“Wait… Mary?” Yuki raised an eyebrow.

“What? What’s going on?” Cal asked.

“Wasn’t… Wasn’t Pandora’s opponent supposed to be someone named Chiyo Kurokami?” Yuki placed a hand on her chin. This whole match seemed odd to her. The preliminary match opponents were decided before the tournament started. Did something happen to her foe? She wondered.

“Maybe she dropped out after seeing the competition,” Embla said.

Yuki sighed. “Whatever the case is, Pandora’s opponent is no slouch either. She’ll have to use everything in her arsenal to fight a mage as talented as she is.”

Pandora’s foot dug into the ground as the blast sent them both sliding back.

As expected of a mage as talented as Mary, she thought. Pandora raised her free hand as every hair on her neck stood on end. A golden barrier appeared in front of her as a series of flaming bullets dispersed harmlessly against the barrier.

A small flaming orb appeared above her staff. She raised the staff into the air and fired the orb.

“Star Shower!”

A hail of flaming orbs bombarded the arena, forcing Mary to fly at high speeds to avoid getting hit by the flaming bullets. She flew around Pandora, looking for an open area in her barrier. A lazy smile appeared on Mary’s face as she stopped before speeding straight towards Pandora.

Pandora didn’t have time to react as Mary slammed into her barrier, cracking it. She gritted her teeth as she watched Mary cock her first back.

Mary’s fist was engulfed in lightning. She punched the barrier, shattering it completely. The lightning-covered hand sped towards Pandora’s face. Her honey-gold eyes glowed as she and Mary swapped places with each other.

“Wait, what just happened?” Embla asked, rubbing her eyes. “You guys saw that too right?”

“That was one of Pandora’s Burst’s. It’s called Trick Star. You can probably guess what it does. However, it consumes lots of mana and Pandora can only use it five times a day at most,” Cal said. “You’ve seen it before at the bandit fort.”

Mary stumbled forward. The lightning that coated her fist fizzled out as she turned around to face Pandora.

Pandora huffed, feeling her mana reserves taking a hit. Making me use Trick Star this early, she thought.

“Using Trick Star that early. That burst uses a lot of mana.” Mary yawned. She lifted her hand into the air, pointing her palm at Pandora. The orb that orbited Mary flew in front of her hand. A black and violet magic circle appeared in front of it.

A Burst? She narrowed her eyes. Pandora wasted no time enhancing her speed. She rolled out of the way as a black and violet beam of energy spat forth from the circle. It flew across the arena and collided with the barrier, causing the audience behind it to scream in fright.

“I guess I should return the favor!” Pandora said. The same circle appeared in front of her. She pierced the barrier with her staff, firing the same beam.

Mary jumped back and fired back.

The two beams collided, sending a shockwave that blew them both back. The arena was bathed with violet light as the two attacks clashed violently for supremacy. In the end, the two collapsed underneath their energy and exploded, shaking the stadium.

A small crater that was as big as a hotel suite was left in the middle of the arena.

Amidst the chaos of the explosion, several magical attacks rang out. Pandora sped around the arena, using her prana to boost her speed. She glanced over at Mary, who had been flying around her like a falcon.

“Icicle Raid!” Several icicles appeared around her.

Mary’s eyes widened as she suddenly swerved to her left, flying at high speeds as Pandora fired the icicles. The icicles flew at high speeds, appearing as blurs to everyone in the arena.

Mary opened her palm and let loose a massive swirling funnel of flames. The flames consumed the remaining icicles and hurtled towards Pandora.

Pandora slammed her staff into the ground, creating a barrier made of pure light. Now, let’s see you block this!

Several large spears of pure light manifested around Mary.

A burst? And… Her eyes widened as several lightning-infused icicles formed alongside them.

Mary spread her arms out, conjuring a purple barrier around herself. The attacks all converged on the violet sphere, violently exploding upon impact. The explosion rang out through the city, sounding as if a thousand cannons had all fired at once.

Through the deafening sound and the buffeting winds, Pandora squinted to see if her opponent had managed to push through her attack. Her mind was working at a million miles per second. Adrenaline coursed through her, giving her clarity like she had never known. Her eyes glowed as she tried to seek out Mary’s magic signature.

As she turned, a violet fist filled her vision, sending her flying across the arena. She slammed harshly into the wall, leaving a deep indent. Sliding down unceremoniously, she fell to her hands and knees and coughed up a large amount of blood. Pandora gingerly reached up and touched her nose, applying healing magic to heal it and lessen her pain.

Her vision was still coming together but she could make out the silhouette of Mary.

Mary stood, trying to maintain her balance. She gritted her teeth in pain. Gripping her arm, she tried to mitigate the damage she sustained. Pandora firing two bursts at me… I did not expect her to use Valkyrie Spear and Mana Ballista. I had to use Teleport to escape… she inhaled and exhaled, calming her nerves. Straightening her posture, Mary focused on her opponent.

Pandora gripped her staff tightly as Mary focused her gaze on her. Her eyes widened as she moved her head to the side, barely seeing the violet blur that rammed its fist into the wall.

She swung her staff, infusing it with fire. The staff was blocked by Mary’s orb, creating a large wave of hot air upon impact.

Mary pulled her hand out of the hole and leveled it at Pandora.

Pandora quickly jumped back as a black and violet magic circle fired an energy beam at her. She jumped into the air, creating a spike of ice to launch her. Pandora pointed her staff at Mary, firing a torrent of crimson flames.

Mary’s orb jittered erratically before turning blue. It unleashed a pressurized blast of water that collided with the flames, creating a massive steam cloud.

Mary narrowed her eyes, sensing for any magic. She jumped back, narrowly avoiding a bolt of lightning. Her eyes widened in surprise as a hail of lightning spears rained down on her like the wrath of a furious god. She backflipped just barely avoiding getting turned into a shishkebab.

She opened her palm and fired a blast of air, dispelling the mist. However, as the mist receded, her eyes were met with Pandora swinging her staff at her. Having no time to react, Mary felt her ribs crack as she felt the heavyweight and force of hawthorn wood slamming into her side.

Mary gasped in pain. Fighting through it, she directed her orb directly at Pandora, firing another energy beam at point-blank range. The beam pushed Pandora back, causing the girl to cry out in pain as she was sent sliding across the arena.

“NOT YET! I’M NOT DONE!” Pandora created ice, fusing her feet to the ground as she pushed back against the beam. Her clothes, despite being infused with magic, could not hold off a Burst Skill forever. Her eyes locked onto Mary, being able to barely make out her form through the harsh violet light.

Finding herself on the receiving end of her Burst, Mary reacted quickly, breaking the ice that was now around her foot. However, she was swallowed by the beam before colliding with the arena wall.

Pandora huffed as she fell to one knee. She could only cast a few more skills. Using three bursts consecutively, one of which Trick Star, was beginning to take a toll on her.

I only have a few more chances… unless Mary decides to drop now which would be very nice but… Pandora’s suspicions were confirmed when she saw a faint violet light walking out of the dust cloud.

Mary staggered forward, her body covered in a thin veil of mana. Her clothes were singed. Her right sleeve was completely gone and her robe was torn at the torso.

“This fight’s getting kinda intense right?” Mary asked.

“I never thought a sloth-like you could put up such an intense fight,” Pandora said, leaning on her staff. According to her assessment, neither of them had the juice to prolong this fight any longer. Slinging skills of that cost and caliber was taxing and despite their large reserves of mana, there was only so much they could do.

“Let’s say we start ending this. I’d say you have 2 Trick Stars left. 1 if you keep casting Burst Skills,” Mary said. Her breathing had calmed down considerably. However, her heartbeat with the rhythm of a war drum. Her eyes scanned Pandora. Any tick, any twitch, any movement that could give away her next attack or move.

Pandora straightened herself, using her staff as support.

Always with the mind-reading. But… you’re not looking too hot either, Pandora thought. Her grip on her staff tightened. Her next few moves would decide the victor of the match. If she made one miscalculation, then all chances of winning would be voided. All she had was this one chance.

I have enough to cast 2 Tricks Stars. Trick Star is the highest-cost Burst Skill I know. But… there’s a trick that I can do with Trick Star that will work but… She bit the inside of her cheek. The cost is too high but the chances of victory are good.

Mary eyed Pandora as she stood there, staring off into space. There was no time. If she had to get Pandora, she had to get her now while she was distracted. The wind swirled around her, creating a buffeting gale that rotated around her legs. With one powerful push, Mary propelled herself like a rocket towards Pandora.

Her hands began to glow as several ethereal circles manifested out of thin air. She held her hand out with her palm facing up. From the circles, the elements came from them like buds bursting from the soil. Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, and Lightning all converged at a single point in her hand, pooling together to form a violet ball of elemental energy. The orb crackled with the fury of a thunderstorm as Mary raised it over her head.

“Multi-Cast: Moving Star!”

Pandora raised her staff in front of her. “I got one chance then.” A blue magic circle formed underneath her. It glowed brightly, causing spikes of ice to burst from the ground, creating a veritable frozen wall in front of Mary.

Undeterred by the obstacle in front of her, Mary slammed the Burst, easily penetrating through the massive spikes of ice. The shards flew by, slashing her in the cheek. Mary burst through the last icicle that blocked Pandora, only to find that Pandora was no longer there.

She looked around, frantically scanning her surroundings for any sign of her.

“HEY!”

Her eyes widened as she looked up. Pandora hovered in the air. She had her hand raised, levitating a spike of lightning-infused ice. With a mighty roar, Pandora threw the dual-cast javelin at her opponent.

Mary reared her hand back and threw the raging orb of elemental fury at her.

Just a little more! Pandora watched as the attacks rocketed towards each other in slow motion. As the attacks drew near, she kicked her plan into action. She raised the palm of her hand towards Mary. In a split second, Mary found herself in between the two Bursts. Her eyes widened to epic proportions as she found herself sandwiched between the two attacks.

Before she was engulfed, Mary locked eyes with Pandora. A single thought ran through her mind.

Well played…

The two attacks collided violently. The explosion rocked the entire arena. Its sonorous war cry ruptured the daily life of the city as people were shaken by such a powerful blast. The audience members all shielded and panicked as the barrier glowed, containing the violent burst of power. As the light died down, a smoke cloud billowed from the arena, revealing a deep crater left by the blast. In the middle of the crater, Mary stood. Blood poured from her arm. She took a step forward, shuffling towards the rim of the crater.

Pandora landed on the ground ungracefully, nearly falling face first. She used her staff as support. Her legs struggled to support her sluggish body. The combination of mana exhaustion, pain, and blood loss was beginning to get to her.

Mary took one step out of the crater and collapsed onto the arena floor.

Pandora released a breath she didn’t know she was holding and fell to her knees.

“Winner, Pandora Izayoi!”

The stadium erupted in cheers. Boisterous cries of joy came from the audience members. She smiled and waved weakly as the cheers of victory rang out.

“I can’t believe that I…” she never finished her sentence as her vision began to swim. And as the preliminaries came to a close, Pandora passed out in the middle of the arena with a small smile on her face.