Chapter 59: Finally! The group headed towards the arena while discussing the blast that occurred. Klaus was particularly lively about the topic, he was adamant the explosion was caused by two experts fighting. He even came up with a conjecture that Grey couldn’t help but wonder if he was talking about the explosion he made. If Grey wasn’t the one who made the blast, he would feel what Klaus said might be what truly happened. It made so much sense, that you can’t dispute it. They were not the only ones talking about it, students in groups who were also heading towards the arena were all talking about it. After getting to the arena, they found a seat not too close to the platform and sat down to watch the battles that would take place before it gets to their turn. Grey would be battling in the second set of battles, while Reynolds would be in the third set. Grey’s number was eight, so he will be battling the student with the plaque number twenty. He was hopeful about the battle since the chances of meeting a student in the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane had increased, due to the decrease in numbers of participants. Currently, Klaus was the only student still at the Sixth stage of the Arcane Plane among the participants. Although he didn’t stand much of a chance fighting with those in the Eighth stage, against those in the Seventh stage, his chances are not bad. There was a total of twenty-eight students in the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane who registered and currently, sixteen of those students have been eliminated. Most of them were eliminated while facing students of the same plane, only one of them was eliminated by a student in the Seventh stage of the Arcane Plane. The name of the student was Damian, he was a student from the Earth Hall, and he is currently the one with the most eye-catching performance so far in the tournament. Even Grey and his friends acknowledged his strength. The first round of battles soon started and Damian was among the first set of fighters. His opponent was someone from the Lightning Hall who was also at the Seventh stage just like him. Compared to most Earth Elementalists, Damian didn’t focus fully on defense. He was focused more on attacking. Among all the elements, the earth element is regarded as the mightiest element. Unlike the rest elements, the earth element relies mostly on brute strength. “Who do you think will win?” asked Klaus. “Which of the battles are you asking about?” Alice asked. There were currently four different battles going on and one of them had two fighters in the Eighth stage battling. “The one with Damian” replied Klaus. “Given the strength he has shown so far, he shouldn’t have a problem with defeating his opponent,” Reynolds said. He didn’t have full confidence in defeating Damian, but he would love to battle him. “Yeah, in the Seventh stage, he has few rivals,” Grey said while focusing his gaze on the platform which held Damian. “How confident are you in defeating him?” Alice looked at Grey. When the others heard this question, they also turned to look at him. They had never seen Grey go all out, so they were still in the dark about his true strength. They all knew Grey was strong, but they don’t know just how strong he was. “From what I have seen…” Grey paused. “He doesn’t stand a chance,” Grey said with a smirk. From all the battles he had seen so far, he hasn’t seen anyone among the fighters that could make him go all out. Damian was strong, but from his performance from the battle with the student at the Eighth stage, he was still lacking. Unless he was still hiding his strength even in that battle. He wouldn’t know until he had a battle with him. The rest of the group could hear the confidence in Grey’s voice. They all really started getting curious about Grey’s true strength. “I would like to see you fight against him,” Alice said. “Same here,” Klaus and Reynolds said while raising their hands simultaneously, clearly agreeing with what Alice said. They also wanted to see Grey battle against Damian. “I think we would get the chance” Grey smiled. They watched the battle of Damian and the lightning user. From the way Damian attacks, you could tell he was an experienced fighter. His strike was as precise as they were deadly, all his attacks were well planned out. His opponent started struggling just after the fight started, the battle went on for another three minutes before he finally yielded. He couldn’t get past Damian’s defense, and he was being struck by his attacks. He could barely stand, so there was no need to endure the pain when he knew there was no hope in winning this. Damian was the first to defeat his opponent among those in this set of rounds. After his victory, he walked to a less crowded space in the stands and took his seat. Soon the first set of battles ended, and it was time for the second set to begin. Grey headed to the platform his number was called. He stood and waited for his opponent to arrive, he soon heard footsteps and saw a fairly handsome youth ascending the stairs to the platform. ‘Finally’ Grey almost said this out loud. After hoping to get a good opponent since the tournament started, he has finally gotten one. The youth in front of him was a student from the Fire Hall, he was one of the few students at the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane. “Ready?” asked the instructor. “Yes” “Yes” Both fighters answered. Grey was a little excited, he would be able to finally test out the strength of a student at the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane. “Begin” “Crack” “Bam” As soon as the instructor finished his words, both fighters immediately sent out attacks towards their opponents. Grey sent out a series of lightning towards his opponent, who countered with his own attacks. They exchanged some more moves with Grey holding a clear advantage in the exchange, they both stopped and looked at each other. Grey smiled towards his opponent. “Earth tremor” Grey muttered under his breath before he stomped one of his feet on the platform. *RUMBLE* The platform starting vibrating and his opponent nearly lost his footing from the sudden vibration. The sudden commotion immediately attracted more attention from the crowd. Since four battles were going on, some students pick a specific battle to watch and just forget about the rest, it’s not like they could watch them all at the same time. But if any of the battles in the other platforms start getting exciting, it immediately draws their attention towards it. Grey sent three rocks flying towards his opponent, just as the rocks were about to reach his opponent, he released lightning arrows which attacked his opponent from another direction. His opponent raised a wall of flame which blocked the arrows and only managed to dodge the rocks in a sorry manner. He was shocked by the strength Grey displayed. He could tell Grey hadn’t gone all out yet. Not only that, but he was already breathing heavily and Grey’s breath was still calm and collected like he has not even started fighting. Grey immediately went on the attack once again, since his opponent could last longer than the previous ones, he wanted to enjoy himself. His opponent soon fell on a passive state and couldn’t do anything to Grey. He was a Fire Elementalist, yet he was currently fully on the defensive and couldn’t attack. He didn’t want to admit defeat since losing meant he couldn’t participate in the competition. Grey was kind not to be too hard in his attacks, but his opponent still had a hard time defending. Soon he sent him flying with a punch, he covered his hands with lightning which in turn increased the strength of his attack. *THUD* His opponent fell on the platform and passed out. The instructor came to check on him and noticed he only passed out, he also checked to see if his injuries were severe. Luckily Grey was lenient with him, so he didn’t really have any severe injuries, as long as he gets a good rest, he should be okay. “Grey wins” The instructor announced. Some students cheered when the battle ended. Grey walked towards his friends before seating calmly. Grey suddenly raised his head and looked in a specific direction. He saw Damian staring at him intently, with eyes filled with fighting intent. ‘Hmm, seems like I attracted his attention’ Grey smiled at Damian before shifting his gaze back to the platform. This was the first time Grey had fought more than a minute. The first battle he fought only lasted about one minute and the second one was even shorter. He hasn’t attracted much attention since his battles had ended too quickly. People only felt he was strong since he was able to end his battle quickly. This battle only showed them a little glimpse of his strength. ‘Hopefully he doesn’t disappoint me’ thought Grey with a smile.