Ed spent the rest of the time before the tournament training. During the day he would train along with his classmates and in the night with his monsters.
During the second day, Ed fought with Hayato and Emilia. The two of them gave Ed a lot of trouble, so much that he had to activate many of his skills to be able to win. All of them seemed to improve a lot faster in battle, rather than with cultivation.
As for Ed and his companions, they could now use Ken with ease. Their Ren training paid off. Ed and Raikou could hold En for about 10 minutes before feeling tired. Raikou and Ed had the greatest reserves of energy out of them, so it was only obvious. Suika and the others could use most of the advanced techniques, but still not at the level of Ed.
Ed also made weapons for Gobuta and the others. He made some prototypes with iron only to help them choose which weapon suited them the best. In the end, Gobuta chose a great sword, Goburou a rapier and Garu chose to use two double-edged swords.
After they chose the weapons, Ed spent about six hours every day on each one of the weapons. He made the weapons with conductivity in mind. They would be using Shu to coat the weapons, as well as magic, so the weapons had to be able to withstand the energy that would be flowing. Thankfully, the metals that Ed bought were perfect for the job.
The Great-Sword for Gobuta was a huge double-handed sword. It has a classical silver blade and a thin hilt. Ed used it to make sure it was not faulty and was impressed. The sword was made from Mythril, so it would get lighter the more energy was put into it. This allowed the user to forget about the weight of the sword when fighting, making it less of a burden. The hilt was golden in color, with the bottom of it looking like an eagle's claw.
Goburou's rapier was thinner than usual rapier, but it was much sturdier. It was made with speed in mind, but Ed didn't forget about durability. The blade was red with a black hilt that had a couple of ornamental rings that protected the hand of the user and served to store energy.
Garu now had two swords. Both swords were different in color, with one being red and the other blue. They also focused on damage and speed. The blue sword had a red hilt, while the red sword had a blue one. Gary had shown compatibility with Fire and Ice magic. He was the only one of the three who could use magic, so Ed decided to make him swords that enhanced these elements.
All the swords that Ed made have Epic quality. The reason being, he didn't want them to rely on the weapons too much. Ed would re-forge their weapons as soon as they become capable enough.
Raikou and Suika didn't need weapons so Ed didn't make anything for them. All of them now had a higher battle power compared to before.
The days went by and it was time for the tournament. Ed finally used his leather set after a long time. He had hunted for only two days, at most, during his time in the academy, so he didn't bother with protection much. Raikou decided to join him today, so he entered his shadow. Suika also sat on his shoulder while he was making his way to the class.
Ed met up with Emilia, Ellie, and Hayato first, and then Stephanie when they reached the classroom. Harry was also there and started speaking as soon as everyone was present.
"The king will be telling all the details of the tournament, so let's go and meet him. By the way, I put a bet on you guys winning to show my support, so make me proud!" It was the first time Harry had shown an emotion other than annoyance. 'Is it the money, or does he really believe in us' Ed couldn't help but think this way, but shrugged this thought off and moved on.
"I wonder how this tournament will be." Stephanie who seemed a bit nervous asked her friends.
"Well since our teacher said he bet on us, I'm guessing we won't be fighting each other." Ed deducted this from how Harry had spoken. He was also a bit relieved since he didn't want to fight his friends.
Soon enough, they reached the great hall of the academy. The king and the general from the tests were present. The king's daughter wasn't with him this time; instead, she was standing with her classmates. All classes grouped up in a square with their teacher in front of them. When everyone was present, the king started speaking.
"We meet again! Let's quickly get to the point; I want to get back to sleep- to do my job!" The king never failed to amuse the people present. It showed that he was a nice person, easy to get along with. "The tournament will be a little different. Each class will send in 5 people at the beginning, after every five minutes, five more people will go inside. This will go on until all twenty people have entered the ring. To win, you need to eliminate all other classes or have the most students when the time limit of 30 minutes is up. The time starts when the first batch of students enters." The king finished explaining.
Ed could see that all classes, except class A, had a disadvantage. Class B to E had mock-battles, but A didn't. This meant that their abilities were unknown. 'Guess this is the advantage of being in class A' Ed wasn't nervous. He was simply thinking if his team should be first or last to enter the battle.
The group of students and teachers moved ahead to the ring. When they got there, everyone was surprised. The ring was enormous. It was about as big as a football field. It was made with the idea of having a group battle.
"Why don't you let all your students enter, Harry? I'm sure all twenty of them need to be present to at least survive!" The person who approached Harry was A class' teacher. He seemed like a smug man who was in his late twenties. He reeked of arrogance.
"We already have a bet. Just make sure to pay up when we win."
Hello everyone! The tournament is about to begin. Enjoy.
Everyone was getting ready to fight. Some teachers gave their class some advice, while Harry was looking for the best seat to get a good view. Ed and the rest of the class were deciding the order of teams. It was decided that Ed's team would be last; this way they can get a general idea of the other classes' strength. Ed and his team were the strongest in E class, maybe even in all classes, so it was only natural to save best for last.
As everyone finished deciding, the king stood up and spoke. "The tournament will start now. Remember, as soon as you touch the ring, the fight starts!" Everyone was on edge. They were all waiting for the king to give the order to start.
"The battle starts…Now!" The king's voice echoed around the academy grounds. Everyone heard it.
From five different directions, twenty-five people had entered the ring. They were all humans. It seemed that these were all the weakest of the classes, as they were chosen to start first.
As the fight was about to start, Ed noticed something wrong. All other classes targeted his class. His classmates were caught off guard and two of them were thrown off the ring by all sorts of magic. The three that remained were all present during Ed's sparring sessions. Seeing the movements of Ed and his teammates, they were able to adjust to them, but only slightly. One of them was a girl, and her hand was burned by a fireball.
'I see. They will be eliminating the weak ones first.' Ed was both calm and furious at the moment. They were following a valid strategy, but it was still underhanded. Ed's classmates retaliated with some magic. They did their best but were still overwhelmed. E class was the first to lose its members in this round. But, they were able to injure some of the other students.
"It seems like you're going to lose Harry." The smug teacher had a triumphant smile on his face. Even though it wasn't only A class who beat E. Harry didn't bother to answer him and kept watching.
Now the other four classes turned on each other. Each one found an enemy and started fighting. The tournament allowed weapons so some of them didn't rely only on magic. It seemed like A class' students had an advantage over the others. They were able to overpower their opponents, be it at swords or magic. Suddenly, one of A class' female students shouted at her teammates.
"Get back!" They all followed her orders and retreated. Now, only the other students were left in front of her. "Blazing tornado!" The girl used a skill similar to what Ed used against Leon before, excluding the wind blade. The tornado was a mix of Fire and Wind magic. Anyone close to it was sucked in and burned severely. Only 5 people were able to dodge it or use countermeasures against it. She alone eliminated 10 people.
"The following teams can enter!" Many people were focused only on the fights and forgot the time. Five minutes passed so easily. Now more people could enter the fight. Now there were 35 people on the ring. E class was disadvantaged due to having only five members. The members this time were ones who joined Ed's training sessions from before.
As soon as they hit the ground, one of them used Earth magic to shield them, and buy them time. They were targeted this time as well, but thanks to the wall, they bought a couple of seconds. As soon as the wall crumbled, E class used magic simultaneously. Fire, Wind, Water and Earth magic was used. Although it wasn't as spectacular as the tornado, it was still very powerful. This team was training all these days to be able to succeed.
Thankfully, their training paid off. They were able to knock out six students, two from C class, two from D class and one from each of the remaining classes. It was the first A students to fall off. Their teacher looked furious, while the students seemed to look down on the student that fell. "How dare you get knocked out by that trash class?!" Norris was looking at the students as if he was a piece of trash. He even tried to kick him but was stopped by the princess Alicia. He didn't seem to want to fight her and backed off.
The attention was now back to the tournament. E class was losing members one after the other. Their attack was successful, but they couldn't handle the collective attacks of the other classes. Once again, E class fell down. The students looked heartbroken and joined the ones who fell first. Ed looked at them and spoke. "You did a great job. If it was a one on one, I'm sure you would beat the crap out of them!" Although everyone knew it wasn't the truth, they were still grateful for his encouragement. Ed was getting impatient, waiting for the time to reach 15 minutes so he could join.
A class continued to dominate. They had the most members and their teamwork was good. They kept knocking off one student after the other. Only some B and C students were now left. Even D class was thrown off this time. The B class students were 6 with some Oni who could use magic in a great way, be it defense or attack, so they could hang on with their teammates. C class only had two members left; one of them was the student who fought Hayato in the mock-battle.
His name was Charlie and he was the only one, other than A class, who wasn't injured. He was now fighting an A class student.
"Hahahaha! This is fun! I haven't had this much fun since fighting E class!" he was fighting without using a weapon, contrary to his opponent. Yet, he was still overpowering him. Soon enough, he drove him to the edge of the ring.
"Seismic blow!" The A class student was blown off the ring. Another one from A class had fallen.
Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy the chapter.
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