Sam and White stared each other down.

"I waited for this opportunity for a while.

"

White said as energy gathered at the palm of his hand as well as the tip of his foot.

"I waited for this too. You really pissed me off and you are the only guy who got this much free time after pissing me off. My usual style is to take revenge immediately.

"

"Your style won't work on me. You must have already known that.

"

White kicked on the ground. The shot out and gave him a boost as he aimed to punch at Sam's face with the energy gathered in his fist.

He is really fast, but he is not the fastest Sam has faced. Even the young man who became Joker's student had a better speed with light lightning element.

But White didn't seem discouraged.

He shot out another energy hit from his leg and used the recoil to jump at Sam from a weird angle as soon as Sam barely dodged him. White forcefully changed his direction with another energy hit to the empty space beside him and clashed into Sam sideways.

Sam expected this already.

So, when White clashed into him and was about launch an energy hit that would target Sam flatly in the chest, Sam held White by his shirt and did a judo throw. While he did that, he channeled Void style energy so that when White hit the floor, there would be some serious recoil.

But even before he could land the throw properly, White used an energy shot downwards making him move up.

Sam had to take in the recoil and slow down. If that is not enough the Void style circulation was interrupted. Sam focused on stabilizing the energy so that it wouldn't explode in his hand.

He barely managed to do it and for that he had to put his utmost concentration.

This gave White more time. He forcefully twisted body before throwing a kick at Sam's head from that weird angle.

*BOOM*

His unique energy shot method launched Sam to the other end of the arena with one Kick.

Sam manuevered himself mid-air and had a smooth landing on his two feet, but the force is so huge that he slid on his feet for a couple of meters before he came to a complete halt.

Sam stabilized himself and was about to make a move.

When he just took one step, he felt an immense concentrated force hit him in the stomach. White already used an energy shot to boost his speed and appeared right before Sam could make a move.

The hit was also a clean one.

And this time, Sam wasn't blown away, instead his body took the whole impact and it was distributed to a widen area within his body.

He could feel his organs shaking.

Sam stood there baffled.

White took out his cane and spun it around.

"I don't usually go hands on with my opponents. I always prefer using the cane from far away. But I know it wouldn't work on you. It would be a total waste of time. I am going to beat the crap out of you with my own hands.

"

He tapped the cane on the ground and used the recoil to flash towards Sam.

Sam blocked his approach. He could sense the path with the energy vibrations and he intercepted him in that path, not letting him gain enough momentum. He threw a punch with void style and brushed past White's mask.

White on the other hand, leaned backward to avoid that punch and used the cane to hit Sam on the chest.

But to his surprise, Sam managed to use it to his own gain.

The cane landed on the left side of Sam's chest which is a bit backwards since Sam was punching with his right hand.

When the hit landed, Sam let the energy throw his left side away, but he planted his right foot on the ground and used it as a pivot.

He made a full turn at an incredible speed.

He used void style on his left elbow that was aimed straight at White's head once again. This time, the hit landed. When the Elbow made contact, Sam didn't let him just fly away along with the blow, instead he redirected the elbow and made him go down.

White hit the ground with his head and Sam's elbow still stayed there. Some blood spewed out from gaps in the mask as White laid down on the ground.

But to Sam's surprise the mask itself didn't break and it didn't even come off.

He was curious about the material it was made of. In that curiosity, Sam gave White enough chance to hit him with the cane.

*BOOM*

Sam was blown away once again, but this time he managed to control himself better and landed smoothly. But it still hurt like hell.

White stood up and his energy riled up. All of a sudden, his whole body glowed as if every single cell of his is undergoing some change.

Sam also gritted his teeth and activated partial fire fusion.

Both of them lunged at each other and the fight ensued.

White's every single movement created that energy shot and even one step was taken with the help of the recoil only. He held his cane like a club and swung it at Sam.

Sam's spread the golden flames around and moved in fluid motion to surround White with his fire.

The energy recoil hits are blowing fire away and creating temporary void in that space and White used those small gaps to move around and hit Sam.

Sam replied in kind with the kits of his own.

It looked like a slug fest as both of their hits landed. But neither of them gained an upper hand.

Sam got frustrated with the way the fight is going. His opponent is like a slippery loach. Even though the energy hits and recoil movements are looking a bit weird and very straight line oriented, all his transitions are very smooth.

The opponent calculated every single movement perfectly and acted accordingly.

Everyone could see Sam's frustration.

All his fights in the academy realm until now had been easy. There are only two fights in which he struggled.

First fight is the one he had with his own pseudo student. The guy that used lightning and daggers. That fight is just irritating and annoying. He just couldn't finish it quickly like he wanted.

But this fight turned out to be a real challenge.

Sam decided to go all out.

He kicked in the air and activated complete fusion. Then he closed his distance to catch a hold of White.

When they are almost in the point blank range of each other, Sam's lungs expanded to their limit and golden flames came out of his mouth.

The Blood line art of Golden Sun Crow.

White's eyes widened and his body riled up. The white colored energy around him became so concentrated and visible to the naked eye that it almost looked like white colored flames are coming out of him.

All that energy was forcefully dragged into the tip of the cane as he poked it at the golden flames coming at him.

*BOOM*

The energy rippled from that point and created a unique energy shield. Each ripple carried a bit of Sam's flames away and spread it around the arena. White who took the recoil of such powerful strike flew off the arena and he couldn't even control himself properly.

He fell far away from the ring.

Sam's attack was disbursed, but he was the last one standing on the ring while White was not.

So, Sam was declared the winner of the first open tournament.

Sam was very frustrated. So was White.

Neither of them believed that it was the actual end of the fight.

Everyone could see as they glared at each other. They knew that an intense rivalry just ignited and that is going to set the whole tournament ablaze.

Sam took his award and walked towards Pearl's group. He looked at White and said.

"Don't think that it is over. I will take your head off one day.

"

"Likewise.

"

White replied.

Sam calmed down and looked at Pearl.

"So, how are your little plans going on? A list of Marked Candidates? Sending people to disturb their training? Keeping an eye out on their habits?

How was the meeting with Five elemental king?

What do you think that angry muscle head Watt will do? After he knows about it too. Then again, what about that crazy soul necromancer Night Ghost? Then that rageful guy named Paras? Saber Monarch? Philip? Jack? What are you going to do about all these people?

After all they are going to come after you.

Pearl widened her eyes in absolute horror.

"How did you…

"

"I am not gonna answer how I knew it, but I can tell you how they knew it. I told them. I leaked your whole project, including the fact about your little hidden room under your courtyard, they know about everything.

So, get ready and I hope both of these lackeys of yours are enough to fight them all off.

"

Sam walked away after saying all of this to her.

He had a wide grin on his face as he left.

Today's plan is ultimate success and he needs to proceed with some other plans that were kept on hold because of this.