White was stunned as he stood in place.

He looked at Sam in shock. Sam on the other hand looked at him with a smirk on his face. He threw a punch which White dodged, but a kick followed it and tripped White.

It was a basic move.

But White was still in shock from that unexpected nullification of his attack. That never happened before. Not in a long time.

"You seem surprised.

"

Sam said as he tried to take advantage of the small imbalance. White used his cane and another recoil shot to jump into the air and regain his balance before creating some distance between him and Sam.

Sam cracked his fingers and smiled.

"Come on, enough with the daze. You would get seriously hurt if you don't focus.

"

The next moment he turned on partial light fusion and closed the distance at a speed that even White couldn't catch. By instinct, White tracked the energy movements and poked his cane backwards. Another recoil shot.

He slid on the stage and created some distance and Sam who appeared there in his partial fusion form took the recoil shot to his fist.

*BOOM*

Once again, Sam stood there unfazed. He nullified the attack and this time instead of pure energy explosion, there is a light explosion. The dispersed light energy spread crazily across the arena that it left some visible marks on the protective formation.

The Elders were shocked by that reaction from the formation.

This is also unprecedented. They have seen formations breaking before, but that is when the Grade 4 Students fought. Freshmen making marks on the formation with their energy is a new phenomenon even with their centuries of experience.

And then the clash began.

As everyone watched, Sam appeared and disappeared like a golden flash. Hitting White and leaving as if he wasn't even there. White is trying to keep up with his speed.

He couldn't catch Sam directly.

He had to track the energy movements and predict Sam's moves. He is right most of the time and he became defensive. After some hits, he realized that he is taking some damage, even though he is blocking the attacks.

He decided to change tactics.

Instead of blocking he started making his own moves.

The recoil hits collided with Sam's attacks. Golden light energy dispersed with wild chaos and the golden flashes lit up the whole arena.

The formation started blinking now and then as the energy hit it.

There are several golden spots on the formation in the next few minutes and they kept on increasing. The battle became intense. White became nervous. He knew that Sam is using a lot of energy to nullify his attacks.

So, he wanted to see where Sam's limit is at.

If Sam becomes exhausted soon and still tries to make the attack, it would be much slower and White would get a glimpse at how Sam is nullifying his moves. But minutes passed and Sam showed no signs of exhausting.

In fact, his moves are becoming trickier.

A bunch of feints are being thrown in the middle. The whole arena erupted in cheers as they saw this fight. By now most of the onlookers don't care who wins. They want to see someone come on top of this rivalry.

White noticed that he is on the losing end and Sam is determined to nail him down there.

The next moment, he didn't bother to block Sam's attack, instead he made an attack on his own. Sam smirked and let his fist hit White. As soon as the contact was made, his fist was supposed to make a hole through White's shoulder.

But to his surprise, White flew away.

Only half of Sam's punch worked. There is a deep burn on White's shoulder and it went past his white coat. White used the recoil hit attack in a different direction to not be stuck in the same place. Sam's pattern is broken.

He didn't wait and used the recoil hit once again.

Sam made his move.? Now the fight turned into a game of chase. Sam tried his best to catch White and he almost succeeded. He left behind some small burns now and then, but wasn't able to land a critical hit.

The only silver lining is that White is not able to attack Sam either.

To be precise, he is the one taking damage, albeit very small. After another ten minutes, Sam got a bit frustrated, he wanted to turn on full fusion and get this over with, but White did the unexpected.

He took a direct hit from Sam in a relatively safer part of his body and used the recoil hit on Sam's chest.

Sam made a hasty nullification and he knew this wouldn't be enough.

So, he hurriedly kicked White in his abdomen.

*BOOM*

A huge chaotic explosion, blew both of them away.

Sam gracefully landed on the arena with a bruise on his chest, while White fell off the stage. Match is over and once again fight is undetermined. Sam got off, frustration apparent in his eyes as he walked to the seats where Gambler's academy students sat.

Even though the crowd was a bit disappointed, they still cheered.

The fight is a masterclass for many of these non-students. White walked to Zeus academy seats. Pearl had a gloomy look on her face. She looked extremely angry and frustrated.

"Why did you give up?

" She asked through gritted teeth.

"He is learning way too much, while I am not learning anything. If this fight continued any longer, my advantage would be taken away completely. I would have to use my trump cards if I had to fight him, which is not a good thing.

"

"But we lost face. The Zeus academy lost face.

"

"I am sorry, if one fight is all it takes for the academy to lose face, there is not much there to begin with. I already told you when I joined. I need some freedom and this time I cannot expose my trump cards just for a rank that is not going to be important in grand scheme of things.

"

White calmly replied and leaned into his chair, trying to rest.

She knew the reason for Pearl's frustration. She has a fight up next and she is fighting for a top ten position. But to her disappointment, it is not for one of the high ranks.

Instead it is for the tenth rank.

She who ranked sixth at the start of the open tournaments is at the edge of being disqualified. And she had to use everything she got in this tournament just to keep this position. This is a humiliation.

White's actions only fueled that humiliation. She was supposed to be the leader of the group and White's open words and disagreement, made her feel like she is not the leader anymore. She is not being respected anymore.

She stepped on the stage and the opponent was someone Sam is extremely familiar with.

It is one of his Joker Avatar's students.

The guy who Sam fought in the first open tournament. The guy who uses lightning and Daggers. He is also from Zeus Academy and his name if Sam remembers right is Bronte.

In the first tournament, he was in the top sixteen, and by the end of the open tournaments, he was close to the top ten. Now in the Inter Academy regional tournament, he is already gunning for tenth place. If this is not an improvement Sam wouldn't know what is.

When Bronte looked at Pearl, he took a deep breath.

He felt great. It felt great to take in all the cheers and when he looked at Pearl, he felt even greater. He might be a part of the Noble League and he might be able to communicate with Christos, but a person like Pearl is beyond even Christos' influence.

He might have more authority, riches, and connections than her outside the academic realm, but inside the realm, she is the peak of the nobility. Now, she is in front of him. As an equal in the arena, fighting him to be top ten in the freshmen tournament.

He took out his daggers.

The fight began.

The fight was pretty intense. More intense than people expected and it lasted for more than forty minutes. The longest solo fight that day. The fight ended and everyone cheered.

Everyone except for the people on the Zeus Academy side, even though the person who won belonged to the Zeus Academy. Because the winner is Bronte. He stood on the stage bleeding, one of his arms broken to shards.

There are a few wounds on his head, bleeding profusely.

His legs have no strength left in them. But he smiled. Smiled bright as the first light at the dawn.

He won. He got into the top ten.

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but his throat was injured.

Pearl lay down on the ground as she looked at the sky. Tears streamed down her face. She has fallen and she is broken. She knew that she was better than this. And she also knew the reason why she broke down to this level.

That reason is looking at her right now with a faint smile on his face.

As if there is no surprise in this outcome. As if this is what it's destined to be since he willed it.

The top ten were thus selected Sam's friends, Philip, Watt, Jack, Vidyut, Paras, Saber Monarch, and Five Elemental Kings made it as well. The only person who didn't make it is Night Ghost and that is because Sam gave him a different mission and he withdrew in the middle of the competition.

'The only two people who entered the top ten besides Sam's team are White and Bronte.

Now it is time for the team competition.