Ben won the battle, but he sacrificed a lot to achieve the victory.
Tom attacked him so much with his water blades, inflicting so many injuries on his body that he seemed like the loser more than Tom who lost.
As he was towed away by the medical personnel, a lot of blood was left in his wake in the battle arena which showed how numerous his injuries were.
He was not inflicted with any one overwhelming injury that threatened his life, but stacking so many cut injuries formed a terrifying situation that practically drained him of all his blood and strength.
It was a guarantee already that in the next phase of the tournament, he would not be able to battle at full strength.
This was another factor to take note of climbing the ranks in the graduation tournament. Winning a battle was one thing, but how you won it also mattered since it could affect your overall performance in subsequent battles.
As he was taken out of the battle arena, while the spectators still yelled at his exploits, the commentator finally analyzed the previous battle.
The twin mystic daggers that Tom Dink used in the previous battle were called the Telekinesis daggers and were renowned for their mystic ability.
The mystic ability of the twin daggers was akin to Telekinesis.
By throwing one of them at an enemy, a telekinesis connection is formed between both daggers that can enable the wielder to control the thrown dagger from a distance through the other twin half.
The Telekinesis daggers were favored weapons of hunters of the Mystic Hunter Union. Through the mystic ability, it became convenient to attack mystic beasts from a distance, killing them before they could react.
While the commentator analyzed the pros and cons, highlighting the exciting points of the previous battle while the next students prepared to start their battle, Rex and Cassandra left the spectator stands.
In their friendship codebook, Ben's problem was their problem and was the reason why they rushed to the Academy hospital immediately.
By the time they got to the massive hospital, Ben was already admitted and was already being attended to. They had to spend 15 minutes waiting outside before they were finally allowed in.
On entering inside, both friends saw Ben wrapped up like a mummy. They were worried about his condition, but the comical sight left the both of them speechless.
On seeing his friends, Ben grinned. "I won!"
He was exhausted, but the prospect of bragging about his achievement before his friends sounded too exciting to miss. "Did you see what I did? I literally obliterated that Tom fellow into pieces; do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, yeah, we know, Jackie Chan, right?" Rex cut in since he knew that letting Ben go unrestrained was a bad idea. "You won a brilliant battle, so why not rest a bit to recover your strength?"
"Hmm, I'm not tired". Ben scoffed.
"You don't want to look weak before your girlfriends, do you?" Rex folded his hands and spoke bluntly as this finally hit his friend's weak point.
"You're right". Ben scratched his head, before suddenly bumping his bandaged fists in the air. "I can be bullied, I can win, I can lose, but I can never look weak before my girlfriends, it's an abomination!"
"Yeah". Rex nodded.
That successfully did it as Ben finally calmed down to rest and slowly recuperate from his injuries.
Despite the advanced medical techniques of this era compared to previous eras before the age of awakening, such injuries could still not be recovered from immediately unless it was a hospital in 1 of the 7 Great Shelters.
Cassandra and Rex curbed their desire to watch the remaining battles, making sure to keep their friend company until he finally fell asleep.
Once Ben fell asleep, Cassandra and Rex relaxed on the visitor's chair as they went through the proceedings of all the battles that they've watched since.
In just this one day, both of them have seen their classmates fight in such a way that they've not seen before. In the arena, there were no gangs, no comrades, just you and your opponent.
One of them already fought and won, theirs was still uncertain.
Tom Dink's example was not going to be the last, a lot of students have been holding their strength back, aiming to shine in this last academy tournament.
Every student strived to win, and so did Rex and his friends.
As Rex thought of all this, he could not help but rewind to his birthday. His 18th birthday proved to be the turning point in his life, now he was an entirely different competitor than he was a week ago.
He believed that he would surely be one of the strongest dark horses of this tournament, the only problem that left him scared was the blood dream.
During the battle against the mystic beast pig, he never forgot the illusion that he was drawn into where he saw himself on a bloody battlefield.
The dream that he had the same night confirmed that the illusion was not just a fluke. Something was wrong with him that he didn't know where it originated from, and it all started after his 18th birthday.
Rex had tried different methods, even communicating with his living sword to ask and also checking the academy library, but he was unable to get any information that pointed to the phenomenon that was happening to him.
Till now, he could only bear this uncertainty alone as he didn't tell his friends.
His intuition told him that this phenomenon was related to his family, and he did not want to draw his friends into his problems.
He could only endure this invisible sword of Damocles alone.
The graduation tournament was the best place for him to escape his previous poor status and build a name for himself, he did not want his only chance to be botched by the strange blood phenomenon.
When engrossed in a battle like Ben's, Rex could not see how he would win if the blood phenomenon suddenly started.
Although after the mystic beast encounter and the dream, he had never encountered it again, he still felt concerned in the back of his mind.
Worrying needlessly would not solve any problem, so Rex could only try to forget about it. He sought comfort with his living sword.
"Shing!"
"I know, those petty weapons are not your match".
"Shing!" "Shing!"
"You really think so?"
"Shing!"
"Ok, then, I believe you, we'll smash the tournament".
Rex smiled at his living sword's encouragement. Throughout the past week, he had already grown so close with Berserker that their communication and synergy were now seamless. His living sword was his only companion when he was lonely.
Rex and Cassandra spent another 30 minutes with their sleeping friend before they finally left, returning to the spectator stands.
They returned because the time for the highlight battle of the first day's battles finally came. The Queen of Obedin Mystic Academy was finally about to fight her first battle in the tournament.