'I greet everyone present at this meeting.'

Everyone turned to the area where the headmaster was standing, no one expected him to attend this occasion personally due to the absence of important figures who will attend, as far as most of them knew.

Upon checking, they realized that there were guests next to him and that is what prompted him to attend as the highest position holder in the academy.

'On this day, we will witness the mid-term finals with a special guest, Anastasia the sword of the Sun.'

Between the dazzle and cheers of today's special guest, Anna turned out to be very popular among students and many wanted to learn from her and her experiences.

'Today she came to visit as a former student of the Academy to witness this event. Give a warm applause to our guest.'

Cheers in various terms among the audience: You are wonderful; please teach me, I hope to be like you... and other terms of her fans.

She also stepped forward to give a word as guest of honor.

'I was honored to attend this competition at the invitation of a friend. I hope that the matches live up to my expectations and thanks for the participants and their efforts, and to the audience for their cheers for me. Thank you.'

The chants and shouts continued for more seconds until they subsided when the supervisor entered the center of the ring with a loudspeaker in his hand and a list of the names of the participants and their scheduled matches. According to their results, their progress for the next match is determined or not and their points tally is increased or decreased accordingly.

The first rounds started minutes later and the matches did not last long due to the different skills between the opponents, who will meet later in the last rounds. Most of the participants were in the top fifty with some exceptions from the first hundred.

'They are doing well but a lot of them have obvious gaps in their style. Am I the only one who noticed this?'

Tai Min had analyzed the many matches they have watched so far, gave his impression and asked the rest what they thought.

'You're right; sometimes I don't know how the adversary doesn't notice these loopholes.'

'The problem is not only this; the force they use is not even a little thing.'

Maximus intervened in the small conversation to correct the mentality of his disciples.

'Don't compare others to you, you've been specially trained and exposed to many life-and-death situations, gaps are healed by fights where you risk injury.'

Albus also participated to add a few words to what their teacher already said.

'As your teacher said, if you train all your life and don't suffer injuries and defeats, you won't realize your mistakes.'

They lowered their heads and apologized for their mistake from the teacher and principal.

'Your apology is acceptable, but what you have spoken about is true. We are some of the best in education but we cannot give you practical experience and this is the role of post-graduation. You have to explore yourself and delve deeper into it to correct your mistakes and rise to higher levels.'

'As you have heard, sometimes you don't need to make mistakes to learn your lesson. You can learn from other people's mistakes and remember to avoid them and that's also a way to learn.'

'Understood, Master!'

.........

After the last fight was over, the overseer of the fights announced the start of the quarterfinals of the top ten contenders so far.

'Ladies and gentlemen, we now start the quarter-finals with the first match between the eighth-ranked and the fourth-ranked one. Let the two competitors enter the ring.'

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The two competitors went up to the ring and the fourth-ranked boy took the right side and the eighth-ranked girl took the left side of the superintendent.

The girl raised her weapon consisting of two long single-edged daggers towards her rival making the tips of the daggers touch.

'The result will be different this time, I have prepared a way to defeat you and my goal is to reach the top three ranks.'

The boy's weapon was a steel pole two meters long and four centimeters in diameter. He hit it in the ground several times and then responded to the girl.

'Don't raise your hopes too much, the fall hurts more than you expect.'

Both were prepared and at the referee's signal, the two rushed towards each other and the competitiveness was burning in their eyes. The girl was very nimble compared to the boy and distracted him by throwing one of her daggers at him and then attacking from behind while he was blocking the attack. Her tactic seemed successful, but she made a mistake as he waved the pole, deflecting the dagger and changing the path to hit the girl at the same time.

She backed down at the last moment after noticing her tactic was exposed.

'Cheap tricks won't work; maybe an innovative idea might work. Try more.'

'I was just trying my luck; I'm not that easy opponent.'

The dagger that flew into the air fell directly into her hand and she picked it up.

"Two-stages tactics won't work on an experienced opponent; I'll try a three-stages tactic."

.........

'Their fight is much better than previous fights.'

'The reason is obvious; you need a good opponent to show good skills. Fighting a weak opponent is not a criterion of skills.'

Dante responded to Tai min without moving his eyes out of the competitors in the ring.

The fighting was raging and the boys were discussing the tactics of both sides and analyzing gaps in their style and there were limited gaps, but they remained gaps after all and could cause death in the real fights.

.........

The fight ended with the boy winning thanks to his long weapon’s range, as he managed to achieve a blow that slowed down his opponent's movements and ensured his qualification for the next round.

----------------------------------

The fights continued at the same pace, none of the rivals could break the rankings once. The result of the match was almost decided according to the classification of the competitors due to a clear difference in skills and experience between them.

'They're all doing well, they have the techniques and the skills but the gaps are very obvious. Even if three of them cooperate against me, I am sure I will defeat them without needing my sword.'

'The top three are different from the rest but that doesn't change the fact that they are a bit weaker than us.'

'How will it be determined who will compete with? Are we the ones who will choose, or the teacher, or will it be done randomly?'

The team asked a well-placed question to which the manager replied:

'I will choose one and your teacher will choose who competes with him. I don't think it's a problem.'

The two agreed on how to compete tomorrow and only the final remained. The second-ranked was an ice magician who beat the rest of the rivals and the first was a hammer knight and did not participate in any games because he was the first.

'This weapon is uncommon and difficult to use, especially against fast opponents, but one blow is capable of ending the fight.'

Maximus turned to his students, began to talk about the weapon of the first-ranked and its advantages and disadvantages, and then asked them a tricky question to test their analytical abilities.

'The war hammer is an excellent weapon against huge opponents such as Golems, Giants and others, but its main drawback is the heavy weight. My question to you is, how did this boy get the first place with this weapon despite its many flaws, especially in individual competitions?'

Each of them searched of an answer that would satisfies the teacher, but there is no trick in hand, they have never seen the style of fighting using the hammer of war, and this cannot be analyzed by a theoretical aspect. Dante had more experience than the rest, but he also did not see a Warhammer user, but he saw similar weapons.

'The answer is one of three: either his strength is overwhelming, either his defense is fortified or he is fast enough to compensate for his weakness.'

Albus, who was watching the game and listening to the boys talk behind him, marveled at Dante's answer that hit the heart but continued to listen to the conversation that entertained him.

'Your answer is correct, but which one?'

Dante whispered to them for a moment and then answered the question.

'I think it is speed, even if the force is overwhelming, against an opponent who is faster than you are, it is meaningless if you can’t strike him. Defense cannot be immune because it is still a student and its level of strength is limited.'

Albus laughed at Dante's critical answer and applauded him.

'Good analysis, he has a great speed that compensates for most of the weapon's weaknesses, and even makes it more dangerous.'

.........

The match lasted for less than five minutes, during which the first was able to avoid ice attacks, smash it to pieces and shoot it back at his opponent, which led to injuries and exhaustion of his mana and slowly to his loss.

'Good game, buddy, I am looking forward to our next fight.'

The top-ranked helped his rival stand up after falling from the final blow.

'Thank you dude, I couldn't beat you again. I have to train harder.'

'You didn’t forget tomorrow?'

'No, I haven't forgotten. I'm looking forward to seeing these competitors and their level very much.'

'We'll see who performs better then.'

The two left the ring after the supervisor announced the new ranking of the top ten in which only the last three places changed. Albus gave a closing speech, the competition was concluded, and what remained only was to announce the new top hundred ranking, which will be later this evening after some discussions between the teachers and supervisors in charge of the competitions...