Two hours later
Everyone had returned from the short break, refreshed and energized for the finals. During recess, discussions about the possible outcomes of the tournament were all the rage among the students.
And in that time as well, the most anticipated fight was the one between the academy's outstanding first-year and his supposed rival, Zen Henjok.
Of course, there were those who mentioned Alex fighting his friend to advance; however, based on Julia's actions prior, the majority notion mentioned Ross forfeiting to allow Alex to move to the finals undisputed.
As predicted, Ross and Zen were able to advance to the semi-finals. At that stage, Zen began to show much more of his prowess, making the spectators understand he had been holding back this entire time.
Unfortunately, or fortunately for Zen, he did not draw Alex and had to meet him in the finals; something he was pleased about. His opponent in the semi-finals was a student in Class A2, a female one-horned human.
Even then, Zen had the confidence to win without having too much difficulty. Of course, anything could happen, but Zen had also adopted the "finish within the first thirty seconds" approach.
What this also meant was that Ross was going to face Alex in the semi-finals. And knowing the possible choice Ross was going to make received a boo of displeasure from the students.
Eventually, it turned into a chant where the spectating students proclaimed their desire to see a fight among the top students in the first year.
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! …"
Observing the commotion, Ross glanced at Alex with a knowing smile.
"Hmph! Knowing you guys, Ross has no plans of forfeiting the fight." Julia snorted, knowing full well how the two could be.
They had had countless sparring sessions, and most of them had Alex coming out on top. But in those fights, Alex's level matched with theirs which made things easier for Julia and Ross.
What's more, Alex was able to win most of them because he became a quick learner, taking in everything taught like a black hole with no limits.
Even with someone like Julia being trained her whole life, Alex had been able to close that gap simply because he had been blessed in ways no one else was.
Now, however, they would be facing each other with Alex having all his strength and Ross having a higher mana pool.
But the mana pool wasn't much of an advantage here as the bout only lasted three minutes. To add to that, Alex preferred using his physical weapon and enhancements more than his mana usage.
With his agility, he could evade most abilities before they reached him.
"Haha… you know us so well," Alex replied as he and Ross stood up. It was their turn to fight. They reached the teleport formation and before they moved, Alex glanced at Ross and asked, "Pure combat?"
Ross mirrored his expression and nodded, "Pure combat." He replied giving him a side-eye with amusement in his eyes.
"Nice… Let's give them a spar."
.....
Alex and Ross stood in the arena with wide grins as the students roared in excitement once they saw the fire in their eyes.
The fight was on, and while they already knew Alex was going to the finals, that mattered little as what they were interested in was how a genius fared with an anomaly.
Alex's black armour with golden shimmering lights that represented his light element hummed softly as the tech in the suit activated its defence protocols.
The magnetic holder that usually held his favourite weapon was empty. Both fighters had decided to go without using weapons or mana.
That was what they meant by 'Pure Combat', a spar of pure martial techniques and physical power. Alex stood tall and imposing with his eyes locked onto Ross in front of him a couple of meters away.
He observed closely as Ross's armour which was mostly red, matching his red hair hummed a similar tune.
The energy in the air around them was infectious and it was not even the final match. This was a contest of pure rivalry with no enmity between the two fighters.
Every first-year student wanted to see how large of a gap existed between them and the elite of the elite, and while they had seen a glimpse, that was a different thing as it seemed Alex was under a special power they didn't know about.
In their eyes, that didn't count. What mattered was the now…
Zen, of course, paid attention to what was about to happen. He more than anyone, not Ross and Julia, knew Alex was very strong. It was the reason he had pushed himself to the level he was now.
Reaching all the way to the finals did take a lot of work but even then, he didn't go all out. The main show will be his time to shine.
It was the only acceptable place people would truly see what he was made of.
'The goal is to show everyone I am better than Alex in every way. Taking advantage of passing remnants to win won't do that, and I'm sure Alex feels the same.'
After all, that is what he would have done if he was in Alex's place. Being challenged to a fight only to use external factors to win wasn't satisfying.
Only life and death battles require a person to use everything they can to win and survive. In a VR world, however, things were different.
The countdown to the start of their battle began and the two friends got into their fighting stance, the wide grins being replaced with stern and serious expressions.
"Don't hold back," Alex said to Ross before the final second on the clock hit its mark. With their physical strength difference, Ross might be left in the dust if he held back his strength.
Of course, only Alex could afford to hold back a bit to match Ross's power. While he remained stagnant, the others were growing at absurd speeds.
It was only a matter of time before they caught up to Alex if he continued to remain at the same level.
In the lower classes of their power system, the differences were not as pronounced as the levels in the upper tiers.
"Mm…" Ross acknowledged with a nod.
WHOOSH!
As soon as the countdown signalled the start of their fight, the two boys disappeared from their positions in a fierce burst of speed.
Then….
BOOOM!