The fight ended when Nathan found an opening in his opponent's defense, landing a blow that knocked him to the ground.
The cadet raised his hand in surrender while holding his stomach and trying to catch his breath.
The cadet in charge of the fight again signaled victory to Nathan, who silently returned to the stands to await his next fight.
For a week, he had been constantly fighting against dozens of different cadets. His score now stood at 32 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses.
Nathan was on an undefeated winning streak, as none of the second category cadets turned out to be his opponents.
'That should be enough' Nathan looked at the stands across the arena and noticed three people in specific.
A young woman carrying a rapier, a young man with a spear at his side and another young cadet with a pair of pistols on his hip.
They were the only third-category cadets in the facility, apart from Syril.
Nathan knew that none of the three wanted to face him before since he was a second category, but now it was different.
None of the three cadets could say anything about Nathan's strength, as his undefeated streak suggested he was on their level.
Although they kept silent, Nathan knew that at least one of them was already planning to fight him.
The purpose of the cadet fights was to learn and train, so it didn't really matter if someone won or not. But that was not entirely true since a third-category cadet would look bad winning against a second-category cadet.
Nathan simply waited to see which of the three would step forward, then the usual cadet handed him the list of cadets who wanted to fight against him.
Not only had the number of cadets not decreased, but it had almost doubled.
Nathan did not know how many cadets there were in total in Khan, but he thought that most of the second category were on the list.
Suddenly a slight smile appeared on Nathan's face when he saw three names on the list.
'Ah... this is much better'
He had thought that only one would want to face him, but the name of the three cadets was written on the list.
'Let's see... Siena Cord, uses a rapier and has 72 wins, 4 draws and 32 losses'
Nathan was surprised to see Siena's win rate, which was a little more than double.
'Not for nothing are they third category'
He understood that most of the victories she had achieved before she became a third category, as the moment she became one, her opponents decreased considerably, so now she could only face third categories like her, which significantly reduced the regularity of her fights.
Nathan put his hand to his head, thinking about who he should choose among the three, then after thinking about it for a while he decided on Cadet Cord.
He pointed to the cadet next to him who he wanted to face and then looked across the bleachers, especially at the young woman who kept her eyes closed in silence.
'A rapier... this is the first time I'm going to face an opponent with this weapon'
Nathan crossed his arms and took several breaths, concentrating and calming himself.
It would be the first time he would be facing a third-category cadet other than Syril, so he wanted to see how he would perform.
A few minutes later, the four fights were over, and the cadet told Nathan that it was his turn.
Since it was going to be an important fight, the four combat arenas were taken so that they could use all of them. Then, stepping down into the arena, Nathan watched as the young cadet kept a calm expression as she approached.
'She looks confident'
Although Nathan could tell that the cadet looked confident, he saw no signs that she looked down on him, certainly not after the last few days where Nathan got the undefeated streak.
When the cadet stood in front of him, the young woman looked at him silently making Nathan feel somewhat uncomfortable.
'Aren't you going to say anything?'
Seeing that neither of them spoke, the cadet approached them and raised his hand pointing at the young woman.
"The next fight will be between Cadet Cord and Cadet Nathan"
Having pointed to the two, the cadet again repeated the words he always said before a bout.
"The use of technique and essence is allowed, the only limitation is deadly attacks"
Saying that, the young man again raised his hand to signal the start of combat.
Cadet Cord unsheathed her rapier, its long silver blade glinting in the sun, and the hilt had a golden flower wrapping and protecting her hand.
The cadet turned her body sideways and raised the rapier with one hand, pointing its tip at Nathan.
Nathan also unsheathed his katana and held it with two hands, raised his arms in a position that left his torso exposed and the sword horizontally.
The cadet looked at the two of them and lowered his hand quickly to start the fight.
Nathan first had to wait to see what the cadet would do, but instead of an attack, Nathan felt a great surge of essence in her sword.
Frowning, Nathan ran the essence through his body and prepared to attack her.
Running towards her, he tried to cut her directly, then the essence that was building up in her rapier exploded as she stabbed the air.
Nathan's eyes widened and he stopped abruptly, then he raised his katana to protect his body and received a huge ice blast from the front.
His body was thrown several meters backwards, having to bury his katana in the ground to slow himself down.
'What was that?'
Nathan looked at the blade of his katana and saw a light coating of frost on its surface.
The ambient temperature began to drop rapidly, and every time Nathan expelled air from his mouth he could see the vapor.
'...That was pretty straightforward'
The cadet watched him silently with her face as stoic as ever as she pointed the tip of her rapier at him.
Then small lotuses made of ice appeared around them falling to the frost covered ground, which looked as if they were standing on a large frozen lake.
Nathan smiled behind his mask and sighed, blowing steam out of his mouth.
'She's giving it her all... it would be rude of me not to do the same'
Nathan reinforced his essence body as well as his katana, then lowered his center of gravity and prepared to run towards her.
'Now… let's fight'