Thor is lying on the stage.

His special fusion state is still active. If it is gone, he knows he will not be able to endure Sam's hits. Even though that hammer, he could still feel the impact. Not just him, the force is going through him and onto the stage.

He can feel the cracks forming beneath him.

In that state, all he can see is Sam mounted on top of him, landing one punch at a time in the most brutish way a person could imagine.

And with every punch, his lightning is intensifying. His original state disappeared and Sam is now is a partial fusion state.

However, Thor can feel a much more powerful aura inside Sam's body being riled up with every hit. He almost wanted to resign to his fate. Only his ego didn't want to give in. All of a sudden, Thor activated a secret art.

His blood started burning.

The original blue lightning now got a red-colored hue, creating a purplish lightning. But it is unlike the natural purple lightning. One could feel the bloody aura coming from it. The spirit in the hammer is activated and it fed on Thor's burning blood essence.

*ROAR*

A loud roar reverberated throughout the Academy.

Everyone felt the primal force behind that roar. Even the Dean of the Thor Academy became vigilant. Since everyone could feel it, Sam who is sitting on top of Thor, can also obviously feel it.He saw as this weird energy passed through the hammer and it surrounded Thor once again.

It gave Thor a weird silhouette. His outline looked like he was a werewolf.

*ROAR*

He roared and pushed Sam up to stand. People could see the upper half of his body clearly. He indeed looked like a werewolf. The only difference is that it is obvious he actually didn't turn into a werewolf. Instead, it is just the energy that took that form.

Thor swung his hammer at Sam.

The force was so strong, that the fabric of space reacted to it. However…

*BANG*

Sam caught a hold of the hammer. His energy also transformed and gave Sam a silhouette, he also ironically looked like a werewolf, but unlike Thor Sam's bloodline made him much more beauty.

He caught Thor by his throat and once again slammed him backward. The hype Thor's new form created didn't last even for a minute. He is back to a submissive position again and this time, he didn't have the hammer to block the attacks.

*BOOM*

The explosive punches landed, this time on the chest, torso, and face.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

The cracking sound reverberated throughout along with the explosions. Everyone could see the cracks appearing on the stage. The arena that was supposed to endure the whole tournament is being destroyed in the very first match.

Thor slowly lost his senses.

At first, he tried to struggle and fight back, but after a few minutes, he felt the life being slowly pounded out of his body. Once he started losing his will the hammer didn't react to him as much.

Slowly, the blood aura was gone, then the runic inscriptions on Thor's body were gone, then the special fusion turned back to the normal fusion and Thor completely lost the grip over the hammer.

Sam stopped the attacks for amoment and picked up the hammer.

It looked strong. He could feel the beast's aura from inside. The craftsmanship is also great. He closed his eyes and let his consciousness slip in.

"HOW DARE YOU?

"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?

"

Two loud shouts came from two different places. One from the Elders' area and the other from the Seniors' area in the spectator stands.

Both of them belonged to the people of Thor Academy. They are outraged. They wanted to jump on stage and beat the crap out of Sam, but the next moment they stopped in their tracks.

Ivar's aura spread out wildly covering the surroundings of the stage. He glanced at the two people who yelled, almost daring them to take a step.

"DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF OUTRAGEOUS THING HE IS DOING? AREN'T YOU ASHAMED SUPPORTING AN OUTSIDER, BEING AN ALUMNI?

" The elder yelled with righteous anger.

Ivar didn't speak, instead, he unstrapped his ax and threw it into the ground. It lodged into the earth by its blade. He looked at the Elder and said.

"Come again.

"

The Elder didn't speak. He gulped in nervousness.

Olaf gestured for the Elder to stop. He turned to Ivar and asked.

"Isn't the match over?

"

Ivar looked at the stage and saw Thor trying to get up.

"Looks like he still has some juice left in him.

"

Ivar replied nonchalantly. Everyone secretly sneered. They could see Ivar has a clear bias against Sam. One person among them is very sure of it. The kid that drew the first matches. He didn't see all eight matches, but the first match was supposed to be Thor and some other student.

But Ivar just announced this match.

Of course, once he saw such a thing, he couldn't stomach it alone, so he shared it. A few people already knew and they had the greatest response. But they swallowed it and kept it in.

Sam closed his eyes and everyone could feel his aura all over the hammer. Right now a spirit battle is happening between him and the weapon.

"Dean, we have to stop him.

" The Elder whispered.

"And how do you plan to do it? The spirit battle started, the moment we interrupt, he would be harmed. Then we need to answer Dean Wharton from the Gambler Academy. Not just him, but all the Alumni of the Gambler Academy will be here at our doorstep.

Every single one of our rivals will support them.

We already made a mess with Thor's event rigging incident, are you planning to throw us out of the list of Divine academies?

"

Olaf asked in a very calm and plain tone. Almost as if he not talking about the future of the Academy.

The elder didn't answer. He stayed silent.

"Let him be. It is not easy to tame that hammer. Even Thor had to run through the hoops and even take the help of the Former dean to make it accept him. Do you think an outsider will…

"

Even before he could finish his sentence.

*ROAR*

A loud roar came out of the Arena. The Hammer vibrated with that bestial aura. It looked powerful and a silver mark appeared on its electric blue surface. Sam smirked.

He turned to Thor who crawled up and swung that hammer.

*BANG*

No lightning element, only pure brute hit on the side of Thor's head.

Thor flew off the stage and landed on the ground, almost near Ivar's feet.

Ivar leaned forward and poked Thor's face with his axe.

"Seems done.

First fight, winner. Sam.

"

There are no cheers, except for the Gambler Academy students no one even cheered or showed an expression. Sam swung the hammer a couple of times before he clicked his tongue.

"Nah, I don't like this.

"

He then threw it off on the stage.

Olaf who didn't show much reaction finally did. His aura raged. He controlled the urge though. He held the armrest so tight it was crushed under his grip. He gritted his teeth while looking at the hammer on the stage and then at Thor.

His son, his pride is crushed. The hammer, the pride of the Academy was forsaken.

This is the biggest insult someone has thrown at his face. He looked at Sam and he was met with Sam's unwavering gaze. Almost provoking.

It is the payback to the Thor Academy for messing with the competition. Since the Academy set aside its prestige to suppress Sam, he suppressed the Academy's prestige in return. If they want to play a game on their own terms, Sam will show why he is the best player.

He sat down in his chair while Ivar called for the next battle.

It is between Bronte and one of the extras who managed to land a top 16 place. As the contestants walked onto the stage, Sam took out some wine as well as some Divine energy capsules. He mixed liquid energy with wine and gulped it down.

It might have looked like an easy fight, but that is because Sam didn't follow his usual style. He always prioritized efficiency. Always made sure that he had energy left over after a fight is finished. For the first time in a while, he didn't give a ** and just went with it.

He exhausted himself a bit and as a result, made a moderately tough opponent look like an amateur.

The next fight began.

Bronte and the other candidate are pretty evenly matched. Both of them barely made it into the top ten within their respective regions and here. Here both of them made it into the top sixteen by a fluke. They are a perfect and an even match.