For this particular part of the tournament, Cekrad had apparently decided to turn the 10 vs 10 into a 40 vs 40. Thus, once the eighty students stepped on the spacious arena, the match officially began. Of course, with a big figure like eighty fighters, things could happen in a lot of different ways.

 

Strategies were more than welcome in this kind of setting. And since no one expected the fact it would be a confrontation between groups of forty, it would require some adaptability and quick thinking from the students.

 

The first thing Arima's students did was using the custom telepathic link that their teacher had given them. It allowed them to communicate together without having multiple thoughts clashing against each other.

 

The underlying principle was simple. If someone sees it as a computer program, it's even easier to comprehend. A telepathic network usually fails because people's thoughts can clash against each other and cause a backlash. But with Arima's theory, it filters every thought and sends it toward its fixed receiver. And the one who is given 'administrator's rights, the leader, has the possibility to send a thought to everyone, bypassing every other without clashes.

 

This kind of theory is only possible to use when you think of human thought as a simple signal that you can deviate or control while having extensive knowledge of how brain waves function. That is why Arima could create this kind of theory so easily.

 

The class' strategy was quite modest though and was the one that Arima came up with at first.

 

Five students would stay behind and simultaneously use the Fifth Red Art to gather as much mana as they could. Mana is as important for mages as electricity is for machines. So, of course, having an energy tank charging behind your back was certainly beneficial.

 

At first, Velvet's students failed to understand until they finally noticed that most of the mana in the air was being siphoned by their opponents.

 

It was without saying that the less mana there was around you, the less you could replenish your mana pool. That alone was a big disadvantage. But the scariest aspect of the Fifth Red Art was that it could directly steal mana from the soul if the ambient one was insufficient.

 

The one who noticed what was happening first was a boy named Gile. For Velvet's class, he was basically the equivalent of Irian, and one of their aces. Velvet could have put him in the following fights but she decided to put him in the large-scale battle. Class B's organization for their communication was a 'chain'. A student was connected to another who was connected to the third one and so on.

 

Gile was at the top of the 'chain' end everyone effectively received orders from him. He nodded at everyone and kicked the ground to be the head of the spear. His figure started changing as he was running. He soon transformed into a four-legged animal. His resonance was a bit special as he completely changed into an animal.

 

"Oh?" Arima exclaimed in surprise as this was the kind of resonance he wanted to attain with Night, although a lot more complex and stronger.

 

The result of that resonance was a huge black rhinoceros who charged alone toward the full team of forty. His comrades soon followed him.

 

The reaction on the other side was immediate, they all moved synchronously and went out of the way of the rhinoceros as if they had planned it beforehand.

 

Gile had now a clear path leading to the rear and that fact perturbed him greatly. He chose to bury his legs on the ground and forcefully stop his charge. He knew that once he would be immobile in the middle of everyone, they would encircle him and attack. But he preferred that over going straight into a trap.

 

Instead, he promptly conjured his magic and lifted his front legs before slamming them down in the next motion. The stone arena cracked and the ground started shaking.

 

The earth began to move like a living creature and attacked class A in all kinds of ways. The rest of class B then joined the fray and quite a chaotic battle erupted. Magic flew in all directions and the arena lit up in a multicolor rave.

 

Arima watched with deadpan eyes at the sky where fireballs, water streams, and boulders were being flung in all directions.

 

"This is just a mess… I should have taught them how to fight a big number of enemies," he muttered and winced. "I forgot."

 

"Hey…" Night stared at him incredulously and shook his head.

 

In the end, the first battle didn't last long. Although Gile's performance was outstanding, his class was beaten by the perfect coordination of class A and their mana gathering strategy. They were inevitably pushed back and at some point, the judges attributed the victory to Arima's class, adding two points.

 

Following that, it was time for the tag teams. The first fight involved Ofia and Lena. Even if the other side did everything they could, the winners were undisputed as class A won once again. They continued on a winning streak until Irian fell against Mila in a one versus one.

 

His advantages over her were next to nonexistent and he was forced in a contest of endurance which he lost because of his opponent's ruses.

 

In conclusion, class A came out victorious six times out of seven. Velvet could only smile bitterly in face of such a result.

 

She understood that Arima's students were above hers in every aspect. She also felt like the main reason why her class lost so badly was that his students seemed to be awfully experienced to fight.

 

"Alright, onto the next," Raal announced. "This time, class A, please leave and free the place for class C. The students will be healed and the tournament will resume in thirty minutes to let them rest."

 

When he said that, Arima guided his class out of the spatially-closed arena and then went back inside a minute later. His students were confused at his behavior but still followed him back in. Then, when they saw that the fights were already over, they were struck speechless.

 

Since Arima had altered time inside the arena, upon leaving it one would obviously be a victim of the time gap. In fact, earlier, when class C exited the arena, he had to sneakily set a time array around them so that they would not notice what was going on.

 

When he came back, it was to see that class C had come out victorious. Class B won the first round but lost all of the others. Incidentally, when Mila was about to face Yrion in a solo match, Velvet chose to surrender for her student before it could even begin.

 

Arima thought that it was a good decision. He glanced at her and Velvet shrugged at him with a helpless smile. She strode toward the benches with her students and now could only wait for the end of the tournament whilst being clearly aware that her class would definitely be third on the podium.

 

After thirty minutes of rest, Raal quietly observed as Arima's students stepped on the arena. "This final round will determine the final winner of the competition. Class A with Arimane Blade as its teacher and class B led by Olien Urian," he declared and the forty versus forty commenced right away.

 

Olien's students attacked instantly and fiercely. They didn't even hesitate even a second and directly chose full offensive. They started working together to separate their opponents into different groups. They then targeted the group gathering mana at the very back.

 

Arima snorted when he saw that. It felt as if they knew about his class' strategy. He squinted at Olien and shrugged. He didn't care either way. He was quite confident that his students would win the next fights. The only hitch was Yrion. But he alone wasn't enough to threaten their victory.

 

Eventually, class A lost the first battle because their opponents had acted too fast and controlled the flow of the fight all the way from the start until the end. After that, as Arima expected, the two following tag matches were easily won by his class. His class' victory was basically assured at that point.

 

But the competition continued and it was Ferzia who had to face Yrion. She would absolutely refuse to abandon or step down so Arima didn't even try. He wanted to see what Yrion could do anyway.

 

When Karia gave the signal, Yrion kicked the ground and struck toward Ferzia barehanded. He seemed to be a martial master as he only used close combat techniques and magic coated fists.

 

Ferzia was quite annoyed by that since her weapon was a two-handed sword. She chose to temporarily discard her sword and focus on her main attribute, speed. She stabbed her sword in the ground and lightning sizzled around her. She began to resonate through her soul contract with the lightning wolf.

 

When her resonance kicked in, she left an afterimage in front of Yrion and circled around him to kick him in the back.

 

Yrion seemed to be totally unperturbed by the hit's force as he spun in mid-air and casually landed. In the meantime, Ferzia swiftly pulled her sword back and used her speed to strike his opponent before he could recover his balance. Yrion reacted quickly though and caught the blade with both of his palms.

 

The lightning rumbled and went through his body. The ground below cracked for hundreds of meters. Ferzia didn't stay still and let go of her sword. She assembled lightning in her hand and thunder roared. Her eyes glowed and the clouds' darkened the arena.

 

"[Izanagi]," Ferzia placed her palm on Yrion chest and a lightning bolt fell from the sky to engulf his figure. The stone arena fissured and the sound of thunder penetrated the spectators' eardrums.

 

Within the lightning storm, Yrion channeled his mana and the stone below the arena emerged as a huge dome that protected him from the thundering magic.

 

Ferzia gripped her sword's handle and jumped back as her magic faded away. A second after, the dome made of earth crumbled and turned to dust. But, strangely, there was no trace of Yrion.

 

Ferzia frowned and her instincts abruptly rung bells inside her head. It was the exact same feeling that she constantly felt during Arister's training. Her wolf ears quivered and she hurriedly crouched. She looked up from the corner of her eyes to see Yrion's spear hand.

 

She slammed her hand on the ground and rotated her body to kick him. He blocked her strike with his knee and jumped back before silently looking at her.

 

Ferzia carefully stood up with squinted eyes. She recalled the attack that she had barely dodged and shuddered. She asked herself if that strike could have killed her if she had been too slow.

 

"It would have," Arima uttered, seemingly to no one in particular.

 

Arister's expression was somber and his fists clenched. Arima had stopped him from rushing in there the moment Yrion sneaked behind Ferzia.

 

"Don't worry. I can revive her as long as it's within five minutes," Arima calmed him down. His claim could sound detached but his words were certainly true. But that didn't pacify Arister in the slightest. They were still talking about her death, after all. He was already abstaining himself from killing Yrion on the spot.

 

"But…" Arima continued. "I don't give third chances," he stated coldly and Arister could only conform to his words.

 

Lanya glanced at Arima and then focused on the fight again with a silent sigh. She knew Arima was definitely going to defend his student if something like that were to happen again. And he would demand reparation in quite a radical way.

 

After her very timely escape from death's clutch, Ferzia decided to swap her strategy for a safer one and started taking advantage of her magic's range whilst keeping Yrion in her sight at all times.

 

After ten minutes of shielding himself from the lightning, Yrion finally triggered his resonance and transformed into a dragon. He flapped his wings and dashed past the lightning as the electricity was repelled by his scales.

 

Ferzia's eyes narrowed. Her last option was to bet on her speed. Her eyes flashed and her aura flared. The next thing she knew, her sword had been parried by her opponent's fist. In less than ten seconds afterward, the entirety of the arena became destroyed by their game of tag.

 

Ferzia halted after she had managed to delay Yrion for a few seconds. The ground below her started glowing in a blue light and a large magic circle was drawn. Yrion suddenly stopped and looked at the ground. He now realized that she had been drawing an entire rune on the ground whilst fighting him.

 

"[Llanto del Lobo]!" Ferzia intoned and the wolf silhouette depicted in the center of the circle shifted before a howl echoed. Thunder rumbled and a blinding light invaded the area along with the sounds of cracking stone.