"Welcome back, my dear students," He said with a smile and he clapped his hands once, and the sound echoed throughout the spectators stand, making every one of the students silent in just a split second. They knew that the clap was the sign to shut their mouths and listen to the Elder. "Now that you're all back here again, let us waste no time and return to the contest!" Elder Kenneth was still smiling as he spoke.

"And the match ups are..." Elder Kenneth pulled out an envelope from his pocket and held it up to his face. He opened it and pulled out the paper from the inside, and read it aloud for everyone to hear. "Claude Rayforth vs Leroy Wayne and Javier Banderas vs Russell Davies!"

As soon as the fights were declared, the whole crowd went wild. Claude turned his head to look at Leroy, who was far away from him, and the two locked eyes for a brief second. Javier and Russell turned to look at each other before nodding their heads.

They knew that they both had to fight each other at some point; be it in this round or the next one. A fight was inevitable. 

'I wish I could've gotten Javier in the final. Oh well…' Russell said to himself as he flashed a bitter smile on his face.

Javier on the other hand, still had an indifferent expression on his face, as though the matchups were of no importance to him.

'Leroy Wayne, huh..' Claude was staring straight at Leroy, who was also staring back at Claude with his eyes narrowed. They were having a staring contest. 

'I guess I really am lucky..' Claude had an indifferent expression on his face, but on the inside, he was pretty happy. Although he knew that a fight with either Javier or Russell would be inevitable as there was still the final round of the contest remaining, he was still incredibly fortunate to have been able to get to the final so easily. 

Well, easy when compared to the other two.

'This kid is my opponent? I guess this is my lucky day!' On the other side, Leroy Wayne, who was studying Claude intensely, let out a short chuckle. Similar to Claude, Leroy Wayne was also feeling lucky, as he had gotten a junior who was in the fifth rank of the sky realm as his opponent, miraculously avoiding Russell Davies and Javier Banderas.

Although he knew that Claude was talented, and was also declared by many as a genius that'll shake up the martial world, Leroy didn't believe their words. Or at least, he was confident that no matter how much of a genius this kid was, he was still young, and being young meant being inexperienced and weaker when compared to someone like him. Given time, perhaps he could overtake Leroy, but he didn't believe that day to be today.

To Leroy Wayne, today was the day when he would go on to beat young talent Claude Rayforth and move forward into the finals of the sparring contest, showcasing his amazing abilities and skills to the Headmaster.

'That kid must probably be thinking that the fight is going to be easy since he beat that b*tch so easily last round..' Leroy Wayne looked at the indifferent expression that was plastered on Claude's face and snorted. He had seen the battle between Claude and Eva Walker, and how she had been defeated. 

He thought that since he was much younger than Leroy, Claude must probably be underestimating him because of his previous victory over Eva, who was similar in rank to Leroy. 

Furthermore, on observing Claude Rayforth for a few minutes, Leroy understood that Claude behaved similar to how Javier Banderas usually behaves, even sporting a similar indifferent expression on his face. Because of this, Leroy thought that Claude was trying to imitate Javier Banderas, someone who could be described as a cultivation master. Leroy thought that Claude was getting blinded by his ego.

'Don't worry kid..' Leroy smiled as he began walking towards the arena. 'I'll make sure that you know how powerful your seniors really are.'

"Do you think you can beat him, junior brother Claude?" Senior Beldon moved closer to Claude and asked, as he was getting ready to leave the spectators stand and onto the arena. 

"Maybe," Claude shrugged his shoulders and spoke with a smile. "It definitely is an easier match than fighting any of these two." Claude pointed at Russell Davies and Javier Banderas as he spoke.

"Don't lose, junior brother Claude!" Russell Davies said with a grin as he waved at Claude. "I won't forgive you if you aren't my opponent in the finals." 

Claude rolled his eyes at his words. He then turned his gaze towards Javier, and their eyes met. Javier gave a nod to Claude and he nodded back. 

With that, he turned around and walked towards the arena as the cheering of the crowd began to get louder and louder.

Both the contestants entered the field, glancing at each other for a second from opposite sides before they walked towards the centre of the field, where Elder Kenneth was waiting for them. 

"Warriors, bow your heads!" Elder Kenneth yelled as soon as the two reached the centre, and the two contestants immediately lowered their heads as soon as the Elder spoke.

"Feeling good about your last match, huh kid?" Leroy's voice entered Claude's ears as he was in the middle of bowing, and he tilted his head to look at him with a confused expression.

'Was this small talk?' Claude didn't know what Leroy was trying to ask with such a question.

"Don't need to look at me like that, kid. You did well in your fight with that b*tch. You're allowed to be proud of your achievements." Leroy continued talking with a wide smirk on his face. "I especially liked the part where you beat the living cr*p out of her in the end. That was really great to see."

'Why the hell was he complimenting me?' Claude was still confused at what was happening. Usually, his opponents would either voice their anger at him or be completely indifferent towards him. But this was just new to Claude. 

'Whatever he's doing, it's giving me the creeps!' Claude couldn't help but feel like something's wrong every time Leroy opened his mouth to speak. 

"But you know, kid…" Leroy, who had no idea what was going on inside Claude's head, continued talking, as they both raised their heads after finishing bowing, finally standing opposite each other, face to face. "The fact of the matter is, she was my prey. And you took away my chance to hunt. So I hope you're ready to receive my vengeance."

'Oh, so that was what he was leading upto,' Claude finally understood why Leroy was complimenting him before. He was building up the intensity of his threat!

'A bit theatrical, isn't it?' Claude couldn't help but let out a short chuckle, and Leroy furrowed his eyebrows, growing at Claude's complete dismissal of his threat.

'I guess this kid is too far up his a** to really give a sh*t, huh..' His facial expression turned serious and he clenched his fists. 'No matter! He'll soon learn what it truly means to be strong!'

Leroy Wayne had decided! He would pummel this kid until he becomes unconscious!

"Warriors, step back!" Elder Kenneth ordered, and the two contestants nodded at each other before turning around and walking back in opposite directions to their respective spots.

Elder Kenneth looked at the two, and after making sure that they were both in the correct spot, he nodded his head, satisfied, and yelled out, "Contestants! Assume your battle stance!"

Swish!

Claude waved his hands in the air, summoning his katana as he held it close to his chest, gripping it tightly as a powerful aura of spiritual energy burst out from his figure and onto the arena.

"That's an interesting weapon you've got there, kid!" Leroy snorted as he raised both his hands up and balled them up into fists as another burst of powerful aura enveloped the field. "Poor old me is going to have a hard time defending against such an amazing weapon with just my hands you know?"

"Senior brother Wayne," Claude said with a serious expression as he pulled back his katana. "I don't know about you, but I prefer to let my actions do the talking for me." 

"You're one cheeky little b*stard, aren't you?" Leroy said while clicking his tongue. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that you regret being cheeky in front of me!"

Both the contestants stared at each other with intense gazes, and the crowd erupted into cheers, waiting patiently for the match to begin!

Elder Kenneth looked at both of the contestants and yelled out, "Start!"

Whoosh!

As soon as Elder Kenneth finished speaking, both Claude and Leroy charged forward without even a second thought.

Claude swung his katana while Leroy swung his fist, and the two collided in mid-air as a bright light enveloped the arena!