His first fight had already been really difficult, the boy wasn't sure how far they could go. Win this tournament? That was a bit of an impossible dream. Well, that didn't matter for now, Kayden decided to review his fight.
A few minutes later, all teams returned. Only three of them, including Kayden, managed to win their first confrontation. Even with the victory, the atmosphere in the room felt like a wake. No one said anything as they gathered strength for the next fight.
Everyone's body was restored to normal state, but the problem was the pain and strong emotions they went through. It took a little longer for their minds to fully calm down.
A few minutes later, Kayden's team was called first again.
"Let's do our best," Kayden stood up and said to his team. The boy was too focused to notice a certain abnormal nervousness in Carlos, Maria and José.
*******
"Kayden's team wins!" This time, only Astolfo was left, who managed to win a two-on-one fight using his spear art. Kayden had to admit that it was really impressive to see the boy fighting.
It seemed that the more opponents he had and the more blows he received, the stronger his counterattack was. The opposing team this time was well balanced, with two offensive mages, 2 melee fighters and a support.
But in the end, it didn't matter, they won. This was his third battle and it had been equally difficult as the first two. In most of them, it was decided by luck, with only one member remaining.
In the second fight, for example, only Jean was left against a melee attacker and the boy, incredibly, managed to win by applying several debuffs and attacks that eroded his opponent's resistance until he managed to apply an offensive spell capable of ending the match.
Again, the officer arrived to take them to the room dedicated to their school. This time, Kayden really was happy. The next match would decide whether they would enter the top 60 or not. Even if they didn't get in, it was still impressive. They were more or less in the top 125.
The next fight would cut the number in half, leaving just over 60. Therefore, some unlucky people had to fight again to get the keys right. Kayden was hoping it wasn't them.
"Hey, are you three okay?" Even the smiling Carlos had a frown on his face. It was obvious that the three of them were nervous. This time, even Kayden noticed.
"Yes...yes", Maria responded quickly while the other two remained quiet. Kayden decided to ignore it. It was probably just stress from coming so far.
Now the real fun would begin. Now it was just the best of the best. From his school, only Kayden and the top 2 team were left. The rankings didn't really mean much, since if they took on one of the strong teams from the private schools, they would lose.
Kayden was wondering if he should use his last asset in the next match, or if they could go further.
'Ah, let the wind take you'
Kayden leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, deciding to simply rest for the next few minutes. This time, the rest was for an hour and gave Kayden enough time to take a short nap.
He was woken up by the shaking of the stadium when the mayor began to give the final speech of the event. Kayden simply went back to sleep and didn't pay much attention to what he was saying, if it was important he would find out later, right?
"Hey Kayden, wake up, hey!" Astolfo pushed Kayden, making the boy come out of his pleasant sleep. What stopped him from cursing the lancer was the officer's face above the VIP area. Well... in that case he would really have to stop sleeping.
The boy stood up and joined his team alongside the officer. Again, the three of them were unnaturally nervous. Kayden didn't know why, but he decided to just ignore it.
Once they entered the bubble, they had to wait a few minutes for the other team. This was strange considering both teams were called at the same time. His opponents this time were two knights and three mages.
The difference is that they were clearly noble. His clothes were impeccable tunics and cloaks, but that was not the main thing. The true fact that highlighted his lineage was his family crest.
But, unlike Yan from his school, this was a noble from the main house and not from any branch. Almost instantly, when he entered the bubble, the three who were already nervous simply began to tremble.
Kayden was in front and didn't notice it. When everyone positioned themselves, the judge started the fight.
"I give up."
"I give up."
"I give up."
Without even a second of fighting, the three on Kayden's team simply gave up for no reason at all.
"What the fuck?" Kayden didn't even have time to understand what was happening before they were taken out of the arena. In a second, only he and Astolfo were left.
"Fear of the nobles," Astolfo said calmly, as if he had already expected something like this. "Most civilians never have the courage to face a noble for fear of retaliation. It's a deep fear that has been in our society for decades."
Kayden had never noticed that. He already knew that this world was extremely elitist, but he had never seen it to this extent.
"Don't be mad at them. If we won this here and the noble on the other side ordered their family killed, nothing would happen to him. The government would just turn a blind eye."
Kayden looked at the judge, who was pretending he hadn't heard anything they were talking about.
"Are you guys finished yet? I don't mind waiting for the Mudbloods to talk some more."
Bad blood? That expression reminded Kayden of a book from his first world and it wasn't really something pleasant.
"Let's give up too. You're just inferior commoners."
His tone… was not arrogance, nor even contempt. It just seemed like this was a reality and he was just stating the facts. Kayden sighed. He couldn't blame the boy.
Just like the Guide said in his training at the assassins guild, if you raised a baby to think he was a dog, he will grow up thinking he is a dog and will defend it tooth and nail.
"Are you going to give up?" Kayden asked Astolfo and received a nod from the lanceur . "Today is a good day to do the impossible, isn't it?" A smile spread across Kayden's face.
"Whoever knocks down the most wins the right to be captain of the team next year." This was one of the wishes that Astolfo's endless vanity had asked of him for a long time.
"Combined." Even with the optimistic interaction between them, the atmosphere was bad. They knew that the chance of winning this here was low, at least if they used the same techniques they had been using since the first fight.
"Why do you insist on fighting? It's a practically lost battle." The noble boy grumbled, seeing that they were still going to continue, but even so he stopped his team from making the first attack, it seemed to be beneath him.
"Astolfo, I'm going to use a different spell, but it should last 30 seconds at most and after that I practically won't be able to fight anymore. Do you have something up your sleeve?" Kayden was trying to come up with something so they would have a chance to win.
"I will use my family's secret technique. You can leave the magicians with me, I can last a maximum of 1 minute with her, but it should be enough for us to get closer."
Kayden had no idea how they would be able to get closer under the rain of spells, but he decided to trust Astolfo. Before the fight actually started, he looked at the three standing near the judge.
"Fear condemns them to mediocrity." His hard gaze swept over his three teammates, but none of them could meet Kayden's gaze. It was clear they were not proud of what they had done.