Chapter 542

Chapter 542

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!"

There are a few laughs that ring out from the audience above, but the next match starts almost immediately after, and the same result occurs.

The clock is stopped mere seconds after it starts, following a massive blue flash of mana and a barrage of water jets.

"In the fight between applicant 2 and applicant 65, Callum, 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.

The worried expression on her face shows that she is thinking exactly the same thing.

In a battle of pure strength and mana control, she has no chance of winning and moving on.

After the verbal disagreement she had with Trax before this tournament even started, her losing a match like this will only add fuel to the fire.

I do a quick scan of both of them as they face each other in the ring. The Phantom Region applicant has mana control higher than Nat's, and even an advanced earth element skill that will make for even more of a tactical advantage.

He uses an earth-imbued longsword, and all of his dark robes are imbued with speed and agility buffs just like the other applicants from this region.

The match begins, and as he sprints forward, it's clear that Natalie is most likely going to lose this fight.

There's a bright clash of mana and stone as they collide in the center of the ring, and the earth sword clashes with Nat's enchanted silver daggers.

She manages to block the first incoming strike but is blown flying backward by its force to slam back-first into the side of the ring against a random transparent door about a dozen rooms away from me.

She coughs up blood but gets to her feet in time to see the earth user ruthlessly coming in for another attack.

My eyes wander around the ring, and I see all of the Apex Elites watching the match with their arms crossed and smug looks on their faces.

Their internal affairs have nothing to do with me, and as much as I want to see Nat win and rub it in their faces, I whisper to myself and try to think about the situation harder. "Does it really matter if she wins or loses...?"

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.

After thinking about Trax's words for a moment, and considering the prize of this tournament, a plan begins to formulate in my head.

It includes securing a future trade partnership with the Veridian region and at the same time will bring me one step closer to figuring out what really goes on within the higher ups of the Apex Region.

To follow it out, Natalie can't lose this fight...

So, I make the decision to open my telepathy link from across the ring and send her a message.

"Listen to me very carefully. If you want to win, you're going to have to do exactly what I say."