The preliminary rounds are finally over,

Now it's the home stretch from here on out.

"Students draw your numbers from the lot," Said the Principal.

We went up to grab our number plates, the number which I received was 35.

"Ok, great, now that everyone is situated, let's get the ball rolling," Said the Principal.

The principal had a bucket, which he drove his fist into; he pulled out two number plates, 28 and 16.

"Students, please come up," the principal exclaimed.

The students went up on stage, then the countdown started, 3...2...1... Start.

One of the students rushed in; to my surprise, it was another electric elemental student.

He was quite fast but made extensive attacks; sadly, he was against a wind type, which can capitalize against wide attacks.

The wind student threw up a barrier that could block most of the incoming damage, which the other student threw.

The Electric student stood no chance; there was a large gap in combat effectiveness between the two students.

Within 3 minutes, the match ended in a loss for the electric student.

The rounds continued passing by with a variety of students showing what they're capable of.

Finally, my number was called, alongside another electric student, though not the same class.

Both of us went up on stage; doing so, the countdown started...

I was willing to let him go first, but then he pulled out a weapon.

"Sadly, I have to use this now, I was waiting to use it later down the road, but here we are. This is a C-Tier artifact," The student said with a smug face.

It was just a rich boy with a sword, but I made the first move since he used a weapon, and I wasn't.

"I'm attacking," I said.

I increased my speed by 25% and made my assault.

While I was arm's length away, the student remained unfazed, as if he still hasn't even noticed me move... Was I too fast?

I was directly behind him, yet he still hasn't budged yet; I took the opportunity and just hit the back of his neck to make him unconscious.

I lowered my speed back to its normal values, but the reaction was not what I was expecting...

The crowd looked shocked, as if they saw a monster.

The principal concluded the round as the winner.

"You probably don't know this but, most of the viewers are a bit on the weaker side, so when you made that attack, they didn't even see it, and it looked like you teleported behind the other student." the principal whispered to me.

I was too fast for the crowd? But I only increased my speed by 25%; how weak are the new set of challengers?

While I was making my way back to my seat, the principal called my number again; this time, I was against a metal elemental.

We made our way up on the stage, but the student said something even before the countdown.

"I forfeit; I already know this match is a lost cause." Said the Student.

That was the first forfeit in this whole round.

The principal came up on the stage, "The winner of this round, Stephen Wilson,"

"Astonishing," The queen said.

I jolted my head towards their stand, completely forgetting about mom. I looked at her expression; it looked as if she was proud... but I wasn't relieved; I felt an underlying pain in my heart when I looked up at mom.

Though I don't know why...

The rounds continued; the principal didn't call me up on the stage anymore; Alice won her two fights quite easily.

The numbers dwindled from 42 all the way down to 8.

"We are coming close to the end of the King's Tournament, ladies and gentlemen! We have 8 students left; these students will all be in a 1v1 at the same time!" Said the principal.

The 8 of us got on stage; everyone took out their weapon instead of me.

Everyone was looking at me, looking like something was bound to happen...

"Stephen, this is the time when everyone is supposed to take out their weapons..." The principal said.

"Oh...Okay," I replied.

How come I didn't get the memo?

Anyways, that aside, I was a little reluctant to take my weapon out, but I didn't want to prolong the inevitable, so I took it out.

I looked at my bare right arm; within seconds of thinking about my weapon, the strange tattoos appeared on my arm.

Alice looked amazed, "Whoa, you have a tattoo?"

I shook my head; I thought about my weapon appearing in my hands; slowly, the black smoke started collecting around me, my weapon started formulating.

The scythe which instilled fear into the dwarven race was in my hands, though this time it was a bit different; there was a little dragon at the end of the handle of the scythe...

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It looks like the people around me aren't subdued in fear but rather amusement.

"An S-Tier artifact, that crazy." Said the king.

"There are only, so many of this tier ranked in this world," Said the queen.

But thankfully, I wasn't the only one here with an S-tier weapon; there was actually another; Alice's dagger was rated S-Tier.

My mom, too, stepped into the mix, "The Reaper and his goddess both wield S grade weapons,"

I never thought mom would say something like that in the open...

"Okay, Okay, let us get things moving." Said the principal.

The principal called our numbers with our respective opponents.

I was once again up against a wind user but little did you know, it was June.

The match countdown started, each beep was loud, each beep tempted my heart more, each beep took off more of my limiters.

As the last beep was produced, my speed was increased to nearly 50% of its max load; I actually never used this level of speed in combat, always in training.

Without even a microsecond to waste, I launched an attack in June; I quickly made my way behind her and charged up an electric fist; I threw a punch so strong and so clean, all of the humiliation left my body with that punch.

I went back to normal speed, June was knocked out of the stage, but no one even made their move yet.

Everyone once again looked at me shocked, but not surprised.

The Principal stated I was the winner of my 1v1 but quickly said that everyone else was still in their match.

While all the students were fighting it out, the principal dragged me to the side.

"I don't know what monstrous training you went through, but the level in which you are at right now doesn't reflect a warrior rank." Said the principal

I think my actual power is on warrior rank, but I can't say the same for my body; I can't tell him I trained my body in different worlds.

"I don't know what to tell you... thank you for the compliment?" I responded.

"hmm, after you win this tournament, go to The King, tell him I said you are ready." Said the principal.

"Ready for what?" I responded.

"You'll know when you tell the king," The principal said while walking away.

What was he on about? I'm ready?

I was confused, but there were bigger problems ashore; Alice was against our school's supposed "Strongest" water element user.

It is a bit odd to fight against water users, but it should be fine for Alice, I'm hoping.

"Stephen didn't use his weapons, so neither will I," Alice said.

"That's a true wife right there," Said the king.

Alice started blushing... the whole crowd was in an uproar... Thank you, King; I totally needed this.

Alice's match was a bit prolonged, the battle took a bit longer than the rest, but it was partly because she didn't use a weapon.

Alice has been through the Expert zone, so her combat effectiveness is much higher than most of the students present, but one student was odd to me, Acer Sterling, the strongest fire user in our school.

He gave off the feeling as if he's been through thick and thin as well.

There were now 4 students, Me, Alice, Acer, and an earth user named Jason Ortega; he too was the strongest for his element.

The numbering machine drew my number and Alice's...

This wasn't in my calculations...

We got onto the stage; I was ready to forfeit as I really didn't care for first place, but without me even starting, Alice forfeited the match.

"Let me forfeit; I can still probably get first without it," I said.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can't have my husband "Probably" getting first," Alice says while walking off stage...

"Stephen Wilson wins the match..." The principal exclaimed.

"That was the best choice, young one! We must take care of our husbands," The queen preached...

I was dumbfounded...

The next match started; it was Acer of the fire element and Jason of the earth element.

I already knew who was going to win the round.

The match started, and Earth elemental instantly shrouded his body in armor; it was made of dirt from the ground.

Now I don't know how strong that will be; Acer launched a fast fireball towards Jason, completely fracturing the armor.

So it's like a one-time skin?

The two dropped all elements and rushed in for a sword fight; they clashed swords for a good minute, that was until Jason was clearly on the losing end of the spectrum.

While fighting with their swords, a stone pillar emerged behind Acer; it quickly moved towards his back.

Acer peered behind him and saw the pillar; within the very same second, he dispersed into flames and reappeared behind Jason's back.

He had his sword on Jason's kneck,

"You have lost this battle," Acer said.

The crowd was roaring in excitement.

The principal came up on stage, "Acer Sterling, Winner of the semi-finals. Will now go to the finals against Stephen Wilson,"

"Both of you take this crystal and crush it; it will replenish all your drained mana," Said the principal.

We both took the crystal and crushed it; after that, we went into position and got ready for a fight.

The countdown started...

3...

I wanted to end this fast, so I can go home and see my family,

2...

Let me increase my speed back up to 50%; that should be enough.

1....

With the countdown reaching 0, Acer appeared in front of me.

Even with my speed up to 50%, it surprised me that he could move that fast; I could dodge his first attack and backed up a bit.

"Going all out, I see?" I said.

"Against the reaper, you can never be fast enough," Acer said while smirking.

We traded fists with each other; each clash sent waves throughout the arena; for a good 30 seconds, the echo of our fists was the only thing audible.

After a few trades, we both backed up.

He's way stronger than the rest; I don't think Alice can even beat him.

Acer took out his sword; I took out my scythe, we once again went against each other; I wasn't very proficient with the scythe, it isn't your traditional weapon, but thanks to it being super powerful, it covered for my mistakes.

I couldn't break his defense, but neither could he to mine.

This time I ramped my speed up to 75% and infused my body with the black lightning; this was the fastest I've ever moved.

Acer also activated his element, but we could only fight against each other in the state for so long.

"Dude, they are moving so fast, I can barely keep up with their attacks," One spectator said,

"Is this really just a school-level tournament?" Another spectator said.

Acer and I backed off again,

"Woo, you are something else, the fact that you can withstand my heat while fighting me is something," Acer said to me,

I did train in that book...

"The same could be said to you, I increased my speed to a ridiculous degree, and you still kept up," I responded,

"Let's settle this on our strongest attack," I said.

"Deal," Acer replied.

Acer started charging up his attack,

I put my scythe away and started circulating the black smoke around my body; I collected all my power in my veins, but it was weird; I felt all the elements circulating my body... It felt amazing.

My body, instead of releasing black electricity, was just purely releasing black smoke,

I released all my charge towards Acer, but it wasn't a lightning bolt, but rather a beam of... pure terror; I only felt the intent of destruction from my hands...

In the corner of my eyes, I saw the king quickly put a barrier around the whole stage,

Acer also launched his attack, but it was almost instantly decimated by the beam released from my body...

The Principal quickly redirected my beam towards the sky, but in doing so, destroying the barrier, the king put up.

The king came down to the stage and looked at Acer and me,

"The beam in which you released was strong enough to break my 10th-grade barrier instantly, something that has only ever been broken once by a human ranked enlightened challenger. How are you so strong?" Said the king.

I shrugged my head because, in all honesty, I don't even know what I released. It felt as if I had all the elements in the world inside my body for a split second.

"He's the goddam reaper; what would you expect," Acer said while having his hands out for a handshake.

I shook his hands and said, "You are powerful; I hope we can be friends in the future."

"Being the friend of the reaper would be the greatest of honors," Acer said while laughing.

The principal came up to me and raised my hands.

"With the power vested in me, I name Stephen Wilson, The King's Candidate; he will be moving to the international tournament, where he will be fighting against the strongest of the strongest." The principal said.

The crowd started chanting, "Reaper,"

I was happy and all, but I ultimately knew this was just the prelude to destruction...

[In another Country]

[In another language]

"Stephine, the reaper won." Said by a mysterious man.

A woman laughs, "So it seems, I really want to meet, this "Reaper," this... so-called, Being of Death."