Freedom Jumper-Chapter 94: The Top 8

With each core group split into four—and 122 people total in the red core group—there are seven rounds needed to be played for the ultimate winner to be decided.

Elijah's success on the second day solidified his entry into the top 8 by defeating a metal affinity and an air affinity, which boosted his morale and confidence leading to his escape.

The announcer was spinning around—pointing to the people in the stands—on top of the newly flat surface only five feet below the bottom of the arena walls. "Now, it is time we get started with the red core mages!!! Within the top 8 lies Emery Damaris, fire! Theon Vandenburg, ice! Elyas Ruby, ice! Elijah Veran, water! Jai Lozano, fire! Dru Levine, earth! Ness Whitlock, air! And finally, Trey Hybalt, earth!"

However, Novius and Raylen were quite unhappy with their performance. In fact, both Novius and Raylen had lost to Trey Hybalt, which is someone Elijah wanted to get a good look at. He never noticed the name on the tournament sheet, but when the name was just announced, his heart palpitated from fear. At this point anything is possible. Even the dead rising to life, or whatever you want call it...

"Good luck, Theon." Elijah wished Theon good luck for his match in a tone that seemed stale. Theon and Raylen would not be escaping with Elijah, which twisted his stomach. The reality is not everyone can be saved...

"GO!"

The battle between the two youngsters was very even. Emery's excellent display of sword skills combined with his unique way of destroying the earth with explosions gave Theon a hard time to traverse the arena. Every spell that collided created an explosion of lights that not only blinded both of them if visible to the eye, but also the crowd. The entire match was filled with tiny white explosions of opposite temperatures, and in the end, Emery was ruled as the victor—the first entry into the top four. Theon's demise stemmed from his reliance on his sword of ice that was constantly being fueled with mana after every strike. Eventually, he was completely out—most likely due to Emery drawing out the match and conserving his own mana. A crude but brilliant tactic as it was human versus human, and not beast versus human.

'It might be time to show off a little bit. Earth and ice are my biggest weaknesses considering Elyas can freeze the water I create...' Elijah was thinking over his options while walking in the center of the earthen arena, which is something he had already prepared for ahead of time, but just now is realizing it may be time to put everything on the table.

Elyas Ruby looked identical to Landon Ruby, except for his ice affinity that gave him those glowing teal eyes. A padded red shirt with black pants truly made him part of the family—the signature red and black look.

"GO!"

At the commencement of the battle, both Elijah and Elyas did not immediately fall into the battle, but instead began walking forward without a sound.

A smile began to grow on both of their faces, and at the exact same time, elemental spells and swords began wounding up for the first bout.

What surprised Elijah was with every connection between the water and ice, his water froze over close to his body as if Elyas was intentionally pouring more mana into freezing his spells.

Exchanges of metal swords continued to ring in between Elijah distancing himself from Elyas, and suddenly, a magnificent spell of a long stick of ice was spun ninety degrees and slammed into the side of Elijah. This spell floated directly through a water shield conjured by Elijah, and once regaining his composure, he felt a sharp pain of what felt like a broken rib. The flaw of magic continued to show itself, and there was nothing Elijah could do about it.

Steeling his resolve, Elijah formed a blade of water with a small amount of space magic and threw it straight through a large iceberg forming above the head of Elyas. The magic had been disconnected and the iceberg became adherent to the laws of gravity as it toppled to the side. Many gasps were heard within the crowd, and during this time, Elijah was running frantically towards Elyas who was creating a shield of ice around his arms. The time for close combat was here, which was something he decided not to avoid.

Elyas' medium length hair rose into the air as he lowered to the ground. Stuck to his wrists and elbows were pointed spikes that would serve as tools of punishment and armor.

Clank!

Even if Elijah had wanted to slice his arms off, he couldn't as this man's sword play was something he had not seen before. Instead of constantly shifting his weight forward and aiming for as much strength as possible, he delicately blocked each strike while creating openings for precise and stabbing strikes at the same time. Elyas' sword reminded him of a rapier, only slightly thicker and flat. One action that Elyas continued to do was throwing small icicles from the center of his chest, which gave Elijah a lot to focus on. While these icicles were small, it did not give him the ability to fully stop its momentum with a shield of water that floated against his chest. Each icicle sent a sharp pain into his brain, and while Elijah knew he wasn't being injured, but only pricked, he couldn't help but be worried. Mental state plays a bigger part in battles than one might realize, and Elyas was stabbing at his emotions with every second.

"DAMN YOU!" Something clicked in Elijah, and without a second thought, he left himself wide open for a strike to the chest, and when Elyas tumbled on a block of water that seemed to materialize into thin air, Elijah did something he hadn't done for quite some time.

After Elijah's right foot moved in front, his body began to twist, and eventually his right leg ended up in the air, at the level of where Elyas' head was, and made contact. A spinning kick that used momentum to create more force!

Somehow, Elyas had made a quick decision that did result in his whole body being thrown to the side, but also created a mighty puncture in the foot of Elijah. Both were on the ground, and only one was dizzy.

Despite the condition of both fighters the match was not stopped.

'Shit! I messed up the landing... And he somehow injured me as well!!'

A long rod of ice was created in the hands of Elyas, and while running towards the limping Elijah with a path that slowly made everyone realize his head was probably spinning, the ground around him froze, and continued to expand outward. This was Elijah's fear, because no matter what he did, the ice would not melt quick enough for the ground to become stable again.

The ice rod was once again thrown to Elijah's side—almost off target—and broke into two pieces once the ice met the steel of Elijah's sword.

Bang!

Elijah immediately stepped back while riding the wave he was creating under his feet in a motion that mimicked Elyas' dizziness. The rod of ice that Elijah had cut with his sword continued its motion straight into the side of his head.

'I hope you enjoy this one Elyas!'

Mana began accumulating in the feet and hands of the dizzy and exhausted Elijah. All he wanted was to win, survive and prove to everyone his strength. Within an instant, a massive amount of water was shot in the direction of Elyas in the form of a tidal wave. Elijah's straight face turned into a wicked smile as if the action of this fight was slowly turning him into a monster.

A massive shield of ice was materializing in the hand of Elyas, and just before the water reached him, the shield was slammed against the floor causing everything in the distance to freeze.

It felt like time had slowed down as Elijah lost his train of thought. The word "instinct" was being repeated in his brain over and over again. The ice shield Elyas believed in so much was split in half in a matter of seconds by a translucent and pearlescent line that materialized into thin air. While Elijah's body was not able to pick up enough speed to thrust the top half of the shield into Elyas' face, he indeed built up mana within the bottoms of his feet, and rose into the air just above the shield that began to fall over.

A crude display of physical might took place as Elijah grabbed the hair of Elyas, and slammed the back of his head into the ice cold floor.

Bam!

A thin crack was instantly created the moment his head made impact, with the slow motions of Elijah walking away limping, everyone knew who had won.

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"ELIJAH VERAN!!"