The selection for the tournament was to be held at the Ace Academy stadium which was equal to a football stadium.
The academy was really rich to be able to afford a stadium such as this privately.
The audience was seated in the upper part of the stadium while the participants had their seats near the stage.
The fight today will be up to group 3. Though I was not going to fight today, the seat near the stage was given to us as a privilege.
Privilege as a participant to watch the fight more closely. The fight could be counted as a learning experience, especially fights of Lisanna and other top students.
I sat in a place that was near the edge. The students near me started to become vigilant and started paying attention to me.
Yesterday's battle was enough for students to know that Zero is one of the strongest students present there.
They thought Zero was worth making friends with but they didn't know how to approach him.
They didn't have enough knowledge about Zero to approach him. Without enough knowledge, you might end up enraging and making an enemy out of Zero instead of becoming friends.
They needed to know about Zero's personality before approaching him. Though they have heard about him before, like him being flirtatious and cowardly but who would believe that after seeing yesterday's fight.
Lisanna was also seated quite near Zero, and the moment he came, she had begun to stare at him.
She wanted to fight with Zero again to determine who was stronger.
Though luck didn't favor her and she was placed in a different group, she believed that she would get her chance to fight him again in the future.
The boy with the long hair sitting next to Lisanna frowned as he noticed how Lisanna had paid extra attention to Zero.
He had considered Lisanna to be a rival since he was the next strongest student after Lisanna. He tried to beat Lisanna many times but he could not succeed.
He could not even get the attention of Lisanna as she deemed him too weak to make use of her full strength. Though who could make Lisanna release her full strength as she was Rank-C and they were in Rank-D+.
Not to mention, Lisanna wielded an extremely high-level Art and has got good skills.
So Lisanna paying attention to Zero made him jealous. He saw the fight between Lisanna and Zero but he didn't think that he could not beat Zero.
It was all about compatibility. Lisanna's specialty is speed, so it is difficult for her to fight with people having tough defense.
Zero ice armor was able to counter Lisanna's speed but he thought he was different. His main stat was strength and he believed he could easily break Zero's ice armor.
His anger appeared but vanished in a second. He still kept a straight face, though the coldness in his eyes deepened as he stared at Zero.
He was in the same group as Zero and was eager to beat Zero and earn Lisanna's attention.
Amid students' and professors' discussions and avid anticipation, the selection match of the first group began!
The first group fight was between, if I am to be honest, weak. The strongest person present was one of the Rank-D -, third year.
Other than her, another student that I know was also in the group. Misha was also in that group. Though she was not strong compared to many participants, I can say that she is pretty lucky.
While she might not have a chance in other groups, she had a pretty decent chance of coming second in her current group.
"Hello, Everyone. The first match for selecting the participant for the 23rd Tournament of Academies begins, now!!"
With it, the first match began. When the word 'begins' was said, everyone started to cheer for the participants.
The first match was between the third-year student who is called Ray Chang and the only one in Rank-D - in that group and the first-year student who was in Rank-E.
As expected the first-year student lost miserably. The first-year could not do anything while Ray Chang swiftly approached him and threw him off the stage.
Soon the other match proceeded. The longest match was about 20 minutes between Rank-E's second year. Due to them being familiar with each other and having equal strength, the match took longer.
Otherwise, most matches ended in under 10 minutes. Like that, the first round of the match was complete.
The match continued and with the weak being eliminated, students began to see matches of high caliber in the second round. Though from my perspective, the high-caliber fight was nothing more than a childish fight.
Their strength was not comparable to mine and even their execution of technique was simple and easy to predict. I felt that even the strongest present in that group would not last more than three moves from me.
But it was entertaining to watch the fight and to predict what they would do. It was good to know about different kinds of Art that were being shown by the students.
Just like that, the final match of the first group began. As I have expected, It was between Misha and Ray Chang.
The match continued longer than I expected and Misha surprised me with her strength. Even with a major gap in rank, Misha was able to deflect the attacks of a Rank-D - person.
( Her strength stat is also high. )
I don't know but guess it is in their family genes. Eleonore also had that ridiculous strength and even Misha is showing signs of having high strength stat.
The fight continued for a while before Ray Chang used his fierce attacks to knock out Misha.
Misha's strength was on par with him but her other stat fell below him and she was not able to keep up with him.
But it was a nice fight. To be able to make Rank-D - use his full power in order to win showed how powerful Misha was.
I guess other students have also grown stronger compared to when they had enrolled in the Ace Academy.
There was a 30 minutes break for Misha before she had to fight with the opponent that Ray Chang had previously fought.
It was to determine which one of them was stronger.
The other student was a second-year student who is also at Rank-E +.
The battle began and Misha overwhelmed the second-year student with her strength.
While in the same rank, Misha's strength was obviously higher than him.
The second-year student was not able to defend himself from the powerful strike of Misha and eventually went off the stage.
"Ray Chang of the third year and Misha kanon of the first year will be participating from group one."
-CHEERS! -CLAP! -CLAP! -CHEERS!
The judge announced the result of group one. The audience clapped and cheered for the two students who are going to represent the Ace Academy.
While Zero thought they were weak compared to upcoming participants but for other students who could not even qualify to enter the match, those two were very talented.
Being in the Top-20 in the strongest Academy can be considered as being very very talented, not to mention Misha who is just a first-year.
"With this, we will begin the second round. Contestants, please come on the stage."
The match for the second began. The most interesting participant in the second round was definitely Lisa Kyelpas and Sylvia Mavis.
Between the two, Lisa was stronger when they had first entered the Ace Academy. But I can not tell who will win this time because both their power levels are similar.
Those two's fight was worth watching but before that, they had to win against one of the third-year Top-10 rankers. Her name is Velma Lowe.
The first match was between Lisa and Velma Lowe. Lisa definitely drew the lower end of the stick to be fighting with Velma in the first round.
Both fighters entered the stage.
Lisa and a young girl sitting next to Lisanna stood up. Velma kept a straight face, exuding confidence.
It never crossed her mind that she wouldn't be able to pass the first round.
She did not worry. Given her strength, passing was a sure thing; the Tournament of Academies was the main challenge.
"Be careful. I heard many rumors about Lisa Kyelpas, she is powerful. Don't underestimate her."
One of her friends sitting next to her warned. Lisa though was not as popular as Hiro but Lisa, with her beauty and strength, made it into the conversation of third-year students.
And seeing yesterday's fight of Zero, her friend became wary of the strength of her juniors which seemed to exceed theirs.
Velma nodded to her friend but she didn't actually take her warning seriously. She was in Rank-D - while her opponent was merely in Rank-E+.
The audience watched as the two fighters entered the stage.
"First match of the second group will begin now!!"
Sylvia had her eyes wide open and watched those two attentively. She had to fight one of them in one of her upcoming fights.
She was feeling nervous as she knows the power of Lisa and was not sure whether she can win against her.
Velma was also powerful with her rank being higher than her.
"So, you are Lisa Kyelpas?"
Velma spoke before initiating a fight.
Lisa said solemnly without showing much emotion. While she always showed her smile while being with her friends, she would be void of emotion when fighting.
"Hmph! I will give you a chance to walk away without getting hurt. I don't want to face the trouble of your family going after me just because I have hurt you."
Velma said. She didn't like people who would have powerful backgrounds like Lisa.
They would always rely on their background and when they lose, they will have their family interfere.
"No need! Let's get started!"