Arrows flew out, but they were stopped by a large hammer.
The pale lady tried to keep her distance and the bronze-skinned kid, carrying a hammer that looked heavier than him, tried to close the distance.
The tussle went on for some time until the boy began to tire from swinging the hammer so much.
Honestly, everyone was impressed that he could even swing such a large thing. And when his swings began to lose strength, it was something they all expected.
In the end, it was an unlucky match-up on the boy's end, and that soon became evident when he couldn't swing fast enough.
An arrow slipped through his defences and pierced his side.
He tried to continue, but what followed were more arrows slipping past his defences. In the end, the referee had to end the match.
The pale-skinned archer was announced as the winner, and the bloodied boy was carried away.
The archer jumped around, unable to contain her excitement. She had previously thought all hopes were lost; luckily, the audience and officials had voted for her return. As of now, she had successfully secured admission into the most prestigious college run by the Hunter Guild—The Hunter College.
After that, she was led to a private seating area in the spectator's area where she would be able to watch the remaining matches.
It was already deep into the day, and there was no intention to drag the events any further, so the next match began immediately.
This one was between Ariella and a kid who looked to be of the swordsman class—Vale inferred that from his stance.
After a professional bow, the match started and Ariella didn't hesitate to go all out from the start, wearing her golden gauntlets immediately. Her legs began moving with the same technique she had used before.
Her opponent tried swinging at her, but he wasn't even able to pinpoint her location.
In the end, he lost in a couple of moves.
This made Vale surprised as she was clearly much stronger than he thought. If only she had gone all out from the beginning against Jack.
Something Vale noticed was that the losers, even though they lost, were still approached by multiple individuals immediately after their fight. They were most likely from other colleges, trying to gather students as well.
Hunter College wasn't the only place through which one could become a qualified demon hunter.
There was also Military College, created and run by the royal family. They were known to be the best option after Hunter College. Most people who had performed well but still weren't able to get into Hunter College would usually go for Military College.
The next three fights weren't of much interest to Vale, and he wasn't so bothered about learning their skills anymore; it wasn't like they would end up fighting anyway.
His interest was piqued when the next fight was called.
It was between Jack and someone else: a scrawny kid with more than a few scars on his face. He wore a pair of gauntlets, larger than the ones Ariella used.
The gauntlets shone with a bright red which made Vale frown. Only magical items had visual effects, and unless this kid was in the direct lineage of the royal family, there was no way he would be able to afford a magical item.
The boy soon proved that it wasn't a magical item as he removed them.
Seeing his bare hands, everyone was surprised. They were both… on fire. Bright red flames wrapped around his hands, yet the boy showed no sign of pain.
Was he a… mutant? Vale questioned in his mind.
Where he was from, mutants were described as mistakes of nature. They are created when a human has a part of them become something… not human.
The most common were the ones that fused with elements, and even then Vale hadn't come across them in real life. There was also a myth that a mutant could fuse with a concept, or even a demon.
Looking at the real mutant before his eyes, Vale's brows couldn't help but crease.
It was one thing to produce a three-word class, but not only that. This small town of Druti had also been able to produce a speed adept and now a mutant.
Something wasn't right. And although it wasn't enough for him to think fate was ushering in a new era of pioneers, it still felt off-putting.
The referee was shocked when the boy revealed his arms, but that didn't stop him from starting the match.
Immediately the match started, fire poured out of mutant boy's hands, propelling him towards his opponent. Jack, noticing his speed, killed the urge to take the strike and hurriedly rolled to the side, away from the attack.
Even though he wasn't hit, the immense heat was enough to cause sweat beads to roll down his face in a torrent.
Luckily, his body was already adapting to the heat.
But that didn't change the fact that he couldn't fight back. Immediately, he got up, the mutant boy was already rushing towards him.
He stared at his opponents, trying to figure out a way but there didn't seem to be any headway.
All he could do was keep running, and the intense heat was quickly wearing him out.
There was something he noticed, though, every time he looked at the mutant boy, he always seemed to have grown thinner.
This made him think that if he could keep up the cat-and-mouse game, he could wear the boy out.
But his hopes were instantly quenched when the mutant boy's feet caught on fire. With flame pouring out of them, his speed increased exponentially and in a second he was upon Jack.
Before Poor Jack could even try to parry the attack, he was punched in the gut and sent flying, instantly getting knocked out.
The boy who was on fire immediately stopped burning, except for his hands, and he fell to his knees. Only when he was announced as the winner did he fully collapse. He looked like a corpse now, as his skin stuck to bare bone.
If an ignorant person were to see him they would argue that he had been dead for quite a while.
The medics were quick to arrive and they carried both of them away.
The next two matches weren't worth noting, and after that, Aster's sister went to the stage. As expected, her opponent, with great reluctance, resigned immediately when the match started.
As Aster's sister walked down the stage triumphantly, she threw Vale a look and a dark grin formed on her face.
The next fight was called: "Participant 27 vs Participant 82."
Vale walked up to the stage and waited for his opponent, but to his dismay, the opponent he was expecting didn't arrive. Someone else did.
"I would kindly ask for the Lord to allow me to take participant 82's stead in this fight," Aster said, with his signature slight smile.
[Author's note: Ten power stones and I'll post an extra chapter this week.]