Everyone was very awed by the display. As it was something they see for the first time, it made some think of it as a enemy attack but relaxed as they understood it is a surprise planned by the academy staff council.
Now everyone was waiting for the matches to start. After having a little discussion, they decided the order and pairs of match.
The lady commentator loudly exclaimed,
"Welcome everyone..!!! I am Gerla! Now, we are waiting for the judges to decide the fated pairs of opponents..!! Oh! It seems they have decided..!!! Let's check then..!!"
"Let's see, the matches will be :,
1. ZEAL REVI VS POLY CERAVERE
2. JAKE DECATH VS ADRIEL
3. HOB UPROW VS SAVAAR ASERI
4. UNKNOWN MASK VS YOZO FELERE
5. TRACE VS ANAYA CLOVIS
6. LUCILLE FLAGGERLOD VS NOE
7. RORY VS CYRUS CELCORTH
8. JAX BARDER VS MATTEO JESTER....!!!"
"Eight matches and the victorious eight participants will move to the next stage of sub semi which is planned for tomorrow..!!! Now, shall we start the heated battle..!!!??"
The audience replied with a loud yes. "Now, we need to ask what are the new rules for this sub matches...!!!"
To her question, the judges nodded their head and gave her a piece of paper explaining the new rules.
Sub Match Rules :
1. It's a duel. So any kind of help from outside is considered cheating. It can be a cause for elimination. ( This rule is exculded for spirit contractors/spiritualist.)
2. Can only use only one weapon. (If it's pair, it doesn't matter. As long as it's a part of the main weapon, this rule is nulled.)
3. Killing is not Allowed. ( This rule does not stand if the opponents asks the judges for a fight to death. But will be eliminated from the competition.)
4. Time is unlimited. ( When one party is unable to fight, surrenders, or loses consciousness, the fight ends. )
5. Fighting a surrendered opponent is considered cheating.
6. In case of emergency, only judges are allowed to interfere.
7. Attacking the audience is considered surrender.
8. Physical abuse is not allowed. Will be eliminated. (This rule stands if someone abuses the other by physically or sexually knowingly.)
"These are the rules..!! Does anyone have any doubts..? If not, we will be starting the first match with the pair, Zeal Revi Vs Poly Ceravere..!!! With the signal from the judges, the match will begin..!!!"
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The opponents of the first match were the pair of Zeal and Poly. Zeal was a woman wearing tight battle suit and a breastplate. She had sunny yellow hair and green eyes. She had a sword on her hips. Closing her eyes, she stood there waiting for her opponent to come.
Her opponent was another woman with braided brown hair and brown eyes. She held a staff which proved that she's a strong magister. As she walked slowly towards the centre of the venue, she exclaimed with little disgust.
"Oh! What do we have here..? A noble lady who uses sword..? What a let down..! I wanted to fight someone stronger..! Let's just finish this battle..!"
Although her words were not something anyone could endure, as a warrior, the woman Zeal should be angry with her. However, against everyone's expectations, she didn't even twitched to Poly's rude words.
This made the judges to nod at her calm personality with a smile. Seeing the gesture, Poly felt even more anger. She was ready to punish this unworthy woman for her Incompetency.
~RING..!!
As the bell rang, everyone's excitement increased. To make a name for herself, Poly pointed her staff at Zeal and chanted, "Fire Des...!?"
But stopping her chant midway, she sensed someone behind her, as she turned back hurriedly and said, "Sheid..!!!" It came as her savior as the next moment, a sword hit her shield with loud clanging sound and forced her backwards.
The audience were shocked to see a woman who is probably around the age of 25-30 moving so fast that only some people including the judges saw the whole movement.
"Hmm... She's fast for her level of strength... But she doesn't have enough physical strength it seems." Adam commented from his seat. The others also nodded.
As he wasn't saying this with low voice, the commentator who heard this asked with a excited voice, "Oh! Can you explain to us, Mr. Adam..?" She was very excited. This was the world's youngest sword master. He was clearly someone with greater future. When she heard about his participation as a judge, she was greatly shocked. Why was that..? Because only experienced people were the one who took the role of judges. Now having an opportunity to get closer to such a person, she wouldn't definitely let it go.
After looking at other judges, he nodded and said, "As this is a competition, I am not going to go and spoil her level of strength. But, I will explain why I commented so. From my eyes, she's definitely a genius with great learning capabilities. That is why she surpassed the level of speed someone with her strength can pull off. But the problem for this is, she obviously trained sword with the aim of fastest sword. But, she either ignored or didn't had the time to train the most basic. For a swordsman, he must not let his grip on the sword loose. For that, an amazing wrist and arm strength is needed. If you do not have arm strength and wrist strength, forget about gaining speed, you won't last for too much time. If you can't handle the sword, there is no advantage in gaining speed. So, when training, we should train every part in balance."
Hearing his long explanation, even his father was at a loss for words. But his words were the truth.
"Wow..!!! This advice is sure to help some to gain insights on the sword path. Thank you for explaining Mr. Adam..!!!"
Although some where ignoring his words, those who heard it was shocked. To think they will hear this from such a young man. Indeed he wasn't a genius for nothing. Even the people from distant places was also surprised. But not wanting to interfere with the match at such a time, none asked anything.
Although he was talking about her faults, Zeal wasn't affected by it. Instead, she remembered her teacher's words, which is the exact copy of what Adam said.
Poly was obviously happy knowing that such a young master swordsman took her side against her opponent. But unfortunately for her, he wasn't taking anyone's side.
As the woman named Zeal was very fast, Poly wasn't getting any chance to activate her magic spells. As she was running around dodging the formers sword, she too began to feel tired. Feeling anger, she screamed,
"Destructive Disc..!!"
Although the words were small, as soon as Zeal reached near her within the range of 2 meters, the ground exploded with a loud sound.
The audience were shocked. This was a lethal spell. If not properly dodged, her opponent is sure to die. As they thought, after the smoke was cleared, they saw a woman lying on the ground lifelessly.
This time, Poly was scared. Although she was a experienced person in killing, she didn't want to be called a criminal.
The judges all were smiling calm, which confused her. But her breathing stopped as soon as she sensed something cool and sharp touching her neck.
The commentator lady seeing this asked, "Ms. Poly...! Do you surrender...? Or do you want to continue..?"
Although her question was unnecessary as unless she's faster than Zeal, Poly didn't had any other choice than to surrender. Sighing in defeat, she nodded.
"With that..! The winner of the first match is Zeal Revi..!!!"
CHEEER...!!!
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CLAPPING....!!!
As Poly and Zeal left the ground, Gerla asked, "Can you tell us what happened judges..? We couldn't see what happened before her surrender...!!"
The audience was in an uproar as well. They didn't see what happened at all. Only a few of them could see it, but didn't understand how.
As another Sword master, Arthur explained, "As Adam said, Lady Zeal indeed only trained in speed and not in strength. When he explained it, she understood her flaw. But even if she had strength, she had a disadvantage against a serious fighting magister. That is why she didn't use her techniques on the first parts of display. So she wanted the magister to let down her guard. As soon as Lady Poly attacked with 'Destructive Disc', she used her most advantageous feature. Speed. She used speed to confused her into hallucinating that she is injured by the magic. The body which was affected by the attack was her after-image. And at the last moment, she used the assassination technique 'shadow path' using dark element to attack Lady Poly... That was brilliant execution...! Knowing her disadvantage, she used her advantage which is speed, in the most efficient way..!"
Now everyone understood. They all thought she was a weak girl after Adam's explanation. But it seems she is very good at thinking as well.
"Make sure you note down everything told by the judges. It may help you in the future. As we wait, let us welcome, the next pair to fight...!!! Jake Decath Vs Adriel...!!!"