The match starts, and I point my lightning daggers forward and wait for any sign of the applicant from the Phantom Region to activate their skill.

Every time this man disappeared in the previous matches, it was right after his opponent attacked.

I can feel his mana control, and it's nearing that of a level 700. I witnessed him defeat an opponent from the Vice Region stronger than himself in seconds.

I'm confident whatever skill he's using will have no effect on me; however, I do want to know how it works...

We both stand in silence, eyeing each other down for a full five seconds.

I even do an appraisal on his black sword, but it's nothing more than a 120% Strength and 110% Speed enchantment.

He stares forward at me from behind his black mask. All I can see are his dark eyes waiting for me to make a move.

I whisper under my breath.

"Alright, I'll humor you... Let me see that skill of yours..."

I run forward to mimic the other attacks I saw him defend earlier, and just before my dagger hits him, the same phenomenon occurs.

He disappears from my vision, and less than a tenth of a second later, appears right behind my back with his sword pushing forward to kill.

If I were to only use the perception of the hunter Ray Anderson, I'd be killed by this attack in an instant.

I didn't even see him move...

This is because he didn't move around me at all. Upon activation of his skill, this hunter really disappeared. He teleported from in front of me to right behind me, mere millimeters away from my heels.

While I could turn around and block this attack on the spot with the milliseconds I have left, there's a more believable move to make.

I power up my lightning magic and sprint forward using speed nearing that of a level 800-850 hunter.

My body crackles with lightning, and in my split-second decision, the hunter's black blade slices through the illusion of the cloak that I'm wearing.

The crowd of remaining applicants, and some of the guests from the seven regions, begin to chatter amongst themselves as I narrowly miss this attack and turn toward the black swordsman again.

I grin and point my daggers at him.

"Neat trick... But I think I'm a little too quick for you."

In all honesty, I think it is a useful ability. The only downside of it is that my reaction time is far faster than any average elite hunter. Even if he were to use that skill on a hunter with the mana control and speed I just showed, it's doubtful they could have reacted in time. That is, unless they were double ranked up or have some speed based ranked up buff.

I hear a grunt come from the man, as he is probably thinking the same thing.

It's far more clear how he defeated those earlier applicants with such ease now.

I take a step forward and get ready for our second exchange.

This time, I send long-range lightning crescents his way, not wanting to do the same thing twice.

Every time the yellow static attacks get close, the man disappears and reappears about a meter away, narrowly missing getting sliced in two.

After I send out about half a dozen crescents and watch him dodge them all, I figure out how his skill works.

The only thing left behind every time he disappears is the dark absence of light beneath his feet.

It seems as though he can completely vanish and shift his feet positioning anywhere along his shadow.

My eyes track this phenomenon while I continue to throw lightning at him. I even allow him to get closer to me and throw a close-range attack toward him too.

Once my dagger and body are close enough to him, and our shadows from the large light source above meet, he's able to disappear and reappear behind me just like he did in our first exchange.

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I charge my body with lightning magic and make a dash forward to dodge his blade again, then let out a sigh.

As much as I really want this skill, right here and now isn't the place to take it.

There are almost a hundred pairs of high-ranking eyes all over me, and the only way for me to take his skill without actually killing him on the spot involves using soul energy and is quite a flashy technique that I can't use without completely blowing my cover.

So, instead, the moment I get far enough away, I let out the most violent display of lightning magic I've shown in this entire event.

It isn't meant as a pure offensive attack; I use it to cast an even light source all throughout the ring.

Then, at the same time, I send a barrage of lightning crescents from my daggers just like I did before when I was testing out his skill.

Without anywhere to run, he realizes that I've discovered his weakness. I see a dark black mist start to seep from his body, most likely the activation of his ranked-up buff, but six crescents of mana-imbued lightning magic make contact with him from every direction before I get to see what he'll do.

A bright flash of white transportation magic fills the ring, and I let my yellow static energy die down to stop the blinding light display.

The Phantom Region Applicant is defeated, but he's in the top20 ranking, so I'll most likely get a chance to face this man again in the 5th stage of the exams.

Rodrigo announces my victory while I slowly walk back to my room, slotting me in the next round of this event to fight the strongest fighter here.

"That's right! The winner is Ray from the Bedrock Region! That means he will be fighting our number one ranked fighter next round! Two lightning users will be facing off next. I, for one, have never seen two people that share this skill ever fight it out, so I'm sure it will be an exciting match!"

He smiles as I walk back into my transparent holding room and continues to speak.

"But first, let's get to the other matches in this upcoming round. Two fighters from the Apex Region will be facing off. Reynard, the Earth Mage, versus Natalie, the healer with newfound power granted to her by a mysterious Flame Emperor. Please, enter the ring!"

The final member of the six-man squad in the simulation trials enters the ring.

He's shaved bald and doesn't talk much.

He wears armor that looks like it's made of stone and carries a longsword on his back that is almost as long as he is tall.

I can feel immense strength and mana control coming off of him, similar to the Ice Mage ranked number three that I fought a few rounds back.

Knowing this, I grant Nat 10% of my base stats, and 2% of my mana control, along with the extreme fire magic for show.

As she walks into the ring to face the huge earth magic wielder in her midst, the rush of power from my buff flows into her, and her timid expression turns to one of determination and confidence.

She grips both of her daggers and yells for the arena to hear the message I whisper in her ear.

"Those who doubt the Flame Emperor's power will not be saved. For what you see now is a mere spark."

The doors close and the timer starts.

Nat's eyes burst with flames, and the red-hot fire gets darker and darker as it travels through her arms and legs.

The only color left in her figure comes from the shiny silver in her daggers and her bright white hair flowing beneath the flames.

The earth swordsman lets out a deep laugh and lifts his blade, forming mana-dense stone all around it while dozens of sharp spears form around his shoulders and over his head.

He swings it downward before Nat even gets within 10 meters of him, and a barrage of earth blades come rushing forward at the healer.

Her flames grow, and her perception of the arena has improved even more drastically than her last matches.

With close to 10 billion worth of mana control experience coursing through her system, fire-stepping through the shards of moving earth is nothing but a graceful movement, as easy as walking in a straight line.

Her daggers imbued with fire collide with stone as she twists and weaves through the flying maze of mana charged rock shards.

Mana explosions fill the entire blue dome with plumes of fire and shards of rock.

Then, there's a collision in the center of the arena that is shielded from everyone's vision.

So much debris flies through the air that it's impossible to see who just killed whom.

Gasps come out of the applicants, and over half of the Directors get up from their seats to move closer to the dome to get a better look.

The Vice, Veridian, Silca, Raya, and Bedrock Region's leaders all are interested in seeing what happened in the results of this match.

Their eyes widen even more when the only person left in the ring once the clouds of mana and fire clear is Natalie, sitting on a pile of rock, twirling her daggers.

I smile and deactivate my buffs while the arena erupts into discussion about her words before the fight.

"After a display like that, it's certain, The Flame Emperor's power is real!"

"I could feel her mana control rise when she spoke his name! This Emperor... they can grant much more than just fire..."

However, there are some skeptics.

"Don't you think it's odd... the only strong fighter she defeated was from the Apex Region too! This could all be a ploy!"

"Yeah, you heard what this year's number one said. It's illusions... they're both in on it..."

Nat walks back to her room while even more questions arise, but Rodrigo calms down the room with a wave of his hands.

"That's enough! Return to your seats! Get ready for our next fighters to face off. The winner of this next match between Emrie from the Bedrock Region and Callum from the Apex Region will decide who faces Natalie, follower of the Flame Emperor, in the semi-finals."

Rodrigo grins as he slips in a nickname to continue stirring the emotions of the crowd.

He looks like he's enjoying himself, because if anyone would know if there were tricks at play, it would be him. I have a hunch the reason he is playing along with my games is because he knows exactly who is causing this havoc.

I cross my arms and look forward to another exciting match as Ember walks into the ring to face the second-ranked applicant, a water mage from the Apex Region. This element is fire's direct weakness, so I'm curious what kind of show he'll put on to make this a convincing fight.