Arthur and the rest of the students arrived at a vast battle arena with thousands of seats arranged neatly, and an immense ring at the center of it. All the first year students were led towards a waiting room before the fights began. 

There were more than fifty students in the first year batch and only ten among them would be selected to go forward in the competition, so there was tension filled in the room as most students looked at each other with wariness. And judging from the wary glances being exchanged, no one was planning to go down easy.

The waiting room was massive but still felt cramped with the number of students waiting there. 

Arthur stood near the back, his arms crossed, and back to the wall. Leon stood beside him, quiet as ever, while Finn kept fidgeting on his feet like a kid hyped on sugar and adrenaline.

Some students were already forming cliques, low murmurs passing between them. Unsurprisingly, the nobles were already clustering together, recognizable by their high-end artifacts they were carrying and smug, inherited arrogance. 

They were trained from their childhood, honed by private tutors, and soaked in wealth and privilege. So, most of the commoners drifted toward them, eager for protection. After all, surviving a battle royale alone was nearly impossible when everyone else was forming teams.

Arthur watched Eva across the room. She stood confidently, talking with Natalya and Sophia. They also seem to have formed a team of three.

As Arthur was looking around the waiting room, a tall noble youth, maybe seventeen, strutted up to their trio with a swagger that screamed entitlement. He had sharp eyes, slicked-back blonde hair, and a barely-disguised condescension expression on his face.

“You three,” he said with a smirk, pointing lazily toward them. “Join our group. We’ll dominate this thing, and I’ll make sure you’re compensated well afterward.” The noble youth knew Arthur was powerful and Leon has White level talent so their group must be strong so he approached them.

Arthur raised a brow. “Compensated?”

“Money, artifacts, scrolls,” the noble said with a wave of his hand. “Whatever you want, will be provided to you. With my family’s resources, there’s plenty to go around. And you,” he looked at Leon, “have White-ranked talent, right? With that and his strength,” he motioned to Arthur “we will dominate this fight.”

Leon looked unimpressed. Finn already looked like he was holding back his laughter.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. “And who exactly are you?”

The noble straightened proudly. “I’m Gareth Valtros. My family controls the eastern port of the city. You’d be wise to accept my offer, I won’t extend it twice.”

Arthur’s face remained calm, but there was steel behind his voice. “Let me make something clear, Valtros. I don’t care what noble house you come from, or what ports you own. If you annoy me one more time… you won’t get the chance to participate in the competition at all.”

The room went still.

The smile slid off Gareth’s face like oil on water. His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out. The pressure in Arthur’s gaze was suffocating, like standing too close to a thunderstorm. After a beat, Gareth clenched his jaw and turned away, muttering through gritted teeth, “Fine. I won’t waste my breath.”

As he stormed off, Finn exhaled dramatically. “Dude. That was cool. He was two seconds away from peeing in his pants.”

Leon chuckled. “He’s definitely going to hold a grudge. You know that, right?”

Arthur shrugged. “He can add his name to the list.”

Not far away, Gareth rejoined his group of noble lackeys. His face was red with humiliation as he spat, “He thinks he can humiliate me? Fine. Let’s see how he handles ten people coming at him at once.”

The group leaned in, already devising their cowardly ambush.

Back at Arthur’s corner, Finn was still grinning. “Anyway,” he said, cracking his knuckles. “We should come up with a game plan.”

Leon nodded. “Agreed. We should watch each other’s blind spots, and prioritize our survival in the arena.”

Arthur looked around the room again, most of these students weren’t his enemies. But in the arena… they’d all be after the same thing.

Suddenly, the heavy iron door opened with a soft clang.

An instructor walked in, his uniform marked with a crimson sash indicating his authority over the first years. His voice boomed across the room.

“Everyone! It’s time. Follow me to the arena.” He then saw some students holding onto artifacts so he reminded them, “No artifacts will be allowed in the fight, if we find you using it, you will be disqualified immediately.”

The noble youths that brought out artifacts, thinking they would have advantage against others started to complain.

The instructor, seeing the students complaining, said “If you have so many problems, you can use them, but don’t come complaining later after you get disqualified.”

The murmurs stopped immediately after hearing what the Instructor said, no one wants to get eliminated this early in the competition, so they quietly started to follow the instructor out of the waiting room.

Arthur rolled his shoulders once and exchanged a nod with Leon and Finn.

“Let’s go,” he muttered.

And then they stepped out, through the winding corridor that led to the heart of the arena.

…

The moment Arthur and the other first-year students stepped into the sunlight of the arena, the roar of the crowd hit them.

“WOOOOOOOOOH!”

“Crush them! Crush them all!”

The stadium was alive with the cheers of the audience, though some sounded weird. Seats packed with citizens of Brightwater cheering, clapping, waving flags. Projections of the arena floated high above, broadcasting magical illusions of the students into the sky for even those in the furthest seats to watch.

The heat of the sun above was nothing compared to the heat of anticipation radiating from the stone arena floor.

Arthur’s gaze swept over the battlefield. It was a vast circular area, the size of a football stadium with scorched stone tiles, broken remnants from previous battles still visible in some corners. There were scattered pillars of stone, waist-high walls, and uneven terrain meant to simulate the unpredictability of real-world combat.

Finn whistled low. “Man… we’re finally doing this.”

Leon, scanned the other students with narrowed eyes.

They took position near the edge of the field, Arthur standing in the center, flanked by Leon on his left and Finn on his right.

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed across the arena, magically amplified through the air.

“WELCOME…” the announcer bellowed, and the crowd roared in response.

“People of Brightwater, I present to you this year’s Inter-Academy Tournament!”

The cheers intensified, and Arthur could feel the ground beneath his feet vibrate.

“Now, students, listen carefully!” the announcer continued, his voice cutting through the noise. “This round will be a Battle Royale! You all are free to use any technique or method, except for artifacts or potions. Work alone or form teams, it doesn’t matter. But remember…”

After a long pause he continued.

“…only ten of you will move forward!”

The silence that followed was heavy, thick with pressure. Then, like a switch was flipped.

“LET THE BATTLE… BEGIN!!”

Chaos.

Spells erupted, students scattered or rushed to attack. Cries of combat and flashes of magic flared through the arena as temporary alliances formed by students were tested and spells collided.

Arthur, Leon, and Finn immediately shifted back-to-back, forming a tight triangle, watching every direction, to keep an eye for any blind spot.

“Keep eyes on your flanks,” Arthur muttered. “Don’t waste energy trying to show off.”

Finn nodded. “Got it. But, um… we might have a situation here.”

Arthur and Leon turned their heads where Finn pointed.

Gareth Valtros was approaching… and not alone. At least ten students flanked him, forming a wedge formation. Most of them were noble youths or commoners desperate enough to be used as meat shields.

Leon scoffed. “Heh… look at that. Someone couldn’t take a little bruised pride.”

Although Leon wasn’t loud but Gareth was close enough to hear that clearly, he snarled at the comment. “You!! You will pay for this disrespect!”

Arthur didn’t even blink, he said to his team “Leave it to me.” He crouched and placed both palms against the cracked stone beneath them, pouring mana into the ground. Thin blue veins of mana began to flicker and spread outward in faint, almost invisible tendrils.

Gareth paused, squinting suspiciously. “What are you trying to pull now?”

Arthur stood again, hands brushing off dust casually.

But even after a few seconds, nothing happened.

Gareth smirked. “Looks like whatever you planned didn’t work.”

Leon and Finn got into a fighting position, Finn asked, “Um..Arthur was that a delay tactic.”

“Wait for it,” Arthur said with a calm voice.

Gareth, seeing that nothing was happening even after more time passed, looked at his group, “What are you waiting for, get them.”

As they heard him, all of them started to run towards Arthur’s group while simultaneously beginning to use various spells. 

But just then,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three sudden explosions ripped through the ground in front of them. Three of Gareth’s followers were hurled backward, arms flailing midair as they crashed into the floor with bone-jarring force.

Gareth reeled back. “What the hell?!”

Leon turned to Arthur. “Whoa! Okay… I’m gonna need the name of that trick.”

Arthur didn’t break eye contact with Gareth, and while deflecting stay spells he replied coolly, “Mana Bomb. The spells allow the caster to set land mines by depositing volatile mana underground. The higher the amount of mana one uses the more powerful the explosion.”

“Holy crap, that’s awesome!” Finn laughed.

Arthur nodded, the explosions weren’t lethal, he hadn’t used enough mana to seriously harm the students. But they had the effect he wanted.

Gareth, seeing Arthur’s earlier action was not useless and he was setting up landmines, got angry and said to his remaining followers. “Use the path where the mine already went off, it should be a safe way to get close enough to use your spells more effectively.” 

Gareth thought since the mine already exploded, the area should be safe and followed behind his group.

His team pushed forward again, funneling into the same route they assumed had already been cleared.

But just as another student stepped on the area where a mine just exploded a few seconds earlier.

BOOM!

Another explosion rocked the ground.

“What?…How?!” Gareth recoiled as a fourth student was flung into the air.

Arthur’s voice rang out through the smoke.

“I never said the mines remain at the same place all the time.”

Another bang. Gareth watched in horror as another ally was knocked away mid-dash.

“It’s position is not fixed, if you are still confused.” Just as Gareth was going to reply he heard another boom. 

Boom!! 

Gareth, seeing even while staying still, one of his teammates getting blasted away. Finally understood the terror of the spell Arthur just used. 

He gritted his teeth and gave an order to his teammates, “It’s useless even if we wait around, let’s go!”

By the time Gareth’s battered, bewildered group finally escaped the ring of explosions, only two remained, himself and one other boy, breathing heavily, and clearly disoriented.

Gareth’s uniform was scorched, one sleeve torn, and his face covered in soot. But his anger still burned.

“This isn’t over,” he growled.

Leon stepped forward, stretching his knuckles. “Leave them to us.”

Finn mirrored his stance, bouncing on his toes.

Arthur didn’t argue. “Alright. They are all yours.”

***

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