The next few moments were a haze of pain and agony. He was pretty sure his arms were completely mangled, and his side felt like something had taken a huge bite out of it.

Nolan’s eyes were wide open, but the boy wasn’t speaking. He’d passed out from the pain. Damien likely would have as well, had he not experienced much worse multiple times when dealing with It Who Heralds the End of all Light.

Slowly, Damien forced himself to move. The wound in his chest was bleeding profusely now that Nolan’s blade had disintegrated. He felt light headed, but he was still able to slowly worm his way onto his knees.

“I’m still conscious,” Damien rasped.

The judge rushed to their side, magic spiraling out from him and into the two boys bodies. If anything, the pain grew worse for a few moments as Damien’s bones snapped back into place and repaired themselves.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?” the judge demanded. “What was that? Do you think throwing yourself on a sword and into your own spell is heroic or something?”

Damien didn’t respond immediately. After the cracks emerging from his body had stopped and he was no longer bleeding out, he let out a relieved sigh. “No. I just needed to win.”

“You can hardly call this a victory. You would have both died had I not been here to save you. The greatest victory is to survive the fight,” the judge said, massaging his brow.

“But I did win the fight, didn’t I?”

“Technically. You were still awake when your opponent was unconscious,” the judge said, pressing his lips thin. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly stupid. Blackmist does not encourage our students to kill themselves to win.”

“I know,” Damien said, rolling his shoulders and carefully rising to his feet. “I wouldn’t do something like this in a real fight. But that’s the difference – this was a tournament fight, not a real one. The rules are different, and so are the ways to win.”

The judge just shook his head. “I’ll let your teacher beat some sense into you, but you did win. Your determination is impressive. The other quarterfinals are wrapping up, so your next fight will be coming up pretty soon. I suggest you withdraw immediately to avoid further pain.”

Damien twisted his nose, considering the man’s words. Then he inclined his head.

“I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t,” he said.

The judge just shook his head. “Somehow, I thought you’d refuse.”

He knelt beside Nolan, snapping his fingers over the boy’s face. Nolan’s eyes snapped open and he drew in a jerky breath. He looked at his hands, then glanced up at Damien.

“You’re really something else,” Nolan muttered. “That was insane. Don’t you have any self-preservation?”

“More than you could ever imagine,” Damien said, offering the noble his hand. Nolan shook his head and accepted it, allowing Damien to pull him to his feet.

“My father is going to be furious,” Nolan asked. “Are you at least going to win the competition?”

“Not a chance,” Damien said, chuckling. “I don’t even have a single spark of Ether left.”

“Damn,” Nolan sighed. “Good fight, I guess. I’m glad you’re on our side.”

The judge just shook his head. “I’m going to fly us to the semifinal and finals platform. Are you prepared?”

“As much as I’m going to be,” Damien said.

“I’ll return to bring you back to the ground in a moment,” the judge told Nolan. He grabbed Damien and the two of them launched into the air.

They flew through the sky, crossing the large arena and arriving at a large pillar in the center of the arena. It was even taller than the others, and there were three other students already on it.

The judge set Damien down in a protruding waiting area at the edge of the platform and flew off without another word. A small grin crossed Damien’s face as he looked at the semifinalists.

Sylph and Mark had both made it. The only other student there was a muscular boy with long hair that Damien didn’t recognize.

“You made it,” Sylph said. She looked tired but pleased. “Good job.”

“Barely. Nolan nearly took me out.”

“I didn’t think you’d get this far. Well done,” Mark told him. “Delph is going to be happy. Three out of four of us are from his class.”

The muscular boy grunted. “Talk about it. I feel completely out of place. I heard Delph was a good teacher, but this is ridiculous. Has he been giving you magical plants or something?”

“He’s just very motivational,” Damien said. “Are they going to let us take a break before the next fight?”

“I doubt it,” Mark said. “The judge that brought me here said we’d start as soon as everyone arrived.”

Sure enough, no sooner than Mark had spoken the words, a dark blur flashed across the sky. Dean Whisp herself landed on the stage. She strode towards them, her face unreadable. Damien felt Henry retreat even deeper within his mind.

“Congratulations, all of you,” Whisp said, stopping directly before them. “You’ve all done very well getting this far. We’ll be starting the last few fights immediately. The crowd is very eager to watch you all. Now that you’ve all gotten here, we’ll give you a little more freedom. Would anyone like to volunteer to go first?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Damien glanced at Sylph, then jerked his chin towards the stage. She raised her eyebrows but nodded, stepping forward. Damien did the same.

“We’ll go,” Damien said.

“Very well. Thank you for volunteering,” Whisp said. “Please step onto the stage. I won’t be overseeing your finals as the Year Four finals are about to begin as well, but your judge was temporarily delayed. He should be here any moment.”

Damien and Sylph walked onto the stage, taking their spots. Dean Whisp looked into the sky, tapping her foot impatiently. Several minutes passed, but Damien wasn’t able to recover much of his Ether at all. A dull headache thrummed in the back of his head.

“Here he comes,” Whisp said.

They glanced around. Damien nearly jumped as the ground beside Whisp arose in a shower of sand. A stocky man with a well kept beard and heavy plate armor emerged from the ground, a huge axe strapped to his back.