The battles continued one after the other with the three first years advancing to the next stage against all odds.

The matches got exciting as they got closer and closer to the last six, with each opponents being evenly matched.

Well, except for a certain third year whose matches ended with only a single move from him.

No one knew who he was, whether or not he belonged to a noble family, all they knew was that he always looked bored after his battles.

The other whose opponents were completely outmatched was the first year kid known as Nox.

The noble families had quickly found out that he was the only survivor of a tier 2 Eclipsed attack in zone 9, rescued by the demoness Astra Dawn.

That meant he wasn't associated with any noble house, and he was up for grabs, which they would do the moment he stepped out of the arena.

In a separate sky box, Astra leaned on a railing a small distance away from with viewing glass with a small smile on her face.

'The kid's doing good,' one of the voices in her head said.

"Of course he is," Astra said out loud, "after all, I trained him."

Yes, even a woman as crazy as Ascended Dawn was capable of feeling a sense of pride when her students accomplish something.

"I'm not crazy," Astra muttered with a frown, confusing even the voices in her head since they hadn't said anything.

'The other kid is also doing well,' the other voice commented.

"Devon," Astra muttered as she looked at the holographic board showing the next match which happened to be between Devon and a third year known as Marion.

Even though they had reached the qualifying six, everyone, including the crowd and the noble on lookers voted for the match to go on, so it did.

"His clan has quite the peculiar ability," She continued, "it allows him tamper his core before even he tries breaking through."

By that, she meant all SE from whatever attack he receives reaches his core before he stores it until he's ready to unleash it again.

That forces his core to hold a lot more SE than it was meant to, even if for a short while, which was exactly how breakthrough to higher ranks happens.

The only problem was, if your body wasn't built for it, your core would just shatter and you would implode, hence the reason no one outside the Zuberi Clan has mastered that ability....

Well, except Astra Dawn, but only because she was crazy enough to try in the first place, though, even she hadn't fully mastered it yet.

"And neither has Devon," She muttered again looking at the fighting arena that had been completely fixed since Nox's fight, "but he's doing well enough."

Behind Astra, Headmistress Aurielle and Ayla sat, looking down where a battle was about to start.

Ayla hadn't been allowed to compete in this because she was evidently leagues above these students, and also because the headmistress wasn't sure if she knew restraint.

After all, she had never fought another human before. Also, there was the fact that her using umbra energy would raise a lot of headaches right now, so the headmistress decided to wait until the actual inter academy tournament itself.

Back in the arena, Devon had a small smile on his face as he looked at his opponent, it was the third year girl that he had been chatting with in the waiting room.

She was strong, extremely so, so much so that all her previous opponents had been defeated before they could even notice what was going on.

But they all had something in common, the longer the battle with her went on, the slowly and more restrained the seemed to become.

Untill, they couldn't move a single muscle anymore.

No one knew what she did, but if they had to guess, it was probably something similar to what Nox had done to Kraken.

Or so they thought.

"Yo," Devon called out to her, "you up for a little wager?"

"Depends," Marion replied with a smile.

"Aight, if I win, I get to take you on a date," He said with a grin.

"And if I win?" She asked, the smile still on her lips.

"You take me on a date?" Devon replied, causing her to chuckle, though her next reply wasn't one she expected.

"Alright," she muttered, "but only if I'm satisfied with your performance."

"Bet."

The announcer cleared his throat loudly, clearly regretting allowing the crowd to push this match forward.

"Both contestants get ready."

"Three."

Devon's gauntlets were already on his hands, so he had no more preparation to do, instead, he just looked at Marion.

"Ain't you gonna use your Solar tech?" He asked.

"Two."

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really seen her use any solar tech apart from the combat boots which boosted her speed.

"That's right," he muttered, "what's your solar tech?"

"One!"

Instead of a reply she gave him a mischievous grin, almost as if challenging him to figure it out.

"Begin!"

The moment those words were heard, Marion immediately disappeared, no, it wasn't like she teleported, she actually disappeared, an ability she hadn't used in her previous fights.

"Aight," Devon muttered as he watched her form disappeared while shifting his stance and keeping his senses on high alert, "that kind of fight, huh?"

He took one step forward only to stop as his boot scraped against the stone as if something was stopping it from moving forward.

Devon frowned and lifted his foot, eyes narrowing.

There was nothing there.

No SE disturbance, no visible solar tech and definitely nothing that would cause pressure the pressure he just felt.

"Tricky," he said under his breath.

He wanted to take another step forward when suddenly, a sharp tug snapped around his left wrist.

Devon reacted instantly, twisting his arm and yanking back, but instead of resistance, the force multiplied.

His arm jerked sideways and he stumbled, barely catching himself before he hit the ground.

"What the hell—"

The crowd gasped as thin, almost imperceptible glimmers flashed for a split second before disappearing.

Strings.

In the seating areas, Linda sat up straighter as she saw what was happening.

"Oh," she said softly, "that's clever."

Cass's eyes narrowed, "Light refraction solar tech? Thats rare."

A first year tech division student leaned forward and muttered in question, "invisible threads?"

"Not invisible," Cass corrected as he couldn't help himself, "it's more accurate to say they're hidden, after all, the light around them is being bent."

"I see," the student nodded before finally turning to who just answered his question before his eyes widened, "wait, aren't you Cassian Burns?"

"Y-Yes," Cass finally realized that he was being watched by a couple of other students around.

Bonk!

The student received a bonk on his head by his friend as he muttered, "don't make him uncomfortable you idiot, can't you see he's with his girlfriend."

"Ah right," the first student turned to Linda and before she could deny, he apologized, "I'm really sorry, I was just surprised I had the chance to speak with THE Cassian Burns."

With that, he went back to looking at the fight below them, leaving an embarrassed Linda and Cass awkwardly sitting by each other.

Below, Devon finally saw the strings too.

Well, rather than 'see' it was more accurate to say he felt their position with his instincts.

The moment Marion stepped back into view, several meters away, fingers subtly moving, Devon felt a sudden pressure wrap around his body from multiple angles, like he'd walked into some kind of web.

"You're late figuring it out," Marion said calmly.

Devon grinned despite the tension creeping into his shoulders. "Nah. Just admirin' the craftsmanship."

You see, while wrapped around him, those strings still channeled a good amount of SE and he had been storing it for a while now.

It was finally time to release said SE.

The SE flooded outward in a violent burst and the strings reacted instantly, tightening, slicing shallow lines into his uniform as several snapped under the sudden output.

The strings loosened just enough due to the SE overload, allowing him to free himself.

Marion was a bit surprised, but she didn't lose her cool as Devon suddenly approached.

He suddenly ducked just in time to avoid the invisible strings aiming for his neck.

He twisted, rolling across the stone as several more lines of thread sliced through the space he'd occupied, the faint shimmer betraying them for only an instant before they vanished again.

"Damn," Devon laughed as he came up on one knee. "You really tryna take my head off before the first date?"

Marion didn't answer, instead she started moving.

But she was neither moving straight towards him, nor trying to retreat, instead, she moved sideways, her combat boots barely touching the floor as her fingers danced in small, controlled motions.

The arena suddenly felt smaller and tighter, almost like the air itself had become hostile.

Devon's instincts screamed and he immediately threw himself forward just as something yanked at his ankle, the string tightening and trying to pull his leg out from under him.

He then slammed his fist into the floor, the gauntlet being powered by a lot of SE as a mini earth quake suddenly shook the platform they were on, disrupting Marion's movements.

He didn't give her a chance to recover as he quickly rushed towards he.

Marion's eyes widened a bit as Devon closed the gap in an instant, his gauntlet already cocked back.

She flicked her wrist and the strings converged, wrapping around his forearm, shoulder, waist, trying to bind him mid motion.

Devon grunted as the pressure spiked, his bones creaking under the strain.

"Got you," Marion said softly.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.