Oliver Vinari had gotten used to surprises. Ever since he had enrolled into the Laurucian Academy of Magic, he had been blindsided by one surprising occurrence after another. However, even despite all that, Oliver couldn’t help but once again feel his mind blank out in shock when the Dragon Princess herself apologized to him.

“My behaviour was undignified, and I took my frustration out on you,” she was saying, “So it was only natural for you to respond in kind. I should not have let my anger influence my actions and words. I apologize.”

Oliver simply stood there, gaping like a fish, and despite the fact that he was being apologized to, he still felt vaguely like he was being cornered by a predator. It wasn’t that Ardea’s intentions didn’t seem genuine, on the contrary, she seemed to mean everything that she said. However, no matter how humble she was trying to be, the sense of authority and power that perpetually cloaked her was not so easy to ignore.

Cadmus appeared at the doorway just then, and he seemed to have heard the latter portion of Ardea’s apology, but when Oliver turned to him for help, he merely tilted his head curiously.

Cursing at his friend’s uselessness in this situation, Oliver carefully picked and chose the best set of words that would end this situation as soon as possible.

“I… uh, accept your—apology,” he forced out, “Thank you.”

Ardea’s eyes narrowed, probably in confusion, but that knowledge didn’t stop the cold sweat from slipping down Oliver’s spine.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“F-for… apologizing…?”

Ardea’s eyes narrowed further, “An apology does not warrant gratitude. Simply tell me how you would have me repent for my mistakes.”

“Er—let’s just let bygones be bygones, yeah?” Oliver said nervously, “No use dragging this out.”

Ardea almost looked ready to argue the point, but then she nodded, “Very well. Thank you for accepting my apology.”

She turned back towards the field to listen to whatever the announcer was saying right now (“A rather underwhelming fight… But don’t worry, folks! We still have a whole roster of powerful mages left!”), but Oliver simply stood there, his feet planted in the ground and his mind still struggling to catch up with what had just happened.

“That was well handled,” Alice said from his breast pocket, sounding slightly shocked as well but mostly amused.

Oliver jolted, having forgotten she was there.

“Oh, shut up,” he grumbled, the gears in his mind starting to turn again. He carefully extracted her from his breast pocket and handed her to Cadmus, who had approached seeing that the situation had now been resolved, “Congratulations on your victory. Too bad we couldn’t see most of it.”

“That was by design,” Cadmus said, his shoulders relaxing almost imperceptibly as Alice settled in her usual spot, “I didn’t want the other participants to know what my magic circle looked like.”

“Not much point to a tournament if no one can watch, no?” Oliver said.

Cadmus sighed, “I suppose.”

“You sound troubled.” Oliver noticed.

Cadmus shrugged, but did not say anything. If Oliver had to take a guess, he would say that perhaps Cadmus had been forbidden from hiding his battles in mist from now on, or something along those lines. But, of course, it would be massively disadvantageous to reveal information like that, which was most likely why he was keeping his mouth shut.

A sudden transformation of the display orbs stole their attention from this topic, and soon they were all watching the randomizer cycle through names again. Oliver could feel his heart jump every time he saw his name, and when the randomizer finally came to a stop, he felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment.

Lancelot Du Lac VS. Connor Holland

Perhaps it was strange to not want to fight when he’d worked so hard to get accepted into this tournament, but Oliver couldn’t help it. He felt it was already a miracle that he’d made it this far, and to fight more on top of that…?

But at the same time, he knew his turn would have to come up at some point, and it was nerve-wracking watching the randomizer every time it was called, so perhaps it would be better if his name showed up earlier rather than later? And besides, what was the use of trying to make it this far if he was just going to cower away from battle?

He had done all he could to prepare. Now was the time to enjoy the battles being shown to him from this premium view and fight when called upon.

Lancelot and Connor quickly took the stage, and the announcer began his usual introductions.

“Oh, what an exciting match-up!” He exclaimed, “On one side, we have Lancelot Du Lac, a powerful warrior from Avalon said to be raised by the Lady of The Lake herself! Despite being only fifteen, he has already earned the title of Knight of the Sacred Lake! It wouldn’t be a stretch to call him one of the strongest competitors in this tournament!”

The crowd roared their approval. Once they began to quiet, the display orbs, which had been showing Lancelot’s profile, switched to Connor.

“And on the other side, we have Connor Holland! He may not be from a distinguished mage family, but his brother is well known as one of the Carmenian Institute of Magic’s most talented mages, so it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see great ability from him as well!”

Once again, the audience made some noise, but it was clearly more subdued.

Oliver chuckled sympathetically, “That was a little unbalanced, wasn’t it?”

He turned to see Cadmus’ reaction, and blinked in surprise. Cadmus, Ardea, and Arthur... they were all carefully watching the battlefield, as though they were about to leap off the stands and join the battle themselves. The focus in their eyes was so tangible that Oliver felt a shiver run up his spine.

“Wh-what’s wrong…?”

Alice gave him an apologetic look, “Cadmus and I saw Connor defeat Gawain with a single spell in Ipsum forest, so Cadmus wants to make sure he doesn’t miss a single thing. Arthur and Ardea also know this, so they probably feel the same.”

“A single spell? Gawain?” Oliver turned to look at the aforementioned knight, who was staring down at the match from a secluded corner of the room.

He’d heard the common consensus, of course: that Gawain was equal to Arthur in terms of skill. How could a person like that lose to Connor Holland, a relatively unknown mage, and with a single spell at that?

Furthermore, Oliver was struck by a wave of inferiority. He had thought his preparations for the tournament good enough and was now just enjoying the matches being displayed before him, but Cadmus, Arthur, and Ardea hadn’t been satisfied with that.

Though they had probably already prepared extensively as well, they were also refining their preparations with each passing match. They weren’t content with pausing the sharpening of their weapons, even for just a moment.

It was frustrating… He had forced himself to join this tournament in order to aim for higher heights as they all constantly did, but even so, the difference between him and them remained so great…

Turning his gaze to the battlefield as well, he looked over Lancelot and Connor with a more analytical eye, vowing to watch every match from this point on more carefully.

“Is Lancelot really that powerful?” He heard Cadmus ask Ardea.

“Yes.” Ardea said without hesitation, “In fact, in terms of battle prowess, he may be the only individual in our year who can truly match me. That label may apply to Pendragon as well, however—” Here, Oliver saw her gaze flick towards Arthur’s sword, “—he requires some assistance to reach that level of ability.”

“…I see,” Cadmus said, the slight widening of his eyes signifying his surprise, “He should have no trouble drawing out Connor Holland’s full ability then.”

Arthur smiled, “I only hope that Lancelot doesn’t defeat Holland too quickly.”

“READY YOURSELVES!” The referee below said once the shield was in place.

Lancelot put a hand on his blade, and Connor raised his hands in a position ready to draw.

“AND—BEGIN!”

Lancelot launched himself forward, his blade already unsheathed in a flash; he raised it to cut Connor down before the battle truly even began, but Connor proved his skill as a mage by finishing a simple circle by then and unflinchingly firing a [lightning ball] as Lancelot’s blade descended upon him.

Lancelot reacted instantly and swerved away, dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth, but also having been forced to abandon his attack. Capitalizing upon this opportunity, Connor fired a few more [lightning balls] at him, but Lancelot easily dodged them as he created some distance.

“Not bad…” Arthur said, staring at Connor with evaluating eyes.

Connor and Lancelot both paused for a moment. Then, as though through some unspoken agreement, they began drawing new magic circles. These ones were infinitely more complex than Connor’s [lightning balls], and Oliver saw Cadmus’ eyes sparkle as he leaned closer.

“Here it comes…”

Connor and Lancelot finished at almost the same time and readied their circles against each other.

Cadmus, who had been watching Connor’s circle closely, seemed to find his attention stolen by Lancelot’s circle instead.

“That is…?”

Arthur smiled, “Can you understand it?”

Cadmus stared for a moment, then slowly shook his head, “No.”

“I’m not surprised,” Arthur said, “It’s a formula passed down to Lancelot by the Lady of the Lake herself—”

“It has something to do with… water…?” Cadmus murmured. He seemed lost in his own little world now, “No… the circle does… something to the mana in the air in front of it, and… imbues it with the properties of a liquid… somehow…”

Arthur stared, “You… really are something else, aren’t you?”

Below, the action was abruptly restarted when Connor swung his magic circle like a blade at Lancelot. For a beat, nothing happened. But then, with a bright flash of light and a violent rumbling of the ground, a bolt of lightning split the air.

For a second, Oliver thought that the attack had cleanly struck Lancelot. But then, he saw behind Lancelot a portion of the battlefield that had been blasted open and was now black as charcoal.

“What the…?” He murmured, whether at Connor’s spell or Lancelot’s ability to avoid it unscathed, he didn’t know.

This sense of surprise seemed to be shared with almost every person in the stands. The audience were all stunned into silence, the announcer was silent for once as well, and above all, even Connor Holland looked as though he could not believe what he had just witnessed.

“You were correct, Guiles,” Arthur said, his smile seeming almost lighter somehow, “Lancelot’s spell, [redirection], imbues the mana in front of its circle with properties of a liquid. These properties also include a certain amount of viscosity, so Lancelot can actually trap a spell with [redirection] and redirect it wherever he wants. He usually tends to simply send spells back to their casters, but it seems Holland’s spell is a little too powerful and quick to do anything other than redirect away from his person.”

“A spell to redirect spells...” Ardea said, “In a sense, it is the perfect defense.”

“And to take advantage of the ambient mana in the air in such a unique way…” Cadmus muttered, “The Lady of the Lake really is amazing. The complexity of a spell like this can’t even be compared to Gwen’s healing spell…”

Below, Connor seemed to still be recovering from his shock.

“How…?”

“Surrender,” Lancelot said gravely, “You have already been defeated.”

Connor’s eyes narrowed, and he defiantly swung his magic circle again. A moment of stillness, and lightning once again lit up the world. Now that Oliver was prepared for the attack, he was actually able to spot it—though only for a split second: a bolt of lightning had ripped through the air towards Lancelot, and Lancelot had proceeded to redirect its trajectory slightly with his [redirection] so that it would hit the ground behind him.

Oliver wasn’t even sure how Lancelot knew where Connor’s spell would strike to redirect it. It was hard to chalk it all up to reflexes, because by the time Oliver had comprehended what had just happened, the entire exchange had already ended—and Oliver was watching from a safe position with a bird’s eye view, unlike Lancelot.

Connor stumbled back in fright, “H-how are you doing that?”

“Surrender,” Lancelot simply repeated.

For a second, it seemed as though Connor might actually heed Lancelot’s words. But then, defiance coloured his features again, and he swung his magic circle once more.

The same pattern repeated itself: a moment of silence, and then a sudden bolt of lightning that was promptly redirected. But this time, instead of just being stunned again, Connor followed up with another swing of his magic circle.

It was redirected again, but Connor tried the same attack once more. Again and again, he fired lightning bolts one after another, and Lancelot redirected each one. As the barrage went on, Connor began panting, and his face twisted in frustration. On the other hand, while Lancelot’s expression remained as passive as ever, there was a slight sluggishness to his movements that hadn’t been present at the start of the battle.

“Come on!”

Connor sent another lightning bolt at Lancelot, but as expected, it too was redirected. Then, heavily panting and on the verge of collapse, he threw his circle aside and shot a few [lightning balls] at Lancelot with the original circle he had drawn instead.

“He’s nearly out of mana,” Cadmus noticed, “At the very least, he doesn’t have enough to continue firing the [raijuu’s strike].”

After witnessing the sheer power and speed of the [raijuu’s strike], Connor’s [lightning balls] looked like flickering lights that moved at a glacial pace in comparison.

And it was here that Lancelot demonstrated the true use of his [redirection]: he caught a [lightning ball] with his spell, then spun, sending it flying right back. Like a dance, he kept gracefully spinning, moving from one [lightning ball] to the next, sending them back one by one, barraging his enemy with his own attacks.

Connor managed to dodge the first few [lightning balls] well enough, but his mobility had already been compromised by his severely depleted mana reserves. And so, one of the [lightning balls] finally struck true, and he spasmed as he collapsed onto the ground.

Lancelot didn’t even give Connor the opportunity to get back up. He closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and pointed his blade at Connor’s throat. It took a moment for the referee to realize what had just happened.

“V-VICTOR: LANCELOT DU LAC!”

The crowd, still reeling from that display of awesome powers did not react for a few seconds. Then, as one, they burst into ear-splitting applause. Everyone was shrieking in delight, the announcer could not stop raving about how exciting the match had been, and even Oliver felt himself get swept up in the atmosphere, letting loose a few hollers into the mix.

It was only a few minutes after, once the noise had died down, did he realize something.

“Well, I suppose Lancelot’s victory wasn’t really that unexpected,” he said to Cadmus, “I mean, Connor Holland may have defeated Gawain, but everyone already knows that Lancelot is way stronger than Gawain.”

“Connor Holland didn’t defeat just Gawain Le Fay,” Cadmus said, a considering expression on his face, “He defeated three teams that were working together. Among those three teams were several scholarship students other than Gawain as well, such as Gelida, Morgana, and Gwen. Not to mention that Candice was there as well, and she has grown immensely as a mage ever since the attack in Lorem forest.”

Oliver blinked, wondering whether he’d heard right (distantly, he also noticed Candice blushing at Cadmus’ praise).

“Wait… you’re saying…”

Cadmus nodded distractedly, “Yes. Connor and Elis Holland faced several talented mages who were working together and still won. And, from what I saw, it was mainly Connor Holland who made that possible.”

Elis Holland, who had been exiting the contestant’s box at the moment with his brother, shot Cadmus a dirty look from the corner of his eye. However, Cadmus did not notice at all.

“I suppose… I suppose I can see that happening,” Oliver finally said, “Without the Lady of the Lake’s [redirection], not many people would have been able to stand up to that lightning spell—you called it the [raijuu’s strike], right?”

Cadmus made a noncommittal noise.

“Incidentally,” Oliver said, looking over at Ardea and Arthur as well now, “If you guys had been chosen to fight against Connor Holland, how would you have dealt with the [raijuu’s strike]?”

Arthur responded first, “[Redirection] isn’t the only way to defend against a spell as powerful as that. Since the spell is made of lightning, I would use a spell of my own designed to defend against specifically lightning.”

“I doubt even an [advanced anti-lightning shield] would prove to be of much use against the [raijuu’s strike],” Cadmus said idly, still looking lost in a different thought.

“Then I’ll use something stronger,” Arthur said simply.

“A decent enough idea, but the simplest solution would work best,” Ardea said, “The [raijuu’s strike] takes time to draw, and defeating the enemy before they can complete their circle would be child’s play.”

Arthur laughed, “Not everyone can create magic circles near-instantaneously, Regis.”

“Indeed,” Ardea said, “However, that is an advantage afforded to me, so I will not hesitate to use it.”

“I suppose that’s fair.”

Oliver, Arthur, and Ardea turned to Cadmus, but he looked completely lost to them by now. He was staring off into space, and Oliver had seen this particular look in Cadmus’ eyes more than enough times in class to identify it as him thinking deeply about some aspect of magic or another.

“What about you, Cadmus?” Oliver asked, poking him to get his attention, “How would you deal with the [raijuu’s strike]?”

Cadmus blinked, his focus returning somewhat, “The [raijuu’s strike]…? I suppose my solution would be to find the spell’s weakness.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow, “Really? It didn’t seem to have a weakness. Du Lac just won because he had a spell with him that was just as amazing as the [raijuu’s strike].”

“Every spell has a weakness,” Cadmus said confidently, “Or rather, every spell has an aspect to it that can be exploited. The [raijuu’s strike] is no different.”

His attention seemed to drift away again, and though Oliver wished to ask him whether he had managed to identify the [raijuu’s strike’s] weakness, the announcer interrupted, letting everyone know that the next battle was about to start. The display orbs flashed, and the next match-up was quickly announced.

Trey Kimball VS. Anthony Kayden

Cadmus watched as Anthony Kayden chased Trey Kimball across the battlefield. Trey was trying still to draw a rather complex-looking magic circle, but Anthony seemed to know how to use simpler spells better, and was making sure that Trey never got the necessary time he needed to actually complete his circle.

However, only a portion of Cadmus’ mind was focused upon this battle: the rest of his thoughts were all taken up by Connor Holland’s [raijuu’s strike]; It certainly was an intricate spell, and even two viewings weren’t enough to understand the entire formula. However, that wasn’t to say that nothing had been gained.

With just a single additional viewing, Cadmus had been able to confirm a number of suspicions while increasing his knowledge of at least the initial portion of the spell by a tremendous amount. Being able to see it just one more time would be ideal, but he wasn’t holding out hope for that. For now, he would try to work with what he’d already received.

“VICTOR: ANTHONY KAYDEN!” The referee yelled below.

Cadmus refocused on the battlefield below and saw Anthony standing over a battered Trey with a circle for [rock spike] aimed at him. The battle he had watched but not paid attention to replayed itself in Cadmus’ head, but, as expected, it revealed very little of note; Trey had simply not been a good enough opponent to draw out anything substantial from Anthony.

It seemed that the audience hadn’t enjoyed the battle either, judging from the mediocre round of applause (though it was still significantly louder than the one his own match had prompted). The announcer tried to say a few nice words about it, but he soon moved on when the display orbs transformed into randomizers again.

They flashed through the names before landing on another set:

Myles Bradley VS. Hewie Dacre

Cadmus tilted his head curiously, “Myles Bradley?”

“He was Gawain’s partner for the second qualifier round,” Oliver explained, “From what I know, he has pretty average grades, and he isn’t that amazing at magic either; I think it’s mostly luck that got him this far.”

And indeed, the man Cadmus had seen hanging back with Gwen and supporting the rest of the three-team alliance from the rear, walked into the arena with a staff in hand. Next came his opponent, Hewie Dacre, and soon they were both standing on opposite ends of the battlefield.

As usual, the announcer got to introducing them. He managed to increase the audience’s hype slightly by introducing Hewie Dacre as “One of the top of his class,” but, lacking anything substantial to say for Myles Bradley, he decided to try and excite everyone by reminding them of how surprising Elise’s match with Ardea had been. The audience’s applause did increase in noise somewhat, but Cadmus got the sense that that was more out of obligation to the announcer’s efforts rather than any actual excitement.

And their skepticism was rewarded: Though Myles had a magic staff, he was barely able to shoot a few glittering shards of ice at Hewie, before the latter constructed a simple circle for [fireball] and laid waste to his opponent with a few well-placed attacks.

In what Cadmus estimated to be under a minute, the referee raised his arm and announced, “VICTOR: HEWIE DACRE!”

Cadmus saw Gawain smile sheepishly out of the corner of his eye as Arthur merely sighed.

“A quick battle, owing to Hewie Dacre’s great ability, no doubt!” The announcer tried to justify, “His next battle will definitely be something to watch! Now, let us move on to the next battle! Organizers, if you would please!”

The randomizers cycled through names again, and landed on a new pair.

Cadmus raised his eyebrows.