The fight between Ember and Callum starts off very standard.

Both of them taunt each other at the start, activating their fire and water magic and circling the ring a few times.

Both opponents have seen the other fight in this tournament multiple times already and know the strength levels are higher than any other competitors they've faced so far.

Callum takes out a massive spiked mace imbued with water magic, coating his whole body in a thick mana-imbued layer of blue fast flowing shielding.

Ember stands with his fists flickering with dark flames, and behind his eyes, I see him strategizing how he'll make this a believable show for the people watching.

I send him a wave of telepathy, then cross my arms and get ready for the greatest fight of the day to begin.

"I need you to win this one, but don't make it seem easy. Everyone needs to know he's the best of the best, let the man shine and show off. If he's anything like Trax, he's going to have a ranked up buff reaching levels similar to a double ranked up hunter. It's time for you to use that fake ranked up buff of yours too, show this crowd Emrie Carter's infinite inferno."

A grin grows across Ember's face and a burst of dark flames cover his whole body as a reply to my words.

At the same time, Callum runs forward and swings his mace to create a wave of dense water magic launched at Ember.

Behind it, the water wielder summons dozens of jets of dense water magic to curve around the central attack to make sure he can't dodge in any direction.

The closer the water gets, the hotter Ember's flames begin to grow.

His whole body burns bright, and I feel his mana control and fire output rise near the levels of a double ranked up hunter.

The heat in the ring rises dramatically and as the wall of water collides with Ember, it begins to evaporate into the air.

He jumps upward and punches through every water jet sent his way while moving closer and closer to Callum with every fire-step.

Instead of being surprised or thrown off by this display, Callum jumps upward to meet Ember in the air and activates his ranked up buff as well.

The density of water magic around his body grows to over 3 times what it was moments ago and it compacts into a secure liquid layer of armor around every centimeter of his body including the spiked mace he holds in his grasp.

Loud hums of intense mana vibrate throughout the dome, drowning out the audience's gasps and looks of awe as the most intense powers of today's fights are being displayed before them.

Ember's fist collides with the water-infused mace, and the twang of mana ripples through the air, followed by the eruption of hot steam filling the blue dome.

A series of cracks and vibrations resound from the dome at multiple beats per second as flashes of blue and red light zip around the ring.

Ember's fists collide with the reinforced mace, and the two of them let out auras that increase in intensity as the battle goes on.

While all logic pushes toward the immense amounts of water putting out the raging flames in the ring, the temperature only rises.

Ember incrementally increases his mana control to match the water user's intensity, and everyone's eyes are glued to the epic battle that rages on.

At a certain point, reaching the mana control of level 1100 hunters, surpassing the power I even saw Trax reach earlier today, Callum hits a plateau.

Ember pushes his mana control just 10% higher, and stops there, slowly breaking the water user down, slipping in hits every few exchanges.

Over a minute and a half passes on the battle clock above the dome before the exchanges slow and the mist begins to clear.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

While Callum's expression is stern, and he keeps blocking like his life depends on it, the water user's mana stores can't keep up with Ember's near-endless supply.

Both of them are going all out, but Ember's level is nearly 4x Callum's, and his ability to absorb mana from the atmosphere naturally surpasses the water user by a serious degree.

The battle ends as Callum's ranked up buff forcefully deactivates as his mana stores get too low.

Ember sends him away in a fiery punch that triggers the teleportation magic, proving that both opponents have immense strength, but stamina is what decided the end of this battle.

After some matches, there are stares of bad blood, but this one feels very different.

All directors from the 7 Regions surrounding the ring clap out of respect at their performance while Ember walks back to his room and he's announced as the winner.

Many stand up, and even the Phantom Region Director nods and turns to one of the guards by his sides to give them props.

Ember even keeps the show going, pretending to breathe heavily while he walks back to his room and Rodrigo continues hyping up the next fight.

I smile too, as I watch the live leaderboards shift.

Callum drops to 3, while I hit 2 automatically.

Ember jumps up to 5.

The healer tank from the Apex Region and Marcie approach each other in the ring once it's been cleaned of fire residue and excess water leftover from the last match.

This matchup doesn't go quite as I expected or wanted it to, but without a link of loyalty attached to Marcie, there's nothing I can do about it.

The two are evenly matched in strength and speed.

Even their raw mana control is very similar.

The only clear advantage I see at the start of the fight is the strength of Marcie's spear.

It easily makes scratches and dents in the tank's hammer, and even pierces holes through his armor to land solid hits every few attacks.

The only downside here is, every attack that is landed, once the tank manages to take a step back he heals his injured area entirely like it never happened.

The tank manages to land a few heavy blows to Marcie's chestplate too.

It's strong enough to block the attacks, and at most it just pushes her backward from the pure force of the impact.

One of these hits is what took Dane out in the previous round with this healer.

Marcie manages to withstand 5 by the time there are seconds left on the timer, but she's in much worse shape than the healer.

Her breathing is heavy, she's coughing up blood from the impact shockwaves, and even when both of them activated their ranked up buffs for a 30-second all-out battle, they came out on equal footing.

The tank covered its body in a dense white shielding while Marcie's attack power and speed skyrocketed while her mana manipulation skill created a massive pink extension to her spear.

If we hadn't just witnessed the massive display of fire and water the match before, this battle would have been equally as riveting, showing spikes in mana control reaching close to that of level 900-950 hunters at their peaks.

However, once the timer hits 0, both the warriors are left standing and the decision of this match goes to a vote from the Regional Directors.

Marcie is eliminated from the tournament by a 6:1 vote.

The Talton Region's leader votes for her underling, but all of the remaining regions believe that the ability to continue healing as their opponent grows weaker gives the tank from the Apex Region the advantage if this match were to go on.

She's teleported away in a flash of light after this decision and the tank walks back to his room.

I agree with this assessment, but if the two of them were in a real life or death battle outside of this ring, I have a feeling things may have ended differently. I can't quite put my finger on why, but even though this is the highest amount of power I witnessed her use this entire exam period, it felt like Marcie was still holding something back.

Whatever it may be, no one else noticed, and the sound of Rodrigo's voice announcing the next match rings through everyone's ears.

"What an exciting round. Mack will be moving on! Now! The final match to decide who will be fighting this invincible healer tank in the semi-finals..."

The door to my room opens, and I see a door on the other side of the ring open too.

"Please welcome Ray, ranked number 2 from the Bedrock Region, and Trax ranked number 1 from the Apex Region. Two Lightning users at the top of the leaderboards that will be battling it out.... If you thought the matches before this one were intense, I believe you're in for quite the show!"

The doors behind both of us close, and static yellow lightning fills the ring.

I hold my daggers in front of me while Trax points a long yellow sword my way.

His demeanor has completely changed from before or in any of his other matches, he yells across the ring once the 2-minute timer starts.

"It's all because of you. I saw you at the pre-trials... That's where it all began. You're the one pulling the strings. I don't know how you managed to change your written exam scores to climb this high... And the simulation trials, you're just manipulating everyone. No more games. No more fake Flame Emperor Illusions. No more cheats. Just a pure battle. You versus me. This is my day! My exams! You won't ruin this for me, I'll kill you before you even know what hits you."

He runs forward, not wasting any time and activating his ranked up buff, covering his entire body with electricity and moving toward me with the speed of a level 1200 hunter less than 3 seconds into the match.

I don't react until he's cleared over ¾ of the distance between us.

Then, I sharpen my gaze and my eyes meet his.

I let over 4 times the mana control surge out from my body and copy his ranked up buff, surrounding myself in a veil of yellow lightning and lunge forward to match his speed.