Returning to their shared booth, Ross noticed the side eyes Alex and Julia gave him and already expecting what was to come, he went ahead to speak before they could.
"Save it… I don't want to hear it."
He waved dismissively and returned to his seat. Seeing his action, Alex could only shake his head. He was of the same thinking as the spectating students.
While the fight was impressive and blood pumping, Ross was in a position to eliminate Brad anything he wanted if he went for the kill from the beginning instead of playing around.
However, his decision to play around with Brad almost got him eliminated if he hadn't pulled that move.
Some abilities were especially difficult to deal with, more so for those in the same realm but different tiers.
At the same time also, it served as a lesson for him. It was better he earning this from here than to make that mistake out there in the universe.
"I do hope you learned what needed to be learnt," Alex said. He didn't need to spell it out for him.
Ross was more than smart enough to get the message.
"… yeah." He nodded with his eyes focused on the remaining fights that were drawing to a close.
"Mm," Alex acknowledged his words with a nod.
As a lesson to him as well, he thought about his earlier plans for Zen when they met in the arena. Considering how he wanted to humiliate Zen, he needed to drag out the fight.
'No one said anything about not doing what I planned in the span of thirty seconds.' Alex mused with a pondering look, his focus no longing on the fights.
Julia noticed this after observing his expression for a while. As someone glued to Alex pretty much every day, she could more or less guess the thoughts floating in his head.
"Understanding the lesson yourself should be enough, right?" She asked.
"Mm?... Oh right." It took a moment for Alex to process what Julia said.
"Yeah… The win isn't so much important as the fight itself." He stated with his eyes looking at the roofing, his thoughts turning with various plans.
"It would have been ideal if there was no interference. That way, I could take my time teaching Zen some respect." He added and heard Julia chuckle softly.
"I'm sure things will be fine."
...…
In the long minutes that followed, the trio of friends as well as the academy watched the various fights seeing all sorts of techniques and abilities.
And in those minutes, the majority of people began seeing a trend of students trying to win their matches in the first few seconds before the terrain shifted, and while most succeeded, some failed when their opponents were at the same level.
With that trend was students using every bit of their mana in powerful attacks to take out their opponent. And when this fails, the fighters are left weakened and drained, unable to continue fighting.
In that state, the only thing they could do was wait for whatever terrain that came over to finish them off.
Their only hope of winning then was left to the discretion of the instructors. It was a loophole in the system the students were taking advantage of.
Naturally, the instructors took notice of what was happening and made notes to change that in the future.
Ross and Julia had taken multiple turns fighting their opponents and unlike how Ross played around before his subsequent fights all ended in the first few seconds; the same as Julia.
"Those two students are part of the big three, aren't they?" A student asked as he noticed how this particular duo always ended their fights as quickly and efficiently as possible, pushing them to climb closer and closer to the finals.
"They aren't part so much as they are… Those two are always seen together with the strongest of all first years; Alexander Gray."
"And while Alex is the anomaly, those two aren't weak either. You've seen them in action. If Alex wasn't so outstanding, they'd be the best of the best.
"Of course, there are others in their class too, but they outshine everyone else."
That comment was added due to the presence of someone like Zen, his friends and a few others. However, they too were eventually eliminated either because they forfeited when they met someone they knew…
… or were eliminated by Ross or Julia.
Eventually, Julia met Zen the last fight to the quarter-finals and to everyone's surprise, she forfeited the match drawing the confusion of those who did not know better.
Zen did not expect the gesture and while he wanted to fight Julia, he understood why she did what she did.
Of course, it could also be interpreted that Zen was not strong enough to defeat her. But Zen did not care about that aspect.
Their classmates immediately understood the reason behind her decision to forfeit and once that was explained to the spectators, it quickly spread as everyone became aware of what was going on.
"So that's why…"
"Well, a person like her might not care much about points. Besides, she has amassed a lot already."
Sometime later, the system made an announcement to everyone for a two-hour recess, and once they returned, the quarter-finals to the finals would begin.
....
Hunter Zor watched most of the fights involving Julia and Ross. Right now, he was alone as he sat in a comfortable chair.
One would think as a being of his level, he would have a lot on his plate, but no. He was a guardian of this sector, making sure to take care of threats that might threaten the star system.
Anything else, he had people for that.
Training?
It barely increased their power as all Class S hunters had reached a plateau they had no idea how to overcome. As his mind spun with various thoughts, mostly around Alex and everything that had happened so far, he got a notification on his device.
[Packages have been delivered successfully.]