It was time for the knockout rounds to begin. The top five of tge competition would get the chance to represent Hitachi High School in Entrance Test for Yaoyang University.
If they were admitted, they would become respected talents with a bright future.
Thirty two students were fighting for this opportunity.
The audience were of the opinion that the favorite to win the tournament were Kenny Lee, Jared or Adah Sun. Few people were favoring Argo, despite his overwhelming display in the Battle Royale. This was because he was simply unpopular, not many students knew him.
"Please settle down, it's time for the thirty two contestants to draw lots." announced the anchor.
Finally, it was time to start. As the thirty two students climbed the stage, the audience shrilled.
"Senior Jared, I love you!"
"Senior Kenny Lee will surely win!
"Senior Adah, fighting!"
They cheered for their favorite Seniors. Sadly, Argo was no one's favorite. He was simply too unpopular, not many even knew his name.
Soon, all the lots were drawn. Argo's opponent for the Round-of-32, was a short student from Class A who had a strength rivalling level 3 Apprentices.
The short student was thin and bald. He reminded Argo of a short monk with the ability to command all elements from a popular animation series back in Argo's original world(1).
"Are you ready?" seeing both of them nod, the anchor waved his hand. "Let the match start!"
"Haia"
The short boy shouted out as he charged at Argo with surprising speed. The short boy was very fast and reached Argo in the blink of an eye. The boy threw a punch towards Argo's face.
It was a feint.
He quickly dashed behind Argo and kicked his head. As if he had eyes at the back of his head, Argo calmly sidestepped.
The match proceeded thus, the short boy attacking in a flurry and Argo calmly dodging with his hands behind him.
After a few minutes, the short bald boy stopped. Panting for breath, he declared "I surrender!"
He knew it was pointless to continue as he was obviously outmatched and outclassed. The only reason he lasted this long was because Argo hadn't made a move yet.
Up in the VIP area for the Principal and other teachers, Manuel Su turned to the Principal "I thought you said he was only Level 3 Apprentice in strength."
The Principal blushed, it was embarrassing that he didn't even know the true strength of a student in his school.
"cough...cough...maybe he was holding back before." The Principal replied meekly.
At the other end of the VIP room, the teachers wondered who it was that made the Principal speak so respectfully to.
The couldn't hear what was said due to the Principal purposely lowering his voice, but they could tell from his body language that he was very respectful of the man before him.
Back to the tournament, Argo smiled calmly at the short boy's admission of defeat. He had hardly broken a sweat since the match started. The reason he had only been dodging was mainly because he wanted to look cool.
The students in the audience were puzzled. They were confused as to why the short boy admitted defeat.
To them, he was clearly the one with the upper hand. And him admitting defeat was a mystery to them.
Some even wondered if Argo had bribed his opponent to admit defeat.
Next, it was Jared's turn to fight.
His opponent was a girl with decent look and figure. Jared didn't care about all that, he brutally ended the match with with a kick to the girls head; knocking her out.
Clearly Jared was a firm supporter of feminism. He believed that girls should be treated with equal rights as their male counterparts. He didn't pull his punches just because his opponent was a girl.
When Jared walked up to Argo after getting off the stage, he cocked his head, confused at the weird look Argo and the rest of the other participants, especially the girls were giving him.
"Whats wrong?" he asked Argo softly.
"...Are you a virgin?" Argo asked back after a moment of silence.
"W...what...what are you talking about?" Jared choked at the question, blushing a bit.
No wonder...Argo thought, chin in pal. Only a virgin like you will treat girls such...tsk tsk.
[Ding. The system deems it fit to remind the host that the host is technically still a virgin.]
...Argo was speechless.
Was the system always this talkative? he wondered.
...
"The round of sixteen has finally ended, with sixteen students making it through to the next round!" the anchor announced.
The round of 16 fights were scheduled to start tomorrow. This was to give the participants who had already had two fights a chance to rest.
Now that the matches for the day were over, Argo and Jared walked out of the Arena.
As they were walking, students whispered.
"Look, it's those two"
"Indeed, birds of the same feathers flock together"
"One is a Cheat who pays others to lose on purpose, and the other is someone who uses violence on women"
"Tueh, brothers let's boo them tomorrow!"
"Yes, boo them"
"Boo!"
Argo and Jared were oblivious to the fact that they had gained more dislike among the students.
****
Note(1): Yes am talking about our most loved Air bender. Smiles.