All the students made their way to the corners of the hall, leaving enough room for the first team to carry out their contest.
The first team consisted of a male and a female student. They walked towards the center of the hall and began their challenge after receiving the start signal.
The male student was around the same height as Sonic, standing five feet tall with a slightly athletic posture. His long brown hair was slicked back to avoid interfering with his sight. Upon close observation, the male student appeared strong.
The female student concealed her identity with a camouflage that only revealed her piercing green eyes and half of her dark, shimmering hair. The camouflage was wrapped around her face like a mummy's bandages, but the boys could still discern from her graceful movements that she was elegant.
Sonic wanted to inspect the fighters, especially the female student, but it seemed that his system could only inspect at close range.
The male student launched the first attack, sending fireballs in the direction of the female student. It appeared he had received private lessons before, as he was able to shoot fireballs from both hands simultaneously.
However, the female fighter displayed a higher level of skill. She dodged all the fireballs with ease, maintaining a composed demeanor, similar to when a trainer is demonstrating techniques to his student.
The male fighter was angered as the female student was clearly trying to make a fool out of him. He quickly charged at her with fireballs in both hands, and as he closed the distance, he shot them at her to increase his chances of landing his strikes.
This time, his attacks were not dodged but blocked with a single hand covered in thick ice.
"Huh!"
"That's impressive!"
"She's indeed strong. But who could she be?"
A buzz erupted from the crowd, curious to see the face of the hidden fighter.
The male fighter, realizing that distance attacks were ineffective, decided to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the female student.
He threw the first punch after conjuring fireballs in his hands, but the female student grabbed his hand, immediately neutralizing the source of the fireballs with ice, freezing his entire arm.
Not wanting to lose face, he attempted to attack with his other hand, planning to conjure fireballs once again. However, his hand ended up completely frozen as well.
Now defenseless, the male student couldn't move his hands as he wished.
"If I were you, I would take my time to thaw out those ice gently, unless you want to lose your arms," said the female student, noticing the male fighter's attempt to quickly melt the ice.
With that, the first round came to an end, with the female student being declared the winner.
As she exited the field, praises were sung for her. She was quickly given the nickname 'Frozen-Mummy,' in reference to her hidden identity and Frozen Ability.
As she walked towards Sonic, he saw it as his chance to inspect her. However, the message he received wasn't what he expected.
< Unable to identify subject >
This message was received because the female's identity was hidden. But there was one thing Sonic took note of, even though his system failed to gather any information about her. Sonic had memorized her unique greenish eyes. He was just as curious as everyone else to know the true identity of the female student.
The next match before Sonic and Rony's was between two male students.
As they made their way into the middle of the field, the general ordered the fight to begin at once.
This time, it was a telekinesis user facing off against a very innocent and cute-looking boy. The telekinesis user had thought he had picked the weakest fighter in the crowd, but once the match began, his opponent was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?"
"I saw him disappear into thin air."
"He must be an invisibility user then." Whispering sounds could be heard once again from the crowd.
The telekinesis user also realized his opponent had an invisibility Ability, so he decided to focus on defense rather than attack. After all, his opponent wasn't in sight for him to strike anyway.
Soon, the Telekinesis user felt a heavy blow from behind that rendered him unconscious instantly. And then, the invisibility user who appeared weak was seen again by everyone. In his hand, he was wearing a beast Weapon that looked like a boxing glove, only this one was bigger and had iron edges. This was what he had used to strike his opponent down.
There were many Abilities like invisibility that were not combat materials, so what the users do is get a strong beast Weapon for attack while defending themselves with such abilities.
This round ended too soon, but it was just as exciting as the first match.
Finally, it was time for Sonic and Rony to face off. Rony fearlessly walked to the middle of the hall, but Sonic became tense as many eyes were watching. This was his first sparring, and so many people were gazing at him with different intentions.
Soon, his system's voice pulled him out from despair with messages.
< Quest reminder: Defeat opponent for rewards >
< 1 stat will be rewarded for each damage done against opponent >
Now, there was only one more thing left for Sonic to do before the sparring began. He needed to inspect Rony right away.
< Name of opponent: Rony Brian >
< Age: 18 >
< Race: Human >
< Ability: Monster Summoner >
"So, he's a Monster Summoner? Well, good thing I have a Slayer sword. Now I just hope his Monsters are not too complicated to deal with.
Sonic had watched a few Monster Summoners on fighting shows, and he knows some monsters were weaker than others depending on the summoner's Ora energy in use.
< Quest reminder: Slay one more beast to acquire a Beast Weapon >
Sonic already has a beast Weapon; having two means he would be covering more ground while attacking his opponent. Defense was the system's work, so Sonic didn't give that much thought.
Sonic was self-taught when it comes to close combat, although he never had the chance to face a real opponent. He mostly used sticks as swords to train himself in the woods, so using a real sword was a dream come true for him.
He stretched forth his right hand backward like a samurai fighter, and instantly his Beast Weapon, called the Slayer Blade, appeared in his hand.
The crowd wasn't too impressed seeing that stunt as it was common among people. They just thought that perhaps Sonic was a basic Weapon summoner.
Rony, on the other hand, created enough space between himself and Sonic before acting on his ability. His hands began to glow, and with that, portals were opened, allowing different species of monsters to crawl out, all obeying his command.
And with that, the spar began.