There was still an endless stream of fights before Zion turned came.
At his turn, he was able to easily defeat his opponent and advance to the next round.
Soon, the semi-final was about to begin. Sure enough, Toby won and was set to advance to the final.
Zion confidently stood up as his turn came. He would be up against a fellow first year.
He could only wait for this pointless battle to end. Zion's opponent was Ranked 6 in mid-term, one rank above Zero. His name is Edwin Diaz.
Zion has never even put a Top-10 student of Third-years in his eyes, not to mention the Top ranker of first-years. He believed the fight to be useless as the outcome was pretty much already predetermined.
The match started and, as many of the audience expected, Zion won. But it was not the swift and easy win that Zion had expected. Edwin was able to match Zion in strength and Zion could not overwhelm him easily.
After quite a long battle, Zion won as he managed to break Edwin's defense with his fierce attack.
Although Zion won, he was not in a good mood. Taking so long to defeat someone at rank-6 of first-year shows just how weak he was in comparison with Toby.
Toby was able to take out the second-year Top-10 in one move while he struggled to defeat the student who was in the Top-10 of the first year.
While the First-year Top-10 was not inferior to the Second-year Top-10, rather, it was superior. Then also to struggle against a no-name was truly frustrating for Zion.
Zion was frustrated and angry. While he was healing from his injuries, he glanced at Zero, who had more power than the opponent he was about to face.
Zero defeating Lyon entitles him to the seat of second strongest in the whole Academy. That means that if he is not able to defeat Toby, it would mean he is inferior to Zero as Toby is inferior to Lyon.
Zion showed a cold glint that flashed across those dark, red eyes.
Zion waited impatiently as he was being healed. He could not wait to defeat Toby and show the whole school how talented he is.
After he finished healing, Zion confidently entered the stage as he prepared himself to fight Toby.
"So you are Zion Maxwell. It's true you're talented, but you are not as good as Zero."
Toby said to Zion provokingly. Before the battle of the body comes the battle of the mind.
People always try to disturb their opponent's mind so that the opponent makes mistakes while fighting.
Toby has heard about Zion Maxwell and also after watching his earlier fight, he was certain that Zion as rumored is an extremely prideful person.
Therefore, Toby tried to mention Zero and compare the two. A prideful person like Zion would not like to be compared and hear others say he was inferior.
"I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT AGAIN. I will beat you and he will be next."
Zion yelled as he could not keep his anger in check. While he did know his opponent was just provoking him, Toby's words touched his nerves. He could not control his anger.
Toby's provocation was effective, too effective one might say. He didn't know about the conflict between them due to Lisa.
And recently Zion was developing an inferiority complex toward Zero but he didn't want to admit that he was weaker than Zero. So, Toby mentioning those words ended up enraging Zion more than he hoped for.
However, Toby was satisfied to know that his words were working and he smiled slightly.
"The final match for Group 8 will begin right now!"
The moment the host's voice sounded, the gazes in the stadium that were focusing on the two of them became boiling hot.
This match would be the most anticipated match after Zero and Lyon's match. Both of them are considered geniuses and they could not wait to witness this epic battle.
Right after the battle began, Zion unleashed a huge amount of mana and launched himself toward Toby with his spear.
Toby also readied himself to defend with the spear. It was a battle between the spear wielders.
[ "Imperial Spear Style: Obliterate Strike" ]
Zion came hard right from the start. Using one of his strongest attacks, he struck the spear at Toby.
[ "Impure Feather Spear: Seamless Movement" ]
Zion struck with each strike carrying destructive force. However, Toby dodged all those attacks like he was dancing.
-SHHHUSH! -SHHHUSHH! -CLANG!
Using his spear, Toby successfully parried the strike that he had trouble dodging and dodged other attacks with seamless movements.
While Zion struggled to even hit Toby, Toby leisurely dodge the attacks without any worries.
Toby didn't worry about Zion. While Zion might be talented and considered powerful by many, he was nothing in front of Toby. Toby was in Rank-D+, a whole rank higher than Zion.
"What a Movement Art. Senior Toby doesn't even look like he is trying his best."
Hiro stared intently at Toby and Zion as he spoke in a soft voice. Toby was toying with Zion, only dodging and showing no sign of attacking back.
Lisa and Sylvia nodded slightly. They finally realized how strong the Top students of third years were.
They were quite worried about Zion who was struggling to land a hit on Toby's body.
Toby clashed his spear with Zion's spear and flicked Zion's spear in the air. Zion immediately backed away tens of meters to avoid Toby's attack.
Zion heavily panted. He looked at Toby who had a casual look on his face. It made Zion even angrier.
Both men released their powerful Mana and almost shot out simultaneously like arrows.
-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANG!
Toby's long spear violently pierced over 5 times in a short amount of time. While Zion managed to defend himself against three strikes, two of them directly hit his body and injured him heavily.
Zion ended up spurting a handful of blood. The arrogant face that he had previously had disappeared and what was left was the face of a helpless boy.
Zion held onto his spear tightly and poured his remaining mana.
"I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE HERE!!!"