"Welcome, everyone! This is the moment you've all been waiting for!"

It was the day of the Semi-Finals and Finals of the Academy Tournament Event, and everyone in the room was incredibly excited.

The room was electric with tension and anticipation as the referee, as well as host, raised his voice and garnered the excited shouts and applause of everyone spectating.

"Today, we have the four contestants who will be participating in the semi-finals. R'ai, Ad'oni, Luc'ia, and Adrian!"

Everyone applauded as the four students walked out into the massive stage.

The crowd wasn't very excited to see Adrien, but they were more than happy for the rest of the candidates. Not only were they all in the First Grade-showing incredible talent and strength to make it so far-but they were all respectable Dragons.

Dragons supported one another-especially if they were strong.

The only sight for sore eyes was Adrien, and despite their fear of him, the audience couldn't help but raise their voices belittling him in the best ways they could.

"Make sure you show him, Luc'ia!"

"Kick his butt for us!"

"Avenge my little sister! That monster deserves to pay!"

More and more retorts like that echoed among the audience. Since Adrien had proven to be cruel and heartless irrespective of their jeering and unanimous display of disgust towards him, they decided to go all out.

Needless to say, the hall was packed to the brim with many Dragons, all for various reasons.

But, they all had one thing in common-seeing Adrien's downfall.

"And now, for the first match of the day... R'ai versus Ad'oni!"

Many people were hoping to see Lucielle face Adrien first, and the Academy knew this already, so they decided to push it back in order to get the more uninteresting fight out of the way.

However, 'uninteresting' in this instance didn't mean boring.

R'ai and Ad'oni were both contestants who ended their opponents in single strikes. Ad'oni used the same move all the time, while R'ai had variations in his attacks.

Still, they weren't particularly performers.

They simply opted for the most effective route in dispatching their opponents, and that was about the end of it. Even now, as Adrien and Lucielle exited the stage, leaving only the two contestants standing opposite each other, the audience couldn't help but feel like this match would be over really quickly.

Ad'oni seemed faster, but R'ai was stronger.

However, since Ad'oni was yet to show so many cards that he had up his sleeves, it was impossible for anyone to say if he was actually weaker or not.

That was left for the match to decide.

"I suppose it would be a waste of time to tell you to forfeit the match?" For the first time in the history of the Tournament Event, Ad'oni was the first to speak.

It seemed like he really didn't want to fight his opponent.

"I could say the same about you." R'ai responded with a daring smile. "Sorry, but I can't afford to lose this."

Ad'oni sighed, closing his eyes for a moment while leaking out a steamy breath.

"Neither can I."

"... BEGIN!"

***************

~WHOOOSH!~

Rey felt a rush of wind as the match started, already sensing the high-speed movement of his opponent before he made it.

'I have [Absolute Intuition], [Absolute Comprehension], and [Deep Anticipation]... all of which are S-Tier.' He nearly leaked out a sigh. 'I know all your moves before you make them.'

Adonis rushed forward with his blade, going as fast as his secret identity as a student would allow him to.

Rey understood that he also had to operate within the same bounds of speed-which was, strictly speaking, inferior to what Adonis had displayed. In a battle of speed, everyone was expecting Adonis to have the upper hand, hence he would be able to end things a lot faster.

However...

'... I have more than enough time to prepare for whatever he wants to do.'

Rey already knew what Adonis was going to do, so he could simply bypass the process of guessing and come up with a counter or a way to evade, at the very least.

'Let's start with evasion.'

Adonis nearly closed the gap between them in a flash, attempting to strike Rey down by hitting his neck with the blunt edge of his blade.

This would naturally stun Rey, while he would then close the rest of the distance and smash his head to the ground.

This would end the match in a flash-per his usual methods.

'It's smart, all things considered.' Rey smiled. 'By using the long reach of his weapon to his advantage, he'll be striking me much faster than I would have expected, considering what he has been doing to the others before me.'

Perhaps others didn't notice this, but Adonis was also 1.15 times faster than his usual speed, making previous calculations regarding his speed and the time it would take for him to cover a potential distance obsolete.

All of this seemed to be in case Rey had come up with strategies based on what he had seen in previous matches, which he never did.

'I don't need to resort to complicated plans when it comes to you, Adonis.'

He could analyze everything in real time and respond to him at the go, which meant all of the boy's precautions were in vain.

'Like so...' Rey easily moved away from the blade's reach, instantly avoiding Adonis' first

strike.

The Hero seemed surprised by this, but Rey already knew this too was an act.

~ZZZTTTZZZ!~

A flash of golden lightning extended from the blade and nearly hit Rey, but he had already generated a barrier to stop it right on time.

Another look of surprise came from the Hero, but even this was another feint.

Rey hurriedly shifted to the side, and the next moment... an intense thunderbolt crashed

where he had stood previously.

'You coated your attack with a Cloaking Spell and tried to distract me with all of these tactics from the very start.' Rey's smile broadened as he stared at Adonis.

Now, the Hero was genuinely surprised.

'It's a shame, but none of those will work on me.'

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Thanks for reading!

Rey is absolutely busted now, isn't he? Looks like I managed to release an extra chapter today.

Yayyy!