It took a bit of time to decipher everything but Brandyn had gained the general gist of the stadium. There are the 2 locker rooms for the upcoming fighters. Also, there is the dining room for the students, which is a large sized canteen. Also, there are stairs littered across the ringed stadium to allow viewers to take their seats on the bleachers, all curved to view the circular sandpit, which is where the fighters will have their brawls.
Brandyn, since was near the last place position, had his fight second. What he saw was that he was up against someone called Colbert Márquez.
"Colbert? That's the guy with that bone manipulation ability! If I want to beat him, I have to strategise on how." Brandyn thought to himself, peering into the distance.
Colbert was around 5'11 and was of a slim physique. He could grow new bones, fortify his already existing bones and alter them physically. For example, he could lengthen and shorten them.
"He's taller than me and has longer range. Even if he didn't, his ability gives him any range that he might need. I am definitely stronger and faster than him, though. I probably know just as much, if not more, about martial arts and whatnot. I'll have to use my physical ability to move past this obstacle." Brandyn deduced, mentally preparing himself for his match.
"ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FIRST MATCH WILL BEGIN IN 25 MINUTES." The speakers said.
The first match was between some of the weakest people of the school. One person had an ability that gave them a little bit more agility, while the other person could simply make large rocks with their ability. The only real perk was that these balls felt a tenth of the weight for him.
Swiftly, those 25 minutes came to pass and Brandyn decided to head to the viewing bleachers to watch it. Even if these students were weak, he could maybe take something from this battle. Only 30 students were in the stands and not many people were even paying attention to the 2 weaklings' upcoming battle. Many were on their phones, while some were actively making fun of them.
Brandyn seemed to be the only person who somewhat looked forward to the bout.
"Welcome, everyone, to the first battle of this tournament. The first 2 fighters, Aaron Shaden and Michael Gálvez! May the match, begin!"
The 2 fighters immediately ran towards one another and exchanged various attacks. On one side, the earth user seemed to utilise range to his advantage but Michael had the advantage when it came to breaking down that distance with his agility. His top speed was around 29mph and he was able to change his direction and magnitude of speed quickly and accurately.
This allowed him to handle these balls of rocks and to not get hit by them. Sand slowly rose from around Aaron and hardened into balls of earth. His rocks were the size of heads and were supposed to have weighed around 5 kilograms weighed only 500 grams for him.
As Michael entered somewhat close range, around 2 metre distance, he shot one of these rocks forward. Its total force was devastating and it crashed directly into Michael's face, snapping his nose and cracking his skull. This force caused his body to swerve and drop, leaving him open for the next rock. This time, Aaron didn't decide to drop it.
He, instead, manipulated the ball so that he was holding it but he was protected by the earth wrapping across his fingers. The earth grew tough and firm as he threw his left arm forwards at high speed. Anybody would struggle to throw a rock at this speed but for him, it felt like a simple boxing glove.
*BAM*
He slammed it into Michael's chest, who was actually 64th place, and his ribs crushed upon this impact.
*crack*
*POP*
"AARGH!!" Michael exclaimed, immediately submitting as he could barely tolerate this unbearable pain.
"You really thought you could win, trash?" Aaron said, while returning his rock to simple sand.
He stood over Michael as if he was a regal figure, and the sand simply fell from his palms, making him resemble a god.
There were only 4 people clapping and one of them was Brandyn. Seeing that the fight was over, Brandyn promptly raised from his uncomfortable seat and went down the stairs to head to the locker rooms. However, what he noticed was that he had no idea which locker room he was assigned.
*ding*
His watch had made this sudden sound and it actually made Brandyn jump a little, since it was so spontaneous. However, he noticed that the locker room ahead of him was the correct locker room.
Once he entered, there were red lockers situated everywhere, and there were toilets in this room also. The ground was surprisingly clean for a locker room and the smell was quite pleasant too. It had an undertone of lavender but had a striking fruit-like scent.
"ANNOUNCEMENT: 2 minutes 30 second until the next match"
"Okay, here we go!" Brandyn said to himself, heading out of a brown door that had a note, stating 'to the pit'.
His nerves were kind of overwhelmed right now and his eyes flashed purple as he approached the end of this dim hall. There were 2 large, wooden gates that blocked him from the outside but they slowly started to lift and open, revealing the scorching sun to him and his contestant.
The stadium was slightly more filled this time, since Brandyn was known by everyone for being the previous weakest member of the school. Some came to still bully him but others came for lessons. He had jumped in power so much, in such little time. Yes, he had an ability now, but his martial arts ability wasn't a simple pushover and many people had witnessed this first hand when he faced Saru.
"The next match is between Brandyn Santiago and Colbert Márquez! May the match begin!"