“How’s that?” Kael asked. “How is this a blessing in disguise?”

“At least, you’ll know if someone’s using magic on you.” Rothema said. “Especially if it’s of the more forbidden kind like mind-controlling magic, or curse magic.”

“But I thought those books were lost in the fire?” Briar asked.

“Just because the books were lost, didn’t mean the magicians who read them were. Those who were familiar with the magic would certainly have written a few secret tomes of their own from memory. And those were only re-written so that future magicians would know how to fix the disasters that arise from such a practice.”

Rothema tapped the lip of her cup as she pondered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the more incomplete drafts trickled out through a crack, somewhere, and ended up in the hands of those who couldn’t help themselves, since there still are people being found using such magic.

“So, what I’m trying to say, is: this is definitely a good thing.” Rothema finished.

Kael thought about it for a moment, then nodded. It really was a good thing. By that time, he had returned to the very picture of health.

“By the way, what was that other spell that you used on me earlier?” Kael asked.

Rothema smiled and said nothing.

Before Kael could ask her further questions, Helen pointed towards the stage. “Oh, look at that! That was amazing!”

Everyone turned to observe the martial stage, where Laura was fighting the Eldest Twin.

Right, I forgot about that. Kael remembered. He also moved closer to watch and to gauge just how much Laura’s strength had grown in the past few months.

———————

Laura lithely jumped backwards, away from the swing of the youth’s sword. While she could easily block its swing with her arm guards, the weight that the youth was able to place behind his blade was shockingly more than she could handle.

To those in the audience, it seemed only like a case where the older contestant was naturally stronger than the younger one. After all, the Dragon Twin was fifteen while Laura was only twelve. A gap of three years was certainly something not easy to bridge. But what they didn’t know was that Laura was a 9th rank blue class.

To put things into perspective: one didn’t start training until around six or seven years old when their internal vision was opened. They would then focus on expanding internal energy capacity until the age of ten. At that point, no matter how much they trained, that capacity would remain unless they broke through to the next rank, in which they would acquire a small increase.

Once they were ten, they would then enter the yellow class and start physical training and internal cultivation of the bones until they broke through by condensing diamond bones, which could take anywhere from ten to fifteen years. So, by the time most broke through to the green class, they would be twenty to twenty-five years old.

On a side note, Briar’s father, Sir Maverick, was on the higher end of the scale, able to reach blue class by the time he was 20.

Laura, on the other hand, was only twelve. Moreover, she had already broken through to the blue class, an entire class higher than green class, which was the current class for almost all of the contestants (sans Briar and Kael). Therefore, for Laura to be overpowered by someone who -logically and mathematically- should be in green class, was highly irregular.

Laura was even at the highest end of the blue class, only one rank away from purple class. But, even so, Laura had to decline facing the young man’s attacks head on. Instead, she had been reduced to dodging or redirecting the strikes aimed in her direction.

The youth’s eyes suddenly sparked with a strange light as his sword suddenly flickered. Laura reached up to touch her cheek, only to bring her hand away with blood on it. Somehow, he had managed to cut her face without her seeing it.

Seeing blood, Laura blinked her eyes, were confused. Then she realized what the blood meant, and she began to see red.

How dare this boy attack the face of a lady! Moreover, he marred the face of a Noblewoman! Unforgivable! Laura took on an odd stance as she swayed back and forth. She was pulling out all the stops. This deplorable was headed for hell.

Kael’s eyes glinted with a knowing light. This young man had managed to get on Laura’s bad side. He silently offered up a prayer for the man who had no idea what he was in for.

The youth on the stage smirked at Laura’s odd display, but he was not allowed to be complacent for long. Laura threw out several knives in a fan shape with a swing of her arm. While she wasn’t as good at knife throwing as Briar, she had learned it just in case.

The young lad dodged them in contempt. And the knives harmlessly embedded themselves into the ground behind him, in a semicircular layout. The fact that they were able to cut into the stage was commendable, as the stage was magically protected.

“Is that all you got?” he chuckled. But his expression changed when Laura disappeared.

“Nope.” Her syrupy voice sounded from behind his back.

He spun around and was only just barely able to defend against Laura’s attack with his sword. After which, she threw out knives again. Again, they struck the ground behind him, missing him completely.

He felt confused. Why would Laura use that crummy skill again? But he didn’t have time to think, since Laura disappeared again. This time, learning his lesson, he spun around to block, but he was surprised when he was greeted with an empty stage. Where did she go?

He didn’t have much time to think before he was punched in the side of the head from behind, causing him to stagger sideways as his jaw almost dislocated itself. He spun to face Laura, whose stance had changed yet again into somewhat of a sideways boxing stance. Her eyes glinted with a somewhat dangerous light as she disappeared again.

He quickly spun around, slashing out into his surroundings, hitting nothing but air. Where had she gone this time? He snapped his head around to behind him, only to find another stretch of empty stage.

Unfortunately, his attention to what was behind him distracted him from what was in front. Before he could turn his head back to the front, he was clocked once more on the jaw. This time, from his front, sending him staggering back.

What followed after was a carefully-calculated, one-sided pummeling of the youngster. In which he had no way of bringing out his excellent swordsmanship. Kael shook his head and sighed.

Laura’s attack patterns were built upon the assumption that the victim would learn from the previous attacks. Each subsequent attack was calculated to throw off the tempo of her opponent, creating openings for the subsequent attacks.

Thus, there really wasn’t anyone among the younger generation that would have an easy time dealing with her aside from Kael and Briar, who knew similar styles from earth.

In all truth, he had been asking for it, though. Just because it was a fighting competition didn’t mean that they had to throw all manners and common decency aside. The young women in the audience were cheering especially loud at Laura’s display.

The young men winced as they sympathized with the youth, and likewise offered up prayers that his soul rest in peace. There was no doubt that this young man was surely skilled: skilled at angering people he shouldn’t mess with.

Finally, Laura finished with another punch to the jawline, jogging his brain into the black dreams of unconsciousness.

“Laura is the winner!” the announcer cried. The crowds of young women cheered with respect for their newfound object of admiration.

Now there was only a single fight left: the fight for the championship. By this time, Kael had already finished healing up, and was in top condition. However, Laura had just expended a large amount of energy. Seeing that this was the last fight, both Laura and Kael were given about twenty minutes to rest and recover.

Kael, having little left to do before the final fight, decided to check up on how Briar was doing.

—————————–

Just as Laura was finishing up her final blows, Briar was called up to the magician’s stage. Her opponent this time was the Ice Queen, Elsa von Icht.

“I hope you don’t disappoint me as much as my previous opponents.” Elsa remarked, readily.

“Wow, for someone known as the “Ice Queen”, you sure are heated up today. Is this the rumored ‘firey sunset over the icy plains’?” Briar returned in kind.

“Hmmph.” Elsa snorted, and stood at ready.

Briar stood: her back straight, her arms by her side, her eyes looking calmly at Elsa.

“Begin!” Syrel announced.

Elsa sent her magic into her staff, channeling a frost ground spell in her surroundings.

At that moment, Briar did something that caused everyone to be confused. She closed her eyes.

“What is she doing!?”

“She closed her eyes? Could it be that she’s throwing the match?”

“IS SHE CRAZY?”

“How is closing her eyes going to make her win!?”

The audience volume raised as they discussed in a mutter about why Briar chose to do something so foolish as close her eyes.

Briar then yawned and sat down on the stage.

“Are you trying to make a fool out of me?” Elsa frowned menacingly.

“Nope. It’s just that I have no need to fight an enemy that’s no longer a threat to me.” Briar explained. “Oh, and I’d stop expanding that frost aura, if I were you. It won’t end well.”

“What do you mean?” Elsa asked, when she noticed that the frost on the ground was starting to climb up off the ground and coagulate into a crystalline globe surrounding Elsa.

Her frost field was no longer expanding out from her because Briar had flipped the proverbial cup over the bug and surrounded her in a clear, spherical force field. By this time, the ice sphere had completed itself to perfection. There was not a single inch of the barrier that had not been encased in ice.

“Hah! I may not be able to get out, but that also means that you aren’t able to get in. Are you planning to tie for second?” Elsa scoffed.

Briar politely shook her head.

“Oh no! There’s no need for a tie at all. It’s unfortunate, but there will most certainly be a winner to this duel. I won’t even need to raise a finger.” Briar replied. After all, barriers were her forte. It’s just such a shame that her loss is self-inflicted.Briar shook her head. She had been expecting something more…impressive.

The whole time, Elsa was busy attacking the barrier wall.

“Ice shot doesn’t work.” Briar sighed.

Elsa tried to create a mini blizzard.

“Ice blizzard doesn’t work either.” Briar noted in a bored manner.

Then Elsa summoned ice into the shape of a large icy drill. Briar sat up a bit. “Oh?”

The drill did nothing to penetrate the barrier surrounding Elsa. Briar sighed again, seeing how the competition was pretty much in the bag at this point.

Elsa didn’t understand why her attacks weren’t going through. Barriers normally wouldn’t last more than a ten minute pummeling before they were shattered like glass. But this person’s barrier was seemingly indestructible. Was it getting warm in there?

Briar watched on for about five more minutes before, all of a sudden, Elsa fell over in a dead faint.

“Elsa has fainted. Briar is the winner!” Councilmage Syrel announced.