With the shimmer of early morning dew and the songs from countless birds, a new day arrived.

I and everyone else made our ways outside, to where the captain and Grav had set up something new.

There was a tournament board with names plastered on it, and beside it, was a large square tiled area. It was presumably for whatever type of competition this would be.

"Alright everyone! I hope you made good use of your time the past two days, because you'll be using what you learned today and tomorrow!" The captain yelled out.

"We will be hosting a tournament between all fifty trainees! There will be five rounds! The first three will be hand to hand combat only, and the last two will allow magic!" She continued.

"Those who did well during the fitness test at the beginning of the week have been seeded already, meaning you get to skip the first round of combat!" She explained. I looked at the board and realized I had been seeded already, as did Casimir, who was on the opposite side of the board.

"Without wasting anymore time, let the first two begin!" The captain shouted out. Afterwards, two trainees got into the square and began to attack each other.

It was pretty even, but I could tell neither of them were particularly well-versed in combat, this was probably the first fight either had been in.

After a while, the fight ended. The coming first round fights were pretty similar.

Casimir ended his fight quick, the other guy he went against didn't stand a chance.

That blue haired elf from a couple days ago was also pretty good.

Eventually It was time for my first fight. My opponent was a brown-haired demon, and he looked a little scared.

When the round was started, I stood my ground, waiting for him to make a move. He cautiously moved his way along the outskirts of the arena. When he was closer, he began to rush at me.

He was raising his fist to attack, but when he got in range to strike, I stepped to the side and he whiffed his punch. Using the opening, I did a swift low kick to his shins, and it knocked his legs out from under him.

I then put a knee onto his chest and readied an attack to his head.

"WAIT! WAIT! I SURRENDER!" My opponent shouted out. I was startled at first, but I got up and he scurried off the tiled zone. After that I was declared the winner.

The rest of the second round went by, and Casimir and the blue haired elf passed on to the next round.

It was time for my next fight, the first of the third round.

My opponent this time around was the healer girl from earlier. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about fighting a girl, but she must've gotten this far for a reason.

"Begin!" The captain yelled out. This caused the healer girl to dart towards me, with surprising speed.

I put up my hands to block, and she punched a few times, followed by a tornado kick that slammed into the side of me.

The attacks weren't to heavy but they were frequent. I noticed something however... She was attacking in a pattern.

She must've learned these from the techniques we were given, but only this one. If I interrupted her, she wouldn't have anything to counter.

When she finished one combo and started the next, I put out my arm, blocking her windup and locking her in place. Following up, I grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her towards me.

With an advantage in physical strength, I managed to turn and throw her out of the arena. She rolled a few times before coming to a stop, and with that, I had won my second round.

Once again, the third round went by without much note, and Casimir and the blue haired elf won. Looking closer I realized that my next fight would be against that elf with the blue hair.

But, it was already late, and the day finished with three of the five rounds completed, and tomorrow would consist of magic focused fights.

That probably means I'll have a harder time from now on, but hopefully I'm able to hold out.

I laid in my bed, and tried to come up with ways I could fight against that elf. I think I remember his magic being electricity-based. But, I'm not exactly sure how he uses it in his fights, so I can't be sure any strategies will work.

In the midst of brainstorming, I heard something from outside. It wasn't free training anymore, so people shouldn't really be outside.

Getting up out of bed, I check out what's making the noise. In the far distance, down the road leading into the training grounds, I can see tree tops rustling quite violently. I can't see anything that would be causing it, and after a while, it stops and the distant noise is gone.

What is that thing? Is it what's been making those noises in the middle of the night? I turn to see if Casimir heard it, but he was still fast asleep. If whatever was out there is the same thing making those noises, then it's been getting closer.

I get back in bed, and stop trying to think about it. Nothing should try to attack this place, otherwise they'd be facing off with a horde of soon-to-be guards, and the captain, who is in a completely different league.

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Eventually, the sun rose and we all eagerly went outside to either watch, or partake in the fights.

I could tell something was different this time around, instead of one arena, there were now two.

"I'm sure you've noticed the change! This is to keep participants from both learning whoever the final contestants fighting style is like, and getting an uneven amount of rest time between fights!" The captain explained, this made sense actually. Otherwise, someone would have to fight semi-finals and finals back to back."

"Beginning today's bouts: Gen! versus... Hermis! Alongside Casimir! against..." The captain announced the fights loudly. I guess Hermis is his name.

"Let the fight... Begin!" She yelled out.

With that, Hermis began to bolt around the arena. I wasn't able to keep track of where he was.

He was faster than all the other elves I've seen or fought so far. I could only make out streaks of electricity where he was a second earlier.

Without realizing he was behind me, I felt something hit the back of my head, sending me stumbling forward. This was followed up by an attack to my chest, which knocked me to the ground.

I was stuck blocking my head from attacks while on the ground, face down. I could feel punches and kicks all over my body at the same time.

It feels like I'm fighting ten people at once, but that's just how fast Hermis is. No matter what, there wasn't an opening.

With no other option, I slowly rose up, and began to swing around me. He probably saw everything I threw at him coming from a mile away. Nothing landed, and I was still being hit.

Eventually, there was a loud electric hum buzz, seemingly coming from Hermis. Alongside the noise, his attacks started to shock me. At first it felt like static, but eventually it caused my muscles to convulse from the shocks. This made me gradually lose my guard.

"Use your magic!" I could make out people screaming this at me. I would if I could. But right now, my mana is just barely enough to keep me standing.

The shocks, even though they had mana, were in such short bursts that it left me before I could make use of it.

Primal mana was forcing its way through my body to heal bruises made from Hermis, and I could feel something strange begin to happen.

The mana from the shocks was being pulled in faster. My primal mana was causing me to increase my mana absorption, but it still would only last a little after each shock.

I cleared my mind of thoughts, only paying attention to when and where the attacks were coming from.

Not yet...

The attacks continued to increase in speed.

Just a little longer...

An attack landed on my left arm.

This is my chance!

With the tiny portion of mana, I shot my arm out, where the attack came from, and grabbed at what looked like empty air.

But to my surprise, I had caught hold of something... It was Hermis' shoulder, and my grip wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

He had a shocked look on his face, before becoming concern as I balled my fist and launched a punch directly towards him.

His struggling was hopeless, as my fist landed right between his eyes, knocking him backwards and causing him to lose consciousness.

As my fight ended, I looked over at Casimir's fight, only to see him staring right back at me, and standing above his opponent.

I guess we both finished our fights around the same time.

"With that, our winners and finalists have been decided!" The captain yelled out.

"If both participants are ready, we can begin the final match!" She continued.

Me and Casimir both nodded, and we prepared to start our fight.

"I saw you fighting a little bit, why didn't you use your magic?" He asked me, getting into a fighting stance.

"It's a long story, maybe I'll tell you sometime." I reply, a smirk on my face as I also get ready to begin.

"Let the final round, Begin!" The captain yelled out.

Casimir's body begin to have a faint glow, and with it, a wooden suit of armor began to cover him. leaving nothing exposed.

"What the?" I say to myself as Casimir rushes me down.

He throws a punch, I'm able to block it, and throw one of my own.

He dodges around it and lands a jumping punch on the side of my head. It knocks me aside as I try to regain my balance.

When he tries to punch me again, I push his hand away, redirecting his strike into the ground.

Thinking fast, I drive my knee into his face, It knocks him back, but his armor is still intact.

He gets back up and we begin a heated exchange of blows.

I punch, he dodges under. He low kicks, I step back.

I throw a haymaker, He gets close and stops the swing. He headbutts me, I whip my head aside and catch him in a head lock.

Trying to break through his armor, I begin to punch him in the side, but the wood is harder than it looks.

Without me realizing, Casimir manages to pick me up and slam me to the ground. With him on top of me, he begins to attack me from above, preventing me from getting up.

His punches are heavy, even more so than the captain's. My body aches from each strike. Yet, despite this... I'm excited.

My mana is flowing like never before. It's working overtime, trying to keep me in peak condition.

I can feel it...

A spark inside my core... It's burning to escape, but I still can't figure out how.

The energy is overflowing, I've never felt anything like it. It's like I've just seen a glimpse of the sun after a life of darkness.

I can see everything so easily.

Casimir's punch comes cascading down towards me. I can tell it's a force rivaling even that of the bear I met when I first came to this world.

But even still, It seems so small...

I grab his arm, stopping it in its tracks. The wood on his forearm splinters as I tighten my grip.

Quickly throwing him off of me, we both stand back up and ready for an attack.

Before he can attack me, I rush at him, putting one hand on his shoulder, and the other grabbing the collar of his breastplate.

Pulling hard, the wood cracked and ripped from the rest of his armor, leaving his torso exposed.

Using the same hand, I drove my fist into the center of his chest, leaning into the punch to give it more force. The attack sent him blasting him backwards.

As he rolled on the ground and slowly came to a stop, his armor had dissipated and fallen off. When he sat up, Casimir noticed his hand had gone outside of the ring. He looked back at me, then hung his head down in defeat and sighed.

I felt great, the energy rushing through me was unlike anything I've felt. It wasn't unstable either, I used my nail to cut my finger slightly, and saw that my blood was normal.

"Gen Justarios is the winner!" The captain shouted.

"Everyone who didn't win, start thinking about what you did wrong and FIX IT!" She continued. Everyone else relaxed and began to talk amongst themselves.

I helped Casimir up, and ensured he was alright.

"Damn, are you sure that wasn't magic? It felt like a horse kicked me..." Casimir said.

"Oh sorry about that, I might've gotten a little carried away." I say, chuckling as Casimir dusted himself off.

We were all cleaning up after the tournament when something strange began to happen. A thick fog rolled in, covering the training grounds in a matter of minutes.

"Woah, what's with this weird fog?" I ask Casimir.

He didn't respond, he just had an expression of pure terror, looking towards where the fog had come from. I looked around at others and everyone else had a similar expression. All except the captain, who had a more serious expression than normal.

Before I could ask her what the big deal was, I felt something similar to when I met the captain for the first time. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt my blood run cold.

A loud, bellowing roar came echoing out from the trees, the same one that started a few nights ago. But now, it was just beyond the trees, and it was getting closer...