Chapter 129: Reaching top 100
"Once one party surrenders, touches the floor, or becomes unconscious, the duel will end," the referee declared. "Begin the duel."
Bam!
The moment the duel started, a loud noise echoed, leaving everyone frozen in shock.
Vlad was standing at the place where Tom should have been, his one arm extended forward in a punch while Tom lay unconscious outside the stage, his back leaning against the edge of the neighbouring platform. His clothes were pressed in around his stomach where Vlad had landed a fist.
"Tom!" Jerry shouted as he rushed towards him, still processing what had just happened.
"Sir, announce the result," Vlad told the referee, who was standing with parted lips.
"T-the winner is Vlad," the referee declared before turning to Vlad. "Wait until your name is called again."
Vlad nodded and stepped down from the stage. The eyes of all the other students waiting for their turn around the neighbouring platforms were fixed on Vlad, murmuring amongst themselves in shock.
"Did I see it clearly, or did he just eliminate Tom with a single punch?"
"I recognise him. He is one of the Rising Stars and the current Crownbearer. I heard he challenged the whole first-year batch to come at him after he brutally defeated Lorenzo in a duel."
"Talk about being ruthless. Is he now challenging us second-years as well?"
"Perhaps. I heard he has connections with House Cendral. Even his rank is concealed, which can only be done by Lady Cendral. I also saw someone post in a forum saying they saw the two of them eating together in the cafeteria."
"Bloody hell! If that’s really true, we need to pray we don’t get paired against him in the competition. He might be a bigshot in disguise."
Although Vlad kept a neutral expression at their gossip, he was thoroughly surprised on the inside.
’Damn! When did I become so famous?’ he gasped inwardly. ’I wonder how they would react if they realised my rank is actually garbage.’
---
After a few minutes, he was called to the stage again, paired against Phineas, a two-ring mage.
Vlad followed the same strategy as in his first duel. As soon as the duel began, he bolted at Phineas at full speed, hurling a punch straight at his gut.
The preliminary stages were smaller than the actual, bigger arena stage outside, giving a slight edge to the knights over the mages, who usually fought from long distance.
Vlad wasn’t one to pass up such an advantage. The same loud thud echoed again as Vlad’s punch landed squarely on Phineas’s gut, throwing him outside the stage before he could even cast a spell.
"The winner is Vlad."
After a few minutes, he was called again, paired against Ferb, a Squire grade from the Order of Knights.
The duel began. Vlad punched. The duel ended.
"The winner is Vlad."
The cycle continued for several matches until Vlad reached the top 100 ranking and started being noticed more by the other competitors.
News of him defeating his opponents, the second-years, with a single move had already spread throughout the entire hall.
"Number sixty-eight and number thirty-two, come to the stage," the referee declared.
Vlad arrived from one side while from the other arrived Jack, an olive-green-haired boy with a massive build, over double the size of Vlad.
"Begin the duel!"
Tang!
A reverberating sound echoed as Vlad’s fist landed against a full-body, metallic shield.
"I heard you’ve been defeating my batchmates in a single punch," Jack said from behind the shield, his face carrying a wide smirk. "Pity for you, your streak ends here."
With that declaration, he swung a sledgehammer with his other hand, aimed at Vlad’s temple.
Vlad instantly took several steps back, dodging the attack. However, Jack followed him immediately, maintaining the pressure while covering himself behind the shield.
The iron shield slammed into Vlad at the centre of the stage with a loud bam. He braced himself, pressing against the shield with both hands.
Jack pushed forward, forcing Vlad to skid backward along with the shield.
As soon as Vlad’s feet reached the edge of the platform, Jack declared with a victorious laugh, "You’re too early to be in the arena matches."
At the centre of the shield, a small opening appeared as a metallic plate slid upward. From the gap, a sledgehammer thrust forward, laced with auburn-coloured energy.
"Come back next year!"
Just as the hammer was about to strike him, Vlad shoved against the upper edge of the shield and propelled himself upward. His feet shot toward the sky as he balanced vertically on his hands atop Jack’s shield. The hammer crashed through empty air.
His body arced gracefully before his feet landed behind Jack, his hands never leaving the shield.
Veins bulged across his forearms as dark mana coursed around his hands, tightening his grip on the shield. Then, with a sudden heave, he lifted the shield, along with Jack’s massive frame, and hurled them into the air with a powerful forward thrust of his arms.
Jack was sent airborne before crashing onto the ground outside the platform with a thunderous thud.
"The winner is Vlad!" the referee declared.
A wave of shocked gasps rippled through the hall as the students, who had been watching the match with bated breath, erupted in disbelief.
"What kind of monstrous strength does he possess, to throw Jack into the sky? Just his shield alone weighs half a ton," one of the gathered challengers around the stage exclaimed.
"Did you notice this is the first time he’s used mana in his duel?" another one added. "At this rate, he might really reach the top fifty by the day’s end," someone else remarked.
’So they are really noticing,’ Vlad muttered inwardly, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. ’I won the matches until now by catching my opponents off guard just as the match began. That strategy won’t work from now on.’
Vlad had managed to conserve his low mana reserves by exploiting the advantage of his high physical stats. But now that everyone had noticed his strategy, and the level of his opponents had significantly increased, he would not be able to win by depending on his physique alone.
From now on, it was no longer a battle against other students but one with himself: would he reach the top fifty first, or would his mana reserves run out first?