A shocked silence descended upon the battlefield. Even Elis Holland looked surprised. The only exception among them was Connor Holland, whose lips had stretched into a satisfied smirk.

For a few seconds, Elise believed that Gawain had merely suffered a bad hit or something, and that he was about to leap back to his feet any time now—something she imagined the rest of his allies thought as well. But, when that didn’t happen, reality set in.

In only a single, unidentifiable blow, Gawain had been completely defeated. She turned to see Cadmus’ reaction, and was forced to make a correction.

There were not one, but two exceptions to this sudden sense of shock that had assaulted everyone. Cadmus was leaning closer, a mesmerized smile playing at his lips and stars in his eyes.

…Was he really that happy to see Gawain defeated?

“What the hell…?” Morgana muttered, breaking the suspended silence.

“And now you finally understand the power of lightning,” Connor said, his smirk widening, “There’s a reason it’s known as the strongest element! With this—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish, because while he had been speaking, Gelida had quickly come to her senses, and had drawn an entirely new magic circle. This one she jammed against the ground, and a small jet of bright white energy rapidly swam through the dirt, suddenly turning into a wide cluster of glittering icy stalagmites when it reached Connor Holland's position.

Had Connor still been standing there, he would have undoubtedly found his body riddled with more than just a few holes. But, unfortunately for Gelida, Connor had managed to notice the attack just in time, and had already leapt away.

“It’s kinda like [ground spikes]…” Alice noticed as Connor landed on his feet without losing his balance.

Cadmus nodded, “Yes, but the travel time to the target point is much faster.”

Connor proceeded to swing his magic circle like a blade again, and once again, a beat passed before the world trembled, the air lit up, and the entire cluster of stalagmites exploded to the point of nothingness.

Elise had been ready for Connor’s attack this time, so she had managed to catch a glimpse of it. As he had stated, his attack had been lightning. However, it hadn’t been shaped into an attack like a lightning beast or anything: it had simply been a bolt of pure lightning. Too fast to follow, too bright to spot… there was no way to mistake it for anything else.

Morgana, seeing that Gelida’s attack had been dealt with, started retreating and drawing a completely new magic circle. There was a strange expression on her face that bordered between indignation and fear.

Connor looked between the two, and, evidently finding Gelida to be the bigger threat, swung his magic circle at her. Gelida, like Elise, was ready this time though, and in small the moment provided between the casting and activation of Connor’s spell, she simultaneously raised her ‘cold spell’ that she had been using beforehand, readying it like a shield, and activated her stalagmite spell again, choosing to have it manifest right in front of her like a second shield.

It was a good defense, with two layers of different types of magic to protect her. But, it all proved to be useless, when, once again, a great thundering rocked the world, and in a flash of blinding light Gelida was blasted back, her flesh smoking with severe burns and her body violently convulsing just like Gawain’s.

The stalagmites she had set up had been completely pierced through and obliterated, and even her ‘cold spell’ seemed to have done nothing.

“Gelida!” Alice squeaked.

Elise turned to look, and saw the blonde homunculus’ face twisted in worry. She had to admit, she was rather surprised. She knew that Cadmus and Gelida had spent some amount of time together, so she had expected him to look far more concerned than Alice.

But no. Instead, Cadmus’ eyes had narrowed in clear interest, as though he was trying to solve a difficult puzzle.

“She’s taken less damage than Gawain…” he murmured as Gelida’s pained cries echoed throughout the clearing, “Unlike Gawain, she wasn’t wearing any armour, but her [anti-heat] and that stalagmite spell must have mitigated the damage…”

“B-but [anti-heat] should have dispelled that attack completely, right?” Alice protested, not questioning Cadmus’ lack of distress at all, “I mean, she’s obviously using the variant where everything inside her spell loses its heat—and that variant stole heat fast enough to douse even fire instantly!”

Cadmus nodded, “Yes, but I suspect that Connor Holland’s spell was simply too fast or hot to be dispelled by Gelida’s [anti-heat]—even when considering the speed it works at. But because [anti-heat] is so effective, look: Gelida’s condition is noticeably better than Gawain’s.”

He turned to look at Connor, “What bothers me more is that stalagmite spell…”

Elise raised an eyebrow, “Hm? What—”

“Ha!” Morgana laughed, interrupting Elise. There was an obvious strain in her voice that she seemed to be trying her best to keep hidden, “That’s quite the spell isn’t it?”

Connor turned to look at her, breathing a little deeper than before as he eyed the magic circle in her hand, “Would you like a taste of it as well?”

Morgana pretended to give it some thought, “Well, you’ve already had two turns, so—” She smirked, raising her magic circle and causing a massive tidal wave of roaring flames to erupt from it, “—why don’t you let me have a go this time?”

The flames were larger than even the trees in this forest, and menacingly bore down upon the Holland brothers with their dangerous orange glow. Elise had rarely seen an attack of this size even from Ardea, and so, understandably, panic bloomed in her chest.

“Is she insane!” Elise hissed, “That attack will burn the whole forest down, along with her brother!” She turned to Cadmus and urged, “Let’s go before that attack catches up to us! We might still be able to—”

“Don’t worry,” Cadmus said, looking unnaturally calm for the situation, “Look.”

He pointed into the clearing. Elise squinted at what he was pointing at, and saw that it was Morgana. Though Morgana hesitated for a second, she rushed right into the flames and pulled Gawain out, carrying him towards her allies.

Elise wasn’t sure what she was more surprised about: the fact that the ever-disdainful Morgana had actually decided to rescue her brother, or that she had done so without receiving a single burn on her skin.

“What…?”

“It’s just an illusion, and an effective one at that, from the looks of it,” Cadmus said.

The way he talked… against the orange glow of the flames, his eyes seemed to glint a familiar red as they shifted elsewhere.

Elise followed his gaze and saw Connor Holland, standing protectively in front of his collapsed brother and trying desperately to draw a new magic circle as quickly as he could—though Elise could not tell which circle.

“He’s trying to create a [water shield],” Cadmus explained distractedly, his eyes remaining focused on Connor’s magic circle for his lightning spell which he had just left hanging there, “Because, no matter how powerful, lightning isn’t really a defense against a fire spell of this calibre. Or at least, it isn’t a defense against a fire spell of the calibre that he imagines this to be.”

“It’s… really an illusion?” Elise asked, resisting the urge to retreat from the flames which had spilled beyond the clearing and to their position at this point.

“Yes,” Cadmus said, “Try touching it; you won’t take any damage at all. And if you need even more proof, look at the bushes, or the trees, or the grass. They’re on fire, but they haven’t been burned at all.”

Elise saw that Cadmus was right. Despite the hungry orange flames licking everything in sight, nothing had been burnt. In fact, Elise knew that a fire of this scale should have been emitting a heat strong enough to easily feel from where she was crouching, but that wasn’t the case either. As a final test, she slowly ran her hand through a few flames, and as expected, her hand passed right through them, having touched nothing at all.

“But… why?” Elise asked, “Why use an illusion at all if it won’t do anything?”

“Illusions cost less mana to use than an actual attack of this scale,” Cadmus explained, “Besides, Morgana’s goal wasn’t to hurt either Connor or Elis Holland.”

“They’re… running away!” Alice exclaimed.

And indeed, she was right. Morgana and Gwen were supporting Gawain, and Gawain’s partner and Candice were supporting Gelida. They were all retreating as one, moving as quick as they could with such heavy burdens slowing them down. Soon, they disappeared into the thicket on the left, and only the Holland brothers were left in the clearing now.

Connor Holland had been holding his shield up against the tidal wave of fire, his teeth gnashing in panic as he slowly retreated further and further back, barely managing to pull Elis back with him while he was at it. But then, with the exit of Morgana and her magic circle, the entire illusion abruptly vanished, and Connor was left just standing there, his jaw agape in surprise.

Then, he made a sort of growling sound of frustration and angrily ran his hand through his magic circles. Cadmus let out an almost silent sigh when the circle for the lightning spell was wiped from existence.

“That was a very well-designed illusion,” Cadmus said, “If I had to wager a guess, then I’d say that illusion magic is her speciality.”

“What about that [shadow blade] of hers then?” Alice asked, looking confused, “Morgana said that was her magic.”

“It was probably the most recent magic she was working on, but it seems that illusion magic is her true speciality,” Cadmus said, “She must have wanted to keep this hidden because she knew that we might have to face each other in the final round. Illusion magic depends on the target not knowing that they’re facing an illusion, after all.”

There was a moment of silence as Alice took his words in. Then, she said,

“She… thinks kinda like you, doesn’t she?”

Cadmus raised an eyebrow, “Who? Morgana?”

“Yeah. She used the same tactic as you to retreat.”

Cadmus frowned, “I suppose you could call it the same sort of tactic… but, I wonder if that’s enough to say that our thought processes are similar.”

Alice remained silent, looking unsure.

“Speaking of Morgana,” Elise said, “Why haven’t these guys gone after them yet? Doesn’t Morgana’s group have two injured people to slow them down?”

“Elis Holland has run out of mana,” Cadmus said, “If Connor decided to chase after Morgana’s group, then he would have to leave his brother defenseless here.”

“So, this is the end of the battle, huh?” Elise said. She threw a wary glance at Connor, “Still, it was informative enough. That guy, Connor Holland, he’s dangerous. Despite being outnumbered, he was still able to defeat both Gawain and Gelida. Considering their injuries, they probably won’t even be able to stay in the forest for much longer, much less find a beacon orb.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Cadmus said, “After all, they have Gwen on their team.”

“The healer?” Elise said, “She paired up with Morgana, didn’t she? Why would they help out a potential future enemy?”

“I can’t be sure of course, but I suspect that Morgana was worried that Connor Holland would continue chasing them, and that was why she saved Gawain: because she needed a powerful warrior to serve as an insurance against him,” Cadmus said, “If I’m right, then Morgana and Gwen must be doing everything they can to get Gelida and Gawain back on their feet. Besides, even if I’m wrong, Gwen is a very compassionate person. Even if Morgana told her not to, I feel as though she will probably heal them anyway.”

Elise paused for a moment to take his words in. Then, she resisted the urge to frown, wondering how Cadmus could think things through so quickly. He was just like Ardea, always seeming to know more than the people around him.

In the clearing, Connor wrapped Elis’ arm around his shoulder, and together, they stumbled away, disappearing into the forest.

“We should leave too,” Cadmus said, standing up, “That illusion was rather large; many people must have seen it. They might come here to investigate.”

Elise stood up as well, and when they turned to leave, they saw Orange flattened against a tree, looking more confused and scared than Elise had ever seen him.

Turns out, since Orange didn’t know that Morgana’s fire spell was just an illusion, he had come to doubt his own contradicting senses, especially since a fire of that scale was something inherently to be afraid of for a forest animal like him. It had taken a few soothing purrs from Alice to calm him down, after which, they were finally able to set off again.

They made their way back to the river, and then continued following it as they had been doing before they had been sidetracked. After seeing that battle between such powerful mages, Elise’s nerves were on high alert, constantly twitching at the slightest sound, expecting a sudden attack to come out of nowhere.

In contrast, Cadmus had spent the entire walk looking more defenseless than ever, his attention fixed on fiddling with a magic circle he had drawn. He kept adding, removing, and moving symbols around from his circle, and though Elise wasn’t sure, the formula within the circle looked familiar.

At first, she thought that he had maybe managed to memorize and recreate a portion of Connor Holland’s lightning spell. But no, the formula Cadmus was working with was clearly something completely different.

As Elise watched him thoughtfully mutter to himself and continue tweaking his magic circle, Elise felt her nerves unwind and her blood cool. There was just something about watching Cadmus interacting with his magic circle… it was almost like watching a child playing around with a brand-new toy.

But, similar to the magic circle he was working with, that expression on his face was also familiar. Only, this one she could place.

“Cadmus, did seeing Gawain and Gelida defeated make you happy?” Elise asked, “You had the same smile on your face back then as well.

She supposed it made sense that Cadmus would find joy in having two powerful rivals taken out of the running. He was probably aiming for the top, after all. But, they had also learned that Connor and Elis Holland were also dangerous opponents, so nothing had really changed. Which meant that Cadmus really shouldn’t have looked as happy as he had back then.

Cadmus spared her a confused glance, “Did I really seem happy back then? I’m fairly certain I wasn’t…”

He didn’t look like he was lying, but Elise knew what she had seen. So why…?

“A-ah, please don’t think too badly of him,” Alice jumped in, “It’s not that Cadmus was happy to see Gawain or Gelida defeated, it’s just that—he’s in love.”

Elise’s feet stopped moving.

Cadmus… in love?

It took a moment for her brain to process that statement. Well, Cadmis was a boy after all, so him being in love shouldn’t really have been that surprising. But imagining Cadmus liking someone romantically… for some reason, it seemed so impossible.

Strangely enough, Cadmus looked just as confused as her.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Alice said, “It’s not that he’s in love with a person, it’s just that he’s in love with magic. Whenever he sees new magic circles, he loses control of himself. That’s why you saw him with the same smile back then.”

And with that, the world made sense again. Elise didn’t know why, but Cadmus being in love with magic sounded far more plausible than Cadmus being in love with another human being.

Cadmus, however, still remained doubtful.

“I never corrected you before, Alice, because I didn’t think it was that important,” he said, “But, the only reason I liked magic was because of my sister. With her gone, there’s no reason for me to still ‘love it’, as you say. I don’t care about magic anymore, it’s only a method for me to achieve my goals now. I’m sure that Auxil simply mistook the expression on my face for a smile back then. That’s all there is to it.”

Alice didn’t say anything, and in fact, she looked as though she felt rather sorry for him. Elise herself wasn’t sure about what to think, but…

That look in his eyes when he focused on the magic circle in front of him, Elise was sure that such a look could in no way belong to someone who had no interest in magic. So why was Cadmus so sure of his conclusion?

Elise wondered if she should perhaps point this out, but before she could come to a decision, Orange suddenly broke away from the riverside. He headed into another thicket of trees, with Cadmus and her following after.

Once again, they maneuvered through uneven, greenery-filled ground before coming across a small cave with an opening large enough to allow only a few people to enter at the same time. There were vines hanging from above, cloaking the entrance like a thick, natural curtain. Most importantly, there was a pulsing, bright blue glow spilling out from the gaps between the vines.

Orange gestured with his snout at the cave and barked cheerfully.

Elise felt excitement knock at her heart as she stared at the cave in front of her. At long last, here it was: the beacon orb they had been searching so long for. Soon, they would be able to leave this forest.

But, a darker part of her mind made itself known as well. It fed her visions of failure. What if they were mistaken? What if this was a trick of some kind left behind by the tournament organizers? What if Orange had brought them to something that wasn’t a beacon orb?

Cadmus walked up to the entrance of the cave and pushed the vines apart. There was barely any space inside and didn’t seem to extend very far back. But that wasn’t what caught Elise’s attention. In the middle of the cave there stood a proud altar, and perched atop it was the easily-identifiable beacon orb—though it looked brighter than what Professor Mackenzie had shown them.

Cadmus inspected the alter for a few seconds before picking the orb up and bringing it back outside. Elise peered at it, having to squint due to its sheer brightness.

“Is it…?”

Cadmus nodded, “Yes, this is undoubtedly what we’ve been searching for.”

And finally, relief flooded Elise’s body, dispelling her doubts. She knew that they still had the journey back left to undertake, but for now, this was enough.