Chapter 22 Combat exam (part 2) "Storming into Quarter-finals"

The fight between Sean and his opponent did not last more than ten seconds and before the judge could announce the winner he was already walking towards the stairs to exit the stage. The next few fights were nothing interesting as the first round was only an elimination round to weed out the weak. The real fights will only start from the quarter finals as the students who come in the top eight are generally geniuses and are extremely strong. The only fight in the first round which was unexpected was a level 2 warrior defeating a level 3 warrior. The boy who fought the level 3 warrior looked very pale and slim and did not have the look of a warrior. However the fight between him and his opponent lasted only a minute and the boy had strength and agility which surpassed that of level 2 and his attacks were vicious which made his opponent cower with fear. Sean took a note of this person as he could feel that this person has killed people.

Soon the second round began and it was once again Sean's turn. This time his opponent was a level 4 warrior and Sean once again took the stage. The judge gave the sign to start the battle. Sean saw that his opponent who was rather relaxed, afterall his opponent was only a level 3. Sean took his stance once again and waited for his opponent to make his move. His opponent thinking to finish the match in one move used a movement technique and appeared before Sean instantly and punched towards his face using his left hand. Sean dodged by moving to the right while holding his opponents left arm and pulling him and gave him a hook to the cheek which connected followed by a hammer punch to his nose which instantly broke spilling blood. Sean continued his next combination by punching to the liver of his opponent and finished him by kneeing his opponents face. His opponent who was already disoriented from the first punch suffered an overkill and was unconscious before he hit the ground. The entire match once again did not cross ten seconds as Sean started walking towards the exit of the stage while the judge announced the winner.

If Carmella and matured woman were shocked in the first round they were speechless after the second round after looking with his much ease Sean defeated an opponent who had higher level than himself. The matured woman said "This is no longer the case of having better experience in fights as no matter how experienced someone is he cannot defeat someone with higher level within seconds. Seems like this boy is hiding his power" for which Carmella nodded. Lucy just observed in silence while Rutherford who expected to see Sean get hurt was once again disappointed.

The Combat exam entered the third round to decide top sixteen candidates. Soon it was Sean's turn once again and this time his opponent was a level four once again. Sean took his stance and once again waited for his opponent to make a move as he waited to hit a counter. However much to Sean's disappointment his opponent was guarded against him and did not rush like his previous opponent. His opponent moved at a sedated pace and reached the striking zone and tested Sean using jabs while Sean blocked them using his palm at ease. His opponent soon feinted with a jab and went for a straight punch using a bit more power to it. Sean who was waiting for this dodged to his right while aiming to punch his opponents temple. However his opponent pulled back his straight punch and used his left hand to give a cross jab at Sean's face. Sean who saw reacted at inhumane speed as he moved his upper body to the right by bending backwards and threw a hammer punch on his opponent's face drawing the first blood. Sean did not stop and gave a liver punch which made his opponent bend forward and proceeded to move behind his opponent and gave a kick to the back side of the knee as he watched his opponent miss his balance and kneel down and finished his opponent with a Rear Naked choke to put his opponent down. This time the match took about a minute as he started walking towards the exit of the stage as the judge announced him as winner. Sean proceeded to go down and waited for the third round to be over as he watched the favourites who would most probably enter the Quarter-finals all win with ease.

Sean had noted up to five students who would easily win against the other students. They all had a bloodline power and were from large clan or a upper middle clan. Through the talks amongst the new students he figured out their name to be Melinda Merlin who was from the Merlin family having the strength of level 5 and having a high level bloodline (this is the cute girl), Roman Pierce from Pierce family, a large clan which is in the capital also having the strength of level 5 while having a high level bloodline, Sirius blackwood from blackwood family of Golem city having the strength of level 5 and having a medium tier bloodline, Caroline who was from a normal family having the strength of level 4 and a medium tier blood line and Jodie Crowley from middle level family having a strength of level 4 and a medium tier bloodline.

Soon the fourth round began and what started with 128 students had only 16 students left and after this round the top eight would be identified. The first few fights started and as Sean predicted Melinda Merlin, Roman Pierce, Sirius Blackwood, Caroline, Jodie Crowley all advance to Quarter-finals. Apart from them a boy named ken with strength of level 4 and a girl named Michelle Severus having the strength of level 4 from a medium level clan having a mid tier bloodline advanced.

Finally it was Sean's turn and his opponent named Hermes Augustus looked like a tank as he was having a mid-tier bloodline with properties of strength and his level as a warrior was also four. Being the only level 3 warrior amongst the top 16 everyone felt Sean was lucky and all of them expected him to loose.

Sean and his opponent entered the stage and everyone had their eyes on them. Hermes shouted "Boy, you had better give up or else you will gut hurt" while releasing his aura. The Augustus family had the bloodline of black tiger which is known for ferocious attacks and piercing ability. All their men who obtain the black tiger bloodline were both wild and fierce and are also extremely hot blooded. Sean who heard his opponents taunt just took his stance indicating that he intended to fight. "Humph, don't cry when you get your bones broken" said Hermes as he took his stance. The second judge gave the call to commence the battle Hermes released his bloodline power which gave a roar of a tiger as he slashed at Sean. Three black coloured Qi appeared out of thin air and went towards Sean at a fast speed which could tear him apart. In the stands Wendell who saw this was worried that Sean might get hurt. Unlike what everyone expected that Sean would be either pierced by trying to defend it or dodge the attack, Sean who had always waited for his opponent to come to his strike zone, for the first time attacked as he ran towards the slash and just as the slash was about to hit him he slid under the Qi attack using his knees and got up once the Qi attack went past him and arrived at Hermes in an instant and delivered a barrage of punches in combinations of jabs, straight, liver blows, hooks and uppercuts and within a span a ten seconds he threw nearly a hundred punches. Each punch were composed compact swings packing power enough to make one loose their consciousness. Hermes put his guard up as he received these blows while barely hanging on. Even after the barrage of punches stopped, hermes still had his guard up as he vomited blood from his mouth clearly receiving injuries as he was only able to block the punches near his face while receiving most of the liver punches. Even his arms were swollen after taking so many hits from Sean, compared to which Sean was only breathing slightly hard as if he had a light workout.

Hermes moved backwards clearly wanting to maintain distance from Sean, however Sean did not allow that as he proceeded to give a kick to Hermes lower leg. Hermes took the first kick while still guarding his upper body and moving backwards. Sean gave a second kick and this time on the side of the knee, however this time Hermes who was guarding his upper body groaned in pain as he let his guard down to block any more kicks to the lower body, however this time Sean kicked at Hermes stomach with a front kick and followed by a knee to the stomach as Hermes vomitted blood once again as he bent forward. Sean finally finished with a hook under the ears of Hermes making him go unconscious as he hit the floor. The whole arena and especially the top seven who qualified for Quarter-finals were shocked to silence as inwardly noted a new rival who would be an obstacle for them. The judge soon announced the winner followed which the main announcer said "Well this is the end for today. The knockout stage will begin tomorrow in the morning. Please be sure to assemble in the morning". Soon the crowd started to dilute as the students went to the cafeteria or nearby inn to have dinner.