After taking around ten hits, White finally landed in a huge crater.

He stood up every single bone of his body aching like never before. He looked at Sam, who was levitating in the air.

"Come on. Fight back. Why are you just standing there?

"

Sam's killing intent bubbled and golden flames spread out. They surrounded the whole arena. The flames are full of Divine energy and they are consuming the surrounding atmospheric energy.

Influencing it to change into fire elemental energy.

White could feel the effect the next instant. His fusion state which already became unstable because of Sam's constant recoil attacks, is now showing cracks. He couldn't use the surrounding energy to repair anymore.

He felt like he was stuck inside a volcano.

He kicked the ground and tried to get out of the encirclement. However, Sam had different plans.

*SWOOSH*

Flames rippled as he flashed towards White. He threw a perfect uppercut aimed at White's Chin. White was launched into the air like a rocket ship. The flames blocked his trajectory and hit him back toward Sam. Once again, it is Sam's resonance usage, however this time he is not giving White any chance to recover at all.

A lot of people couldn't see what is happening in the middle of these flames. Only a select few senior cultivators are able to sense what is happening. As for the peers, they are trying their best to not get swept in the heat of the flames.

The only thing that is giving them a sense that the fight is still going on, are the sounds of hits.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The explosive sound of the hits reverberated throughout and the flames danced to the rhythm of those explosions.

Exactly after three minutes, the flames cleared. Sam is hovering the air in his partial fusion state and he holds White by his neck. White is almost unconscious. He presented a gruesome picture of himself.

His clothes are nowhere to be seen. Most of his body, including his skin is burned. There are many spots with ruptured flesh and blood seeping out of it. His face mask is also partially destroyed. The right side half of it is gone. Still, it is almost impossible to make sense of his face.

It is burned beyond recognition.

Upon a keener look, they noticed that his energy was all over the place. He is not in a stable condition. They also noticed that even though Sam is in a better state, he is not exactly in his best condition. White seemed to have put up a decent fight even in that state. However, they wondered if he could finish this off.

At this moment, White came to himself a bit. Maybe the crisis of life and death made him muster a bit of strength

White swung his legs and kicked Sam in the chest. In turn, Sam broke that leg. The only consequence is that he loses grip on White's neck.

Both of them crashed into the ground.

"Even at the cost of my life, I will kill you today.

"

White spoke through his broken teeth. His voice is weak and shivering.

He dashed towards Sam. Sam stood there. He appeared weak and his broken leg is not letting him move as he pleased. This is the consequence of the fight that White put on beneath the flames. Sam could say that this was one of the toughest fights he had with any of his peers.

Throughout his life, he had run through his peers like they were nothing.

His fight was always with the seniors and even Elders that are far beyond his cultivation range. Maybe after Sanjay and then Sivan, this is the only time he had to fight like this with a peer of the same cultivation level to this extent.

White's life force is burning and he almost reached Sam. He believed that he could land this attack and finish this off.

However at this moment, two black flashes popped out of Sam's storage.

Feather Coat wrapped itself around Sam and glowed with golden light. It took Sam into the air and levitated along with him, dodging the attack. At the same moment, harbinger smashed squarely into White's chest throwing him away.

The feather coat glowed with the bloodline energy of the golden crows and simulated the blood energy in Sam's body making him heal at a visible pace.

This made everyone feel stumped a bit.

This almost felt like cheating. White who flew like a broken kite because of the Harbinger looked as the hoverboard came back and placed itself under Sam's feet.

Sam didn't even have to think.

The board and the coat took care of him.

"I didn't expect you to put up such a last minute fight. I guess I underestimated you way too much.

"

Sam muttered in a low tone as he slowly made his way toward White.

The crowd understood what he was implying. From what he said, they believed White pulled some trump card beneath those flames and even though Sam had the ultimate upperhand, he looked like he struggled a bit.

"It seems like I cannot kill you today, but this is not over yet.

"

White said and raised his hand, he was about to surrender. He lost this fight, but he cannot die here if he cannot take Sam away with him.

However, Sam had no thoughts of letting him leave this place alive.

*BOOM*

A divine energy wind bullet was shot out of the Harbinger hitting White on his chest. Air left his lungs and he couldn't speak. Sam sped up and took out Reaper to deal the final blow.

Just when the sword was about to make contact…

*BOOM*

Sam felt a huge force pressing him down to the ground. Ivar who sat there watching the show made a move and lunged into the arena. He swung his ax upward and cut a lightning that was about to strike Sam.

"Seems like you want to die.

"

He turned to the spectator area where the Elders of the Zeus academy stood.

An elder stepped forward and stood in front of White. He stopped Sam from dealing the final blow. White took this chance and yelled.

"I SURRENDER

"

The Elder looked at Sam keenly. He is very tempted to finish him off, but looking at Ivar he knew it wouldn't end well.

"The match is over. Our candidate conceded.

"

Ivar didn't reply. His energy raged and his killing intent surged.

"You interfered with the match.

"

"Sorry, it was an impulse. My apologies. I will follow the rules of the tournament and withdraw our academy. They would be taking the last two spots in the top 16. We are fine with it.

"

The Elder didn't lose his composure. He spoke calmly.

"You attacked a candidate.

"

Ivar spoke again. His aura didn't recede, instead it became concentrated and its directed at the Elder. The Elder gulped down in nervousness. He knew about Ivar and he knew things wouldn't go well if Ivar really decided to act.

However, he cannot let a talent like White fall here.

He turned to Olaf and spoke.

"Dean Olaf, I will follow the rules and withdraw. Please explain it to the invigilator. I am sure you understand where I am coming from. Please tell your invigilator to behave. He might break the rules on an impulse. It won't be taken well by the Zeus academy.

I don't think it is a good thing to pressure a prestigious Academy over something minor like this.

"

He then turned to the Elders of the other Olympian Academies and made a gesture.

"We don't have any problem with it if the Zeus Academy decides to Withdraw.

"

"Us too.

"

They started expressing their support. Olaf didn't speak. One of the Elders beside him decided to speak though.

"Dean, I think it is better to let them be. We don't know where this Sam guy came from, but White is the only one who put up a fight. We might need him alive in the future.

"

Dean Olaf closed his eyes and just nodded. The Elder stood up and announced their support.

"Since the candidate is not heavily injured from the Elder's attack, we will let it slide with a punishment. We will accept the withdrawal of the Zeus Academy and this Elder is banned from coming as a representative for the future tournaments.

"

The spectators all felt a bit disgusted. These academies moved too fast. Some of the clever ones understood what the meaning behind this is.

However what these Academy elders didn't take into account is, the crazy invigilator the Thor Academy appointed for the competition.

The Elder turned to Ivar.

"Ivar…

"

The Elder stopped his words in the middle as he felt the hair stand up

*BAM*

*CRACK*

The ax head almost brushed past his nose and landed at his feet, breaking the floor.

Ivar stood in front of him. It almost looked like he appeared out of thin air.

"What the ** did you just say, you bastard?

"

The Elder looked at Ivar. He could feel the hot breath of Ivar hitting his face.

"I… I…

"

"Who gave you the authority to make this decision?

"

"I…I….

"

"I will be the one to make the decision for this matter.

"

He reappeared into the middle of the Arena once again. By now, Dove came and started checking up on Sam. She turned to Ivar and nodded her head. He turned to the Elder of the Zeus Academy and spoke.

"I accept the surrender of the Student White, since he didn't call for any interference and merely took advantage of the situation.

He might be a bitch and a coward, but I will accept. However, you my dear Elder of the Zeus Academy have to pay for the transgression that you committed by interfering the competition I am invigilating.

"

As he spoke, he didn't even hesitate and swung his ax at the Elder.

The Elder blocked the ax with his sword and yelled on top of his lungs.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? THE MATTER HAS ALREADY BEEN DECIDED. YOU ARE CROSSING A LINE, IVAR. IF YOU DON'T STOP NOW, THE THOR ACADEMY WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS.

"

"Like give a **.

" That is all Ivar said and he swung his ax again. The Olympian Academy Elders felt nervous, after some consideration they decided to jump in.

Just like that a massive battle began.

Ivar didn't give a **, no matter how many elders came at him. He dashed forward like he was a hot knife running through butter.

He appeared in front of the Elder in no time. The Zeus Academy elder fell back, he couldn't handle the pressure.

"You… you…

"

Ivar raised his ax and was about to swing it.

"Enough…

"

Olaf finally spoke up, but Ivar didn't stop.

*BAM*

His axe landed and it slashed through the shoulder of the Elder. He took his arm off.

"Now, its settled.

"

He muttered and walked back to his seat.

"Since, the Zeus academy has withdrawn, the final match will be between Sam and Jack. Because of interference of the Zeus Academy Elder, Sam will be given fifteen minutes to recover.

"

"No need. I withdraw.

"

Jack replied blandly. This stunned his academy Elder and seniors.

"Jack, what the ** are you doing? This is the best chance we have. Sam is not in a good state. You can easily take the championship.

"

"I don't want to take it. I want to win it.

" Jack replied. Ivar looked at him and said.

"At least, there are some people with balls in Olympian Academies.

"

He cleared his throat and announced on top of his lungs.

"I hereby announce the winner of the Solo Combat Tournament.

Sam from the Gambler Academy.

"

The crowd cheered.

Just like that the long drawn out tournament is finally over.

Sam is not even conscious when his victory was announced. However, when he finally woke up, he didn't feel disappointed. The only bad thing that happened is that White stayed alive. Apart from that, everything went well according to his plans.