On my way back, I met Arism. Looks like he had somehow recovered from his pain and injuries. When he saw me, he approached me at a surprising speed and started to talk to me.

“Hey ! Hey ! Wait !”

“Mm ?”

“I… I want to ask you a question.”

His arrogant smile was nowhere to be seen and instead he was wearing a serious expression. He looked at me straight in the eyes, despite our height difference. He readjusted his glasses and continued.

“You… you’re only 1 year older than me right ? For how long have you been learning Magic ?”

“Hum… just about a few months.”

“…”

He seemed shocked and looked at me with a baffled expression.

“A few months. huh… I… You- I mean…”

“Ah by the way, was your family watching the match ? They must be proud that their son made it to the semi-finals even though you’re only 14 years old.”

“Proud !? Are you kidding ? I have yet to face my father. I have brought great shame upon the Stalford family… Being defeated by a country bumpkin like you…”

“Ah don’t let it get to you ! You’ll just have to practice more with your friends so you can get stronger and defeat me next time we battle, right ?”

“My… friends ? I don’t have any….”

“Heh ?”

“All I’ve been doing since I was a little child was training and learning. I haven’t had time to make any friends…”

Wow, so he really did nothing but that. Was it because of his strict family, I wonder.

Despite how irritating I found him yesterday, seeing him so pitiful only made me want to cheer him up.

“If you don’t have any, then you can consider me your first friend.”

“Wha- you… are you jok… wait, really ?”

“Yeah ! That’s unfortunate though because I’ll have to go back to my village after the tournament but it’s fine ! We’ll just have to train ourselves a lot and next year, we’ll get to fight each other again right ? Besides, even if I don’t meet you in next year’s tournament, I’m planning to find a job at the capital so I’ll be back soon enough !”

“A-Awesome ! Yeah, I’ll train as well ! I won’t lose next time ! That’s a promise !”

“Yeah !”

We became both excited at the idea of getting both a new friend and rival.

With this unexpected development, we parted ways and I prepared to enter the arena.

***

Unlike for the semi-finals where the stadium was only about 75% full, the Coliseum was now crowded with spectators and some people had to stand up. I didn’t expect this competition to be that popular.

As expected, the Emperor was sitting on his throne. He was an old man with white hair and an imposing stature. His eyes were as intimidating as the Iron Boar’s eyes although I could now withstand that much pressure. This man was known in the whole continent as Emperor Elasius II Porcephone.

He silently looked at me as I entered in silence. However, as soon as my opponent made his appearance, the whole Coliseum went crazy. The Emperor stood up and raised his hands. He started clapping. In front of me was Orth Porcephone, the Emperor’s only son. He was, to say the least, a beautiful man. He had a strong and handsome build and his looks were top notch. He had a smile that could make any girl fall in love. His blond hair and golden eyes were hereditary and made him look like the perfect prince.

On the other hand, my looks were average with my dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and slightly tall height. “Well, I don’t care. I’ve already got my own super-cute girlfriend, no need need to be Mr. Perfect” is what I thought.

Just like most of my other opponents so far, he was displaying a fearless and confident smile. It irritated me quite a bit. Does he think he’s so powerful that his victory is already a fait accompli ?

This just tickled my sadistic instincts. I wanted to see the smile on his face change into fear. Well just the fear of losing, not the fear of dying. I’m not a killer after all.

I could hear the fans cheering mainly on Orth. Whatever, I know what I have to do and I know there are also people rooting for me.

I positioned myself in front of him and readied myself for the battle. I was so annoyed by his attitude that instead of sticking to my usual strategy, I fired 3 simultaneous『Wind Razors』at him, as soon as the match started.

“To go all-out from the very beginning is anti-climatic but I can’t afford to take this match lightly”. However, the result before me made me frown. In this short amount of time, Orth had had time to cast one of the only protection spells sturdy enough to resist my full power 『Wind Razor』: 『Rock Armor』. This was an Expert level Earth magic spell that could withstand most of my offensive spells.

Even I required a minimum of 20 seconds to cast it, therefore he probably was either very good at Earth Magic or he had prepared a defensive strategy beforehand.

Before I had time to think of a better offensive approach, Orth looked at me with his unbreakable smile and talked.

“You’re not getting away from this unhurt ! Hahaha !”

“…”

“You won’t be able to defeat my ultimate armor ! 『Gaia’s Protection』!”

He used a spell I had not read about in my book concerning Expert level Earth Magic which meant it was probably Master level. Suddenly, his 『Rock Armor』started to compress until it was the same size as a regular knight armor and the rocks that composed it polished themselves. The whole armor became smooth and sharp.

A blade came out of one of his gauntlets. Orth carried on and said “『Gaia’s Spear』!” . Following that, a spear that looked exactly like a real one with the exception of its colour detached itself from the armor and took shape in his hand.

“This full set of armor is called “Gaia’s Armor” and it far surpasses normal armors ! It is as resistant as diamond ! A mere commoner like you stands no chance, hahaha !”

“Kuh…”

According to the rules, it was forbidden to bring weapons within the Coliseum, however nothing forbid creating them with Magic during the fight.

I tried to use 『Compression』on him but his armor was strong enough to withstand the pressure exerted by 『Wind Push』and even by adding more power, I couldn’t succeed in even binding him.

Orth started running after me (still unarmed) and it became a one-way beating. Using his blade and spear, he slashed me many times and cut through my shirt, leaving a high number of wounds and cuts.

“Aarg…”

My whole body was bleeding like a stuck pig however I couldn’t give up there.

The problem was that unlike during my battle with Arism, I didn’t know the theory behind Gaia’s Armor so there was no way I could make one of my own. Besides, I noticed how skilled his footwork was. This guy was an excellent swordsman, I could understand that much. Right now, he was just amusing himself by making me bleed as much as possible.

Finally loosing my cool at the sight of my own weakness, I decided to finally use Creative Magic.

The Emperor’s son was still harboring that blinding smile of him as he ran towards me to put an end to the fight, brandishing his lance high in the air.

“Aaah… this was fun. But I’ve grown tired of you, Zwölf Kreizig ! Allow me to end this fight quickly.”

“-Ut… up…”

“Ahhh ? What did you say ?”

“SHUT UP !”

I first activated『Dragonfly』. One thing I had noticed during training was that 『Dragonfly』also increased my thinking speed, in addition to my physical abilities, which greatly helped me focusing on Creative Magic, even during situations such as the current one.

After having enchanted my own body, I used 『Flash』at full power. I knew what was coming so I closed my eye. A light similar to that of a lightning flashed in the Coliseum for less than a second. Orth was, as expected, successfully blinded by the light.

Not seeing where he was running anymore, he tripped and fell miserably on the ground.

I used this chance to gather 75% of my remaining Mana to cast my most powerful 『Phantom Fireball』ever made. However, I didn’t want to grievously injure Orth so I reduced the temperature to 10͒ C only.

I cast my ultimate spell towards Orth who was still on his knees and he was hit with full force. It looked like I had underestimated the power of 『Phantom Fireball』because even though we were in the centre of the Coliseum, the impact was so powerful that Orth was sent flying in the air and hit the walls of the arena, knocking him immediately unconscious.

This was all considering the protection provided by his Gaia Armor. Who knows what would have happened if he wasn’t wearing any protective gear.

“Ah… I won… I won… the tournament ! YEAAAH !”

I felt relieved and waited for the referee to declare my victory. He’d then come and heal me just like he did in the previous matches (I was still bleeding a lot after all).

However, the announcement never came.

I looked around and saw the referee unable to move due to the shock. His face showed total disbelief.

I took a look at my surroundings. Everyone in the Coliseum was making the same face.

I started to become anxious as I noticed they were all staring at me.

The only person with a different expression was the Emperor. His previously intimidating eyes showed a mix of fear and anger.

He stood up from his throne and walked slowly towards the limits of his balcony. Then he faced all the spectators at once and shouted.

“This contestant cheated ! He brought illegal items with him and tried to assassinate my son, Orth Porcephone ! Guards ! Take him to the jail !”

“Heh ?”

I could only watch with a baffled expression as I was knocked out from behind by a guard. I was slowly fainting when I heard a man’s shout. I think it was Father’s.

I then closed my eyes and my world became black.