After a few minutes, seventeen Cadets had gathered in the King's Arena.
The crowd had fallen silent, eagerly awaiting the announcer to declare the start of the match.
The announcer proclaimed, his voice booming through every speaker present in the Arena:
[The rules of the following match are as follows!
First, do not inflict mortal wounds upon your opponent.
Second, stay within the bounds of the Arena.
Third, relics are strictly prohibited, except if your main weapon is a relic, and in that case, you may only use that specific relic.
Any other relic usage will lead to disqualification.
Fourth, each cadet's combat attire has a badge on their left side chest, and you can disqualify your opponent by breaking it.
The last cadet standing will be the winner of this Battle Royale and advance to the next round.
And with this, at the sound of the match bell, let's begin the main event of the King's Tournament after two years!]
The moment the announcement was made, the silent crowd erupted into cheers and whistles once again.
Yes, it had been two years since the last main event took place.
Now, one might wonder why such a gap exists.
Well, it's because the King's Tournament allows both first and second-year cadets to participate, and if a first-year cadet becomes the crown President of the Academy after winning, the main event won't be held the following year. It would only be held after they enter their third academic year.
However, if a second-year cadet emerges victorious, the main event to decide the King will be held the following year since the crowned President would've moved on to their third academic year by then.
So, even though the King's Tournament itself is held annually, whether or not the main event to decide the next King is held every year depends on which year cadet won the Tournament the previous year.
For instance, let's say, Nero, a first-year cadet, wins the main event this year, then there won't be a main event in the next year's King's Tournament.
But if a second-year cadet wins this year, the main event will take place next year.
The current Cadet Council President won the tournament when he was in his first year, which led to the main event being skipped last year.
Because of that, everyone was hyped and excited beyond words to see the main event this year.
I looked around and saw a number of first-year cadets. They all were also sweeping their gazes around nervously.
The reason for their nervousness was the second-year cadets present among us here.
Among seventeen first-year cadets, there were around ten second-years. So yeah, we were outnumbered.
Almost instantly, all the first-years present in the Arena instinctively had the same thought flashed through their heads.
It was as if everyone here shared a single consciousness.
Eliminate the second-year cadets first.
After all, they had more experience than most of the first-year cadets here. They were the priority target.
After eliminating them, we first-years could fight among ourselves and decide the winner.
However, not everyone followed the same train of thought. I turn to Quinn, who was still standing on my right, and said:
"Quinn, destroy everyone."
Quinn looked back at me and nodded.
The cadets who stood in our immediate surroundings whipped their heads to look at us but before those poor souls could even understand what was going on…
Ding, Ding, Ding—!!!
The match bell rang.
"Mana Burst!"
Without wasting a single breath, I yelled out loud as if defying the heavens itself and activated my Gift.
Quinn hopped a few meters back and summoned his daggers from the pocket space of his smart bracelet.
In the blink of an eye, mana rushed out from my mana core into the atmosphere and disturbed the equilibrium, sending off a brilliant azure explosion with my figure at its epicenter.
Booom—!!
Some cadets who were standing dangerously close to me were caught in the explosion.
The intensity of the explosion flung them back as they didn't have the time to cover their bodies with mana.
The small, circular black badge on their chest broke and they were instantly disqualified before they even fell to the ground.
However, not all of them were so slow.
A few cadets were able to react on the spot and shroud their bodies in a thick layer of mana to protect themselves from my attack.
And since I weakened my Mana Burst a lot to not kill the unprepared cadets, none of those who were able to react quickly were flung back.
Instead, they summoned their weapons and rushed at me with blazing anger in their eyes.
Smirking, I also summoned my spear and prepared to fight.
Clang, Clang, Clang—!!
With each clash of our weapons, sparks flew and the clamor of metal hitting metal filled the Arena, which was drowned in the loud cheering sound of the crowd.
Around three to four cadets were swinging their weapons at me. I either parried or deflected their attacks, each swing of my spear quickly followed by another.
Every step, every strike of mine was precise and calculated. I was in the flow.
There was no crowd around me. There were no sounds. I had no thoughts filling my mind. The world around me vanished.
Nothing existed around me in these moments– nothing but technique.
Clenching my jaw, I stomped my foot on the ground to gain footing and tumbled my vision at the incoming cadet before me.
He had a Jian gripped in his hand that he had raised. The curved blade of his saber sped down on me as he brought down his hands to perform a downward vertical slash.
Observing his stance to find any potential weaknesses, I stepped forward and quickly unleashed an upward vertical slash with my spear.
Thak—!!
The blade of my spear hit the pommel of his Jian and his hands were pushed back upward from the force of my swing.
The cadet stammered back, his expression grim as he knew that my attack had left his whole body open and vulnerable to any follow-up attacks.
His worst fears came true as I quickly pulled my spear down, aligned it to my chest, and thrust it forward.
Crack—!!
Before the poor guy had any time to react and get away from the long reach of my spear, its crimson blade had already stabbed the badge on his chest and broken it.
He was disqualified.
However, using this chance, the other three cadets rushed at me to capitalize on the momentary opening that had been created in my defense when I defeated the cadet in front of me.
However, before they could pose any threat to me, I yelled, "Quinn!"
Almost instantly, a figure stepped out from my shadow like a demon ascending from hell and dashed at the incoming cadets.
The plan that the first-year cadets had devised to attack the second-year cadets first was now in shambles.
Everyone was fighting everyone. It was a mayhem and I was enjoying every moment of it.
