincent cursed as he was running away from Ghorza's Rock Shot, which sends several large-sized boulders towards the target at incredible speed several minutes into the battle.
As he was advancing away the attack, Itsubo was right in front of him, with a clenched fist.
Vincent then clenched his fist and met Itsubo's own as they both punched each other.
Vincent then thought, "He's strong but thankfully, I have the advantage here!!"
As the struggle continued between the male fighters, Itsubo noticed Vincent's fangs and startled.
He then went back and asked, "You're a vampire, aren't you?"
"And what if I am?," Vincent asked back at the elf.
Itsubo then smiled and replied, "That makes killing you even more easier!!"
Vincent was shocked and was unprepared as his opponent threw green shuriken towards him.
Vincent was able to dodge them easily; all except one which stabbed his left shoulder.
He then became drowsy and in serious pain and was holding his shoulder when Itsubo appeared in front of him.
The elf then said, "That's the Alcama Willow: a special poison done by my people and which I developed perfectly for this day!!"
He continued, "It's designed to slowly but surely kill anyone who consumes it, and it seems you're the lucky one!!"
"Don't worry, this is the milder version and I have the antidote with me. But I won't give it to you until after the tournament!!," he then smirked at Vincent, which made him angry.
"That smart bastard!! I should have known there'd be a Poison Expert amongst us!!," Vincent cursed in his thoughts.
He then got up shakingly and his eyes started glowing again.
And he looked at Itsubo, smiled and thought to himself, "So that's where you kept it!!! So typical of a Poison Expert!! Unfortunately for us both, that will mean—"
Itsubo then moved aside and Ghorza came charging and knocked Vincent upwards out of the arena.
He looked at the spot where he was landing and thought, "This is—"
As Itsubo and Ghorza were still battling back at the arena, Vincent readjusted his body in the air to face head-first down toward the ground.
He then closed his eyes and a blood-red aura flowed around his left fist.
As he was diving back towards the ground with full momentum, he then puched the spot where he was standing at first.
His opponents dodged the impact, but the ground was not spared from the impact.
————————-/——//————————————
The dust and debris was finally cleared, and Vincent was still standing there, holding his shoulder in pain.
"It may not have injured them, but at least my Illusion spell has been activated," Vincent thought, still pleased with his move.
"Well well, looks like your plan failed," Itsubo smiled menacingly at Vincent and then put a serious face towards Ghorza.
He then nodded towards Vincent and Ghorza -though hesitant- rushed towards her target and kicked him in the chin with her knee.
The impact really affected Vincent's stability and stunned him as suddenly vines sprung from the spot where he punched.
They tied and held Vincent's limbs separately from each other held him suspended a little bit off the ground.
Itsubo then walked up to Vincent and placed his hands between his temple.
He said some words and all of a sudden, Mana was being withdrawn from Vincent to him!!
"This is Hollow Suction. I'm basically taking your Mana from you and making it my own. But don't you worry, I won't kill you here….yet!!," he yelled at Vincent —not much to the hearing of everyone else— who was slipping out of consciousness from his Mana being drained out.
"This should be enough to pay for what your filthy kind did to my people!!, he yelled, showing signs of deep hatred.
Dante then sighed and said, "I see. It was a pre-determined move based on prejudice against Vincent's race because of the Cantana Battle."
"I can't step in to save my student, but I know Vincent has something planned out in the end," he thought as he watched the fight still going on.
Itsubo then thought, "I have to hurry and take out that stupid orc as well!! Before she backs out from my threat!!"
Vincent —having read his captor's thoughts-- then said, "Before I pass out, I didn't know."
"Didn't know what?!," the elf asked, deeply annoyed.
"Didn't know it would be so easy to play with your frail mind," Vincent smirked and suddenly Itsubo's vision became blurry.
As his vision became stable, Ghorza was in Vincent's place and was clearly getting unconscious.
"How—How's that possible?!," Itsubo yelled as he was looking for the young vampire.
"It's simple, really. Let me explain," Vincent replied and appeared behind Itsubo and placed him in a neck lock position, with Itsubo's arms out.
He then said, "I simply knew of your vines and your attempt to bind me earlier on," reminiscing of when he was knocked up the arena and looked underneath the ground.
"And I simply placed an Illusion spell on everyone here," Vincent said but looked in Jason's direction —indicating that he was not affected by the illusion.
He then concluded, "So —with all things said— you basically lost from the moment you revealed your hatred towards me," he said as he tightened his grip on Itsubo, who clearly had a degree of superhuman strength as well.
Itsubo then laughed and said, "Even if that's true, you're still affected by my poison. And this time, it's the potent version now."
Vincent then asked, "What's the relationship between you and that oni over there?"
Itsubo suddenly laughed and said, "Hahaha!! And why do you care about that?! If you're intrigued to know she's nothing but a pawn to me!!"
Ghorza -still weak and barely able to move- heard everything and said, "Please Itsubo, take back what you said. I don't want to do this anymore."
Itsubo retorted, "Shut up, you ugly oni!! I can't believe I was actually interested in you!! Who would expect an elf to be ever interested in an oni?!! Get out of my sight!!," which left Ghorza in tears.
That made Vincent very angry stand he remarked, "If there's one thing hate at all, it's scum like you who use people's emotions for their advantage!!"
He planned to finish this quickly, so he said, "And one more thing. I know where you kept the antidote."
Itsubo gasped and was terrified as he saw Vincent opening his mouth, revealing his fangs.
"And I'm definitely taking it all!!," he said
in a calm but terrifying tone.
"No!!! Get off me, you monster!!," Itsubo wailed as Vincent proceeded to take the antidote from him —by sucking his blood!!
————————-/——//————————————
Vincent finished extracting the anitidote from the blood and dropped Itsubo on the ground, who was now unconscious.
He then spat a bit of his blood out and thought, "Thank goodness I spat it out, otherwise I would be in big trouble!!," Vincent thought out of worry.
He then motioned towards Itsubo and drew out some Mana from the unconscious elf.
"I may not see you eye-to-eye, nor do I know what my race did to the elven, but I will try my best to make this right!! I swear!!," Vincent thought out of pity for the elf as he was extracting a heavy amount of Mana from him.
After Vincent was done extracting Mana from Itsubo, he walked towards Ghorza and stood in front of her.
Ghorza looked up and said amidst tears, "Please don't hurt me!! I didn't want to do this at all!!"
Vincent then crouched and said, "If you forfeit this match, I promise I won't harm you."
"Yes!! Please I forfeit!!," a sad and broken Ghorza wailed which even moved Vincent to hug her.
The proctor then announced, "The winner for the first round: Vincent Von Stein!!"
This was greeted by a large applause since the turn of events were very unexpected, even for the Council of Mages.
"Well, it seems you have some interesting students," Esmeralda smirked at Dante -who just smiled, pleased with the results.
Vincent then placed his hand on Ghorza and said, "I'm restoring back the Mana he stole from you. That should be fair."
"Th-Thank you," a blushing Ghorza responded.
That was unexpected by the oni and all Vincent could do was smile back in response.
"Wait!! Before you go, did you kill Itsubo?, she asked, pointing at his body.
Vincent then replied, "Don't worry, he's not dead. He'll be awake in a few hours."
He then stopped, looked back at Ghorza and said amidst the celebrations, "When all this is done, I'll take you out for some treats," and smiled, which left Ghorza blushing even more as Vincent walked out of the arena.