The second day started like the previous, breakfast then arena all day. The first group was called and I was shocked to see I wasn't called but Adam's name was the first announced for the day so we took the same spot in the stands as the previous day to watch the battles. Adam's opponent was Kyle Gin the tiger beast master. The battle was intense as Kyle's tiger had catlike reflexes and was able to counter the attacks by Adam's wyvern.
Adam hadn't done it before but he saw his opportunity to strike Kyle when Kyle was focused on his tiger. The surprise attack of an arcane flame encompassing his body took off most of his hp but Kyle rolled away from the attack and continued with a burnt back as his shirt fell off from the flame.
Another difference between the 1st year tournament and the 10th year would be gear. Not only do half the weapons not really work against even iron beast hides but the fact that gear gives you boosts different from the beast boosts. So even the entertaining back and forth of a first year will be ten times more intense by the tenth year battle of the same two going back and forth.
Kyle had a katana and Adam used a great longsword that was similar to his frame. Their swords clashed as the katana was moving quickly but Adam was able to deflect and defend against the more aggressive, faster katana. Then Adam smirked as he suddenly summoned his wyvern back to him and summoned him directly behind Kyle and shot out two flames from its maws. Kyle screamed in pain as once again he was being burned by the arcane fire, his health line dropped to zero and he was suddenly teleported to where the doctors had a medical station for the injured.
Day two was different in that it was a tournament for 112 students. The round robin ranked everyone and Adam had the 1 seed with myself getting 16th. Seeing this we both had byes in the first round which was awesome, the bad part was that if we kept winning we would be battling each other. I regretted jinxing myself as soon as I saw the bracket.
The first round also being only 12 battles to watch per group seemed less hectic. The square size hadn't changed either, just less battles at once. Two rounds of 12 battles that Adam and I paid close attention to opponents that we would be facing. Both of us were pretty excited as we both felt we had an easy first match up.
I fought a girl with a wolverine beast that is susceptible to lightning which my chain lightning stunned both of them for even longer than normal. I saw first chain lightning stun them and an arcane missile was fired before the chain lightning had connected so the arcane missile killed her wolverine within a moment of the fight beginning as the wolverine dodged my initial arcane missile because principals. The chain lightning arrow connected with the wolverines leg and subsequently connected with the beast master causing both to be stunned and then my second arcane missile finished the job.
My next round was against a boy with a falcon and bow. It was my first archer versus archer battle which was fun. We dodged each other's attacks for a long time. Multiple arrows of his missed me barely and to be honest it was as if my body was reacting on its own at times in that fight. I had the biggest advantage though, my arrows were spells while his were arrows. I messed up his aim with an ice wall and caused him to stumble which an arcane missile then connected, knocking him out as the final health was knocked off, kicking him out making me the winner.
I joined my friends to discuss what was upcoming. I hadn't even put it together at this point but I was just excited to win the last fight as he was agile and difficult to figure out how to get a good shot in on him. Adam and I were certainly not realizing what was about to happen.
We hung out just talking about the next round when Mr G once again stood up and spoke to the crowd hushing most of them. "We will begin the fourth round. This round will be one fight at a time. The following beast masters please approach your designated square. Adam Lock vs. Jordan Kane…" The voices went silent in my head, I heard nothing else anyone had to say. I was now locked into my target, my best friend at this school.
"Knowledge, wisp flame, iceskin, barkskin, electric armor" I chanted to myself before I even got out of the stands. My body glowing showing the different spells boosting my body. Knowledge gave me a golden glow, wisp flame causes my shoulders to emit puffs of flame, while iceskin and barkskin cause my skin to change momentarily then return back to a normal look. The iceskin makes my skin turn an icy blue then barkskin would cause my skin to turn a dark brown with rigid lines like bark all to then go back to normal after a brief moment. Electric armor gave me sparks of electricity hopping off my body.
"Well he looks focused Adam, good luck!" Joey pointed out as I had already walked off. Adam entered the square after me as he had taken his time knowing that I was going to give it my all. He summoned Dante, his purple arcane double headed wyvern, knowing that I would target it first. I for the first time felt naked going into that battle. For whatever reason knowing what Dante could do made me extremely worried.
I started the battle with an arcane missile aimed at Dante's face, because consistency! He simply blinked out of the way which didn't shock me. I took a step back and started to put distance between me and my opponents. I tested out a theory knowing that my attacks did different speeds to their attack. I waited till the alignment was there but I thought I had them to be honest.
I fired a boulder attack at Adam knowing Dante would block it and right after I fired the boulder I sent an icespike hoping that it would pierce Dante while he was trying to defend the boulder from hitting his master. Dante blinked out of the way and Adam jumped over the icespike and boulder as I nearly impaled his family jewels which would have changed our relationship quickly.
Adam had jumped into the air and pulled his great longsword out from his back and swung it down in a fluid motion like he had practiced it many times before yet I had never seen him do it. I summoned an arcane barrier barely in time as Adam wasn't planted in the ground so the barrier won and sent Adam flying backwards out of control. I still think I was just destined to lose because I swear I shot two lightning bolts that hit but supposedly I didn't. The same time Dante had blinked behind me and then I was standing next to the professor who was in charge of judging the match.
To be honest I thought I did a good job, I put him in a position twice to where I almost won. In the end not having a beast to summon and attack really hurt me that day. I know one thing, it sparked the fire that developed in me to get a second beast asap. Little did I know that it was a trade secret held by the wealthy.
We were all proud of him for making it to the final 4. There was an hour break between the fifth and sixth rounds where we spent the entire time talking about the other seven left and what we had seen them do, all of us trying to help Adam win it. I had hoped that Adam would be able to at least make it to the final day of the tournament but his luck ran out.
Devin and his lion ended up being the match that Dante couldn't get the upper hand. The lion had a natural defense to wyvern, especially arcane wyvern. The fur of a lion who melded with a beast master even at the iron rank was arcane and fire resistant as in 100%. The only chance Dante had was to physically overwhelm the lion which was a comical thought to even have floating in your own head. The skinny lizard dinosaur dragon beast was easily half the size of the lion and they both were only at the iron rank, the platinum differences, if they ever got there, between the two in size would be even more significant.