Everyone in the arena saw the usage of Space Essence clear as day. Ning had used it twice in a row, once to send the crystals back at his opponent, and next to teleport right next him.
Each time, a small portal had opened in front of him through which he could go in and come out on another portal that had appeared close by.
At most, Ning could only use this technique at a 100-meter distance. Thankfully, that was plenty for a battle such as this.
He walked away amongst the cheers, a little sad in fact which he didn't show on his face.
He had his sword in his hand, but the sheathe was no longer anywhere. In the midst of chaos, one of the Crystal shards had hit his Wind sword, and given how little air was used to make it, it was completely destroyed with that one hit.
Now, Ning had no sheathe for his sword and would have to find another one, which most likely wouldn't be until after the competition was over.
He flipped the sword upward, hiding in between his arm and his body so that the blade wasn't out in the open and in a dangerous position.
Ning walked into the hall that was mostly silent as people stared at him as he walked in. He had after all defeated two people with Essence Souls without having one himself.
He could hear whispers amongst the people. Some mentioned the word 'space', and some mentioned 'pure'. One even mentioned 'cheating' which nearly made Ning laugh out loud.
He arrived at his group and was immediately slapped on the back by the prince as he gave a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! My vision wasn't wrong yesterday. You really are capable of winning fights against those above your own caliber," he said loudly.
Ning smiled slightly. "It was more luck than anything," he said. "My opponent wasn't ready for my space technique."
"Huh? It looked like he was plenty ready," the prince said.
"Well, he was ready for me to teleport, but not his own attacks," Ning said. "I was able to take advantage of the chaos."
"No need to act humble, young man," the teacher said with a wide grin. "You did well. I can almost hear the headmaster laughing from the stands right now."
Ning finally nodded and sat back down. The others proceeded to congratulate him while the princess's guard got ready for her own fight in a few matches.
They watched the next few matches on the screen while the teacher made notes of who fought and what attacks they used. The previous day he had left it for the people in the stands to do, but since they were going to fight multiple times today, he had to do it himself.
The princess's guard, Shana, walked out on her turn and entered the arena against another girl from the Crimson Wings school.
The girl in that school had a Fire Core and mostly used Fire Essence during her battle. Her Essence soul looked like a fiery human with spears for hands as she herself used spears.
Shana's Water Essence Soul with its snake-like arms whipped around in the battle against the girl with the Fire Essence. As the two powers contradicted each other quite a lot, neither was the outright victor.
"Shana got unlucky," the princess said. "Her opponent yesterday was a Fire Essence user as well, wasn't it?"
"It was," the teacher said. "But Shana had the better moves yesterday. Today, however…"
"Her opponent is quite skilled," the prince said. "Not only is she good at using her Fire Essence to cancel out Shana's Water Essence, but her Essence Soul also seems capable of attacking at quite the speed with those spear arms. Shana's snake arms can't whip out fast enough."
The fight continued for a while, but the more it progressed, the harder it got for either of the two fighters to do anything to the other.
They even used their strong techniques on each other, but none could get the upper hand.
In the end, the 5 minutes available for the match were up with both parties gasping for breath as they were both extremely tired.
Everyone patiently waited for the results to the announced as the victor was in the judges' hands now.
Half a minute later, the answer came.
Shana lost the match. The other girl jumped in celebration at the fact that she had won and quickly ran back into the hall where her team celebrated with her.
Shana returned a moment later, dejected with a face that had nothing but disappointment in it.
"I'm sorry, teacher, princess," she said. "I really tried my best."
"Don't worry, it all came down to luck in the end," the princess said. The princess didn't blame her. After all, the main reason she hadn't been chosen as the victor was because she was using Water Essence, instead of Fire Essence, which was considered more destructive in general.
It was just a matter of luck, as she had said.
"You did as well as you could," the teacher said, trying to console her.
The male bodyguard, Hyandus patted her on her shoulder, telling her not to worry about it.
The others in the group consoled her as well, and only after a few minutes was she no longer sad about her loss.
Now, 2 of the 8 students had lost, one in the top 128, and another in the top 64.
"Well, it's my turn soon," the Prince said as he got up and started stretching a bit. "Teach, tell me, should I keep my energy? Will Top 32 be happening today by any chance?"
"Hmm," the teacher looked at the time. "Half of it will definitely be happening. Yours will most definitely be today after you win."
"Oh, then I better end this next match quickly and prepare for my next round then," the Prince said as he stood up. It was his match now.
"I'll be back in a second."
