Although not every student signed up, there were still many students participating, the first round of the tournament lasted an entire day.
The known strongest students were called on later but the teachers made sure they didn’t fight each other in the first round.
Mercury was waiting to watch Marcus’s fight, however his attention was drawn by somebody else.
Before Marcus went up, a young girl was called on stage, her name was Sabrina, no last name.
She was short and looked malnourished but nobody dared underestimate her, even Mercury knew of her.
Sabrina was amongst the few commoners attending the academy which was a testament of her strength by itself.
When she first arrived she was bullied by the other students, they already knew magic before getting into the academy.
As a commoner, she couldn’t afford any spells but as soon as she got a chance to learn, everything changed.
Sabrina was up against a wind warrior who used daggers, it was obvious his speciality was speed.
Mercury leaned forward, he didn’t want to miss a single detail of her fight but that was unnecessary.
He was also watching through mana realm and not even the slightest movement of her hair could escape his attention.
The first started and ended almost immediately after. The wind assassin moved so fast his body appeared like a blur.
He appeared behind her in a blink of an eye, even Mercury was surprised by that speed, ’ A little more and he’ll break the sound barrier.’
That’s the conclusion he came to when he tried measuring the guy’s speed but even with all that speed, it was useless.
As soon as he appeared, vines grew from the ground and bound his body like a trapped bird.
He slashed and thrashed but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t break those vines, the crowd was quiet.
Even the referee stood there frozen, he didn’t know what to do, this guy was a noble and she was a commoner.
However the longer he waited the tighter the vines got, eventually her opponent had to throw in the towel himself.
’ To think an E rank spell could be that powerful.’ Mercury was impressed, those vines were dangerous.
They didn’t just physically bind you but they absorbed your mana to strengthen themselves and even heal themselves.
He knew this spell, he’s studied many spells in the library even thought he couldn’t use them himself.
Those vines didn’t just heal themselves by absorbing your mana, they can drain both your mana and vitality and feed them to the caster.
’ She’s a strong contender for this year’s champion but she isn’t the only one.’ he turned his attention to the next fighter.
A short man with golden metal like hair and toned muscles, " Abacus Veilstone." He was a marquis’s son.
Abacus had the rare element of metal, an evolved sub element of earth and from what Mercury knew, this guy was a monster.
’ Abacus isn’t just strong, he’s incredibly violent and loves battle, whoever is against him won’t have an easy time.’
His opponent was a young timid girl from a baron’s family, she was strong in her own right.
The girl was a mage and as soon as the fight started she cast a powerful E rank spell, a fire bird appeared above her.
The bird resembled a phoenix with a wingspan of nearly 4 metres, the heat it generated burnt the air around her.
" G.. Go!" She shouted and with a single flap of its wings the bird turned into a red streak and shot at Abacus like an arrow.
It actually broke the sound barrier but no sonic booms followed on its path, Abacus grabbed it with a single hand.
No matter how hard the bird tried to escape it couldn’t get free but before he could crush it it exploded.
Flames spread out covering half the ring and melting the stone itself into lava, the explosion temporarily blinded those not strong enough.
When the flames cleared Abacus appeared unscathed, ’ No, there’s a burnt mark on his hand.’ thought Mercury with worry.
Abacus looked at his hand then at the girl like he couldn’t believe his eyes," You wounded me?" Nobody could tell whether it was a question or statement.
" Oh this is bad." Whispered somebody behind Mercury, Mercury agreed, he like everybody knew how this monster was.
Abacus grinned, he was happy, he was genuinely happy which was more terrifying than him being angry.
" I hope you don’t disappoint me girl, make this fun." He started laughing like a maniac and his skin turned bronze.
" Bronze form: Mountain Titan!" Shouted Abacus, he enjoyed announcing his techniques.
However knowing what technique he was going to use was useless, it wouldn’t change anything.
The girl cast multiple spells blanketing the entire stage with explosions, most couldn’t even see what’s happening inside the sea of flames.
" It’s useless." Whispered one student but Mercury did not agree, he smiled and shook his head.
’ She’s smart.’ Mercury figured out what her intentions were, ’ She knows she can’t beat him head on and she’s trying to use the rules against him.’
No matter how many explosions she fired his way, none drew closer to where she was, she was trying to destroy the stage and force him out.
However she had greatly underestimated Abacus, since metal was a sub element of earth, naturally he could use earth as well.
No matter how many times she broke the stage around him, he mended it with each step and each step drew him closer to her.
Abacus broke out of the sea of flames right in front of her face with his fist pulled back like a bow and wide maniacal grin on his face.
" Try not to die." He whispered to her, Mercury heard him through mana realm and knew the situation was bad.
The girl didn’t have time to react, as a mage, her physical state could not rival Abacus’s, Abacus punched at her face, the wind howled and cut her face like like razors.
’ She’s not going to make it.’ Thought Mercury ready to cast a spell but the girl disappeared before he could do anything.
Abacus punched the air creating a wave of compressed air so powerful it ripped the ground to shreds for over a hundred metres.
Even Mercury inhaled, ’ This guy is an absolute beast, I wonder if my mana skin can handle that punch.’
Just its shockwave alone was as strong as an E rank spell, there was no doubt it was a D rank attack at least.
Then he turned his attention to where the girl was, somebody had teleported her back to her sit.
’ Was it mother?’ he looked at his mother suspiciously but she acted like she didn’t notice him.
Mercury sighed and turned his gaze to the next fight, ’ Finally it’s this bastards chance, I hope he loses.’
Mercury watched Marcus climbed onto the ring with unhurried steps.
" Move you bastard, we don’t have all day here!" Mercury shouted then looked around pretending he wasn’t the one who said that.