Through the east entrance, the members of Easton High stepped into the stadium amidst loud cheers.
The section where Easton High's fans were seated was a sea of blue and white, waving flags and pom-poms in support of their team.
Their jerseys were emblazoned with their school mascot, a whale, which was white in color, and the rest of the jersey was a vibrant shade of blue.
It made people think of the ocean on a sunny day with whales jumping in and out of the water.
Easton was a coastal city—a city of fishermen.
As they waved their hands, they eventually reached their bench. It was right by the big ring that happened to be the biggest one any of them had fought in.
"What in the world is happening?" Nico looked around the crowd.
He was the third-ranked student at Easton High.
"I didn't expect us to fight in the Big Ring." Dennis said with a nervous chuckle.
Dennis was the second-ranked student at Easton High. Their school was relatively strong, and they'd always been Easton's representatives in the nationals.
However, they weren't strong enough to reach the quarterfinals.
Thus, they never expected to be fighting at Big Ring and to be spectated by millions and millions of people.
It wasn't far-fetched to say that they were all extremely nervous!
"…" Markus, the strongest student of Easton High, tied his laces and kept doing breathing exercises.
It was a way to calm his nerves, but it barely helped as the roaring of the crowd kept tickling his ears.
'We're just side characters in this fight to show the entirety of New Rakuya the true strength of Tiamut High, but I want to win against those arrogant bastards!'
Markus finished tying his shoes.
The coach of Easton High, Marc, stood behind the bench with a look so serious that it made it look like he had never smiled a day in his life.
It wasn't because he couldn't smile. It was because it wasn't time to smile.
They were only one win away from reaching the second day of the nationals, but they encountered the biggest obstacle in the entire tournament.
The amazing Tiamut High that was everyone's favorite to win the tournament!
'What a shitty luck with the bracket!' Marc thought.
Easton High's reserve fighters sat silently at the bench. They had always dreamt of fighting in the Big Ring at the nationals, just like it was a dream come true for every aspiring young man.
While they weren't going to fight, they were quite jealous of their main fighters. However, they knew that winning was pretty much impossible.
Even so, the reward in itself was having millions of people watching you.
At that moment, the cheers became almost deafening. The Easton High immediately knew that the main characters of this fight entered the arena.
Through the south entrance, Tiamut High's members and their coach stepped through amidst roaring cheers.
At the front, Johan walked confidently. They were all wearing jerseys of black and purple with their school logo emblazoned on the front.
With Yves and Kara following closely after him, the two reserve fighters walked alongside their coach.
Their reserve fighters were already so powerful that they could easily be the ace of some powerful school, but at Tiamut High, they were only able to reach as high as a reserve fighter.
It was because the three main fighters were simply far too powerful!
As they took their spot by the bench, the coach of Tiamut High, Marquise, touched the corner of his mustache and smiled knowingly.
At the commentator's booth, two men took their spots with looks of excitement.
"Hello everyone, after hours of exciting action, we're finally down to the final match of the day!" Chris Chang said.
It was a name that almost everyone recognized immediately. He was a former professional fighter at New Rakuya's fighting league and now a popular commentator for the matches.
"Tiamut High versus Easton High!" His co-commentator, Luca Pop, said with excitement. "And we have a treat in our hands, ladies and gentlemen!"
They were mostly going to commentate on the Big Ring matches only. Local commentators had covered the previous matches.
"The referee is heading to the ring. The match is about to start!" Chris said and took a more comfortable spot at the chair in front of the microphone.
The referee stood at the center of the Big Ring.
The crowd started to finally slightly calm down.
"The last match of the first day of the nationals!" The referee shouted. "Tiamut High and Easton High, please send your first fighters!"
At the Easton High bench, Nico adjusted his headband as he stood up. He took a deep breath and stepped into the ring, feeling the weight of his school's expectations on his shoulders.
"You can do it, Nico!" Marc clapped his hands loudly.
'My ass.' Nico thought sarcastically as he reached the ring. 'I am just Low Stage Martial Fighter. I am facing Middle Stage Martial Fighter, Kara or Yves.'
At the Tiamut High's bench, Yves surprisingly stood up, and after wrapping his hands with white tape, he stepped up the stairs to stand opposite Nico.
"The first fight is between Yves Rechermen versus Nico Lupin!" The referee shouted. "Are both fighters ready?!"
"Yes!" Nico shouted, and he kept bouncing on his toes.
"I am." Yves formed a fist with his right.
The referee raised his hand and then swung it down.
Nico lunged forward with a powerful punch. The punch landed at Yves' chest. He didn't bother to even dodge it!
'This fool is using Tiamut Style's hard style. Thus, he won't dodge no matter how many punches I throw at him. That makes him prone to injuries!'
He had only one plan to his match—injure Yves as much as possible!
At that moment, Yves slapped Nico across the face. It was resounding and left a red mark on his cheek.
Nico coughed out blood, and a couple of his teeth flew out. The slap sent him sprawling through the ring, and he already almost fell off!
"Shit!" Marc's expression turned ugly. 'While hard style users are prone to injuries, on the other side of the coin, their attacks are dangerously powerful!'