Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Nothing really serious happened in the past three days, apart from the usual routine.
Round four of the competition successfully ended. As expected, Tessa won her fight and qualified. Hector also won his fight, alongside a good number of other students.
Arin's opponent also ended up being a girl, but at least, the girls he had been paired with in this competition weren't softies. They were quite fierce. In fact, almost all the girls in the Academy were like that.
Because he was holding back a lot, the fight was heated, but he still won at the end.
'I wonder who will be my opponent today,' Arin thought as he folded his arms, staring at the teacher who was standing in the middle of the circle.
Today was the last day of the competition which surprised Arin a bit when he heard it, but after also hearing the reason, he now understood.
Apparently, many of the students who qualified for this round dropped out of the competition. According to them, they knew that some of the current participants in this round would win them. Even though they were quite at the same Rank, they knew that there were still differences.
Because of this, they decided to drop out of the competition, and also remove those who lost in their fight, there were now only six participants left.
Tessa, Hector, Arin, and one other girl with two other boys.
Arin already knew that he wouldn't be paired with Tessa due to them not being in the same Rank.
Before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, Orion stepped forward, standing in the middle of the circle.
"Pay attention, everyone!" He exclaimed as all the students stopped talking and looked at him.
"Today's matches will be the last matches of this competition," Orion said. "And the three students who win their matches will be among the four students who will represent this Academy in the tournament."
The students cheered for a bit before it died down and Orion continued.
"So, I urge the participants to do their best. Show the results of your training, and make both this Academy and yourself proud."
The students cheered again as Orion walked towards the teachers. Another teacher was already coming out to call the names of the first two students among the six who would fight.
He called the names of one of the boys and one of the girls as they both stepped out.
The fight began in an instant.
'I guess they're going all out,' Arin thought, watching the battle with a small smile on his face.
"Haha, it's the last round of the competition, after all. What did you expect?" Seraphine laughed.
The students cheered louder than ever as the fight continued. Explosions and other sounds could be heard as both students clashed.
And finally, after about four minutes, the fight ended with the boy coming out victorious.
Orion had removed the three minute rule because it was the final round, so their fight wasn't stopped even after three minutes. The students would have even grumbled if that happened.
'Just like when you're playing a video game and you're finally close to killing the boss, but the power supply suddenly gets cut off,' Arin thought.
'Yeah, that kind of situation.'
The teacher announced the winner, and the boy walked back to the crowd, not looking too happy even though he was the one who won.
From the heated fight, and the Spells used, Arin guessed that both the boy and the girl were at the Grandmaster Rank.
'Maybe the lowest of the Rank... Grade 1.'
The teacher quickly called out the name of the next two students.
It was Tessa versus another of the four boys.
The boy was also at the Grandmaster Rank, but Tessa was at Grade 4 of the Rank while the boy was at Grade 3.
Both of them dashed towards each other, already unleashing their Spells.
The boy was a Fire Element Mage, and because of his rapid attacks and Tessa's constant dodging, the explosions this time were more and louder.
Thankfully, the circle was wide enough, so their attacks didn't get to the others students, and at one point, Riya also set up a Water Bubble around the fighting circle, isolating the two fighters from the students, and protecting them just in case there was any stray attack.
Exactly three minutes into the fight, Tessa suddenly absorbed the sound from one of the loud explosions, boosting her speed more than ever.
Before the boy knew it, Tessa was already beside him, swinging her wooden sword with great force. She used one of her Spells, adding sound to her sword and boosting the force greatly.
The boy's eyes widened a bit, but before the sword could hit him...
Out of nowhere, a teacher appeared in the middle of Tessa and the boy, his left hand gripping Tessa's sword.
His left hand was covered with a rock like surface, signifying that he was an Earth Element Mage.
He raised his head before announcing, "winner, Tessa Silverhart."
There was silence for some seconds as everyone processed the fight.
If the teacher hadn't stopped Tessa's sword, the boy would have been greatly injured even though it was just a wooden sword.
Tessa smiled at a group of girls who were the first set of people to start cheering for her before the other students joined them.
"Tessa is growing stronger everyday... I like that," Arin muttered to himself.
But a single announcement snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Arin Vale versus Hector Goldentime."
Arin looked up with a raised brow, but that was when he realized.
"Wait... It's just me and Hector remaining...."
He hadn't been paying attention to it before, but now, he realized.
"That's the last fight of this competition," the teacher added before walking back to join the other teachers.
Arin and Hector stepped out, before grabbing their wooden swords from the teachers.
Hector smiled at Arin as he prepared himself.
Arin could only sigh. "First my sister, and now my sister's boyfriend..."