Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

The first face appeared on the screen and it was someone named Richard of the upperclassmen, a sturdy-looking youth a couple of years older than them, while in the other space another face appeared. A face all of them recognised, dyed red and blond hair with piercing in his ears, and marking on his eyebrows were once other piercings were. It was none other than Shin.

Shin's face brightened the moment he saw his face appearing on the screen. Unlike most others, he was not full up in fear. Even though he did have the fear of failure, his confidence was further. After all, this was the opportunity he was waiting for.

"Shin, you won't need any advice, will you?" Elior asked with a smile.

"No, I'm good," Shin said and started to warm up his body, stretching.

"I am fortunately in time." Abruptly, a feminine voice came at him, wasting his effort in warming up. Shin peeked to find it was none other than Enna, currently in the institute's uniform, with a badge on her chest. She came right before him with her sneaky smile on her lips. "Don't worry about getting beaten. I am here, I will heal everything."

"You got a cheerleader there, Shin," Elior joined in, laughing. "Now you have nothing to hold back now."

Shin gave a pressed chuckle at their jokes. The way Enna said it seemed she had no confidence in him. Well, that was the way it should be. After all, no one of the students in their right mind would think the freshmen could make things hard for upperclassmen who had everything prepared.

"What are you doing here?" Shin asked Enna, knowing she was certainly not here to participate in the battle.

"Of course to heal you lots," Enna answered, showing her badge, which she had after a long nagging with her elder sister. "I got permission to come here. I was worried you guys would get beaten up too badly, and have no one to heal."

"Well, I can only thank you for your worry," Shin said, squinting his nose. "But your worry might be unfounded. At least for me, it is unfounded."

"Someone seems confident." Enna pointed at Shin's opponent in the screen. "Have you seen him? He's almost twice of your size. he will blow you like a worn out autumn leave, still good luck. Don't get beaten too badly that even i would have trouble healing." 

Just then, the speaker in the dressing room called, asking Shin to enter the stadium.

"Just watch me," Shin said and went out, jumping his way.

"Good luck," Elior, Ileana, Lara, Hasan and many others said in unison.

"Does he really have a chance?" Enna asked, knitting her brows.

"Just watch the match," Elior said, gesturing at the screen.

Shin and the other upperclassmen came on the screen within a few seconds. They stopped ten yards away from each other as the audience cheered loudly. Shin had his low-quality armour on, with the basic sword that he got in the academy, while the sturdy upperclassmen had a heavy axe on his arm, with thick plates of armory.

"Doesn't seem like Shin has a chance," Enna muttered looking at both the figures. "The upperclassman was such a sturdy figure and almost two feet tall, while Shin is only a little better than a skeleton. How could he compete with him?"

That seemed to be in the mind of many of the audience, and so was in Richards.

"Junior," Richard said to Shin, knowing voice was not telecasted. "This is the first match, let's entertain the audience first then I will defeat you."

Shin squinted his nose. The smiling upperclassmen did not seem to say that out of arrogance, but thinking about him. Still, Shin could not help but sneered. 'Do you think this is going to be an easy win for you, senior?' he muttered. 'Then you are gravely mistaken.'

The one who was currently referring the match was none other than Ford, wearing white costume of the referee. Seeing the both of the participants ready, he blew the whistle.

The first match of the tournament started and the crowd cheered with cacophony.

Both the participants rushed out at once. The sturdy upperclassmen holding his high axe and Shin his regular sword—it was actually nothing special. He  could have got a better one if he asked his parents, but he was waiting for Elior to make one though that would unlikely come in the tournament. Still, Shin had enough confidence in himself.

Shin started with measuring the upperclassmen first. Both of them exchanged their first blow, the ax against the sword, clanging nose reverberated a little with the discharge of mana.

"You are good, junior," Richard said again with a smile.

"You too, senior," Shin said and his sword moved into a basic arch of a cut. He had word so hard to polish his basic skills, of course he would like to see his progress on the big platform.

Shin had heard Elior single handedly beat up a dozen of upperclassmen within a minute or two. Hearing that would make one think the upperclassmen were weak, but the catch was that Shin never actually succeeded in dealing a blow to Elior if they fought seriously, much less defeat him. And who knows how much strength, Elior was holding back that time.

Taking Elior as an Unit was wrong, and Shin knew it. Even though he had heard Elior say he could deal with a few upperclassmen easily, Shin was not sure. He needed to measure it himself.

In the dressing room, Enna's eyes sparkled as she watched the match. Though she had seen the training of others in the hall, the match was nothing like that. she thought Shin would get defeated immediately, but that was not the case. The wannabe delinquenti was holding himself far better than she had thought. Though she still thinks, he would be defeated in the end.

"What's he doing?" Ileana asked, knitting her brows. "I have seen him move faster than this when he duels with Lara. And why was he so low today, other time, he lunged and jumped every way possible."

"He's measuring his opponent," Lara answered, eyes still on the screen. She seemed to get some confidence seeing the match. Before this, they seriously had no idea how tough the upperclassmen would be, as they never fought one.

"As for his frantic movement," Elior answered for the rest of the question. "He was in the suit for three week, and it solved most of his bad habits. I even told him  as far as he could with the basic skills, but I reckoned if he gets his chances he will certainly take it."

"What are you talking about?" Enna asked, not knowing the full story. "You guys think he can win the match?"

"Watch the match."

In the match, both of the participants had become quite sweaty, though their speed only rose as well as the caliber of their strength and mana. Richard was already at his top speed though he was holding back in his speed, while it was the opposite in the case of Shin. though only they what kinds of tricks they were hiding.

"I certainly did not think a junior would keep up with me," Richard said and gasped. He rose the man in his axe and hammered it towards him.

Shin dodged. His lips held a curve, but the eyes were narrowed in concentration. "Trust me senior, you have seen nothing."

In the next moment, a gale of wind came, rising Shin in the air. He twisted his body sideways dodging before moving right at the sides of his opponent's blindspot. Shin's sword was already brandished with mana and it only need to be swung now.  Shin did right that, a strong thrashing of his sword on the back of his opponent.

Richard could not balance himself well and flung a couple of meters away, head dropping towards earth. Shin did not let him go then though. Why would he let go such an opportunity to finish his opponent?

Nobody in the audience had seen it coming, and certainly not Richard, or else he would not be in such a state. 

Before Richard could get hold of his body, a cold blade trusted towards his neck and only stopped before his neck. Richard drooped onto the ground in defeat and a smiling face of a youth greeted him.

"It's your lost, senior," Shin said with a smile and the crowd burst into an uproar.

Certainly, none of them knew it would go like this before the match, but that did not stop them from cheering for Shin.

Ford whistled and announced in his mic, "The Victory goes to Shin Olwyn."

A huge image of Shin held the screen, and all the crowds cheered for him.. certainly, they had not understand how he did it, but who doesn't like to see a underdog win? Though they were not sure if the freshmen that won just now was the underdog or not.