William woke up earlier than usual and found himself unable to fall back asleep. His match against Elena was scheduled for mid-afternoon, which meant spending the entire morning trying not to overthink his strategy.
He got dressed and headed to the dining hall for breakfast. The place was less crowded than yesterday since only students with afternoon matches were up this early, and he grabbed food before finding an empty table.
"Mind if I sit?"
William looked up to find Sara from House Valoris standing there with her own tray.
"Go ahead," he said while making space.
Sara sat down and started eating. "I saw your match yesterday. You've gotten a lot better since we first met."
"I'm just trying to keep up with everyone else."
"Don't sell yourself short. Marcus is ranked in the top thirty percent of first-years and you beat him without too much trouble." She took a drink of water. "My match is right before yours. Some guy from House Arcturus who thinks he's hot shit because his family has money."
They talked about the tournament and various matches from yesterday while finishing breakfast. Sara was easy to talk to and didn't make everything feel like a competition or interrogation, which was refreshing compared to most academy interactions.
"Alright, I think I should go warm up," Sara said while standing. "Good luck with Elena. She's tricky but if you can get past her wind barriers you'll be fine."
William spent the morning in his room reviewing what he remembered about Elena's fighting style. She relied heavily on creating distance and using wind magic to control arena space. The key would be closing distance fast enough that she couldn't set up her preferred range.
Around noon he made his way to the arena complex. The stands were packed again and the energy was even more intense than yesterday now that only stronger fighters remained in the tournament.
He checked the bracket board and confirmed his match was in Arena Two at two o'clock. That gave him time to watch Sara's fight and see how other matches were going.
Sara's match was entertaining to watch. Her opponent did think he was hot shit and spent the first minute talking trash while Sara just smiled and waited. When the match actually started, she dominated him with shadow manipulation techniques that he clearly hadn't prepared for. The fight ended with him yielding after getting wrapped up in shadows he couldn't break free from.
"That was satisfying," Sara said while sitting down next to William in the viewing area. "Watching arrogant idiots get humbled never gets old."
William's match was called shortly after. He made his way to Arena Two and found Elena already waiting. She gave him a friendly wave which he returned before they both took their positions.
The referee went through the standard rules and confirmed they both understood. William settled into his stance and started channeling essence through his body, feeling the enhancement take hold smoothly.
"Begin!"
Elena immediately created distance by releasing a wind blast that pushed William back several steps. She followed up by condensing wind around herself in a barrier that would make closing distance difficult.
William didn't rush forward like she probably expected. Instead he circled slowly while maintaining his essence enhancement, watching how she adjusted her barrier and looking for patterns in her wind control.
Elena launched wind blades from range and William deflected them with his practice sword while continuing to circle. He was testing her reaction time and how quickly she could shift her barrier's focus.
After about a minute of this, William saw what he was looking for. Elena's barrier was strongest in front but had slight weaknesses on the sides where she couldn't maintain the same level of control while also attacking.
He feinted forward and Elena reinforced her front barrier. William immediately changed direction and burst toward her left side with essence-enhanced speed that was faster than his previous movements.
Elena tried to shift her barrier but William was already inside her optimal range. His practice sword came up in a strike aimed at her side and she had to abandon her barrier completely to dodge.
Without the barrier between them, the fight became much more direct. Elena created wind around her feet for mobility and tried to reestablish distance, but William stayed close and pressed his advantage.
They traded strikes with Elena using wind-enhanced movements to create openings and William relying on the technique Seraphina had drilled into him about maintaining pressure on retreating opponents.
Three minutes passed and William's essence control was still holding steady. Elena was breathing harder and her wind magic was getting less precise as fatigue set in.
William saw an opening when Elena tried to create a larger wind blast to force him back. He stepped inside the attack's range before it fully formed and delivered a solid strike to her midsection that made her gasp.
Elena stumbled and tried to raise her barrier again but William was already following up with two more strikes that forced her to raise her hand in yield.
"Winner, William Cross!"
The crowd's reaction was louder than yesterday. Beating Marcus had been impressive but Elena was ranked higher and considered a strong tactical fighter. Two wins in a row was starting to get people's attention.
William helped Elena up and she smiled despite looking disappointed. "You're way faster than you were in training. That closing speed caught me completely off guard."
"You would have won if the arena was bigger and you had more room to work with," William said honestly.
"Maybe, but you won the match we actually had so that's what matters."
William walked off the arena floor and immediately spotted Seraphina in the stands. She wasn't smiling this time but she gave him another nod of approval before turning her attention elsewhere.
He grabbed water and found a seat to rest. His body was more tired than yesterday but his essence control had held for almost five minutes of active combat, which was a significant improvement.
"Two for two," Mira said while appearing with her usual bag of snacks. "You're actually going to make it to the quarterfinals at this rate."
"Don't jinx it," William said while accepting some dried fruit. "How did your match go?"
"Won pretty easily. The Equilibrium girl was good at defense but couldn't figure out how to deal with shadow attacks from multiple angles."
They watched more matches together. Liam fought again and won even faster than yesterday, his opponent yielding after realizing there was no point in continuing. Lyanna and Seraphina both advanced without much difficulty.
The quarterfinals bracket was posted by evening and William checked it with a sinking feeling. His next opponent was Adrian Thorne, a House Arcturus student who was ranked in the top fifteen of first-years and known for having exceptional sword technique.
"That's rough," Kai said when William told him later. "Adrian is really good. He's not at Liam or Seraphina's level but he's close."
"Thanks for the encouragement," William said while collapsing onto his bed.
"I'm being realistic. But you've won two matches already which is more than most people expected, so even if you lose in the quarterfinals that's still respectable."
William stared at the ceiling and thought about what Kai had said. His roommate was right that making it this far was already an achievement, but the idea of losing in the next round after coming this far felt frustrating.
He spent the evening doing light practice and reviewing what little he knew about Adrian's fighting style. The quarterfinals were scheduled for two days from now, which gave him time to prepare and recover.
That night he was back in his room trying to sleep when someone knocked on his door. He opened it to find Lyanna standing there with a book in her hands.
"This has information about Adrian Thorne's preferred techniques and common patterns," she said while handing him the book. "I analyzed his previous matches and compiled notes that might help."
William took the book and looked at her with surprise. "Why are you helping me? We're both still in the tournament."
"We're in different brackets so we won't fight each other until finals, and I'd rather have a challenging final opponent than win by default because everyone else was unprepared." She turned to leave. "Read it tonight and practice the counters tomorrow. You'll need every advantage against Adrian."
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