Rising Against Fate

When the match started, the other participants were vigilantly watching their opponent's movement. As for Ren, she just closed her eyes and started singing a song.

"The day changes into the night,

Come rest in my embrace tonight."

"What the heck!" Isao, who was standing next to her, said.

"The winds will carry you to the sky,

To a long-forgotten land of dreams."

Isao tried attacking her by manipulating the bandages in his hand. But as he was doing that, he heard Cade and Nishi, who were standing behind him, fall on the floor.

"Fools"—Richi stepped in and caught his bandages— "they don't even know the first thing about fighting a sound mage."

He then pulled the bandage along with Isao towards him.

When Isao was within his reach, he touched his shoulders. And as he did that, Isao started shaking.

In just a few seconds, Isao wasn't even able to stand. He just fell on his knees and dropped on the floor.

Seiichi and Naoko, who were standing in front of them, looked sleepy because of Ren's magic. But they were still holding on by covering their ears with both of their hands. Though by doing so, they were leaving themselves defenseless.

Richi dashed towards Seiichi at a great speed. But since it was a frontal attack, Seiichi got time to create an Air shield in front of him. Though due to the lack of concentration, the Air shield turned out to be weak.

Richi was able to break through it with a vibration punch, and beyond that, Seiichi was defenseless. He could neither remove his hand, nor could he fight in that state.

The next thing Seiichi felt was a vibration punch in his gut, after which he was knocked unconscious.

"This is unfair. How could we be paired with these guys," Naoko said while taking a step back.

"Life is unfair. You think you can be in top 30 with skills like those?"

After saying that, Richi charged towards Naoko.

She stopped covering her ears and created metal claws in both of her hands. This time, the song wasn't affecting her, and the reason was obvious. She was completely focused on the opponent in front of her.

When Richi came closer, she tried swinging her claws at him. But he pressed against the ground and moved to her right in the nick of time. He then caught her right arm and sent the vibration through.

In just seconds, she too fell on the ground.

"Folks! We now have the winner, Ren Ongaku, and Richi Shindo!"

A loud cheer echoed throughout the arena. As Kat predicted, the match ended in less than ten minutes.

Ren opened her eyes and smiled. "I thought you wouldn't be able to resist my melody?"

"Heh! That sounds like an insult to my abilities."

"No, I am honestly surprised by your abilities."

"Then I will take it as a compliment."

After the conversation, the two of them walked out of the stage.

"Now, we will have a few performances from the Academy students. The preliminaries will then resume after 30 mins."

----

On the stage, students were performing the traditional dances. Most people from a different province usually considered this dance interesting. But Kat was among the minority who found it boring.

Even though it looked like he was almost about to fall asleep, he wasn't able to. He looked at his watch, and there were still 6 minutes left before the next match.

"Man, I think I should just go home. Can't even sleep with all the noises here."

"But there are 2 more matches left," Yasumi said. Unlike Kat, she was looking at the dance with great interest.

"Don't know why these guys even made the maximum time 60 minutes. Last year, only 3 matches lasted beyond the first 30 minutes. And the breaks being longer than the matches is just annoying."

"They need to entertain the guests somehow. The money from these matches goes directly to the school funding. And that is why the academy is not too much under government influence," Razak replied.

"The current government isn't that bad though. There is no infighting, and corruption is almost non-existent," Asa said.

Kat sighed. Even though it looked like there was no infighting on the surface, Kat was familiar with reality.

The position of an Elder was the highest and most respectful position one could achieve. And almost 95 percent of the current clans were fighting for that position. Among the few exceptions, there was his clan from the Western Province and the Ongaku clan from the Eastern Province.

"Well, it's made up of people's representatives, so things are calm now. But they are still under the National assembly, and a single slip can make it fall."

The Fectum clan was one of the most powerful assets of the nation, and there was no clan who could deny that.

Despite their attitude, no one could deny their abilities to engineer new technology. But unlike most of the other clans, all they wanted was a peaceful nation and a peaceful life. And for that, they were one of the few who supported democracy over the current legislation.

Even though the assembly tried changing their opinion by offering his father the position of an elder, they swiftly denied it. And even now, the other clans were doing all they can to keep the Fectum clan in the assembly.

This was one of the reasons why Kat decided to join the Eastern Academy instead of joining the Academy in the western province.

Asa still looked unconvinced, but the dance was over, and the announcements were about to start. So, all of them looked back towards the stage.

"I hope you all enjoyed the dances. Now, it's time to get back to the action. The participants of the next match are, Aito Arai, Saburo Kikuchi, Hyousuke Hagane, Yamato Hoshu, Rei Ishii, Yuri Nishimura, Hiroki Masuda, and Umeko Takeda. Unfortunately, 2 participants have withdrawn from the match, so only 8 students will be participating in this match."

After the announcement, the participants came out in the order in which their names were announced.

During the match, no one except Hyousuke could defend against Yamato's Air Arrows. Hyousuke also took a hit at the start, but once he activated his steel shield, Yamato's attack couldn't pass through.

This match also ended quickly like the last one with Yamato and Hyousuke as the winner.