"Elias wins!" the instructor called out.
Many students who had staked bets on Boris groaned and moaned. How could Boris lose like that when he held the advantage?
They had lost CP!
It left a bitter taste in their mouths.
The few who had placed bets on Elias though were all smiles.
They had made quite a sum.
"How could the archer lose?" Zane asked, still in shock.
"The pills. He came unprepared and paid for it," said Mindy.
In the sky above the arena, a large scroll unfurled, revealing the ranking list of the second years. Everyone watched as Elias moved into the 90th position and Boris was pushed into the 98th position.
The 100th ranked person's name was directly pushed of the list as all those in the ninetieth range were forced back. Thus, the 99th ranked person became the 100th ranked person and so forth!
Damien smiled wryly.
This mode of elimination was too vicious!
The format of the ranking battle had been set in such a way that no one could avoid a fight. Once someone ranked higher than you lost and was made to drop, your ranking would also drop and your position would even be lower!
Those on the ranking list thus had to increase their rank and defend it to avoid dropping of the ranking list.
Those ranked lower would be the main targets of the unranked seniors as their strength wasn't high and they could be pushed off with minimal effort.
For those above the fiftieth percentile, they were far stronger and tough nuts to crack.
The fight between Boris and Elias opened the floodgates for challenges to start pouring in. A guy with south western sector features walked into the arena and gave his challenge.
"Fisk! Come out! I'm here for the 88th spot!" he yelled.
Immediately, a pale guy stepped out of the crowd and walked into the arena.
"I accept your challenge!" Fisk replied.
The instructor came down to check on both combatants while the betting pool was opened. Fisk, ranked 88th was a spirit path awakened with the silk element.
His opponent, a short but stocky guy called Andres with tanned skin who had dyed part of his blonde was also a spirit path awakened.
He was unranked and his power was vibration.
After both sides had been finally checked by the instructor, the fight commenced.
Right from the start, the fight was at a stalemate.
Andres' vibration power had a limited range but the silk threads of Fisk had longer reach and Fisk utilized it to harass Andres from afar.
Unfortunately for Fisk, despite Andres having a shorter attack range, the vibration power was obviously effective against the silk threads as they broke apart once they entered the range of Andres' power.
"This is going to be a battle of endurance and mana capacity," Damien furrowed his brow as he analyzed the two combatants.
With how cautious they were, things might remain like this until one of the combatants exhausted his mana.
Due to how lackluster this fight was as compared to the first battle, the students couldn't help but boo the two fighters.
"C'mon! What are you standing there for? Go over and whoop his ass! Stop being a bitch!" Silas Spears complained, watching as the two fighters basically stood where they and were exchanging attacks from afar.
After a couple of minutes, Fisk furrowed his brows.
He hadn't expected his opponent to be this troublesome.
Already, he was running out of mana. He had to do something now!
Decisively, he closed the distance between him and his opponent, all the while shooting silk threads which were thin and looked sharp.
Andres grinned.
This was what he wanted!
He also closed the distance between him and Fisk.
"Yeah that's more like it!" Silas Spears applauded.
Finally, the fight won't be so boring anymore!
Andres was basically running to meet Fisk. He knew that once he was closer to his opponent, he could finally unleash attacks of his own.
He was confident that with his power, he could even ignore the silk threads and begin his counterattack.
That was when Fisk suddenly smirked at him and waved his hand.
Immediately, silk threads snaked around the limbs od Andres, refusing to let him go!
He had been negligent enough to not monitor the status of the silk threads which he had destroyed with his power.
Somehow, they had repaired themselves and had been lying in wait on the ground, waiting for Andres to move forward before finally entrapping him!
Andres' face immediately became ugly.
His opponent was cunning!
An extremely thick thread of silk which looked more like a rope lashed out at Andres with speed and ferocity!
To his shock and horror, the vibration power which had been easily destroying the silk threads previously couldn't damage the rope-like attack.
His only relief was that it was somehow able to loosen the shackles of silk, allowing him to break free and distance himself even as the silver thread chased him down!
Andres didn't have it easy though as the silk threads he had previously broken out of did everything to obstruct his legs.
Despite being broken and destroyed, the tenacity of the silk threads was stunning!
Andres panicked and stumbled, allowing the rope like thread to catch up with him and wrap around his neck!
A loom of silk quickly formed above him as Andres was lifted of the ground.
He was being suffocated!
With the silk rope attached to the floating loom, it was as if Andres had been hanged in the sky.
Andres buckled and kicked his legs, desperately using his vibrations to destroy the silk rope but it had so many layers that by the time he would have destroyed it all, he would have long lost the fight.
The silk loom and silk rope kept on strangling Andres even as his face began turning blue.
Desperation and fear clouded his mind but finally he was able to tear the silk rope apart, causing him to fall back to the ground.
The distance between his falling body and the ground was quite wide which meant that his fall certainly was going to be very painful, if not even incapacitate him right away!
How could Fisk let go of such a good opportunity to end the fight once and for all?
The silk loom smashed into the body of Andres, making him crash into the ground heavily!
The instructor rushed over to check on Andres but Andres was unmoving.
"Fisk wins!" he declared.
Medical personnel quickly rushed into the arena and carried Andres away on a stretcher to the school's hospital.
Fisk smiled and walked out of the arena after dispersing the loom and silk.
Silas was all smiles.
He had won this bet!
It was too bad that the number of people who had staked on Fisk were numerous, causing his payout to be quite low.
But still, he'd made profit!
Damien quickly analyzed the fight, running it through his head over and over again.
Andres had gotten too careless in the fight and that had led to his loss. Upon finally going through the fight, he noticed that Fisk had long been setting traps with the broken silk bits which had been destroyed by Andres.
In other words, he allowed Andres to break them, in exchange of him using the threads to form a trap on the ground.
The moment Andres moved forward, he fell right into the trap and his immobilization gave Fisk the time to cast the silk rope attack which contributed to his loss.
Fighting not only depended on the strength and power of the fighter but rather his intelligence, vigilance and awareness, Damien realized.
"It started out boring but it got interesting at the end," Brianna commented.
The others nodded in agreement.
Even while being booed, the combatants had ignored the taunts to get closer until they chose to.
Best way to win a fight was to finish your opponent according to your standards not what bystanders dictated for you.
"I won my bet," Zane grinned.
Mindy rolled her eyes. "Don't waste all your CP on betting or you'll end up broke," she chided.
Zane just grinned at her and returned his focus to the arena.
That was when another combatant walked in.
"Justin, get your ass out here! I have a score to settle with you!"
"Oooooh!" the crowd moaned.
A fight with an underlying conflict was bound to be very exciting!
With the whole school watching on, whoever lost in such a battle was bound to be trolled and disgraced!
Apparently, apart from entering the ranking list and CP, the ranking battles was also the stage to settle grievances and have revenge!