Rudra returned to the university late at night, as Naomi filled her in on Max's match.
Although Rudra pretended to listen to what Naomi said, the reality was that he was shaken up to his core.
A big storm was coming into the universe, and everyone needed to prepare for war.
" And then Max took out a bag of potatoes and threw it at the opponent " Naomi said
" Mmm, nice ". Rudra replied absentmindedly
" Hey! Are you even listening to me honey? Hmmmm… " Naomi said, sounding a little concerned
" Yeah I heard that Max used a sack of potatoes, it's dumb, he should have used daggers ". Rudra replied
" Do you even hear yourself? " Naomi questioned, as she rolled her eyes.
It was only then that Rudra actually began thinking about what she spoke in the last 3 sentences to realise that it was sarcasm.
" I'm sorry, there is just something weighing on my mind today ". Rudra apologised to Naomi, who hugged her husband's arm.
The two sat in silence as Naomi did not question Rudra about what was bothering him, the two had a tacit understanding on such topics as the only thing Naomi did when she knew that Rudra was disturbed was give him a warm shoulder to lean on.
" You know, Yua and the nanny called today, apparently Jake grabbed a grape so hard that it burst under his grip strength, *gasp* " Naomi said with exaggerated emotions
Rudra smiled at this news, if there was one thing that never failed to cheer him up it was his wife's overacting. She was just too cute sometimes.
" Haha, so what do you think of Max's next match? ". Rudra asked, taking his mind off things that would be as he wrapped his arm around his wife.
" I don't know, to be honest Max is one of the weaker fighters in round of 16, all 15 others are tier 2 ". Naomi said sounding a little sad
" Tier is not everything … " Rudra said with a slight frown
" Yeah, but his fight is against his friend, Thor's son, it will be tough ". Naomi said
" Oh… haha nice ". Rudra said with a laugh.
Rudra did not care if Max won or lost, he was happy with his brother's improvement over the last few months and that was the only thing that mattered to him.
The beauty of a university fight was that it did not have much real consequences to fail.
Most students failed to realise this, but these mock fights were actually a great way to train for the real world where there might not be any second chances.
Win or Lose, Max was going to come out of the fight a better fighter than he went in, and that was a win for Max in Rudra's opinion.
*********
( Next day )
The oval arena was divided into four equal parts by a strong barrier.
Four matches would start simultaneously inside the four partitions A,B,C,D.
When the matches in any block would end the healer would rush in and give the contestant 5 minutes of healing time.
As soon as both block A and B had a winner and both winners were given their 5 minutes of healing, the barrier between A and B block would be lifted and a new battle would start.
A similar process would be seen between winners of C and D to eventually have only Two winners left amongst the eight starting participants.
The final barrier would also be opened once both winners were given healing, for a final showdown to secure a spot in the finale.
After the first finalist was selected, the same procedure would be repeated from scratch to select the second finalist.
It was a brutal match style that was going to be extremely harsh on the students as the rounds progressed.
Asiva was fighting an orc warrior in block A, while Max was scheduled to take on Sebastian in block B.
This made it so that should Asiva win her match, she would be facing Max or Sebastian immediately afterwards.
All eight contestants walked out to the roar of the crowd, as the four referees explained all the rules to all the contestants once again.
Max stared calmly into Sebastian's eyes, who did not back down from his gaze at all.
" Remember guys, there is a long fight ahead even if you win this one, so conserve your stamina and special attacks keeping that in mind ". The referee advised as both Max and Sebastian nodded
" Alright, you can shake hands now if you want to or return to the marked white spots to start the battle ".
Max extended his right hand, and Sebastian clapped it with force.
" May the best man win, goodluck " he said, his voice confident and unwavering.
" May the best man win, goodluck ". Max replied, his tone slightly heavier than Sebastian as he spoke slowly and clearly.
Both fighters began stretching lightly as they walked towards their spots as the referees all looked at each other waiting for all eight contestants to take the spots so that they could signal the start together at a coordinated time.
The start took longer than expected, as the fighters in block D engaged in an extremely ugly battle of insults as they insulted each other's clans and families for no apparent reason at all.
Max found this to be funny, however, the crowd always loved pointless drama as they roared and cheered and lost their minds seeing both parties get so aggressive.
After a long wait, both fighters finally took their positions as the referees looked at each other and the referee in block A opened his palm to countdown from 5 to 0 to signal the start.
Max glanced at Asiva right before the battle started, and somehow she was looking straight at him as she flashed him a menacing grin.
Before Max could make out what that smile meant, the referees shouted together " Fight"
Immediately Max drew his Bloodsucker as all his attention was diverted to the battle at hand.