Elincia stepped back as the crowd roared, some jeering and others shouting their approval. She wished they wouldn't be so loud. Her ears were ringing from the sound. However, she knew that was a vain hope.

"An excellent speech," Lord Fuzen Taiga said to Elincia as she stepped back.

She gave him an unsure smile. "T-thank you."

"You are quite welcome. It must have taken a lot of time to rehearse for this speech."

"Um..."

"Please do not give our newest sorceress a hard time, Lord Taiga," Lady Akane smoothly inserted herself between them. "She's still not quite prepared for her role."

"Ah, yes, the youngest ones are usually quite frightened for the first few months. Such a shame," Lord Fuzen Taiga lamented as Lady Akane led him away. The shinto sorceress winked at Elincia before moving over to her knight, who engaged the lord from Takama no Hara.

Sighing in relief, Elincia looked around at all of the people in the viewing box with her. The headmaster and Lady Sylvia stood together, discussing something. It looked like the headmaster was doing most of the talking. The Nueva twins were flirting with their knights. Meanwhile, Hilda and Dolten were in a corner of the booth, working on some kind of invention. She frowned when she noticed that Cleopatra and her knight weren't there, but then Instructor Murdok's voice rang out, and she forget all about the elusive sorceress from Elysium.

***

"Will the two knights get into position!" Instructor Murdok barked like a military man.

Caspian moved away from Gustav, standing on the opposite side of his foe. He took several deep breaths. His nerves were shot, but he couldn't let that control him.

His opponent gave nothing away. Holding his staff in his left hand, the blond-haired man from Helheim appeared completely calm, perfectly composed. His investment in this battle wasn't as large as Caspian's. He didn't have as much to lose.

"Are both fighters ready?" Instructor Murdok asked.

"You bet," Caspian said. Gustav merely nodded.

"Then let this, the semi-final match between Gustav Falborne and Caspian Ignis del Sol... begin!"

Almost from the moment the words left Instructor Murdok's mouth, Gustav moved into action. His crystal emitted a faint purple light before lightning blasted from it. Caspian moved to avoid the lightning, but it followed him.

He swerved to the left, gritting his teeth as several tiny volts leapt from the lightning bolt and struck his arms. His muscles spasmed and twitched as the electric current messed with the signals that controlled his movement. Caspian ignored this and continued moving as the lightning bolt swerved around and chased after him again.

Is it following me because metal attracts electricity?

As a knight, Caspian learned the basics of science. He knew many scientific theories, and he'd learned about the elements and how they applied to real-life situations. It was important for a knight to understand how the world worked.

Metal was a conductor of electricity. It attracted lightning. While this purple lightning might not be real lightning, there was a chance that it acted the same as a standard bolt created from nature.

Let's test it.

Unstrapping one of his shoulder pauldrons, Caspian yanked the object off his shoulder and tossed it at the incoming lightning bolt. He'd thrown it so that it would go just a little over the lightning. He wanted to see if the lightning would change direction and follow the metal. It didn't. Unlike regular lightning, which would have curved to follow the closest natural conductor, this lightning bypassed the object and continued traveling straight toward him.

Well, crap.

Left with no other option, Caspian was forced to continue dodging. He noticed Gustav standing nearly a dozen meters away, watching him with blank blue eyes. Growling, Caspian realized that his opponent had easily taken control of the battle's flow.

This battle... is going to be a lot harder than I thought...

***

"Caspian!" Elincia cried out as she saw her best friend forced on the defensive. She gripped the balustrade fiercely. Looking down at the arena while the battle raged on, Elincia was almost sure that her heart would stop.

"Oh, my. It seems that Caspian is in a bit of trouble," Lady Erica, standing beside Elincia, said.

"Given that he's fighting someone who appears to specialize in long-range attacks, that does not surprise me," Derek said. "We knights are excellent at close quarters combat, but most of us lack the range necessary to deal with an opponent that attacks at long range."

"I thought you were teaching him that special technique of yours," Lady Erica said.

Derek shook his head. "My technique cannot be learned in a few days, and Caspian lacks the physical strength necessary to use it. He also doesn't have a heavy enough sword. All we did was spar every day until he was ready to pass out."

Elincia listened to Lady Erica and Derek with half an ear. She'd known that Derek was training Caspian, just like how Lady Erica had been teaching her. She didn't know what they did, but she assumed it was some kind of really hard training.

"What are his chances of winning?" asked Lady Erica.

"Honestly?" Derek shrugged. "That would depend."

"On?"

"On whether or not he can figure out that staff's weakness," Derek said, his voice deadly serious.

***

Caspian had a plan, though he wouldn't necessarily call it plan. It was more like a reckless course of action, which would either end up working out brilliantly, or end with him getting zapped.

The lightning bolt was still chasing him. He'd been running all over the arena and it had stuck to him like a fly on dung. The scent of burnt ozone filled the air. Yet even as the lightning bolt zipped around him, Caspian noticed something that he hadn't originally.

The lightning bolt was becoming weaker.

It made sense. This attack was created from the mana contained with a spirit crystal. Magical attacks always had a set amount of mana, and when it was all used up, the attack could no longer maintain cohesion.

Continuing to move, Caspian zigzagged across the arena. The lightning bolt followed, but it was no longer a dark purple and had gone pale. When he noticed the attack lose its consistency, he skidded to a halt, unsheathed his sword, and struck the bolt as it came at him.

"Halkaista," he whispered.

Halkaista. It was a word that had been engraved upon his heart, and its meaning was clear. It would cut anything that stood in his way; ropes, walls, weapons, even lightning. As his sword struck the bolt of lighting, he sliced straight through it, causing the whole thing to disperse as it could no longer maintain its form.

"Gack!"

Caspian grimaced as his body twitched with muscle spasms. Even though the lightning had diminished a great deal, getting hit with it still hurt. Not that he was going to let that stop him.

With nothing in the way, Caspian dashed at Gustav, who remained where he'd been since the start of this match.

I'm going to wipe that blank look right off your face! Caspian thought with a snarl.

***

"Now that is interesting," a new voice spoke up.

Startled, Elincia turned her head to the person who spoke. She nearly shrieked when she saw Lady Karen Hildegarde standing right next to her. When had she appeared?

"What's interesting?" asked Erica.

"That boy just cut through lightning," Lady Karen said, humming. There was a look in her eyes as she stared at Caspian that Elincia just did not like.

"Yes, he did. Is that unusual?"

"Yes," Lady Karen stated with startling certainty. "What do you think happens when metal gets struck by lightning? The lightning doesn't disperse, and it doesn't get cut in half. The metal absorbs the lightning. That boy should have been shocked, but instead, he cut straight through it... this is most intriguing... very intriguing... I wonder if he's also using some kind of magical technology that I've never heard of... I want to see that sword of his really badly now..."

Elincia scooted away from Lady Karen as she started drooling.

***

Wiping that blank look off of Gustav's face was going to be harder than Caspian thought.

More lightning lanced from the spirit crystal. Caspian tried to dodge, but it moved far quicker than him. It struck him in the left arm, crackling and sizzling as the smell of burning flesh invaded his nose. He bit back a cry of pain. Falling to a knee, he clutched at his burnt arm—and then he was forced to roll across the ground when more lightning came at him. The lightning struck the ground and exploded, tendrils of power arcing outwards as the ground was pierced.

Caspian gasped as several rock shards pierced his lower back. Warm liquid ran down his skin and soaked into his tabard. Ignoring the pain, Caspian landed on his feet and rushed at Gustav, even as his arm flailed limply behind him.

Gustav raised his staff. Lightning, dark purple and crackling, coruscated down its surface. Caspian didn't have time to ponder how the man hadn't been shocked yet, because Gustav then brought the staff down, striking the ground.

A shock wave of purple energy was launched from the staff. It expanded quickly. Caspian tried to leap over it, but the wave of electric energy slammed into his legs, causing him to cry out as he flipped over and slammed face first into the ground.

***

"That's not going to work," Lady Karen said, her eyes locked onto the battle below.

"What do you mean?" asked Elincia.

"Lightning moves far faster than a human ever could. That isn't real lightning, of course, so it's a lot slower, but it's still faster than most humans. I'm surprised he could even dodge those bolts so well."

Staring down at the field, watching as Caspian stood unsteadily to his feet, Elincia felt her heart constrict.

She had faith that he would win.

That didn't mean she was going to stop worrying about him.

***

D-damn it...

Caspian knew that he was in a bind. There was no way he could get close to Gustav if he could unleash high voltage waves of magical lightning. And if he couldn't close the distance, there was no way he could attack. Caspian didn't have any long range attacks.

The spirit crystal crackled once more, sparking with purple tendrils of arcane magics. Caspian knew that he had to move, but he couldn't. His legs wouldn't work.

That last attack must have damaged my nerves. I can't feel my legs.

This... was not good. He couldn't move, Gustav looked ready to start launching more lightning at him, and if that happened, there was no way he'd be able to dodge.

I need something that can give some extra range, or at least protect me from the lightning... If only...

A bolt of lightning launched from the staff. Caspian stealed himself for the attack, even as he lamented his own powerlessness.

If only I was stronger. If I had the power to protect myself from lightning, then I...

As he gritted his teeth in frustration, an odd feeling came over him. It felt like there was a branding iron burning his heart, but it didn't hurt. Something was being engraved into his soul, like etchings carved into a rock. Images flashed past his mind, and then a word appeared inside of him.

"Cintittu."

The lightning struck Caspian, but he didn't feel any pain. There was only the brief sensation of something hitting him, like a pebble. That was it. Then the lightning reversed course and slammed into a shocked Gustav, blasting him off his feet. As his opponent crashed against the ground, Caspian blinked rapidly several times, wondering if he was seeing things.

What... what just happened?

Instructor Murdok raised a hand and shouted, "the winner of this round goes to Caspian Ignis del Sol!"