Chapter 73: The final battle begins

It was a surprise for the participants in the other arena to see that Matt could finish the fight so quickly.

'He's more capable than I thought.' Thought the stronger of the two.

Neither had gotten into a fight until Matt's battle ended. But somehow, this battle ended even faster than Matt's.

It was only two or three clean hits from the sword guy for the battle to end.

'Heh, this guy is pretty fast with that sword. I almost didn't get to see it.' Matt thought.

And just then, the referees yelled out...

"Matthew Dietrich moves on to the finals!"

"Eliot Roberts goes through to the final!"

Both shouts came at the same time as the minutes of rest that the two would have were announced.

At the start of the Battle of the Halls a couple of days ago, just by looking at the faces of the participants, many spectators were speculating who would make it to the finals, and in every possible scenario, it was Eliot Roberts.

As the most powerful student in the Second Academy, he was famous and respected among the students. In addition, his swiftness with the sword was something few could match, so everyone was speculating that he would make it to the finals, and this time, they all got it right.

Still, on the other hand, the bets would never go through a first-year student because it had never happened before. First-year students come here to win one battle at most and then leave; if they win two, it's fantastic, and they should be respected as geniuses.

But to win enough to get into the Top 2? It's totally impossible!

Or at least it was until now.

Just at those moments, one of the directors stepped onto the stage again.

"The end of the Battle of the Halls is finally here. I didn't expect a freshman to be able to reach these tournament stints, so congratulations are in order." Said the principal as he nodded to Matt, and Matt nodded back.

"I must say that you are both admirable for achieving the strength you have, so I hope you have a good fight and that the loser can learn from his mistakes. Remember this is a friendly battle and the main reason it exists is to reward the effort of all the students."

"The rewards for winning and for coming in second, I'm sure you already know. Maybe some of you are only aiming for one of those rewards or all of them, but I will mention that this time, there is a hidden reward for the one who can stand out the most, not for the winner, but for the most outstanding of the whole hall battle.

So, I hope both of you will do your best to get it; I'm sure it will satisfy you. You may start." Said the director, and he returned to his place once he finished saying this.

All the spectators were surprised to hear that there would be a hidden reward. Even so, the two in the arena didn't even blink at this.

Once the director announced the start of the battle, Eliot summoned his sword, and it shone in the morning moonlight.

On Matt's part, he simply let his vampiric power out in force, preparing for combat.

'Such a sharp sword... It will be dangerous if that hits my flesh. I can see it's of a high level.' Matt thought, smiling.

Just then, the referee again announced the start of the fight, so both contestants shot out of their respective places simultaneously, coming face to face a few seconds later.

*BOM*

The first big impact of Matt's fist hitting Eliot's sword rang out and was followed by numerous more impacts as they tested the opponent's strength.

'What hard fists...' Eliot thought with surprise, but just at those moments, he smiled and took a small step back, retracting his sword to unleash then a powerful horizontal attack in the direction of the left side of Matt's neck.

This attack was so fast and deadly that it surprised everyone who could see it...