Chapter 16. Tournament part 5

"Ken! Hurry up! We need to go to the staff room and get my teleport artifact updated before everyone leaves for the tournament!" Genesis shouted as she waited outside of his dorm with Lovetta.

"Isn't it a little late? Weren't you all going to do that protection spell thing?" Ken said while yawning as he walked out of his dorm room.

"We all know you won't be able to get up, so we went ahead and already got the spell done. It took a whole hour!" Genesis complained to Ken as the three headed to the staffing room.

"Why did it take a whole hour? Don't they cast protection spells at the tournament, and it takes like 30 seconds?" Ken asked in confusion.

According to Genesis, the difference between the protection spells is that the one they cast during the tournament can be chipped away like how the fighters do and when enough damage is done over time, it will be destroyed.

However, in this case and during actual wars in the past, protection spells are cast where unless it can be broken by a stronger attack, it will remain permanently.

"Basically, the ones they cast at the tournament, if you just do damage to it over and over, eventually it will break.

But if you want to make love with me, someone need to be strong enough to break this divine level protection in one hit or the damage won't be sustained.

I can't believe they are so cautious to pay for a divine level spell!" Genesis explained sadly knowing they won't have a way to get around it during the month off from the academy.

"Well, I am happy they cast a strong spell so you two won't be able to make a baby in secret." Lovetta said happily able to calm down slightly from yesterday.

As the three reached the staff office, Ken got them to update Genesis's teleport location while asking them some questions and was happy with their responses.

After their quick visit, the three headed over to the stadium ground to have some breakfast and get ready for day 5 of the tournament.

With the top 10 finally joining the tournament, the atmosphere is now completely different and filled with excitement. But with 256 contestants still remaining, the arena continued to be divided into many grids to allow the matches to proceed in a timely fashion.

"You know, I never knew the rules before but how will the protection spell last when the top 10 heroes are fighting?" Ken wondered out loud.

"You really know nothing do you Ken. Do you even know who our headmistress is?"

"I mean, I know she is a descendant of the founder, right? Other than that, I don't know anything about her." Ken answered truthfully.

"Evelynn Dragonspire, the current headmistress of this academy is the most powerful defensive mage in the world and the person who is the closest to achieve a level higher than holy.

Her protection spell is the highest tier of holy level, and they say if she gets just 5% stronger, they won't know what to call it since no one other than the hero who caused the great reset had ever reached this level of power.

You do at least know that all major cities have many layers of activation magic in place for emergency defense, right? Because of our headmistress, if she was to activate the protection magic that's imbued in this city, it would either take multiple top heroes or a large group of mages focus their spell at one spot instantly to be powerful enough to break it." Genesis explained while Ken listened intently.

"So, it is possible to break a protection spell even if you aren't strong enough. Just need to have a few people combine their power, right? You made protection magic sound so strong, but you can still easily overcome it from number." Ken observed.

"It's harder than you think to coordinate a combo spell Ken. If the timing isn't right, it does nothing, so the more people it requires, the harder it gets. Sure, if two of the top ten heroes worked together, maybe a few tries are all it takes but the only reason the world could stay peaceful is because of the power balance between the top 10 nations." Genesis continued as Ken listened while the tournament also got under way.

The first few matches for the top 10 heroes were quite anticlimactic. Even those that has made it to the top 32 in their respective bracket, the skill and power gap was too huge for the fights to be entertaining. They were quite similar to the matches between the first years where Clare would just overpower most of the competition.

The morning matches came to an end without the top 10 breaking a sweat and before Ryder concluded the morning with an intermission, Clare and Alice showed up to check in with the three while Alice also got her daily meal in.

"You look pale Ken, are you feeling ok?" Clare asked out of concern.

With her words, the other girls suddenly started staring at Ken intensively.

"Are you losing too much blood lately?" Clare continued.

Due to the upcoming month-long break, Alice had asked Ken to draw out some blood every night after providing him with a vase artifact that's been enchanted with a divine level cold spell to keep the drawn blood cold and fresh so she could still depend on his blood when they are apart.

"I don't exactly know how much Alice needed so I just try to fill the vase up. I don't feel any different, so I don't think there is anything to worry about." Ken responded, not concerned at all.

"Sorry! It's my fault. I don't know exactly how much I need but if you have already filled the vase then it will be more than enough and with it in a vase for measurement, I can see how much I will be needing for the future. Please don't draw out any more blood!" Alice apologized wholeheartedly while hugging Ken tightly.

Since Alice apologized and Ken showed no signs of weakness, Clare decided to let it go, and not to make a big deal. After chatting for a bit, the intermission was called, and the group went their separate ways to get lunch.

The afternoon matches went smoothly with some of the remaining contestants able to show some promise, including an 8th year student from the academy who put up an intense fight against the 10th ranked hero before eventually losing and a few others that did not get destroyed instantly like most of the previous fights.

The person who showed the most promise was a 20-year-old who wasn't selected by the academy but pushed the 9th ranked hero to the full 20 minutes and only lost due to taking more damage. A grizzly bear beastman from the capital city of Ostrium named Fernard Aethelwulf.

Standing at 7feet tall, he was a giant amongst average man. Thick, powerful, and surprisingly fast, at only 20 years old, if he was a student at the academy, he would have only needed to be above expert level and yet here is a guy who didn't get accepted to the academy but is already above divine level at only 20 years old.

"Wow, what a beast! Old man John from my village is also a grizzly bear beastman and big, tall and strong just like him!

If he had studied here instead, can you imagine just how strong he could be? But this flawed system rather have a bunch of good for nothing lazy nobles and royals." Ken complained while in awe at how much promise this young man showed.

By mid-afternoon, all the brackets are now down to the final match to determine the top 8 that will advance to the final day. Not surprisingly, the 10 heroes had all made it without too much of a challenge and the arena is no longer divided into grids as the final match for each bracket deserves the full attention of the crowd and the people at home.

The first match features the 6th ranked hero, Thallan Silvyr an elf who's currently working under the kingdom of Nafluica, where Xandrian is from. His match against the general of a well-respected kingdom was entertaining but eventually ended in an easy victory for the elf hero.

The next 5 matches played out in a similar fashion where their opponents were all very talented individuals that deserved to have the positions they do, but the skill level of the top 10 is just on a different tier.

Finally, the 7th match featured two of the top 10 where the highest level of combat could be witnessed by the crowd and those at home and everyone was on the edge of their seats to see if the ranking could change and that an upset would happen.

Siveril Sarmyar is the 7th ranked hero who is serving under the kingdom of Illithor. His opponent, the 10th ranked hero Valentina Branimir who served under the kingdom of Hatharal.

Siveril happened to be a large, strong lizardman who was deemed by the academy as not having enough potential and is one of two current heroes who wasn't selected by the academy.

Heavily armored with the best gear money could buy, he had won all of his matches so far without breaking a sweat since most of his opponents didn't even have the ability to damage him through his enchanted heavy armor and huge shield.

With a few swings from his giant axe enchanted with ice magic, whether his swing hits anyone or just the ground, with each swing, the impact from the hammer sends out a ring of icy shards. The stronger the impact, the more shards and faster the shards travelled. With this simple setup, Siveril was able to climb up the ranks more than 30 years ago and kept his top 10 spot with mostly his physical abilities and willingness to pay for the highest quality of gear.

Valentina on the other hand is a petite elf who specialized in ranged magic. While she was no younger than 50 due to the number of years she had been in the top 10, she does not look a day older than 25.

Armed with a wand artifact and accessories that amplifies and focuses her magic to produce a much stronger and more concentrated spell and even a small shield artifact that allows her to recover her stamina faster, she managed to get this far and beat her opponents easily much like Clare did by simply firing fireballs and ice spears but at a much more potent level and vastly greater speed.

The matchup was quite interesting to see and to Ken, it would seem that Valentina would have the upper hand due to her nimbleness and long-range attacks compared to the heavily armored and slow moving Siveril.

However, the actual battle turned out much different than Ken had expected, and it showed Ken that there is much more than combat than just pure raw power and strength.

While Siveril might be slower, from the view Ken had, he could clearly see that instead of randomly attacking, he attacks with a purpose and the way he directs the arc of the ice shards forces Valentina to move in a direction he wanted.

It didn't take long before the elf was cornered with all escape routes cut off by the giant of a man. Suddenly realizing that she was moving exactly how he wanted and there was no escaping without close range combat, Valentina decided it was all or nothing.

Abandoning any thoughts of escaping, Valentina retreated to the very edge of the arena where her back was pressed against the protection that's enclosing them from harming the audience and began gathering all of her energy into one final spell.

Quickly realizing her plan, Siveril charged in but before he could make an impact, the area inside the protection exploded into a giant ball of flames that covered the entire area making it impossible for the crowd to see what had happened.

As the audience sat in awe and anticipation, Ken could feel the heat and power of that last spell all the way up in the stands even with the strongest protection spell protecting the crowd from actual harm.

When the explosion cleared, the judge declared the fight was over and that Siveril had won and would be moving on to the final day.

While the crowd was still confused as to what actually happened, Ryder calmly explained how the match came to an end. After getting cornered, Valentina went for a self-destruct spell hoping for a tie knowing that she would be protected from actual damage thanks to the protection spell and hoped that it would be strong enough to take out Siveril.

However, the 7th ranked hero was experienced enough to realize what was about to happen and put all of his efforts into defending and managed to outlast the elf hero.

"That seems like a cheap attack. Would that even work on the actual battlefield?" Ken wondered out loud not satisfied with the elf hero's decision to self-destruct.

"I bet Alice and the vampires didn't like that attack" Genesis said bitterly.

Before Ken could demand an explanation, Genesis continued knowing that Ken would not be satisfied until she explained the story.

"Did you know how Darrumburgh was able to almost fully eradicate the entire population of vampires? When they marched to a city, it was obvious the army from none of those cities would be a match.

Once the militant is taken care of, a squad of mages would be deployed all over those cities and when the signal is given. The entire city would instantly explode into flames with every citizen, young and old, burst into flames then burning into ashes.

The cities would be completely destroyed with not a single person left alive, expect those mages protected by the protection spell.

If she was a human from Darrumburgh instead of an elf, that attack might just cause an all-out war between the humans and vampires."

"Well, I totally agree that what Darrumburgh did was absolutely brutal and too cruel, but I don't see any issues with her using a similar attack.

To me, she just did what she felt was the best way to at least not lose the match. I think intention matters and I'm positive her intention was not genocide, so I think it was fine." Ken responded after learning more about the brutality that happened to Alice's ancestors a thousand years ago.

While Ken and Genesis discussed about the validity of using such a spell, most of the crowd and the vast majority of those at home simply didn't know or cared about the history of vampires and the match ended without any incident expect a few unpleasant glares and whispers amongst the vampires.

Not making any unnecessary comments, Ryder proceeded with the final match of day 5 and the last one to join the top 8, the match between the 8th and 9th ranked heroes.

Nolan Bileth is the 8th ranked hero serving the kingdom of Ostrium. While the 9th ranked hero, Frederick Neremont is employed by the kingdom of Staeburg.

Nolan is a cheetah beastman who is lanky with abnormally long limbs. Not surprisingly, physical enhancement with an emphasis on speed is his specialty and he is without a doubt the fastest man alive.

Frederick on the other hand is the second hero of the ten who wasn't selected by the academy. An average built human from a royal family of a medium sized kingdom who rose through the ranks due to his determination and drive.

He never let the fact that he didn't attend Dragonspire deter his pursuit for greatness and earned his way to the top ten from years of improvement working on his weaknesses after each tournament while also upgrading his gear. While he is a master of none compared to the highest of tier, he is a jack of all trades and prolific in all forms of combat.

For this match against a speedster, Frederick decided to equip heavy armor and go defensive and wait for Nolan to approach him instead of trying to catch up to the beastman.

Unlike Frederick, Nolan does not have an arsenal of equipment for different situations or does he have the need for them. With his signature cheetah patterned enchanted claws and a fighting style relying on his speed, everyone knows what Nolan will try to do but the issue is if you can prevent him from achieving his goal due to his blazing speed.

As soon as the match started, Nolan disappeared from the vision of the average person. Too fast for the untrained eyes to see, Ken tried his best to track the beastman without success and it frustrated him greatly.

"Ken, you should focus on where the human is looking. Since he could track the beastman, if you follow his movement, you should have an easier time following." Noticing that Ken is upset, Lovetta offered him a useful tip from her years of experience from training.

Thanks to Lovetta's tip, Ken started watching Frederick's eye movement instead of trying to see where Nolan was and finally, he was able to catch glimpses of a flashing figure.

"You are the best Lovetta! Finally saw him!" Ken said excitedly.

"You know Ken, you can just watch one of those special mirrors that's at half speed. The academy knows the gambling halls would not be happy if someone won when they can't follow the action."

"No way! I am not some average Joe who's watching this for fun, Genesis. If I want to one day stand on the same stage and fight as equals, I need to learn and be able to catch up as soon as I can. If that beastman can reach divine level at only 20years old, with the advantage I got, I will achieve it even fast!"

Due to the fighting style of the pair, while the match was of the highest level, it lacked excitement for the general audience. Nolan's speed made it difficult for most to know what was going on and Frederick's defensive style did not add any excitement to the match.

For the final match of the day on day 5, this match turned out to be rather disappointing for most. However, Ken was thoroughly captivated simply due to his curiosity and desire to be able to track the cheetah beastman.

The match lasted the full 20 minutes before it was called, the judge announced Nolan the winner for the damage he did while Fredrick failed to land a single meaningful hit.

Even though Ken knew that a time limit is needed for the tournament to move along smoothly, he couldn't help but wonder how this match and many others would have turned out if there was no time limit or area restrictions.

With day 5 of the tournament over, Ken and the two girls waited around to meet up with Alice and Clare and when they joined up, Alice complained a little about the match between the elf and lizardman but mostly as a cheap shot against Clare since it was the elf hero that decided to use the suicide technique.

Ken on the other hand, was way more interested in the final fight and asked if anyone could follow their speed and how they would fight him knowing the speed disadvantage.

"Ken, you will see tomorrow how and why the top 4 are not even in the same league as the rest, even those others in the top 10. I am sure you have seen them fight plenty of times but now that you have more knowledge and understanding, you will be able to see why the top 4 stayed top 4 while the other 6 can go from 5th to 10th depending on the matchup." Clare explained, making Ken look forward to the final day that much more, ready to learn all he could so he would one day stand on that stage.

After chatting for a while, the two once again said their farewells and went back to their families while Ken, Lovetta and Genesis went and got dinner and repeated the same process as they had done all week.