Affinity:Chaos

The next day…

Grey and his friends were discussing the upcoming battles.

"If you are not confident about any battle, you should admit defeat immediately, so you can save your strength for the next battles," Grey said looking at both Reynolds and Klaus.

"I know, I'm not that dumb to waste my energy in a lost battle" Klaus was the first to reply.

"There are only eleven spots, the students in the Eighth stage will all qualify, leaving only four spots left," Reynolds said.

"Make that three spots left since I will definitely qualify" Grey said calmly.

"Okay fine, three spots left. Since…" Reynolds continued but was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Make that two spots, since Damian is also likely to qualify" Klaus interjected.

"Fine, two spots. That leaves us with four students at the Seventh stage, and you" Reynolds looked at Klaus.

"My chances of defeating the other three are pretty high, so I should be able to grab a spot. How confident are you in grabbing the last one?" Reynolds asked Klaus.

"Not too confident" Klaus shook his head after some thoughts.

"You should be able to defeat two out of the three" Grey said.

"Yeah, I should. But it's not going to be easy" Klaus clenched his fist tightly. Among the group, he was the weakest. Being friends with Grey, Reynolds, and Alice had pushed him to work harder in his training. It's just…, sometimes he feels like it's still not enough.

He was already in the First stage of the Arcane Plane when Grey entered the Academy, now Grey was already one stage ahead of him. And even if they were in the same stage, he knew he had no chance of defeating Grey.

Luckily, this didn't make him depressed, it only pushed him harder to train more than he usually does. He has advanced quicker than his expectations over the year since he became friends with Grey.

"You can do it" Alice encouraged from the side.

"As long as you cheer for me, I will win," Klaus said with a smile.

"Of course, just make sure you win whenever I cheer you on," Alice said with a cute smile.

'Sometimes I wonder if they're the same person' Klaus thought after seeing Alice's smile. It's hard to associate the cute girl in front of him with the one who beats the hell out of her opponents at the yearly tournament.

"Okay. I think I should be among the first fighters" Klaus said. His plaque number was thirteen, if the battles follow the same patterns as the first ones, he should be among the first fighters.

"Me too" Reynolds's plaque number was one, so he would be the first participant who would be called out.

While they were still discussing, an instructor climbed onto the platform.

"Since each student will get to battle four times today, after each battle, you will be given thirty minutes to rest before you start the next battle" The instructor spoke calmly.

"Now, students with plaque number one to four and number fourteen to eleven should step into the respective platforms assigned to them" After speaking, the instructor stepped down from the platform since the battles would begin immediately.

"Wish me luck," Klaus said before heading towards the platform.

"Good luck"

"Good luck"

Grey and Alice said at the same time. They both wanted Klaus to grab a spot, so they could all participate in the competition.

Reynolds headed towards the first platform, while Klaus headed towards the second one. When Reynolds got to the platform, on seeing his opponent, he shook his head with a wry smile.

His opponent was none other than Damian. Although he wasn't confident in defeating him, it didn't mean he shouldn't try. He wants to at least know the difference in strength between them.

Klaus' situation was even less hopeful, his opponent was a girl called Sheila. She was one of the two stronger ones in the Eighth stage, Klaus was familiar with her since she was also from the Water Hall.

"Hey, Sheila" Klaus waved a hand with a smile.

"Hey Klaus, truthfully, I'm quite surprised you made it this far. I never knew you were this strong until your battle with Mike," Sheila said truthfully.

Klaus smiled in response. He knew Sheila wasn't trying to look down on him, she was only saying what she thought. They couldn't be said to be close friends, acquaintances at best.

They spoke for some time since all the students haven't gotten to the platform yet.

"Begin," The instructor said after the other students arrived.

Klaus knew this battle was lost, so he didn't plan on wasting his energy. And he caught sight of the battle between Reynolds and Damian, so after sending out some series of attacks, he yielded.

He spoke with Sheila as they descended the platform together. Sheila was happy Klaus admitted defeat quickly since it would save her the energy of battling. Although she would win even if he didn't admit defeat quickly, it wasn't like Klaus wouldn't be able to fight back.

The instructor nodded at Klaus's wise decision, he felt Klaus had a chance against those in the Seventh stage. From his point of view, Klaus shouldn't bother with those in the Eighth stage and just save his strength for those in the Seventh stage.

Klaus returned to his seat to watch the battle between Reynolds and Damian.

"Rey is strong" Klaus said after watching the battle for a while. He knew although Reynolds said he wasn't too confident in defeating Damian, there was no way Damian could defeat him easily.

"Yeah, but Damian already has the upper hand in this battle. It would be pretty hard for him to reverse the situation, but it's not impossible" Grey said what he thought about the battle.

"Yeah"

The battle continued and Reynolds was able to reverse the situation for some time, only Damian quickly took control of the battle once again. He lost by a narrow margin, but he wasn't disappointed. The difference between them wasn't much so with a little more training, he should be able to catch up.

Besides, it hasn't been long since he broke through, while Damian had already been in the Seventh stage for longer now.

When he returned to his friends, they all commended his effort in the battle.

The first set finished and Grey went up in the second set, his opponent was someone in the Seventh stage. He was victorious after a couple of exchanges with him.

The day went by quickly, and they finished the four battles for today. Among Grey's four battles, he fought with only one student who was in the Eighth stage which he won comfortably.

Grey won all four of his battles, Klaus won one of them, and Reynolds won two. Klaus and Reynolds met two opponents in the Eighth stage today, with Reynolds getting a surprise victory over one of them.

They all went home to prepare for the battles of the next day.