Eva conjured multiple small translucent barriers around herself. These octagonal-shaped barriers hovered around her, taking the brunt of the attacks.
The girl with the sword could feel the wind around her feet, but before she could step back from her position, multiple barriers started hitting her.
*Cling*
She tried to block them, but her swordsmanship was not good enough to block them completely.
"Argh," the girl clenched her jaw as multiple wind bullets hit her.
Eva smiled as the girl kept trying to counter her attack, but she knew it was useless.
"You lost," Eva spoke as the girl noticed the barrier coming towards her head, knocking her out.
*Ding*
Eva noticed the +1 count on her bracelet, but she ignored it and went forward.
Her name appeared on the leaderboard, but just before her, another name took the lead and took first place from both her and Elena.
Just before Eva's duel began, Amelia went forward deep into the forest, jumping on several branches, avoiding the ground which was full of damp mud and could restrict her movements.
She was looking out for any tokens in the open and also being careful enough to not let her presence be known. She had somewhat learned to mask her presence from Emmy.
"A token," Amelia's eyes shone as she looked at a token.
But she noticed some muddy tracks in the vicinity, confirming another presence.
"Two?" Amelia squinted her eyes as she saw tracks of two people, but no sign of a fight was present.
She landed on the ground and looked around. She made herself look as if she was off guard and looked at the token. The moment she bent down to pick up the token, she heard some movements.
"Sara now!!" A voice was heard, and Amelia looked around to see an arrow flying towards her.
Amelia tried to dodge the arrow, but as she landed on another spot, a fireball came her way.
Amelia turned around immediately, barely dodging the fireball. She took out her daggers and went forward in the direction of the mage who shot at her.
"Wait, she dodged that as well?" The girl looked at Amelia as her red eyes looked at her. Her gaze was intimidating enough to make her panic, and she carelessly threw another fireball at her face.
Getting panicked, she threw their initial plan to group up the person who would come to pick up the token. Amelia did not let go of the chance she had gotten and said, "Grant Strength," muttering a short chant to buff herself.
She struck the dagger, cutting deep into the mage girl's arm. But Amelia was relentless enough to injure her enough, and a arrow grazed her shoulder, but there was no wound on her shoulder. Instead, it was like a scratch.
The barrier activated on the wounded mage, disqualifying her, and the girl who shot the arrow shouted, "Noooo," Sara shouted, but in her attempt to save her friend, she gave her location as well. Although they were friends and decided to team up if they met each other, and by luck, they found themselves early, but they were not experienced enough to do a good ambush.
Amelia turned and looked at Sara, who was loading another bow, but she was panicking, making her delay her next shot. Amelia's buff was still active, so she ran towards the rock where Sara was taking cover.
"Fireball," Amelia shot the ground ahead, making smoke come out and acting as a smokescreen for her.
"Where is she?" Sara looked left and right to spot Amelia, but Amelia was careful enough to not make any noise with her steps, or she would fire another fireball, masking her advance towards Sara.
As Sara looked around, a dagger suddenly appeared and came towards her neck. She closed her eyes, as the dagger was too close for her to dodge. However, just as it approached her throat, the barrier activated, repelling the attack and disqualifying Sara.
Sara touched her neck to check if she was okay and breathed a sigh of relief. Many of the common people participating in the tournament lacked the experience of those from wealthy families like Amelia or Damian. They were only recommended based on their talent and potential, meeting the threshold to be admitted into the World Academy.
Amelia received another notification on her bracelet and took the token. Her name appeared on the leaderboard, overtaking Elena with a total of four tokens. Gazil announced, "We have Amelia Von Greville overtaking Elena Rothschild with a total of four tokens." The crowd loudly cheered. "And we have Eva Williams taking the third place with two tokens," he added.
"Look, Big Sis is on the leaderboard," Livia said cheerfully, making both Arthur and Sylvie smile.
Leaderboard
1. Asher Von Greville - 4
2. Damian Seymour - 3
3. Kevin Whiteheart - 2
Leaderboard
1. Amelia Von Greville - 4
2. Elena Rothschild - 2
3. Eva williams - 2
In another VIP room, Lishia commented, "It seems like the Greville are dominating this tournament."
"It's too early to judge," Rewilh responded.
"It's a pity that we could not witness her fighting," Lishia said impatiently.
"We will see them on screen when more fights happen," Rewilh reassured her.
"Oh, look, the Greville boy and Astaria boy could confront each other soon," Rewilh said, making Lishia excited for another fight.
On the screen, Asher was travelling at a normal pace, while in another location, a boy with light blond hair and black eyes was bored, unable to find anyone. He found a token lying around and picked it up, increasing his count of tokens by one.
"Now let's find the unlucky guy who will meet my sword," the boy said, smirking as he went further into the forest. However, as he took many detours to avoid the damp, muddy ground, his path towards the final location was not a straight one.
While running, he encountered another participant, who stopped and turned around to face him. "Well, well, what a pleasure to meet the heir of the Greville family," Alan said. "You might not know, but I am the heir of the Astaria family," he smiled, gripping his sword. "You could have gotten further only if you had met someone other than me," Alan dashed towards Asher.
Asher, who was travelling straight towards the final location, stopped when he noticed Alan. His crimson red-eyes stared at Alan as he heard him spout something, but his focus was not present. His face was indifferent, and he appeared calm.
Even as Alan dashed towards him, Asher did not move. Alan thought Asher was surprised to see him, so he took a lousy stance, which was his mistake. Alan smirked as his sword went for Asher's neck, aiming for an easy win. However, as his sword neared Asher's neck, Asher moved his sword upwards, countering Alan. "What?" Alan was stunned seeing Asher's counter. "It seems you are truly the grandson of the Sword God," Alan said, taking a stance for a proper fight as he did not underestimate Asher anymore.
"What?" Alan muttered to himself as Asher still did not move from his place.
"Don't wanna fight me?" Alan provoked Asher, but all he got was a gaze from his eyes.
On the other side, Asher was controlling himself to the maximum, not outright killing Alan. He was now glad that he had forgotten his own swordsmanship. If not for that, he would have cut Alan's hand probably even before the barrier could save him.
"It seems we have a confrontation between two people from the Elite families!" Gazil commented.
"Asher Greville and Alan Astaria, both are swordsmen! Let's watch who will emerge as the victor," Gazil spoke, and the audience also cheered loudly.
"Whoooo," Asher breathed out and dropped his sword on the ground, closing his eyes, confusing Alan and the whole audience.
"What is he doing?" Alexander Astaria, who was a bit surprised by seeing Asher's counter, spoke. He was also confused by Asher's sudden move.
Even Arthur was confused by his son's action, but he kept watching.
Asher opened his eyes and looked at Alan, who was staring at him with a confused face.
"If you want to get out of this tournament so bad, I will give you what you want," Alan said with a serious look on his face.
He lowered his sword a bit and dashed at Asher, but before he could get into close range, he found that Asher had disappeared from his spot.
Alan immediately looked behind him, but all he could see was a fist coming towards him.
Asher's fist met the jaw of Alan, nearly knocking him out.
Alan looked at his bruised face as he glared at Asher, who indifferently looked at him. At the last second, he had coated his face with mana, and doing so made him waste more mana because he did it instantly to save himself.
Asher cracked his knuckles and coated his feet with mana, then dashed towards Alan, who raised his sword to attack him. But Asher dodged every swing with his footwork.
Asher ducked as he dodged Alan's strike and kicked his knees, making him lose his balance and grip on the sword.
Asher landed a kick at Alan's face, making him bleed from his mouth. But the barrier was not activating as Alan was still conscious, and none of Asher's strikes were counted as fatal.
Asher lifted Alan as he gripped him from his neck and gripped his neck. Alan struggled to get out of the grip as he kicked around, but he could not escape from Asher's clutches.
"Umm, he is not letting him go!" one of the test conductors spoke.
They could not activate the barrier to stop Asher as he was still in contact with Alan.
"Should we intervene?" another person asked one of the professor who was overseeing the tournament.
