Ardea Regis VS. Hewie Dacre

As the display orbs proudly presented the new pair of names, Cadmus found it hard not to pity Hewie Dacre. Hewie had already faced Ardea Regis once, during the second qualifier round, with three other allies no less, and had been utterly defeated. To be forced to fight her again, and with no help this time…

To his credit, he did not immediately surrender. In fact, perhaps Elise Auxil’s successes against Ardea had emboldened him, because he entered the battlefield with an admirable amount of determination.

However, spirit alone was not enough for victory.

As soon as the match began, Ardea stalked forward, her crimson eyes shining with power. A flick of her hand, and the arena was soon graced with the snakelike dragon built entirely of flame, bathing it in a coat of brilliant orange.

The Flame Dragon charged, and Hewie dodged and weaved desperately around its writhing form as he drew a few magic circles of his own. They were all identical: Water Shields. He steadily stacked them upon each other, drawing a line to connect them all before finally turning to face the Flame Dragon head-on.

The Flame Dragon crashed violently against Hewie’s layered water defense, causing a powerful explosion of fire and steam. In the end, though Hewie’s circles had been decimated, the Flame Dragon had been defeated as well. It was truly an impressive achievement, one that would have given any normal opponent pause.

But Ardea was no normal opponent. With no change in her expression, she brought to life three more Flame Dragons, and Hewie stared slackjawed. Then, he slowly sunk to his knees, and the match was called there.

Cadmus watched, his eyes fixed upon the magnificent display of fiery power below; it was always sobering to watch Ardea unleash her overwhelming abilities…

The entire match had been quick, and everyone moved on from it equally as quick, with the next match-up being announced right after.

Arthur Pendragon VS. Elis Holland

“Will Arthur show up?” Alice worriedly asked, “He seemed a little strange before…”

“He will,” Cadmus said, “According to him, he can’t afford not to.”

And Cadmus was proven right when Arthur soon walked onto the stage to join Elis.

“Don’t think that I’m going to just let you walk all over me,” Elis said as the barrier was being set up, “You may be the Golden Prince of Victory, but I’m a Holland, and you’ve already seen the magnitude of our power!”

Arthur twitched slightly.

The referee began the battle without further fanfare, and Arthur rushed forwards, his golden Caliburn already unleashed and ready to strike. Elis too quickly created a simple circle for Lightning Knives, and fired a few shots before Arthur could make it to him.

Arthur blocked the attacks with a specific circle on the flat of his blade, and instead of pressing forward, cautiously stepped back a few paces.

“Magic circles to defend against any element…” Cadmus remembered Lancelot’s description of Caliburn, “Naturally, lightning would be included as well.”

Arthur fired a few abnormally large and fast Rock Spikes at Elis, and Elis dodged before firing a few more Lightning Knives back. For a while, their battle remained only in that phase, with the exchange of simple long-ranged attacks.

“How strange,” Ardea said, “A warrior of Pendragon’s skill should already have won against one such as Elis Holland. And yet, he refuses to attack properly.”

“Isn’t he just being careful?” Cadmus asked.

“That is exactly what he is doing,” Ardea said, glaring down at Arthur as though he was personally disappointing her, “But even cautiousness must have its limits; if he does not attack properly, Elis Holland will eventually get the better of him. Pendragon knows this, so why does he not attack?”

Down below, Elis let loose a frustrated click of the tongue.

“Are you… looking down on me?” He asked in a dangerously quiet tone, “Is that why you’re not attacking properly? Are you taking pity on me?”

Arthur kept his silence, looking too preoccupied with the battle itself to entertain Elis’ questions. Elis didn’t seem to see it like that though.

“How dare you? How dare you?” He snarled, “Who the hell do you think you’re fighting? I’m not Tanya Louise! I’m a Holland—A HOLLAND! I DON’T NEED YOUR PITY!”

Suddenly, his unoccupied hand flew up and it blurred through the air, leaving a dully glowing trail of white lines to form a new magic circle. Arthur’s eyes widened, and he increased his rate of fire, but they were still simple elemental spells like Rock Spikes or Fireballs, just enlargened and faster than usual, so he wasn’t able to land an attack on the rather nimble Elis.

Several times it looked as though Arthur was about to charge in and stop Elis in his tracks, but each time he seemed to hesitate and abandon that course of action. Elis took advantage of this and quickly finished his new circle, one that looked immensely familiar to Cadmus.

Gale Holland, a ways down in the contestant’s box, tightly gripped the railing. There was an uncharacteristically panicked look to him.

“ELIS, NO! YOU STILL HAVEN’T—!”

“Don’t you dare look down on me…” Elis whispered to Arthur, his clear hatred cutting through the air like a knife, “I’m a Holland—so even I can do this!”

And then, he swung his magic circle, like both his brothers had done in the previous matches. A beat of anticipatory silence…

And then, CRACK!

The Raijuu’s Strike lit up the battlefield with its earth-trembling power and the air burned with the flash of lightning. But things were different this time: there was an explosion of electricity at Elis’ magic circle which struck him full force and sent him flying back with severe red burns and violently spasming muscles.

At the same time, on the other end of the Raijuu’s Strike, Arthur had instinctively brought the flat of his blade up to meet the heavy bolt of lightning. Miraculously, he had even managed to activate a specific circle upon it; and, perhaps even more miraculously, the bolt of lightning lost all of its mighty power at the collision, transforming instead into a collection of rapidly fading sparks.

The entire coliseum simply stared for a moment, unsure of the quick events that had just transpired. But then, Elis’ moan of pain echoed loudly, and the referee came to his senses.

“VICTOR: ARTHUR PENDRAGON!”

The audience broke out into uproarious applause, and Arthur simply stood there, looking almost bewildered.

“Oh my! How tragic for Elis Holland, for his spell to fail him at such a critical moment when it obeyed both his brothers so well!” The announcer exclaimed, “However, victory obtained due to an opponent’s mistake is still a victory! Mr. Pendragon deserves every bit of praise for a well-fought match! Now, the Holland siblings and the Avalonian knights have both struck severe blows against each other; will Mr. Pendragon and Gale Holland get to battle it out in the ring next? Who will win if they do? I for one can’t wait to find out!”

A shadow flitted across Arthur’s face.

Mark Tempor VS. Candice Regis

Cadmus watched as Candice closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths at the sight of the final match-up of this round. It didn’t seem to do her any good in terms of her nervous trembling, but when she finally reopened her eyes, Cadmus saw it again: the shadow of Ardea.

“A-are you ready?” Alice asked, looking as though she was the one being forced to go out and fight Mark Tempor.

Candice nodded, “I am.”

“Good luck,” Cadmus said.

Candice tried for a smile, “Thank you.”

She exited the contestant’s box to join Mark below. As they watched her go, Alice asked, “Do you think she can win?”

Cadmus kept his silence.

“I-I mean, Oliver only lost because he didn’t know about that new Time Acceleration spell of Tempor’s!” Alice said, “So, Candice should be able to win, right?”

Once again, Cadmus did not answer.

Down below, Candice and Mark took their places on opposite ends of the battlefield.

“Man, what is it with this tournament?” Mark laughed, “Why do I keep getting paired up against the useless participants? There’s no way I can show off my power with people like you as my opponents.”

Candice resolutely kept her mouth shut.

“What, got nothing to say?” Mark taunted, “There are plenty of people in the world with a ton of bark and no bite, but I’ve never seen one who lacks both. You may be the most boring type of person to defeat…”

Candice’s lips trembled, but once again, she did not respond.

“Still nothing, huh?” Mark sighed, “There are people who simply prefer to not speak a lot, but you’re not like that, are you? Your silence comes from cowardice. Despite being lucky enough to make it this far, it seems you’ll still end up making absolutely no impact.”

“…What you did to Oliver was wrong,” Candice finally spoke, her voice but a shaky whisper, “And I may not be strong enough to make you pay for it, but I will try all the same.”

Mark laughed delightedly, “So you can speak! Some cousin to the Dragon Princess you are! And of course you feel that way—you have to! You’re easily as weak as Vinari and you don’t want to be treated like him, that’s all there is to it!” The look on his face sharpened as his voice dropped an octave, “If you had simply worked on bettering yourself sooner, maybe you wouldn’t feel the need to champion the rights of the weak.”

Candice recoiled slightly, as if struck, “Th-that’s not—”

The referee chose this moment to step in, probably feeling that their conversation had gone on for long enough.

“Ready yourselves! And—begin!”

Mark and Candice both sprung into action at the same time, their hands quickly getting to work on drawing their respective circles. As they did so, Mark let out an impressed whistle.

“I’ll give you this: you seem much more experienced at this than Vinari.”

Candice did not seem to find much pleasure in Mark’s words. She finished her circle first, Rock Spike, and fired a few shots at Mark, and Mark sidestepped them as he continued working on his circle.

“Your aim is better than Vinari’s as well, not that that’s saying much,” he said, “Besides, basic elemental spells aren’t enough to take down your opponents at the higher levels of magic combat anyway.”

Candice increased her output of Rock Spikes. If there was one thing she had an advantage over others in, it was the size of her mana reserves. With reserves like hers, one could fire Rock Spikes all day and still not even break a sweat.

However, as Mark had said, even with Candice’s aim and output, a basic elemental spell like Rock Spike was not enough to inflict a blow—not without a strategy of some kind. Taking advantage of this state of impasse, Mark finished his own circle soon enough.

He held it up and activated it. The lack of a shimmering purple cylindrical beam told everyone in the audience that Mark had gone with the Time Acceleration spell this time. He suddenly shot forwards, and Candice instinctively fired a few more Rock Spikes in response.

Mark smoothly danced around them, his newfound speed making it look as though the Rock Spikes were moving through water instead of air. As he approached Candice herself, he drew himself a new, simpler circle: Magic Sword.

A blade of shining white erupted from the circle, and he leapt at Candice with an almost disciplined-looking slice to the torso. Candice tried backing away, but Mark’s speed was simply too much to outrun, and she instantly found herself with a deep gash on her chest.

It seemed to take a moment for the wound to register, but when it did, she collapsed onto the ground, screaming in pain as bright red blood poured from her wound. She held her hands against it to stymie the leaking blood, but it was no use.

The referee looked ready to step in already, but because Candice hadn’t surrendered yet, he gave her the benefit of the doubt.

“This is honestly tiring, you know?” Mark said, sighing, “Having to fight people who only made it this far because of pure luck. You’re a member of the Laurucian royal family, and despite all the resources you have at your disposal, you’ve only managed to hone your skills to this pitiful extent? What the hell were you even hoping to accomplish by entering this tournament?”

Candice whimpered weakly, “I… I just…”

“The correct answer is that it doesn’t matter,” Mark said, smacking her in the face with the flat of his blade. As she moaned pathetically once more, he continued, “With that level of ability, you should never have come here in the first place. All you’re doing is just getting in the way of the rest of us actual competitors.

“I mean, you had to know that your skills weren’t up to par, and you still joined this tournament. I can easily tell what you were probably thinking back then: ‘Oh, I might get lucky and only have to fight weak opponents! And even if I don’t, at least I can show off my powerful resolve!’ Honestly, it’s beyond sorry!”

Candice was on the verge of passing out now, but even if she were not, Cadmus had the sinking suspicion that she would still be in a fetal position, with eyes shining with unshed tears.

“I… I…”

And, it was at this moment that the referee finally stepped in.

“VICTOR: MARK TEMPOR!”

The declaration was greeted by instant applause, even though the battle itself had been rather uninteresting. Perhaps it was the drama that had excited the audience, or perhaps they wished to show their agreement for Mark’s words.

Whatever the case, Cadmus did not care. Instead, he watched as the medical staff gently carried away Candice, and hoped that her already fragile determination hadn’t been shattered. It would be a shame to come all this way from Lorem forest just to fall back down again.

“That was cruel!” Alice shouted, tears in her eyes, “And it was unnecessary, and everyone’s just cheering for it! What do they know about Candice? What gives them the right to just judge her like that?”

Cadmus wasn’t sure what to say to comfort her.

“That wasn’t—that wasn’t right!” Alice continued. Then, all her energy seemed to vanish, and she looked up, looking unsure of even herself, “Cadmus… he… he’s wrong about Candice… she’s always trying so hard, even though she doesn’t even like fighting…”

“I know.”

“And she’s come so far…”

“I know.”

Alice glanced up at him hesitantly, “You said… you said you would defeat Mark as revenge for Oliver. Would you please also…?”

She began tearing up again, and Cadmus patted her head, “Don’t worry. I would have fought for her sake as well even if you hadn’t said anything.” He took a deep breath to cool the slight burning in his blood, “After all, it seems… I’m a little angry as well.”

The applause from the audience soon began to die down, and Mark returned to the contestant’s box. He was laughing, as though he’d accomplished something inspiring great amusement. Cadmus chose to ignore him, and Alice, though she glared at Mark out of the corner of her eye, chose to follow his example. It was clear now that words would do nothing to curb Mark’s enjoyment of his own cruelty.

“And that’s the second round of the tournament over folks!” The announcer’s voice washed over the crowd, “We’ve watched some great battles, and now, only the greatest of competitors remain: three from the Laurucian Academy of Magic, and three from the Carmenian Institute of Sorcery! As is tradition, for the third and final round, we will hold a team battle between the students of both schools!”

Cadmus blinked. Vaguely he remembered how before the beginning of the tournament, Professor Mackenzie had said that if given the opportunity, the organizers would change the tournament from individual-based to school-based. He hadn’t completely forgotten that, but there had been no indication of following that plan, so he certainly had been taken by surprise.

The display orbs transformed their images to follow the announcer’s words.

Ardea Regis, Arthur Pendragon, and Cadmus Guiles VS. Gale Holland, Shin Ito, and Mark Tempor

Something in Cadmus loosened. For all his confidence in his knowledge, he would easily admit that defeating Arthur or Ardea was far beyond his ability still, even with his new Heroic Possession spell. Although he was sure it would be a different story once he advanced it beyond the prototype stage.

Furthermore, Cadmus had been worried that perhaps he wouldn’t even get the chance to face Mark Tempor in battle, despite making his promises to Alice and the Vinari family. But with this match-up, there was no longer any need to worry.

“We’re in for a match beyond anything we’ve seen in this tournament folks!” The announcer said, “With the best and brightest of both schools ready to show off the true depths of their knowledge and skill! Please, anticipate this exciting battle for just a little longer!”

Cadmus eyed the empty battlefield below. Finally, the end of this long tournament was in sight.