260 260. 2nd Round
32 participants have passed the 1st round and move forward to the 2nd round. This round is the start of the knock-out battles. Just like before, Ben & Jura will choose the Mages who will fight using the lottery system right before the matches.
But the 2nd round which has 32 participants won't be duels. It will be 4 people battles so there will only be 8 people who pass this round. Ben was the one who proposed this because he thought it will be more interesting and the audience will like it.
Also, if they proceed with duels, it will be time-consuming because there will be 16 duels. They must finish the 2nd round in a day so 16 matches are too many. Jura also agreed with Ben so he supported it and the Event Organizers can only agree.
With 16 matches, the most effective time will be 30 minutes each match, while with 8 matches, they can increase the time limit to 1 hour. Battles of high-class Mages can last for hours or even days so 1 hour is short, not to mention 30 minutes.
Then, just like the first round, the 2nd round starts at 8 AM. Ben & Jura pick 4 names randomly and the ones who get picked enter the arena. The ones who were picked are an old man, a middle-aged man, and 2 men in their 30's.
Everyone waits for the first match to start in anticipation. They watch as the 4 Mages gather in the center of the arena. Ben who becomes the referee of the 1st match stands outside the arena to not disturb the fighters.
Ben holds the microphone close to his mouth and he says, "Everyone ready? Then let's start the first match immediately. Begin!"
Right after Ben started the match, the 4 Mages make their move. Except for one of the men in his 30's who retreats, the other 3 are casting offensive magic. They all attack the retreating young man without any command.
"Hoh, they all target the weakest first, and the weakest guy also realized it so he retreats," ponders Ben interestedly.
The commentator also gets hyped by it as he asks Jura who helps him commenting the matches. Jura will make commentatory in the first 4 matches, while Ben will do it in the last 4 matches. They'll also switch roles as referees while the other comments.
Jura explains a few things that the commentator doesn't understand. The commentator also really knows his stuff. His commentatory makes the match more interesting to the audience using his skill.
But Ben ignores it and keeps watching the match while AI Chip records it. The old man uses darkness magic, the middle-aged man uses explosion magic, the stronger man uses acid magic, and the weakest uses hardening magic.
The weakest guy can hold the other 3's assault for 5 minutes before he eventually loses. After they defeat the weakest guy, the 3 start to attack each other. Ben steps inside the arena to take the defeated guy out using teleportation.
Then he watches again as the 3 attacks each other using their magic. Except for the old man who keeps attacking from long range, the other 2 use the combination of short & long-range attacks. They do their best to evade or block the others' attacks because if they get hit, then they will be an easy target for the other 2.
30 minutes have passed and finally, someone gets hit. It's the old man who gets hit by a magic bomb thrown by the middle-aged man. The other 2 immediately gang up on the old man and defeat him fast.
Ben takes action fast before the 2's attack kills the old man. He saves the old man right before their attacks hit the old man who has laid on the ground. With this, the battle has turned into a duel of the middle-aged man against the younger man.
The 2 of them don't waste any time and strike at each other. Their magic collides as they attack each other. As they fight, the middle-aged man's explosion magic makes the man's acid magic spread all over the arena.
Soon, many puddles of acid cover the whole arena, making it harder for them to move. Well, the acid magic user has more advantages now because he can control the acid puddles. He controls the acid in the arena to attack his opponent from all sides and eventually win the match.
Both of them received a lot of injuries but their lives aren't in danger. Ben has stopped the match before it could happen. He blocked the acid magic that almost hit the middle-aged man using a firewall.
The 1st match finishes in 53 minutes and it's quite interesting. AI Chip has predicted this outcome using the data from their battle on the first day. So Ben isn't surprised by the result. But he is still enjoying the battle because they use some new spells today.
Before the next match starts, Ben & Jura fix the arena and check for problems. They don't find any so the 2nd match starts immediately after they draw the participants' names for this match. There are 2 men and 2 women around the same age of 30's.
The men are using Light Magic and Smoke Magic. While the women use Rifle Magic and Vacuum Magic. This match is also quite fierce even though their Magic types aren't special.
But they have high mastery over their magic so they could pass the previous round. Even common magic can be strong if it's used by a skillful Mage. In the end, Magic is just a weapon, how to utilize it is up to the users.
The match finishes in 51 minutes with the Light Magic-user as the winner. His Light Magic has high penetration power so he could pierce the others' defense quite easily. Ben really likes the data that AI Chip collected from this guy because Light Magic is very useful for Ben.
Soon, the 3rd match starts, and the winner now is a woman who uses 2 types of Black Magic, Mind Control & Debuff. She controls one of her opponents to help her attack the other 2 as she cast debuff on the other 2.
The 2 get defeated easily after getting weakened by her debuff. Then she made the one that she controlled to surrender. This match finishes fast, only in 26 minutes, half of the previous matches.
But the 4th match's schedule isn't changed and still starts at 11 AM. The winner is a man who uses Space Magic. He used teleport to attack his opponents from behind using his space blade which inflicted high damage.
At 12 AM they take an hour break before resuming the match at 1 PM. Jura is the referee now while Ben joins the commentator. They start the match immediately and got to see an interesting match.
In the 5th match, the winner is the woman that Ben fought for the Wizard Saint position. She joins this tournament because she still wants to be a Wizard Saint and fight with Ben again. Since her loss, she has trained hard to fight Ben again.
Not only her, but the other 2 men also join this tournament and they've passed the 1st round. They still haven't chosen yet in this round so they haven't fought. But they finally get chosen in the 7th match after the 6th match ended with an old man who uses Telekinesis Magic to control flying weapons win it.
The 2 are put in the same match by pure coincidence. Jura thought that one of these 2 will win this match because they'd been chosen as Wizard Saint candidates before. But his prediction is wrong because the winner is a man who uses Scorch Magic which is similar to Heat Magic.
In the last match, the winner is a woman who uses Cut Magic. She can create sharp energy blades with different properties. She has just shown fire, water, & wind properties, but she should have more.
So with this, the 8 participants for the next round have been decided. Everyone is anticipating the next round that will be held in 2 days. They give time for the participants to rest so they can fight better in the next round.
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