Competition Starts

The night passed and the sun was back in the clear sky.

Max was currently lined up in front of the academy alongside other students. They were lined up in eight rows, split up depending on what class they were in. They were all first years.

Max was looking around curious about the potential adversaries. He knew a little about each of his classmates but didn't know a lot about the others as he wasn't able to meet them yet. He didn't see anyone that looked incredibly strong, there were individuals that looked confident in their abilities but so were Mark and Max so that quality isn't something too scary.

"Is everyone present?" A tall person clad in a white suit asked while looking at the bunch of teenagers in front of him.

"Yes vice-president, all of the one hundred and sixty first-years are present for today." A man with a notebook said.

"Alright then, I think we should get started then" With a nod the man began walking a bit closer to the group of people.

He began calling names and separating the group of individuals into two. Max and Mark were now in their respective divisions, separated from each other.

"My name is Azel and I'll overlook the fights of the individuals from the first division. I can assure everyone that each of you can use your full power against each other, once a fight looks finished either I or the other supervisor will end it without anyone getting hurt." The man in white, Azel, said.

"As the vice-president just said, you can fight to your heart's content, we will be sure that none of you will be crippled. My name is Phil and I'll mainly overlook fights for the people inside the second division." Phil said. He had a firm and reassuring smile which put some of the student's doubts to rest.

The two groups of students were then escorted by the two, brought behind the academy where all the official fighting arenas were situated. There were eight arenas and they were split evenly between the two groups.

"Eight battles will happen all at once, four battles from the first division and four battles from the second division," Phil said after arriving next to the arenas. They were spacious dug holes in the ground. It seemed like the fighting would take inside these pit-style arenas.

"We will select random individuals to step into the ring and fight, once the battle is concluded the two are free to leave. The winners of the battles are required to come back the next day otherwise they are unqualified. Best of luck to everyone, let's now select the first participants. Division one please listen to me while division two listen to Phil." Azel said while scanning two papers in his hand.

Seeing Azel, Phil did the same, and shortly after they began randomly choosing students to face each other.

Phil finished naming eight people, Mark luckily wasn't participating in the first fights. As Azel named the seventh person that will be fighting, Max felt his heart tighten.

"Seventh person, Max Edward will be facing off against the eighth person, George Herbert" Azel finished talking, and as he did there were lots of relieved heaves sounding from the first division.

Max wasn't aware of the fact that Mark snickered, laughing at his tragedy.

Max and another unknown student walked forwards towards the fourth arena that the first division had. Max looked at George, he was a tall individual, really tall in fact for his age. He was almost two meters in height looking like a giant ready to step over his adversary which was Max.

Max looked towards the individual and his nerves calmed down, the only one he could see, down with him in the pit, was George. He wasn't able to hear anything else than the footsteps they both made while making their way towards the middle of the arena. Max felt relieved, he couldn't hear distractions and wasn't able to see any either. It was an optimal place to fight and as long he would be careful, then he knows that if he lost it only meant that the opponent was stronger than him.

Max only brought his shield with him, relying only on his fighting style alongside Matt that he developed over the two years they have been together. George on the other hand had a single, humongous, double-handed battle axe in his hands. It looked appropriately measured when looking at his height, but when you compared the axe with Max then it was almost as big as him.

"Everyone get ready to fight" The voice of Azel suddenly was heard inside Max's mind, it felt as if Matt was talking to him.

Both Max and George got into their fighting stances, George laid low with along his axe while Max leisurely held his shield with his right hand.

Such a relaxed approach might've earned some laughs from the people spectating from above but Max couldn't hear them, but George, who could see the small and relaxed on Max's face, felt intimidated.

"Start!" Azel was heard once again and George charged straight towards Max at full speed.

Max stood there waiting for him as he closed the distance between them easily with huge and swift steps. George swung his axe with force at Max, he knew that if something was to happen he wouldn't be blamed for it.

At the same time, Max placed his shield forward while swiftly digging his feet into the ground. Along with a strong vibration, Max felt the pressure from George's attack. His feet dug a bit more into the ground as the earth underneath Max cracked a little.

George felt afraid, Max, along with his shield, felt like an immovable mountain. His body didn't falter and he was barely pushed backward despite the force behind his attack. It was even worse was that Max just stood there waiting for his attack, as if testing him.

'His breathing is so rampant' Max thought as he used the basic breathing technique he had been training with for a few weeks. Max pushed George's axe towards him easily with the help of his shield, and along with his axe, George lost his balance. He fell forward and that is when Max swung his shield towards George's face.

George felt the wind that was coming alongside the strike that Max made. It was too fast for him to avoid in this situation. He closed his eyes and as he did, a huge amount of pain was felt before he lost consciousness amid flying towards the walls of the pit.

Max looked towards him, still not moving but carefully examining George. It didn't look like he left him with any flesh wounds or internal ones, but he will surely feel his face ache for a while.

He waited for a bit and some individuals wearing black clothes came into the pit and swiftly moved towards George. They checked his pulse and then nodded above, signaling that the individual is just passed out.

"Congratulations to you, Max Edward for defeating your opponent for today. You can now leave the arena and relax until tomorrow," Azel said, impressed by Max. He was able to use the breathing technique while not fully concentrating on it while also his physique was quite sturdy from the looks of it. Both of those factors could be earned through hard work, which is why he congratulated Max.

As Azel said that, stairs began emerging from the wall leading out of the pit. Max made his way up the stairs and as he did people began backing away from his surroundings. He still held the shield in his hands and as he reached the top he finally placed it on his back. If anyone attacked him he was sure that Matt would defend him either way, he just wanted to keep the real ability of Matt hidden for a while longer.

As he didn't hold his shield anymore, everyone around him felt a bit more at ease. The other six competitors still have a rough time fighting each other but Max finished his fight in one swing with the help of that shield. Who would want to be around Max holding it now?

He looked around and saw that nobody finished their fights inside his division which made Max feel at ease, there weren't any extremely powerful individuals in the first batch of the fights at least. He looked towards the four arenas that division two students occupied.

Just as what happened to Max, a girl with white hair emerged from the pit as people backed away from her, leaving her space to walk through. Similar to Max she looked around within her division and soon her eyes landed on Max. He obviously just ascended from the pit as people were still backed away from him as well. She smirked then turned away, walking towards the dorms.

'The team fight might be interesting if I reach until there' Max also laughed bitterly as he headed towards the second division fights, he was going to watch Mark fight as he also watched Max.