As soon as that match ended, the Battle Royals of the other 2 tournaments started.
There were 16 groups named, A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P. Each 4 groups consisted of a noble rank decreasingly. Group A was made up of sons and daughters of Marquises and Group P was made up of sons and daughters of Barons, each group having around 80 people.
The Fowler Household had a high position even among the other Viscount Households so Kyle was put in Group I.
Although Kyle was put in the lower half of the groups, he was still the strongest among all of them with his rank being at the high-tier of the 3rd circle.
The same thing happened to commoners, A --} P Groups with each having around 80 people. However, they were not different in status, as all of them are commoners.
A different Professor appeared. He instantly put a circle-like mark around each group, symbolizing their fighting space in an arena next to the other two, and announced the start of the Battle Royal for the nobles' tournaments, while the same thing happened to the commoners' in the other arena.
"The rules are simple, you keep on fighting until one man is left standing. No killing and you can concede simply by running out of the circle. Now, Start!"
As it has been around 5 months since the start of the semester, the difference between those that were showered with elixirs and those that were truly talented and hard-working started to show, so although the students of similar status had similar prowess before, the same couldn't be said now.
Most groups had a similar level of power so they lashed out at each other fiercely with no clear winner decided.
However, in some groups, there were clear oddities. In Group A, it was none other than Cole Warner, a person who had fought Kyle previously, this time however, he didn't emit any cockiness and arrogance, as he was purely focused and serious with a rank of mid-tier 3-circle.
Being on par with the daughter of one of the main families, Katy Nero, made him quite feared within his group.
In Group C, Dale Stone, son of Marquis Stone stood out. In Group G, Hector Cole, son of Count Cole stood out.
In the groups where people stood out, the other participants formed factions to take them down easier and then figure out the winner, when the big threat is dealt with.
They couldn't concede even if they wanted to, as that would only bring shame to their family's name. It was the one thing the weak young nobles envied the commoners for.
Kyle stood out the most as he had the highest rank among both tournaments, the other participants instantly pounced on him without exchanging any glances, yet their attempt was futile, Kyle hadn't moved out of his place yet all the other participants passed out from the activation of his 'ring of fire'.
The crowd was stunned, and not just the students this time, even the Professors. Such chanting speed was not something even experienced master mages could do with ease, yet no one there including the Headmaster could figure out why he could.
"That Fowler kid is interesting", said a middle-aged man with defined features that emitted nobility.
"Obviously, I personally scouted him," replied The Emperor
"Even I, a high-tier 8-circle cannot see why he can cast so fast. Care to share the secret?"
"HAHAHAHA, I'm sorry old friend, I'm afraid even I cannot see through him,"
The middle-aged man could see that although The Emperor was laughing, he was concerned at heart, as there are not many things a 9-circle cannot see through in this world.
Group A, C, and G's winners also turned out to be the favored, while the other groups were still fighting.
Cole and the other two looked happy as each of them thought they were the first to finish, yet they were all surprised when they saw Kyle already sitting in seats designed for those who pass.
Soon, all groups had a winner and this stage of the tournament ended.
The tournament for each year went on for a couple of days, mainly because rest is important, also it wouldn't be fair if someone fought someone strong and exhausted himself and then fought someone else and got easily defeated.
In the resting time, advanced or master mages, depending on the severity, help the participants restore their mana and heal their injuries.
By the time everything over here happened, Hunter Gi's battle with Abbie Anemos had started, Kyle rushed over to the other arena to see the battle as he asked the responsible Professor for a leave, hoping he wasn't late.
Kyle reached his seat and noticed that both of them were already getting ready to fight.
The two didn't exchange any words, with the tension between them rising only to be broken down by the Professor's announcement to start the battle.
This time, Hunter was the one to rush before Abbie could move, yet the puppets she summoned were not for show as 7 puppets formed a wind sword formation protecting her.
The sword formation blocked all types of spells Hunter casted. Hunter stopped as he figured that he was doing nothing but wasting mana by continuing to cast these spells.
He stood in the middle of the arena and said, "What? Are you not going to do anything but defend?" asked Hunter mocking Abbie, "I guess the rumors about the Duchy of Anemos being afraid to attack were right after all!"
Abbie got mad as she pushed her puppets saying, "SHUT YOUR DAMNED MOUTH, YOU BASTARD!"
"Easy now, easy. How are you going to fight me without your puppets?"
At first, Abbie disregarded what he said as she thought it was a bluff, making use of his usual cocky attitude, yet it was not. She realized that her puppets weren't following her orders, in fact, they were melting.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PUPPETS?!!!" raged, asked Abbie.
"Nothing, just changed a thing or two in their properties, maybe turned them into mud?" replied Hunter, coolly,
"But you didn't even chant... How could you use a 3-circle spell such as earth manipulation?" The reason why such a spell worked was because the puppets were crafted with normal material. The puppets become fearsome when the alchemist's rank is high enough to coat his materials with mana which makes what Hunter did impossible unless it's someone of a much higher rank
"Oops, times up," said Hunter as he summoned a barrage of iron spikes and shot them towards Abbie.
"YOUNG MISS, GIVE UP NOW!!!"
The one responsible for such a thing said, was none other than Abbie's personal maid who knew what she was capable of and knew she would neither be able to block nor dodge an attack of such a scale.
However, Abbie refused to give up, she wanted to prove her family's bad reputation wrong, so she tried shooting her own spells at him, yet it was all for naught. The Duchy of Gi was known to be able to defend against spells of higher tiers than their own. But what about a spell that is being cast by someone of a similar level who is not even a battle mage, it was not even a question worth debating, they could block such an attack without even using mana.
Abbie knew her attempt was futile so she at least tried to defend against the incoming attack, she put up a 'wind wall' in front of her and equipped a 'wind shield'. They held off most of the spikes, yet some managed to go through and damage her enough to knock her out.
"The winner of this match up is Hunter Gi!" announced the Professor in charge.