A highly charged buzz had descended upon the atmosphere of the Coliseum. Everyone remembered the exhilarating battle between Lancelot and Connor, and few had forgotten how Connor had been introduced as the brother of ‘one of the Carmenian Institute of Sorcery’s most talented mages’.

When Gale Holland had been matched up against Charles Redford, everyone had been excited to see what he had to offer. However, they had all been disappointed when he went on to defeat Charles with simple unarmed combat, not even deigning to use a sliver of magic.

It was clear the same thing would not happen twice, not with Lancelot as his opponent.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now about to witness a battle between two among the most powerful contestants of this tournament, so I hope you’re all prepared!” The announcer crowed.

Gale arrived onto the battlefield first, so the display orbs all zoomed in on him, displaying his rather easy profile, and the announcer chose to speak of him first.

“It may be true that we haven’t seen much of Mr. Holland’s abilities, but I hope you all remember his brother, Connor’s magnificent showing just yesterday. As it is widely known that Mr. Holland is the most powerful of the three siblings, I can only imagine what he’ll bring to the stage today!”

The display orbs lingered on Gale for a while before Lancelot finally arrived as well, looking as stern and stiff as ever.

“And, facing him today is the one who defeated Connor Holland: Lancelot Du Lac!” The announcer said, his voice growing more and more animated by the second, “Oh, and what a strange surprise; it seems he has rid himself of all his armour! What could be the purpose of that, I wonder?”

And it was true, instead of the heavy-looking steel armour that Lancelot had worn for the entirety of the Twin Peaks Magical Tournament and its qualifier rounds, he was now garbed in a simple set of tunic and trousers, with a standard student’s Academy cloak draped over it.

“He removed all of his armour?” Alice asked, “Why?”

“Because it was more hindrance than help against Connor Holland,” Arthur answered from beside them, “Now, by shedding his armour, Lancelot is far better equipped to face lightning-based spells. It is only now that you will see his true ability.”

Below, Lancelot and Gale both silently stared at each other for a few moments.

Finally, Gale spoke, “I’ll admit it: you are powerful. What’s worse is, you understand that lightning cannot be fought head-on, so you use that strange spell of yours to turn it aside. Were I a lesser man, I would have already forfeited.”

“So you choose to fight and lose nobly,” Lancelot said, “There is honour in that.”

“No,” Gale said, his countenance turning a bit dark, “You are powerful, but you seem to be under a misconception. Lightning cannot be controlled as easily as you think; that is why you will lose.”

Lancelot’s eyes narrowed, “I remember exerting enough control over it to defeat your brother.”

Gale waved his words away, “Connor still has a ways to go before he can call himself a true lightning mage. You will find no such shortcoming with me.”

“We shall see.”

Perhaps seeing that their little exchange had come to an end, the referee stepped in and raised his arm.

“Ready yourselves!”

Both Lancelot and Gale fell into a picture-perfect stance of combat readiness.

“AND—BEGIN!”

The battle began slower than everyone expected, with both combatants choosing to stay in place and draw their respective magic circles instead of rushing in for any sort of attack. This seemed to confuse Alice.

“Why isn’t Lancelot attacking?” She asked, “He has a sword, and he knows what the Raijuu’s Strike can do, so why risk allowing Gale to draw his magic circle as well? I mean, Gale doesn’t even have a weapon!”

“Attack and defense: most of the time, victory in battle hinges upon these two concepts,” Arthur explained patiently, having overheard Alice’s question, “Lancelot’s skill with the blade is unparalleled, and so, in close range he easily dominates in both those aspects. However, once he draws the Redirection spell, he also gains a perfect defense against long-range spells—and, in most cases, it can be used to return those very spells to the caster as a form of long-range attack as well.

“Understand this: Lancelot can easily be counted among the strongest warriors in our age bracket, not just because of his skill, but because of his impeccable judgement as well. He understands what must be done at any given time in a combat situation, and that is a large part of what makes him undefeatable. ”

Alice blinked, “Undefeatable…?”

Arthur nodded confidently, “Undefeatable. I have never seen anyone defeat Lancelot even once; this time will be no different. I am sure that Holland has reason to say that lightning cannot be so easily controlled, however once Lancelot finishes Redirection’s circle, he will be able to do just that—at least, to the extent of redirecting it away from his person.”

Lancelot and Gale finished their magic circles at almost the same time, but they both paused, choosing to cautiously stare at each other for a few seconds. Then, as though prompted by some unspoken signal, they both sprung into action at the same time.

Gale swung his magic circle, and Lancelot raised his. However, in the second’s pause between the activation of Gale’s circle and the actual generation of the attack, everyone realized that, instead of swinging his circle at Lancelot, Gale had swung his circle at the ground in between them.

A heavy bolt of lightning tore through the air, looking no less, yet no more impressive than Connor’s. It struck the ground exactly where it had been swung at, blasting it to pieces and sending rubble and dust flying everywhere.

Lancelot looked taken aback, and as if to spite him, Gale swung his circle two more times, horizontally upon the field on both sides of his initial strike. As a result, a wall of dust and rubble quickly arose between them.

“A smokescreen…” Cadmus mused, “That’s a rather mana-heavy spell to use for such a simple purpose.”

Gale was had moved slightly from his initial position, and was currently in the process of drawing a new magic circle, one that looked different from the circle for the Raijuu’s Strike which was currently in his other hand.

Lancelot too had moved; but instead of charging through the makeshift smokescreen, he chose to stay on his side of the smokescreen and simply shift position sideways a few paces.

“He’s not going to attack?” Alice asked.

Arthur did not answer this time, so Ardea—who had apparently also been listening—chose to do so instead.

“He can’t,” she explained, looking the slightest bit amused, “Lancelot did well against Connor Holland’s assault, but that doesn’t mean that the Raijuu’s Strike isn’t still a formidable spell. It took a clear line of sight and a certain predictability to redirect those lightning bolts. Lancelot understands that if he were to recklessly charge through the smokescreen now, there is a chance he may be caught off guard by Gale Holland.”

“But Lancelot also understands that Holland can’t see him either with this smokescreen,” Arthur cut in, “That’s why he’s moving, so that Holland doesn’t just fire a spell where he was standing and get lucky.”

Cadmus nodded, remembering how he had done the same when he had submerged the entire arena in mist during his own battle.

As the dust began to settle, Gale finished his circle and held it up, ready to use it. Peering through, Lancelot warily prepared himself.

“And what is that?”

Gale’s lips twitched into a subtle smirk, “Why don’t I give you a physical demonstration?”

The circle glowed from the mana being poured into it, and then shattered.

“He accidentally overloaded it?” Alice shouted, her already wide blue eyes widening even further.

“No…” Cadmus said, watching Gale closely, “Or rather he did overload it, but it was intentional.”

At the collapse of Gale’s magic circle, a small yet wide blade of rippling translucent blue suddenly extended from his hand. It looked as though his hand had melded with the top half of a broadsword, like a cinquedea, with the blade portion crackling about with random shocks of lightning that raced up and down his arm and yet did no damage.

Alice looked bewildered, “A spell appeared? But how? He broke his circle!”

“There are a rare few magic circles like that as well,” Cadmus explained, “Ones that you can only use with a special method of activation, like overloading it with mana and breaking it.”

Below, Lancelot almost seemed insulted, “And what do you hope to do with that small blade of yours?”

“Quite a lot actually.”

Gale shot forwards and was upon Lancelot before anyone could even blink. Lancelot too seemed to be taken aback and only just managed to raise his blade to ready a defense in time—

And then, just as their two blades were about to make contact, Lancelot suddenly twisted his sword away and chose instead to awkwardly duck under Gale’s slash. Gale, unfazed, took advantage of this sudden opening by swinging at his foe the circle sitting upon his other hand: the Raijuu’s Strike.

Lancelot however proved his considerable skill by hastily bringing up his Redirection in the second before the Raijuu’s Strike went off, and used it to barely redirect the powerful bolt of lightning away from his person. It ripped through the air towards the stands and crashed against the arena-wide barrier with a trembling CRACK.

Gale swung his wide cinquedea of lightning again, but Lancelot had recovered enough by now to stumble away and regain his footing. This did not seem to concern Gale too much.

“A different sort of beast, is it not?”

Lancelot did not respond, choosing to bring his breathing back in control instead; though his eyes did narrow.

“Connor has learned how to use the Raijuu’s Strike well enough, but fighting him has made you arrogant. Don’t think for a second that lightning can be so easily controlled as that battle,” Gale continued, “True lightning strikes unpredictably, with barely any warning.

“Although, I will admit, I expected you to realize in time that having your sword meet my Thunder Edge would cause lightning to travel up it and damage you, but I didn’t expect your reflexes to be quick enough to redirect my follow-up Raijuu’s Strike as well. It seems you’ve already figured out how to tell where the Raijuu’s Strike will land.”

“…You’re faster now.” Lancelot said.

Gale smiled, “And what makes you say that?”

“In your battle against Charles Redford yesterday, you did not use any magic or weapons, and defeated him quickly. But, even so, you were far slower then than you are now,” Lancelot said.

“Looks like my secret is out,” Gale said, not looking particularly put out, “Yes, I am faster now; and the reason for that is this.” He raised his cinquedea of lightning. “Thunder Edge has two uses to it: a small yet durable blade of lightning, and the ability to speed up the electrical impulses in my nervous systems.”

Cadmus leaned closer against the railing as Gale’s explanation washed over the coliseum.

“Meaning that his speed and reactions have all been enhanced for the duration of the activation of Thunder Edge…” he muttered.

“A sword spell can do that?” Alice asked.

“A normal sword spell can’t, but his spell must be designed to balance those two purposes,” Cadmus explained distractedly, “Otherwise he would just use Lightning Sword, since it has a longer reach anyway and a far less complex magic circle.”

“Still confident in Du Lac’s victory, Pendragon?” Ardea asked.

“Of course,” Arthur said without missing a beat, “He may have been disoriented by Holland’s sudden increase in speed, but that ends now.”

“But that isn’t the only problem is it?” Ardea said, “Holland has two methods of attack now, and he knows how to use them. Meanwhile, Du Lac is still stuck with only one: his sword, which he can’t even allow to directly collide with Holland’s Thunder Edge. Redirection can hardly be called a method of attack anymore, it merely serves as a defense against the Raijuu’s Strike now.”

“Even so, Lancelot will win,” Arthur said, his eyes fixed on the battlefield below, “For he is the Knight of the Sacred Lake, the strongest warrior in our generation!”

As though responding to Arthur’s faith, Lancelot charged forward. It seemed to be a foolish decision, for there was still too much distance to cover, and Gale still had the Raijuu’s Strike. But then, just when Gale was about to swing his circle to fire it, Lancelot threw his sword at him first.

It was a completely unexpected attack, one that took Gale by surprise as well, judging by the slight pause in his movements. The sword sailed through the air inelegantly, but found nothing but air, with Gale having managed to easily sidestep it due to the speed-enhancing nature of Thunder Edge.

Seeing that Lancelot’s sword was now gone, Gale charged forwards as well to meet Lancelot head-on. He swung Thunder Edge with a cool ferocity, but was repelled by a new blade of shining white light.

In the small gap Lancelot had been granted by the throwing of his sword, he had quickly drawn the simple magic circle for Magic Sword behind his back, and had chosen to wield that as his blade now. He followed it up with a vicious kick to the torso, and Gale, still taken aback by the appearance of this new weapon, accidentally let it through.

He stumbled back, sputtering breathlessly, and barely blocked the next strike with Thunder Edge.

“Clever,” Cadmus mused, “Magic Sword doesn’t conduct electricity, so it’s a good weapon to use against Thunder Edge.”

Arthur almost smirked, “As I said, Lancelot has impeccable judgement.”

Lancelot and Gale both proceeded to enter into a dangerous dance of physical combat, with both their blades hungrily seeking the others’ flesh, but both found their way halted at every turn. It was obvious to everyone watching though that Lancelot had the upper hand, even though Gale was far faster at the moment.

“I was a little worried—” Gale grunted, barely fending off a particularly powerful blow, “—that you might be able to redirect non-projectile magic as well—!”

He tried to launch a series of quick attacks, but was repulsed with calm, swift movements. Lancelot pressed his advantage with a few powerful strikes, but Gale managed to fend him off by diverting his attacks with a well-placed feint with the Raijuu’s Strike.

That was how he was still managing to hold on, by spreading Lancelot’s attacks thin by threatening him with the Raijuu’s Strike. However, he couldn’t find an opportunity to actually use it, skilled as Lancelot was.

“I’m glad to see it was an unfounded worry—!”

Gale let loose a blisteringly quick thrust, but it was once again smoothly deflected. Though he still seemed rather unconcerned, there was something about his pace that had an almost frantic quality to it.

“Enough talk. Victory is mine,” Lancelot said.

He knocked aside another desperate thrust from Gale with particular force, and levelled a slash at his now open torso.

And that was when something strange happened. Gale’s Thunder Edge suddenly shattered, and shards of electricity ran across his body; and when he leaped back to dodge while swinging the circle for Raijuu’s Strike, he was several magnitudes faster than he had been just a second ago.

Lancelot’s eyes widened in shock, and his blade was now on the path of striking nothing but air. However, once again he demonstrated his incredible reflexes by stepping closer and adjusting his swing in merely a fraction of a second. The blade was now on the path to meet Gale’s circle for the Raijuu’s Strike.

Time seemed to slow. The choices had been made, and the end of the battle was at hand; either Lancelot would cut through the circle for Raijuu’s Strike and render Gale helpless, or he would fail and be struck down by it.

And, in the end, Gale’s speed proved to be a whisper of an echo faster, with him pulling away his circle by a hair’s breadth. The victor was decided, the match was practically ended. A second’s beat, and Lancelot, still in the midst of his swing, would lay defeated on the ground.

And yet, even then, Lancelot did not give up. His other arm blurred to the front, the circle for Redirection still sitting upon it. It shone as mana flowed through it, ready to bring under control any spells that would dare to try to assault its wielder.

But it was too little too late. An earth-shaking bolt of lightning burst straight at Lancelot, and though he tried to use the barely activated Redirection spell to shove it aside, he was only able to redirect its tremendous force onto his shoulder instead of his chest.

He was lifted off his feet and sent tumbling back as bright red blood splattered all over the ground. When he skidded to a stop, the whole coliseum lay bare witness to the grievous injury inflicted upon him: his cloak and shirt had been burnt straight through, and the shoulder beneath it had been blasted open, with gory, charred chunks of flesh barely hanging on to the remnants of muscle and bone beneath.

Lancelot’s scream of agony tore through the coliseum as he writhed uncontrollably upon the ground, his own arm barely hanging on. And, as the crowd in the stands began gasping and whispering, Cadmus watched Arthur lean over the railing, his expression twisting uncharacteristically in horrorified disbelief.

“LANCELOT!”

The announcer rushed in and declared, “VICTOR: GALE HOLLAND!”

The medical staff quickly flooded onto the field and began pouring potions into Lancelot’s mouth. As soon as his writhing started to slow, they carefully loaded him up onto a stretcher and took him away.

“A truly regrettable outcome for young Du Lac,” the announcer was saying over the now anxiously whispering crowd, “It has been a while since we had an incident like that. But let us not forget, Gale Holland won this match fair and square; and for such an exciting battle, he deserves our applause!”

The applause began slowly, but soon it engulfed the entire Coliseum, and was then quickly added upon with cheers and whistles. In a few minutes, it was almost as though the previous anxious mood hadn’t existed at all.

“That’s more like it!” The announcer said, “A marvelous showing deserves a marvelous reception!”

The roar of applause from the audience rose like a wave again, and below, Gale Holland, who no longer had sparks of lightning race up and down his body, was led away by the medical staff as well for a cursory check-up.

“What was that…?” Alice asked, looking as though she couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.

Cadmus took a moment to think, “From what I’ve read, most spells that require the breakage of their circle to activate are incredibly unstable. I don’t know for sure of course, but if I had to take a guess, I would say that Holland must have run a bit of mana through Thunder Edge to unbalance and break it, which dispelled the blade, but also gave him a second’s burst of even more increased speed. In other words, the further increased speed might just be a side effect of the spell collapsing, and Holland used it to his advantage.”

Candice asked from beside him, “But… didn’t Magic Sword collide with Thunder Edge all those times? W-why didn’t that unbalance it?”

“It was most likely different kind of unstable: as in, brittle from the inside rather than the outside,” Cadmus explained, “You may have noticed that Thunder Edge was connected to Holland’s body, which means he could still run mana through it from the inside, which might have been what it needed to collapse.”

“You said it was only a second’s burst,” Alice said, “That means if Lancelot had chosen to defend instead of attack, he would have won? You know, because that increased speed wouldn’t have lasted?”

Cadmus shrugged, “Maybe? I’m not sure what else Holland might have had up his sleeve. At the very least, all I’m sure about is the fact that the heavily enhanced speed was only a momentary thing. It wasn’t sustained.”

“Still… I can’t believe Lancelot lost… He even defeated Connor Holland…” Alice whispered.

Ardea stepped in, “You are not the only one.”

She pointed at Arthur, who was staring at the battlefield below as though the world had crumbled around him. It was strange to see him like this: so uncomposed and emotional. But perhaps it was an Avalonian thing, because, looking around, even Gawain, Gwen, and Morgana looked shocked at the result of this battle, though certainly to a lesser degree than Arthur.

“A-Arthur…?” Alice called out kindly, “Are you okay?”

Arthur’s eyes flicked towards her, and they were wide with what seemed like panic. But then, he gazed upon their faces, and his uncharacteristic display of anything other than courtesy quickly receded into the vault of a more pleasant expression.

“I-I apologize,” he said, smiling, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes, “I was just a little worried for Lancelot. I should go to see how he’s doing.”

He made to leave hastily, and Alice called after him, “Wait! What about your match?”

Arthur did not seem to hear her, and disappeared around the corner of the doorway of the contestant’s box.