Rustle.
The wind blew, two figures faced off in the Arena. One could almost see sparks in the air as the two figures glared at each other, waiting for the signal to begin.
One of the figures was wielding a katana, while the other was holding a compound bow and a quiver full of arrows slung behind him.
The Katana wielding individual was Kenny Lee and Harry Seth was with the bow and arrows.
"Match two: Kenny Lee vs Harry Seth. Begin!"
As soon as the signal was given, Harry Seth let loose an arrow towards Kenny. Who brought up his katana, easily cleaving the arrow into two.
"Is that the best you can do? If that's it, you had better save yourself some time and surrender." Kenny taunted.
Harry did not bother to reply to Kenny's taunt, he calmly reached behind and took out two arrows, nocked and let loose. Kenny brought up his sword again, and in a blur cut down the two arrows while also subtly closing in on Harry.
Seemingly oblivious to Kenny's attempt to draw close, Harry continued letting loose multi-shots. His arrows came at Kenny through an angle that made it almost impossible to dodge without taking a step back.
This for a few moments, the fight was in a standstill with Kenny repeatedly trying to close the distance between him and Harry, and Harry not giving him that chance to with his tricky arrows.
After a while, Kenny stopped trying to close the distance. He noticed that it was pointless in attempting to do so, and instead focused on making Harry waste his limited arrows.
Harry was no fool, and could easily figure out what Kenny was planning immediately he stopped his advances.
He stopped shooting as well, knowing that he had a limited number of arrows. He said to Kenny, "You should be proud of yourself for witnessing my next technique. I was planning to use it only In the Finals. Be careful." He warned.
Kenny gave a slight smile as if nothing in this world could trouble him. He was obviously not putting Harry's so called ultimate technique to mind.
Harry did not care about what Kenny thought, and instead took a deep breath to help him focus. He then proceeded to nock an arrow and drew it eyebrow level. His Target was obviously Kenny.
WOOSH!
Just like before, the arrow left the bow string with a swishing sound, but this time the swishing sound was a bit different, a bit louder.
Alarmed at the sound, Kenny hurriedly tried to dodge by throwing himself to the floor. But the next moment, he clenched his teeth to prevent himself from screaming in pain due to the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.
Kenny was stunned at the speed behind th arrow. He almost couldn't see it trajectory. It's speed was easily thrice as fast as before.
Could it be?... a thought suddenly entered his mind on how Harry achieved the feat. He nodded inwardly that it was the most likely explanation.
Now that he figured out how Harry managed to make the arrow faster, he was not as shocked. If he Kenny had managed to make progress in using Mana, then it was not that surprising if Harry managed to do so too.
That's right, the method Harry used to make his arrow fly faster was by infusing it with wind element mana. Even though Harry had a Low level Wind affinity, he was able to infuse Mana to his arrows, making them faster than normal. This might have sounded easy, but it must have required plenty of practice and a tutor to teach him how.
Achieving this feat just went to show how talented Harry was and how influential his family was to provide a tutor for him.
...
After seeing his arrow piercing Kenny's arm, Harry said to him in a calm tone "Surrender. You have no hope of dodging my arrows."
"Hehe. I don't need to dodge it." Kenny chuckled despite the blood running down his arm. "I just need to eliminate you before you can draw another arrow."
Harry Seth was confused as to where Kenny's confidence came from, and he studied Kenny's face for a few seconds. That was his mistake.
As Harry was studying Kenny's face, Kenny suddenly gave out a smile of victory and mumbled "Game Over."
Harry suddenly felt a feeling of immense danger and shifted his head to look at Kenny's sword. He saw the aglow with red light. He was shocked, as he recognized it as a sign of a weapon being infused with Mana.
"Flame Slash!"
Kenny shouted and swung his sword toward Harry.
With a flash of instinct, self-preservation and reflex; Harry hurriedly infused his legs with Wind Element Mana, and jumped out of the way as fast as he could. He was still a bit slow though, as the flame Slash hit him square in the chest sending him flying.
Thud!
Harry landed on the floor of the Arena out cold. A protective screen arose around him, symbolising his Elimination.
There was a hush around the Arena. Before as one, the all rose to their feet clapping and cheering wildly. The audience were fully satisfied. The fight was full of twists and most of all, The two fighters used Mana. This was the first fight in the Tournament hat Mana was used.
"Winner: Kenny Lee. He goes to the final!" The anchor announced, causing another wave of cheers around the Arena.
"The final is decided, Argo Talean vs Kenny Lee. A Battle For Team Captain. A Battle that will be turned into legend in Hitachi High School."
The crowd cheered the name of the Two finalists. It should be noted that over 95% of them supported Kenny Lee.