Blake grunted in response. Damien found himself wishing that he’d paid more attention to Blake’s fight. Knowing what the boy could do with his magic would have been a huge benefit, and Blake had already seen Damien’s tricks.

“Loretta wins!” Darcy called out.

Damien glanced up, cursing at himself internally. He’d missed yet another fight while screwing around with the other students.

Loretta and her opponent descended the stairs. She looked winded, but a pleased grin was plastered over her face.

“Good job,” Damien told Loretta as Darcy called the next two contestants onto the stage.

“Thank you,” Loretta said. “It was really close, but Delph would have killed me if I went out in the first round.”

She leaned in close, lowering her voice. “I think he’s betting on who wins the tournament with the other teachers.”

“No way. Really? How do you know?” Damien asked. While he spoke, he kept one eye on the stage. He hadn’t caught the boy’s names, but the one closest to him was the one that had been carrying the book at his side.

“He mentioned something about having money on the line during one of the classes,” Loretta said, giggling. “He didn’t look pleased that he said it.”

“I wonder if he’ll give the winner a cut if they’re from his class,” Damien said.

A spout of fire leapt out of the book wielding boy’s hands, enveloping the stage in moments. Damien’s eyes widened as the fire licked at the invisible walls surrounding the platform.

The fire swirled in the air for a few moments before fading away. The other boy had raised a shield around himself made of glimmering white energy.

I really need to learn some defensive spells.

“They’re next on the list. But the enlarge spell can be used defensively, even if it’s not the best way to apply it,” Henry agreed. “You’ve got your armor, but I’m not sure how much that’ll help you against someone that fills the arena with fire. It didn’t seem very strong, though. You might be able to take him out before he does much damage.”

That’s probably my best bet if he wins.

“I doubt he’ll share any of his money,” Loretta said. Damien, who had completely forgotten he was speaking with the girl, glanced in her direction.

“Travis wins!” Darcy roared. The book wielding boy stepped down the stage followed by his opponent, whose clothes had been stained black by soot. It wasn’t hard to tell who had won.

Damien forced himself not to groan in annoyance. He just let out a chuckle and shook his head.

“You’re probably right. Did you happen to see how that fight ended? I managed to miss it.”

“Travis sent a fireball that broke the other guy’s shield and hit him in the chest,” Loretta replied.

“Thank you. He seems pretty strong.”

Blake scoffed in the corner and Damien rolled his eyes. If the kid tried any harder to sound cool, Damien was worried he’d gag.

Several fights passed, but nothing particularly interested Damien. Loretta won again, as did Blake. He was beginning to wonder if Darcy had forgotten him when the Judge finally called his name out along with Travis.

“Good luck,” Loretta told Damien as he headed towards the stage, his stomach twisting again.

“Thanks,” Damien replied, clenching and unclenching his hands. Darcy directed him to the far side of the platform. Once Damien got there, he drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Travis reached down and grabbed his book, running his hand along the spine. He looked bored. Damien started to gather the Ether within his core.

“Begin!” Darcy yelled.

Damien hurled a gravity sphere in Travis’ direction, already forming another one in his other hand. Travis stepped forward, twisting his body to avoid the spell. Damien smirked and released his concentration of the spell.

Without his will to control it, the Ether leapt to return to its natural state. Following the guidelines he’d set forth when visualizing the spell, the gravity sphere detonated midair, only a foot behind Travis.

The boy’s head snapped back as he was yanked towards the gravity sphere. Sparks of fire sputtered fruitlessly out of his hands as his concentration was broken and the spell fizzled.

Damien lobbed another gravity sphere towards the edge of the stage where Travis had fallen. Before it could hit, Travis rolled over and pointed his hand at the oncoming orb. A blast of fire erupted from his hand, impacting the gravity sphere.

The Ether in Damien’s sphere hissed as it reacted with Travis’ magic. The sphere detonated prematurely, doing little more than dragging Travis a few feet across the ground. The boy rolled to his feet and thrust his hands towards Damien.

“Shit!” Damien cursed. He formed several more gravity spheres, tossing them at Travis and dashing across the arena.

For every bolt of fire that Travis threw, Damien lobbed four or five of his own attacks.

“How much Ether do you have?” Travis cursed, dodging out of the way of a sphere.

Damien responded with two more attacks. They were slow and easy to dodge, but he had the advantage of being able to throw more attacks than Travis could ever hope to counter.

A sphere passed by Travis’ head. His expression shifted to a smirk as fire started to curl around him.

Damien dropped to the ground and slammed his hands into it just as a wave of fire erupted from Travis, filling the arena. Travis held it there for several moments before lowering his hands, allowing the flame to recede.

A dense sand ring as tall as a man stood in the center of the arena where Damien had been standing. Travis blinked, his hands raising as he realized the fight wasn’t over.

The ring vanished and Damien sent a gravity sphere hurtling at Travis. The boy dove out of the way, but the spell went off before he fully cleared it. Both of his feet were caught in the blast, and Damien repressed a grimace as he heard a dozen cracks fill the air.

Travis let out a cry of pain. Damien started to channel another gravity sphere, but he glanced at Darcy to check if the man would stop the fight. The judge made no moves to intercede.

A searing pain erupted in Damien’s shoulder as something slammed into it, spinning him in a circle. Damien gritted his teeth and dropped to the ground, slamming a hand into it and enlarging several grains of sand, forming a sand barrier instants before fire filled the arena again.

An image of Delph’s disapproving glare passed through Damien’s mind.

The fire lasted several seconds before fading. Instead of dropping the ring like he had before, Damien allowed the back portion to vanish while leaving the front intact. He formed a gravity sphere and dashed out from behind it, lobbing it straight at Travis.

The boy’s eyes widened and he rolled to the side. The sphere caught his arm, snapping it violently. Damien stepped forward, grimacing from the pain emanating from his shoulder, and channeled a gravity sphere through his good hand.

He tossed it at the boy’s fallen form. Darcy shimmered into being directly in front of the spell. The judge raised a hand, grabbing the sphere and crushing it without even looking in Damien’s direction.

“Damien wins!” Darcy yelled.