Chapter 16 Restricted brackets

Kim did not enter the unrestricted bracket of the tournament. She did not care about entering Miss Harlet's vault. What she needed were mana stones, tons and tons of mana stones.

The freshmen tournament was noticeably less competitive than the main tournament. Kim could not see anyone famous in the waiting area before the arena. At least 500 students were standing here, tension hanging in the air.

Kim looked over to the main tournament stage, group 1-4 had already ended much faster than anyone anticipated. Kim wonders if she can somehow make it in time to watch her pupil's match.

“.........haha, I already considered him my pupil?” Kim laughs to herself at that thought. Coming to the Midlands to find riches for her family has been a stressful experience. The cultural differences, difficulty in making friends, and isolation for being different, she used to hide in Miss Wander's office. But a group of people appeared, a redheaded boy who shoved bags of mana stones into her arms and dragged her to the people that would become her friends in this place. Kim has a gentle smile on her face at the thoughts of them.

“You are quite relaxed.” A female voice came from behind her. Kim turns around and sees a female figure in a black robe that covers her entire body. Even from a glance, she could tell this person was a highly skilled martial artist.

“It will come down to you and me here, but you seem to be confident,” the unknown woman said

“Mary Kim, Silla's Fist. May I know your name?” Kim introduces herself in the Eastern traditions.

“Chae Yong, Heavenly Demon's Blade. It is a pleasure to meet a fellow martial artist in this place.” The woman took off her black hood. Blue eyes, black hair, and pale skin, her looks have some similarity to Jace. “A warrior from Silla? That is rare. I look forward to meeting you on the battlefield. How about I start on the opposite end? We each clean up half of these people, then meet in the middle?” The girl pointed to the people all around them. A few people heard her and glared at them both.

“Only an unworthy warrior looks down on their opponents” Kim answers her in an icy tone. This person is from the Heavenly Demon Cult, quite a dangerous person. They are not villains but they do not hesitate to spill blood. The Empire or the Republic may capture criminals and even jail them, but if they are caught by the Heavenly Demon Cult, they will only be executed on the spot. Chae smirks at her as if it was funny.

Teleportation magic begins to engulf everyone in the waiting area. No warning was given, some people even left their weapons on the ground when being teleported away.

Kim touched the sleek black armor covering her body. The armor is so thin that it's more suitable to call it a robe, it has a texture similar to crunchy cloth. The black luster armor covers her hands like gauntlets, upper body, and feet. Dragon scales, are the strongest material in the world. This armor was just Ruin's scales molting that had been collected and weaved together by Cade. However, this armor might well be the most powerful piece of equipment any contestant possessed. Her friends had given it to her because they understood her need for mana stones. Something this priceless, given away for such a shallow reason. Kim felt a warm feeling in her heart.

When she opened her eyes, she could see the rest of the participants standing in the arena. One giant word floats in the air.

Fight

The arena erupts into chaos. Magic spells flew all over the arena, blood and body parts exploding everywhere.

Kim did not hesitate, she launched herself at the closest person, striking her throat so fast she could not react. As the unlucky person gets teleported away, Kim feels an impact from her back, a spell has hit her. Thanks to the armor, she did not sustain damage. Kim blew on the wind and a dome of darkness surrounded her. The mage flying in the air saw that dome of darkness appear and started to bombard the area with magic. Some unlucky few near the area were blown away. Having located the mage, Kim rushed out of the darkness and grabbed a spear on the ground nearby. She spun in the air, concentrated a bit of mana on the spear tip, and threw it at the mage. The spear pierces the mage's mana shield and skewers him in the chest, the lights of teleportation spells follow shortly after. An Aura Warrior nearby sends a flying sword right at her head. Kim reactively grabs the sword with her hands, the dragon-scale armor crushing the sword to the horror of the Aura Warrior. Kim dash towards the man as he controls another sword to block her path. Kim deflects the flying sword with the back of her fist, while the man stabs at her. Kim ducked low, swept his leg, and uppercut his jaw while his body was falling. Before her fist could connect, he was teleported out. Some judge might have seen that would have been a kill shot and teleported that man out. The chaotic battle continues to intensify.

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Only 5 minutes had passed, Kim had used almost all of her mana and out of breathe. Her biggest weakness is her stamina. Only 4 people are left in the arena, Kim, 2 Aura Warriors, and Chae. Kim sat down to catch her breathe, waiting for the fight in front of her to finish.

“Hey, girl! If we team up we can beat her easily. Come on!” One of the Aura Warriors yelled at her.

“We had an agreement to meet at the end. I am sorry but I can not help you” Kim sat in a meditative stance, slowly recovering her mana.

Chae smirks and rushes at the two. Her Saber was so quick despite its size, promptly chopping the two in half before they could react. Teleportation is not quick enough to save these two.

“Ah….you won. How did you beat so many people so quickly?” Chae was also out of breath, and low on mana. She sat down, expressing her interest in a conversation.

“I did not. Allow your enemies to fight each other and you won't have to fight everyone.” Kim has an unpleasant expression on her face as she looks at the two dismembered corpses. Chae realized what Kim was looking at and laughed.

“What? Feeling sorry for them? They are serial killers and worse. The reason I entered this bracket is to kill them.” Chae's breathing normalized quickly and she stood up. “Happy?”

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“No, not happy. But that is acceptable” Kim stood up as well and got in a fighting stance.

“Hey, I like you. You should join us.” Chae said while dashing in.

Kim's gauntlets and Chae's saber met in the air several times, sending out sparks. Chae's quick saber play she saw before was much heavier than it looked. Quick and heavy, the ideal Saber play. Chae would chop high twice, mid once, and low once, then she would switch the rhythm and then switch it again. A chaotic and also organized fighting tempo. An Aura Warrior that does not use flying swords but focuses on martial arts. Every time Kim tried to deflect the Saber, it would come back so quickly that she could not do anything else. The body of an Aura Warrior is simply stronger than a mage. Slowly, she was being pushed back. Even if she is not being slashed, this is no different from being beaten to death.

Chae continued to slash at Kim, when suddenly Kim exploded her mana to deflect the Saber, creating a second of room for her to spin her body away from the blade, using her back to almost glide on Chae's saber and arm, then she brought her elbow down on Chae's face. Chae dodge the elbow by leaning her body back, but breaking the relentless slashing attacks. Kim grabs the back of the Saber with her left hand, stopping the attack completely, then a somersault kick on Chae's chin. Chae jumped back to dodge, abandoning her weapon.

“I have never lost in pure martial arts before. Why are you not famous?” Chae was sweating, without a weapon, she was not a match for this small but deadly woman.

“Fame is meaningless,” Kim said. She stood still waiting for Chae to concede.

Chae realized what Kim was doing and laughed at the sky. She was the disciple of the Heavenly Demon, she could be killed, tortured, even beaten, but never concede. Chae collects what little mana she has left into her fist and dashes at Kim.

“Wonderful” Kim smiled at her for the first time. Kim dashed at her and she was so fast that Chae did not see what hit her. Kim ran straight into Chae, duck Chae's fist and used her palm to hit Chae right in her chest. Chae spit out blood before being teleported away.

“It was an honor, Warrior Chae Yong.” Kim bowed her head to the smiling Chae

“Maybe I can enter the junior bracket tomorrow if it's going to be this fun. Time to go see my student.” Kim looks at the empty arena and smile

Freshmen Brackets Winner

Mary Kim

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“Chae did well. That girl is much stronger than her. It's a shame that the girl did not receive better martial arts to train her base with. Her raw potential is much higher than anyone I have ever seen.” A glamorous lady watching the mana net screen said.

“Do you want to accept a new disciple, master? Am I going to have a younger sister?” a young girl around 8 years old said. She was sitting on the lap of the glamorous lady and eating an orange.

“Only fate can determine who will become my disciple, not just anyone can join us.” The lady caresses the little girl's head, before lightly pinching her cheeks “Weren't you supposed to peel the orange for me? You are busy stuffing your cheeks.”

“Hehe, MeiMei is hungry, master.” The little girl giggled while rubbing her stomach.

“Did I teach you the hungry ghost technique? You never stop eating. Go call your brother and sisters, we will make dinner together soon” The lady turned off the mana net screen and walked out of the room with the little girl in her arms.

There is a sign hanging outside her room.

Heavenly Demon Cave

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Kim found Beth standing in front of the arena. Groups of young men surrounded her but none went up to talk to her, only glancing at her from time to time. At the foot of the arena, Jace is about to go up.

“Did you forfeit?” Kim asked her.

“......” Beth nodded and hugged her arm. Kim noticed that Beth has become very affectionate towards her and Jace, the cold demeanor from a few months ago nowhere to be seen. Forfeiting is the correct choice for Beth, she did not need anything from the vault and her specialties are not in direct combat. Kim has seen the notes that Beth had given to Jace. The beautiful girl in front of her is perhaps the most dangerous mind in the magic world.

Jace got teleported into the arena, right in the middle of everyone else. Immediately, something seems weird about this group. Kim could see that every competitor’s eyes were looking at Jace. Grouping up to take down the ranker is logical strategy, but this one was specially organized. No words were exchanged between the contestants, no organizations, no negotiations. Everyone in this group seems to have Jace as their goal from the beginning, but how is this possible?

Jace is immediately assaulted by various attacks. He is putting up a good fight. Dodging and using his speed to his advantage.

“Warriors concentrated massive amounts of mana on their weapons before unleashing devastating attack Smash. Even Jace’s body should not take such an attack head-on.” Beth said in a robotic voice, soft enough that only Kim could hear. “A warrior’s weakness is their defense. The moment they concentrate their mana on the weapon, their entire body is completely unprotected by mana. An attack on such a body is 100 percent lethal. That is the warrior's weakness. Most conventional tactics against warriors are to stay away from them and attack from range, people naturally fears the immense power of Smash, but the concentrated mana in their weapons can block almost all spells and range attacks. In a situation where you need to get rid of them quickly, the correct answer is to go in.” As soon as Beth said this, Jace caught the Warrior’s hammer and sent him flying in one blow. The lights of teleportation signify an instant knockout. After that, Jace was knocked away by another Warrior’s Smash move.

“Ah, he should be careful of that. If his body was normal, he could have died right there. Why is he catching Smash instead of dodging it? He is fast enough to dodge it” Kim said, confusion visible on her face. She looked at Beth and saw something unexpected. Hurt.

“.......…” Beth said nothing

“Ahhh……….I touched on a topic that I shouldn't have” Kim was sweating from nervousness. She did not even feel this nervous being in the massive brawl a while ago. These two obviously loves each other, but they seem to be keeping their own secrets, not unusual in the magic world. However that doesn't make it any less difficult to start a sincere relationship.

In the arena, Jace ran away from everyone chasing him to the corner of the arena. He is holding a lump of metal in his hands. Beth saw what he was about to do and quickly pushed Kim down to the ground.

“Put up a mana barrier, as much mana as you can,” Beth said as she did the same.

“What?! Why?” Kim protested but still did it anyway. Kim has not seen Jace use this spell since the chimera fight.

“Railgun” Jace's voice could somehow be heard by the entire academy, as if Miss Harlet wished to amplify his voice.

Silence. It felt like nothing had happened. Then the audience noticed small black holes all over the arena, the group of contestants in front of Jace had them as well. Only one second passed before it began. Explosions, massive lines of explosions originating from Jace and spreading out like a spider web. The Sound of electricity was so loud that the audience felt like they were in the middle of a thunderstorm. Intense wind blew away all the massive tiles in the arena. Everything was annihilated, turning to dust.

When the smoke cleared, every other contestant was gone, only Miss Harlet, Sir Windshear, Sir Runic, and even Duke Feng were standing in what used to be the arena. The arena itself which had isolation runes around it had been broken to pieces, and the gym outside suffered damage as well. The decision to levitate the audience stands probably saved thousands of lives today. The audience was silent, the devastation below them was no longer a fun spectacle. They felt fear.

The area where Kim and Beth are hiding is completely unharmed. Jace’s arms are a little red but not shredded to pieces like last time.

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“What the hell is that?!?!?! The isolation Rune separates the object or space into another dimension. That spell tore through two dimensions?” The group of dwarfs and researchers almost jump into the arena to capture Jace, but they are unable to breach the Isolation Rune on the audience stand.

“Capture him goddamn it!” The old dwarf yelled at his group before the whole group was teleported away by fog.

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“Goddamn it kid, you are banned from using that spell. Everyone would die from that if they were not at the master level, and most masters would die from that as well. Good thing we were quick to teleport everyone out.” Miss Harlet punched him in the head over and over again. Jace felt nothing. “Don't commit mass murder in my tournament! A few deaths are unavoidable, but mass murder like this is not ok! Understand?” She continues to punch him in the head to no effect.

The rest of the masters looked at him with various emotions. Sir Runic’s eyes are curious. Sir Windshear laughed and said something about not having eyes. Miss Harlet is making a scene and complaining but her eyes only show mischief. The last person is the famous Duke Feng.

Jace walked up to him and bowed low.

“It's a pleasure to meet you again, benefactor. I did not forget the kindness you have shown me in the past.” Jace looks at him with determined eyes.

“We have met before?” Duke Feng was surprised. How could he forget such magnificent talent? And how could he not have recruited him?

Jace lifts his chin for the good Duke to see. An extremely faint scar, almost invisible to the naked eye runs along his throat. Duke Feng’s eyes shook, and his face turned solemn

“I see. You are that child. Let's talk after this.” The four masters disappeared from the arena.

“Wow, I don't know what to say. Um, group 16 winner, Jace Farsea, The God of Thunder!” One of the Foxy three stammered to announce.

“What? Did he get another nickname? I don't even have one!” Kim complained.