The next day, at 8 in the morning, the second round of matches was about to begin.
All the "Promises" were already awake except for Arien, who was still fast asleep on his side, covered up to his neck by his blanket.
Rika was cleaning the blade of her katana; Haruki was sitting on his bed, waiting for the others to get ready so they could all go together.
Kaien walked over to Arien.
— Arien, wake up. Arien, Arien, Arien, wake up. — He placed his hand on his shoulder and started shaking him gently.
Arien tried to push Kaien's hand away from his shoulder.
— Just 5 more hours… better make it 7. — He mumbled, still half-asleep, without opening his eyes.
Kaien crossed his arms.
— You're hopeless. We need to be there before the matches start. Wake up now.
— They can wait for us… Sleeping is the most important thing. — He moved slightly in bed to find a more comfortable position.
Kaien sighed deeply and reached out to pull the blanket off him, but underneath that first blanket there was another one. He threw the first one aside and took off the second, but under that one there was another, and another, and another.
— HOW MANY BLANKETS DO YOU SLEEP WITH?!
Arien remained completely unfazed, sleeping comfortably.
Rika finished cleaning her katana and walked over to them. She slipped her hand under all the remaining blankets covering Arien, grabbed his ankle, and pulled him to drag him out of bed.
Arien fell onto the floor from the pull.
— Ouch… That hurt.
— Let's go now. — She turned around and started walking toward the door.
— You could have at least tried to be a little nicer about it.
Haruki stood up from his bed, and Arien got up from the floor. The four of them left the room and started walking down the hallways.
— Don't forget your katana, Arien. — Rika said without slowing down.
Arien snapped his fingers, quickly ran back into the room, grabbed his katana, and caught up with them again.
In another room, Floch began to wake up. He stretched his arms and sat up on his bed. He yawned while rubbing his eyes with his hands.
— Are you awake yet, Terrmomix?
Floch received no answer. He looked over toward Terrmomix's bed, but no one was there. He frowned in confusion.
— Did he leave ahead of time?
He got out of bed, kept stretching, and walked over to the window. He was surprised to see Terrmomix outside, training with his katana.
Floch grabbed his own katana, opened the window, and jumped out. He landed softly on the ground.
— Training already? Save your energy for later.
Terrmomix stopped training and turned toward Floch.
— You're awake.
— Yeah. What time have you been up since?
— 4 in the morning.
— Huh?! And you've been training since then?
— Yes. — He slid his katana back into its sheath.
— You need to take care of your sleep schedule. Training this early and barely sleeping isn't healthy.
— This is already my daily routine. Besides, I wasn't sleepy.
— What?… — Floch crossed his arms. — I'll say it again: you're crazy. But why? Is there any reason you have to train this early?
— No. My body's just gotten too used to it. Every day it feels like it's asking me to train at this time.
Floch sighed deeply.
— I get you, but at the same time I don't. — He turned toward the academy entrance. — Well, stop training already and let's go get breakfast. The second round of matches is about to start.
— Alright. — He started following Floch.
— Aren't you excited? Matches are going to be way more intense this round than the last one.
— We need to be prepared.
The "Marks" walked through the hallways. As always, their presence drew the stares of all the other students.
Matteo sighed contentedly, walking with his hands behind his head, fingers interlaced.
— It won't be long before one of us faces a Promise. Just thinking about fighting one gets me more excited than anything.
Liang adjusted his katana at his waist.
— Yeah, those will be matches actually worth putting all our effort into.
— Which Promise would you guys want to fight? — He looked at Kael. — No need to say yours, everyone already knows who it is.
Liang thought for a few seconds.
— Hmm… I'd want to fight Kaien.
— I'd go against Haruki.
— Then I'll take Rika… I have to admit, she's really strong. — Zeik said as they kept walking.
Matteo stretched his arms upward.
— Hope fate grants us one of those matches as a gift.
All the groups and students arrived at the stands. The Marks and Promises took their seats in the front rows, closest to the fighting area.
Terrmomix and Floch sat down in the same seats they'd used the day before. Naeris dragged Varek and Kenzo with her to the highest row, so they could see the matches better from above.
She made the two of them sit down: Varek on her right, Kenzo on her left. A boy sat down next to Kenzo. Naeris looked at him and recognized him.
— Oh, it's you… The Portal Boy.
Zento heard the nickname and turned to look at Naeris, confused.
— Huh?
She smiled widely.
— Do you want to join the group too?
Zento looked even more confused, having no idea what group she was talking about.
Varek leaned over and whispered to me:
— Naeris… I don't think he wants…
She gave Zento a thumbs-up.
— YOU'RE IN! YOU'RE PART OF THE GROUP NOW!
Zento didn't know what to say. Varek put his palm to his forehead and sighed.
— I can't believe this…
— Now there's four of us! Not bad at all!
Director Lion sat down in his usual seat again. Next to him were Professor Elion and Professor Mari.
One of the teachers spoke into the microphone.
— DEAR STUDENTS, WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE SECOND ROUND OF MATCHES. HALF OF YOU WERE DEFEATED IN THE FIRST ROUND, AND THE SAME WILL HAPPEN HERE — ONLY THE BEST WILL MOVE FORWARD. WE ARE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER TO FINDING OUT WHO WILL BECOME THE NUMBER ONE STUDENT OF THIS ACADEMY. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE, AND LET THE SECOND ROUND MATCHES BEGIN!
The students in the stands cheered with excitement. Sixty-four students were still competing for that top spot: Marks, Promises, talented fighters, and others who hadn't yet shown what they were truly capable of.
The first match began. This time, everyone would give their absolute all to try and earn a good rank — but everyone also knew that the highest positions would be taken by those on a completely different level… by true monsters in combat.
The first match ended, and the second started a few minutes later. Floch was, as always, thrilled by the techniques displayed and the sheer level of strength on show.
After three matches, it was finally Terrmomix's turn. Arien and Kael watched with great interest, because in just one match, this boy had shown power that was getting close to their own level.
The match began, and Terrmomix took control right from the start. His opponent felt chills just looking at him; his empty eyes never reflected anything but cold emptiness. Fighting him felt strange — an odd, uncomfortable sensation.
It only took one technique for him to finish off his opponent and leave everyone in the stands amazed. His move caused the temperature to drop, slowly freezing the area around them once again. Arien smiled with excitement — now he was the one who wanted to be the one to face Terrmomix.
WINNER: TERRMOMIX
NEXT MATCH