Dark Magus Returns

Now that the group stage of the tournament had ended, it was tfor the individual stage. Contestants would go up against each other in one vs one matches.

It didn't matter if one was from the sclan; they would continue to fight until there was an ultimate winner.

On the arena itself, there would also be two Middle stage warriors that would intervene if they ever felt like things would get too dangerous, or one side was overwhelming the other.

They didn't want any deaths to happen, but from tto time, when fighting with large amounts of Qi and more, it tended to happen.

However, Middle stage warriors were on another stage compared to the Initial stage students, so 90 percent of the tthey could stop things before it went too far.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we will announce the matchups of today's single events, feast your eyes on this!"

The large mirror that was transmitting the images to everyone so far in the air had changed, and it showed the names of each of the contestants.

It was another impressive piece of technology for those in Pagna, but because they had already seen things beyond what they could imagine today, this didn't seem too big of a deal.

Ripper Vs Ricktor.

Beret Vs Mada.

Kaylie Vs Safa.

Mantis Vs Charlotte.

Simyon Vs Brack.

Hannah Vs Liam.

Jake Vs Ulyn.

Already seeing the names, there was much talk among the crowd; there were quite a few fights that they were looking forward to.

For one, they were interested in the student Safa from the Dark Faction. In all of the events, she had yet to use her skill or power, and now it would finally be revealed on the stage.

Then, they were interested in Liam against Hannah. Although Hannah wasn't considered the strongest member of the Light Faction students, she was the disciple of Beatrix, last year's winner.

So she was an incredibly strong member of the Dawnblade Clan, and they had seen Liam conflict with her a few times by copying her skills.

Then there was Mantis, the Black Tiger and known as the strongest from the Demonic Faction; they had yet to see what he was capable of as well.

Finally, though, there was one match that everyone wouldn't have been too interested in before but now would have their eyes peeled on every second.

That was 'Jake' Vs Ulyn. The man who had been given a nicknfor his actions so far and showing his devastating power.

Sthought that he might even be considered the strongest, and the Demonic Faction had just been keeping him a secret from what they had seen so far.

Why they were excited, though, was because Ulyn was from the Aurora Clan, from the strongest Clan in the Light Faction and was considered the strongest out of the Light Faction students.

A matchup this big, straight away, they couldn't wait to see what the outcwould have been. Especially after hearing the talk of Ulyn claiming that he would be able to beat Raze with ease even after seeing what he could do.

Just like many of the other expected strong contenders in the event so far, no one had seen truly what Ulyn could do.

"Hey, so do we need to talk about this?" Simyon asked.

"Talk about what?" Liam asked. "About a strategy on how to win your fight. You know there's no point in that; we could even be fighting against each other, and if that happens, I won't be holding back."

Simyon's eyebrow started to twitch; it had been a while since the two of them had fought each other.

"Right, right, I haven't given you a good beating in a while."

As sparks started to fly between their heads, Safa cbetween the two of them.

"Cool it, both of you, if you want to do well, then go ahead, but you need to not get injured and conserve sof your strength at least," Safa replied. "I can heal you guys and restore sof your energy but not all, and we have no clue about how this whole thing is going to go."

Safa then looked toward Amir's back who had been standing by the side of Murkel for the entire time.

He had told them to be careful at the tournament; when she heard those words, she expected that something would happen.

That was before they even knew Raze was here; she doubted Amir even knew Raze was going to be here, which meant something else was going to happen.

'The Bonum Society that Amir is part of, they could be planning to make a move in all of this, and who knows what they are trying to do, and I still have no clue what Raze is going to do as well.'

For a while, Safa had been looking into the crowd, and there were just too many people making strange movements. She had managed to catch sight of Alba from the Crimson Crane.

She had seen figures standing still not cheering in all of the chaos, and even others with their hoods up. It was too hard to tell what everyone's goal was, or if they were here to just spectate on the future.

However, the biggest variable of all was Raze and how he would play a part in all of this. Because she was sure whatever plans each group made, none of them were expecting to have someone as dangerous as Raze here because they had no clue about his danger either.

Reaching down underneath her sleeve, Safa rubbed the statue she had as well. It was still their safetyif they needed it.

"I'm going to step out and get a closer look," Amir said, looking at Murkel. "There are enough people here to protect the students if need be."

"And I'm sure the Light Faction won't be doing anything; you can handle matters, right."

Murkel didn't say anything, but his silence was pretty much taken as a yes.

Right then, they saw Amir turn, look toward the Light Faction member in their room and then head out of the door.

More likely than not, Safa felt like something was going to happen, and it was soon.

Just above the Light Faction viewing area, the three Light Faction Clan Heads were sitting back in their seats looking at the matchups for the fights.

"I'm going to go ahead and assthat these matchups weren't randomized?" Ricar said. "It doesn't exactly seem fair, does it."

"Fairness!" Cicle laughed. "Either way, the strongest in this single event will becthe winner; it doesn't matter who they are matched up against, it's not as if the fights have an issue."

"Is that why you had set it up, for Ulyn to go against the student named Jake?" Kawak asked.

Cicle paused for a second, clearly showing his guilt in the whole matter.

"It's better that we get rid of that man as soon as possible," Cicle said. "If he fights with more of the contestants, it will be more dangerous; we already lost Harmon."

"Harmon is still alive, don't talk about him as if he is dead,"

Ricar added.

"He is a member of my clan; I think it will be best you keep to your opinions to yourself about him," Cicle replied. "Regardless, Ulyn is the strongest student from the Light Faction."

"And Kawak, didn't you say he is possibly the strongest student that we have ever had in the academy before, so there is no way he can lose, correct."

Kawak didn't reply instantly, as he thought back to a few conversations he had with him, and an image of him handing something over to Kawak.

"In this tournament, there is no chance that he loses, even to that Demon over there. Ulyn will be the Light that shines brightest in the Light Faction; I'm sure of that. After today, no one will speak of the Demon's nanymore."

"It seems like it's finally time," Lince commented. "Mantis, so far you haven't exactly done anything for the Demonic Faction in all of this."

"You are meant to be the pillar of the Demonic Faction, so it's tthat you showed your strength."

Mantis was leaning up against the wall, still with most of his chest bare to the outside.

"You don't have to worry about me; I will win this tournament no matter what. I can already tell from everyone I have seen so far, I am the strongest here."

Lince would have thought it was just the confidence of a young student speaking, but he could tell through his words he truly did believe that, and there was something else as well.

Lince could tell both him and Sha Mo could feel it. Something was different about Mantis; there was a reason, just like how the beast didn't attack Raze in the first event, it didn't even try to go for Mantis.

"With all announcements made, we will now announce the first matchup!" the announcer stated, and two names appeared on the screen.

"Jake, vs Ulyn!"