The teachers and the director looked with admiration at the strategy in the last fight. It was good but it raised a question among them.

'Max, is this girl really a witch? She's as strong as a bear.'

'Is that your question? How much is her mana capacity? She doesn't even look exhausted.'

Ederson and Emily posed two questions to Maximus, as they did not understand what had happened in the previous two fights.

'The answer to the first question is that I trained them all the same physical training, most of them are of a similar strength or superior to these two. As for your question, Emily, it is a secret that you will know tomorrow at the auction meeting that I invite you all to attend.'

'Mr. Albus, is he like this all the time?'

'You don't seem to really know him, Mark. It is much worse than this. He'll keep you glued to him out of curiosity for as long as he wants.'

Maximus sighed after hearing the two talk behind his back, and then announced the upcoming fight. The participants were Yoon Hwa and the fifth-ranked and both used only fists.

'Looks like my fight is going to be fun.'

'Using fists to fight is what makes it fun for me, girl.'

'I hope you don't fall from a few punches.'

'Thank you for your interest, but I won't lose that easy.'

The contenders' eyes overflowed with determination to crush an opponent of the same caliber and waited for the signal to engage as if standing on embers. As soon as the fight began, the two rushed crazy.

Both hit hard and their fists collided causing a light shock wave.

'You are not weak then, I won't be afraid to hurt you.'

'These words were stolen from me, I will not tolerate you, girl.'

The two exchanged several punches but the other side was able to counter them. This lasted for seconds before Yoon Hwa grabbed the opponent's arm and lifted him into the air to crush him to the ground. Her attempt failed, and he wrapped her in the air and tossed her towards the wall. Yoon Hwa had a great agility, turned mid-air, and descended on her feet like a cat.

She rushed back at him, making several kicks and tumbling attempts, sometimes targeting the knee and sometimes targeting the ankle. The boy's body was durable and it did not work to deal with him without using mana.

'Sorry about what will happen to you now.'

She said it with a terrifying smile, which gave the opponent's body chills.

"What are you talking about? I shouldn't lose humiliatingly."

While he was thinking, Yoon Hwa charged the mana in her right fist and fired a punch from afar, generating a pressure wave with the same force as the actual punch. The 'air punch' is a long-range skill used by boxers and martial artists to compensate for their weakness in long-range combat.

The opponent parried the punch twice but was unable to block or avoid the third because it was from range zero. It has the ability to penetrate the opponent's defense either with his arms or with armor or shield. A punch directly in his stomach followed the air punch and caused a failure of the opponent's muscles, which made just standing a tedious process. Yoon-Hwa knocked him to the ground in less than ten seconds and he announced his surrender.

He refused her help for him to stand up because it would hurt his pride, which did not prevent him from greeting her before going out, holding his stomach and moaning in pain.

"She's a monster!! I thought I was really going to die of pain."

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'What just happened? The fight was even, how did the result turn so quickly?'

'I myself don't know, but it seems that she didn't use mana in the first half of the fight.'

The game was a bit strange; the top seed realized what was happening now and alerted the rest of his teammates.

'We are just puppets to test their abilities, in the first half of the fight they match our level and then decide the result of the fight in the second half easily.'

'Wow! I did not notice this pattern. It's been repeated during the three rounds played so far.'

The academy's top seeds sighed because they knew what this competition was, but that did not discourage them.

'Even if we are puppets for the show, let's show our best.'

.........

'Do we have to resume games? Don't you think it's one-sided bullying?'

'On the contrary, losing gives motivation to work harder so that it does not recur.'

'Max is right, someone staying at the top for too long makes him rot in his ego and pride.'

Albus raised his hands and said he had no other choice.

'There is no trick, let us complete what is left.'

The two teachers pointed out to the two participants for the upcoming fight. Tai Min and his rival, who used a steel pole, was one of the contenders who put in great performances and participated in the opening match that always makes an impression on the audience.

.........

'I have the honor of confronting you. It's been a while since I encountered someone dealing with a weapon similar to mine.'

'I too am honored by that. Let's do our best.'

The spear duel displays, unlike other weapons, are stylized, with the movements often neat and the transition between movements seamless. The spear is a good weapon in both attack and defense, throwable and gives greater freedom of movement than its counterparts, its disadvantage is difficult to master, its methods are complex and require coordination between different parts of the body and the imbalance of any of them leads to fatal gaps.

The opponent rushed recklessly towards Tai Min, waved his pole and covered the whole range in front of him; Tai Min had no choice but to parry. The attack was as heavy as if it were a bull's rush. Several attacks followed, but Tai Min began to adapt to his opponent's style, and the direction of the opponent's attack became easier to twist with the exchange of attacks.

"The second phase has begun, he said. He was complacent about me and testing my style and abilities. The situation will turn around soon."

The two rivals kept exchanging blows for half a minute but the equivalence between the two rivals began to be disturbed as the balance of power shifted towards Tai Min. By twisting the direction of the attack, he deviated his opponent's hits, which required more effort to recover it, and this was the fault of the opponent who did not even have the ability to respond.

Fatigue became evident on the opponent with his grip loose; Tai Min took advantage of this weakness and disarmed his opponent, who in turn surrendered after being completely exhausted.

'It's my loss, good game. But how did you become so skilled?'

'Your skills and style are good but you don't realize your opponent's abilities, although I deflected your attack every time you didn't think about taking a countermeasure. Thus your loss was inevitable.'

Tai Min, who holds his spear on his shoulder, turned triumphantly back to his comrades, leaving his opponent to reflect on the advice he gave to him while holding his pole and then returning to his place as well.

.........

'How can your disciples be so skilled? Even Mark is amazed at your student's skills.'

'The headmaster is right, even experts from five stars are not that skilled. How did you teach them this in a month?'

'He learned it by himself, I didn't teach him that. To tell you something, I did not teach any of them how to fight, I only taught them the basics and they adjusted them according to the circumstances and needs. Everything you have seen is the result of their efforts.'

'Stop talking nonsense, it's impossible. There is a way or method you used.'

'Ah, the way. I did not do anything special. I fight them daily to the death with the intention of really killing them. Their survival instincts are what helped them develop so far.'

'Damn, I thought you're a little crazy but you're completely out of your mind. And even despicable.'

What Maximus said shocked everyone, the training he did seemed hell in the eyes of his colleagues who could not even find what to say.

'My dear friend Albus, tell them about that basillesque that I brought a while ago. It is true that I killed it, but these students survived his fight for more than forty minutes.'

'You are a monster; I will never let you approach the students of my academy.'

Their faces were filled with mixed feelings between disgust from Maximus and pity for his disciples...