Chapter 343 343. ANNOUNCEMENT

The first battle surprisingly ended with a draw, but both figures were bloodied. Each one of them had severed a few chinks of skin from their opponent and cuts of different severity filled their bodies.

The brown-haired guy had managed to close in on his green-haired opponent many times which had resulted in deep gashes along the chest and legs of the green-haired man.

The green-haired expert had in turn managed to inflict significant damage on the arms and torso of his opponent, his attacks had produced long cuts and holes that bled badly.

In short, both experts were dying every second, but their eyes still burnt with vigor. Unfortunately, only one person had to succeed in the match. Which called for the elimination game.

Rather than a complex event Noah and the others expected, both individuals were simply asked to hold their breaths until one person couldn't anymore.

It was grim to see that their fates hung on such mediocre matters.

Then and there everyone decided that they would finish their matches before the countdown. No one wanted to leave based on not being able to hold their breath long enough. Luckily, however, Noah felt confident in besting anyone in such a competition.

Or maybe he had gotten cocky.

At the end of the day the green-haired man lost. Truly, luck wasn't on his side. A grim ending.

The next individuals walked to the stage and with pensive expressions and determination to wipe the floor with their opponent. They began immediately the countdown.

In five minutes one of them looked like he would be the winner, but things changed when he made a wrong move. His win went down the drain and the lady decimated him. At the end of the match, she embedded his head into the stage while he continued to bleed to his death.

Fortunately, masked men rushed to the scene and administered potions to him, before taking him out of her angry sight.

'Feisty,' Noah couldn't help but comment watching her being escorted down the stage and into another waiting room probably.

The third pair then the fourth the fifth commenced and ended. The sixth came and Illiana was to feature in it.

With her face as cold as ever, she climbed the stage only to have her opponent; another female, begin to talk to her.

Immediately the countdown ended, however, her rapier appeared in her grip and she made the first move.

Each of her thrusting blows sent bullets of sheer air-force barreling everywhere, and soon her opponent had to get serious.

The lady wielded a spiked mace capable of extending with the chains stuffed into it. However, she kept the spiked weapon in its normal state, since Illiana's speed made it difficult to swing things about.

For the first time since he watched her, Noah noticed how Illiana had stopped focusing on being graceful, even if she remained in her form. She instead went for the kill with every one of her attacks.

Her martial arts was on full display but the lady wouldn't let her get too close, meaning she had to improvise.

The battle dragged on for close to eight minutes. By this point, both individuals were frustrated about the lack of a clear winner.

Illiana however, saw that situation as a chance and moved on to make the lady even more frustrated. Her mace attacks began to get more brutish, and soon openings in her formerly tight defense began to appear.

Just to tell how powerful Illiana was, all she had to do was take advantage of one opening with one thrust, and her attack directly blew off a portion of her opponent's left side.

Blood flew everywhere at that point, as a scream of agony filled the ears of all that were watching. The winner was already evident since the lady couldn't focus with such a serious wound draining her life force.

In mere seconds she turned pale and the masked men had to rush to the scene before the lady even gave up. There seemed to be a secret rule to not allow anyone die since the lady announced Illiana as the winner even before the arrival of the medics just to prevent death.

Needless to say, Noah felt glad for her and even felt relieved. He could only hope that the others would win their battles.

The seventh, eighth ninth tenth and eleventh battles went on before it was Williams's turn.

The young man had been stunning in his battle with his opponent. His mastery of his axes were truly incredible. Noah pitied his opponent after a particular point.

His axes against the persons long sword. Williams's clashes made the person doubt their strength and at times he went for the head.

In mere seconds an overwhelming display uncaring of being injured made his opponent begin to focus on keeping his head on his neck.

At some point the young lad had to call it quits. Williams had been dangerously close to hacking his neck off if not for the timely evasive maneuver that had still left a slightly deep gash on his shoulder.

Even if the expert had managed to open a big cut on Williams stomach he quit since bloodthirsty fury burnt in his opponents eyes.

He could swear he had offended the great guild expert in his past life, or the man had serious anger issues, as his blood lust could almost be tasted.

The twelfth battle commenced then the thirteenth, and it wasn't until the nineteenth pair did Liam step on the stage, and his opponent had been the bare-fisted lady. A weird pair since Liam obliterated her with his spear.

Noah couldn't help but wonder what the elders had been thinking. Had they overestimated her power. Even Noah would think twice before the experts mastery of his spear. Not to talk of a person who wielded no weapon.

Although she had managed to get close a few times, her reckless actions had caused nasty wounds to appear on her figure. Liam had seen her display the other day and knew not to pity her.

Notwithstanding, he felt bad for the bad pair. She never had any chances to begin with.

The matches continued to pass and eventually the last match came. Noah's turn.

Wielding the sword given to him by Elder Sarah Noah felt his focus reach its peak while he waited for the countdown to end. His eyes never left the calm expression of his opponent. And it put him on edge, at least a bit.

Needless to say, the two-minutes long wait elapsed, and Noah prepared to move when Derek suddenly raised his hand.

"I quit!" He casually announced.