Chapter 21 Combat exam (Part 1)

The battle arena had a total of six stages consisting of one main stage and five smaller stage surrounding the main stage. The stages looked like a boxing ring, except it did not have the ropes surrounding it and even the smaller ring is at least three times bigger than a regular boxing ring. The new students stood near the right side of the stage while waiting for their exam to start. The battle arena looked more like a football ground and all the corners were covered by the stands for the spectators. Sean looked around the arena to see if he could find his brother Wendell, but he could not even though the stands were only 50% full. Separate from the regular stands there was also a ten rows of seats at the left side of the arena near a small stage which looked like a VIP stand as apart from student council there was a woman who apart from being beautiful was emitting a powerful aura but still carried a noble and dignified look. Sean first looked at the student council President Carmella, then at Vice President Lucy and then he observed Rutherford.

He still remembered this person as when the student council President offered a post for him that day, he was emitting directing killing intent at him. When Sean looked at his face, he hid that killing intent with a smile. However he was not a great actor, he could not mask the disgust he had for Sean. Sean was honestly shocked as this should have been the first time they met and Sean did not remember offending him but he quickly hid his curiosity and spoke while looking at the President.

Finally Sean observed the matured beauty who was seated at the right side of the Student council President and thought 'Judging by the way she carries herself she must be from a large clan or perhaps even from the royal family. The aura she carries is also huge. From the way that even the Student council President is talking with a smile to her they must be having a good relationship. Us she a guest? or is she the Principal of this Academy?. As he was observing the woman, suddenly the woman shifted her eye and looked towards him. Sean immediately shifted his line of sight and thought 'Warriors at that level are generally sensitive to the surrounding. Looks like I have to work on my concealment even more inorder to be able to conduct surveillance on anyone.' The woman who looked at the direction from where she felt being observed only saw a group of students standing and could not identify the source.

Soon an announcer came to the main stage with a mic which is also an invention using magic circuit and said "The combat test will be begining shortly. I'll be explaining the rules to be followed in the test and I'll say only once. Anyone who fails to follow the rules will be expelled. Combat test will have 4 rounds followed by knock out stage as Quarter finals, Semi finals and finals. Only hand to hand combat is allowed, weapons are prohibited. Killing and intentionally giving serious injuries are prohibited. Every student shall come forward to collect their respective numbers from the box placed before me and untill knockout stage only numbers will be called out". Once the announcer finished speaking he signalled for the students to come before him to take the number from the box. All the students started moving towards the box and soon it was Sean's turn as he went to the stage and Picked his card from the box and turned it to see number 53 as he moved back to the ground where the other students were standing.

After the numbers were picked, ten numbers were called as the students lined up at different small stages directed by the judges of the stage. Sean looked at the participants and saw the cute girl whom he saw at the first test having a high tier bloodline. Her opponent was a third level warrior who was truly unlucky as she was a fifth level warrior. Once the match started the boy who had level 3 attacked first by shouting 'black fist' as his Qi surrounded his fist and became black in colour. This was a fist technique incorporating poison in their fist while the girl did not say anything as she motioned her hand in shape of a knife and slashed at the fist which resulted in her Qi slashing the boy's martial skill instantly bloodying his fist and followed by a kick to his chest which resulted in him flying out of the stage. Most of the fights were normal as people of higher level easily defeated the people of lower level and those of the same level depended on how good their Martial skill were and how well they had trained in it. The most eye catching were the cute girl, two other boys who also had high tier blood line and a few students from medium sized clans who had either trained in a Martial skill to a high-level or had experience in sparring.

Soon it was Sean's turn as his number was called out. His opponent was a level three warrior. They entered the stage and got ready to fight. Sean was wearing a black t-shirt and a camouflage pant along with boots which was different style of dress compared to others who wore robes or warrior suits. In the stands both Sherry and Wendell looked at Sean and cheered while the members from mercenary team were also there. In the VIP stand both Lucy and Student council President were paying attention to Sean which the matured woman next to them also noted as she smiled "I never knew that you paid attention to this kid with weird dress as well. I thought your target would be the girl from Merlin family and the boys from Blackwood family and Pierce family". Carmella who heard this said "Ya they are also my targets, but I am focusing on all students to identify any person who has talent. I don't know for sure but I feel that he is one we should watch out". "Oh" said the matured woman as she too paid attention to the stage where Sean would fight. Rutherford who was in the row behind Carmella also heard it and saw the person on the stage and remembered him to be the kid whom he saw at the cafeteria. Looking at him made Rutherford more pissed as he remembered that day's incident as he said to the lackey beside him "It is this kid I was talking about. That bitch Carmella was interested in recruiting him. I want this kid to be injured in this tournament or even killed". "Ok young master I'll see what I can do" said the lackey who was called Bernard who was also a schemer who has helped in giving ideas and also the right hand man of Rutherford.

In the stage Sean did not know that he has caught the sight of so many people as he looked at his opponent in a relaxed manner as he took a boxing stance and waited for his opponent to make his move. His opponent used a martial movement skill as he moved at a high speed towards Sean. Sean did not make a move and just kept his stance and observed his opponent. His opponent arrived in front of Sean and punched towards his face at full force. At this time Sean made his move. He dodged towards his left by moving his right leg backwards and countered his opponent using his left hand by giving a sharp cut under his opponent's chin using his palm. Then Sean moved forward and walked away from his opponent who fell towards the ground unconscious. The judge who saw this was shocked to silence before announcing the winner as Sean. Carmella, Lucy and the matured woman were also shocked as Sean did not use any martial skill despite his opponent being at the same level. "Interesting, it seems like that boy has combat experience. It seems like your guess is right Carmella, this boy might be a dark horse" said the matured woman. Rutherford who saw this fight had an ugly face as he knew that injuring this kid had become more difficult to achieve, after all he cannot manipulate the kids from large families and the kids from medium level clan might have a hard time completing the task and thought 'Well it's alright if I cannot have these kids do it, I will do it using my lackeys. If you want to blame someone blame yourself for coming from a small family and gaining my attention kid.'