Chapter 17. Tournament Finale

"Ken. Time to get up so we can go get some breakfast." Lovetta called out while waiting outside of his dorm with Genesis.

After 10 minutes and not hearing a thing, the girls started to get worried and started banging on his dorm door while calling out for a response.

"Sorry, I had some business to take care of, so I got up early and went to the staffing room." Ken answered startling the girls as he showed up behind them.

"Who woke you up? What did you do and why didn't you tell me?" Lovetta demanded while looking at Ken suspiciously.

"You know, I am capable of waking myself up if I really wanted to. After talking to the staff yesterday, I had to go take care of some business." Ken answered casually.

As the three walked to the stadium to grab some breakfast, Lovetta and Genesis grilled Ken until he explained the full story.

"You should have told me; I would have woken you up earlier and went with you." Lovetta said bitterly.

"Come on Lovetta, I can't be bothering you for every little thing. You already do more than enough! Waking me up every morning, be by my side every day and buying food for us this whole week as well."

"I don't mind if you depend on me more." Lovetta replied feeling down when Ken didn't let her know about his plan this morning.

To cheer Lovetta up, Ken promised that he would let her know from now on if he had any change of plans and let her decide what she will do knowing full well that she would always cater to his needs.

As the three got to their seats, Ken was more than ready to see what the best in the world is capable of doing and just how much of a gap there really is between him and them.

To ensure that the final match of the tournament is of the highest quality, the matches on the final day are based on the current ranking as it had been for many centuries.

After getting the crowd and those watching at home excited, the first match of the final day started with the 4th ranked hero Sylvester Gilliam serving the kingdom of Sraederham and 5th ranked hero Yvette Aster serving the kingdom of Feirvenn, the kingdom Genesis is from.

Sylvester Gilliam, the 4th ranked hero is the oldest of the current top 10 and had maintained his top 4 position for over 150 years and he is the corner stone for the kingdom of Sraederham, the largest and most influential of the lizardman.

Pale white skin, severely underweight that one can make out his rib cage, long shaggy gray hair, red eyes with vertical slit pupils that tracked movements like a snake and a long albino snake like tail, Sylvester is one eerie looking man.

While the average commoner's life expectancy is no more than 80 years, it's not hard for someone with wealth to afford regular enchantments and live well past 100. For nobles and royals of any significant kingdom and wealth, the average life expectancy is no less than 250 years. Even though no one had figured out a way to achieve immortality yet, certainly not due to lack of trying. Many of the richest regularly live past 400.

With his holy level mastery in the science of human biology, anatomy, healing magic and time magic, Sylvester is over 200 years old but still well within his prime even with his unusual look. As strong and recognizable as Sylvester is, his fighting style is something Ken never liked in all of the years he had watched the tournament.

Yvette on the other hand, is the complete opposite in terms of looks to Sylvester. Tall, slim, well endowed with silky flowing black hair and deep dark brown eyes. Athletic, beautiful and graceful, Yvette captures the stage and hearts of men easily and effortlessly.

Utilizes a style similar to Nolan where she uses her speed to win her matches. However, the major difference between the two is that one is pure physical speed while Yvette uses magic and diversions to appear faster than she really is.

As the match began, Yvette started dashing around, laying trap artifacts enchanted with different effects while Sylvester just stood there starting his typical enchantment.

Soon, the arena was filled with skeletons and preserved corpses, and it was not a pretty sight to see and why Ken never liked how Sylvester fought. With his deep understanding of humans and years of practice, Sylvester fights by summoning corpses that he had preserved and skeletons he had pieced back together.

Kept into a holy tier container artifact that Sylvester kept at his waist, he was able to compress all of his summons into the container and with his enchants, he was able to summon those bodies out onto the battlefield into a disgusting army of undead.

When the summons started to move, some would mindlessly step on the traps that Yvette had laid out. A few would burst into flames, some would freeze, some would get stabbed through by spikes while others would get poisoned. Of course, none of the effects mattered to those that are already dead and Sylvester is more than capable of repairing any damage to his summons when given the proper time.

With his summons guarding him from every direction while more expertly sent out to force and limit the directions Yvette could move, eventually Yvette was cornered and defeated to the cheering crowds from the lizardman section of the stadium.

"Personally, I find Sylvester's fighting style to be so off-putting no matter how strong he is. Using someone's deceased body and skeletal remains just feels so disrespectful to me.

Also, now that I have seen this match, I wonder why Frederick didn't use traps against Nolan. I feel like throwing traps all over would work very well against someone who is all about speed." Ken wondered while observing and studying the matches and trying to learn as much as he could.

"Sorry Ken, all I know is that trap artifacts take a very high skill level to use properly especially in large quantity. I would assume he just didn't have the mastery to be able to pull it off." Genesis answered to the best of her knowledge.

As Ken discussed the match with the two girls trying to learn as much as he could, Ryder began to announce the second match between the 3rd ranked hero Osmar Fleming who is serving the kingdom of Kirksawald and the 6th ranked hero Thallan Silvyr.

Since Thallan is the hero employed by Xandrian's home kingdom Nafluica, Ken took a special interest in his fighting style to see if Xandrian got any training from him like Clare did from Zishell. Like the other 2 elves in the top 10, all 3 seem to favor ranged elemental attacks and in Thallan's case, he is a master in lightning magic with teleportation. Light blonde hair with dark yellow highlights running through like lightning and spiked high with gel, slender with well-defined muscle, bright blue eyes and the iconic elf ears that's twice as long as that of a human, Thallan is flashy, cool, friendly and very likeable.

Osmar on the other hand is a tall, muscular, tiger beastman. With wild and frizzy shoulder length yellow hair with dark streaks that looked natured compared to Thallan, deep bright yellow eyes like Lovetta and thick bushy shaggy facial hair, Osmar looked like a wild man compared to the slick Thallan. And unlike Nolan who mostly depended on his speed, Osmar is well balanced in both speed and power while also a master in martial arts techniques and elemental magic.

While Thallan isn't that fast from a physical point of view, his mastery in teleportation magic which allows him to suddenly appear at random spots is even more deadly than pure speed due to its randomness and unpredictability.

With his ability to randomly appear anywhere on the arena and his extremely powerful and fast lightning attacks, Ken watched in anticipation how it was possible for the beastman to take the elf down with martial arts and physical strength.

As the match started, Thallan started blinking all over the arena frustrating Ken greatly as he tried to follow the elf but had no clue where he would pop up next and refused to watch the match on one of the mirrors.

As he blinked around, lightning spears would randomly appear from different directions flying towards the beastman but instead of dodging, Osmar seemed to know exactly where the lightning bolts are coming from and would conjurer earth shields to completely nullify the attacks.

"How can he tell where those attacks are coming from!" Ken asked in bewilderment.

"I think Osmar is tracking him by sound." Lovetta offered helpfully.

On a closer inspection of the beastman, Ken can now see how his giant tiger ears are always moving, twitching and would suddenly perk up in a direction and place an earth shield swiftly to block an incoming attack.

"Wow, I guess at the highest level, you have to utilize all of your senses and be a master of everything. No wonder they could stay on top for so long. With all their extra years of experience, talent and wealth. I don't see how I would ever be able to reach this level."

"You will Ken. You are super smart and such a fast learner. I am sure you will achieve anything you want." Lovetta replied fully believing every word she said.

The match continued and eventually after 10 minutes, Thallan started to slow down due to the amount of energy it takes to contentiously teleport around even for someone as advanced as he is and the moment Osmar saw an opening, he pounced on the elf.

Before Thallan had time to react and teleport away, a barrage of fast and powerful close-ranged attacks rained on him from every angle to his vital spots.

If he wasn't shielded by the protection spell, it would have been instant death but thankfully, the moment Osmar destroyed the protection magic, he walked away to the cheering crowd from the beastman section.

After the cheering crowd settled down from the exciting end, Ryder introduced the next pair. The 2nd ranked hero Julius Gaeleath serving the kingdom of Darrumburgh and the 7th hero Siveril Sarmyar of Illithor to the cheering crowd from the human and lizardman section respectively.

Julius is like your idealistic version of what a hero should look like. A noble born within the capital city of Darrumburgh, flowing blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, tall, handsome, well built with the brightest and kindest smile.

Even when both he and Zishell are well into their 60s, he does not look a day over 25 and with the wealth and influence he has gathered since becoming a top hero. He will no doubt keep his position for many more centuries to come.

While Siveril got on the stage in his typical heavy armor for maximum defense, Julius was dressed in elegant light armor that seemed more for fashion rather than protection and equipped simply with his long broadsword on his hip.

After the match started, For the first time live, Ken got to witness the difference between the top 2 heroes and everyone else. The match was of no competition with Julius winning so easily that if it wasn't for the matches leading up to this point. One might think that Siveril was some low-level random fighter, not one of the top 10 that had kept the world at peace.

With the human section of the crowd cheering loudly for having someone this strong protecting their race, Ryder introduced the final match for the morning between the number 1 ranked hero Zishell Yelvaris serving the kingdom of Yelwraek against the 8th ranked hero Nolan Bileth, the dual wielding beastman serving Ostrium.

Zishell Yelvaris, the current number 1 ranked hero, a noble from the kingdom of Yelwraek and Clare's tutor and uncle is highly respected by all and for the elves, he is the golden standard.

Tall, handsome, clean shaved with pure white hair and sky-blue eyes like Clare, well defined muscle but not overly bulky and his race defining pointy ears. While Julius got a royal and majestic look to him, Zishell is more elegant and mystical.

To Ken, however, the most important aspect going on right now is how exactly will the elf deal with the pure speed of the beastman.

Ken got his answer rather quickly. The moment the match started, the cheetah beastman disappeared and Ken began to track Zishell's eye and where he was focusing. As Nolan would approach to try and get a hit in like he did against Frederick to win the match from the day before.

Not only is Zishell able to track the movements, but he was also able to conjure ice pillars just in time to block any possible damage. Not worried or hurrying at all, Zishell would carefully watch the beastman and block any incoming damage while casually taking out his magnificent, enchanted bow with deep dark engravings and a polished white finish.

To Ken, this match is as frustrating as Nolan's last match due to his speed. He is moving so fast that it's only after ice pillars randomly appeared and got left with claw marks that Ken would know what has happened.

While Zishell is still casually blocking all of Nolan's attacks that are too fast for Ken to see, he finally drew his bow after around 10 minutes of just blocking attacks. Stringing his bowstring with no arrow in sight, he held bowstring at max tension and calmly waited.

Suddenly, Zishell turned and released the tensed bowstring as an arrow purely conjured from ice appeared the instant he let loose the string. A large impact happened almost simultaneously after he released the arrow and a few feet from him, is the 8th ranked hero with the arrow impact right in-between his eyes and his entire body frozen solid unable to move. As the match got called due to Nolan's inability to move, the elves cheered loudly as Zishell waved at the crowd.

Right after the match ended and as Ryder was announcing the intermission and match order for the afternoon, Clare and Alice showed up like always to check upon the trio and for Alice to get her meal.

"Ok, I understand what you meant Clare and how you can deal with the fastest man alive." Ken said calmly.

"You just have to be so fast that you can react to the fastest man alive and be so strong that you can stop him in his track. So, to beat the fastest person in the world, you just have to be so much stronger that you overpower him! So basically, the only way to overcome pure strength and power is to be stronger and more powerful! Is that what you tried to tell me Clare?" Ken definitely started losing his temper the longer he talked and the more hopeless he felt.

"Well, since I was a little girl, my uncle taught me that absolute power conquerors absolutely. The only way to guarantee victory is not through trickery but dominating power. After watching that match, I hope you understand now that if you want to aim for the top, you need to learn and study everything and get to a point where you can overpower every situation with pure strength or you won't ever reach the very pinnacle." Clare explained matter-of-factly.

Even though Ken did not like her answer at all, he couldn't argue with the logic after seeing and understanding just how much more powerful the top 2 heroes were compared to everyone else and that no amount of tricks or how much he used his brain, the only way to beat them is to overpower them with might.

"Oh, Ken, don't forget, the banquet is tonight after the tournament so don't eat too much for lunch. I heard since they have royals from all over the world attending, the end of semester banquet always had the best food from every region and race." Alice advised as she walked off with Clare while Ken and the two girls went to get lunch.

After a small lunch per Alice's recommendation, the three got back for the afternoon finale. While Ken was still excited for the final 3 matches, knowing now that to be the best takes pure raw talent and to gain absolute power takes years of training and learning made Ken's interest decrease slightly because he was looking for a shortcut to raise in the ranks amongst his peers and that dream seems to be in vain.

Soon after they got seated, the first match of the afternoon between Julius and Osmar got under way and Ken was back into the tournament mode.

While on paper, this match is between the second and third ranked heroes. In reality, the gap in power is too huge for Julius to go all out. Facing a sword user, Osmar went with steel gantlets as his weapon and since both are masters of close-range combat. The match was exciting and fast paced as the two traded blows with sparks flying everywhere.

While the match was exciting at first, it wasn't long until the skill and power difference began to show. Even though Osmar is a master martial artist with the most polished techniques and based on looks alone, seemed much stronger physically due to his size and build.

Julius was simply too gifted in his natural abilities, his enhancements, his mastery in techniques and is just overall superior in every area. It didn't take long for Julius to start overpowering the much bigger Osmar in raw power and even with Osmar's mastery in combat techniques, Julius simply had a greater mastery.

While the match lasted a whole 15 minutes with action-packed close-range combat. It was easy for those with trained eyes to tell that the match only lasted this long because Julius wanted the crowd to enjoy a good show and the match was not even close from the very start.

The next match between Zishell and Sylvester played out in a similar way. While Sylvester was summoning his minions, Zishell simply waited instead of attacking and rather than taking out the corpses and skeletons instantly like he is more than capable of doing, Zishell allowed the lizardman to showcase his full arsenal of skills to keep the crowd and those at home entertained before eventually obliterating everything easily to win his match.

For all of Ken's life watching the tournaments at home, he had never expected or could have imagined just how much stronger the top two are from the rest. For years, he was one of those that was watching at home thinking those matches were close and exciting but finally, he is now part of the minority with the knowledge that this has always been a two man show.

The final match between Zishell and Julius was a show all in itself as it had always been. The two are not only levels above the rest, but they also understand full well the entertainment aspect of the tournament and for the first 15 minutes of their match, it was a flashy show where they fired big flamboyant spells at each other, went head on head in close-ranged combat and riled up the crowd with exciting abilities in a controlled manner that only they are capable of doing due to their overwhelming talent and skills.

Eventually with only 5 minutes of the match left, they both suddenly flipped the switch on and went into a serious mood and the tone of the match completely shifted. For the first 15 years when they first reached the top, the skill level was close enough where one would only be able to keep the top rank for 1 or 2 tournaments before the other would take the crown.

However, for the past 5 years, Zishell seemed to have find a new level and for 10 straight tournaments, He had kept the number 1 spot away from Julius and people have begun to whisper about crowning him as the strongest hero in all of history.

For those watching at home, the sudden shift in the last 5 minutes was completely missed as every mirror reflecting the fight has been changed to slow mode to capture what is going on and only those that had the opportunity to watch the fight live knows just how much faster the action suddenly got.

Once again, Ken is left frustrated that the speed of their combat is too fast for him to see anything and since both of them are untraceable, he reluctantly turned to one of the mirrors to be able to see what exactly is happening.

After 4 minutes of combat that's too advanced for Ken to even comprehend or understand who is doing what to whom, both heroes stopped and hugged in the middle of the arena as Zishell was once again declared the winner with the protection spell on Julius completely destroyed.

The elf section of the crowd exploded into cheers while the human section sunk. Once again, it seems that the elf had come out on top and for at least another six months, the kingdom of Yelwraek under the protection of the number 1 hero Zishell will remain on paper as the most powerful and influential kingdom.

With only 3 matches after intermission, the week long tournament finally came to an end early Saturday afternoon. With all the top heroes gathered, noteworthy newcomers and favorite upcoming students like Clare, a few more hours were spent on interviews and just giving the crowd and people at home more content that they all craved.

As Ken and the two girls enjoyed Ryder interviewing the top heroes, Lucia popped out of nowhere and the screen shifted to Lovetta. The sudden interview was totally unexpected, and the startled wolf girl grabbed onto Ken tightly while trying to hide away.

"Hello! What's your name? During the first day I heard someone cheering loudly for Lovetta here, it was you right! Are you her boyfriend?" Turning her attention to Ken, Lucia begins to ask him questions instead since she noticed quickly that Lovetta would not be a good interview.

"Name is Ken, we are best friends and yes, I will super proud of her and will always cheer the loudest." Ken answered calmly even though the whole world was tuned in and watching him.

After chatting with Lucia for a few more minutes in a calm and poised manner while joking and laughing without an ounce of nervousness or hesitation. She thanked Ken for his time and walked away telling the world how amazing the academy is and how every race can come and exist in harmony and form beautiful friendships without racial boundaries.

"So fake. How was she able to lie with such a straight face and happy expressions." Ken wondered while watching Lucia telling obvious lies after he had experienced the discrimination and judgement daily at this supposedly wonderful academy of harmony.

"Ken. How are you so confident when you were basically speaking to the entire world?"

"It's not confidence Lovetta. I just grew up getting rejected and judged so much for no reason that I stopped caring what others think and just try to live my best life." Ken responded casually.

As Lucia went around interviewing every person that made an impression during the weeklong tournament, the final interview with the students ended with none other than Clare. Being the niece of Zishell, princess of Yelwraek, and the winner for the first-year tournament. Clare is without a doubt the most anticipated newcomer in a long time and befitting for the final interview for the students.

Unlike the real Clare who is childish and easy to anger, or the one who shuts down everyone like they are nothing but an annoyance, the one talking with Lucia in a formal manner with proper etiquette is another side of the elf princess that Ken hasn't seen before.

With all the interviews over, Lucia joined Ryder on stage and the pair thanked the heroes, the rest of the participants, the crowd, those watching at home, the students and hyped everyone up for the next tournament just half a year away.

"Ken! Why are you so cool! Now you will have girls all over the world falling for you! Lovetta is so lucky! I wish it was me that was intimate with you for the world to see." Alice said half-jokingly half-enviously as she and Clare joined the three shortly after Lucia got on the stage.

"Congrats on your uncle winning the tournament Clare! Not that I can tell exactly what happened or why he was stronger." Ken interjected knowing Alice will take a shot at Clare if he doesn't change the subject.

Even for Clare, the final match was way beyond her level so she couldn't answer Ken why Zishell was stronger, but she promised she would ask him during the break if she got to see him, and they can try and learn and get stronger next semester.

With an early afternoon finish to the tournament, most of the tourists started leaving the island to return to their regular lives. The ultra rich who aren't invited to the banquet bitterly left straight from the stadium with teleport artifacts while the rest headed towards the harbor to take large vessels back to their home continents.

With their dresses and accessories in their rooms, Alice and Clare walked back to the academy with Ken for the first time in a week. Alice, be the assertive girl she is, wasted no time clinging onto Ken as she always had and after a week of been jealous at Lovetta and Genesis for getting closer to Ken while she was stuck dealing with her family, Clare for once also got assertive and the two each grabbed a side of Ken while Lovetta and Genesis followed the three in envy.

As the group got back to the academy, they headed to the dorms to get ready for the banquet.

"I will take a nap for now, got up pretty early this morning. Please come get me when it's time for dinner." Ken asked the girls when they arrived at his dorm room.

While Lovetta and Genesis agreed immediately, Alice and Lovetta both had to go with their families and wouldn't be joining the three for dinner.

"We will also be going home tonight after the banquet so tonight is the last time I get to see you in over a month! I will be coming by your room after the banquet to get the blood you have been saving for me. Thank you so much Ken!" Alice said while hugging Ken tightly.

"It really isn't fair that the academy had kept the transmission magic technique a secret all this time and no one else had figured out how to do it. If they would just share the spell, we could have personal mirrors to see and talk to each other whenever we want." Clare added while giving Alice a nasty look.

While the new knowledge was certainly interesting and Ken wondered why this particular spell is been kept a secret, he was in no mood for thinking too hard and mostly just wanted to take a nap before pigging out at the banquet.

"Oh, before you all go since you two won't be here tomorrow. I saw some cheap necklaces at one of the stalls and thought they looked pretty cool, so I got one for each of you." Ken said nonchalantly while handing each girl a small stone necklace.

While the necklaces were cheap and to Ken, it was just a small gratitude gift for his friends who had all treated him so graciously and helped him survive in this brutal academy for commoners and never let him feel he was inadequate.

Topaz for Lovetta, sapphire for Clare, ruby for Alice and emerald for Genesis, while the gemstones were small and Ken only paid 20 academy points for the 4, after receiving the gift, each of the girl give Ken a huge hug and left in the best mood possible as Ken went into his dorm to get his nap in.