At the stadium, the crowd had gathered, and it was already so loud that the walls were shaking.
In the middle of the stadium, sixteen rings were set. They were slightly bigger than yesterday's.
Whether it was watching from home or straight in the stadium, the tension started rising as the time for the first matches of the day to start!
Within all four entrances, teams started walking towards the rings. They were all immediately showered with applause.
In the crowd, Azer and Julia looked towards one team, who was walking towards their ring and adorning their school uniform with beautiful black flowers.
"Why didn't you meet them before their match?" Julia asked.
"I didn't want to disturb them." Azer said. "They need to be focused on their match."
"Mm, I see." Julia looked towards Karuza High members and whispered. "They seem different…"
"How so?" Azer asked.
"The strongest teams of the nation have an aura of some sort." Julia said. "Whether it is out of confidence, they don't seem as weak as before."
"Oh." Azer looked over. "It is because Kiernan."
"Kiernan?" Julia looked at her father and tilted her head.
"Yes." Azer nodded. "When they are with him, they feel strong because of him. Their trust in his strength gives them confidence that they didn't have before."
"I feel the same." Julia said. "Whenever I watch Karuza High's matches, I never have confidence. Sorry. But now it is different."
"Haha, I know." Azer laughed. "Our school is usually the underdog, but no longer."
Godfred eyed the pointy-eared woman beside him and asked. "Muriel, w-what're you wearing?"
Muriel didn't answer and kept glaring through the large window. She was still wearing her black fishnet shirt, a skirt that reached her thighs, tights, and black leather boots.
It made her look very rebellious.
'Oh no, she has reached that age.' Godfred felt like crying knowing that it was going to be much harder to raise her.
After reaching their bench, Karuza High members sat down and started taking off their hoodies to reveal their Karuza High jerseys underneath.
With Karuza High written in bold black letters at the front, the black flowers adorned the sleeves, the back, and even the collar.
On the other side of the ring, Liberty High's members were seated down, wearing their own team jerseys in bright red and white, with Liberty High emblazoned across the chest.
After receiving a confirmation on the earpiece, the referee of the match entered the ring and blew the whistle.
The same blew of the whistle resounded from every other ring in perfect unison.
"Karuza High and Liberty High, bring forth your fighters!"
Nathaniel cracked his knuckles and stood up. "I'll go ahead!"
"Good luck!" Klaus cried out.
"Mm." Jin nodded. "You can do it."
With quick steps, Nathaniel reached the top of the ring.
He didn't really feel nervous, even though he knew that every eye in Irio was glued to him. It should be the most nervous moment of his life.
Yet he felt strangely calm.
On Liberty High's bench, Cole stood up and headed up the steps to the ring.
"Cole, you know what to do!" The coach shouted.
Isaiah clapped his hands.
"The first fight is between Nathaniel Waters and Cole Nick!" The referee shouted.
Cole hopped on his toes. 'I must help Tyler. I've yet to win a single fight in the tournament. This can't continue !'
It had been a tough tournament for him.
Tyler and Isaiah mostly took care of most of the fights while he'd been nothing but a package.
Last night, he was scrolling through social media and reading stuff from Liberty's citizens. It was embarrassing, to say the least.
Everyone was flaming him!
'I am just not as talented as Tyler. What the hell do they want me to do? I shouldn't be standing on the national stage, but everyone else happened to be too weak to take my spot as a third-ranked student!'
Cole gritted his teeth and stared at Nathaniel with hate.
'His rank is lower than mine. He doesn't deserve to be standing here either!'
Nathaniel took a deep breath and moved into his fighting stance.
"Are the both fighters ready?!" The referee asked with a shout.
"I am," Nathaniel replied.
With a loud scream, the referee swung his arm down.
Cole rushed forth and started punching as if his arms were machines.
Nathaniel kept slapping the punches away while retreating backward. It didn't take long for him to reach the edge of the ring.
Cole's feet left the ground, and he twirled around before throwing a devastating kick.
With his knees buckling, Nathaniel lowered his body, ducking under the kick just in time.
The kick grazed the top of his head.
Nathaniel quickly stood back up and retreated away from the edge of the ring.
"Is that all you can do? Run away!" Cole chased after him and kept throwing the punches.
Slapped. Slapped. Slapped.
All the punches were slapped away.
'This is bad.' Nathaniel thought with an ugly expression.
'I am barely able to defend. What would Kiernan do in my situation?
'Who am I kidding? He would use his rock-solid defense to make Cole whimper in despair. If I were him, I wouldn't have to do a single step of retreat.
'Then, when Cole gets exhausted, he would punch, and that would be the game over.'
With his heart beating like a drum, Nathaniel suddenly stopped retreating.
'He stopped moving? Fool!' Cole increased the speed of his punches.
'Rock-solid defense!'
Nathaniel moved his hands forth and wanted to slap the punches away, but he missed a couple of the slaps.
Thus, Cole's fists landed on his chest, causing Nathaniel to stumble backwards.
"This is bad!" Klaus cried out.
"Why did Nathaniel stop moving? This wasn't like him." Timothy thought out loud. "He would keep retreating while trying to find that one weakness."
"…" Ryan narrowed his eyes. 'That fool. You really think what Kiernan is doing is that easy? No, you know it is difficult…'
Nathaniel gritted his teeth in pain and stumbled back.
'I hate this. I hate this feeling of weakness. I hate my way of fighting. It makes me feel so powerless!'