It took some time until Mark arrived with the students, arriving exactly a quarter of an hour ahead of time. Mark is punctual, he does not like to waste time at all, and he does not come to the appointment until a quarter of an hour before.

'Finally the guest of honor, Mr. Mark himself, arrived.'

'You know me, Mr. Ederson. The accuracy of my appointments is important to me.'

Maximus and Albus got up from their seats and took each a side of the room as his students followed. They each gave advice to their students and then returned to where they were sitting.

'Don't attack recklessly; we don't want to cause injuries in their ranks. You can do it.'

'Attack without hesitation, do not fear injuries on their side, show your best.'

The goal of these two tips was to make the match more balanced between the two parties. The two teachers looked at each other and decided that the order of the fights would be from weakest to strongest. Both called out to the participant in the first match. Eric and seventh-ranked.

Both took aside and were ready to start the match. Even after the start signal, Eric did not rush contrary to expectations. He was thinking about the safest way to beat his rival that is using a spear, he had two options: the dagger or the bow. Using the dagger against a spear user involves many risks, the most important of which is the vast difference in the range of the weapon, as for the bow, how can he defeat his opponent if he does not hit him with arrows.

Eric remained five meters away from his opponent and watched his style to identify gaps.

"How can he mock me? I'll pierce you with my spear at all costs."

Eric's behavior infuriated his opponent, which led to the acceleration of the pace of the fight little by little, as the pace of fighting increased; the opponent's gaps became clearer, as he largely abandoned his defense and caution. The problem now was how to exploit that loophole.

"Will an explosive arrow work? I'll blow it up near his foot and then jump over his head the moment he covers his eyes and kick him to the ground and win."

Eric gradually reduced the distance between them, 5 meters, 4 meters, 3 meters, at that moment he fired an explosive arrow on the ground between him and his rival. A smoke curtain formed between the two following the explosion.

"Where is he now? Let's back down until he appears."

He took two steps back, came out of the smoke, and turned left and right, but could not find his opponent.

'Look up.'

Eric warned him that he was above him and as soon as he raised his head, he received a kick on the nape that made him hit his face to the ground. He tried to stand up quickly to rectify the situation, but Eric had carried an arrow on his bow and it was pointed at his opponent's head.

'Sorry but it's my victory, good game.'

Eric helped him stand up and the two shook hands.

'Great game you too. I learned from it about one of my mistakes, thanks.'

Both returned to their seats and there was controversy among students from each side.

'Well done little one, your idea is good and doesn't hurt your opponent. Just as the teacher requested.'

'Very good performance, it's hard to beat such a trick if you don't have this.'

Dante praised him for his performance, then Orion, who pointed to his blue eye 'mana sensor', which is the first thing the teacher taught them, as it works like a thermal vision scope, but senses mana instead and in exactly the same principle.

..........

On the other hand, the academy's earners were between dazzled by Eric's performance and blaming their colleague for his loss.

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'How can you lose against an archer? He didn't even need to hit you with an arrow.'

'Why did you lower your defenses in the middle of the fight? This is a fatal mistake.'

He tried to justify to his teammates why he lost as he understood what was happening only after the fight was over.

'It's not like I'm weak, that boy is very strong. During the first half of the fighting he was only keeping up with my pace, in the second half when the distance between us started to decrease it was because he deliberately slowed down.'

Some looked at him with wonder, except for the top three seeds, who noticed it and did not talk about it.

'Also, his kick is stronger than you expect. As if it were a wall, I did not even have a chance. We'll see your performance and what you say after you fight.'

.........

'What do you think, Director?'

Maximus asked the director Albus and waited for a specific response.

'What to say? He didn't even have a chance.'

'Let me tell you something, Director, 3 percent of outstanding academy students and 11 percent of average students after graduation die from accidents because they can't remedy their weaknesses.'

'Where did you get these statistics from?'

'From one of my previous researches, it's really a problem. You should add lessons to correct weaknesses and recommend them in the third year before they develop their personal fighting style as it becomes harder to remedy.'

'You're right; I'll discuss with the professors and work on this idea.'

The two ended their small conversation and each called out to the next contender. Mira on the side of Maximus and the sixth-ranked on the other.

The two contenders advanced and both were sorcerers but Mira's situation was not favorable at all. A wood and plant magician facing a fire magician is a losing confrontation by all standards, but there is no trick in her hand, as she has several hidden cards compared to her opponent.

"Let's start by studying the situation, my opponent is a fire magician, attacking him is simply not easy. Let's try magic only first, if it doesn't work let's try the second plan."

After the start signal, each prepared his spells and began to release them successively.

The spell of the 'Fire Serpent', a snake began to form and emerged from the magic circle rushing towards Mira. Mira confronted it with the 'Dome of Flowers' spell, the dome caught fire and there was nothing left after she successfully countered the spell.

"I have to stay careful; I don't know what surprises this girl has in store."

"Light and normal defenses will not be useful in this situation, let's try stronger defenses such as wood or root defenses."

Each had his inner thoughts during which he studied his next move and the abilities of his opponent.

Mira has not shown any of her physical abilities yet and has kept pretending to be just a weak witch unable to kill her opponent in a moment of weakness.

Mira remembered the advice the teacher had given them earlier: 'You only show all your abilities from the beginning against two opponents, an opponent whom you are confident of defeating him quickly and save your energy and an opponent that you are not sure you can beat so you take advantage of the opportunity at the beginning. Just show what the situation requires.'

Mira was on the defensive position and occasionally firing offensive spells. The 'wooden stakes' spell, wooden pegs like spears numbering close to twenty, set off successively towards the opponent.

Burning it was not enough to destroy it, forcing the opponent to dodge for the first time in the fight.

This moment was a turning point in the fight as the roles were reversed for the first time since the five minutes that passed in the fight.

"Damn, I'm at a disadvantage. So far, she has only been appeasing my pace."

"His defensive spells are starting to weaken; I'll break into his defensive field in the next attack myself."

This time, Mira formed a miniature spell, the 'Front Line Shield' is a long head-toe shield commonly used in fortress sieges to protect vanguard soldiers from arrows and shells, and has higher durability than average shields.

Mira with this shield rushed with her left arm towards the opponent who did not understand what had just happened.

The opponent's mana was running out and his unfinished defensive spell could not withstand the rush of Mira, who broke the shield and continued until she hit the opponent with the shield, knocked him to the ground and directed her magic staff, which was in her right hand, towards his neck.

She stopped pumping the mana into the magic shield, which then faded and helped the opponent stand up. He did not understand what had just happened.

"Is the game over? What a pity for me."

'Good game, thank you for participating.'

'No thanks for duty; your performance was also fantastic.'

Both contenders returned to their seats but were different, with one holding his head up in pride and the other dragging the tails of defeat.

The two games were fun but everyone was looking forward to the next games more and more...