Four guys rushed towards Leo, the moment the match official signaled for the start.
To them, Leo looked like easy pickings and since he was standing at an area more close to the edge rather than the center, they felt as if pushing him out would not be a hard task.
Leo watched them approach him calmly, with his honed reflexes, he could have easily avoided their clutch and backflipped behind them if he wanted to, however, he allowed them to get their hands on him, as four men pushed him back with all their strength.
"That's it lad, this is game over for you-" said the one who was at the very front, having the tightest grip over Leo's shoulders, while the rest were only pushing along.
For a few steps, Leo played their game, being pushed back as if he were a powerless small guy as he dangerously allowed them to push him near the edge.
Then, just as the guy at the very front loosened his grip on Leo's shoulders, attempting to make a final push so that Leo would fall down but not him, Leo displayed a little bit of his agility and body flexibility as he rotated his upper body at an unnatural left angle, making the guy nearest to him slip while trying to push.
"Whoops" he said, as he stumbled one step forward, his teammates holding his robes from behind to ensure he didn't slip.
But just then, Leo kicked the arms of those holding him in place to force them to loosen their grip, while another kick to the man's rear, to send him flying off the arena stage.
" Noo-" shouted the man who hit the floor face first, while his teammates were shocked to see him be eliminated.
"Where did he go? The black robed guy? Where did he go?" A second team member of the four suddenly said, as while all eyes were tracing the fall of their teammate, Leo had apparently disappeared from plain sight, as they could not longer locate him on the edge.
*Kick*
*Kick*
*Kick*
Three powerful kicks to the rear of the other three men left, sent them flying over the arena edge as well as Leo's power coupled with the perfect kicking technique left them no chance to regain their balance this close to the edge.
For the four men who chose to take on Leo, their hopes of winning the Grand Tournament ended before they ever started as their elimination was met with lots of public laughter and humiliation.
'HAHAHAHA-, Look at these jackasses, could not eliminate a dude four on one'
'Oh my god, of my god, did you see how they landed face first? Hahahaha, one even has a nosebleed'
'Too funny! This way of elimination is too funny!'
Everyone laughed and mocked the four fools who got eliminated, rubbing salt over their wounds.
Unfortunately for them, the only thing they could do after facing such humiliating elimination was to look at the domineering back of Leo who eliminated them, as they reflected on their mistake of picking on the wrong guy.
Thankfully, they were not the only ones who were eliminated, many people began to be eliminated right as the round started.
Some were outright picked up and dumped out, some were pushed out, some were kicked out, but more or less 30-40 people faced elimination within the first minute of the round itself, with the opportunist's striking next.
A good portion of people, who had stayed near the center only attacked when they saw an opening in the enemy's defenses, playing the waiting game of an opportunistic snake.
When they saw someone eliminating another wayy close to the edge, they would strike from behind, eliminating them both as the next two minutes that saw another 40-50 eliminations were mostly of such a trend.
It was only after the number of participants went down to 100-120 that the real fight began as with the newly opened up space, displays of proper martial arts could be seen.
Ben observed all the candidates from the crowd carefully.
For his veteran eyes, picking out the good fighters from the trash was not hard, however, he wasn't impressed by anyone.
The giant sumo, who was suited perfectly for this round had too much rigidity in his movements.
While he managed to push out a lot of contestants, should he have faced Leo, he would have been easy pickings.
The same could be said for most Non-Human species contestants, as despite their racial advantages, none had a foundation that could impress Ben.
In contrast, he was most pleased with Leo's display, as with both his hands in his pocket and not doing anything flashy, Leo knocked out quite a few opponents with a kick to the neck and tossed them out like the trash they were.
About five minutes into the fight, after anyone who approached him was being knocked out cold, the entire fighting field understood that Leo was not to be messed with, as after that point, until the very end, nobody dared pick on Leo.
Finally, as only 15 contestants were left, Leo felt utterly bored and took the responsibility of eliminating the giant sumo, the hulkish orc, two prideful elves and a narcissistic human, as he cleaned house on his own, without breaking a sweat.
The audience was left mouths agape watching Leo's performance, as nobody had expected him to dominate the way he did, as while the other 9 qualifiers quaked in a corner, Leo walked off the stage once the selection round was declared complete.
'Oye oye oye, who is that guy? He's got some mad skills-'
'The way he dresses, is he a shadow mage?'
'Shadow mage? He might be a petty thief, his fighting style is like that of a gangster'
'Wooo, I'm a fan! I'll be rooting for this kid, what's his name?'
Praises rained down upon Leo, who received the second round token and a map to the second preliminary round that was to be held the next day, as Ben watched him succeed with a big smile on his face.
" That's my boy-" he murmured, as he truly felt 40 years younger, watching Leo fight so beautifully with his techniques.