Unlike the awakening test that each student had only one fight, the knockout exam had six stages before a winner was decided and each stage was more tasking than the previous one.
Apart from minimizing their mana usage, they had to make sure they didn't sustain damage that would decrease their fighting ability because no one was to be treated by the school's healers unless they had been eliminated.
'At this point, I wished I had a friend that awakened the light element.' Blake sighed when he now realized how useful they were.
[With your rank anyone that isn't your sworn enemy would love to be your friend, but someone decided not to have friends.] The system snorted.
'Well I am not a fan of using people… and don't give me that naïve kid pep talk. As long as I am not in dire need of something, I am not using anybody. Besides even if I come second my position as the overall 1st position is still safe as long as I don't flop in the basic magic exam.' Blake rebuked the system's idea.
"By the way who knows about the light pathway and why haven't I seen them in action?" Blake asked.
"That's true, I heard there was a student that awakened the light element that had won all rounds, but I didn't get to see him..." Brian replied.
Seeing no one had the answer to Blake's question, Luciano decided to speak up. "The warrior level of the light pathway is the Radiant therapist. They have the power to heal injuries, but their fighting is zero or even less because they don't even get buffs, unlike the other elements…"
"That was why we didn't get to see anyone during the awakening test." Blake blurted out.
"Exactly, that was why there is no radiant therapist in the elite class." Luciano nodded to Blake's words.
"But everything changes when they advance to the champion realm. The champion realm of the light pathway is called Lumomancer and they can manipulate light to create illusions." Luciano said with a flat tone as he stared at the empty grounds.
"That explains why the radiant therapist rose in rank after entering the elite class." Brian blurted out in realization.
[The illusion is more deadly than it sounds. With how strong your will has become you can easily break out of the illusion, but the most troublesome part of a lumomancer's illusion is knowing when one was in an illusion and if you don't know you won't border to break out.] The system's explanation made Blake shudder.
'Beating your opponent without them having an idea of what happened.' Blake had to admit that the ability was overpowered, it was for people who didn't have an idea of its weakness.
After few more minutes of rest, the 3rd round was signaled to start. There were 16 students left, meaning 8 matches going on.
Blake was paired against the rank 17, who had awakened the same elements as him and this attracted more attention to their battle.
"May the best man win." Qadir the rank 17th said to Blake as the match was signaled to start.
"Then that means I am the winner..." Blake said with a smirk as he took a fighting stance.
"I might not be a top ranker but don't get cocky!" Qadir activated the lightning reinforcement and dashed towards Blake with 2 short blades in his hands.
Since both of them had the same elements and since fire and lightning weren't solid elements, Blake decided to go with his fists.
When Qadir was 5 meters away, Blake activated his lightning reinforcement which had twice the number of arcs as that of his opponent.
Seeing that Blake had no plans of using his Katana, Qadir couldn't help but smile as he thrust his short sword forward, aiming for his heart.
'Hehe...' Blake mind-chuckled when saw that his opponent hadn't noticed the difference between the powers of their lightning reinforcement.
Having no plans of dodging the attack, Blake waited for the last moment before holding Qadir's wrist and delivering a blow that took him off his feet before pulling him back and giving him a second blow to his abdomen.
"Ahh!"
The Raiju breathing technique took effect the moment Blake's fist made contact with Qadir's body, sending lightning through his skin and into his organs. The lightning spread to all parts of his body sending him to a world of pain.
'That didn't end it?' Blake thought as he easily dodged Qadir's left strike and in the process releasing his grip on him.
[Don't forget his resistance to lightning is greater than that of that plant girl.] The system reminded him.
If not for Qadir's resistance being high because he awakened the lightning element, he would have been on the floor twitching from the effects of both the electrode's stun effect and that of the Raiju breathing technique.
'Fuck!' Qadir gritted his teeth in pain as he conjured flames in front of and with the powers of an ignitor, he increased the size and intensity of the flames creating a wall of flames to prevent Blake from chaining his attacks.
Unknown to Qadir his action marked the beginning of the end because he had blocked his line of sight and his wall of flames was useless to someone like Blake.
[They all keep making the same mistake.] The system shook its head in disappointment.
Without hesitating, Blake quickly enveloped his entire body with flames with the help of his will and dashed towards the wall of flames before diving right through flames and grabbing shocked Qadir by the neck.
"Ho… how?!" Qadir blurted before getting he was bombarded by multiple blows that made him spasmed in pain from excess electricity that made his way into his organs.
Although his resistance to electricity was high, it didn't mean he was completely immune to electricity. All Blake needed was to give him enough dose of his blows.
[I must say that was dangerous but Damn!] The system praised his bravery.
Blake had many ways of defeating his opponent, but when the system remaindered him of everyone's resistance to elements and Qadir had conjured the wall of flames a plan that quickly ended the match formed in his head.
That was to use the flames on his body, coupled with his resistance to significantly reduce the damage he took from the flames. It saved him time, mana and it gave the battle that was meant to be boring a little flare.
"I told you, I am the best man." A smirk was on his face as he walked out of the battleground.
'I must say, I am getting addicted to the thrill that comes with fighting.' Blake thought as he watched Castiel's battle.
…
Back in the principal's office…
"When I first saw that the effects of his lightning element, I thought it was suspicious because they had gone past the level of an electrode. This match has confirmed my suspicions, He has the Raiju breathing technique." Principal Lovren said in a pondering tone.
"A kid having a breathing technique that even the top lightning family is in search of, that is odd. Unless someone had something to do with it." Principal Lovren said while looking at prince Bryon's reaction.
"Hehe." Prince Bryon chuckled as he kept his eyes on the battleground.
His laughter had confirmed his thoughts but he didn't mind less to go too deep into the matter so he decided to drop it and continue watching the students' performance.
…
Castiel's fight had gone on for some time now and from the way, things were going he knew that he couldn't beat his opponent with on fire element. He had already decided he would use the darkness element but the problem was that he was looking for the perfect opportunity.
His opponent was the rank 20 and had awakened the lightning and earth element. The earth element made his flames ineffective and the opponent's lightning element put him in a tight corner.
'How can I lose without showing the darkness element. I have to do something before it's too late.' Castiel was panting as he thought of a plan.
'His flames are ineffective, but that reminds me what is Castiel's second element?' Blake couldn't help but ask because even when he watched the survival exercise replays he had only seen Castiel use fire.