The next duels went as expected, but you could see the exhaustion from the day before on almost all the contestants, as their magic regeneration hadn´t been able to replenish all of it. Expect it seems for Ranbor who destroyed his opponent with overwhelming firepower, showing no sign of any kind of exhaustion or even reducing his energy output, and Mor slowly got scared of that much power.

°Something is up!° The human said.

°Yes, I think so too, but there is no technique or potion, that could replenish that kind of power in such a short duration.° Mor explained.

°I have a bad feeling about this.° The human said.

Mor´s next fight was against another higher noble, but at least none of Ranbors flunkies, and in true noble fashion he just stood there relying purely on his magic power.

°Well, if he wants to be like that, I will not complain.° The human stated and Mor agreed with a chuckle.

Mor dodged the first attack and retaliated with a "Rock throw" of himself, which got blocked by an earth thorn of the noble. Mor was surprised for just a second, as the noble smiled, making a multi-thorn attack on Mor.

The dodge was a close one, and again his robe was damaged, this time luckily without completely shredding it.

°He doesn´t take this seriously at all!° The human complained. °Time to step up our game, and show him why this is a bad idea. Time for spray and pray!° The human added and Mor grinned.

The noble looked confused for a second at this commoner's behavior, and then a hail of twenty rocks, flew from Mor starting a quick barrage. The noble tried to block this onslaught but had to throw himself to the ground cursing to not get hit. Mor laughed.

°Five rocks left.° The human informed Mor.

°Time to end this quickly.° Mor said, channeling enhancement magic for his legs again and closed the distance in a mad sprint, almost running fully into a quickly set up stone lance. He could reduce his speed somewhat, but still took a hit to his stomach and fell to the ground gasping.

The noble smiled, assured of his victory.

"That´s what you get for underestimating someone of noble descent, be proud that you lost so someone as great as me. No matter how hard you train, you will never reach someone of noble descent!" The noble said.

°Is he really holding a monologue now?° The human exclaimed surprised.

°Seems like it, still that blow hurt!° Mor agreed still groaning from the hit.

°Is he stupid? We only get more time to recover!° The human complained.

°Be thankful for this, or we would have lost right now. Any other of the soul-kin would be knocked out cold from this, our physical training once again proves very handy.° Mor answered and took hold of another rock.

°Why are nobles all this prideful and stupid... Takes out all the fun of this.° The human complained further and Mor slowly got on his knees.

"I see you still have not enough commoner, so let me teach you another lesson." The noble said haughty and then fell over like a sack of potatoes as Mors magically accelerated stone and hit directly on the chin.

°Ow, that must have really hurt.° The human said, and if they had still a body they would have whinced.

°I couldn´t aim better, with the time I had.° Mor complained.

°Yeah, I know, good thing there is healing magic if not he would only get liquid food for a long time.° The human answered.

°Well one more win, in the bag. How many are left?° The human asked and Mor answered.

°We are now under the top 50, so probably four to five rounds?°

With a bit of pain, on the now bruising spot, Mor limped back to his waiting room and was led by a teacher back to the stands, where he crumpled exhausted into his seat, trying to get in a quick nap.

"Excuse me? Could we switch seats?" A voice asked, but Mor was too exhausted to even open his eyes.

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"Yes of course!" came the reply and Mor was relieved, that the question was not directed at him.

Suddenly a warmth flowed into his body, reducing the pain and getting rid of the nausea, that had plagued him, he slowly opened his eyes and looked into the face of Clare, concentrating on a healing spell.

"What are you doing?" Mor sat up from his "lounging" position.

"Healing you, that hit must have really hurt, but you did very well." She answered him with a bright smile.

"Thank you." Mor said and wondered why the human stayed still at this interaction.

"No problem, just rest, I´m rooting for your win." She answered, and Mor drifted back to a resting nap.

She wouldn´t be able to replenish his energy, but he didn´t use that much and if he didn´t need to get rid of the wounds, before the next round, it would in the long run save him energy.

°Good, we didn´t use healing magic ourselves and rather tried to power through the pain, in case the hurt was not incapacitating for the next round.° The human's comment was the last Mor heard before blackness took him.

Ranbor was in good spirits, his second duel was an overwhelming victory and the blow the peasant caught with his stomach was just plain funny to him. Still, his next round was coming up and he strode to the waiting room without waiting for a teacher to get him, which got him into some trouble, but he gracefully ignored it. As his next round started Ranbor reached deep into his reservoir and ended it again with overwhelming fire. He loved the power he could channel, he was unbeatable even the Sapphire girl had been no match for him, his fiery soul burning with pride. Now he only had to wait until the peasant dropped out or better get to the finale and then be burned to a crisp by him. Yes, today was a good day.

After the third round, more students just dropped out, because they were too exhausted, even when they won. Leaving only about twenty more contestants in the tournament. As Mor got ready for his next fight, feeling much better thanks to Clare healing him the human informed him of Ranbors fight. °He seems to have a limitless supply of energy when using his fire spells, which is scary.° Still they had no more time to ponder all of this, as they were ushered into the Arena.

°Remember, we could not replenish our stones, so only four left.° The human reminded Mor.

°That means we have to take our throws carefully.° Mor said, when they entered the sandy ground their opponent was already waiting.

°Who´s that? He looks so self-assured.° The human asked and

Mor shrugged °I don´t know, again someone from a different class?°

°I always forget you are a friendless recluse, why do I even bother asking anymore?° The human complained.

°I don´t know why you are unable to learn, maybe you are an idiot?° Mor offered in jest and got a sigh from the human in return

°Seems like it...°

Strangely their opponent came towards them, offering up his hand and Mor shook it surprised.

"I looked forward to meeting you Mor Agaton." He said, "I´m Orth of the Obsidian family."

Mor just looked shocked, another high noble? "It is a pleasure for me to, your lordship."

He offered and Orth laughed heartily "Don´t worry about the formality. I´m a big fan of the black knight, so it would be great if we could be friends after this."

Mor looked even more confused, he began to ask who the black knight would be, but the starting gong interrupted him.

"Well let´s do our best!" Orth told Mor and walked back to his side of the Arena.

°What was that?° The human asked, and Mor shrugged.

°Do you know anyone with the title black knight?° The human questioned further and Mor shrugged again.

°Really why do I even ask you...?°

As Orth was in position again, he gave Mor a nod, and again the fight was on. Mor instantly opened up with a "Rock throw" to get in an early hit, which he did, but without any effect, as Orth was instantly protected by an Armor of stone.

°Holy shit, that is cool!° The human exclaimed

°Yes, but what do we do about it? Our stones will do nothing against that!° Mor complained.

°Yeah, we had an error in our strategy, we didn´t plan to get paired up with someone who could do shit like that.° The human agreed.

°Well, let´s keep moving looking for an opening! Nothing else to do.° The human said and they exploded into movement.

As they circled the armored mage, he turned with them and suddenly moved on his own, cutting off their path and letting his giant stony fist slam towards them.

Skidding on his knees, Mor evaded that hit just so, and even got in a quick water spell to damage the armor, which did jack shit. Jumping on his feet again and starting to run again, Mor gained some distance using a wind cut spell next, which at least nicked the stone armor but not penetrated.

°Yes, that´s the way to go, keep our distance and fire this wind magic.° The human said, then the Armor of Orth just repaired the damage.

°Shit° both Mor and the human said simultaneously.

That way the fight went on Mor tried to keep his distance, and using the Air spell as fast as he could, and Orth just shrugging off the damage and trying to smash him into the ground with his Armored fists.

°How is he so fast? That armor should make him a standing target!° The human asked

°He is moving it with his magic of course! Don´t look at it like it is some sort of clothing!° Mor said.

°So it is some kind of Mecha? That´s so cool!° The human said and got a confused °Mecha?° as an answer.

°Not important right now. We need to somehow break through it!° The human told Mor

°And how? We can´t cast any strong enough spell!° Mor asked, and the human came up short.

°Desperate attack? Just pump as much juice as you can into body enhancement and we try it with a fist?° The human put forth and Mor whinced.

°We have no alternative left, but that. Still, I hate it.° Mor complained, but skidded to a halt in his running, turning around and dashing towards Orth, who stopped for a second in surprise. Mor shouted as his fist connected with the stone armor of Orth, using as much power as he could, slowly cracks forming on the stone around his fist and finally breaking, Orth letting out a gasp.

°Serious punch!° The human shouted.