<h4>Chapter 61:Fourth Round</h4>


    The next day...


    Grey and his friends were discussing the uing battles.


    "If you are not confident about any battle, you should admit defeat immediately, so you can save your strength for the next battles," Grey said looking at both Reynolds and us.


    "I know, I''m not that dumb to waste my energy in a lost battle" us was the first to reply.


    "There are only eleven spots, the students in the Eighth stage will all qualify, leaving only four spots left," Reynolds said.


    "Make that three spots left since I will definitely qualify" Grey said calmly.


    "Okay fine, three spots left. Since..." Reynolds continued but was interrupted mid-sentence.


    "Make that two spots, since Damian is also likely to qualify" us interjected.


    "Fine, two spots. That leaves us with four students at the Seventh stage, and you" Reynolds looked at us.


    "My chances of defeating the other three are pretty high, so I should be able to grab a spot. How confident are you in grabbing thest one?" Reynolds asked us.


    "Not too confident" us shook his head after some thoughts.


    "You should be able to defeat two out of the three" Grey said.


    "Yeah, I should. But it''s not going to be easy" us clenched his fist tightly. Among the group, he was the weakest. Being friends with Grey, Reynolds, and Alice had pushed him to work harder in his training. It''s just..., sometimes he feels like it''s still not enough.


    He was already in the First stage of the Arcane ne when Grey entered the Academy, now Grey was already one stage ahead of him. And even if they were in the same stage, he knew he had no chance of defeating Grey.


    Luckily, this didn''t make him depressed, it only pushed him harder to train more than he usually does. He has advanced quicker than his expectations over the year since he became friends with Grey.


    "You can do it" Alice encouraged from the side.


    "As long as you cheer for me, I will win," us said with a smile.


    "Of course, just make sure you win whenever I cheer you on," Alice said with a cute smile.


    ''Sometimes I wonder if they''re the same person'' us thought after seeing Alice''s smile. It''s hard to associate the cute girl in front of him with the one who beats the hell out of her opponents at the yearly tournament.


    "Okay. I think I should be among the first fighters" us said. His que number was thirteen, if the battles follow the same patterns as the first ones, he should be among the first fighters.


    "Me too" Reynolds''s que number was one, so he would be the first participant who would be called out.


    While they were still discussing, an instructor climbed onto the tform.


    "Since each student will get to battle four times today, after each battle, you will be given thirty minutes to rest before you start the next battle" The instructor spoke calmly.


    "Now, students with que number one to four and number fourteen to eleven should step into the respective tforms assigned to them" After speaking, the instructor stepped down from the tform since the battles would begin immediately.


    "Wish me luck," us said before heading towards the tform.


    "Good luck"


    Grey and Alice said at the same time. They both wanted us to grab a spot, so they could all participate in thepetition.


    Reynolds headed towards the first tform, while us headed towards the second one. When Reynolds got to the tform, on seeing his opponent, he shook his head with a wry smile.


    His opponent was none other than Damian. Although he wasn''t confident in defeating him, it didn''t mean he shouldn''t try. He wants to at least know the difference in strength between them.


    us'' situation was even less hopeful, his opponent was a girl called She. She was one of the two stronger ones in the Eighth stage, us was familiar with her since she was also from the Water Hall.


    "Hey, She" us waved a hand with a smile.


    "Hey us, truthfully, I''m quite surprised you made it this far. I never knew you were this strong until your battle with Mike," She said truthfully.


    us smiled in response. He knew She wasn''t trying to look down on him, she was only saying what she thought. They couldn''t be said to be close friends, acquaintances at best.


    They spoke for some time since all the students haven''t gotten to the tform yet.


    "Begin," The instructor said after the other students arrived.


    us knew this battle was lost, so he didn''t n on wasting his energy. And he caught sight of the battle between Reynolds and Damian, so after sending out some series of attacks, he yielded.


    He spoke with She as they descended the tform together. She was happy us admitted defeat quickly since it would save her the energy of battling. Although she would win even if he didn''t admit defeat quickly, it wasn''t like us wouldn''t be able to fight back.


    The instructor nodded at us''s wise decision, he felt us had a chance against those in the Seventh stage. From his point of view, us shouldn''t bother with those in the Eighth stage and just save his strength for those in the Seventh stage.


    us returned to his seat to watch the battle between Reynolds and Damian.


    "Rey is strong" us said after watching the battle for a while. He knew although Reynolds said he wasn''t too confident in defeating Damian, there was no way Damian could defeat him easily.


    "Yeah, but Damian already has the upper hand in this battle. It would be pretty hard for him to reverse the situation, but it''s not impossible" Grey said what he thought about the battle.


    "Yeah"


    The battle continued and Reynolds was able to reverse the situation for some time, only Damian quickly took control of the battle once again. He lost by a narrow margin, but he wasn''t disappointed. The difference between them wasn''t much so with a little more training, he should be able to catch up.


    Besides, it hasn''t been long since he broke through, while Damian had already been in the Seventh stage for longer now.


    When he returned to his friends, they allmended his effort in the battle.


    The first set finished and Grey went up in the second set, his opponent was someone in the Seventh stage. He was victorious after a couple of exchanges with him.


    The day went by quickly, and they finished the four battles for today. Among Grey''s four battles, he fought with only one student who was in the Eighth stage which he wonfortably.


    Grey won all four of his battles, us won one of them, and Reynolds won two. us and Reynolds met two opponents in the Eighth stage today, with Reynolds getting a surprise victory over one of them.


    They all went home to prepare for the battles of the next day.