Dark horse vs Dark Lord.

"Group A matches have concluded. Group B participants, get on the ring. The rules are similar to group A," the announcer said.

"Each match will last for 10 minutes, and the winner will be decided by either knocking out your opponent, making them surrender, or having more points at the end of the time limit. Points will be awarded based on the damage inflicted, the skill displayed, and the style of fighting. The contestants can use any weapons or abilities they have, as long as they do not violate the rules of the competition or harm the spectators.

Everyone will fight everyone else once. The top five from each group will advance to the final round, where they will fight in a single-elimination bracket until only one remains."

Logan walked to the ring with Jason confidently.

He believed in his strength and was determined to win this tournament because he needed the resources.

He looked at his opponents and saw a variety of faces, they were all brimming with confidence and fighting spirit.

He did not care about them. He only cared about winning. He clenched his fists and waited for the signal to start.

Logan entered the ring with a single thought in his mind: to win. He faced his opponent, Dark Lord, who had walked into the ring almost at the same time as him, confidently receiving cheers from the crowd.

Dark lord was clad in black armour, his deep black hair was extremely short, and his fierce red eyes gave Logan a feeling that he was a worthy opponent.

Logan was clad in his school wear which was slightly green with multiple yellow strips.

The contrast between their clothes brought about laughter from the audience.

The referee asked all the students if they were ready, and they all nodded in unison. The match began without delay.

Logan took out his sword and charged at the Dark Lord like an enraged beast, a deep orange flame forming a thin line on the sword and slowly spreading.

He slashed his fiery hot blade with ferocity, but Dark Lord parried with a sharpened blade infused with wind, causing sparks to fly after each clash.

They drew some distance, and Dark Lord unleashed a barrage of wind blades, which Logan blocked with a water barrier.

In the crowd, someone exclaimed, "How can he keep up with Dark Lord? Isn't he supposed to be a dark horse?"

The person beside him replied, "Don't you know? He is the one who beat Luna. He is amazing and might go far in this tournament if he wins this match."

Jason watched the match with his mouth wide open, wondering if this was really his best friend's match.

As the crowd continued their mumbling, Dark Lord looked at Logan and smiled, saying, "Looks like I underestimated you."

Logan replied, "The same goes for me." Then, with a serious look on his face, he added, "Let's fight without holding back."

The crowd could hear their voices from the projection on the screen, someone in the crowd shouted in shock, "They haven't been fighting in full strength?"

Zeo, looking at his friend Luke, asked, "Do you think you can last a minute in there?"

Luke replied in a depressed tone, "Not even thirty seconds."

They attached each other once again, Logan with the flame slash, and the dark lord with the wind blades.

Their attacks cancelled out each other as they both drew back slightly taking a deep breath.

Dark Lord and Logan shouted in unison, "Dark Fissure, Essence of Vibration." A burst of thick darkness enveloped the ring.

"How the heck is he going to dodge that?" Jason thought from the side as he continued his battle. But he was not the only one who had this thought. Everyone was wondering how Logan would survive such a deadly attack.

'Darkness element? Quite troublesome.' Logan furrowed his brows.

To the surprise of everyone, Logan charged forward instead of retreating.

"Logan, are you this crazy about winning?" Jason wanted to shout, but he couldn't lose focus on his match.

"Essence of vibration," Logan muttered as his figure charging forward slowly started blurring out until it completely faded away.

"Where is he? I can't see him," a man from the crowd shouted.

"Did he disappear?" his friend asked.

"Do we even have such a skill here at school?" his friend couldn't help but question in return.

....

Seeing Logan's figure blur out, the elders stood up almost at the same time.

"Seems like I was right. The boy will bring us many surprises," one of them said.

"Isn't that the incomplete skill he picked from the library? How did he learn it?" another one of them asked.

"Maybe he had a fortuitous encounter and entered into a state of enlightenment," a third one suggested.

"This boy cannot be underestimated or put in common sense, seeing that only a few weeks ago he was someone with no elemental affinity," a fourth one remarked.

....

Combining his sword aura, which he had recently learned, and the essence of vibration, Logan appeared behind Dark Lord as he sent out his attack.

Realizing the danger, Dark Lord was shocked. "When did he get behind me?" he wanted to scream this question out loud, but he didn't have the time to think about these things. He felt the terror that came with such an attack from Logan.

Boom!

The aftermath revealed a ten-meter wide and a few dozen meters deep crater, with both fighters bloodied and panting as if they had run a cross-country race.

The blue barrier that covered that part of the ring almost broke, and Logan almost lost his balance while standing

The darkness that covered Dark Lord faded, and he slowly fell to the ground. The whole stadium was filled with silence, until the rumble sounded and they realised that Logan was the only one left standing, causing cheers to arise wildly from the crowd.

A man from the crowd looked at his friend and said, "Can you believe he won?" Luke pinched himself and realized it wasn't a dream.

Dark Lord was taken to the infirmary, where he received minor treatment, as their injuries weren't serious.