The next day at dawn, Sam went back to the Thor Academy.

It is the last and final competition in this year's Freshmen tournament. The solo combat. The one that is waiting for more than anything. Not just him, a lot of people are waiting for this. This is the most exciting competition there.

After all, as much as things like formations and inscriptions seem cool, nothing is better than watching two people try to destroy each other.

Sam is the only one from Gambler Academy, so the rest of them went to the spectator area. Only Chorus was left standing beside Sam which he felt is a bit odd.

This guy never really bothered to involve himself with these affairs, unless the Elders and Authorities were actually involved.

"I need to tell you something.

" Chorus spoke and Sam paid attention to him.

"Because of what you did in yesterday's team combat, there has been a few changes in today's Solo combat competition.

"

"What are those changes?

" Sam asked.

"First of all, you wrecked a lot of the kids that are supposed to be part of the Solo Combat participants. If it was just one or two, they wouldn't have bothered that much. However, you destroyed a lot of them.

So, the Elders and Deans of different academies came to a consensus to allow substitutes. The academy can choose substitutes to the fighters that cannot join the fight now.

"

Sam nodded a bit surprised and impressed as well.

"What are the other changes?

"

"There is only one more. The usage of weapons. All of a sudden they lifted the ban on heavily inscribed weapons and Divine weapons that belong to a different level altogether.

"

"There was a weapon ban before?

" That is what surprised Sam the most.

Chorus looked at him with a blank face.

"Of course there is. What place do you think it is? Once in a while those gods throw out some really great and perverted weapons like they are throwing bones to the dog. Any of these Divine weapons can alter the flow of the fight very easily.

So, there was a strict ban on them during every tournament. The elders who are clearly pissed at you voted to make an exception.

All these young masters are overflowing with these weapons and some academies even brought out and gave these weapons to the students just for the sake of the competition.

So, be careful.

As you know the format is pretty similar to the open tournaments. In the qualifiers you will all be dumped together in a formation, until top 16 will be selected. Then the top 16 will fight in a regular tournament.

It is a very cliched process.

So, there is no need for me to explain it to you too much.

"

Sam nodded and Chorus was about to leave, but suddenly he turned around and asked.

"What did you and Dove talk about last night?

"

Sam didn't know why he asked, but he didn't hide anything and said it all. Chorus sighed.

"You shouldn't have said it. It is going to be annoying.

" Sam didn't know what he meant by that, but he just shrugged it off and walked to the opening ceremony. Since this is the last competition and the most important one, there are some extra formalities.

After all that nonsense, they were all sent to the test area.

Sam stood on top of a mountain. He is very visible to anyone with a decent vision. It is almost like he was sent there to be a target.

Of course, even if he was visible no one was stupid or daring enough to launch an attack on him. Aside from the fact that they might or might not land a good enough blow on Sam, they would most definitely reveal their positions to the other competitiors.

It is not worth it.

Of course, it is not worth it for them.

Sam just stood there and looked around. He didn't use any abilities and just looked around to see if he could spot anyone and within no time he did.

He took out his bow and started circulating his energy into the arrow. The energy glowed brightly as if he is trying to attract attention. As if that is not enough…

*BOOM*

A supersonic explosive sound came out went the arrow left the string and it reverberated throughout the test area. There are ripples of energy around Sam and they spread so far and wide that they made a small clearing in the clouds that are not far away from the position he was standing on.

*SWOOSH*

The arrow whistled through the air and it destroyed everything in its path.

A large line of vegetation fell down and the person who was being targeted by Sam reacted as soon as he heard the sound, but he is still a tad bit too late.

He used all of his strength to dodge and by luck the arrow brushed past his shoulder. He thought that he managed to save himself, until he felt a splash of red warm blood on his face. He turned to see that his left hand disappeared from his shoulder.

The arrow cleanly took the arm away.

*TSK*

Sam clicked his tongue in disappointment.

That was such a clean shot, he could have taken the head off if he used a bit more power.

Sam got off the mountain and went after the guy he shot. That guy however hurriedly ran deep into the forest trying to minimize his presence as much as possible. Within no time, Sam went to the spot where hit the guy. The arm is still there and the blood was all over the place.

He took a sniff in the air and then turned to a specific direction. The bow disappeared from his hands and he took out a saber before he started moving in that direction. He didn't hide his presence and he ran in a straight line. He slashed down any tree or rock that came at him.

Sam is creating a massive commotion as if he is trying to gain as much attention as possible. He looked like he let loose everything.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the testing area.

Thor is standing with a special token in his hands. It is blinking with a faint glow as he stood there waiting.

It is a beacon of some sorts. The people who hold the tokens related to this will know the direction he is at and they could reach him.

Soon, one after the other people started coming towards him. They are not limited to one region. Except for the Olympian region, the students from rest of the regions all came.

There is a woman who arrived first and she wore the uniform of the Hel Academy.

Her name Zaara. The leader of the Hel Academy's freshmen the person who holds the same level of authority as Thor.

She looked at the attendance of people and spoke.

"So, no luck regarding the people from Olympian Region? I mean, except for Sam the rest of them all belong to different academies.

They should all be hating him for what he did to Olympians. Why are they are not working with us?

"

Thor just shrugged and shook his head.

Soon, Thor's token stopped blinking.

"I guess these are all the people within the range. So, everyone of you know the plan right? Before we start fighting each other, we are going to eliminate Sam. He needs to be one of the first few to be eliminated.

As far as we are concerned, the competition only begins after he is eliminated. No one engages with him alone.

As soon as you spot him, use the beacon tokens, the surrounding people will come and aid you. If you want to move in teams, that is fine too. Once a group engages with him, don't aim for any specifc goal. Eliminate him and if it doesn't work, kill him.

Don't try to capture him with your own personal vendetta.

He is a common enemy for everyone and he is hated equally by everyone of us.

"

After some nonsensical instructions, everyone went to the spot where Sam shot the arrow. After all, they are not idiots, they noticed that Sam is at the mountain. He was sent there for a reason. The arrow he shot gave them an idea on what direction he might have went.

They are just going to spread a little to cover more area.

If only they knew.

Once they are in the vicinity they will now that Sam didn't even bother moving stealthily, instead he is leaving a big path for them to follow him.

They might have made a plan the day before to deal with Sam, what they didn't know is that Sam made a plan before the regional competitions even started and no matter what they do and how much they try, they cannot escape it.