Once the timer reaches five minutes remaining, I begin to feel the room around me shift and rotate. The ceiling lights up green with a new message telling all applicants to move to the front half of their rooms and equip all items necessary to fight. I do as it says, and a wall comes out of the floor, cutting the room in half and leaving me staring at the silver door. Soon after, the mana shielding around the front half of the room falls away, revealing heavy-duty glass imbued with the same blue mana as the shielding that makes up the dome. Even the silver door fades away into a semi-transparent material. As I look around, the walls of the fight area are all made of the same see-through substance. Behind every door, there is another applicant in an identical room, ready to fight. The timer counting down hits zero, and a new timer floats in the air, set at two minutes, while two doors of applicants open up. Once they both step out, the two-minute timer begins. However, it is paused at [00:01:58] after a bright flash of lightning fills the arena. Rodrigo's voice fills the room. "In the fight between applicant 1 and applicant 66, Trax, from the Apex Region, has moved on to the next round!" The following two rounds are the same as a fire and wind user from the Apex Region both demolish their opponents in seconds. Then, my turn comes, and the transparent mana shield door opens up to put me in the fight ring with applicant 62. He's sweating all over and holding a long silver sword along with armor that I'm positive came from the resting room rack that we were both just offered items from. He's level 516, and on his wristband, I see he's from the Raya Region. I let out a sigh and pull my daggers from my waist, sending a single crescent of lightning magic his way faster than he can see. It collides with his midsection before he can even block it, and the timer above our heads stops as a flash of white light teleports him away. "In the fight between applicant 5 and applicant 62, Ray, from the Bedrock Region, has moved on to the next round!" At this announcement, I feel many eyes from the audience above turn to look at me as I walk back to my transparent room. Director Maylack is smiling wide and clapping for my victory while the Vice and Veridian Directors both look at each other, then stare at my back until I'm in my room again. The tension clears once the next match begins. It's over very quickly just like the others. It takes no time at all to make it to Ember's match. "In the fight between applicant 9 and applicant 58, Emrie, from the Bedrock Region, has moved on to the next round!" The same reaction takes place when he wins his match in a single punch of hot fire. While these matchups are very unfair, placing the strongest against the weakest to start, this blue barrier still allows for hunters outside the ring to feel the power of mana being used inside. Although they aren't full fights, every match right now is giving both the Regional Directors and all the other fighters in the tournament a taste of what they can do. The only notable matches I see next are the two Vice Region fighters ranked 10 and 11; they too quickly dispatch their enemies. A few more matches go by until Marcie wins hers too without any issue. At slot 13, she faces one of the remaining Bedrock applicants at rank 54 and finishes the match with a single strike of her spear. Dane at 16 defeats 51 with ease, but the two have an actual exchange of blows. The match takes over 20 seconds to complete. He's up against one of the members from the Phantom Region. Using an extreme speed skill along with advanced wind magic and many speed and perception-boosting items, the applicant dressed in black robes is quite the tough adversary. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Find your next favorite novel on NovelHub today! The two of them fly around the dome and send wind slashes at each other, but Dane's extreme-grade skill along with slightly higher mana control allows him to win the battle by pure strength. His wind blades shatter the Phantom Region applicant's blades every time they collide, and eventually, he lands a few clean shots that bring him the victory. Even so, as he walks back to his room, he is breathing quite heavily. There's a single region clapping for him as Rodrigo announces him as the victor. It is the young woman that sits on the white throne. Before, I couldn't tell if she was the Director of the Raya Region or Silca, but if she's rooting Dane on, then my guess is this woman is the Director of the Silca Region. As I observe her much closer, her eyes, hair color, and facial features share traits with Dane, but it must be a coincidence. Before I think of this too much, the next match begins, and applicant 17 defeats 50, another applicant from the Phantom Region in a match that also takes more than just a single blow. Their brawl goes similarly, with 17 just scraping out a victory because of a difference in mana control and element strength. The next match is 18 vs 49, and the outcome that takes place is not what I expected. Applicant 49 is from the Phantom Region, just like the last two fighters; however, he doesn't have an elemental skill. When I look at his status, all I see is one called Shadow Step, and it's legendary grade. In the same instance, Nat is hit with another heavy slash from the earth user, only one of her daggers manages to land a clean block, allowing his sword to slide by and rip a gash through her side. Blood stains the white floor as she jumps away to dodge his second incoming strike in the same motion. Her eyes are still sharp and her breathing is heavy. Nat grips a dagger with one hand while dropping the other and using her now free palm to heal up her side to make sure at least the bleeding slows before anything else. She could surrender at any time, but is still looking for a way to fight back. The muffled yell of Trax comes from behind his transparent door as the direction Nat managed to flee from her attacker is right in front of his room. "You'll lose. Ha! You'll lose to a lesser region. And you'll drop below ranking 20! Once I win this tournament and get a place on the Apex's B-Class board, I'll make sure you never get your license no matter how many times you reapply." As he taunts her, another earth-magic-filled slash comes toward her, and with only one dagger to block, she's hit again in the side and her previous wound opens up while another is created. Trax laughs and yells out as she flees again. "And after today's showing, the Veridian Region will never take you back either! This is what you get for betraying the Apex Elites!" She grits her teeth and tries to heal up both of the wide-open wounds in her stomach with one hand, but it isn't enough. Nat has to use both hands to stop the bleeding before it's too late and is completely unarmed for the attack that flies at her next. Even now, she stares the sword covered in earth magic down without fear, but I'm certain this hit will end the match. Even if her stare looks like it's full of resolve, there's nothing she can do, and she knows it.