Dodging and weaving every attack launched by Rex despite his best attempts, Elspeth was able to inflict mind numbing pain to his body shattering his arms and ribcage in the process till he was summoned out of the arena against his will. Setting the mark for his elimination being a punch from Elspeth connecting to his jaw rupturing it causing one side to hang from the side with bits of bones and tendons out in display. He was the first student to undergo such as the rest of the students gave up willingly or jumped off the arena seeing that they couldn't proceed but to eliminated in such a fashion was embarrassing considering his position.
A freak with a monstrous frame yet eliminated because he was beaten to a pulp by a mana user,and a female at that who hadn't used her mana to begin with.
Seething with rage,he observed inside the arena with his broken jaw now healing from the medics present,he saw Elspeth casually picking up her dagger of the ground before wiping the blood of her fist with a piece of cloth and throwing it Rex as she left. With Lawrence making the declaration of Elspeth's victory,the rest of the Cordon students were disappointed with the defeat of Rex,a powerhouse on the field but to think that her would be eliminated this early in the competition took them by surprise.
They could only witness as she made her way to Luke who was seated with a relaxed face waiting her arrival. "Physical proaction. Interesting,truly." She gave a small laugh "Well you have to be unpredictable,right?" Luke could give off a small laugh as she took her seat next to his. Everyone taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor,from a steely combatant to a bashful girl."And finally,Claudia from the kingdom of Cordon will be facing Luke of Astria." He stood up making his way to the arena before his opponent made hers. Looking at her,he had to appreciate her charms,a cut above the rest but not enough to be considered a heroine.
The issue to engage was given out but neither made an approach towards each other, standing in their own stances. Claudia in a tense manner holding her longsword in a graceful poise while Luke stood in a carefree manner with no intentions to unsheath his sword. Coming to a logical deduction,he gave a small chuckle ,"You have a free opening right now Claudia so you better utilise it properly before I make my move." Tense as always,she maintained her stance coercing Luke to take the initiative. He unsheathed his zirconium sword which further tensed Claudia's expression. And finally,Luke made the most unexpected move expected on an arena,he casually walked towards her.
It was a form of an insult with hints of ridiculement etched within his leisurely walk as he made his way towards Claudia. Naturally she was considered a veteran fighter from her school but seeing her all tensed up right now didn't make any sense. Luke now halfway close to Claudia,she abruptly made an attack by making a powerful splash diagonally imbuing mana into her attack. Cordon students were baffled why she went with this initiative as they knew her for starting off with weak attacks but with her first move being so potent,they would understand why in a matter of seconds.
Upon impact,the attack went right through Luke like air crashing hard onto the arena making a crack which would have been bigger if not for the reinforced floor. They now knew why she was so tense,because that wasn't Luke rather an illusion of him which didn't dissipate rather it multiplied into two. Even the students couldn't believe that it was an illusion and shook,she made a horizontal slash attempting to severe their heads but it only resulted with now four emerging. The only reason why she knew from the begin it was an illusion was because Luke allowed it with distance affecting it.
One had to be close to it to actually realize that it was an illusion, something those out of the arena were too far to notice. No matter how many attacks she threw at them,they would remain perfectly unscathed as they kept on multiplying and seeing this not a viable option,she tried amplifying her senses only for them to be thwarted by the illusions as they interfered making it seem that Luke was all over the place. Truly a dicey predicament to one to be in,unaware of where the opponent was. Nor only the students but also the teachers were baffled by this unable to decript his exact location,only aware he was still in the ring as it had a motion detector on.
Confused and confounded,she resorted in launching large scale attacks as an attempt to decipher his location which finally proved fruitful. "I'm up here Claudia." She looked up to see him suspended in air without the help of an artifact before making a graceful landing infront of his illusions. "How about this? I make an attack since you don't want to. I'll launch an attack and if you stand,then I'll quit." Claudia taking on a defensive stance seeing Luke raise his right arm with his left pocketed. The illusions behind him faded to form two totalling a number of three Luke's on one side and Claudia on the other.
"Seeing you so adept in fire,you shouldn't find this troublesome at all." He said as he charged up his attack. Noticing the mana signatures he gave off,she was in a horrible position as she along with some of the audience realized that it was a tier five fire spell. With tier one and tier two considered rather ordinary,from there it was actually something. Tier three considered good,tier four was above the rest and tier five was impressive. Tier six was shocking whilst tier seven,one would be considered a genius especially at a young age. From eight to ten,people who had mastered to such heights were known throughout the kingdoms.
So she knew that she was in a tight predicament but seeing that Luke was B rank,she was sure that he couldn't fully demonstrate it's full potential. With a loud boom,a beautiful yet deathly heat ray went straight for Claudia who formed a water barrier to counter his attack which briskly held on before the ray blasted through it pushing her back the edge of the arena,with her feet halfly off it and the other still on it. She made a couple of steps forward,her breathe ragged before looking at Luke. "I won. Now give up." Though she was well aware if he suddenly decided to dismiss his prior deal and take her out now.
She barely held on with her clothes terribly burnt but still able to cover her more private regions as parts of her exposed skin singed. Luke stoicly looked at her with his hand still aimed at her. "I said I would quit if you held your ground which you did. But I never specified how many times I would launch my attack." She gritted her teeth seeing him charge another attack with this more potent than the last. To complicate it,his illusions charged up but a tier lower than him to make it not too exaggerated. She could barely move let alone set up another barrier to defend herself and only observe as the three beams target her with their heat ever scorching threatening to burn her till nothing was left.
Before the attack met it's target,she was summoned out of the arena before it scorched her to death. Failing to met it's target,the three beams disappeared into thin air, evident that it was merely an illusion making her resent her decision of fleeing from the fight before she collapsed from fatigue on the ground. She saw not two but three illusions fade away as Luke cast a playful gaze upon her. "You failed to take the initiative so I had to improvise." But seeing where the voice came from was absurd,it was where she stood before the fight had ever started implying that the entire fight,she wasn't fighting the real Luke. Before she lost consciousness and Lawrence, the commentator, declaring Luke's victory.
Unlike the prior victories that had transcended,this one was met with only silence from both parties and why wouldn't they. They too had been fooled that it was the real Luke who had launched that devastating attack but to think it was an illusion was more terrifying. It meant that he could have mastered a tier six spell or even a tier seven making it far from ideal facing him. That and they were still unaware of his complete skill set and his moves entirely placing them in the dark about him. He reeled in the expression from the crowd as he made his way back to his seat. "You really had me fooled Master Luke."
Elspeth commented looking at the arena which with the help of some laymen now looked better than ever. "Not because one stands out means that the real me, dear." He said dismissively looking at Scott how was at the arena about to make his conclusion of the day. He appreciated the students for giving it their best,with some students briefly looking at Luke and Elspeth. Then providing morale to the students that were eliminated as there was another chance for them to re-enter the test. By undergoing a separate sparring contest and the top three placed in a brawl would be allowed to proceed with the test. With that,he came to a conclusion pushing the students to work harder in their progress.
Though there were a lot of students who had yet to participate from both kingdoms,there would still be more ahead till the next human kingdom intervened.
*Three days later*
Elspeth had another match where she easily dominated her opponents while Luke was scheduled against one of Cordon's best but the outcome was embarrassing yet it couldn't have been clearer. After Claudia's confrontation,if his opponent didn't make a move in five minutes,he would launch a devastating physical attack sending people flying off the arena. Nigel proceeded to fight Rex who emerged victorious along with Claudia in the brawl which he barely won. After Elspeth's fight,he took them more seriously with no mercy intended in his attacks making it more difficult for Nigel to win. Connor was too engaged in tightly locked confrontations along with Elaine but they emerged victorious whilst Ciara nearly lost but due to her quick thinking,she was able to turn the tables. The only ones who had a walk in the park were Elspeth and Luke.
Elspeth in her final ordeal faced Claudia which was longer lived than expected but similar to Luke's encounter,she was overpowered with a mana attack but it was nothing over the top,rather the impact exceeded her imaginations and with her weary state,she reluctantly found herself resigning to defeat. Luke on the other hand faced Cordon's finest,the prince who had a calm and collected aura around him masking his aura. It was an anticipated fight which left most wondering the victor. The prince took the initiative but after a couple of minutes,they realized a disparity between the two. No matter what attack he launched,Luke evaded it with agility and swiftness till not only him but the rest realized the futility of battling him.
"I've noted that you've never used your sword. You wouldn't mind using it now cause you'll need it." The prince coldly stated with a hint of malice dripping from his words. 'A drug. Really' He noted sensing what his opposition was really doing. He had earlier injected this drug into his system but condensed it into one place and realising his predicament opted to do this underhanded mean. "Fine, I'll use a sword. You'd be shocked how many have been fallen by this sword." He said as he brandished not his Zirconium sword rather a wooden sword. Taking it as provocation,the prince made his advances only to have his Ytterbium armour pierced through along with both his arms deeply cut to the point he couldn't use them.
He was beyond baffled how a wooden sword was able to cut through Ytterbium with ease, knowing that inorder to make a dent,one had to have a Ytterbium sword which clearly wasn't what he was using right now.