EXCEL -Volume 1: The Beginning-

🔹Chapter 7: Royale One-on-One (Part 1)🔹

"We will now begin the Royale One-on-One."

Several guns were fired, shooting confetti all around the arena. The students' cheer grew louder as the match officially started. Everyone was excited to witness who would be the next generation of Royal Elites.

"To officially start this brawl, I will now explain the rules. As I said earlier, this is a Royale one-on-one, a duel between two participants. Whoever wins the duel will automatically win a spot on the elites. There are about 48 students left and only 24 can take the top spot. To find who will battle who, we will base it on the number of you who arrived in this arena. We will have my assistant, Marie, pick each number and the first two to be picked will be the first two to battle."

Marie looked in Alpha's direction and placed her hand before her. A pink symbol appeared, unleashing numbers circling like a wheel.

"No. 17 and No. 34," Marie announced the two numbers. The rest were asked to step away and were prepared a seat for them to watch the battle while the two participants stepped into the arena.

Alpha stands and gathers everyone's attention. "No. 17, Malik Jude Evergreen vs. No. 34, Iver Grifften. The first battle shall now commence."

Malik and Iver stood opposite one another, releasing their weapon: A claymore for Malik and a huge Billhook for Iver.

"Lousy weapon," Iver commented but Malik didn't respond. When the signal appeared, Iver immediately charged at Malik.

Unlike Iver, Malik didn't move on his spot and remained still. As Iver quickly approaches him, he jumps and raises his billhook ready to attack. However, much to Iver's expectations, the moment his weapon fell to the floor, he found no trace of Malik anywhere.

Iver cursed when he felt his opponent's presence behind him and launched another attack. It was again unsuccessful and this made him gush in anger.

The two went on and exchanged attacks and defense as the crowd roared in excitement. Who will be the first member of the elites among these two participants?

Iver was mad. He couldn't believe that it took him so long to defeat Malik. He used this anger to launch more attacks on him but were to no avail as Malik successfully avoided all of them.

"Stay still you pr*ck!" Iver once more attacked Malik with his billhook and Malik managed to dodge it. When Malik moves behind Iver, Iver unexpectedly casts an enchantment and this is activated when he moves behind.

Iver smiled at his plan and snapped his fingers unleashing a huge ball of fire that surrounded Malik. Malik immediately went to the course and cut the ball of fire in half, managing to get out. However, he did not manage to see another enchantment behind him, and to Iver's success, Malik was pushed to the edge of the arena.

Iver was delighted as he managed to injure his opponent. Unfortunately, what he expected was the opposite. The smoke cleared and the surroundings cleared up Iver saw that Malik was not harmed at all. Iver was angry as to why his attack did not even lay a scratch on Malik. Just then, Malik's enchantment appeared and multiple symbols circled his area.

"A defense Aster*?!" Iver said as Malik removed his shield. Using Iver's distraction, Malik immediately moved behind Iver and launched his sword at him. Iver was taken aback and this caused him an injury.

The crowd went wild after this and began cheering for Malik. This made Iver furious so he quickly launched at him and cast another enchantment. Malik readied himself to unleash his aster but before he could use it, Iver's enchantment grabbed him like ropes that bind him. Fire burns through the ropes as it aches on his skin like needles.