The participants felt immense pressure, even more than the strongest of each country. Their hearts raced in awe and excitement as they watched Cale not sit in the chair but sit on the edge of the top floor of the arena.

The announcer quickly and loudly shouted, "Now that all the spectators are here! SHALL WE... BEGIN!" As soon as the announcer finished, the crowd erupted in excitement.

The 100 challengers below began fighting each other, selecting their opponents in a split second. Among them, six of the most talented individuals—Jinwoo, who had dark blue hair and wore an orange hoodie; Taeyang, dressed in red robes with red hair; Minho, clad in purple clothes and with black hair; Haejin, wearing light blue clothes and having blue hair; Minseok, in a brown shirt with messy blonde hair; and Kyungsoo, in casual clothes with black short hair—picked their own fights with one another.

Jinwoo moved toward Minho, lightning crackling around him. He approached, sizing Minho up and ready to use everything he had in this round.

Minho did not use any powers; he simply unsheathed his blue blade and approached Jinwoo with a calm expression, ready for the fight.

Taeyang charged at Kyungsoo with his bare hands, a crazed expression on his face as he began to punch through Kyungsoo's strong defense.

Minseok started dodging Haejin's water balls, calculating how he could win against her.

The crowd cheered for their favorite talented contenders as the announcer described their actions and hyped up both the crowd and the viewers.

Minseok kept dodging while trying to get close to Haejin to defeat her with the blade in his hand, but her water balls kept him from advancing. After two or three minutes, Minseok finally found the answer he wanted: he would use wind to parry her attacks, disrupting the trajectory of her water balls, then defeat her.

But this was a gamble he was fully ready to take. He had always been the hardworking one; if he didn't show the results of his efforts, it would mean nothing. 'By all means, I must win!' Minseok shouted in his mind.

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Minseok ran around, not attacking, but getting closer to her. 'Why is he not charging at me?' Haejin wondered while firing more water balls.

Haejin fired even more water balls at him. 'Now!' Minseok thought as the wind began to blow heavily, disrupting the trajectory of the water balls. In that split moment, he charged at Haejin. She tried her best to fire more water balls, but Minseok's gamble paid off in the end as she surrendered.

As Minseok and Haejin's fight concluded, the announcer shouted his victory, then turned his attention to Taeyang and Kyungsoo's fight. At first glance, anyone could tell who would win. Taeyang and Kyungsoo fought fiercely, both physical fighters. However, Kyungsoo did not know any fighting techniques, while Taeyang had learned some and had been in fights before.

Taeyang gave Kyungsoo little chance to attack back. Even though Kyungsoo had a strong defense, it meant nothing if the opponent's attacks were much more powerful. Scars adorned Kyungsoo's forearms as he kept his defense in front of his face. Some spectators even wished to stop the fight. But Taeyang was halted by an officer who appeared in front of him.

"Stop! You have already won, kid," said the officer while holding Taeyang's hand. Taeyang was unwilling to let go, but seeing the strongest was present, he had to show respect to the arena before intervening.

After the announcer announced Taeyang's victory, he and Minseok began their fight. But the announcer shifted all attention back to Minho and Jinwoo, where both of their blades clashed against one another. Jinwoo struck at Minho repeatedly with his lightning-fast blade, while Minho calmly defended against the attacks.

But it seemed Minho was having trouble, having not used any powers. He barely kept up with Jinwoo's onslaught, who wasn't giving him any space.

Jinwoo found a blind spot in Minho's defense and attacked there. Minho defended himself but was thrown back.

Jinwoo panted heavily after expending so much energy but immediately put up his guard as he felt a punch thrown at his face, pushing him back.

It was Taeyang. He approached Jinwoo, cracking his knuckles with a devious expression. "Come on. Your new opponent is ME!" Taeyang said with a crazy smile as he got into his fighting stance.

Taeyang and Jinwoo began fighting fiercely, causing everyone to momentarily forget about Minho.

"Let us view the fight between Taeyang and Jinwoo!" shouted the announcer. "And we—" the announcer was about to say something when everyone fell silent as they saw a fire burning at a close distance to Taeyang and Jinwoo.

"Did you forget about me!?" shouted Minho as flames enveloped his hands and feet, and his arcane blade turned red.

"W-What is this?!" exclaimed the announcer in surprise!